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Rangers Series?!?!

D

**DONOTDELETE**

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does anyone know what is going on in negotiations for a rangers or other b5 based series? i thought i remembered a rather teasing post by Kitaro Sasaki about a month or so ago, of course this may mean nothing, but do we really know anything yet?
 
........and no worries........as soon as it's announced, you won't be the first one to know /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif
 
Keep an ear out for early May.

An actual date hasn't been announced, but USA/SciFi *usually* has their upfront meeting for advertisers and the press around then.

They announce upcoming programs. The included the movie in last year's presentation.

Even if you can't go to the presentation, it is usually covered by the trade press (e.g. Hollywood Reporter, Mediaweek)

If they have any solid plans for airing a B5LR series anytime between the meeting and Spring of 2003, they would likely mention it to prospective advertisers.

The annual advertising sales season starts in mid-May.
 
I've been trying to find out the date, but my contacts tell me they may not have a big presentation. A lot of the big presentations are being shelved because of the economy in favor of individual meetings at the agencies. It's not certain yet.

Still, they will have some sort of press conference. I've been seeing several cable network programming articles in the Hollywood Reporter lately. They are trickling out. USA just made an announcement about a big mini-series they are doing.
 
Nice to find out that there's a reasonable sounding time-line for an announcement, but bummer that it isn't sooner.

Makes me think, is the board blue since everyone is holding their breath?
 
The fact that JMS hasn't told us that Rangers is dead is a good sign, I think. If SFC had decided not to do a series, we would probably know by now.

Tammy
 
Yes, but he "did" tell us when SFC couldn't make a deal to do more Crusade. I meant that if SFC decided not to do a Rangers series, JMS would tell us that a deal hadn't happened. He hasn't told us this yet, so that makes me think that they are negotiating for a series, or they have made a deal & just haven't announced it yet.

Tammy
 
And to add fuel to the fire, jms and Top Cow have split ways according to wizardworld.com. He has gone to "pursue other projects" and Joe's Comics will go into hiatis after Midnight Nation and Rising Stars. I wonder if he needs to clear the table for another project?
Wishful thinking, I know, but...
 
"Other projects" meaning more comics for Marvel.

And let's not forget "Polaris", which the SciFi Channel was interested in giving a 44 episode commitment (according to Dreamwatch). That was before they got the ratings for Rangers, though.

Given that he hasn't said anything about either it or Rangers, I'd guess they're still negotiating.
 
<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr> The fact that JMS hasn't told us that Rangers is dead is a good sign, I think. If SFC had decided not to do a series, we would probably know by now.
<hr></blockquote>

I never quite got that sort of logic. Seems to me the fact that you haven't heard anything, coupled with the dismal ratings and bad reviews would be anything but a good sign. Along those same lines, I don't think you'll see any statement by sci-fi saying, "we will not go forward with a rangers series...." My guess would be that you won't hear a word from sci-fi unless they actually do go forward with a series. Similarly, I don't see how you can interpret JMS's silence as being a good thing either. First off, if he came right out and said that there wasn't a rat's chance in hell that B5LR will be a series, then it would basically be a general acknowledgment that he failed miserably. I just don't know of anyone who eagerly advertises their screw-ups for the entire world to see. Secondly, he may already regard B5LR as dead in the water which, given the ratings and sci-fi's original criteria, is understandable. Third, you're talking about a guy that still hasn't acknowledged that Crusade is dead -- what makes you think he's gonna go against character at this point and time and say that Rangers is dead?

But to get back to the original topic ... I don't think that rangers will be a series. Why? Because there simply hasn't been any evidence to think otherwise and all kinds of evidence to think that plans for a series have be axed. First off, there were the dismal reviews and numerous problems with the movie itself. Most importantly, however, was the fact that everyone and their momma made it VERY clear that the ratings had to get to certain point before a series would get the ok. B5LRs ratings weren't even in the ballpark. Sure, some might argue that if it wasn't for the playoff game the ratings would have been in the 3s, but you don't know that. For all we know, even without the playoff game the ratings might have never made it into the 2s, much less the 3s.

Personally, I suggest that you wait until this fall and check out 'Firefly' on Fox. Joss Whedon will not fail to deliver the goods, unlike some others I could mention.
 
I agree with most of what he said. However I disagree on a couple points.

First, JMS never saying Crusade is dead. While he does have hope of reviving it, so in that essense it isnt dead, he did and has made it very clear that there was no future of the series with TNT. He has also said there are no future plans for it until other pieces like Rangers fall into place.

Second, JMS not telling the fans or the newsgroup that there is not a series. I dont see him keeping his mouth shut on this one. With all the fans eagerly anticipating a series, if Sci-fi flat out said NO, he would more than likely say such. OR, if Sci-fi has already said NO, and he is looking at other networks, he probably wouldnt say anything until he had flat out stopped looking. In any case, I dont see this as something he would just leave hanging. The networks will, sure, but I cant see him doing it. His B5 fans have been very loyal, and I dont see him shutting them out as such.

I agree, the outlook isnt good for the reasons you have stated, but I dont think its a dead issue yet.

