Jan
Regular
I think this may be what you're thinking of. It's from the transcript of when he announced TLT at Comic-Con last year:Help me out those of you who follow JMS's net conversations closely: didn't JMS said WB was interested in talking, and that he himself just wasn't ready for a large commitment (for several reasons, I am sure, but partly it was just too soon after two of the key actors in the original B5 died).
Anyway, they call every so often and want to do something with B5 and asked “Do you want to do a feature film?” and I thought about it for a while and I said, “No.” And here’s why: A) I don’t trust movies that much but B) most important, I can’t see the structure of a B5 movie right now as long as long as Andreas and Rick insist on staying dead. As much as B5 was about the stories of Sheridan and Delenn and those guys, there’s the Londo and G’Kar arc that was the clothes line from which I hung all that. And without G’Kar…maybe in a year or two I can start to see the structure of it but right now I can’t do something big right now. I’d love to but I can’t.
WB: “Do you want to do something else? Whatever you want to do, let’s do.”
So I thought about it and I came back to them and said, “Here’s what I’m thinking. When we did Babylon 5, what I liked were the small little stories that we did as ‘B’ plots and as short stories. What if we did a whole bunch of short films? Little mini-movies, each one worked around established B5 characters, not somebody else. One that’s worked around Sheridan, one that’s worked around Delenn, one that’s worked around Lochley or Garibaldi or whoever it is, and put these things out on DVDs and sell them to networks, whatever you want to do, make them short stories. An anthology show set in the Babylon 5 universe. They said, “Okay.” We already have a network that wants to carry them, by the way. We’re negotiating with them now. In addition to the network who wants to broadcast them, put them on DVD, three per DVD and sell them and build up an inventory of these: Babylon 5: the Lost Tales, basing a lot of them on stories I had for the series but never had a chance to actually put into gear-a bunch of different stories I never had time to produce.
I don't recall him saying anything yet about other writers for the lost tales. Definitely other directors, though. And according to his spotlight at this year's SDCC, we should watch for word of a possible TV series-NOT B5 related-that has him excited about who he'd be working with.And yea, I was thinking the same thing about why he might not be ready to show-run another complete series. Remember, even on these smaller stories, he wants other writers.
It caused him heart trouble, in fact. He's said he'd never attempt anything nearly as complex as B5 again because if he did it really would kill him.I do recall he said years ago that B5 was great, wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime kind of an experience, but it also aged him rapidly and might have killed him, in time. So he's pretty much said he'll never quite do anything like that again. Pretty understandable of him.
Jan