IGN FilmForce interviews Jerry Doyle

[Oatley1]

I think you're right, Joe - it is an assumption (but a very attractive one).

Maybe one day, sometime in the not-to-distant-future, I would like to see JMS publish some material, notes, on his original conception of the arc, the characters, where they were to go, etc.

I am thinking something like 'The Lost Tales / History of Middle-Earth' books that were published after Tolkein's death (hopefully before JMS passes beyond, obviously).

That material, with some editorial comments about changes, and why they occurred, reasons, etc, would be a fantastic read.
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[TJGuitar85]

Well i think its a no brainer that Sakai was going to be the one if there was no anna sheridan....she was an explorer...she went to that one planet where g'kar saved her...maybe she goes back out there and goes to z'ha'dum instead, who knows.


Only JMS, thats who.

 

[KoshFan]

On the whole, I'd prefer it if JMS didn't release all his old notes. Speaking as a writer myself (albeit an unpublished one) I've often revised my work extensively, and I don't want it to see the light of day. There's a reason I took it out.

Now, JMS was occasionally forced to cover up problems on the show, which is a little different. But pointing this out seems a bit like a tour guide in a museum saying, "and this is where the artist really screwed up and this is how he covered it up." It detracts from the power of the painting, in my mind; even if it's not how it was intended to come out, it's been covered up, accounted for, and it looks good as it is. Let it lie.


It's a perceptive if unfortunately accurate point about the B5 family being "divorced." I have heard, time and again, that everyone had a grand time. Now many people are saying that there were problems right along. What this seems like to me is that when the group was together, there were problems, but they seemed insignificant. The group split up at the end of the show and differences began to split them further. Now everyone's bringing up the old problems -- which were easily survivable at the time, because the project had captured all their hearts, but now, without it, they seem much larger.

Basically, when they were happy, they talked happy. When they're angry, they talk angry. Both elements underlaid the show, but the cast forgot about the bad stuff when they were happy, and now they're forgetting about the good stuff when they're mad.

I find this EXTREMELY unfortunate, if understandable, because so much of B5 is about reconciliation and overcoming differences and disputes. The station was built to bring races together and prevent strife, for crying out loud! If the artists can no longer see the message of their own work, I'm disappointed and dismayed. Not surprised, really, just disappointed.

The show often spoke of how Humans build communities. Unfortunately, we're also very good at tearing them down.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

as i understand it, JMS is a control freak, which was a good thing for b5 as a whole. however, it's not always a good thing for the people around them. i can't imagine that he was always a joy to work with. it seemed that his way of working a lot of the time was his way or the highway. at the time, you gotta either suck up and deal, or get off the show. so, you let things slide. but, like someone said, it's like a divorce, and all those feelings come bubbling up and acrimony starts flying. it's too bad, but i also doubt that other shows/movies are any different.

i, for one, am personally glad that b5 did end at 5 years.

 

[hypatia]

KoshFan, another possible reason for the "happy talk" is that only a crazy man knocks his own project and still expects it to pay off for him.

When the actor who played Chakotay (sp?) on Voyager began to complain in public/ to the presses, it was close to the end of the Voyager run IIRC.

Most people will simply not knock their current project. It could lead to unemployment.

There is an old story George Burns used to tell about Jack Benny. Jack Benny had made a movie. When he did stand-up comedy he began to make jokes about how terrible the movie was.

According to G. Burns it was not a terrible movie. But the more he got laughs joking about how bad it was, the more he was encouraged to joke more about how bad it was.

Then his movie flopped. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Save the dirt for when the paychecks aren't coming in anymore. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[KoshFan]

True enough, Hypatia. But in all the interviews I've read until recently, any newcomer to the cast was continually amazed about how well everyone seemed to be getting along. They always made it out to be exceptional. Unless that's utterly standard, I still feel that B5 was, in some way, a happier production than other shows.

That's nit-picking, though. My point still stands: here is a show with the deepest message ever sent via TV, and it's a message of reconciliation. Why don't the people who made it practice what the preached?

 

[KoshN]

<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by KoshFan: </font color>
Why don't the people who made it practice what the preached?

Because it's always easier to talk the talk, than walk the walk.

 

[hypatia]

Very true, KoshFan. And very well put, KoshN.

(I'm talking to Kosh's this morning, hmmm. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

But it is important, too, to know that anyone with any sense tires to make work a nice environment.

I can go home and complain to my cat that [fill in name here] is such a *#%$&@$&*. But while I'm at work, I try to keep things smooth and calm.

Besides, actors act. They do not necessarily follow through on (or even believe in) what they are saying while on the stage (or set).

Maybe I'm just used to hearing more of this. The stars from "Lavern and Shirley" supposedly hated each other. Abbot and Costello also supposedly did.

