Spectacular Scenes

A Babylon 5 movie should allow the filming of some spectacular scenes. For the equivalent of 3 episodes they will probably have the budget of an entire year.

In Lyta we have a chick with the powers of superman. I can imagine her flying around the zero/low gravity areas of the space stations doing things out of the Matrix.

We could have spaceships knocking seven bells out of each other.

On an emotional scale a teep war would split life long best friends up with big arguments. Both sides right and both sides wrong.

Since after 71 viewings no one wants to talk about new Spectacular Scenes, so lets try so old ones.


The following is one of the more memorable scenes; other people may have their own preferences.

In “Z’ha’dum” Sheridan arrives on a balcony in a dishevelled state. He is being stalked by his wife Anna and two Shadows. She fails to convert him. He takes Kosh’s advice to jump. The Whitestar crashes through the roof. Anna screams and the Whitestar explodes.

A couple of years ago JMS asked the fans for an example of a great clip and the above one won. Does anyone know if he did anything with the clip?

A couple of years ago JMS asked the fans for an example of a great clip and the above one won. Does anyone know if he did anything with the clip?

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I'd really like to know as well! I don't remember JMS saying anything about it afterwards. Perhaps he used it to pitch the new project we're all excited about?!

A Babylon 5 movie should allow the filming of some spectacular scenes.

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One scene that could be "spectacular" is a trip to the Vorlon homeworld. In my version of the Telepath War, Lyta would have to back there for some important reason... and that has the potential to be mind-blowing, shocking, exciting, and horrific, all at the same time. Now, I'm aware that nobody is supposed to visit the Vorlon homeworld for another million years, but just because Lyta was programmed to say so doesn't necessarily mean that nobody will visit the Vorlon homeworld before that time. And if anyone could visit the Vorlon homeworld and return alive, it would be Lyta. Of course the odds of this happening are slim to none, especially since JMS has said in the past that it would be difficult to do. But if he did do it, and did it right, I could see this being a very spectacular scene indeed.

In Lyta we have a chick with the powers of superman. I can imagine her flying around the zero/low gravity areas of the space stations doing things out of the Matrix.

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On an emotional scale a teep war would split life long best friends up with big arguments. Both sides right and both sides wrong.

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Those are very intriguing ideas! I've considered the latter, but not the former. I think a fight in space would be very cool to see, especially if it demonstrated just how far Lyta's teek abilities have developed (we know from the episode Wheel of Fire that she does have some telekinetic abilities when she short-circuits the camera) .

I don't think anything could possibly live up to expectations of the Vorlon homeworld. Often leaving mysterious things lose their magic when over exposed or explained.

A spectacular shot if the title is really "The Memory of Shadows" or something similar would be the destruction of Zha'h'dum from close up. All of these mysterious things being revealed and then destroyed, with a Christopher Franke score!

We could even get to feel a bit of the Drakh anger/vengefullnes at the destruction of so much "beauty"!

I don't think anything could possibly live up to expectations of the Vorlon homeworld.

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I agree that some things are better left to the imagination instead of being shown on-screen. The Vorlon homeworld may or may not be one of those things, depending on what JMS has in mind. But you're right, almost anything shown would probably be disappointing to most fans, since expectations are so high. It's still something I would love to see though.

So, it's official then?
The Memory of Shadows huh. Is it the teep war for real?
I can hardly wait to see Lyta in action although I really could do without seing her die.....
Such a shame.

I don't believe anything's official yet.

I don't believe anything's official yet.

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Nope, we haven't heard anything from JMS on the new project since his dropping the comment about how one of the TMoS guesses was correct. For all we know, the correct title is "The Meaning of Spoo" (my guess!) <g>

Aisling

Cheers, thanks for clearing that up.
All the best,
Andy

I can imagine her flying around the zero/low gravity areas of the space stations doing things out of the Matrix.

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I've got a horrible image in my head of Lyta doing "wire fu". Yuck. I prefer to picture her floating, with glowing eyes, and using telekinesis to attack a large group of Psi Cops. That would rock!

Space battles, and lots of them. Those amount to spectacular scenes for me. And some great new ship designs, one of my fave B5 things!
Yeah, lets steer clear of Martix style wire-fu.

Im gonna go with space battles... AND wire fu!! Lyta in a space suit bouncing around a spaceship exploding starfuries...

I have thought of a little game that everyone can play. Devising our own start to the Babylon 5 film.


FADE IN:

1: EXT. SPACE – NEAR PLANET EPSILON 3

CGI establishing shot.

Planet with JUMP GATE. The jump gate activates and a SPACE SHIP flies out.

PAN ROUND to show the space ship is flying towards space station BABYLON 5.


2: INT. BABYLON 5 C’N’C.

CAPTAIN LOCHLEY is standing by the main console looking out the window.


G’KAR (VOICE OVER)

" Calling space station Babylon 5, request permission to land."


LOCHLEY

" Permission granted. Enter using approach vector 325".

(beat)

" Welcome home Citizen G’Kar. I hope you have enjoyed your 2-year trip."


G’KAR (VOICE OVER)

" Yes, Captain Lochley. Lyta and I have found it very informative. G’Kar out."


LOCHLEY

Lochley talks to her link.

" Lochley to Security Chief Zack Allan."


3: INT. SECURITY CENTRAL

ZACK is seated at his desk.

ZACK

Zack replies into his link.

" Zack here ma’am."


LOCHLEY (VOICE OVER)

"Citizen G’Kar is landing. He has telepath Lyta Alexander with him."

Zack’s face lights up with love.


