Inhalt: Dankschreiben - JMS' Antwort
JMS, Erfinder und Produzent von Babylon 5, nutzte von Anfang an die Chance des Mediums Internet/Usenet, um mit seinen Fans (und Kritikern) via Newsgroup zu kommunizieren. Diese enge Verbindung blieb auch über das Ende der Serie hinaus bestehen und bescherte uns B5-Fans viele hochkarätige "first-class" Informationen.
Nichts lag also für uns in de.rec.sf.babylon5 näher, als JMS nach der Ausstrahlung von "Sleeping in Light" [Der Weg ins Licht] auch via Newsgroup zu danken und/oder ihm einen mehr oder weniger persönlichen Kommentar zukommen zu lassen. Es machte natürlich umso mehr Spaß, da man ziemlich sicher sein konnte, daß JMS sie auch wirklich zu lesen bekommt und wir mit einer Antwort rechnen konnte...
From : Martin Bahmann <M.Bahmann@geisenheim.mnd.fh-wiesbaden.de> Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated Subject : ATTN JMS: And now for a word JMS- viewer reaction after SiL Date : 23 Apr 1999 06:54:38 -0600 Dear JMS! Nearly two weeks ago (4/10/99), the German speaking B5-community (Germany,Austria and Switzerland) saw Sleeping in Light on TV. While our comprehensive discussion in de.rec.sf.babylon5.misc still continues, we (some of the users in de.rec.sf.babylon5.misc) thought that it would be great to say good-bye to you and drop a more or less personal comment about SiL and/or Babylon 5 to you. Best wishes for the future and greetings from drsb5.m. Martin on behalf of all the others ****** Babylon 5 is now over in Germany. I want to thank you for 5 years of great entertainment. Michael Adelmann (MichaelAdelmann@gmx.de) ****** "Zathras happy once, saw a great show once, but station exploded, very sad..." carsten.witte@gmx.de (Carsten Witte) ****** Dear JMS, I just wanted to thank your for this great series. I missed the greater part of the first season, but I've been watching every episode since then. It's difficult to find the right words to describe my feelings now that the show is over. Sleeping in Light moved me to tears so that I almost couldn't read the end credits. Babylon 5 will always remain something special, and I'm sure a lot of people will remember it, and think back, even in years (or decades). Thank you! Thomas Bruckner (thomas.bruckner@netway.at) ****** Dear JMS. Thank you for creating the most memorable TV-Series of all time. The first "true" Science Fiction-Series, the first which could actually compete with some of the greatest written works of this genre. The 20th Century had to end before this finally happenend (it was about time ;) and we can be nothing more than eternally grateful. In the years as I watched Babylon5, the show strangely correlated with my life, now as iam near to end my University-Study, preparing for a new phase in my Life, I can nothing do as to wonder about this strange coincidence. Televison as an artform, died yesterday after reaching its peak. Thank YOU! Thank you ALL! Aleksandar Guzijan <guzijan@stud.uni-frankfurt.de> ****** Dear JMS, with "Sleeping In Light" still bright in my memory ... I would like to thank you for a great show that I will always remember as something unique and inspiring. Also a great 'thank you' to all the actors and crew who made your vision a dream given form. You will all be missed very badly. But in the end a quote from you, The Great Maker, comes to my mind: "The road goes ever on. -- And somewhere on that road is a five mile long spinning tin can with a quarter million people on it." Berit Lempe ( isilzha@gmx.net ) Germany ****** Dear JMS! First...SiL was a very touching episode. Special thanks for making it *so* good (and the same for Chris Franke). And thank you and the whole B5-team for a great SciFi-Show (after a long term of Star Trek domination now without doubt our #1), a lot of beautiful moments,especially with Kosh, Londo and G'Kar, for your online presence, for the background for good and comprehensive discussions with new friends on the usenet and - last but not least - for a lot of new friends in the real life. Babylon 5 was not only a great SciFi-Show; it was also a very nice joyfull part of our life during the last years. We want to wish you and all the others from the team all the best for the next years, for your projects, for Crusade. Without any doubt, we will hear from you again :-) Yours Karin Langner-Bahmann and Martin Bahmann (M.Bahmann@geisenheim.fbl.fh-wiesbaden.de) ****** Thanks for Babylon 5. Good work, well done. Greetings Marc (Marc.Haber-usenet@gmx.de) ****** Dear JMS, when I was watching the pilot some years ago I didn't think that this show would really grip me. I was wrong. By