And from what I hear about Gilber and Sullivan (The oprettas, like The Pirates of Penzance and others) hated each other so much they rarely met, and tried to mail as much work back and forth as possible so they wouldn't have to meet much. (One did the song lyrics, the other the plot and spoken lines IIRC.)

Ah, that's the nature of our "public face" isn't it? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Lots of secrets and dirt right under the surface there. /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

 

[PillowRock]

It also is worth mentioning that some of these "bridge burnings" seem to be over issues that occurred after the series was over. JD was very willing to work on more B5 stuff (and, in fact, was working to make such things come about) until something JMS did surrounding a possible B5 tele-movie project. Now says that won't work with JMS again.

That chain of events does not rule out the possibility that, during the run of the show, the two of them (and possibly some others) may have been sincerely happy to be working together. It wasn't necessarily just a "public face" during the run of the show. (Which is not to say that I am so naive that I think there was not any element of "public face" involved.)

 

[KoshN]

OT:

Well, then the last three bosses I worked for didn't have any sense at all (no big revelation there, /forums/images/graemlins/devil.gif). I haven't worked for a good boss* since 5/1996 (and I worked for him from 4/1987 to 5/1996).

* who realized it was smarter to leave me to my work than micromanage, and that it paid off in productivity if the work environment was friendly (as opposed to backstabbing your subordinates).


It's strange, but the bosses who micromanaged and treated their subordinates like objects (like expendable resources to be used up and thrown away) got less done and yet got promoted. Those who didn't micromanage and who treated their subordinates well, got more done, and got downsized or demoted. So, I guess you could say that the company cultivated SOBs. /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

Oh, well, screw 'em! (as Gideon would say). /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif I haven't been there since 10/06/1999, and don't miss that hellhole. I make sure that I don't even drive by the place, so I don't have to lay eyes on it.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

A lot of the cast didn't believe it when JMS turned down the offer for a sixth season. They didn't like losing a steady gig and a lot of money. They felt betrayed.

I think this has colored a lot of their perceptions in retrospect. And the fifth season wasn't as much fun in a lot of respects as the others. They were working on a shorter shooting schedule, under different SAG rules and everyone was feeling the pressure. People under pressure sometimes blow up at one another, and I'm sure there was more of this in S5 than in the earlier seasons. Since that was everyone's most recent experience, it also colors their recollections of the entire series.

It is always easier to get along with people, even those you don't have much in common with, when things are going well and you're all pursuing a common goal. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the best of friends from 1776 until Adams became president and Jefferson vice-president. Then their relationship soured so badly that they didn't exchange a single word for eleven years after the day Jefferson replaced Adams in the White House. A mutual friend finally got the two writing to each other again, Jefferson from Virginia, Adams from Massacheussetts. They never met again in the flesh, but they kept up the correspondence almost until the day they both died - July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence which Jefferson had written and which Adams, more than any other individual, got Congress to approve.

(One did the song lyrics, the other the plot and spoken lines IIRC.)

Yes, G&S famously hated one another. But William S. Gilbert, a poet and dramatist even before he met Arthur Sullivan, wrote the lyrics and the spoken lines, while Sullivan wrote the music. (Which is still the way musicals are commonly written.) There is a famous anecdote (perhaps apocryphal) about a Times reporter going to Gilbert for a quote to use in a story about a dinner given in Sullivan's honor. According to the story the reporter later told, but did not publish, Gilbert said, "No one can have a higher opinion of Sir Arthur than I do. And I think he's a dirty little beast."

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Regards,

Joe

 

[B5_Obsessed]

OT

John Adams last words were "Jefferson survives", illustrating just how deep their resentments were in the end.

Jefferson had actually died a few hours earlier.

 

[hypatia]

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif It makes our minor little political skirmishes seem trite, doesn't it? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Yea, all I can think is when the job needs to get done, you find a way of doing it. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif NO matter how much you HATE your co-worker, eh? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

John Adams last words were "Jefferson survives", illustrating just how deep their resentments were in the end.

I don't know why you'd read Adams's words that way. (They're generally reported as "Thomas Jefferson still survives", BTW.) At that point Jefferson and Adams were the only two major signers of the Declaration still living, certainly the only two members of the committee that drafted the document left. Adams, being the elder of the two, always expected that Jefferson would outlive him. Adams himself knew very well that he was dying, and near the end he merely pointed out the obvious, that Jefferson would be left as the last of the Founders. They had often discussed how their "band of brothers" was dwindling, and how little they had in common with the generation that had been born under the government of the United States. I hardly see his words as reflecting a bitter spirit. They had long-since reconciled and their correspondence was one of the chief joys of Adams's old age, especially after he lost his beloved Abagail. Jefferson was the only one left who shared his memories of the good old days.

Regards,

Joe

 

[B5_Obsessed]

Looking back at my statement, yeah, I assumed too much, although I always took that line as a bit of black humor on Adams' part.

Much apologizings.