New Jersey Con report (long short version)

[Jan]

Well, I'm back from my whirlwind trip to NJ to see JMS at the Hawthorne High comic con. I think a good time was had by all and I know I had a *great* time meeting and talking with so many friends I'd never met before.

Don't know if anybody's interested in a minute-by-minute report so I'm just going to concentrate on news that people might be interested in.

First - No new clues on TMoS except that while the words "It's a theatrical movie" never passed his lips, JMS did comment that a) the ratio clue sure got figured out quickly, b) he pantomimed a movie screen and c) commented that he's recently discovered a (resistance? prejudice?) toward people moving from TV to motion pictures.

When we fans were first gathering in the classroom where JMS' Q&A session was going to be, we joked about sitting at school desks and that JMS was the 'teacher'. We wrote on the blackboard "Mr. Straczynsi" and below that "TMoS 101". That last, JMS erased as soon as he came into the room. He immediately told us again that he absolutely could not tell us anything without getting into deep trouble. He couldn't even discuss when the announcement would come when we tried to pin down the Ides of May clue. There were two questions that caused him to refer back to the erased "TMoS 101", though. The first was about the Techno-mages and the second was about Crusade.

- The long awaited "But In Purple, I'm Stunning" is due out around Christmas from Simon & Schuster.

-Asked whether he'd ever like to go back to animation, JMS said that he has been approached recently by WB Animation about a project.

- Dream Police seems to be a comic project he's having fun with. He say's he's writing it in a 'Joe Friday' type of voice.

- He's designed the set-up for the 'shared universe' project but may not have time to write for it. Somebody help me out with the name here; I seem to have not written it down.

-In answer to a question about whether he'd like to work on Star Trek (the question referred to B&B being on the way out I believe), JMS said "Surprisingly, I can't comment on that".

-He's heard that WB netted $70 million from the first three and a half seasons released. (Yeah, I know they weren't released in half seasons but that's what he said).

- The interviews and commentaries are done for the movie set DVDs but there may be a snag when it comes to Crusade. JMS wants to talk about what really happened and why it was cancelled and this makes WB nervous. Apparently there have been phone callse regarding the subject but JMS wants to tell the truth. Is insisting on it, in fact. For those whom might not have heard that story: During/after Season 5 of B5, TNT studied things and discovered that when B5 was on, TNT regulars tuned out and when B5 was over, the regulars returned and the B5'ers tuned out. By the time Crusade was filming, TNT wanted out and the notes were actually a deliberate campaign to get them out of their obligation. The plug on Crusade wasn't pulled by accident, folks.

I think the con definitely gave this art dept a shot in the arm. Joe Nazarro was there to help out JMS by collecting our donations and JMS presented the con coordinator with a check also. Joe N followed JMS' example of selling autographs for a buck by having brought quite a number of signed trading cards and selling them for a dollar each. I got three of them. Thanks, Joe!

I hope if I've forgotten too much people will post and add or correct this. Again, I had a *great* time and loved meeting so many folks from rastb5m, JMS News and B5TV!

Jan

[CRONAN]

Whoa. All I have to say is:

Take any pictures?

[frulad]

Thanks for the report on the panel discussion. While I was there in the morning, my g/f and I left as we have plans to meet some friends in Manhattan.

I tried my own comically bad attempt to wrest some info from the Great MAker, myself. While getting my stuff signed, he pulled out a very nice gold and black pen to sign my copy of his scriptwriting book book, explaining that he only signed copies of that book with his "Special deal-making pen." I, oh-so-craftily, inquired if the pen had been working much in is "deal making" capacity recently, be he just smiled, shoook his head and said that I wasn't going to get him that easily. I guess my trickery wasn't trickery enough. ;)

Does anyone know how much they raised?

[Jan]

Originally posted by frulad
Does anyone know how much they raised?

The word 'on the street' was that over $1,100 was raised at JMS' table alone and in the Q&A session, JMS presented Allen with a check for almost that much from himself. In addition, there was the $3 per person registration fee and some chances to win donated items. JMS donated 2 copies of the SiL script. The large veggie can used to hold the chances was chock full!

One of our lurkers over on the moderated newsgroup will let me know if she hears a final total.

Jan

[Jan]

Originally posted by CRONAN
Whoa. All I have to say is:

Take any pictures?

Lots of pictures were taken. I've written to make sure that it's okay to post the link to the ones that Aisling has already put up.

