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Face the fact - B5 is dead

torkste

Member
I have come to believe that JMS have no intention to work for, or help, any new B5 to appear on the small or big screen.

The last interview posted elsewhere on this site conforms this.

I can understand that as an artist you want to look forward, and for JMS that seems to be anything else than more B5.
 
It would be "fact" if JMS stated "it's dead". At current time, I am not aware of him stating so.

Consequently, it is my opinion: B5 is merely on the back burner, and will not receive priority sooner than opportunity arises.

Such opportunity may arise... may not arise... or may arise at unpredictable time. I am content with that.
 
It would be "fact" if JMS stated "it's dead". At current time, I am not aware of him stating so.

Consequently, it is my opinion: B5 is merely on the back burner, and will not receive priority sooner than opportunity arises.

Such opportunity may arise... may not arise... or may arise at unpredictable time. I am content with that.

I think it will be the Lazerus of tv sci-fi, give it time. Hes got other fish to fry.

Mmmm, fish frying.
 
Yeah, it's dead. I agree. Oh well. Jerry Garcia died too. Life goes on and it doesn't mean we can't still enjoy and discuss it.
 
There's a difference between it being dead and being complete. The story jms set out to tell when he went about doing Babylon 5 has been told. That story is complete. Is there room for more story in the Babylon 5 Universe, yes, but that story doesn't need to happen for the story of Babylon 5 to be finished.
 
I have come to believe that JMS have no intention to work for, or help, any new B5 to appear on the small or big screen.

If by "work for, or help" you mean he should come up with new B5 ideas and shop them around, you're right, he doesn't plan to do that again. He already did that when it took 5 years to sell B5 in the first place. But if you mean that he would never write for B5 again, that's not what he's been saying at all. At the end of May he wrote in reply to the question :

I've said it a hundred times before...if something happens to come up
in the B5 universe that's fun to tell, and someone wants to provide a
venue, great...if not, also great.

and at Wizard World Philly last month, in response to a question about TMoS he said:

You gotta understand, I’m not out to turn it into a franchise. I wanted to tell a five-year story. If things follow beyond that, that’s fine but if not, not. I’m totally cool with that notion.

The last interview posted elsewhere on this site conforms this.

I can understand that as an artist you want to look forward, and for JMS that seems to be anything else than more B5.

What interview is that? Your phrasing seems to indicate that you feel JMS is avoiding writing more B5 when what he says is that if somebody comes to him with a cool idea and can make it work, he's there. The proof is that he *did* write the script for TMoS when the rights were optioned. The main story he wanted to tell, that he needed to tell, though has been told. The rest would be lagniappe for him.

And meanwhile, other people keep coming to him to ask him to write other things, some of which are very cool indeed.

Jan
 
What Vacantlook said. B5 is done, not dead. Not every TV series needs to have multiple spin offs and movies for it to be a sucess.

You already got a kick ass 5 year TV show. You want more?
 
If B5 is dead so be it .But I am grateful that he told the story he wanted to tell and if anything comes again that's great .
 
How can you have the nickname KoshFan and say that B5 is dead? :eek: :mad: :p

Because Koshfan knows that B5 is secretly like the vorlons... it can break pieces of itself off and put them in other TV series. When there is need, and when something powerful enough comes along... B5 will be drawn out of the hosts it has sheltered in and take it's rightlful place in SF.

Resurgum!
 
There's a difference between it being dead and being complete. The story jms set out to tell when he went about doing Babylon 5 has been told. That story is complete. Is there room for more story in the Babylon 5 Universe, yes, but that story doesn't need to happen for the story of Babylon 5 to be finished.

If I hear that "lagniappe" one more time, I'm going to strangle somebody. :mad:

Even its lagniappe is dead. :mad:
 
What interview is that? Your phrasing seems to indicate that you feel JMS is avoiding writing more B5 when what he says is that if somebody comes to him with a cool idea and can make it work, he's there. The proof is that he *did* write the script for TMoS when the rights were optioned. The main story he wanted to tell, that he needed to tell, though has been told. The rest would be lagniappe for him.

Key parts of that paragraph is ...if somebody comes to him...

He's being passive about things in the B5 universe. He's not going out to others but is depending upon others to come to him. With respect to things in the B5 universe, after Crusade, the B5:Legend of the Rangers pilot, Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows, and the blown opportunity for new B5 universe novels, I SERIOUSLY doubt that ANYbody is going to come to him with a new idea for something in the B5 universe.

