Text 681, 104 rader
Skriven 2006-05-25 16:55:00 av Robert E Starr JR (1127.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: ATTN: JMS - A view fr
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@REPLY: <jMMcg.1501$ou6.295@newsfe20.lga>
Eskil Solberg wrote:
> How do you start a post to a man and writer you admire greatly? With an
> informal "Hi"? A slightly goofy "Hello JMS"? 

How about, "Hey Joe!" (first person who says, "Where you goin' with that 
gun in your hand?" gets an extended visit from the NBS!)

Seriously, most of us here just call him Joe... he's possibly the most 
normal, down-to-earth guy you'll find in or orbiting Hollywood (next to 
Tom Hanks, perhaps).

> Oh, and please ignore any of my linguistic mistakes. I am a Norwegian, and
> English is only my second language...

Your English is better than 99% of what you see posted on the 'net, so 
don't worry too much about it.  The residents here tend to be a somewhat 
more educated lot, so it doesn't show as badly in these parts.

> I've watched you work after Crusade - writing scripts for comic books,
> Jeremiah, etc - and it seems to me that nothing you've done after Babylon 5
> has given you the sense of *family*, the sense of *achievement* or the sense
> of fulfillment that working on Babylon 5 gave you.

I won't pretend to speak for JMS, but I'd suspect that's largely becaue 
B5 was and is his own creation, beginning to end.  The comics, Jeremiah, 
and indeed most of his projects (even going back to the Masters of the 
Universe, Captain Power, etc. days) are all based on someone else's 
ideas... it's like raising someone else's children, if you will: as much 
as you may care about them and try to bring them up right, there's still 
an extra care and attention you pay to your own offspring.

> During the years Babylon 5 was on, I think you had, on average, 200 posts
> per month on this newsgroup. Now you're down to 10-20, if that. I don't
> think it's because you have less time now than you had back then. I don't
> even think it's because the fans are no longer interested in hearing from
> you. I think it's because you have less to say about the work you are doing
> now - because *you* are less interested. You had a few episodes in Babylon 5
> about being a "True Seeker". What would the Minbari make of you now, do you
> think?

Once again, strictly my own speculation, but I would expect that the 
main reason Joe doesn't say a lot about what he's doing is because he 
CAN'T.  Once again, he working on other people's projects, other 
people's properties, and what he's allowed to say about those is 
limited.  He does drop hints now and then, as much as he can get away 
with, but he has to be careful, lest he alienate himself from the 
communities he works within... or even expose himself to legal 
repercussions.

With B5, Joe was in here on a regular basis DURING its production, 
talking with the fans, communicating what was going on, getting their 
reactions and thoughts on what was happening... almost like a real-time 
focus group.  And once again, with B5 being entirely HIS baby, he had 
the room to do that.  With most of his current projects, he likely 
doesn't have that luxury - indeed, he may even be specifically forbidden 
from getting into in-depth with discussions on on-going projects by some 
contracts.

Then too, this IS a B5 group... as much as most of us admire Joe's other 
work, they are not B5, and technically don't rate as much discussion 
here (I believe Joe does participate in various other newsgroups related 
to some other projects, such as the Marvel Comics work and such).

And finally, if you've been following Joe's few posts here the last 
couple years, you'll know that he IS, in fact, VERY busy - with at least 
three regular comic series (Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Squadron 
Supreme (previously Supreme Power), come immediately to mind), dabbling 
in limited runs of several other comic series, dealing with the script 
publishing now and then, writing for assorted other print projects, in 
addition to the two or three TV or film projects we know he's working on 
  (and possibly others we DON'T know about), mixed in with the odd 
convention appearance (and probably the need to bail Buddy out of jail 
every few months), he really does have a LOT on his proverbial plate... 
unfortunately, almost none of it related to the scope of this group.

And yet he's an integral part of this particular little community, 
ultimately being the reason for its very existence, and he still finds 
the time now and then to drop in and keep us all up to speed with what 
he's doing with his time.  Frankly, I think the fact that he finds that 
time, and chooses to spend it chatting with us here, is incredible in 
itself.

> And with that - I go back to the shadows. Expect another post from me in,
> say, another 6-7 years.

Hopefully we'll all still be here... ideally talking about some new part 
of the B5 universe that Joe has opened up to us, but if nothing else, 
just surviving as a community of like-minded travellers...


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