Jan

[Jan]

Okay, I checked with Aisling and she said it's okay to post the link to the pics she's got posted so far. Several other folks were talking about emailing theirs to her so there may be more. Meanwhile:

http://www.fjordstone.com/jmscon/

Enjoy!

Jan

[The One to come]

Originally posted by Jan
c) commented that he's recently discovered a (resistance? prejudice?) toward people moving from TV to motion pictures.


hmmmmm............

How interesting........
I wonder how widespead that "resistance" is.....

I meen I'm not overly happy that it (as it seems) is going to be a movie, if it's going to be about the teep war (no intress really) or about the techno mages i'll be even more against it, but i digress.

I never would have guessed that there was a vocal resistance to it. Well I still don't think that it's going to be a movie (he'll have to come out and say it for me to believe it)

let us not forget the words for Kosh
"Understanding is a triple edged sword, your side, my side and the truth...."

intill the Great Maker speaks all is still in guessing.

Marco

[grumbler]

I think the "resistance" is along the lines of what CE has already talked about when discussing TV versus movie directors, etc.

It is VERY unusual to have an author retain the sort of creative control JMS is going to have over this feature (and your refusal to acknowledge that JMS has, in effect, said it is a feature is somewhat endearing, as is your refusal to be interested in the most popular potential subjects for said feature...) unless it is a small, one-man show.

Anyway, thanks all for the reports and Jan, thanks pointing us to the pics. I just wish I had had THAT much more notice, as the con was only about four and a half hours aaway from me.

[DDC2000]

Thanks for all the information Jan. :)

I wonder how long until AICN runs an *exclusive* that says something like "JMS in negotiations with Star Trek franchise! Will B5 suffer?" LOL LOL LOL :D

It's kind of sad to see some fans that can't seem to be happy that something is finally happening in the B5 universe and they don't seem to trust JMS' judgement. If WB has few objections then why should we? He has after all, proven that he can bring a show in on budget and on time. B5's budget was something like $900,000 versus the Treks $2,000,000 or so. Imagine what he could do with a REAL budget! He's also not a *one-trick pony* as he's done other stuff before and after B5. There are other writers and directors who have gone back and forth between the mediums. In new faces and ideas weren't given a chance, we'd still have nothing but The Andy Griffith Show on primetime. Can you say Ron Howard?

Oh well. We'll know more in a week or so. :)

[Kevin]

Man, looking at the pics made me really wish I had gotten a chance to go to this thing. Unfortunetly a plane ticket to NJ isn't the easiest thing to come up with with 2 weeks notice... maybe 4, but 2's pushing it ;)

Still this sounds like an awesome event and I hope they did really pull together enough money to keep their programs running.

[Ranger1]

Great pics Jan...damn im no gay but JMS is looking good.

[Stunaep]

Boy, I can see how WB is excited about B5, if they´ve made 70 mil from DVD sales alone. That´s almost the budget for the series first 4 seasons. And boy would it be nice if they bought in JMS to rescue Enterprise, as long as that doesn´t interfere with TMoS work. It´d sure be nice to show them how an arc is supposed to be done.

Oh and what the hell is "But In Purple, I'm Stunning"?

[Jan]

Originally posted by Stunaep

Oh and what the hell is "But In Purple, I'm Stunning"?

It's a book of quotes from B5. Back in 2002 fans were invited to send in favorite quotes from the show as well as any stories about what it meant to them and why. Originally it was due in late 2002 or early 2003.

Here's the original message:

http://jmsnews.net/msg.aspx?id=1-16565&query=But in Purple

When JMS said in the DVD commentary that Delenn's 'Be somewhere else' speech in Severed Dreams was the hands-down fan favorite quote he knew what he was talking about.

I'm looking forward to it.

Jan

[The One to come]

A book of quotes can't wait for that, there are so many good one liners.
:cool:

[colonyearth]

Originally posted by grumbler
I think the "resistance" is along the lines of what CE has already talked about when discussing TV versus movie directors, etc.

It is VERY unusual to have an author retain the sort of creative control JMS is going to have over this feature (and your refusal to acknowledge that JMS has, in effect, said it is a feature is somewhat endearing, as is your refusal to be interested in the most popular potential subjects for said feature...) unless it is a small, one-man show.

Anyway, thanks all for the reports and Jan, thanks pointing us to the pics. I just wish I had had THAT much more notice, as the con was only about four and a half hours aaway from me.

