Talk:J. Michael Straczynski

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I'm debating whether to rename this article to [[J. Michael Straczynski]] and making [[Joseph Michael Straczynski]] redirect there rather than vice-versa. He's quite consistently credited and referred to under that form of the name. "Joe" appears rarely, "Joseph" almost never. (Cf google results: 18,800 to 343 to 210.) --Brion VIBBER

Do it - I've hardly ever seen him listed as Joseph rather than J (Or JMS for that matter) -- Malcolm Farmer

Done! --Brion VIBBER 15:30 Jul 31, 2002 (PDT)

---

Should there be a mention of Straczynski's Law (No cute children, robots, etc.)? --Paul Soth 15:31, 11 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 Straczynski bio 2 Bio information added -- conflict 3 Bio: Richland, TX? 4 Common themes and motifs or Writer profile 5 Atheist? 6 Polish or Belarusian? 7 SFX Magazine Dispute 8 HUGE news out of ComiCom 9 Supreme Power / Squadron Supreme 10 Rv re: Footnotes, Referneces and External links 11 Star Trek: Deep Space 9

[edit] Straczynski bio

A biography should be added, as the entry seems very IMDb-ish. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jeffrey O. Gustafson (talk • contribs) 10:58, 28 December 2004 (UTC).

Agree. For instance, in the afterword to the Midnight Nation TPB, JMS mentions he was part of a cult for many years. Anyone know anything about that? --Johan L 21:16, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bio information added -- conflict

I added an "Early years" section, but since I got the information from the jacket of his 1982 book, it calls into question that he "started in television in 1983". Can someone find out exactly when he really started? –DeweyQ 05:16, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Are you sure you don't have a later edition of the book? About JMS's start in television, in an interview in Rising Stars 1/2 he says his break in TV was He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which aired from 1983 to 1985, so 1983 seems to be correct. TerokNor 16:46, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

Yep. I double-checked the publishing statement and it is copyright 1982 with no mention of any editions, which suggests first edition. A "break" in TV does not mean "start" though, so I suggest that he may well have sold television scripts before 1982 and became successful with the Masters of the Universe. –DeweyQ 05:47, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Bio: Richland, TX?

I have always heard that JMS lived in Dallas for some time attending Richland College, a Dallas county community college. I have not found any source suggesting he lived in Richland, Texas. Is there a source to support this Richland, TX claim? Rigel1 17:08, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

No. --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 17:41, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Common themes and motifs or Writer profile

What are the themes and motifs his Works?

Love, Hope, Life, freedom, Freewill, Power, The soul

--Brown Shoes22 05:10, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

Powers And Principalities, Unintended Consequences, Hope--142.59.227.129 19:54, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Atheist?

If he is an atheist, as I have read, maybe we should add the category at the bottom of the page Pictureuploader 01:13, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

He is an atheist, for lack of a better term, so Be Bold! and ad the relevant category. --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 01:27, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Polish or Belarusian?

Please review the source for adding him to the Polish Americans category, I thought he was Belarusian...

JMS is both Belarusian and Polish, however he identifies more with his Belarusian ancestory. Personal quote: "Background is Byelorussia, White Russian,with some Polish in there."--Nanusia 06:31, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] SFX Magazine Dispute

JMS has been in a dispute with SFX Magazine for about eight years, although the dispute itself seems to have mainly boiled down to JMS occasionally making derogatory remarks about the magazine and signing nearly every single one of his quotes online with the legend permission to reprint these words specifically denied to SFX Magazine. It is covered on the article on SFX Magazine, I was just wondering if perhaps it should be at least mentioned here? A line in trivia stating something to the effect that "JMS has denied permission for the British SFX Magazine to reprint his statements since 1998"? Some more info on the dispute can be found on the SFX Magazine Wiki entry talk page [1].--Werthead 00:44, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

A neutral fan's retelling of events can be found here. This account has been deemed accurate by JMS. --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 03:52, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

