The Title - again

anything to do with the shadows is ok by me.

Since the very first thread about one of those titles being right, my guess was "The Memory of Shadows." I just thought it sounded cool, it fit, and there is so much meaning in the name dealing with aftermaths and legacies. I think "The Movement of Shadows" is a close second since it has a nice ominous ring to it. But my vote still remains for "The Memory of Shadows."

But for the sake of fun, here are my opinions on the others.

The Mark of Shadows: (sounds too much like "The Mark of Zorro")

The Mask of Sorrows: (see above)

The Master of Shadows: (no real grounds for a race that was the "Master" of the Shadows other than Lorien, just doesn't fit)

The Memory of Shadows: (My #1 vote)

The Memory of Sheridan: (Odds of the movie taking place AFTER Sleeping in Light? 100:1)

The Merchants of Souls: (A sequal or pre-qual to the worst of the 5 telemovies? I think not.)

The Minions of Shadows: (This one cuddah been a contenda. It could deal with anything having to do with the Drakh or another Shadow servant race. But to a layman who doesnt know Shadows are actually a race of creatures, the title wont make much sense, so I dont think this is the title)

The Moment of Silence: (Sounds like a Merryl Streep/Sally Field kinda movie. Not it)

The Movement of Shadows: (My #2 choice. Sounds cool)

The Movement of Starlight: (I guess its possible, but as KoshN said, them making ANY kind of reference to Legend of the Rangers has to be about the same odds as the movie taking place after Sheridan is dead; 100:1)

The Movement of Shadows: (Wasn't this one just listed 2 lines above? You know in the dictionary under redundant, it says "see redundant")

The Mystery of Sheridan: (Possible, but I don't think it would capture non-B5 interest. Mystery of who or what? Why do I care?)

The Myth of Shadows: (Good possibility imo. Although the Shadows to B5 fans are not a myth, in the TIME of B5 they certainly were. They were a legend few new about until they came around. This one has a chance. Anything myth related sounds cool...better than mystery.)

The Myth of Sheridan: (Same as above. I think its got a shot. Saying a myth about someone is far more interesting or capturing than a mystery. Far more mystique. Had enough "m" words from me yet?)

The Myth of Souls: (Again, I don't see Martain Sheen putting on that costume ever again in his life...)

What do you think?

I still like Telepath Memories of Sorrow, but since it's not on the possible list, I guess The Memories (Or Movement) of Shadows, seems the most likely.

Since the very first thread about one of those titles being right, my guess was "The Memory of Shadows." I just thought it sounded cool, it fit, and there is so much meaning in the name dealing with aftermaths and legacies. I think "The Movement of Shadows" is a close second since it has a nice ominous ring to it. But my vote still remains for "The Memory of Shadows."

Click to expand...

Yeah, The Memory of Shadows sounds kind of-- deeper than the others; it works on more levels.

(Have we hit "groupthink mode" yet? )

I'm going with The Movement of Shadows, but I admit I think The Memory of Shadows ia a good guess as well.

Having some spare time on my hands and with the thought that every movie has their own website these days, I typed all of the titles into my web browser (www.<insert name here>.com) to see whether any of them are registered. Only one has, but unfortunately this seemed to be non-B5 related. I wasn't really expecting the name of the movie to be registered this early, but I thought i'd give it a go anyway.

For those that are interested the only name form the list that was registered was http://www.themomentofsilence.com/

Paul

I typed all of the titles into my web browser (www.<insert name here>.com) to see whether any of them are registered. Only one has, but unfortunately this seemed to be non-B5 related. I wasn't really expecting the name of the movie to be registered this early, but I thought i'd give it a go anyway.

Click to expand...

That was a pretty good idea. Did you try including "Babylon 5" or "B5" in with subtitles? Also, other good variations to check--but probably not until after an official announcement is made--would be...

www.babylon5themovie.com
www.b5themovie.com
www.b5movie.com
www.b5tmos.com

You're right; it's probably too early now. But, this is a good idea to try later once things get rolling.

Having some spare time on my hands and with the thought that every movie has their own website these days, I typed all of the titles into my web browser (www.<insert name here>.com) to see whether any of them are registered.

Click to expand...

I know a guy who went that idea one better. In 1997 the webmaster of a home theater website (now defunct, for reasons unrelated to this story ) actually registered several variations on "Starwarsdvd.com" on the theory that LucasFilm would want the domain when the time came to release the original trilogy. (An event we're still waiting for seven years later... but I digress...) He saw the registration as a kind of tripwire. When Lucas contacted him about the domain names (which he planned to give to Lucas for free), he'd know that the DVDs were coming soon, could break the story and maybe even get some exclusive news - he thought.

What he got, only months later, was a nasty letter from Lucas's lawyers demanding the he give up the domain name forthwith and take down any sites using the names. It seems they scannned registrations every few months looking for anything with Star Wars in the name and shut them down where possible as a matter of course, whether or not they had any plans to use the names themselves. (Reminds me of when Warner Bros. refused to release B5 on home video in the U.S., but also refused to license the show to anyone else for a home video release - because they might change their minds. )

So, who wants to chip in to register "B5:TMoS" and "B5:The (Insert M word here) of Shadows"?

Regards,

Joe

We're in that same situation with the books too, aren't we?

Delray (?, or maybe that's the old one, but whoever the current rights belong to) won't put out anymore books, but won't allow anyone else the opportunity to pick them up. Or am I remembering something wrong?

I still think they will try to cut costs on actors and go with "The Monkeys of Sheriden". That way you only have to pay Boxlitner(sp?).

