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Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - Page 8

post #211 of 242
6/16/08 at 2:48pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by JediFonger
B5=very unique, but still under-watched. i think if u randomly ask anyone on the streets today, they will have heard of lost (at the very least) but won't have a clue about B5.
the prisoner (british i know) did that in the 60s didn't they? but it was pretty much a one-off like many of the things they did.

Well, then that's their loss. As I said in this thread, I am currently rewatching B5 (in season 2 now) and I am continually impressed at - among other things - how well thought-out it all was. Sure, there is some teasing of what is to come but you don't wait years for the payoff (hello, X-Files) and then get disappointed. Watching the DVDs on a Blu-Ray player, I can see that the video transfers left a bit to be desired in places (not everywhere, some of it looks nice), but that's a quibble.

Saw a nice quote from JMS after his experience at Cannes, where his Changeling film was screened (starring Angelina Jolie, directed by Clint Eastwood; big time, JMS!). He said that for him, the fairy tale had come true and he was at peace. I was very gratified to read his comments. Too often, talent like his does not get rewarded. He deserves his success.

As for the Prisoner, I read that the AMC remake is underway and should be coming to TV next year.
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post #212 of 242
6/16/08 at 6:16pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by JediFonger
the prisoner (british i know) did that in the 60s didn't they? but it was pretty much a one-off like many of the things they did.

how about 24?

Quote:
The Brits tend to do short form series, anywhere from 6 to 18 episodes, often adapations of literature, that have clear story arcs and definite endings.

The economics of British TV, the number of stations, even the size of the country all made it a very different kettle of fish from American TV, so it is hard to compare them.

While the events of each season are incorporated into the following season, there is no indication that 24 ever had a per-planned multi-season arc. Obviously each one-day, one-season arc is meticulously planned out, but again, doing a season (or part of a season) at a time is a lot easier than doing a five-year story with both an overall arc and several subsidiary stories that begin and end at different points along the way. 24 is more like a series of short stories with the same set of characters, each self-contained even while they refer back to events that happened in earlier stories. You don't have to have seen the previous seasons of 24 to watch the current one.

Regards,

Joe
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post #213 of 242
6/18/08 at 7:45pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Variety has a nice write-up naming JMS one of its "10 Screenwriters to Watch" - and confirming that he's doing Lensman for Ron Howard - presumably the "near legendary SF project" he alluded to earlier.

Regards,

Joe
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post #214 of 242
6/19/08 at 4:35am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Is that the announcement JMS alluded to for June 19 in Variety? Once again, glad to hear he is so busy, but hoping for more B5.
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post #215 of 242
6/19/08 at 9:31am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Favate
Is that the announcement JMS alluded to for June 19 in Variety?

Yup, that was it. I don't think he'll need to play coy about any future B5 news. I'm sure WB will greenlight another Lost Tale just as soon as he's ready to do one, and generally the only reason for not spilling the details about something is that there's an embargo of one kind or another that prevents JMS from making an announcement until the news is officially announced by another party - Variety in the case of the article, the studio or network in the case of a film or TV project.

Regards,

Joe
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post #216 of 242
6/20/08 at 1:40am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
Variety has a nice write-up naming JMS one of its "10 Screenwriters to Watch" - and confirming that he's doing Lensman for Ron Howard - presumably the "near legendary SF project" he alluded to earlier.

Regards,

Joe

Thanks for the link to that update.

It makes you wonder with all that he has achieved, that he is unable to make progress on B5.

Just noticed that he is writing Ninja Assassin for the Wachowskis and Joel Silver. Now that should be really interesting
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post #217 of 242
6/20/08 at 4:51am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by oscar_merkx
It makes you wonder with all that he has achieved, that he is unable to make progress on B5.

Joe could probably say better than I could, but it seems to me the only thing stopping him from turning attention to B5 these days is a lack of time, and perhaps a wealth of other stories he wants to tell.
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post #218 of 242
6/20/08 at 7:31am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Favate
Joe could probably say better than I could, but it seems to me the only thing stopping him from turning attention to B5 these days is a lack of time, and perhaps a wealth of other stories he wants to tell.

You're absolutely right. He's suddenly hugely in demand and one thing no freelance writer ever does is turn down an assignment if he can avoid it - because you never know when a hot streak will end. Plus he's now able to pitch ideas and get scripts and treatments directly to the Ron Howards and Clint Eastwoods of the world without having to work his way all the way up the studio food chain, which means that some projects that got passed over before might now get a second look.

