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Future of B5 merchandise

That is not a good sign for the potential HD conversion that is currently rumoured. See reply 9 onwards on this thread:

http://www.b5tv.com/showthread.php?t=42567

Indeed. But that podcast comment about something in the works was too vague to amount to anything, I don't think. We saw something similar when some marketing rep said something several years back. I'd love to be proven wrong but with B5 & WB, I'll believe it when I see it.
 
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Indeed. But that podcast comment about something in the works was too vague to amount to anything, I don't think. We saw something similar when some marketing rep said something several years back. I'd love to be proven wrong but with B5 & WB, I'll believe it when I see it.

I don't want to agree with you Jan! I want to delude myself. I want to pretend that when a fan asks if there is something going on with Babylon 5 that a company employee doesn't automatically vaguely spout out that there is so the fan remains interested in Babylon 5..... The HD conversion is coming.... BUT maybe they meant something else... Like a feature film.... OR they meant it is going to be streaming on HBO's Streaming service just like it was on Prime - meaning in that exact same form. BUT no I choose to believe the HD Conversion is coming. They are just trying to throw us all of the scent because the podcast was a big slip-up that wasn't meant to happen. They aren't licensing any B5 merch because they themselves are about to flood the market with B5 merch.....

I REALLY should type responses at 2am.... :wtf: ;)

:guffaw:
 
In that podcast interview, Ben Robinson does go on to say that the reason WB don't license it is because it would cost them money to set it up, which they obviously don't see as worthwhile to spend for just one or two licensees, and which tallies with his tweets in the opening post of this thread. So I'm not sure their unwillingness to license merchandise would have any bearing on whether they do a HD version; but if they do a HD version, then it would become a 'live' franchise and that might open some merchandising avenues up.

On the other hand, if they don't do a HD version, maybe B5 really is dead and will become increasingly forgotten about aside from us die-hards. Already I see lots of science fiction fans, and not all from the younger end, saying they've never seen or heard of B5. It's sad.
 
In that podcast interview, Ben Robinson does go on to say that the reason WB don't license it is because it would cost them money to set it up, which they obviously don't see as worthwhile to spend for just one or two licensees, and which tallies with his tweets in the opening post of this thread. So I'm not sure their unwillingness to license merchandise would have any bearing on whether they do a HD version; but if they do a HD version, then it would become a 'live' franchise and that might open some merchandising avenues up.

On the other hand, if they don't do a HD version, maybe B5 really is dead and will become increasingly forgotten about aside from us die-hards. Already I see lots of science fiction fans, and not all from the younger end, saying they've never seen or heard of B5. It's sad.

Yes, I imagine it would cost them a certain amount. But it would be much more if WB didn't *already* have a legal department or already have a licensing department (speaking of before the recent lay-off binge, of course). It's simply not as though they'd have to set up a mechanism from scratch. It already exists. So my entirely non-expert opinion of those reasonst is - lame.
 
So my entirely non-expert opinion of those reasonst is - lame.

True, it is obvious they don't care about B5, which is frustrating when there are people like us, who would be willing to watch HD versions and buy Blu-rays and merchandise, who do care.

I think, from what I can glean from listening to people in the know talk about licensing details with places like WB, is there's a lot more that goes into licensing than appears from the outside. For instance, WB do of course have a licensing department, but probably no one on staff who knows Babylon 5 (in that podcast, when Ben Robinson says he inquired at Universal about the old 70s Buck Rogers series, the people in licensing didn't even know Universal had done a Buck Rogers series). There needs to be someone who knows the show because, let's say they gave the rights to Eaglemoss to make models, for example, and Eaglemoss got the designs all wrong, there needs to be someone at licensing who knows they've got it wrong. Artwork has to be authorised and checked. Speciality soundtrack CD labels, for example, can take years to get certain titles produced because they are waiting for the artwork on the cover to be signed off by someone at the film studio. Often they sign deals with the studio to release a lot of their soundtracks, but when it comes to some obscure 1960s film, sometimes it's not clear who owns the assets, it might be no one currently in the licensing department knows about that film, or where the records are kept, and it just takes ages. I imagine WB's properties are split up among their licensing staff who have detailed knowledge of the various shows and films that they are working on, mostly current or evergreen things like Bugs Bunny; they'd have to train someone up to work on licensing B5, and who is going to train them? This might be why in the early 2000s WB said they were not going to license B5 anymore – the money they were making off it might have dropped below a threshold, and they either let licensing staff go who previously worked on B5, or moved them on to other things, and over time the knowledge of the series, from a licensing perspective, was lost.

Then there's the legal stuff – and all I can presume is that lawyers must be charging a fortune to go through contracts – but if WB were to franchise the series out to Eaglemoss and whoever, then there's probably a whole load of people they need to pay royalties to, starting with JMS, but probably other people too involved too, maybe Foundation Imaging, maybe actors if their likeness is being used, etc etc. For a modern, 'live' franchise this is probably already taken care of; I think for something like B5, it just seems like too much hard work for WB to resuscitate its licensing versus how much they'll actually earn. And since no one at the top of WB seems to care for the show, there's no one from the top asking for licensing to spend time on it.
 
SOOOOOOOOOO we're all in agreement that WB should start paying me to be their Babylon 5 merchandise expert. It will be a great burden, but one I will humbly bear for the sake of all of you. ... I mean I am just honored you thought of me. :dancing:


:guffaw::LOL::guffaw::LOL::guffaw:
 

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