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B5:TLT Actual DISCUSSION Thread

Jan

Regular
Just posted on the Moderated Newsgrou:

Title: B5:TLT update from jms
Author: jmsatb5@aol.com
Date: 3 Oct 2006 00:17:35 -0700
Message-ID: <1159859855.840954.223860@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>

I'm kind of up against it right now on an assortment of deadlines, so
this'll be quick, but I did want to address some of the questions that
have been asked.

Yes, we're shooting this HD, so this is going to be quite a learning
curve for me as a director, since I've never shot HD before. There's
also a HUGE amount of green-screen involved, so again, lots of learning
to be done.

For those who are getting the B5 scripts books -- and eventually the
B5:TLT scripts will be released -- you'll notice a substantial
difference between them and these scripts in that I decided to kind of
direct them on the page more than usual: calling out specific angles
and camera directions, locations and setups more than in any prior B5
script. It probably resembles an animation script more than a standard
TV script, because it incorporates my directorial notes, shot for shot,
as we go.

The first three-segment DVD is called "Voices in the Dark." We've
narrowed down the cast, and hope to have their deals closed this week.
There are already ten crew members working on this thing up in
Vancouver, pulling together stages, offices and other prep work. The
first day of shooting will likely be either November 13th or 14th (due
to a Canadian holiday). The last twiddlings to the script should be
done by this coming Monday. Storyboarding starts the end of this week.

It's balls-to-the-wall right now, but it should be fun in the end.

jms


message content (c) 2006
synthetic worlds, ltd.
permission to reprint
specifically denied to
SFX Magazine
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

JMS just isn't happy if he isn't overworked, is he? :)

I'll simply say one last time: it's too damned bad this happened just a bit too late for some of our favorites to be part of the project. :(
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

I'll simply say one last time: it's too damned bad this happened just a bit too late for some of our favorites to be part of the project.

True. Anything without Richard Biggs and Andreas Katsulas won't seem like the same old B5. Even if they get different actors to play those characters the two of them played, they just won't seem like the same Dr. Franklin and G'Kar.
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

Even if they get different actors to play those characters the two of them played, they just won't seem like the same Dr. Franklin and G'Kar.

Which is why JMS has made it abundantly (and repeatedly) clear that this is NOT going to happen as long as he is in charge. Ever. Period. End of story.

Regards,

Joe
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

Certainly he is not going to recast them. But, they could still have small roles... Look at all the dead people who "acted" in Forrest Gump, and that film was made 12 years ago. So, who knows what could happen, given what IS possible? It would be a good way to throw some $ to their estates, i.e. their families.
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

This morning's tid-bit:
Title: Re: B5:TLT update from jms
Author: jmsatb5@aol.com
Date: 3 Oct 2006 21:12:00 -0700
Message-ID: <1159935120.462173.274330@c28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>

Shabaz wrote:
>
> And thank you for answering my HD question about TLT. The AV nerd in me
> is happy. ;) I wonder if this means if it will be shot on film and then
> telecined to HD resolutions (usually to 1080p24), or shot with digital
> HD cameras (1080i60 or otherwise)? Just curious.
>

The latter. I figure if I'm gonna learn this stuff, I may as well dive
in at the deep end.

In for a penny, in for a pounding, I say....

jms
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

I'll simply say one last time: it's too damned bad this happened just a bit too late for some of our favorites to be part of the project.

True. Anything without Richard Biggs and Andreas Katsulas won't seem like the same old B5.

Indeed. It's why I'm having trouble being more than simply...happy...about the new production. It's B5, it's JMS, and I'm sure I'll love it -- and I'm damned happy to know that there's some good sf television (even if only direct to DVD) coming our way -- but it'll be very hard to watch it knowing that G'Kar will never step through the door to Sheridan's office, that Londo and G'Kar will never spar like old marrieds again, that Andreas will never again flamboyantly enter a scene and proceed to steal it no matter how few words he has to read.

The irony seems crueller to me than in the case of Richard Biggs. Rick left us all the way back in May of 2004; Andreas died just as this deal was being finalized. I don't even know if he would have been able to do TMoS if it hadn't tanked, depending on the shooting schedule. But it's just painful, really awful, that the WB neurons only began firing (and the checkbooks opening) with regard to this property as Andreas lay dying.

That's why I haven't weighed in much on threads about the new show. I can't really work up the requisite amount of enthusiasm, nor do I want to bring people down. Some days, though, it's infinitely hard not to spread the grief around. :-(

Amy
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

Look at all the dead people who "acted" in Forrest Gump, and that film was made 12 years ago. So, who knows what could happen, given what IS possible?

