Text 671, 104 rader
Skriven 2006-05-25 08:31:00 av Robert E Starr JR (1117.babylon5)
Ärende: ATTN: JMS - A view from t
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* * * This message was from Eskil Solberg to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.m * * *
         * * * and has been forwarded to you by Lord Time * * *         
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@MSGID: <jMMcg.1501$ou6.295@newsfe20.lga>
How do you start a post to a man and writer you admire greatly? With an
informal "Hi"? A slightly goofy "Hello JMS"? I could start it with "Mr.
Straczynski", but as this way of starting a post has been slightly tainted
by a certain Sprange lately (not to mention the fact that my fingers protest
wildly against the movement involved in typing the name), I will start it
like this:

Greetings from a lurker.

I believe that in the 6-7 years of being a member of this group, this will
be my second post. As such, it just might become a long one, but if you read
as fast as you say you write, you should have no problems digesting this
post in about a pint.

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

First, my condolences on the loss of both Katsulas and Biggs. I understood
they were both good friends of yours, and the loss you feel really shine
through in your newly published script books. Without going into too much
detail, I have suffered great losses myself, in ways that have changed and
shaped me to the person sitting here today. I do not presume to understand
how your loss feels to you but I know how my loss felt to me, and feeble as
it is, I know that my sympathies are all I can really offer.

However, there is another lesson I have been taught in the most brutal
fashion - life must go on. I know I hardly need to preach this to the
creator of "Babylon 5", but sometimes, even the most brilliant professor
must be reminded that his glasses are, in fact, on his head. With that I
mind, I ask you to start working again on your most beloved baby, the
universe only you hold the true key to - YOUR universe: The universe of
Babylon 5.

I watched while you were struggling with Crusade - the anger shining through
in everything you did, from your posts on the newsgroups to the interviews
you did, to the scripts themselves. It was a destructive process, and I fear
the beginning of a sort of distancing between yourself and your universe.

I've watched the intros and commentaries done on the Babylon 5 DVD sets.
I've seen the pride shining through your spectacles - the feeling of
achievement in saying "My tombstone will say 'Creator of Babylon 5', and I'm
fine with that" (paraphrasing from memory).

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.

Now I'm done watching... I've seen you several times likening working on
Babylon 5 as laying railroad tracks with the train rapidly approaching
behind you. Personally, I think that's the way you like to work. Working in
a universe of your own making, with characters you have fathered, going
towards a goal you have set for them. This is your Oddysey, your Lord of the
Rings, and it is (and please understand I say this with the utmost respect
and understanding) bigger than any one actor.

You have said that you listen to your characters, let them dictate their own
ways. Tell me, has G'Kar gone silent after Katsulas' death? What about Dr.
Franklin? Are they all silent, now that you're no longer providing them with
a universe to play in - with air to breathe in?

Is the story you had imagined for "Crusade" not bigger than a lousy
television network? Will you really allow TNT to kill a part of YOUR story?
Will the story never be told, because a TV company decided they wouldn't let
you operate freely within your own universe? I shudder to think of the
consequences if J.R.R. Tolkien had been as easily dissuaded from working on
his universe (Or, well, at least we might have been spared a crappy King
Kong remake...).

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?

I'll round this off now, as I see your pint is getting emptier... I've
probably made a lot of assumptions in this post. I'm good at that, and I
apologize if any of them have offended you, or been very much wide of the
mark. I know that a post on this board "does not guarantee art from the
bristles" - far from it - but I hope you understand that I speak to you with
nothing but the best intentions. I feel you are not doing the work you do
best - and leaving that work to the likes of, say, Mongoose Publishing is
going to hurt your legacy. I believe you still have stories to tell - and I
think that you are doing both the fans and yourself a great disservice in
not telling them. And I don't think you should let the networks stand in
your way. After all, if you need advice on not letting anything standing in
your way, I understand you have a direct line to a certain John Sheridan,
who I'm sure would be delighted in enlightening you on the subject... ;)

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

E. Solberg
                                                                  
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