Add in the fact that most of his current work pays a heck of a lot more than anything B5-related ever would and you can see why he'd be concentrating on that rather than B5, much as he still clearly loves the show. (Look at all the time he did devote to the script books over the past couple of years, including locking himself away long enough to hand-autograph every single copy of the bonus Volume 15 that went out.)

Regards,

Joe
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post #219 of 242
6/20/08 at 10:05pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
While the events of each season are incorporated into the following season, there is no indication that 24 ever had a per-planned multi-season arc. Obviously each one-day, one-season arc is meticulously planned out ...
Bit off-topic, but regarding 24, I'm pretty sure even the writers now acknowledge that they just make each day up as they go along. (Something I suspected ever since the identity of the mole was revealed at the end of day 1 - go back and check, and you'll find that person is supposed to commit a murder in an earlier episode, but there was no time to do it.) I love 24, it's a great ride, but an example of a carefully-planned story it is not.
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post #220 of 242
6/21/08 at 12:11am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Thanks for the reply Joe
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post #221 of 242
6/21/08 at 7:31am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Matthew:

Quote:
I love 24, it's a great ride, but an example of a carefully-planned story it is not.

Of course, I haven't actually watched 24 since season one. (And, come to think of it, I seem to recall that killing Jack's wife was a last-minute decision. ) JMS sometimes changed details in mid-story, like having Vir, rather than Londo, kill a certain character or having Kosh die a couople of episodes sooner than he was going to. (Because he realized he'd been putting the moment off because he just didn't want to kill Kosh off when it came right down to it.) But either way, someone was going to use the poisoned needle, and Kosh was going to die.

Oscar:

You are most welcome.

Regards,

Joe
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post #222 of 242
6/23/08 at 8:27am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewLouwrens
I love 24, it's a great ride, but an example of a carefully-planned story it is not.
This coming season, though, they appear to have used the delays to more carefully plan things out. We'll see whether that makes an improvement or not.

Neil
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post #223 of 242
6/24/08 at 9:32am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

i do miss the B5 world =P.

one benefit to B5 i can see out of this whole thing is that if JMS is successful in the new ventures he participates in, many years down the road once he is proven, he will definitely use all of his powers to give us a hugeass EPIC version of B5 that he will never have gotten to make BEFORE this. so i wait patiently like joe =P.
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post #224 of 242
7/2/08 at 6:59am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

I found an interviewwith JMS that is posted in two parts.

Comic Book Resources > CBR News: REFLECTIONS: J. Michael Straczynski, Part I

Comic Book Resources > CBR News: REFLECTIONS: J. Michael Straczynski, Part II

Enjoy
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post #225 of 242
7/2/08 at 8:05pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

very inspiring thanks oscar =P
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post #226 of 242
7/7/08 at 1:02pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

JMS doing the screenplay for LENSMAN makes sense. In fact, there was a lot of Lensman stuff written in to B5.
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post #227 of 242
7/7/08 at 7:43pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by RickGr
JMS doing the screenplay for LENSMAN makes sense. In fact, there was a lot of Lensman stuff written in to B5.

Well, I wouldn't quite say "written into", which sounds (unintentionally I know) a bit close to "copied from." But JMS has never made any secret of his fondness for the Lensman books or their influence on Babylon 5. In some ways the Shadows and the Vorlons were the thinking man's Eddorians and Arisians. I think he's the perfect writer to launch what may be a new SF film franchise.

Regards,

Joe
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post #228 of 242
7/8/08 at 4:58am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

In the process of rewatching the series, and introducing it to my wife, we saw In the Shadow of Za'ha'dum last night, one of my favorites of the series. One of the things the show got right was the political connections, such as Vir's insistance that Morden was a guest of the Centauri and should be granted diplomatic immunity.

Let's get the green light on a feature or at least more Lost Tales.
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post #229 of 242
7/14/08 at 6:16am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

JMS posted the following in the moderated newsgroup, as part of a more general update about plans for ComicCon, etc.

Quote:
One final note re: recent discussions on TMoS and more Lost Tales.


B5:TLT was commissioned at a $2 million budget to, yet one more time, "test the waters" for B5. We did what we could with that, and that was that. As we did with Rangers, which also suffered from not having a lot of money because of concerns about "is there really a B5 audience?" Which is, of course, a foolish question from a studio that has never really understood what it has in B5.