the middle of the first season I began to watch Babylon 5 regularly and I never again missed a single episode. After all these years it's even more fun to watch earlier episodes. Now I understand the meaning of all the little hints and details and I'm still amazed how everything just fits perfectly. Yesterday I saw the final episode which was indescribable beautiful and touching. When the station exploded and during the end credits I had tears in my eyes (an outstanding soundtrack!). Thank you for this wonderful story and the joy you brought into my life (Now I just hope that they will show the TV movies soon in German TV and that Crusade will get its chance! And how great would two TV-movies about the Telepath-War and Centauri Prime be!). All the best, Yours Manuel Puppis from Switzerland, puppis@pop.agri.ch ****** Dear JMS, today I watched Sleeping in Light and now my most favourite TV-series is over. I've been watching B5 for almost six years and is has changed my life. Now I want to thank you for the greatest television show of all times. I also want to thank you for being online all this years, where you communicated with us (the fans) and helped us to better understand the world you created. After all these years of watching B5, I can only quote Sinclair and say: "Nothing is the same anymore!" I hope, that Crusade will also endure five years on the tv-screen, so that I can post this again in five years. Yours sincerely Simon (simon.synopsis@gmx.de) ****** Dear jms Today was the last day. Today was a sad day. Today, we saw "Sleeping in Light". For almost six years, I have been watching Babylon 5 with great pleasure and interest. Now it's over and I would like to thank you for this great show. The best thing about it is IMHO the concept, aka "Story-Arc". It was a very good idea to plan the whole show and to work out a concept for five years. As we all know, there were some difficulties, and the fifth season was not as good as the others (IMHO), but summa summarum the concept worked out. Let's hope that other tv-producers will be inspired by your work, so that we will see lots of great things like B5 during the next years. OK, the only thing remaining to say is that I hope the best for "Crusade"; it would be sad if the Babylon 5 universe would not survive on the tv-screen. Greetings from Switzerland Thomas (tkhobbes@gmx.net) ****** "Dear JMS, as a devoted fan to Babylon 5 from the very first episode on I would like to thank you for all the hours of entertainment and the moments of joy you brought with your series into my life, and that of so many others. Speaking of such moments a quote of Delenn comes to my mind: 'Savor the moments, for they will never come again.', and surely she is right about it." - Sebastian Bergmann <bergman@informatik.uni-bonn.de> ****** Watching B5 not only gave me joy and a new meaning to Saturday afternoons (the time when the show was broadcast in german television), but it also had a couple of pleasant side effects. It improved my ability to understand spoken English (by watching the original version) and I really loved all the discussions in our newsgroup sparked by the events in B5. And most importantly I got to know several fans of the show living in my area, so we are now meeting regularly and having a great deal of fun together. Barbara Koenig (koenigb@informatik.tu-muenchen.de) ****** Ever since B5 started in Germany four years ago, I have been watching the show. At the beginning, after the Pilot movie and the first few episodes, I had doubts. But then, when I saw "And the Sky Full of Stars", and "Signs and Portents" ... I fell in love with the show. It has always been a unique, exciting experience and now that I've seen the whole story, I can but thank you for telling it to us. It made me - and many friends I won through B5 - wonder, it made us laugh and cry and think. Which, I believe, qualifies it as a real great success. I like to consider B5 a novel, as you do, and I am looking forward to re-reading it at some time in the future. Though there are a few chapters that I do not like, of course, on the whole it was really, really good. It gave and inspired me more than you could possibly imagine. My very best wishes, Frank Zander Frank.Zander@swol.de ****** Dear Mr. Straczynski, when I first heard about that new science fiction show, Babylon 5, I thought it would be yet another Star Trek rip-off - I didn't even bother to watch the pilot. But I accidentaly saw the season-one-episode "Believers," and afterwards I realized that B5 was indeed different. I learned that it is possible to depict "real" people in a TV show, their belief systems, their inner conflicts and their struggle to behave according to their principles. Since then I have become a die-hard fan; and now that it is over, I want to thank you for these five years of great TV entertainment. In my opinion B5 was the best science fiction show on television, and I hope that there will be more like it. Sincerely, Oliver Kreylos (okreylos@gallagher.cipic.ucdavis.edu) ****** Dear JMS, in Germany we saw SiL last week. It was a sad day because it's over now. I would like to thank you for the many hours I could enjoy this magnificent show. Especially I like the five-year-arc because it gives the possibility to watch the change of characters. Now knowing the whole story I think it will be very interesting to see it again and find and understand all the little hidden hints. I know there are still much stories to tell about the Babylon 5 universe and hope you will get the chance to tell us some of it. Wishing you the best for the future Lutz Kirmse <kirmse@k.htwk-leipzig.de> ****** I don't really know what to say, so I'll tell it in one word: THANKS! Thanks for a new kind of SF and a great show which enriched my life. Thanks to all who helped to make it that good. Bye Yvonne <yfischer@minet.uni-jena.de> ****** Dear JMS, in the beginning I watched B5 not regularly and thought that it was just a kind of ST clone, but after seeing "Crysalis" I recognized that this was completely different and I haven't missed an episode since! In my opinion you managed to combine the depth and beauty of "Lord of the Rings" with the fun and action of "Star Wars" creating something wonderful and unique which despite all its flaws was the best SF TV series I ever saw! Thanks to you and all the people responsible, especially Ron Thornton and the CGI guys for the great visuals and Christopher Franke for the touching music! -- Werner Spahl (ui22273@sun1.lrz-muenchen.de)"Freedom for Vorlonships" ****** Dear JMS, Thanks so much for letting us in on your vision of the future. Your story often made me lough but also cry - and it sometimes just gave me the creeps. What attracted me most to this show, however, were your characterizations. Somehow you managed just that when I thought I knew Londo, Michael or G'Kar they do something unexpectable, "completely out of their character". Well, there is nothing else to say than that Babylon 5 has been a large part of my life for the last couple of years - and because of our discussions here in this newsgroup (which I discovered rather late) Babylon 5 will not be forgotten for a long time to come. Best wishes, Claudia Wlaschuetz ( dina29@gmx.net ) ****** Dear JMS, Babylon5 went into it's final episode here last sunday. It was a very touching, 45 minutes-long "goodbye" and I loved it. As I love the whole show. Almost everything about it is great. Even if it didn't always come out as it may have been planned in the beginning. I know you put more into the project then words can ever say. Just "thank you" appears to be inaproppriate - at best. But it's the best that we - your audience - can do besides holding the show dear and remember what it gave us - which is what I will do for as long as I'll remember it. So Thank You! A lot. For Babylon 5 - one of the most extraordinary impressions put into the memory of this boy's life. Benjamin Schmaedig (gkylatnarn@gmx.net) ****** Babylon 5? Been there. Seen that. (And enjoyed it!) No Babylon 5 today, Crusade tomorrow. Look somebody got to have some damn perspective around here. Crusade. Sooner or later CRUSADE!" Thanks to JMS, the actors and the B5-Team that gave this dream form. ---- Christoph Biegner, (chbiegner@gmx.net) ****** I watched every single episode of B5. Not every episode was a winner, but many was. SiL was a great, wonderful and emotional goodbye to the show and the main characters. I'll miss B5... Martin Seebacher <martin.seebacher@netway.at> ****** Dear Mr Straczynski, Once I saw a film called "The Gathering". After watching it I was quite confused about the questions it left unanswered in its story. Later, German television should air a whole TV series set at the space station called "Babylon 5". I took a look at it hoping to see answers to those questions. But when I thought I knew many of them the growing arc and the strange atmosphere had caught me for a long time. Years should pass, and every new episode led me deeper into the labyrinth of your vast story, its monumental and Lovecraftian mood, its characters, Christopher Franke's impressive music and the beautiful computer-made pictures. Now I saw the end