>In an ideal 'JMS sets the standards' world, what do you think would be the
>optimum length for a television episode? What about the number of episodes
>to
>constitute a season?

You have to understand that I'm a Russian, and we're not known for telling
short stories. So for me an episode would be perfect at 60 minutes, no
commercials, and a season would have 52 episodes per year.

What can I say, I yammer....

>Any chance of you giving us a 'State of the Straczynski-verse' note on what's
>new, what's pending, what you can't talk about, how you're healing (fast and
>well, I hope) and all the other questions we keep asking?

Jeremiah: finishing post production on our last batch of episodes, including
the two-part finale "Things Left Unsaid," which Mike Vejar directed and it's
just *killer*. Of all the things I've ever done, and I'm including B5 in this,
on an invidual basis this may be the best thing I've ever done, certainly the
most ambitious. It's just frikkin' HUGE, the performances are great, the story
moves ahead by leaps and bounds, I'm just *real* happy with it.

(Another crucial arc story, "Tripwire," airs next Friday. This is one to
definitely see if you're thinking of following the show.)

What's pending...I'm about 4-5 issues ahead on Spider-Man now, with another
issue coming out next Wednesday...I've turned in the next draft on "Polaris" to
the SciFi Channel, and that seems to be moving ahead nicely....

And there's another TV project that's been in the works for a while now that's
also getting a bit toasty at the moment, but I can't say anything about it yet,
not until the ink dries.

As for the healing...not great. The finger didn't heal right after the
dislocation, and it looks like the emergency room doctor who put it on (who
said she hadn't done this sort of thing before) kinda put it on sideways...so
it locks and hurts and when I went for a follow-up in LA, the doctor took one
look at the thing and said, "Surgery." Looks like a combination of a ruptured
tendon and some bone bits that got into the joint and have been sawing back and
forth all this time.

So now I've got to go in and have the damned thing operated on, and there's a
better than even chance that because of the surgery I may lose some function in
the finger.

Sucks.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

>Is this a cliff hanging S1 finale? Is there (do you want there to be)
>a S2 planned?
>

Yeah, it's our s1 finale, as for a second season, that's in the hands of the TV
gods.

>I'd guess typing is really tough. Have you tried any of the voice
>recognition stuff out there? It's said to be getting pretty good, and
>with all your academic / scientific contacts, who knows, you might
>even get stuff earlier than the market

Problem is, I think through my fingers, I can't dictate for squat.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)