Of late, there have been more discussions from WB about doing more DVDs, again at a low cost, or a cable thing, again with minimal investment.

So for the last few months, I've been giving this whole subject a lot of quiet thought. And I've come to a conclusion.

B5 as a five year story stands beautifully on its own. If anything else is to be continued from that story, it should be something that adds to the legacy of B5, rather than subtracts from it.

As well intentioned as Rangers and TLT were, as enticing as it was to return to those familiar waters, in the end I think they did more to subtract from the legacy than add to it. I don't regret having made them, because I needed to go through that to get to the point where I am now psychologically, but from where I sit now, I wouldn't make them again.

So I've let everyone up here know that I'm not interested in doing any more low-budget DVDs. I'm not interested in doing any low-budget cable things or small computer games. The only thing I would be interested in doing regarding ffice:smarttags[/IMG]Babylon 5 from this point on is a full- featured, big-budget feature film.


It's that or nothing.


And if it's nothing, I'm totally cool with that because the original story stands on its own just fine. I'm not lobbying for it, I'm not asking fans to write in about it (nor should you) because such campaigns never really have much impact...that's simply the position I've taken up here. Lord knows I don't lack for other things to do these days. I'm busier on more prestige projects with terrific people and great film-makers than at any other time in my career.


At the end of the day, for me, it's not just a matter of getting more B5. It's a matter of getting more *good* B5 that respects what came before it and doesn't have to compromise visually or in terms of action. The original show deserves better than that, the surviving cast members deserve better than that, and the fans who have supported it over the years definitely deserve better than that. A lot better.


So I've drawn that line in the sand, and I'm happy living on whichever side of that line the universe puts me. Just thought you should know, 'cause it's your show too.


jms

Regards,

Joe
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post #230 of 242
7/14/08 at 8:12am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

I hate to say it but I think I'll take nothing. Firefly had a theatrical film that did nothing at the box office, but at least it wrapped a story that got cut short on FOX. I think everything we really need to see from the B5 universe we've seen. The Mainstream is not going to go to the theater to see a telepath war film, or the conclusion of Crusade. And the Arc of B5 is over, it's a great Arc and a Great universe, one of which I can revisit anytime I Want on DVD. Films like the Lost tales and Legend of the Rangers kinda felt like half hearted attempts to me (as JMS alluded to) and they really did not add much to what was already there, So maybe it is time to move on.
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post #231 of 242
7/14/08 at 12:08pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

i agree with JMS >P even if the fanboi in me wanted to see moar, TLT did subtract from the original story rather than add.
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post #232 of 242
7/14/08 at 2:52pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

So, no more Lost Tales? A shame, because some of the ideas floated when the first one was announced sounded good. I'd like to see a feature, too, but I kind of thought there'd be a few Lost Tales leading up to it.
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post #233 of 242
7/20/08 at 11:43am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

J. Michael Straczynski:
Quote:
Of late, there have been more discussions from WB about doing more DVDs, again at a low cost, or a cable thing, again with minimal investment.

. . . . I'm not interested in doing any more low-budget DVDs. I'm not interested in doing any low-budget cable things or small computer games. The only thing I would be interested in doing regarding . . . Babylon 5 from this point on is a full- featured, big-budget feature film.

Why, oh, why, I wonder, is it that the "geniuses" at Warner Brothers decided they couldn't make money on quality, relatively big-budgeted Babylon 5 tv-movies? After the money they've already made on their little "franchise", seems like a "natural" to me.
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post #234 of 242
7/20/08 at 5:22pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rex Bachmann
Why, oh, why, I wonder, is it that the "geniuses" at Warner Brothers decided they couldn't make money on quality, relatively big-budgeted Babylon 5 tv-movies? After the money they've already made on their little "franchise", seems like a "natural" to me.

Actually this is one area where I'd let WB off the hook, at least a bit.

The series has been off the air for 10 years. It isn't like the networks are banging on the door at WB screaming, "Please make more B5 for us to air." If they were, it would have already happened. So this would be a matter of the studio proposing a TV movie and then shopping it to the 'nets.

And it isn't like any of the TV movies did massive numbers, so it would be even more of a buyer's market. That means the network would get the movie at the lowest possible license fee, and WB would have to shell out the lion's share of that "big budget." WB has always been risk-averse when it comes to genre TV projects of any kind - not just B5. Their preference is to ensure that their cost is covered by the up-front fee so that there's no way they can lose and any ancillary income (oversees sales, DVDs, etc.) is gravy.