[edit]
One last thing I COMPLETELY disagree with is this:
<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by PsionTen:
<font color=yellow>Personally, I suggest that you wait until this fall and check out 'Firefly' on Fox. Joss Whedon will not fail to deliver the goods, unlike some others I could mention.</font color=yellow><hr></blockquote>
JMS didnt fail to deliver jack sh*t. I know this argument has been done to death, but it seems the point still hasnt gotten across. LoTR may not have been perfect but it was a HELL of a lot better pilot for a series than The Gathering was for B5, and look how B5 turned out. No the only ones here who 'failed to deliver the goods' were the Sci-Fi network executive geniuses who decided to let the show go up against an NFL playoff game (let alone the highest watched one in years). You cant go up against an NFL playoff game and expect to win. And someone is on CRACK and a complete idiot if they dont think that this impacted LoTR's ratings. It did, its that simple.
 
<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SavantB5:
<font color=yellow>Psion Ten speaks sense.
</font color=yellow><hr></blockquote>

Right, it's depressing, but he makes sense (well, mostly).



<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by PsionTen:
<font color=yellow>
Personally, I suggest that you wait until this fall and check out 'Firefly' on Fox. Joss Whedon will not fail to deliver the goods, unlike some others I could mention. </font color=yellow><hr></blockquote>

Regarding Joss, as he gets spread more and more thin (Buffy, Angel, and now Firefly), the quality of each will suffer. Personally, I thought the last two eps of Buffy were pretty bad, overall. The last ep. of Angel had a pretty big plot hole. This will be Joss' first space show, so I don't hold out much hope there. He still has to make all the space show mistakes that JMS (hopefully) has learned not to make.

Regarding Crusade and Rangers, I don't really have any faith that Sci-Fi will get behind either of them, certainly not in a time period that will work for the actors. Sci-Fi's been far too sporadic in what they pick up and what they drop. They pick up trash, and drop good stuff (much like most networks this year; it's been a really bad year). It seems like new good stuff just has a hard time catching on, and utter crap sells like hotcakes. Well, there's no accounting for taste.

Right now, it seems that Warner Brothers (not talking about WHV here) doesn't give a damn about anything B5. If they cared, they wouldn't have "lost" all the CGI files. They'd have to be complete morons to not realize the value of those files, IF they ever intended to use them again. They have to realize how much work and creativity went into making that stuff. To lose it, or throw it out and say you lost it, is unconscionable, and demonstrates that they don't care about B5/Crusade/Rangers. Now, JMS has moved on to Jeremiah, so almost all his focus will be there, and the rest will be on the comics.


The thing is that a really great series could be made of Crusade (and stuff from the Technomage trilogy), but nobody is going to give it a chance. Everybody's got their irons in other fires, and today, a series has to catch on immediately, or it gets canned. /ubbthreads/images/icons/frown.gif
 
<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>JMS didnt fail to deliver jack sh*t. I know this argument has been done to death, but it seems the point still hasnt gotten across. LoTR may not have been perfect but it was a HELL of a lot better pilot for a series than The Gathering was for B5, and look how B5 turned out. No the only ones here who 'failed to deliver the goods' were the Sci-Fi network executive geniuses who decided to let the show go up against an NFL playoff game (let alone the highest watched one in years). You cant go up against an NFL playoff game and expect to win. And someone is on CRACK and a complete idiot if they dont think that this impacted LoTR's ratings. It did, its that simple.
<hr></blockquote>

I agree with you on one thing, this argument has been done to death. It seems utterly pointless to debate matters of taste and style, but unless you are a feverent JMS supporter, you must realize that there were problems with B5LR. There were also problems with Thirdspace, River of Souls and The Gathering, but let's not get into that now. Why is it whenever somebody gives a negative opinion of B5LR that people rack their brains trying to come up with excuses .... "Well, look how bad the gathering was and B5 turned out great," or "look at the number of potential storylines down the road..." You know what? You're absolutely right... if B5LR ever became a series it could be the greatest of all time. The problem is that the "pilot" reeked so bad and the ratings were so low that there won't actually be a series. Wouldn't it have been better to simply to come up with kick-ass pilot in the first place?

As far as the NFL game goes, I've made my position clear on that several times over. If anything, the NFL game may actually be your only saving grace, especially if -- as I suspect -- the playoff game didn't affect viewership as much as you would like to think. Now you have the excellent excuse of the NFL playoff game as the cause of why ratings didn't reach expected levels. If there had been no playoff game and B5LR barely got past a 1.9, then there really wouldn't be a chance for a series. At least now you got a shot.

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>Regarding Joss, as he gets spread more and more thin (Buffy, Angel, and now Firefly), the quality of each will suffer. Personally, I thought the last two eps of Buffy were pretty bad, overall. The last ep. of Angel had a pretty big plot hole. This will be Joss' first space show, so I don't hold out much hope there. He still has to make all the space show mistakes that JMS (hopefully) has learned not to make.
<hr></blockquote>

I definitely agree with you about spreading yourself too thin, which might explain why B5LR wasn't what it should have been. As far as Joss and this season of Buffy goes, I have to admit that it isn't my favorite either. But Joss really hasn't had a lot to do with Buffy of late other than writing/directing the occassional episode like OMWF, The Body or Hush -- all of which were excellent. I still have a lot of faith in firefly. From the bits and pieces that I've read from the pilot, it already runs rings around any JMS telemovie/pilot.
 
KoshN: The reason networks pick up and show "trash" is simple -- Ye Ol' bottom line! Those are cheap so networks make money even with a low number of viewers.

This said, despite B5 Rangers' poor numbers the first time it aired, I suspect the series is far from dead. In time zones where the NFL game ended before LOTR aired, it did very well. Another plus is all programs related to B5 have a loyal fan base already established. These are two items (there are others including the letter writing campaign) sponsors will be considering carefully and you can bet JMS is making sure these are considered. Sign me: The Optimistic Gangster
 
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