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Although more B5 will be great, I do have some doubts as to what can be done in a half hour story? It would feel like it was over before it really began.
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Less commercials an entire "one hour" episode only ran about 42 miniutes, and that, as vacantlook rightly points out, usually included one and sometimes two subplots. Not to mention extra little scenes that were planted to provide links to the arc, so 30 minutes is more time than you might think.
Even setting TV aside, length isn't always important. Er, size doens't always matter. Um, -- Well, in terms of
stories, a really good short story can sometimes pack a punch that even a great novel can't quite. A novel (or series of novels) can tell the story of a whole life, but a short story is a kind of drama concentrate - stripped down, with no frills or extras.
The Twilight Zone was at its best when it was a half-hour (25 minutes or so in the 1960s) At an hour the show often seemed padded and sloppy.
TZ scripts were often like well-told jokes with narratives that were just enough to get you to the punchline that was the point of the story.
Depending on the kind of tale JMS plans to tell, 30 minutes could be just tine.
Regards,
Joe