Or go for "The Mindwipe of Sheridan". Since BB does not talk they can get him at a lower pay rate.

We're in that same situation with the books too, aren't we?

Click to expand...

As far as I know Del Rey isn't preventing anyone who wants to from publishing a B5 book. It isn't like there are publishers clamoring for the rights to publish more of them (evidently they've done OK, but haven't set any sales records). If there were, either Del Rey would sell whatever time is left on their current contract to the highest bidder they'd be pestering JMS to write some more outlines so that they could issue more books. As the company licensing the right to publish B5 fiction Del Rey has no motive to prevent anyone else from doing so. (If they were certain there was no market for B5 fiction and some other publisher wanted the rights they'd be much better off making something by allowing their exclusive to be bought out than owning 100% of a losing propostion. Collect a few bucks, let the other guy bomb. Anyway you slice it there is no situation in which it makes business sense for Del Rey not to publish itself but still hold onto the rights.)

It isn't like there are piles of manuscripts ready to go, either. There's the quote book, which should be fairly cheap to produce, but isn't necessarily going to be a Del Rey project (their fiction contract may not cover such a thing.) A short story anthology is also iffy. There isn't enough material out there to full a volume of reasonable length at a sensible price point. So Del Rey would have to pay upfront for new stories to fill out a book-length manuscript. And if the present novels haven't been selling really well, that may not look like a reasonable investement to Del Rey.

I really do wish someone over there or at Warner Home Video would wake up to the wonders of cross-promotion. An advertisement for the "canonical" books in the form of an insert in the DVD box for the movie set, a rack of paperbacks in stores like Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble or even Best Buy in closer proximity to the DVDs, ads for the discs inside the back covers of the books...

There's is plenty of anecdotal evidence that the DVDs are bringing all kinds of new fans to the show - fans would would certainly appreciate the additonal story material of the three trilogies, To Dream in the City of Sorrows and The Shadow Within - but who may not even know that the books exist, or who may have heard bad things about the Dell novels and therefore ignore all B5 fiction. Pity.

Regards,

Joe

with regards to domain name checking, Star Wars fans have been doing this for years to guess the names of prequel characters and movie titles, often to confirm spoiler reports. Lucasfilm is aggressive and defending its IP's web presence. Warner Bros might not be so, especially given its attituide to makreting B5, as Joe has pointed out. Even so, its worth keeping this up.

There's the quote book, which should be fairly cheap to produce, but isn't necessarily going to be a Del Rey project (their fiction contract may not cover such a thing.)

Click to expand...

At the Hawthorne con, JMS told us that "But In Purple, I'm Stunning" (the quote book) will be coming out around Christmas from Simon & Schuster.

Jan

I'm standing by "The Memory of Shadows" because I thought that one up independently.

Moviemakers seem to be grasping the concept of the prelude/intro these days. "Fellowship of the Ring" proved a whole lot of backstory could be told quickly and coherently inside of five minutes, and Troy, to a lesser extent, followed a similar pattern. Imagine a prelude of all-new footage showing Sheridan winning the Shadow War.... then shifting to the main plot, X number of years later, that has something to do with the legacy of the Shadows.

Imagine a prelude of all-new footage showing Sheridan winning the Shadow War....

Click to expand...

That will only be believable to those who never watched the show, as Sheridan will be looking about 7 years older than he was during the Shadow War. I know they're doing great things with makeup these days, but that's stretching it a bit.

Never seen Excalibur, have you?

Maybe I'm not discerning enough, but they get the guy playing Arthur to look (if not sound) like he's twenty at the beginning and eighty at the end.

That will only be believable to those who never watched the show, as Sheridan will be looking about 7 years older than he was during the Shadow War. I know they're doing great things with makeup these days, but that's stretching it a bit.

Click to expand...

I don't agree. They could avoid frontal closeups, so the makeup should suffice. The problem will be getting BB to agree to grow/shave the beard!

I think the fans would like to see some of the climax scenes of the Shadow war redone with modern movie magic. I sure would.

I think the fans would like to see some of the climax scenes of the Shadow war redone with modern movie magic. I sure would.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't. We have already seen the climax of the Shadow War, so what would be the point of re-doing it now.

Lazy story-telling at its worst.

If we are finally going to get something new in the B5 universe I really hope it is something we haven't seen before and not just a rehash of stories we have already seen the resolution to. Any re-telling of part of the original 5 year arc would be a massive disappointment to me - probably enough to prevent me bothering with it at all.

Well, OK ... probably not when it came right down to it, but I would certainly consider it carefully before parting with my hard-earned moolah.

I think the fans would like to see some of the climax scenes of the Shadow war redone with modern movie magic. I sure would.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't. We have already seen the climax of the Shadow War, so what would be the point of re-doing it now.

Lazy story-telling at its worst.

Click to expand...

No, it could from a different POV, new shots, etc. It'd just be something to lead the new people into the new story.

Shadow War -> Abandoned Weapons (including the Teeps) -> The Telepath War (Lyta's Teeps vs. Psi Corps)

If we are finally going to get something new in the B5 universe I really hope it is something we haven't seen before and not just a rehash of stories we have already seen the resolution to. Any re-telling of part of the original 5 year arc would be a massive disappointment to me - probably enough to prevent me bothering with it at all.

Click to expand...

Oh, you're jumping to conclusions/overreacting. If it starts out with a bit of something we've seen before, it doesn't necessarily mean that remaining 90% of the feature is not worth watching.