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.
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.
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.
