/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ "Semarak Api" The 88th Firebirds Official Newsletter Website: http://ftp.sarawak.com.my/org/firebirds/ Volume Nine, 15 February 1998 Part B /~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ PART B: Interstellar Chat Radio >From the Quill Pen Birds of a Feather Addresses and Sites /~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Interstellar Chat Radio <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Hi FBs, Our Foreign Relations and Liaison Officer is reaching out to touch base again!! Here's her message. Spar XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Hey 88th! Have you heard the latest? Have they started showing Starship Troopers over there in good ol' M'sia yet?! It's in the cinemas over here in the UK at the moment, and I just went to see with me friend Odile last week, and we absolutely LOVED it!! It was brilliant!!! Extremely sick and violent, i.e. ppl getting cut up to bits, ppl getting their heads chopped off, ppl getting their brains sucked out, etc. etc., but in a funny satirical sort of way, like Quentin Tarantino style. Great. Just my style. Right up my alley. It was really good! :-) For those not yet in the know, it's a sci-fi movie about how Earth sends its troops into space to fight horrible aggressive aliens who are threatening and menacing the security of the planet (surprise surprise). I swear they must've pinched some ideas from S:AAB! Anyway, it's a bit stupider in the sense that they're not marines , and also that the horrible aliens they're supposed to fight are actually huge, erm, *bugs*. Y'know, arachnids and insects and the like. Can you imagine sending mobile infantry into combat against giant spiders?! Not surprisingly, the soldiers all get terribly annihilated at first. They all learn their lesson and it gets a bit better afterwards, but still...there is a LOT in the story which is highly difficult to swallow (i.e. spiky, bumpy bits which us wise S:AABers would *never* fall prey to). All in all, I'd say S:AAB is definitely much more realistic. You guys'll love this movie though. Well, you *should*. I know KF will definitely worship it!! Me and Odile liked it so much that we're going back to see it again this Wednesday!!! :-D Be prepared for a gory fest though!! :-) Must go now. Class in 10 minutes. Will try and reply to everybody who wrote me, as SOON as possible. Semper Fi and HOO-RAH! ~Raven "We get you, SIR!!!" - Mobile Infantry, `Starship Troopers' XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Well, ok, we dissected it already, but hey, it's always good to hear from her. :) __________________________________________________________ Here's a transcript of the Dominion chat with Morgan and Wong, held on 28th January, 10 am (Malaysian time): *** GlenMorgan (GC10001D@alpha.usanetworks.com) has joined #auditorium *** JamesWong (shred@mothra.usanetworks.com) has joined #auditorium *** JamesWong sets mode: +o JamesWong Testing Yep, that works. Type /msg Moderator to send your questions for Glen and James. *** Gmark sets mode: +v JamesWong *** Gmark sets mode: +v GlenMorgan We'll be starting the chat in just a moment. Hi *** JamesWong sets mode: +v JamesWong hello I'd like to welcome Glen Morgan and James Wong to our chat tonight. Glen and James first caught the attention of sci-fi aficionados in 1993 as co-executive producers of the award-winning series The X-Files. In 1995, they launched their own series, the space combat saga Space: Above and Beyond, which ran on Fox for one season and now airs on the Sci-Fi Channel. They are currently both executive producers on Millennium. Hello Glen, and hello James. Thanks for joining us tonight. Can you briefly introduce yourselves to our audience? Hi. Hi (is that brief enough?) Thanks for comming Okay. Thanks for the great turnout on Sci-Fi Channel We're looking forward to hearing some questions about our favorite show, Space: Above & Beyond. It means a lot to the cast and srew sorry - typo (crew) to : To Morgan & Wong; Hello. When you started writing Saab did you have an idea of how the show would eventually end? What was it? We thought it would be longer - hopefully 5 years of SAAB. We didn't know how it would end - we hoped it would run a lot longer When it came down to knowing they'd be cancelling the show, we came up with that ending. (Laughs) to : Was the show geared for more than one season? Yes Yes. In fact, even as it was ending we had planned the 2nd season as a selling point to FOX. So, in the 2nd season, McQueen was going to be back on Earth dealing with his disabilities. There was going to be sort of a new honcho of the 58th, who was going to be a woman. We were planning on introducing some new characters. to : what caused FOX to finally cancell the show? was it the high budget or low ratings or something else? So, we had already kind of mapped out loosely the 2nd season when we realized they were going to cancel the show...so we sorta killed off all the characters. (laughs) Their stupidity ! I think it was a combination of that they didn't have the confidence that we had in the show really picking up steam. Towards the end, they didn't give us enough airings in a row. to : Were you happy with how the show ended? They promised us 5 airings in a row Friday at 8 and they renegged on that. They ended up only giving us 2. That was the timeslot we always asked for. Without much promotion - we really felt that they didn't give us a chance. I was not happy that