"B5" DVD (and other) news from JMS (2 Viewers)

[Mikel_Cooperman]

This is great news to someone like me who just got sucked into to the show the last year due to the DVDs coming out.

In comparison to the Star Trek and X-Files collections, the B5 season collections are quite reasonably priced. In comparison to Alias, Smallville and 24 they are less so. Season set prices are all over the map.

Yeah, they are a bit high but they certainly are more worth it than say the Star Trek Box sets because these have commentaries and lots of behinds the scenes stuff.
It is high but in the long run it's worth it. I order them from Northamericandvd.com where they are a bit cheaper.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Dave:

You are correct, sir. Also one member of the crew would have been very unhappy to learn that Gideon had one of those things. Then there are all those questions about who built them, for what purpose, and where the other five are.

P.S.

"Alot" is not a word.

Neil:

You're absolutely right, TV season set prices are all over the map with B5 being neither outrageously expensive nor a bargain. (The original A&E release of The Prisoner was ridiculously expensive, as was the initial non-season-set release of Farscape, as I recall.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[DaveGTP]

Glad to see the news!

To the newbies that got sucked into B5 by the recent runs of it on Sci-fi

Since the retail is $99.95, you can find it for about 60ish a season with some care. Easiest way now would be to get them @ Deepdiscountdvd.com - a very reputable online e-tailer, they are running an extraordinary sale - 20% off their regular prices (which are already dirt cheap). Coupon code is USATODAY, or DVDTALK, or DVDSALE (each one usable on an order only once). See the deepdiscount thread on the coupons/deals forum for more details. DVD sale of the year!

Seasons of B5 are $74.99, - 20% off = $59.99 a season. And well worth it, especially for the JMS commentaries.

 

[Todd Schnell]

Joseph thanks for the scoop! I've followed B5 from the first airing of the pilot episode. Sign me up for anything B5 related released on DVD.



Brian,
Granted these sets could all be a bit cheaper, but I don't find the B5 season sets priced high. Compared to the near $100 or so street prices of X-Files, Star Trek, Farscape, etc. the B5 sets are a bargain. I paid around $55 shipped for B5 seasons 1-3 so far from Amazon.ca.

Todd

 

[Brian Kidd]

I agree that $60 is better than some, but it's rare to find them that cheaply. Most places sell them for $75 or more. I think it's just sour grapes on my part because my DVD funds are limited and if I were to buy even one season of B5 it would keep me from purchasing any other discs for MONTHS.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Finally there is the possibility that he's being a bit coy and that the new project he's writing (or the other one that is still in the talking stage) somehow involves the Rangers concept and that Warner Bros. wants to hold the earlier pilot film back from next year's set to wait on further developments.

I rather doubt that myself, having my own ideas about what JMS is writing at the moment, but I'll respect his wishes and not speculate publicly.

I wonder if this "new" project ties into the interview I read somewhere with Garibaldi, where he and others were trying to get something going in the B5 universe. Although that interview did hint towards resurrection of B5 itself, which JMS considers a done, finished story.

 

[TheLongshot]

Unfortunatly, the DDD discount doesn't work for preorders, so I can't order Season 4 with it.

Another option is ordering it from Canada. It isn't as good of a deal as it used to be (About $65 each now), but it can still be good...

Jason

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

No preorders?
That sucks. I was just going to go preorder that and Lost in Space until I scrolled down.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I wonder if this "new" project ties into the interview I read somewhere with Garibaldi, where he and others were trying to get something going in the B5 universe.

JMS has been pretty emphatic that Jerry Doyle's talk about reviving B5 was just that: talk.

 

[GarySchrock]

Another option is ordering it from Canada. It isn't as good of a deal as it used to be (About $65 each now), but it can still be good...

The biggest problem with doing that (and I've done it a couple times myself), is that the B5 sets are notoriously bad at holding the discs on the hubs. I think season 2 was ok for me, but season 1 and 3 both had to be returned because of scratched discs. Now I will say that amazon.ca was pretty good to deal with on the return issue when I did it with season 3.

 

[DaveGTP]

I've been pre-ordering B5 seasons via my Replay card on Suncoast/Media Play triple points weekends. Comes to about $65 when I get my gift certs back.

