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uh-oh....this doesn't sound good.
- Thread starter FireFlower
- Start date
darth_librarian
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
Ok, so i'm 23 hours jet lagged with no sleep, and now a few glasses of wine inside me (0h dear). Markas has already emalied me and told me to sleep, but i feel compelled to type. Please excuse spelling...
I've had no Internet for the past week, so have missed all of this. When i left to go on holiday, there was only posititve news floating around. Now is all sounds scary, with 'cast replacement' rumors flying around...
1) If the B5 cast are to be replaced in any sense, it is a terrible idea and should be fought to the bitter end.
2) From what has been released about the new film (rumor or otherwise) it appears the three main characters are all new anyway, and Galen and Lockley are the only major reoccuring cast... So why bother recasting Sherridan, Delenn, and Londo etc when they might well be little more than walk ons... It makes no sense to me, and would be a bad move, even a studio could see that. Why recast your supporting roles to big names when you have empty 'big name friendly' major characters written in, alienating your existing fan base.
3) It makes no sense. Even for a Hollywood studio. JMS has given them a script to work in new box office friendly actors, why recast those we love.
Whilst i mean no disrepect to Jan and CE, people whom I consider to be representative of the life and blood of B5 fandom, at the moment all people are reacting to is third hand rumors. If it turns out to be true, then we are ahead of the game.
If not, then I guess it just shows we have a caring fan base, no bad thing either way! The rumors I have read, those posted here from other sites, make it all sound very cool to me!
But not if we see new actors as classic characters. Galen I could understand, if any chracter could alter his apperance, it would be him, and it adds an extra Dr Who/ Merlin element to the character, not a bad idea... But Sherriden and Delenn??
But at the moment, these are all rumors. Other than Jan and CE's posts, i've seen no evidence that existing cast who will play major roles will be replaced. Let's not have heart attacks. Yet.
All that said, I will probably send out letters when I am awake enough to do so... just in case.
p.s. Random rumor at IGN over a new B5 series...
details here..
http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/442/442930p1.html?fromint=1
Sounds like ususal IGN rubbish...
Ok, so i'm 23 hours jet lagged with no sleep, and now a few glasses of wine inside me (0h dear). Markas has already emalied me and told me to sleep, but i feel compelled to type. Please excuse spelling...
I've had no Internet for the past week, so have missed all of this. When i left to go on holiday, there was only posititve news floating around. Now is all sounds scary, with 'cast replacement' rumors flying around...
1) If the B5 cast are to be replaced in any sense, it is a terrible idea and should be fought to the bitter end.
2) From what has been released about the new film (rumor or otherwise) it appears the three main characters are all new anyway, and Galen and Lockley are the only major reoccuring cast... So why bother recasting Sherridan, Delenn, and Londo etc when they might well be little more than walk ons... It makes no sense to me, and would be a bad move, even a studio could see that. Why recast your supporting roles to big names when you have empty 'big name friendly' major characters written in, alienating your existing fan base.
3) It makes no sense. Even for a Hollywood studio. JMS has given them a script to work in new box office friendly actors, why recast those we love.
Whilst i mean no disrepect to Jan and CE, people whom I consider to be representative of the life and blood of B5 fandom, at the moment all people are reacting to is third hand rumors. If it turns out to be true, then we are ahead of the game.
If not, then I guess it just shows we have a caring fan base, no bad thing either way! The rumors I have read, those posted here from other sites, make it all sound very cool to me!
But not if we see new actors as classic characters. Galen I could understand, if any chracter could alter his apperance, it would be him, and it adds an extra Dr Who/ Merlin element to the character, not a bad idea... But Sherriden and Delenn??
But at the moment, these are all rumors. Other than Jan and CE's posts, i've seen no evidence that existing cast who will play major roles will be replaced. Let's not have heart attacks. Yet.
All that said, I will probably send out letters when I am awake enough to do so... just in case.
p.s. Random rumor at IGN over a new B5 series...
details here..
http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/442/442930p1.html?fromint=1
Sounds like ususal IGN rubbish...
Flounder
Regular
IGN carries re-casting story
IGN carries re-casting story: IGN FilmForce: Babylon 5 Movie Re-Casting? Fans outraged at WB proposal.
Only new info/speculation:
IGN carries re-casting story: IGN FilmForce: Babylon 5 Movie Re-Casting? Fans outraged at WB proposal.
