BB> to the religious life, you go to that part for a time, a few years, and
BB> that is determined by you and to a certain extent, others. If you seem
BB> not suited toward that, they may work with you to find what you are more
BB> suited for (and perhaps you felt *expected* to be called a certain way,
BB> but that's not really where you're best suited).
BB>
BB> jms
BB>
BB> We'll see Minbar at least once in year three, perhaps more.
BB>
BB> jms
BB> No, the last ep of this season wasn't per se a cliffhanger, though it
BB> does tip over a few things, so it flows from 222 to 301 fairly smoothly.
BB>
BB> jms
BB>
BB> : I recently had an opportunity to go back and watch some episodes. The
BB> : name of the particular episode escapes me, but it is where the Shadowship
BB> : attack the Narn outpost. In it the perspective of the camera sweeps
BB> : around, zooms through the protruding spines on the ships and we see the
BB> : shadows firing on the outpost on the planet below.
BB> : I watched it on a friends large TV with stereo pumped and I must say,
BB> : as I've said before, that one scene qualifies in my mind as a true piece
BB> : of art.
BB> : This is indicative of the CGI FX for the entire show. Not only are yo
BB> : using this new technology to take care of FX for the show, but you seem t
BB> : be pushing its potential, not settling for traditional, straight shots --
BB> : making sure those of us in the audience can get that rush of awe and
BB> : wonder we look for in sf (both in the FX and in the epic proportions of
BB> : the storyline.
BB> : I would just like to extend my congratulations and thanks to you and
BB> : the people who worked on that scene and others: I consider something like
BB> : that an achievement equal to that of any great artist.
BB> : Tudor Lewis
BB>
BB>
BB> Thanks. That scene in "Coming of Shadows" is one of my favorites;
BB> it does, as you say, convey that sense of wonder which is one of my main
BB> goals with this show.
BB>
BB> Until "The Long Twilight Struggle," nothing else has come close to
BB> that scene for me. But there's some stuff in there that finally manages
BB> to surpass it. Just gorgeous and scary and awe-inspiring.
BB>
BB> jms
BB> Of course we're going to find out more about why the shadows are
BB> doing and what they want; it'd be kinda pointless otherwise, no?
BB>
BB> jms
BB> : If the Minbari prophecies regarding humans go all the way back to Valen a
d
BB> : the founding of the Grey Council, why did the Grey Council endorse the
BB> : Earth-Minbari war as they did? The Minbari certainly gave all appearance
BB> : of planning to wipe us clean off the galactic map (although this is of
BB> : course open to question). At any rate, it seems that they should have be
n
BB> : leary of interfering with whatever destiny we're supposed to have in stor
,
BB> : as a war of that scale could surely do.
BB> : Steven M.
BB>
BB> There was the prophecy, but they didn't know specifically to which
BB> race it pertained until much later.
BB>
BB> jms
BB> Subj: Initials Section: Babylon 5
BB> To: Tuesday, June 13, 1995 1:22:03 AM
BB> From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#239120
BB>
BB> >> Is it just a coincidence that Jeff Sinclair, John Sheridan
BB> and Joe Straczynski all have the same initials? <<
BB>
BB> Probably not.
BB>
BB> jms
BB>
BB> Subj: <>-Spoiler Section: Babylon 5
BB> To: Wednesday, June 14, 1995 2:50:18 AM
BB> From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#240268
BB>
BB> >>Talia Winters is either getting killed off or thrown in jail
BB> back on earth. She is the one who tried to kill Kosh at very
BB> beginning of show. In real life, the actress who plays her and
BB> the actor that plays Garabaldi are engaged!!! The shadows
BB> attack the Narn home world and do major damage. Vir is getting
BB> killed off.I wonder if their sources are reliable.
BB> We will see..............<<
BB>
BB> I'd say overall that's the most breathtakingly jumbled
BB> batch of half-rumors and quarter-truths I've seen. You can
BB> disregard, oh, 98% of it.
BB>
BB>
BB> Subj: Why B5 on TV? Section: Babylon 5
BB> To: Wednesday, June 14, 1995 11:15:17 PM
BB> From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#241212
BB>
BB> Any time I come up with a story, I try to look around
BB> to determine where it would work best. This one *felt*
BB> like it belonged to TV.
BB>
BB> More than that, though...I went into this looking to
BB> create a saga for TV. It wasn't so much coming up with the
BB> story, and realizing it was a TV saga, as it was, "Nobody's ever
BB> done a multi-year science fiction saga for television.
BB> As a thought-experiment, can I come up with something that
BB> would work in this medium?" This led me to the structure that
BB> became Babylon 5.
BB>
BB> jms
BB>
BB>
BB> Subj: B5's Military Metaphor Section: Babylon 5
BB> To: Wednesday, June 14, 1995 11:15:15 PM
BB> From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#241211
BB>
BB> As I responded in private mail, I'm drawing upon a number
BB> of military influences in the show; some from WW I, in the Great
BB> War and how WW I sort of slid into WW II; some tactical and
BB> strategic elements of WW II military; and some of the political
BB> elements that went into the Vietnam and Korean conflicts.