 

[Brian_FSullivan]

3) As it happens, JMS is no longer the show runner on Jeremiah. He and MGM had creative differences about the future direction of the series, and he left. The show hasn't been cancelled (Showtime is just holding the last half of S2 back for broadcast in 2004 - not an unusual thing in the world of first-run pay cable series, especially given that Jeremiah has more episodes per season than most other shows.)

And don't forget Malcolm-Jamal Warner has joined the cast of CBS' untitled comedy pilot about the life of Washington Post sportswriter Tony Kornheiser (played by Jason Alexander).

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Philip:

Doyle was running around trying to put together some kind of financing and distribution deal (something like a syndication deal) based on basically reviving B5 or doing a Garibaldi spin-off, which he could then take as a package to Warner Bros. It was purely a freelance venture, not something that originated with the studio or with a network that was itself interested in more B5. Nothing wrong with that. If he got lucky he could have taken something to the studio and maybe a deal would have resulted - which might give him the lead in a series. Can't blame a guy for trying. The only problem - which was also the case with Richard Hatch and Battlestar Galactica - was that Doyle didn't own the property so he really had nothing to sell except his own participation in the proposed series and whatever "star power" he has. He was basically trying to be a middle-man - selling something he didn't own to someone the owner wasn't trying to sell something to.

JMS has been very clear in stating that as far as he's concerned B5 was a five year arc and that it is now finished. He never wanted to do a season 6 (which he was offered) and made that clear to anyone he spoke to all through the five years.

A couple of months ago he said that he was in the talking stage about two possible "B5 universe" projects, neither of which is a series, much less a continuation of the original series. Now one of those has moved to the money and writing stage. (While the other is still in play, as far as I know.) This does not sound at all like what Doyle was talking about.

It sounds to me like the studio, impressed with the sales of the DVD, started seriously thinking about doing something with this property for the first time since the Crusade debacle, and is either moving on a project that it will control 100% or once again seeking some kind of distribution partner (cable or TV network, PC game company, who knows?) And that they have approached JMS to provide a script, an outline, pitch material or something related to all of this.

Gary:

I for big ticket sets I've ordered from Total Action Universe for several years now. They have great customer service. When three of my S3 discs arrived loose, scratched and unplayable they exchanged just the damaged discs, not the whole set. This saved time and postage, as well as bother, since I didn't have to pack and ship the whole box. They were actually much more reasonable than any of the three brick and mortar stores that I went through before ending up with a complete, undamaged set of S1 discs.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Michael Sliger]

One warning about Total Action Universe. I stopped ordering from them about a year ago after three consecutive orders of mine were lost or delayed at customs (and the box to my B5 Season 1 set was damaged before being packed for shipment). The customer service was pleasant and fair, but the guys at TAU often do not answer their phone for hours at a time (12pm-3pm CT are pointless calling times from my experience). They sometimes take an extra day or two to respond to emails as well. Lately I have been using North American DVD since they often have similar low prices and seem to not have customs clearance problems. The only gripe I have with them is that they charge credit cards immediately.

Still, the US/Canada exchange rate difference dropped recently ($1.30 Canadian to $1 US currently), so the import deals for boxsets are not as stellar anymore. I am hoping that BestBuy.com pulls a pre-order deal similar to what they did for the X-Files Season 8 DVD set (sale for $80 with free shipping two weeks before release date).

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Anyone know how long those coupon codes last at Deepdiscount?

 

[Dan Rudolph]

until 12/5/2003

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Thanks Dan.

 

[TheLongshot]

I will second the negative on TAU. I think it ended up taking a couple of months for me to get my S1 DVD set, including lots of E-Mails. After that, I just moved my business to Amazon.ca.

As for loose discs, I have yet to get one that is so damaged that it wouldn't play. I spot-checked any ones that I had scratched, and they have all worked fine.

And don't forget Malcolm-Jamal Warner has joined the cast of CBS' untitled comedy pilot about the life of Washington Post sportswriter Tony Kornheiser (played by Jason Alexander).

Would that make him Michael Wilbon?

Jason

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

All I can say is that I've never had a significant shipping delay or any other problem with TAU that was not caused by Warner Bros.'s crappy packaging. YMMV

Regards,

Joe

 

[Rex Bachmann]

So, what was the big project news? I don't see it on the JMS News site. (And what is "B5: TMoS"?)