of it: "Sleeping in Light". On the one hand I feel a little sad that it's over; but on the other hand I regard it as the superb culmination you had in mind when you created "Babylon 5" - from the beginning there were no episodes following in this TV series. In Germany, "Babylon 5" is finished. It's time for the applause, the standing ovations. Thank you very much for many hours of intelligent entertainment, effective drama and also some funny lines. Yours sincerely, Christian Heller <heller@vossnet.de> ****** Dear J. Michael Straczynski, I would like to thank you. I would like to thank you for telling me and all the others the story of Babylon 5. You told for one hour a week one "chapter" of Babylon 5. I sat in front of the TV with wide opened eyes, ears and mouth, so unbelievable fantastic was this story. And I was looking forward to the next show like a child waiting for X-mas. (Now I'm waiting for Crusade...) I realized very early that this show is something completely new and something very special and so I watched every single show. But now the story of Babylon 5 has reached its end and it's to me like having lost something very valuable. I haven't even 10 shows on videotape, I have to remember the most. But even if I've forgotten many things, I can say that Babylon 5 is the best TV-show I've ever seen. And I will always remember John Sheridan, Susan Ivanowa, Michael Garibaldi, G'Kar, Londo Molari, Kosh and all the others and I will keep them like a treasure in my heart. For this treasure I have to thank you, JMS, and all the other people responsible for this show. I owe you all something. This letter is the fewest I can give. THANK YOU! THANK YOU ALL FOR FIVE GREAT YEARS! Yours Daniel Wachs <daniel.wachs@gmx.de> ****** Every Saga has a beginning .... Babylon 5 has also a great finish! Michael Pieper (michael@augusta.de) ****** Dear JMS, now that the airing of B5 has been completed in Germany, I would like to thank for that magnificent SF show. I was completely hooked after seeing it twice or so, and I continued to enjoy it until the very end last week. Of course, it also had its shortcomings: Sometimes it was too melodramatic and kitschy for my taste, and season 5 was rather stretched with respect to its contents. And, last not least, we all in germany had to suffer the sometimes all-to-inventive dubbing (which translated quite a few things completely wrong). Still, with its depth, its wide-spanned plot and the complex web of references across the episodes, and with its attempt to be more realistic and less idealistic then some other shows I could mention :-), it was certainly *the* best SF show we have at present. I can only hope that you will have the opportunity to keep up the good work with Crusade, and that we all will eventually have a chance to see it. Dirk Thierbach <thierbach@mathematik.tu-darmstadt.de> ****** Babylon 5 clearly sets a new standard for television-shows, but moreover it's an example of top level storytelling. All the threads and knots of the tapestry are well designed and holding firm together. The few minor flaws can only be found by looking quite close. But by stepping back, the real masterpiece reveals itself. I'm very impressed by it and I want to express my deep admiration and gratitude. - Thank you for Babylon 5. Dirk Kamp <kamp@iet.mavt.ethz.ch> ****** At last, there are some fans who just want to say thanks without any further comments: * Silvio Tschoecke (Silvio.Tschoecke@t-online.de) * Matthias Wallner (matthias.wallner@gmx.at) * Armin Wacker (wacker@berg.net) * Hilko Meyer (Hilko.Meyer@gmx.de) * Ralph Gericke (R.Gericke@t-online.de) * Oliver Gassner (fraktal@gmx.de) * Andre Canis (canis@cs.uni-bonn.de) * Hendrik Seffler (hseffler@uni-paderborn.de) * Claudia Reinhardt, Henning Schoettke (flohbus@flohbus.bonbit.org) * Robert Vogel (robert@raumschrott.de) **************************************
From : jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated Subject : Re: ATTN JMS: And now for a word JMS- viewer reaction after SiL Date : 24 Apr 1999 20:43:17 -0600 Please convey to those on de.rec.sf.babylon5.misc my thanks, both to them and to all the B5 fans in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It's amazing to watch the end of the show roll out across the planet, with each new country experiencing the conclusion in a new wave each time. Pardon the spellings and grammar in what follows, this is massively ugly on my part, all from memory, but: Meinen Deutsch ist nicht gut, aber zu alles B5folk auf de.rec.sf.babylon5.misc, Deutschland, Ostterreich und Switzerland: Danke Sie. jms