The situation just infinitely SUCKS. :mad:

Meanwhile, Battlestar Galactica gets all the press like it created the concept of "complex human stories" and "well-constructed and dramatic and emotional" stories in sci-fi TV, and Bonnie Hammer is treated as some kind of authority who champions the cause of sci-fi. :rolleyes:
Sci-fi seeks critical mass

Bonnie Hammer?
> "There is this horrible misconception that science fiction is for
> somebody else, not for me," says Bonnie Hammer,
> president of Sci Fi Channel and > USA, who campaigns
> daily to convince skeptics that today's TV genre
> encompasses more than space and special effects.
> "It's speculative fiction, it's the imagination, it's anything
> outside what we know to be true, it's the not-quantifiable,"
> she says. In her seven years overseeing Sci Fi
> programming, its series have been repositioned not as
> fantastic adventures but relatably soul-driven dramas.

Well, she talks the talk, but often doesn't walk the walk.

This from the woman delivered <utter sarcasm>such gems </utter sarcasm>
as "Crossing Over With John Edward," "Dream Team With Annabelle and
Michael," "In Search Of..." (Mitch Pileggi) and "Scare Tactics?"

This from the woman who is over The Sci-Fi Channel and who backed
"Bloodsuckers" a show about intergalactic vampires, and passed on
"Polaris", because Sci-Fi has deemed "Polaris" (the new J. Michael
Straczynski project, which Sci-Fi/Universal *could* own) as "too
science-fictiony." Yes, you heard right, "TOO SCIENCE-FICTIONY" for
The Sci-Fi Channel. See:
http://www.hill-kleerup.org/blog/mtarchive/003417.html

This from the woman who airs such utterly bad original movies that they
are strictly Mystery Science Theater 3000 fodder? (e.g. Mansquito,
Snakehead Terror, Interceptor Force, Interceptor Force 2, Pythons,
Anaconda, etc.)


This from the woman who said in 2002:

**************************************************
Sci Fi president Bonnie Hammer said the network will broaden its program
scope to bring in a wider audience, adding more fantasy-themed shows and
paring down some of its space-and-alien-themed action fare.

"We have to change the perception that Sci Fi is a narrow niche that's
driven by aliens," she said. '
**************************************************

The above attitude results in "human-only" shows (Battlestar Galactica, Firefly), and a look-down-the-nose sneer towards any shows that dare to show "aliens" and fans who like such shows.


The ONLY reason The Hammer took a chance on "Battlestar Galactica"
(2003+), a show that featured <shudder><S> spaceships, was because it
was a UNIVERSAL (Studios) property.
 
How can you have the nickname KoshFan and say that B5 is dead? :eek: :mad: :p

Because Koshfan knows that B5 is secretly like the vorlons... it can break pieces of itself off and put them in other TV series. When there is need, and when something powerful enough comes along... B5 will be drawn out of the hosts it has sheltered in and take it's rightlful place in SF.

Resurgum!

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

Oh, that's a real gem, Galahad. :cool: :D
 
Key parts of that paragraph is ...if somebody comes to him...

He's being passive about things in the B5 universe. He's not going out to others but is depending upon others to come to him. With respect to things in the B5 universe, after Crusade, the B5:Legend of the Rangers pilot, Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows, and the blown opportunity for new B5 universe novels, I SERIOUSLY doubt that ANYbody is going to come to him with a new idea for something in the B5 universe.

Yes, that's right...he's not out knocking on doors. I don't have a problem with that because he's got other stories to tell in other universes and I *like* them. I liked Jeremiah a *whole* lot. I'm looking forward to seeing what he's doing with the series he talked about in Philly.

Which isn't to say that I woudn't love to see more B5 universe stories, I would. And if there were the <u>slightest</u> thing I could do to help that along (you know...like a letter-writing campaign?), yeah I'd do it and keep doing it until all hope was gone. BUT I don't insist that JMS restrict himself to one universe or even wish he would. As for your doubts as to anybody coming to him in the future for something new in the B5 universe, he said in February that:

This was not the first time someone's taken a run at a B5 feature film,
and it will not be the last. Eventually it will happen, because such
things are simply inevitable. If they can do a Brady Bunch movie, you
can be sure that sooner or later, somebody's going to do a B5 movie.
The only thing I can say without equivocation is that when that day
comes, as the rights-holder, I will make darned sure that it's done
right, because I'd rather have no B5 movie than one that doesn't live
up to what fans and I myself would want to see.

To that end...I can wait.

See that? Not the first time. First time we ever heard of an attempt, though, right? Probably because it was the first time an attempt actually went to script. From everything I've heard, it's probably just as well that TMoS dead-ended, much as I hated it when it happened. I can wait too, for a movie that's worthy of B5. (As for the actors aging out of their parts as is oft-mentioned, having seen a good many of them this past March at the Rick Biggs event, there's not much to worry about yet).