it ended but was happy that it ended the way it did - story wise to : Were you pleased with the great ratings SAAB got on SciFi? We were extatic! We were telling every FOX executive we saw that day what great numbers they got. to : Is there anything about Space that you would do differently now? I think I would have not have done "Hostal Visit" or "Choice or Chance" Knowing what we know now, it's too easy to say why we would've done so many things differently. to : If the show continues to be popular on the Sci-Fi Channel, do you think you might change the ending and make more episodes? For me, it's a process of finding the show...I think some of the earlier episodes can be a little clunky as we're finding the show, but that's normal in every series. If anyone cared we would definately make more episodes But the ending would not be the ending if that were the case to : Would you ever consider doing a movie? tv or otherwise? Absolutely. In fact, at the X-Files episode party we cornered Peter Roth, who's the head of Fox network, and almost sold him on a 2-hour movie. Do you mean of Space ? YES ! to : How do you respond to the accusation that Starship Troopers was "Space Above And Beyond: The Movie," previous novel or otherwise? I didn't see ST so I can't comment. It was not as good as the novel but much better that the movie We always looked at the novel " The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman . Not the novel "Starship Troopers" to : Did Heinlin's Starship Troopers have any part in inspiring Space: Above and Beyond? I had never read Starship Troopers, I read ST a long time ago but I didn't even think about it to tell you the truth. We were more influenced by our fictional war class in college, to : What can we, as fans, do to help bring about a SAAB movie? "The Fanbase IS Out There..." :) in which we read the Ilyad, Red Badge of Courage, the Naked And The Dead...up to Forever War. Those are the books that influenced SAAB. All of us appreciate it SO much. Keep watching on The Sci-Fi Channel (cool nickname :) to : If Space had been renewed for a second season, what would you have done differently in the last episode? All we can do is show the network the ratings on SFC and hopefully we can convince them that there are people who want to watch it. I don't know. I don't know if I would have done anything differently in the last episode The script was written so that it was a little bit less clear that the people had died...so that might have kept to that more. That might be the only thing we would've done differently.. to : How many plots/ideas did you have for season 2? Type /msg Moderator to send your questions for Glen and James. We had just the barest outlines of the direction we wanted to go. 6-12 I have the better memory Glen has a better memory, it's true. to : If the show had been allowed to continue, woud you have given us glimpses into Chig society and culture? Yes. We did it in show 22 or 21 ? oh yeah! show 21, when we saw the incubators on that planet. that was the beginning. to : I think a question that everyone's always asked is, "is Wang really dead?" Yes, he is dead.... to : If you had the chance would you make the show more like Babylon 5 with a definaate beginning, middle and end? if there's a movie, there might be a miraculous escape hatch. ;) If this is the movie - he may not be so dead *** Gmark changes topic to "Glen Morgan/James Wong. To ask a question, send it to the Moderator" Are you Joel Da Lafonte asking this Q? No. to : In your opinions, what were the best and worst things about SAAB (aside from cancellation)? The best thing was Reverse Stars. Best thing - the friends we made, episodes we were allowed to do , the reactions of fans The worst thing was the difficulty in producing it - 16, 18 hour days almost all the time. worst thing - the hours it took, being lied to by the network, to : How many inside jokes were there that we didn't know about? Being lied to was a very painful lesson ! You know, I can't remember! There were a lot! HA, HA, HA! ....632 to : I know the shows were rather expensive to make, but with today's technology, could you do them a lot cheaper? We had a lot of "Charger" inside stuff. Leslie O'Neal was on the show in one episode because, you know, we're huge fans. Commedor Ross was named after Bobby Ross, who used to be the coach. Constantly hearing that they were a little expensive makes me a little nuts Possibly. We've been told since the show's been cancelled that they never lost a dime on SAAB, so it wasn't the reason why it was cancelled, apparently. During the season we were able to control costs and the show MADE THEM MONEY ! to : How were you lied to? So - hearing about the Costs makes me NUTS *** JamesWong changes topic to "Morgan & Wong chat - /msg Moderator with questions" We were told we would get 6 weeks - Friday at 8pm the month of April That we would get Fri night in JAn as well. Neither one of those happened We got ***around to : The S:AAB episode where Wang is imitating McQueen... was that scripted or spontaneous? It was a wonderful bit of mimicry I wish the Sci-Fi Channel had the show - they treat it right, and promote it right Type /msg Moderator to send your questions for Glen and James. We walked around the set one time, we saw Tucker playing blues guitar outside the trailer. Joel used to walk around impersonatin g James Morrison, so James and I scripted it in to : How can you remain loyal to the Fox network after such treatment? We