"B5" DVD (and other) news from JMS (1 Viewer)

[John Berggren]

I too wonder why this news just dissappeared.

 

[Tony Whalen]

Geez... you guys must be psychic. I was just wondering to myself "wasn't JMS supposed to announce something big?"

I take it JMS hasn't said a peep about his eep?

 

[nolesrule]

During deal finalization for a project, JMS tends to keep his mouth shut.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

It's taken longer than hoped for to be able to talk about this, because it's taken longer than hoped for to go through all the machinations of the deal. Depending on the nature of a given deal, it can take a few weeks to a couple, three months to actually cut the deal and finalize the language in terms everybody can agree with. We only literally finished the deal last week.

Writing on B5:TMoS is complete, and as soon as the powers that be sign off on everything, it can be turned in and we can start moving. At that point, I can say more about this.

Figure another couple of weeks.

Hopefully we'll know more soon.

 

[PhilipG]

(And what is "B5: TMoS"?)

The Mouth of Sauron
Twelve Months of Silliness
Tuesday, Monday or Sunday

...in other words, your guess is as bad as mine.

 

[Tony Whalen]

Philip beat me to "The Mouth of Sauron"

 

[Rick P]

Just to honk you off even further about all this...
in the speculation of titles...

one of you was correct.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

 

[todd s]

"B5: The Man of Steel"

A rocketship from a destroyed world lands on B5. Inside is a human looking baby... (cue John Williams theme)

 

[Tony Whalen]

Just to honk you off even further about all this...
in the speculation of titles...

one of you was correct.

DOH!

Geez... now I gotta find that thread...

 

[todd s]

Where Joseph DeMartino??

 

[Ric Easton]

Maybe he can't find the new section!

Ric

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Oh, I'm here, waiting for the other shoe to drop, like everybody else. Apparently it is taking longer than JMS expected to get all the "i"s dotted and the "t"s crossed, so he's just as stuck as the rest of us until Warner Bros. or somebody finishes whatever is happening on the business side and makes an announcement.

Following is a list of suggested titles from the moderated newsgroup with time-stamps prior to JMS's "one of you is right" message.

One of the problems with usenet, of course, is that messages are time-stamped when they're sent, not when they're posted to the group, and when any given individual actually see a given message can depend on his ISP, their mail server and his PC/newsreader. So we can't be sure that JMS saw all of these guesses before he posted his note.

We should recall that JMS is fond of "working" or "placeholder" titles, so "B5:TMoS" could be nothing more than a covenient way for everyone at the studio to separate the new project from previous B5 stuff that is currently in the DVD pipeline.

(And made deliberately hard to guess or otherwise odd because JMS is a sadistic bastard who likes torturing fans , and otherwise having fun at their expense. After years of hearing how much B5 resembled The Lord of the Rings - which it doesn't especially in terms of story, characters and outcome - he chose the initials "LotR" for the last B5 project, after all. Does anyone think that was a coincidence?)

Finally we should realize that the vast majority of these "guesses" weren't meant seriously, and that even some that were are too silly, ungrammatical or ugly to be serious contenders.

If it isn't a temporary title like "B5: The Movie of the Series" (because "TMP" for "The Motion Picture" would be too obvious) than I would guess a title like "B5: The Memory of Shadows" is the most likely. (Assuming the first word is "The".) Any story that is likely to involve the original cast would be set in the period after the Shadow War and any threat they encounter, including left-over Shadow technology and the Human telepaths, could be considered a legacy of the long Vorlon-Shadow conflict. (I believe that the success of the DVDs provided the impetus for a new B5 project, and that it is therefore likely that TPTB at Warner Bros. would prefer something that involves as much of the original cast as possible.)

I'm more interested in knowing if "B5:TMoS" is the title of a theatrical film, a mini-series or a TV movie than in what the letters stand for, but here's the list the JMS says contains the correct "translation" of "TMoS":

Babylon 5: The Meanng of Spoo
Theatrical Movie, original Story
The mother of Sheridan
The Minbari of Steel
The Mollari of Spoo
Triluminary-Modified operating System
The Man of Steel
Too Many odd Suggestions
B5:TMoS - Theatrical Movie of Sorts
B5:TMoS - Telepaths Move on Saturday
B5:TMoS - Terribly Mean of Straczynski
Babylon5: The MIND of Straczynski
The Meatballs of Swedes
The Marriages of Sheridan
The Mutation of Sinclair
The Men of Space
The Mammaries of Susan
The Meaninglessness of Speculation.
The Minstrations of Sugar
Telepath Monopoly of Space
Trans Morphing Optical Stuff
The Meaning of S***
The Mighty Obvious Script
The Mound of Scripts
The Movie of Surprises
Time Makes Our Society
Twenty Minbari Order Sandwiches
The Movie Script
The Memory of Shadows
The Movement of Shadows
The Mark of Shadows
The Memory of Sheridan
The Murder of Shiv'kala
The Martyrdom of Sinclair
The Mystery of Souls
Telepath Minds on Speed
Babylon 5: The Music of Sondheim
Babylon 5: The Making of the Series
B5: The Misdirection of Speculation
Telepathic Mindwipe of Sheridan.
Terrific Marvels of Space (a documentary)
Babylon Five : Total Marmallisation of Spacestation
That Mean Ol' Straczynski (from B5_Obsessed at b5tv.com)
The Movement of Starlight
Two Marsupials on Speed
Talia, Marcus, or Susan *
Terribly Mean of Straczynski
Babylon 5: The Myth of Souls
Babylon 5: The Myth of Shadows
Babylon 5: The Mystery of Sheridan
Techno-Mages of Silliness
Techno-Mages of Song
Techno-Mages on Strike
The Movie on Sunday
The Movie opposite SuperBowl
Telepaths: Meet our Sponsor
Throw Morden off Station
The Mouth of Sheridan

* If WB were to consider getting into NC-17 territory, I'd suggest renaming this one Talia, Marcus on Susan.

I don't know who originally did all the work of compiling this list, which has appeared on a number of web sites, or I'd give credit where credit is due. Certainly it wasn't me.

Regards,

Joe

 

[CaptDS9E]

The Movement of Shadows seems like a title JMS would use.

capt

 

[Rob T]

The Memory of Shadows
The Movement of Shadows
The Mark of Shadows
The Myth of Shadows

I think those are the most likely titles.

 

[oscar_merkx]

JMS certainly knows how to stir a debate about a title does he not ?

 

[Tony Whalen]

The Mammaries of Susan

Alternately, I could go with this one.

 

[KyleC]

I have a question for you all. I saw B5 first when it was run on TNT. I saw ITB first which I'm sure ruined the series just a little for me. Anyway, after my fiancee and I are done watching DS9 (currently 1/2 way through S5) I want to introduce her to B5. Should I just start in S1 or show her ITB first like I saw it? Just curious. She keeps saying she doesn't think she'll like it, but she loves DS9. I told her there are similarities but B5's storytelling is unmatched in any show.

 

[Andy_Bu]

Should I just start in S1 or show her ITB first like I saw it? Just curious

I would start at the "true" beginning with the pilot The Gathering and then move on to Season 1.

I would not show her ITB until season 3 is complete because I feel it gives away to many fun spoilers (which is part of the fun of watching B5 for the first time).

Andy

 

[John Berggren]

In the Beginning actually comes after season 4, and spoils events that occur in the beggining and middle of season 4.

 

[PhilipG]

Save ITB for later. It was B5's finest hour.