<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>what i meant by it was if this sort of thing hasn't been done before, then how do we know it could be done...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Well, like I said, similar things
have been done. It all depends on how exact you want to make the match, and there aren't very many shows that match
Crusade's history closely.
We know that this sort of thing
could be done, regardless of whether or not it has been done before, because all that is necessary to do it is for Sci-Fi to decide they want to. JMS has said he wants to do it, most of the cast has said they would like to return and Warner Bros. will be happy to produce the show as long as their expenses are covered. It all comes down to whether or not Sci-Fi thinks it fits their plans and their budget, and fundamentally whether or not they have the
will to do it. As the Jim Lovell character is made to say in
Apollo 13 about the first moon landing, "It wasn't a miracle. We just decided to do it."
We do know that Sci-Fi wanted
Crusade at the time the production was finally shut down, but that TNT asked an outrageous amount of money for it (precisely in order to
prevent Sci-Fi from taking it.) So there has always been a degree of interest there, and Bonnie Hammer has said that they love the production team of Netter and Straczynski and want to do
projects with them.
Rangers is a non-issue in this case, because Sci-Fi really didn't choose it
instead of
Crusade. Crusade wasn't really on the table until after the
Rangers deal was made.
As noted in numerous threads, JMS took pains to establish
Crusade as its own show. When Sci-Fi started negotiating with JMS and Warner Bros. for a new
B5 project back in December,
B5 was just finishing its first run and Sci-Fi hadn't even acquired the
rights to
Crusade yet. It wasn't really on their radar, and wouldn't be until they saw what kind of ratings it got on "their air."
As it happens, Sci-Fi wouldn't pick up the rerun rights to
Crusade until after the
Rangers movie was a done deal. Based on the
B5 ratings Sci-Fi wanted something that would be more of a continuation of
B5 than
Crusade was, so they probably didn't even consider the older sequel at that point. (Although I suspect that JMS probably suggested it.) Their position was that they would consider any possible
Crusade projects based on
its own ratings when and if they saw them.
Rangers was a
B5 project based on the
B5 ratings. It was the "something new" that Sci-Fi wanted at that point. They'll deal with
Crusade when the time comes, when JMS's schedule is a little clearer, and after they've seen how the
possible*
Rangers series does.
*
(qualification added as part of the Psion Ten Blood Pressure Maintenance (tm) program.)
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