asked "can you really play that? Bring it to the set and we can use that!" We would see things like that and incorporate them into the scripts. We're not - we're going to CBS Our next project is with CBS. What's your next project? It's a show staring Arsenio Hall and George Eads - an action/comedy. Not sci-fi at all. to : and nothing for X-files??? Our time is over for X-Files to : Have you finished writing the script for the Devlin/Emmerich version of Fantastic Voyage? Yes, we finished it last June yes, we did. and there's been sort of a snafu in that. Devlin & Emmerich are probably going to Sony but the rights to FV are owned by FOX so there's been some hang-up in the picture because of that. to : So you will no longer be working on Mellinium? We have the rest of this season left - 6 more episodes. we have 6 more episodes

to : Excuse me, but just said your next project is with CBS? Just about every good program aired on that network was canceled. Look at AMERICAN GOTHIC! Why do you feel comfortable there? At least FOX takes risks. Type /msg Moderator to send your questions for Glen and James. Not with us ! to : If Millennium is renewed, will you re-up? No It's not that we feel comfortable - I guess every network can screw you. But so far it's been a pleasant experience. Until we get screwed ourselves, we'll hope for the best. I think Millennium has a very good chance of being renewed. The numbers for the originals, when they're promoted, are quite good. We really enjoy doing Millennium, we are really good friends with many people involved. It's just FOX shows no interest in us. to : Where did you two meet? How did you begin working together? We met in high school in Elcajon, CA. We actually went to college together at Loyola Marymount University. When we came out of college, our friends got us a job at this production company and that's when we started writing together.

to : Where you sci-fi freaks back then? Just Freaks (laughs) to : what was the first project you two worked on? I always read SF when I was a kid, but we weren't writing science fiction stuff. A movie called "The Boys Next Door" please don't watch it. to : Is one of you Plot vs. Dialogue or do you both do both? And a follow up: to : when you write scripts, do you write the whole thing together, four-handed at the computer, or do you divide it up or something? Both do both We've done it every which way possible. Ha It depends upon time and schedule But lately, we've just been doing back-to-back-to-back scripts. I would write one, Glen would write one, etc. We work out the story together. One of us writes it, the other re-writes it The good ones are Jim's, the bad ones are mine , the great ones are Darron's to : "Any other movie plans?" And a follow up: to : James, did you enjoy directing and will you do more? we have a couple of old scripts that we want to get going as movies. I did very much enjoy directing...most of the time. (laughs) Some days are not as fun. I hope to be able to do more. to : Who are/were your role models? (thinking) Our parents I think my parents, and my brother. My brother because my father - I didn't really know until I was like 21 because he was stuck in China. to : What do you think of the fan "presence" on the internet? In the beginning, the X-Files Internet fans really helped us - to read their comments. The SAAB fans are wonderful, their imput and support are great . Other shows - life is tougher to : Have you both always wanted to be writers? Towards the middle of the run for us, on X-Files, it became very much UNhelpful because we felt that they sort of had taken a position that new things shouldn't be tried. No. I wanted to be an astronaut. (laughs) Yes, in any capacity of making movies to : -(PLEASE!!!!!! - I've been trying to find this out for TWO years!) I started posting as the Red Baron on the Fox BBoards (still there) BEFORE he showed up in NNM and TAA _ peoplehave asked me WHEN did you decide to add that to the eps? Around show 11 I,m not sure, probably around Nov 95 to : How do you react to the weirder fan support? Like the dogtag project a while ago, and birthday presents, things like that? Do you think we're all just wacko? I don't remember... The Red Baron is a historical figure. (laughs) I think we were inspired by history more than your online screen name. The dog tags are on my desk as we speak No! We're very touched by the outpouring of support and we have all those memorabilia in our offices. The jar of marbles are on my desk at home They gave us each a jar - mine is on top of my entertainment center in my office. to : Are you still interested in X-Files anymore? As in, still respect it? Of course I respect it. It's just that we don't have an opportunity to really work on it. Of course I do. to : Do you feel that after reaching a certain level of fame, that you are just in a different world than the rest of us, and so your writing becomes less true? I watch it just like anybody else, on Sunday night - if the babies are cooperating. (Laughs) (laughs too) I hope I am not being presumptious (Laughs) I don't think we're really in a different level of fame! I have no Idea, we are not famous We're not like Chris Carter - we're not recognizable on the street. That Q was clearly from my MOM to : How long is an average week of work for you? It feels endless. I average 14 hrs a day Type /msg Moderator to send your questions for Glen and James. For instancek For instance, last night I was in my office until 10:30pm.