My instincitive reaction to this suggestion is - well, yuck. There is just something creepy about the whole concept. It is one thing to insert a modern actor into actual historical footage and then tweak the soundtrack a bit. It is something else to use scraps of footage to "resurrect' an actor to complete a film (as in case of Brandon Lee and The Crow) It is something yet again to use old footage to somehow create new scenes in a new project. Even the CG "return" of Livia for her final Sopranos bow struck me as ill-considered Far better to have had her death entirely off-screen. The only place I saw this work was on Highlander. An actor who played a recurring role died unexpectedly as they were about to film his next episode, which was supposed to be largely about him. They did a hasty rewrite to kill-off his character and took one scene from a previous appearance - one without dialogue where he appeared in the same location where his character was supposed to die. They added the sound of someone sneaking up on him, cut to a scene with another character, then came back to show the discovery of his body - which we only see in the form of an arm dressed in his costume. For the rest of that episode they did extensive flashbacks using footage from his earlier episodes, and he got full guest star billing in both, for purposes of residuals.

It would be a good way to throw some $ to their estates, i.e. their families.

I think simply doing flashbacks would work as well, without the 'yuck" factor.

Just one man's opinion.

Regards,

Joe
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

Even the CG "return" of Livia for her final Sopranos bow struck me as ill-considered
Even apart from the "yuck" factor:

If you had been watching the series all along, you could spot where all of her lines had been lifted from. You couldn't keep yourself from flashing on those other scenes from previous years (or doing a bit of a mental search for those for which the source scene didn't immediately leap to mind).

It tended to take me, as an audiance member, out of the current story being told .... thereby detracting from it.
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

The only way I would like to see a story about these characters is if it is about the part of you that is left behind in others when you leave a place, as G'Kar puts it in Object in Motion, IIRC. A story about how the Franklin or G'Kar characters have touched others, and the imprint they left behind on the universe they walked in. If done tastefully, perhaps with some flashbacks (though IMO not necessary), that could work for me.

It would probably be a damned hard thing to write though, and I don't know if JMS would either want do it, or be up to it, emotionally.
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

If you had been watching the series all along, you could spot where all of her lines had been lifted from. You couldn't keep yourself from flashing on those other scenes from previous years (or doing a bit of a mental search for those for which the source scene didn't immediately leap to mind).

It tended to take me, as an audiance member, out of the current story being told .... thereby detracting from it.

PillowRock, I had the exact same reaction to those lines. It felt like when a radio personality has buttons with people saying funny lines, or fart noises, or musical 'stings' that they use over and over again. I know a lot of people really liked having Livia there for those scenes, but I wished they could have done it differently.

And Joe, I agree with you that the way Highlander handled it was quite classy. If throwing a few residuals to the estates is desired, there are many less objectionable ways to do it. I think it would grate very badly to reuse footage, particularly since this is a show that encourages rabid fandom, and most people would know exactly where those lines came from.
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

I'm not sure what JMS has planned, but he appears to have such a great admiration for those characters AND the actors that portrayed them. I believe safeguarding their memory in TLT is foremost in his mind .
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

I kind of imagine one of our characters watching old SecurCam footage of Franklin or G'Kar (lifted from the existing eps), and then toasting absent friends.
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

I'm curious if there is any unseen footage of Andreas and Peter that got cut for some reason, that Peter could "remember" in a flashback. I too would love to see Andreas' family get cash and to be able to watch him "live" again. I for one would love to see the "Centari" trilogy to be filmed. We have the death of Londo and G'Kar on film already, again, I'm curious if there are any outtakes of G'Kar that "could" be used to flesh out a good story tastefully.
 
Re: Actual B5:TLT News

Joe, I'm not advocating this, or saying it is likely, just that it is a possibility. The idea of doing flash backs, or using out takes for flash backs, would be better. Oh, I do think they did some digital resurection of Oliver Reed in Gladiator, if memory serves. But, even if it were technically possible, and within the budget, I highly doubt that JMS would digitally manufacture a major role for a dead actor that has meant so much to the fans.


Look at all the dead people who "acted" in Forrest Gump, and that film was made 12 years ago. So, who knows what could happen, given what IS possible?

My instincitive reaction to this suggestion is - well, yuck. There is just something creepy about the whole concept. It is one thing to insert a modern actor into actual historical footage and then tweak the soundtrack a bit. It is something else to use scraps of footage to "resurrect' an actor to complete a film (as in case of Brandon Lee and The Crow) It is something yet again to use old footage to somehow create new scenes in a new project. Even the CG "return" of Livia for her final Sopranos bow struck me as ill-considered Far better to have had her death entirely off-screen. The only place I saw this work was on Highlander. An actor who played a recurring role died unexpectedly as they were about to film his next episode, which was supposed to be largely about him. They did a hasty rewrite to kill-off his character and took one scene from a previous appearance - one without dialogue where he appeared in the same location where his character was supposed to die. They added the sound of someone sneaking up on him, cut to a scene with another character, then came back to show the discovery of his body - which we only see in the form of an arm dressed in his costume. For the rest of that episode they did extensive flashbacks using footage from his earlier episodes, and he got full guest star billing in both, for purposes of residuals.

It would be a good way to throw some $ to their estates, i.e. their families.

I think simply doing flashbacks would work as well, without the 'yuck" factor.

Just one man's opinion.

Regards,

Joe
 

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