This information doesn't seem particularly relevant. First off, the cut-off between JMS and SFX came a year later than that report made out (during the later period of Season 5). Secondly, it doesn't address the extreme slagging-off that JMS unleashed against SFX in the period that everyone who worked on the magazine was a knowledgeless hack who knew jack about SF (evidently he forgot that David Langford - who has won 13 times as many Hugo Awards as JMS has - works on the magazine as columnist, fact-checker and reviewer). It also doesn't cover the fact that SFX offered JMS a full unedited page to print his side of the story which he never replied on. It certainly doesn't explain why JMS' stance on the issue remains the same when most of the personnel on SFX have changed in the eight years since. On the other hand, it is to JMS' credit that he didn't include his traditional "Permission denied" comment (which btw legally has no enforceable power in the UK, as any celebrity stalked by the tabloids could tell you) on his recent tribute to Andreas Katsulas, and to SFX's detriment that they ignored that tribute.--Werthead 21:37, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] HUGE news out of ComiCom

I'm just too damned excited to write anything cohesive about this, so if someone with a cooler head will step in... JMS is doing a Rising Stars TV Show under Sam Raimi's production company, The Changeling is getting fast-tracked for a winter production with Ron Howard almost definitely directing, he's writing a Thor series for Marvel, and there is confirmation about Borrowed Lives for Touchstone, there is a bidding war over a Midnight Nation movie... and the BIG news, a series of Babylon 5 short films that he will write and direct (!) that will air on TV then go to DVD. Link from CBR, Rastb5mod thread here. --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 02:27, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Supreme Power / Squadron Supreme

• Removed the Supreme Power: Nighthawk and Supreme Power: Doctor Spectrum tpbs from the list, as they were not written by JMS.
• Added Squadron Supreme Vol 1, which is out in Premier HC.
• Should the title of field be changed to (say) "Supreme Power / Squadron Supreme", as the series title has changed?

--Telecart 00:17, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rv re: Footnotes, Referneces and External links

Per WP:CITE:

Maintaining a separate "References" section in addition to "Notes" or "Footnotes"

It is helpful when non-citation footnotes are used that a "References" section also be maintained, in which the sources that were used are listed in alphabetical order. With articles that have lots of footnotes, it can become hard to see after a while exactly which sources have been used, particularly when the footnotes also contain explanatory text. A References section, which contains only citations, helps readers to see at a glance the quality of the references used.

Further reading/External links

An ==External links== or ==Further reading== section is placed near the end of an article and offers books, articles, and links to websites related to the topic that might be of interest to the reader. The section "Further reading" may include both online material and material not available online. If all recommended material is online, the section may be titled "External links". Some editors may include both headings in articles, listing only material not available online in the "Further reading" section.

All items used to verify information in the article must be listed in the "References" or "Notes" section, and are generally not included in "Further reading" or "External links". However, if an item used as a reference covers the topic beyond the scope of the article, and has significant usefulness beyond verification of the article, you may want to include it here as well. This also makes it easier for users to identify all the major recommended resources on a topic.

--Tenebrae 04:18, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I think that the "Reference" section in this article should be renamed "External links". As per WP:CITE a separate "References" section is helpful when non-citation footnotes are used, which is not the case in this article. Nor is there so many footnotes that it is difficult to see the sources used. With the exception of JMSNews, the sites in the "Reference" section has not been cited in the article.Epameinondas 00:21, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

"External links" are additional, "for further reading" links. "References" are general references used in writing the article. Not every sentence is footnoted; a birth date and basic biographical background, for example, come from general references. --Tenebrae 16:06, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Star Trek: Deep Space 9

Didn't Straczynski pitch what would eventually become Star Trek: Deep Space 9 to Paramount? I recall interviews from the time noting that Babylon was similar for a reason. --Chris Griswold (☎☓) 03:42, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

No, he pitched the Babylon 5 concept and series to Paramount, which they rejected. Then, in 1991, not long after Warner Bros announced they picked up the idea, Paramount suddenly came up with DS9. There are startling similarities - some feel DS9 ripped of B5, some felt the similarities were superficial, it was rather (and can still be) a rather contentious issue amongst the various segments of geekdom. Google is your friend. Seek and you shall eventually find. --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 08:20, 18 March 2007 (UTC)