That's all assuming they could even interest a network in a new B5 project at this point.

From a business standpoint a new TV project actually makes less sense for WB than biting the bullet and doing a feature film in which all the risks and rewards are theirs.

Regards,

Joe
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post #235 of 242
7/20/08 at 11:18pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

ya know, even if they did a hugeass feature w/JMS aboard i'm not so sure it'll make its profit back initially, i'm sure the DVD/Blu-Ray will break even.

B5 just doesn't have a fan base large enough to cover its expenses. it needs to expand to non-fans similar to the dark knight, but even then it's a tough sell, hard SF like B5 have always been hard sells.
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post #236 of 242
7/21/08 at 6:19am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

While I will always hope Warner will follow through on a B5 movie, I think the ideal timing has passed. B5 could have filled a void in the marketplace about 4 or 5 years ago. Star Trek was missing from the scene, and whatever you think of Trek, it is B5's competition. Of course, the new Trek film could conceivably revive interest in other similar franchies, so there is hope for B5 yet.
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post #237 of 242
7/21/08 at 12:19pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

As much as I know Joe's a fan of B5, I'm glad ot see a realistic assessment of the chances for movie returns. It'd be nice if profits could be ignored and art won out, but that's not realistic.

I've still never seen a single episode of B5, and I'm OK with scifi in its various forms. I've seen every Star Trek episode and movie. I've seen all of Farscape. When B5 aired, I never saw a single commercial, nor read a single article, that made me want to watch the show. And I'd say I'm an easy date on that one. The only reason I started loosely following B5 is based on discussion on this forum. I've since collected it all, and will watch it. Maybe I'll fall in love with it. But at this point, I wouldn't go see a B5 movie any more than I went to see Serenity. On the other hand, I'm quite looking forward to Dark Knight, if for no other reason than I'm well aware (due to coverage) it's out there, and fairly good.
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post #238 of 242
7/21/08 at 12:36pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

ur in for a treat mikah when u get around to it =D.

i had 0 expectations when i got into it. didn't know whether or it was good or not, just heard lots of friends saying how wicked wasome it was =).
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post #239 of 242
7/22/08 at 5:23am

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikah Cerucco
The only reason I started loosely following B5 is based on discussion on this forum. I've since collected it all, and will watch it. Maybe I'll fall in love with it. But at this point, I wouldn't go see a B5 movie any more than I went to see Serenity.

As I have in this thread and elsewhere, I'm watching B5 for the 3rd or 4th time now, and my wife is seeing it for the first. She loves it. She asks about it all the time and wants to watch it whenever we can. She was never much into sci-fi (although she loved DS9) but shows like these seem to transcend the genre. We just started on Season 3, so as most of you know, things are getting really good right now.
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post #240 of 242
7/23/08 at 1:01pm

Re: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Joseph DeMartino wrote (post #234):
Quote:
Actually this is one area where I'd let WB off the hook, at least a bit.
. . . From a business standpoint a new TV project actually makes less sense for WB than biting the bullet and doing a feature film in which all the risks and rewards are theirs.

I have to admit to no expertise in the intricacies of tv and movie financing, but they do have their own network---I know, it's an "independent feofdom" not under "central command"---, and whose fault is it anyway that it has been allowed to become a "one-trick pony" that panders to only the self-absorbed "young adult demographic", instead of trying to exercise some wider appeal some of the time?
Quote:
. . . this would be a matter of the studio proposing a TV movie and then shopping it to the 'nets.

That's all assuming they could even interest a network in a new B5 project at this point.

It would be nice if, say, CBS would offer us---maybe twice a year?---one of these instead a yet another "heart-warming" Hallmark Hall of Fame bowel-softener. (But, for that to happen, Les Moonves would have stop sitting on his brains.) And, neither NBC Universal nor ABC has anything to be proud of either, as far I can see. Bland and/or trite is all that seems to be on offer.
Quote:
And it isn't like any of the TV movies did massive numbers, so it would be even more of a buyer's market.

Well, I always thought that was partly due to the Shy-Fi Network and its (often deservedly) low visibility. I thought the impetus for and feasibility of any new movie now rested on the increased visibility the show has (supposedly) gained since being brought out on homevideo.

[Yeesh!] for some decent sci-fi tv. I'm sick of 500-year-old detectives, and savant detective consultants with no memory, and vampire detectives, and---well, you get the picture---being passed off as "intelligent sci-fi".
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