[scifinoir2] B5's JMS talking Trek Again

[Tracey de Morsella \(formerly Tracey L. Minor\)]

Those In The Church Of JMS, Please Skip This Column
Author: Scott Nance
Date: 06-23-2005
Source: SyFy Portal

Seriously. If you've drunk of the J. Michael Straczynski ("'Babylon 5' is
the word of God!") Kool-Aid, then just proceed to the next story, 'cause you
ain't gonna like this one too much.

It seems as if JMS is still trying to get his hooks into what's left of the
television Star Trek franchise, and it still feels like a hostile takeover.

>From the very beginning of the launch of "Babylon 5," Straczynski set an
adversarial attitude between his series and Trek. He was quoted saying,
"We're gonna kick Star Trek's ass."

Despite that, I began watching B5. I love lots of scifi, and if B5 were
good, I'd watch regardless of JMS' obnoxious comments. I can say honestly
that I gave B5 a fair shake--actually multiple fair shakes, but more on that
in a moment.

While there have been many reasoned, rational B5 fans, there has also been a
faction which took Straczynski's us-vs.-them mindset too much to heart. Such
folks were prone to call Trek "garbage" and tell the rest of us that B5 was
the real scifi.

All the while, JMS himself did little or nothing visible to calm such
passions, which renders a bit suspect his stated desire to suddenly take the
helm of Trek for a "reboot" of the franchise, as he discussed recently at
the WizardWorld convention in Philadelphia.

It seems a bit too much like the old Vietnam mentality, "We have to burn
this village in order to save it."

While I'm no fan of the previous Trek regime of Rick Berman and Brannon
Braga, JMS has proven himself no more able at understanding the things that
would make good Trek work. And Straczynski would indeed be burning what's
left of Trek in order to "save" it.

For instance, Straczynski has an awful propensity to hand his characters
ponderous, boring speeches to read.

Which is funny, because as a friend of mine recently pointed out, in the The
Complete Book of Scriptwriting, Straczynski says to avoid long, tedious
monologues. "An unbroken speech that runs as a page or more can slow the
pace of your screenplay to a tortuous crawl," he said.

And yet, in episode after episode, that's just what he does.

Of course, Straczynski had very little budget to play around with, and
letting the actors you've already paid for run their mouths is very cheap.

And, recall how I mentioned earlier that I gave B5 more than one chance.
That's true. After being initially disappointed, I would periodically (every
six months or so) check back in with the series, hoping that somehow the
show would be better. Each time I was proven wrong.

And even those occasional viewings, I finally just gave up on. That's
because Straczynski wrote B5 with soap opera-like twists and turns such that
once you missed even a handful of episodes, a casual viewer would be utterly
lost in the story.

Which is another reason JMS must be kept away from Star Trek at all costs.

Writing a show so inaccessible to the casual viewer would be poison to a new
Trek series, in which the producers would have to rebuild a broad viewership
and be as inviting to new fans as possible.

Meanwhile, SyFyPortal's Wayne Hall reports that Brad Wright, who runs the
Stargate franchise, has said he wanted to work in Star Trek when he first
became a screenwriter.

Forget JMS. When it comes time to bring back Trek, that's the man Paramount
ought to call.

Author's Note: I want to acknowledge my friends of the USS Chesapeake for
their discussion of JMS online and in the club publication, which helped
form the basis of this column.

A former entertainment journalist, Scott Nance is a member of the USS
Chesapeake, an independent science-fiction and Star Trek club in the
Washington, D.C., area. He is a columnist for SyFy Portal, and can be
reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Tracey deMorsella, Managing Producer
Convergence Media, Inc.
Home of The Multicultural Advantage
Phone: 215-849-0946
E-mail:  tdemorsella @multiculturaladvantage.com
http://www.multiculturaladvantage.com
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