BTW, for anybody interested in stuff that JMS did before B5, the 2nd and 3rd seasons of the New Twilight Zone came out a week or so ago that has the episodes he wrote. I'm enjoying re-reading his anthology versions after watching the episodes.

Jan
 
Thanks, Jan. That was very informative. :) I tend to read and then forget a lot of what JMS says, then I hear people say he did or didn't say this or that, and I get massively confused. :confused:

:LOL:

So he wrote some of the season 2 and 3 TZ eps? I shall have to try and find them. Too bad there isn't a website that lists everything he's written when it's being shown on the most common channels watched by fans. (Patrick Stewart's fansite does just that :D)

I have to respect anyone who'd hold on a money-making opportunity to keep hold of his basic vision. That has got to be a rare attitude these days.

I'm currently Netflixing Jerimiah right now, and it is a shame this series couldn't go on. From time to time I find myself thinking "would things really be run this neat and tidily just like 15 years after all adults die out"? Like they seem to have a lot of good food everywhere they go. And such like that.

But I'm finding the stories quite interesting. That's a double-edged sword: I can't multitask when I watch them, I have to just watch. :LOL:
 
Key parts of that paragraph is ...if somebody comes to him...

He's being passive about things in the B5 universe. He's not going out to others but is depending upon others to come to him. With respect to things in the B5 universe, after Crusade, the B5:Legend of the Rangers pilot, Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows, and the blown opportunity for new B5 universe novels, I SERIOUSLY doubt that ANYbody is going to come to him with a new idea for something in the B5 universe.

Yes, that's right...he's not out knocking on doors. I don't have a problem with that because he's got other stories to tell in other universes and I *like* them.

Me, I don't like stuff to be left hanging, ESPECIALLY something that we got as far into as we did with Crusade. The passive attitude tells me he really isn't all that serious about:
Audience: Out of all your cancelled projects, which one would you like to resume first?

JMS: There's only been a couple. (laughter) He's being mean to me! Umm...Crusade. That's the obvious choice because that one was cut short...it was shot in it's cradle by unfair means and that pisses me off. So I will fix that one way or the other.
Maybe it's self-preservation/avoidance of rejection, I don't know, but it bodes ill for continuation of the Crusade story in any form. To me, that absolutely sucks.

Which isn't to say that I woudn't love to see more B5 universe stories, I would. And if there were the <u>slightest</u> thing I could do to help that along (you know...like a letter-writing campaign?), yeah I'd do it and keep doing it until all hope was gone. BUT I don't insist that JMS restrict himself to one universe or even wish he would.

Who's restricting him? I just don't want to see him doing seventeen billion other things and being 100% passive with respect to doing anything in the B5 universe. That's the current situation.




As for your doubts as to anybody coming to him in the future for something new in the B5 universe, he said in February that:

This was not the first time someone's taken a run at a B5 feature film,
and it will not be the last. Eventually it will happen, because such
things are simply inevitable. If they can do a Brady Bunch movie, you
can be sure that sooner or later, somebody's going to do a B5 movie.
The only thing I can say without equivocation is that when that day
comes, as the rights-holder, I will make darned sure that it's done
right, because I'd rather have no B5 movie than one that doesn't live
up to what fans and I myself would want to see.

To that end...I can wait.

"Eventually it will happen, because such things are simply inevitable." is utter BS.

"If they can do a Brady Bunch movie, you can be sure that sooner or later, somebody's going to do a B5 movie." is more BS.

People will do movies about the inane crap that they think appeals to a lot of people. B5 is not inane crap, and it does not seem to appeal to the mass market, just the fairly serious, sci-fi market. Hence, his argument is not applicable.

See that? Not the first time. First time we ever heard of an attempt, though, right? Probably because it was the first time an attempt actually went to script. From everything I've heard, it's probably just as well that TMoS dead-ended, much as I hated it when it happened. I can wait too, for a movie that's worthy of B5.

Which means it was probably the 2nd time.



(As for the actors aging out of their parts as is oft-mentioned, having seen a good many of them this past March at the Rick Biggs event, there's not much to worry about yet).

Seen Claudia since her appearance on the B5 DVDs? On the DVDs, she looked awful, but maybe that was minutes after she had a face lift. <shrug> I tell you, when I first saw her on the DVDs, I was shocked. She was barely recognizable. In 7 years since Season 4, she looked like she aged 30 years and then had some work done immediately before her DVD appearance. Back in late 1995/early1996 (in "Voices of Authority"), when she was in the Great Machine, she was gorgeous. I have never seen a woman, before or since, look that good with her hair pulled back.
 

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