to : : we see many references to SAAB in x-files and millen., that must be you guys? Yeah, the x-files guys don't know their SAAB references to : When do you write, morning, afternoon, or all the time? Well, it works out - all the time because we have such time constraints, we take whatever time we can to write. there are so many different responsibilties we have, as well as responsibilities to our families. we might wright in the morning, edit in the afternoon, etc, You just do what needs to be done when you can the morning is my favorite time. to : Any words of wisdom to those who would follow in your footsteps? And a follow up: to : Do you have any *real* advice for aspiring writers? Perserverence is the most important thing. As corny as is sounds - to write what you believe in If you start writing for executives or "Go by the Book" if won't work We hoped the characters - the longings they have, the problems - the emotional arcs of the characters are the things we "know" and that's what we write. And... DON'T GIVE UP !

to : Have you ever goten writer's block? There is a JINX Q There are times when I feel like what we put down on the page is not as it should be, but because we need to have something out there, there it is. In that case, you know that it could be better but you just can't get it and you don't have the time. I haven't had a block - I've had so much to write that the stuff isn't very good That's the kind of writers' block we have on TV. to : I've heard that a lot of writers keep dream journals to help inspire them, do either of you do that? (Laughs) I did once, and then I realized that I was a psychotic, so I stopped doing it. No, but I did have incredible dreams while on the Nicotine Patch that got worked into a Millennium eps. to : PLEASE FORWARD!!! I've now seen the name Jack Colquitt on three of your shows. What's the significance? VERY OBSERVANT ! The chat will end at 10pm, so please ask your last questions now. That is a good luck character for us. The very first story treatment we wrote, when we were just starting as PA, at Sandy Howard productions, the main character's name was Jack Colquitt. From that treatment, we got The Boys Next Door to write... it's a good luck name. It is a good luck name to : Would you ever consider doing the cheesy 10 years later SAAB telemovie? (laughs) We would do any cheesy thing they would let us do. I would do the back the back of a SAAB cereal box at this time - anything to : VERY Important question: The Fox SAAB (Space) Board still exists & has loyal fans, any chance of visiting it again??? It's at: http://bbs.foxworld.com/foxsaab.html Yes, If I can get past my freecell game I haven't done that for any show I've worked on so far...but I'll try to stop by. to : What do you consider your greatest achievement? Our Children (Don't forget we have a S:AAB section on our own BBoard.) (not Glen and my children...the families that we each have) Not Jim and I, that's impossible to : One of the great aspects of Space was the way the music was incorporated. It felt like watching a movie! How did you choose the songs or classical pieces? Well, before answering that - there is not a better composer that Shirly Walker They were also pieces that Jim and I have been listening to our whole lives, we just incorporated it into our shows Mainly things that we listen to that touch us or move us -that's how we choose our music. to : Do you have a personal favorite SAAB episode? One where everything clicked and turned out extremely well? I like "Who Monitors the Birds" I like that one, and I loved River of Stars. I liked Sugar Dirt, too. Okay, we're about to wrap up...any parting thoughts for us? (Laughs) Be good citizens. (laughs) Thanks so much for the support that you have given "Space" on the Sci-Fi Channel, Hopefully, we'll be able to do some new episodes some day. I'm so grateful that people love something that we love so much ourselves. I'm very thankful for that. In general, it is always touching to be invited into these chats From the bottom of our hearts, we really appreciate it ! Thanks so much for joining us tonight. And best of luck with your future projects. We'll now make the room unmoderated. *** Gmark sets mode: -m Session Close: Wed Jan 28 10:58:41 1998 [For a nicer copy, head over to ] <^><^><^><^><^><^><^> >From the Quill Pen <^><^><^><^><^><^><^> In celebration of Sci-Fi Channel's recent rerun of S:AaB, I present to you an older (but