BB> Actual tactics and battles will vary; there's a major battle
BB> setpiece in a later episode that uses more contemporary and
BB> futuristic elements such as long-distance (thousands of
BB> kilometers) tactics, interceptors and the like.
BB>
BB> Also as I noted in email...I just learned today from someone
BB> high up in military PR in Washington that Babylon 5 is very popular
BB> with many branches of the military. They call it a "force multiplier"
BB> (morale booster) for naval and air force and ground troops (apparently
BB> the show gets shipped out to bases and to carrier/battleship groups).
BB> It's also very popular with many folks in the Pentagon and the Secret
BB> Service. (In one case, the Secret Service apparently did an analysis
BB> of one of our episodes as an exercise in character analysis of
BB> military persons under high-stress situations.) The Flying Tigers
BB> have also been very supportive of the show, even allowing us to use
BB> their symbol in the series.
BB>
BB> jms
BB>
BB> Subj: B5 Military Section: Babylon 5
BB> To: Thursday, June 15, 1995 10:25:12 PM
BB> From: J. Michael Straczynski, 71016,1644#242354
BB>
BB> Vorlons/Shadows at the top of the force, Minbari after,
BB> Centauri, with Humans and Narns not that far apart.
BB>
BB> Er...what was the suggestion again...?
BB>
BB> jms
BB>
BB> -------------------------------------------------------------------
BB> **************************************************************************
BB> ***** sorso@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu **** "Every silver lining has a cloud." *****
BB> **************************************************************************
BB>
BB> What follows is a pair of analyses of two major aspects of the
BB> *Babylon 5* story arc that have recently coalesced in my mind. To
BB> some extent they are independent and could have been typed up as
BB> separate posts; however, if the first analysis is right, it would
BB> also come into play as an argument for what I advance in the second
BB> analysis. Accordingly, I'm putting both together here. Apologies
BB> if the length of this post proves inconvenient. (And apologies of
BB> another sort. At this writing I am a few hundred miles from my
BB> PC, which means (a) I have to write this without the software that
BB> lets me bounce back and forth between the text I'm writing and the
BB> Lurker's Guide to check my memory of plot details, and (b) I have
BB> to type using a keyboard that seems to have been manufactured by
BB> the makers of the Yugo. If there are factual slips, I trust they
BB> will be minor ones that do not preclude the main line of argument;
BB> and if I don't purge this post of all its typos before I transmit
BB> it, bear with me.)
BB>
BB> I. The Unified Field Theory of Conspiracies
BB>
BB> A few weeks ago, in a post that referred to the abundance of
BB> conspiracies in the Babylon 5 universe, I half-jokingly suggested
BB> we needed a Unified Field Theory of Conspiracies to simplify
BB> keeping track of things. Okay, consider the following paranoid
BB> possibility for an UFTC: All the calamitous problems lately are
BB> the work of the Shadows.
BB>
BB> Could the influence of the Shadows really be so pervasive? Let's
BB> consider what evidence is available, taking it species by species:
BB>
BB> EARTH: The Earth Alliance is afflicted by three conspiracies of
BB> note--(1) the Clark Administration's accession by means of
BB> assassination and its impletmentation of a number of distressing
BB> measures aimed to enhance its political control; (2) the dirty
BB> tricks operation being run by the group known as Bureau 13; and (3)
BB> the rogue element in Psi Corps's leadership engaged in a eugenics
BB> campaign to develop more powerful telepaths. It's been fairly
BB> clear for some time that Psi Corps is the common thread to these
BB> conspiracies. Garibaldi's treacherous aide Jack gave Garibaldi
BB> the same salute ("Revelations") that Bester gave in "Mind War."
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12
* Origin: The Richmond Connection, Richmond, VA 804-740-2186 (1:264/417.0)
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From : Steve Wiser 1:264/417 .тp 20 .юн 95 20:10
To : All
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.TID: WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 94-2151
BB> That establishes a link between the Corps and the Clark faction--
BB> a link for which there is other evidence we haven't seen, to judge
BB> by the suspicions that General Hague voiced in "All Alone in the
BB> Night." The Corps is also linked to Bureau 13 by the woman we
BB> know as "Thirteen"--i.e., the woman who managed the conspiracy
BB> seen in "Spider in the Web." Thirteen is a telepath, and Psi
BB> Corps's records have been doctored to list her as dead, thereby
BB> providing cover for her to drop out of sight and manage things
BB> from the San Diego wasteland. Where do the Shadows come in?
BB> For that you have to refer to the current four-part story now
BB> unfolding in the Babylon 5 comics (synopses available through the
BB> Lurker's Guide). It's becoming quite clear that there is some
BB> kind of Shadow presence on Mars, and Mars is also the site of a
BB> top-secret Psi Corps base. Indeed, it's evidently a base where
BB> skulduggery takes place--that's where Bester was interrogating his
BB> prisoner to lethal effect in the outset of "A Race Through Dark
