Re: IMage Laserdisks

 Posted on 12/23/1998 by J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com> to CIS


(blocked) asks:
> *sigh* Any word on a possible DVD release?

"Even more than the weekday strip, *this* is the way the series was
made to be watched. Without interruptions, without a 24 hour (still
less 7 day or several month) gap between episodes it becomes a whole
different experience. And the earliest episodes look different when
watched again after each season."

This is pretty much the reaction of everyone who's sat and
watched the show through in a concentrated form; it's a whole other
show. It's all contiguous, even when it looks like it ain't, and the
artificial breaks were pretty much ignored in the writing.

"This is a staggering achievement, especially within the confines of
American commercial television. I don't think anyone yet realizes what
you've done here. And when they get the first dim glimmers of the idea,
and try to copy it, they'll only see the surface mechanics of a
continuing story and never see the sheer *work* that went into crafting
almost every line and gesture of each of each show so that it could pay
off two or three years down the road."

I'm okay with that; I always said that B5 wouldn't really be
appreciated for what it is for several years down the line. This is a
part of the reason for that. It has to run through several times, and
become a part of the general consciousness, and be perceived for what
it is.

"This is the first series I've ever seen that *can't* be fully
appreciated the first time through. Reruns aren't a commercial
byproduct of this show, in a curious way they are the point. I'm
finally starting to see what you meant long ago when you mentioned a
"four dimensional hologram.""

(Actually the term was holographic storytelling, but the point
obtains.) Usually, reruns are considered an aftermarket...here the show
was written with that in mind to some extent. It was written for the
long haul, so to speak.

I'll be very curious to see the perception of the show ten years
hence.

jms