Executive producer Netter praises B5LR cast

<font size="+1">Executive producer Netter praises B5LR cast</font>
<font size="3">"We're deeply impressed with what we're seeing," says Netter</font>

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<tr><td bgcolor="#003366" align="center"><font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica">Dreamwatch issue 84</font></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#003366" align="center"><font size="-2" face="arial, helvetica">©2001 Titan Magazines</font></td></tr></table>
Douglas Netter, executive producer of B5, Crusade and now Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers, told Dreamwatch magazine that the new telemovie has taken a new angle in its casting.

"The show is purposely designed by Joe for a younger crew than Babylon 5," he revealed to interviewer Frank Garcia. "We think we have chosen well. We're deeply impressed with what we're seeing."

His admiration grew for the cast when it came to the filming of a particularly difficult scene, where with one steadicam shot the crew had to gather in a circle and perform a ritual. "Each one of them performed well and there were no lines blown," he recalls. "It just seemed to me at that point, boy, the choices are right."

Netter also talked about short-lived Crusade. Of its return, he said, "There is a possibility. We like Crusade a great deal. We had certain problems with the parties involved. The fans seem to like Crusade a great deal. We've been asked about the possibility of 'webisodes' of Crusade [on the internet]. We have encouraged that. Doing 'webisodes' should be fun."

The full interview with Douglas Netter can be found in issue 84 of Dreamwatch magazine.

[This message has been edited by B5LR (edited September 05, 2001).]

Webisodes?

Like, filming them and putting them on the Internet? What a neat idea...

At the risk of reading too much into what Netter said, there's still a chance we may see in some form what was supposed to happen with Crusade. This is great news, especially since I would be happy with even a *synopsis* instead of letting the story end forever without finding what was in store for the Crusaders.


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Channe, Freelance Writer Extraordinaire and The Next JMS
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B5 Synchroninity of the Day: I just found out that the new dorm I'm living in next year has been named Breen Hall.

The key phrase here is We've been asked about the possibility. Which means they're looking into the matter. Sadly, in Hollywood, few such attempts ever go beyond the initial talks (I think jms said there had been at least 20 attempts to do something B5 related between the end of the show and Jerry Dole's ressurection attempt last year.

However, the comment does show one thing quite clearly - That The Powers That Be are not content to simply let Crusade slip quitely into the history books!

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You are not entitled to your own opinion. You are only entitled to your own informed opinion.
-- Harlan Ellison qouting Gustave Flaubert

Webisodes!
If that happens? I need to geet Cable!
If I dl it? [Star Trek's Scotty]I dont know the 56k can do it? Captain![/Star Trek's Scotty]


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If you have an B5, crusade, or Rangers site and you want to join a webring join the Intersellar Alliace:
The Intersellar Alliance Webring
Home of the index of Alien races of Crusade: http://babylon5crusade.cjb.net

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>(I think jms said there had been at least 20 attempts to do something B5 related between the end of the show and Jerry Dole's ressurection attempt last year. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm sorry, what do you mean by Jerry Doyle's resurrrection?

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"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."

Last year, as his chances of getting into congress were slipping, Doyle started making lots of interveiws about getting B5 back on the air in some form or another with as many of the old cast as possible. Jms was not amused... Here's an article: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Doyle Works To Revive B5

Jerry Doyle, who played Michael Garibaldi on Babylon 5, told fans that he's been working hard to put the series back on the air. In a SCIFI.COM chat, Doyle said, "I've talked with [B5 creator J. Michael Straczynski] at length, [producers] John Copleland, Doug Netter, [director] John Flinn, [and actors] Bruce [Boxleitner], Andreas [Katsulas], [Richard] Biggs, Peter [Jurasik], [Patricia] Tallman, [Tracy] Scoggins at length for many months about putting a B5 type project on the air. We all agree it was and is a great show."

Doyle added, "I've also been in touch with [Warner Brothers] and The SCI FI Channel and other related parties along the same lines." SCI FI is rerunning B5 in widescreen format.

Straczynski, however, seem dubious about Doyle's efforts to resurrect the series. In an interview with the Buffalo (N.Y.) News, Straczynski said, "I don't know. Jerry's a nice guy, an honorable guy, but I think at times he hears voices telling him to go save France. I keep telling him, 'Don't do it. I've seen that movie, you wouldn't like the ending.' A lot of folks have tried to get Babylon 5 back one way or another--a
half-dozen attempts so far--and none of them has been more than just talk. It all, at the end of the day, ends up in the same trajectory."

In his chat, Doyle responded, "I don't understand Joe's quote about my hearing voices telling me to go save France. I just don't understand his comment. There obviously seems to be interest on all fronts to put it back on the air, and I will personally continue to do what I can to put the show back on the air, on The SCI FI Channel where it belongs."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Nothing ever came of it though.

(And I relize that I misremembered the number of B5 projects that didn't go anywhere. )

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You are not entitled to your own opinion. You are only entitled to your own informed opinion.
-- Harlan Ellison qouting Gustave Flaubert

At a recent con in Atlantic City Doyle was asked about this. He was kind of pi$$ed off because after all the time and work he did on the project his ideas were squashed. However he didn't blame anyone but he does think it ironic that just then the movie about the Rangers came up. Because nothing happens overnight in Hollywood, talk must have been going on in the background all the time he was working on getting a B5 movie up and running but nobody breathed a word of it to him.

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Because nothing happens overnight in Hollywood, talk must have been going on in the background all the time he was working on getting a B5 movie up and running but nobody breathed a word of it to him.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nothing happens overnight, but they don't take all that much time. There were probably a few tentative comments made early on when Sci-Fi first acquired the rights to the reruns, but the fact is that both Hollywood etiquette and union rules retrict how much writers, studios and networks can discuss things short of formal negotiations with money on the table. Sci-Fi wasn't ready to go that far until the show was on "their air" and they had some real ratings numbers to look at.

So there couldn't have been any substantive talks until October of 2000 at the earliest, and the real negotiations happened in January 2001 (Bonnie Hammer gave an interview while they were still going on where she said that "everything is on the table.") All of this was after Doyle's efforts had fizzled.

You have to realize that his idea was essentially to do B5 season 6. He wanted the original series back on the air. That was never JMS's plan, and he carries a lot more clout with Warner Bros. than Jerry Doyle does. JMS would certainly like to have the original cast and characters appear in any future B5 universe projects, and had all-but reserved the big screen movie for them, but that doesn't mean he's going to change his mind about B5 being over at the end of S5. I think Doyle is one of those who never believed that JMS would really end the show at S5, and he still hasn't accepted it.

I happen to think that JMS was absolutely right. There is nothing sadder than a good show that hangs on too long and deteriorates. I caught about 10 minutes of an A&E Biography episode about Laverne & Shirley tonight, and one of folks involved in the production quoted a Hollywood maxim: "Every good TV show stays on for one more season than it should." The really smart shows fold their tent when people are still begging for more, and give the audience a satisfying ending like M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Newhart.

That's what B5 did, and I, for one, am glad.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

So true, Joe, so true.

Shows stay on too long because the decision is ultimately based on profit, not quality. If the ideas are gone or not as good as they were, they'll go for that extra season or two 'cause they can still suck some cash out of it.

As much as I like The Simpsons, Frasier, and X-Files, it's time for them to call it a day.

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"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."