still as good as ever) work: Space: Above and Beyond Puns by Sparhawk, Peregrine, and Garuda Stay with the Dead <^>Stay with the Deaf -- an original typo which spawned... <^>Satay with the Dead -- Morbid images result (a quick definition of 'satay': barbequed meat on sticks. Much like kebabs) <^>Sway with the Bed -- McQueen in a hammock with the chip thingy taken out <^>Stay with the Sod -- Night out at the Tun when Nathan had a few and starts whining about Kylen. <^>Stay with the Redhead -- S:AAB/X-Files crossover. Scully finally gets tired of Mulder ditching her and chases after him in a Hammerhead The Angriest Angel <^>The Angriest Angler -- McQueen as a fisherman looking for that elusive giant salmon <^>The Hungriest Angel -- A tale of any one of the 127th post diet phase <^>Angriest Bagel -- A bread decides to take revenge on Chiggy Von Richtofen for eating the rest of the batch <^>The Tastiest Pringle <^>The Grungiest Angel -- It's Halloween and the 127th decide to dress up as punks Farthest Man From Home <^>Farthest Nan From Home -- A Granny goes a-wandering and gets lost <^>Farthest Naan From Home -- Malaysian/Indian version of pancakes in space OR maybe the cook has been too enthusiastic about yeast again... <^>Smarmiest Man From Home -- Thats Sewell , hands down <^>Fastest Man Back Home -- A race back to Earth Dark Side of the Sun <^>Dark Side of the Son -- The side that got sunburnt <^>Dark Side of the Tun -- The corner of the Tun Tavern that needs bulbs replaced OR the part of the Tun most visited by a certain surly but cute Lt Colonel ;D <^>Dark Side of the Flan -- When Cooper forgot to watch the oven Who Monitors the Birds? <^>Who Monitors the Firebirds? -- No one 'coz no one can keep up! <^>Who Marinates the Birds? -- Yum! Ray Butts <^>Ray Putz -- Because he is! <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Birds of a Feather.... <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> And now, for something completely different, courtesy of Albatross..... Since Per[egrine]'s away, you ppl need some Morale lifting! This time, it's Bats the humour officer with quotes with a difference. FB QUOTES!!!!! Actually I'm cleaning out my Trash, but what the heck. Until Per gets back, you'll be receiving 3 quotes a day. It's about 8 inches. -Gossy do you want the whole thing or just chest up? -Gossy Was the mural the one which looked like a bunch of sperms? -E OK, so I'm in a perverted mood tonite...the first 2 quotes were referring to the FB gathering pix, and E's was about a mural in her old school or something. ROTFL! __________________________________________________________ Spar, at least he didn't leave you sitting on the potty! -E on KF she'll tip you upside down, stick you in an airlock and thraten [sic] to hit the release button if you don't promise on your life to do as she says. and if she doens't hit the button, be very sure that Spar won't be as hesitant. -Spar on what Garry will do to newbies who don't edit mails Privates don't have "things". -Blacky at the Gathering Bats' NOTE: You are Privates First Class, one rung up, and you *do* have "things". Bats <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Addresses and Sites <^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Fan fiction. Love 'em or hate 'em, no one can deny that a trip down the roads not taken can be a very interesting journey -- depending on the writer. For the best in S:AaB fanfic universe, visit: Official Fiction Annex: Mission Status: http://www.erols.com/janeh/archives.html S:AaB Round Robin- 2nd Season and Beyond: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/7680/r-robin.html Space:Above and Beyond Creative Works Center: http://www.sff.net/people/rayhne/saab/saab.htp Drknite's 'Space: Above And Beyond' Fan-Fiction Page: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/9533/ The newsletter will be posted every fortnight (hopefully). For suggestions and contributions to both the newsletter and mailing list e-mail Garuda . I will forward any message intended for the whole squadron to the mailing list. If you want your message to be seen by the whole squadron, state it clearly and I will put it up on the Bulletin Board column as well. I am also responsible for Communications, so e-mail me if you have any other problems, except those concerning your membership in the 88th, as that falls under Peregrine's wing. /~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ ENDS VOLUME NINE