Only new info/speculation:
darth_librarian
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
Well a load of folks over at the sci-fi boards seemed to think it was new. were i more lucid at the time i would have checked my sources. Thanks Jan.
That's from 2003....
Jan
(and thanks for the kind words)
Well a load of folks over at the sci-fi boards seemed to think it was new. were i more lucid at the time i would have checked my sources. Thanks Jan.
darth_librarian
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
http://www.jmsnews.net/msg.aspx?id=1-17259
Well that confirmed it for me. If it was untrue, he would have been able to decry it. Time to mobilise...
Jan and CE, would an online petiton linked to directly from the keepb5alive site do any good? I know execs tend to ignore these things, and that letters usually do more good...
The other place to post is the offical B5 forums on the warner website, if they check anywhere it might well be there...
http://www.jmsnews.net/msg.aspx?id=1-17259
Well that confirmed it for me. If it was untrue, he would have been able to decry it. Time to mobilise...
Jan and CE, would an online petiton linked to directly from the keepb5alive site do any good? I know execs tend to ignore these things, and that letters usually do more good...
The other place to post is the offical B5 forums on the warner website, if they check anywhere it might well be there...
Jan
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
My inclination is to keep the focus on sending cards and letters directly to WB. Since what I'd heard originally was that WB was claiming that the fans wouldn't care about recasting, it seems to me that huge numbers of letters would be tangible evidence that they're completely wrong.
I agree that it should be a primary focus. Still, I urge everybody to go to any and all sites they know of and let them know that if they were waiting to hear from JMS, he's stated that he cannot address the situation even though he'd like to. Denying the rumors surely wouldn't be a problem.
Jan
My inclination is to keep the focus on sending cards and letters directly to WB. Since what I'd heard originally was that WB was claiming that the fans wouldn't care about recasting, it seems to me that huge numbers of letters would be tangible evidence that they're completely wrong.
I agree that it should be a primary focus. Still, I urge everybody to go to any and all sites they know of and let them know that if they were waiting to hear from JMS, he's stated that he cannot address the situation even though he'd like to. Denying the rumors surely wouldn't be a problem.
Jan
Recoil
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
Just to point something out that some of you may not have known. The post right above this one on the newsgroup was Jan's post. While I don't think he was replying specifically to her (the time stamp is exactly the same date/hour/minute) and rather replying to the overall thread, I do think her post has echoed something I have been wondering/suspecting, and since I don't remember reading about this theory here, I'll post away:
Here is Jan's post on the newsgroup:
A lot of people, myself included, just assumed that the B5 movie was going to be about the Telepath War this entire time. JMS said he always wanted to do a feature film about it, which was a big reason for that. He did also however say he wanted to finish the Crusade story as well, and from the looks of the plot SO FAR, this is more about Crusade than anything.
So, in regards to the re-casting...I'm not so totally certain we are talking about a mass B5 cast re-casting, as rather 1 or two Crusade roles being re-cast, and the rest just being NEW CHARACTERS.
First off, JMS had planned on having some of the B5 cast memebers pop in and out of Crusade, but they weren't going to be integral to the story. Franklin would have been the major one contributing to the story arc for a while I imagine...which is why his death was such a blow to the project and called for some re-writing.
It's possible that JMS only had a few Crusade cast members in mind anyway, and was trying to find a way to work in the main B5 cast members, whenever possible, as long as it didnt hurt the story. So its likely that we werent going to see the whole cast ANYWAY. They may have had small parts in it at best.
Galen being rumored to be re-cast IS huge. Rumor about Lochley is also huge. But the other characters are new additions...
So I think its pretty likely that this story was meant to continue Crusade, and mainly deal with new characters to advance along the plot, and maybe have some original B5 characters pop in and out --- which still might happen as we haven't seen their names on re-cast lists.
The flipside of this, is that JMS meant to have some of the Crusade cast in the movie, but THEIR roles were changed in favor of these new characters we see.
Thoughts? I just think that maybe the recast issue doesnt dig as deep as we might think, but even if 1 character is redone its bad.
