-
The new B5TV.COM is here. We've replaced our 16 year old software with flashy new XenForo install. Registration is open again. Password resets will work again. More info here.
Big B5 update from jms!!!
- Thread starter Alpha1
- Start date
phoenixrising
Regular
I think we need some confirmation on this. Anyone with a direct line to Joe DeMartino? If anyone on here would know about this, it would him.
As to speculation, I think cooling it would be a good idea. I think it would really suck if we had to wait for another B5 project for the five years if would take to resolve the legal circus JMS would find himself if he happens to hear about something posted on here.
Saying what you would like to see, fine. Casting and nearly writing the damn script, no.
Recoil
Regular
But whose fault would that be? Ours for speculating on an announcement --- which EVERYONE does no matter what the show or genre, or JMS for letting something slip? If it was so damn crucial that no one talk about it before the 15th of January then he should have kept his mouth shut too. Thats why I say there really isnt THAT big a concern, if there was, he would have never made the announcement in the first place.
I'm going to throw a possibility about this discussion: After reading JMS's original post (again) and seeing all the speculation going on, whch clearly JMS expected, methinks he's sitting back laughing up his sleeve and will come out with something, while B5 related, is totally unexpected. I strongly suspect this is very likely since he likes to lead fans on and them surpise them. In other words, he may actually want speculation.
Flounder
Regular
I think JMS meant to avoid
<ul type="square"> [*]Story ideas. [*]Too much attention, too soon. [/list]
Story ideas could lead to legal problems, especially if they escape into a medium that JMS reads (like the moderated newsgroup, or entertainment news sources).
Attention, and the kind of hype generating on fark and BBC could turn down interest when the announcement is ready. (Cry "wolf!")
I'm lucky enough to know about a movie project being worked on in another genre, but I can't tell anyone about it. Giving news too soon only serves to get people worked up without cause, and make it possible for competitors to put something out before you do.
AnlaShokGrey
Regular
>>Story ideas could lead to legal problems, especially if they escape into a medium that JMS reads (like the moderated newsgroup, or entertainment news sources). <<
Story ideas aren't going to leak into the moderated newsgroup; people who post there regularly (mostly) know better, and for those who are newer to the group, well, that's what the moderators are for.
Aisling
Story ideas aren't going to leak into the moderated newsgroup; people who post there regularly (mostly) know better, and for those who are newer to the group, well, that's what the moderators are for.
Aisling
crofootski
Regular
Do you really think jms would read all (11, so far) of these pages? Even if he came to B5TV, I would think he'd stay away from the "Big B5 update fro JMS!!!" entry. 
Lat year I posted this excerpt from the script of the Crusade episode, 'Path of Sorrows'
The cast list says "Lyta Alexander - TBA"
On page 25 when Matheson enters the cell it says:
"She slowly raises her head: it's LYTA ALEXANDER, looking dishevelled, dirty..."
On page 31,after the fighting starts we have:
"There's another blast, this time of sheer force, not explosives, blowing out the door to the cell, and in the smoke and ust we SEE Lyta emerge, eyes glowing brightly, a corona around her. She looks off...and in the melee we can just SEE a Minbari Ranger, but not seeing his face, fighting furiously, hand to hand, making his way to her.
LYTA
(triumphant)
Lennierrrrrrrrrr!
That's all we see as Matheson is carried away by the crowd.
71 EXT. SPACEPORT
As a shuttle rises into the air
72 CLOSER - SHUTTLE WINDOW
We can just see Matheson in the front window, co-piloting. He looks down as he senses:
LYTA
Live free, John! Find your dreams!
73 HIS POV - DOWNSHOT OF PSI CORPS CENTER
As the center is decimated in a flash of white that makes a thermonuclear detonation look like a firecracker."
Lyta was later replaced by another high ranking rebel, and Lennier wasn't shown, nor did Lyta call his name, but it seems pretty clear that the intention was for both Lennier and Lyta to have died in the explosion that destroyed the Psi Corps base.
Unless JMS was playing games
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
The Crusade writer's gives a sort of "Who's Who" from B5 so that new writers will understand the characters from the parent series. The notations for both Lyta and Lennier indicate that they are "not available" except in flashbacks because both are dead by the time of Crusade having perished in the Telepath War.
Because "The Path of Sorrows" flashback had to be rewritten without Lyta, the Lennier reference was dropped as well. The flashback as originally written didn't necessarily depict their deaths, since they could have escaped the site before the explosion, or ridden it out in some bomb-proof bunker. IF the episode were intended to show events surrounding their deaths, the fact that the episode aired without Lennier or Lyta means that JMS not only could, but probably had to change his conception of exactly how, when and where they died.
Back when Rangers was going into production there was much speculation about which B5 characters might make it into the movie. In answer to a usenet post JMS confirmed that Lyta was unavailable because she died in the telepath war and the war ended before the movie takes place. When asked a follow-up about Lennier also dying when Lyta does, JMS's answer was, "Right around then, yeah." Which suggests that their deaths may not be simultaneous, at least as he now conceives the event(s). It is even possible that his death is separate from the Teep War proper. But let's face it, JMS set Lennier up to somehow redeem himself, or at least try to. We know from "SiL" that he's dead by 2281. The last major story involving the original cast and characters that has yet to be told is the Teep War, and that's where Lennier's death will have to be dealt with. Also Bill Mumy said years ago that when he complained about what Lennier did in S5 that JMS told him, "It puts the character exactly where I need him for the Telepath War."
So very little of the "speculation" that's going on in this regard is really speculation. It is mostly deduction based on facts that JMS has already put out there - either in the two shows, the TV movies, the books and stories, or in his own on-line posts. And according to the moderated newsgroup FAQs that kind of deduction does not violate the ban on story ideas.
