2 part episodes

 Posted on 3/30/1996 by J. Michael Straczynski <71016.1644@compuserve.com> to CIS


James R. Kapesis <104154.27@compuserve.com> asks:
> How do you decide whether a episode will be a two parter or as a
> series of connected stand alones like "Severed Dreams" is a part
> of? Do you have any two part episodes planned for season 4 yet?

For the most part, it's a matter of how the episodes feel to
me, what length they feel as if they require. When I did the big three
this year -- Messages, Point and Dreams -- I hadn't really figured
they'd be as tightly connected as they ended up being. I knew they'd
relate strongly to one another, but in a sense, they're reallly a three
parter. The War Without End story I knew was WAY too big for one
episode, but due to the structure of the story wouldn't take being
extended for one more episode; at that point you'd just be dragging it
out.

It's all instinct, I wish I had a more concrete answer.

jms