When is the 1st script book supposed to ship? When I check my order status on Cafe Press is says "production" -- are the books not even printed yet?
Anyone in Europe received their copy yet?
In short, while the rest of us wait, please let us live vicariously through your quicker shipping. Thanks.
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I got my book.
So far I've read the intro, the commentaries, the memos, looked at the photos and read the original version of 'The Gathering'. Some general comments....
-I *like* when JMS is writing in the style he did for the intro/commentaries. A couple of times I laughed out loud, even.
-I'm not completely enthralled with the book dimensions. I've got small hands and those large books and hardcovers end up hurting and/or cutting off my circulation.
-One of the few times I've ever found footnotes to be worth reading. These are precious.
-When the heck did the Grey Council become the Gray Council? Answer: apparently only in the commentaries 'cause that's not how it's spelled in the scripts. Wonder if it was the "proofreader's" work. (I won't go into the proofreading failures here but the "All rights reserved" message was enough to make me cringe.
-Again, the dedication was... just lovely. There are (at least) 14 more books for JMS to dedicate and he chose to honor Rick Biggs for this first one. I think he was waiting for the opportunity.
-As for the early version of 'The Gathering'. It's good...in some ways, very good. JMS has said in the past that he's vastly better when writing without outlines and revisions and this is a good example. In some ways I think it's tighter than the produced version, but I can see how there were things that it ended up paying off for him to have put into the produced one.
More specifically...
-Lyta's hardly much of a character. The produced version does better by her than this first draft.
-Velana's no loss, I don't think. Losing her make Lyta more important to the Pilot whereas in this version she just seems there to establish that there are telepaths in this universe.
-Kosh was certainly talkative when he wasn't busy being unconsious. I think I like the more cryptic Kosh, in the end.
-Poor Garibaldi. Even this early in B5, JMS didn't do the expected and let him talk to his dad one more time.
-I think Carolyn Sykes improved by in the produced version. In this one she was a little too pushy about Jeff going into business with her rather than supportive. It just didn't seem to scan that she'd think he'd just chuck everything to run off with her when things got tight.
-I can see why the network demanded changes. I think this version really does do the characters more justice but there's less tension than in the produced version with G'Kar running around being manipulative and Sinclair in danger of being shipped off to the Vorlons for trial.
And that's enough for tonight, I think. Let me digest it some more.
I got my book!
Jan
are the books not even printed yet?
I figure there might be a market for a complete set on eBay in a few years.
I guess there will be rabid fans, but if they are that rabid, why not just buy them now?
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