Regards,
Joe
DrOBoogie1
Member
An article today on TVShowsonDVD.com talks about the success of Tv shows on DVD and the influence it is having on ressurecting TV shows. They mention Family Guy, which is going back into production on new shows, and they mention "a spinoff" of Babylon 5, which has been inlfuenced by successful sales of the DVDs.
Check out the article: www.tvshowsondvd.com
Check out the article: www.tvshowsondvd.com
A_M_Swallow
Regular
Be careful. When it comes to Babylon 5 we do not know how much is guesswork and how much is inside information.
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
AAARRRRrrrrgggggh!
Sorry.
Every since JMS posted his brief note on usenet, various SF websites have been running "articles" that are mostly hot air, invention, and irrelevant quotations from Jerry Doyle who has nothing to do with what JMS is working on. (Though he may eventually be cast in it.)
TV Shows on DVD links to an article from Film Force. The Film Force article has maybe a couple of dozen accurate words, and they're all contained in the direct quotation from JMS's usenet post. The rest of it is speculation and invention, including the stuff from Jerry Doyle. (The supposed former Wall Street whiz needs a refresher course in math. The $70 or $80 retail price for each set does not represent what Warner Bros. makes on each set, much less what Warner Bros.'s profits are. (After they deduct the DVD production costs that businessman Doyle ignores. I'm also pretty sure his 350,000 sales figure is no more than a guesstimate, so his whole "analysis" is pretty useless.) Film Force uses the word "series" repeatedly, even though JMS specifically denied that a series is being discussed. They also assume that this "series" is the same one that Doyle was pushing, and that JMS's earlier comments have been "refuted".
This is getting to be like the old school game, "telephone". We have site after site writing articles based on articles on other sites, most ultimately derived from JMS's actual newsgroup post, but each also filled with guess work and assumptions by the various authors. And as each article gets further from the original source, the accretions just keep accumulating, building up like a coral reef until you end up with reports like this: "A new B5 spin-off series is on the way, sparked by DVD sales, JMS has confirmed this"
We need to start ignoring these articles until and unless JMS posts something new on the moderated newsgroup.
Regards,
Joe
Sorry.
Every since JMS posted his brief note on usenet, various SF websites have been running "articles" that are mostly hot air, invention, and irrelevant quotations from Jerry Doyle who has nothing to do with what JMS is working on. (Though he may eventually be cast in it.)
TV Shows on DVD links to an article from Film Force. The Film Force article has maybe a couple of dozen accurate words, and they're all contained in the direct quotation from JMS's usenet post. The rest of it is speculation and invention, including the stuff from Jerry Doyle. (The supposed former Wall Street whiz needs a refresher course in math. The $70 or $80 retail price for each set does not represent what Warner Bros. makes on each set, much less what Warner Bros.'s profits are. (After they deduct the DVD production costs that businessman Doyle ignores. I'm also pretty sure his 350,000 sales figure is no more than a guesstimate, so his whole "analysis" is pretty useless.) Film Force uses the word "series" repeatedly, even though JMS specifically denied that a series is being discussed. They also assume that this "series" is the same one that Doyle was pushing, and that JMS's earlier comments have been "refuted".
This is getting to be like the old school game, "telephone". We have site after site writing articles based on articles on other sites, most ultimately derived from JMS's actual newsgroup post, but each also filled with guess work and assumptions by the various authors. And as each article gets further from the original source, the accretions just keep accumulating, building up like a coral reef until you end up with reports like this: "A new B5 spin-off series is on the way, sparked by DVD sales, JMS has confirmed this"
We need to start ignoring these articles until and unless JMS posts something new on the moderated newsgroup.
Regards,
Joe
I very much agree. While the speculations in this thread are fun, we should definately ignore any stories about this subject until we get formal word from JMS. Given that he does take care to let us fans know the moment he can go public it makes not sense to jump at unconfirmed news. Just be patient.
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
I don't think the media reports will have any effect whatsoever. The studio (and other interested parties, if there are any) know that they're all distortions and speculation based on JMS's "EEP!" message. Media sources who speculate or "report" rumors are not in a position to sue the studio for plaigarism, which is the whole point of the "no story ideas" and "please don't speculate rules" on the moderated newsgroup. If I'm are reporter and I write, "I heard the new project is a 12-hour mini-series about Valen's life in retirement as a duck-rancher" I can't later claim that this was really my original idea and sue the studio if that is in fact what they do - at least not without admitting that I made up a news story. (A practice increasingly frowned upon, even by certain elite eastern newspapers. )
Hey, it gets worse. Today on the newsgroup someone posted a note saying that a Thai friend of his had seen an article in the local paper claiming that new episodes of "B5" were already being shot - in Thailand.
Regards,
Joe
) Hey, it gets worse. Today on the newsgroup someone posted a note saying that a Thai friend of his had seen an article in the local paper claiming that new episodes of "B5" were already being shot - in Thailand.
Regards,
Joe
Oatley1
Beyond the rim
I didn't know they had ducks beyond the Rim!
And I can just see the tagline now... "He's defeated the Ancient Enemy... and formed the Grey Council... now watch as he faces his greatest fear... and greatest challenge... as a duck rancher!"
<SNIP TO CLIP FROM SHOW>
VORLON: "Entil'za, Valen. The duck has no teeth."
MIMBARI 1: "Valen, look out! Behind you! The DUCK!!!"
VALEN: "Arragh" (as he battles the duck)
ZATHRAS: "Zathras warns about duck, but no-one listens. 'Bad idea' Zathras says, but no, mighty Valen too busy to listen to poor Zathras. Maybe Zathras gets a big stick, hit Valen across head. Maybe then Valen listen..."
DaRkEnEdStAr
Regular
i have just checked out your homepage , And i love your car !!!