Just to point something out that some of you may not have known. The post right above this one on the newsgroup was Jan's post. While I don't think he was replying specifically to her (the time stamp is exactly the same date/hour/minute) and rather replying to the overall thread, I do think her post has echoed something I have been wondering/suspecting, and since I don't remember reading about this theory here, I'll post away:
Here is Jan's post on the newsgroup:
A lot of people, myself included, just assumed that the B5 movie was going to be about the Telepath War this entire time. JMS said he always wanted to do a feature film about it, which was a big reason for that. He did also however say he wanted to finish the Crusade story as well, and from the looks of the plot SO FAR, this is more about Crusade than anything.
So, in regards to the re-casting...I'm not so totally certain we are talking about a mass B5 cast re-casting, as rather 1 or two Crusade roles being re-cast, and the rest just being NEW CHARACTERS.
First off, JMS had planned on having some of the B5 cast memebers pop in and out of Crusade, but they weren't going to be integral to the story. Franklin would have been the major one contributing to the story arc for a while I imagine...which is why his death was such a blow to the project and called for some re-writing.
It's possible that JMS only had a few Crusade cast members in mind anyway, and was trying to find a way to work in the main B5 cast members, whenever possible, as long as it didnt hurt the story. So its likely that we werent going to see the whole cast ANYWAY. They may have had small parts in it at best.
Galen being rumored to be re-cast IS huge. Rumor about Lochley is also huge. But the other characters are new additions...
So I think its pretty likely that this story was meant to continue Crusade, and mainly deal with new characters to advance along the plot, and maybe have some original B5 characters pop in and out --- which still might happen as we haven't seen their names on re-cast lists.
The flipside of this, is that JMS meant to have some of the Crusade cast in the movie, but THEIR roles were changed in favor of these new characters we see.
Thoughts? I just think that maybe the recast issue doesnt dig as deep as we might think, but even if 1 character is redone its bad.
Chris Springob
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
Recoil-
Assuming the Film Jerk / Hollywood North Report plot info is accurate (and I suspect that it is), then my *guess* is that the movie continues the Crusade story in that sense that it's about the Technomages and the covert use of Shadow tech, but that the only Crusade characters involved are Lochley (who's also a B5 character) and Galen. And further, I suspect that you're right that it doesn't include *all* of the B5 cast, but I'll guess that includes at least a few of them, on Babylon 5 because of the "diplomatic conference" mentioned in the HNR story. Maybe, say, Sheridan, Delenn, and Londo, and of course Lochley. And further than that, I'll say that I suspect that while the protagonist is a new character, the old B5 characters will have pretty significant supporting parts, meaning that recasting them would indeed be a pretty big deal.
That's my guess until I get new information.
Recoil-
Assuming the Film Jerk / Hollywood North Report plot info is accurate (and I suspect that it is), then my *guess* is that the movie continues the Crusade story in that sense that it's about the Technomages and the covert use of Shadow tech, but that the only Crusade characters involved are Lochley (who's also a B5 character) and Galen. And further, I suspect that you're right that it doesn't include *all* of the B5 cast, but I'll guess that includes at least a few of them, on Babylon 5 because of the "diplomatic conference" mentioned in the HNR story. Maybe, say, Sheridan, Delenn, and Londo, and of course Lochley. And further than that, I'll say that I suspect that while the protagonist is a new character, the old B5 characters will have pretty significant supporting parts, meaning that recasting them would indeed be a pretty big deal.
That's my guess until I get new information.
Jan
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
Actually, the first thing I'd heard was about them recasting of original characters and that JMS was fighting it vigorously. The parts about negotiating with other studios came later.
My feeling is that this is a rather sick game of brinkmanship; That WB is leaking articals like the PW and Filmjerk items with emphasis on new characters so that they can say to JMS "See? None of the fans are saying anything when we don't mention the original cast/characters. They just don't care. They wouldn't come see TV actors even if we did cast them."
Assuming that the plot items aren't misleading, there's plenty of room for the original characters to have a major imact on the story.
That in a nutshell is why I think the letters are important. JMS has spent years online teaching us about the entertainment world so that we can ask for what we want. What I want is for them to treat this universe and us fans with some respect.
Jan
Actually, the first thing I'd heard was about them recasting of original characters and that JMS was fighting it vigorously. The parts about negotiating with other studios came later.
My feeling is that this is a rather sick game of brinkmanship; That WB is leaking articals like the PW and Filmjerk items with emphasis on new characters so that they can say to JMS "See? None of the fans are saying anything when we don't mention the original cast/characters. They just don't care. They wouldn't come see TV actors even if we did cast them."