ZACK

" Ah! Lyta. During the Shadow War she lead the telepaths that Captain Sheridan used to immobilize the otherwise invincible Shadow vessels. In the Earth Alliance Civil War she won Mars’s freedom by using her talent to disable 30 Earth Alliance Destroyers. What a girl."


LOCHLEY (VOICE OVER)

" In the following year she joined the rogue telepath colony on Babylon 5 and organised bomb attacks on Psi Corps. I deported her and banned her from returning to Babylon 5.

(beat)

Zack you are to arrest Lyta Alexander. Lochley out."

Zack stops smiling and he tries to hide his fear.

(beat)

Zack presses a button on his desk.

ZACK

" Red Alert. All available security guards are to report to the dockyard in full riot gear."



4: INT. THE DOCKYARD

CGI The space ship lands.

Zack and about 100 of his men in full riot gear surrounded the space ship. They point their weapons at the space ship. Zack is holding a pair of handcuffs. The door opens, G’KAR a NARN and LYTA a red headed human female walk out.

ZACK

" Lyta Alexander you are under arrest."


LYTA

" Hi Zack. You will need more guards than that to arrest me."


Lyta concentrates and the guards go into a trance and fall to the ground. Zack and G’Kar look around in horror.

(beat)
(beat)

LYTA

" Were those handcuffs for me?"

Zack nods. The handcuffs leave Zack’s hands. To his amazement they fly over to Lyta and clip themselves around her arms.


LYTA

" Wake up men.

(beat)

Come along Zack. I hope you have a nice cell waiting for me."

The guards wake up, they act confused and follow Lyta, G’Kar and Zack.


FADE OUT.

I have thought of a little game that everyone can play. Devising our own start to the Babylon 5 film.

Click to expand...

Music starts up, with WB logo...

Shot of Star Field. The stars fade, replaced by blackness, as we hear the shadow scream and a battle crab flies out from the bottom of the screen.

Voice Over, Londo Mollari: "I remember the dawn of the third age of mankind. It was the year 2261, the year of the last great Shadow War. The Shadows, an ancient and terrible race bent on destruction and complete anarchy of the universe ripped apart the galaxy one planet at a time...

Shots of Shadow ships attacking League Ships, shots of Shadow planet killer.

Anyway, I think it should start something like that. After we could have Londo give a brief history of the Army of Light and Vorlons, and then say something like "The shadows were gone, but they're legacy was far from finished. As the humans say, [INSERT SAYING HERE] " and then:

Babylon 5 - The Memory of Shadows

(or whatever the title is )

Okay, I'll take a stab at it. For this post -- and this post only -- I'm going to assume that the project is a theatrical movie, B5: TMoS stands for Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows, and that it covers the Telepath War.

My version of this movie would start by showing how Lyta and G'Kar make it back to Babylon 5 after their adventures together. Since I'm not a writer, and haven't written any kind of story in what seems like forever, I'm going to add some pictures to spice things up!


FADE-IN:


1: EXT. SPACE (CGI)



The movie starts off with a bang! We see a few Black Omega (Psi Corps) starfuries chasing and firing on an unmarked starfury. The chase is wild and we can see that the unmarked starfury is slightly damaged.


2: INT. UNMARKED STARFURY

We cut to an internal shot of the starfury. It's Lyta Alexander! From her demeanor, we can sense that she's had a rough day.



Lyta opens a communication channel.

LYTA
"Lyta to G'Kar"

G'KAR (over the link, off screen)
"Yes?"
(beat)
"Did you find the vials?"

LYTA
"No, I looked everywhere but couldn't find them. The Psi Corps must have moved them to another base."
(beat)
"But that's not important right now, Right now, I have three Black Omega's on my tail and they've hit one of my reactors. We need to change our rendezvous point and meet immediately at 89 by 34 by 9. Are you ready?"


3: INT. SPACE SHIP (THE NA'TOTH)

G'Kar is on the bridge of his ship, The Na'Toth.




G'KAR
"Yes, of course! I'll jump to normal space."
(beat)
"Prepare to dock."


4: EXT. NORMAL SPACE (CGI)

We see more of the ongoing chase. We pan out to see the entire distance between the Black Omega starfuries and Lyta's starfury. A jump point opens directly in front of the Lyta's starfury. A ship emerges from the jump point. It's "The Na'Toth".

The Na'Toth has jumped uncomfortably close to Lyta's starfury and this doesn't give her much time to prepare to dock.

5: INT. LYTA's STARFURY

Lyta yells.

LYTA
"Initiating docking procedure!"


6: EXT. THE NA'TOTH (CGI)

We see that the docking procedure is very rough, but successful.

7: INT. LYTA's STARFURY

LYTA
"Alright, I'm in!"

G'KAR (over the link, off-screen)
"What's our destination?"

(beat)

LYTA
"Babylon 5."


8: EXT. NORMAL SPACE (CGI)

We see The Na'Toth turn away from the Black Omega starfuries and open a jump point. It jumps into hyperspace. The Black Omega starfuries attempt to pursue, but the jump point closes before they can enter. One of the black omega starfuries is destroyed as the jump point closes.



We slowly PAN BACK. The following text FADES INTO the existing starfield:

BABYLON 5: The Memory of Shadows

Nice job with the photoshopping!

Agree that it needs to start with a bang, not a bunch of exposition (a flaw in FOTR, IMO). The backstory can be filled in as the story progresses.

Another cool way to star would be something like they had in the begining of "A Call To Arms". (news report)

A second story could be Captin Susan Ivanovo's new ship starting a planetry invasion like the one in "Starship Troopers".

Thousands of troops flying down to the planet.