Yeah, there are other forms of resistance between the mediums as well, though those have lessened over time. I've posed a question to Jan in the B5tv forum about JMS' attitude when discussing this and hopefully I can share her answer here about it when I get one. Unless, of course, you want to post your answer here as well, Jan:D

If this resistance is about allowing someone like Vejar or Greek to direct TMoS, I really hope JMS looses this one and decides to go with a feature film director, but makes them allow him to help choose a good one. Surely there are feature directors out there who loved B5.

Who knows what that resistance or prejudice is, I just hope it doesn't cause prolems in B5 and its future or for the project. This is why I asked Jan how he said it.

My comment on the ST statement was this...Whooooohooooo! I would love to find out he's taking over Trek...I've always said that if anyone could save Trek, it's JMS. If some of you have read my statements on the matter, you know I've said again and again that the only way to save Trek is to find someone with vision and passion and the ability to give us compelling characters and story. Well, JMS fits that bill "in spades.":D

Great Maker! Could JMS finally be getting the long awaited recognition he deserves?

Happy Dance continues!

CE

[Jan]

I've posed a question to Jan in the B5tv forum about JMS' attitude when discussing this and hopefully I can share her answer here about it when I get one. Unless, of course, you want to post your answer here as well, Jan

I can do that. Hope you don't mind that it's the same one on both forums :-):

I can only hope that this resistance and prejudice, though I knew it existed, doesn't in any way deter JMS or cause problems for JMS, B5 and the future. But I have to say it's wonderful to know that the buzz and hype seem to be overshadowing anything negative.

Hopefully, JMS will hold his own and maintain his patience and the resistance will decrease over time. To those of you who were there, how did he say that part? Was it with that "I'm sick of this superiority complex of theirs and getting tired of it more and more each day"? Or "It's there, but not a big deal and getting better," sort of way?

What was his demeanor like when talking about that particular issue?

And as for the ST comment...I find that VERY INTERESTING. And a little part of me wants to go Whoooohoooooo!

I guess time will tell.

One last question: He wouldn't elaborate on the Ides of May comment I see, but did he seem to be of the attitude that it wouldn't still be around that date?

Thanks for the info and postings!

CE

I've been kicking myself that I can't recall the exact word he used. His manner wasn't upset that I could tell, more of a 'here's another oddity of this business that doesn't make much sense' attitude. I didn't get the feeling that it's a major battle.

One last question: He wouldn't elaborate on the Ides of May comment I see, but did he seem to be of the attitude that it wouldn't still be around that date?


All he'd say was that it was in the hands of the Powers that Be and he'd be in hot water if he said anything. Now, knowing how precise JMS tends to be, I remind folks that his post said "Starting around the Ides of May..." not *on* that date. He never promises anything that's out of his control.

Jan

[Sigma]

Originally posted by Jan
All he'd say was that it was in the hands of the Powers that Be and he'd be in hot water if he said anything. Now, knowing how precise JMS tends to be, I remind folks that his post said "Starting around the Ides of May..." not *on* that date. He never promises anything that's out of his control.

Only time will tell :)

Maybe it will be announced in some WB press events.

In near future one possibility is Cannes (12-23 May). Also if i'm not mistaken, WB press event is being held this weekend (in Burbank if i remember correcty, although i think it's TV only).

[colonyearth]

Originally posted by Jan
I can do that. Hope you don't mind that it's the same one on both forums :-):



I've been kicking myself that I can't recall the exact word he used. His manner wasn't upset that I could tell, more of a 'here's another oddity of this business that doesn't make much sense' attitude. I didn't get the feeling that it's a major battle.



All he'd say was that it was in the hands of the Powers that Be and he'd be in hot water if he said anything. Now, knowing how precise JMS tends to be, I remind folks that his post said "Starting around the Ides of May..." not *on* that date. He never promises anything that's out of his control.

Jan

Thanks again Jan for the quick response!:D

I hope you don't mind that I post the same thing here that I did at B5tv about spreading the word!

If you all recall the comment I made in this forum previously that it's up to us, the fans, now to spread the word, well, I've posted a poll over at www.sg1archive.com about B5. Everyone head over there, join up and post a positive response to the the poll.

It's in the off-topic discussion and called "Babylon 5 poll, What do you think of B5 and the new film".


There are some wishy washy types there who aren't convinced and some who haven't seen it really. If such a poll were overwhelmingly positive for B5 (and there are some fans there who've voted positively) we might be able to convince some SG-1 fans to take a first (or even second) look at B5.

Help us out!

CE