Assuming that the plot items aren't misleading, there's plenty of room for the original characters to have a major imact on the story.
That in a nutshell is why I think the letters are important. JMS has spent years online teaching us about the entertainment world so that we can ask for what we want. What I want is for them to treat this universe and us fans with some respect.
Jan
sleepy_shadow
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
Being the worst-case optimist I am... for me this confirms that there is something *undesirable* going on.
I only hope that many people will write (and that my letters both to England and US arrived)... because currently, I have employed all my imaginable methods of projecting short-term influence at Warner.
However, if someone comes up with a strikingly pointful picture card... I will consider sending a card to each involved party, in addition to my letters.
Ouch.
Being the worst-case optimist I am... for me this confirms that there is something *undesirable* going on.
I only hope that many people will write (and that my letters both to England and US arrived)... because currently, I have employed all my imaginable methods of projecting short-term influence at Warner.
However, if someone comes up with a strikingly pointful picture card... I will consider sending a card to each involved party, in addition to my letters.
Jade Jaguar
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
Again, I must say that this is a real puzzle. I agree that JMS's refusal to deny the rumors DOES make it seem like something is up. But, on the otherhand, since the main characters are new characters, and can be cast with name actors, It would seem to defy logic to recast major characters (except for Peter) from the TV series, given that fans will react, and that the film probably doesn't have a Titanic budget, meaning that what would seem like good pay to Bruce B., and Mira F., would be beneath consideration for name film actors. But, of course, studio execs ARE known for defying logic...
Given that WB didn't hold a gun to JMS's head to write the script, it seems safe to assume that HE is okay with a B5 movie that doesn't feature our favorites from TV, even if he might have prefered to do something different, like the teep war. Therefore, I am okay with such a project, not featuring main B5 characters. But, if they DO have roles, WB darn well better use the original actors, not some substitutes. I can't understand what would possibly possess them to do otherwise, with the four major new roles open to name actors. It makes no sense. You would think that even if BB, ML, and some others had no real part in the film, they would deliberately insert cameos, just to please the fans, not go in the opposite direction, risking outrage by recasting them. Just from reading the casting info, since no original cast members, except for Galen, are listed, one would think that the original actors are NOT being recast. I hope we're reading too much into this, and that's really the case.
Again, I must say that this is a real puzzle. I agree that JMS's refusal to deny the rumors DOES make it seem like something is up. But, on the otherhand, since the main characters are new characters, and can be cast with name actors, It would seem to defy logic to recast major characters (except for Peter) from the TV series, given that fans will react, and that the film probably doesn't have a Titanic budget, meaning that what would seem like good pay to Bruce B., and Mira F., would be beneath consideration for name film actors. But, of course, studio execs ARE known for defying logic...
Given that WB didn't hold a gun to JMS's head to write the script, it seems safe to assume that HE is okay with a B5 movie that doesn't feature our favorites from TV, even if he might have prefered to do something different, like the teep war. Therefore, I am okay with such a project, not featuring main B5 characters. But, if they DO have roles, WB darn well better use the original actors, not some substitutes. I can't understand what would possibly possess them to do otherwise, with the four major new roles open to name actors. It makes no sense.
You would think that even if BB, ML, and some others had no real part in the film, they would deliberately insert cameos, just to please the fans, not go in the opposite direction, risking outrage by recasting them. Just from reading the casting info, since no original cast members, except for Galen, are listed, one would think that the original actors are NOT being recast. I hope we're reading too much into this, and that's really the case.
darth_librarian
Regular
Re: uh-oh....this doesn\'t sound good.
I think Jan is right, it sounds like a macho move on the part of some execs. My guess is that someone at Warners, who belive that they 'know film' are not so happy about a group of TV guys demanding that their actors are put in an expensive movie.
Well my letters will go off tommorow, one to each address. I've also posted on a few other boards, pointing to the keepb5alive site and the IGN article. Now I guess we wait.
I think Jan is right, it sounds like a macho move on the part of some execs. My guess is that someone at Warners, who belive that they 'know film' are not so happy about a group of TV guys demanding that their actors are put in an expensive movie.
Well my letters will go off tommorow, one to each address. I've also posted on a few other boards, pointing to the keepb5alive site and the IGN article. Now I guess we wait.
