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From JMS re: S2 schedule

J

Joseph DeMartino

Moderator
> Great! While WB is in this condition, do you think you could take advantage of them and get them to move up the release date of Season 2? <

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I don't know if they'll be able to move up the date, which last I heard was about April, but I did hear the other day that they want to get the next set up and running asap. It's suddenly become a priority item.

.

Who'd've imagined?

.

jms
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Well, me, for one. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I've been telling WHV for years that if they did S1 (and did it right) it would sell, and that all subsequent sets would sell in equal or greater numbers. Sounds like they're very impressed with the results so far, and they smell money to be made. Wonder if word about this has made its way to Warner Bros. Studios yet? Those guys are always looking for feature film projects, preferably ones with built-in audiences. (Heck, a big hunk of their profits last year came from Harry Potter and their share of New Line's Fellowship of the Ring, both based on hugely popular novels, and they're releasing the next installment of both series this year. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif)

Gee, wonder if Warner Bros. owns any other genre series with built-in audiences that might make good projects for the big screen?

Regards,

Joe
 
Having read the discussions on how well the dvd set would sell, one comment kept coming up again again. That season 1 would sell the least amount as at wasn't as popular as season 2 onwards.

So if sales are this good imagine the potential for the remaining sets. Roll on B5: The Movie The Telepath War.
 
Even though season 1 isn't the people's favourite season, I can't see someone not buying it on that basess, i mean B5 would be incomplete without it.
 
Casual fans with not that much money to spend so they'll just get the seasons they liked better? People who have taped the series and don't feel like buying their least favourite season on DVD in addition to the tapes?
 
I don't have much money either (trust me on this one, I'm a University student) but I'd still want all the seasons on DVD. I'm sure the people who can't buy it now because of money problems may buy it later when things are looking up for the them financially.
 
That's yet another possibility, but I wouldn't count people frequenting a B5 message board as "casual fans". /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

There's bound to be a lot of people out there who like the show but aren't huge, dedicated fans - these are the kind of people who might go for seasons they liked better (for example 2, 3 and 4).
 
Alright, alright, you win! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Maybe casual fans wouldn't want to buy the whole series. I'm just one of those people who can't just watch half a show.
 
Me neither .Can't stand if I get half a program. And my set definately would not be complete without Signs and Portents it being my ABSOLUTE favorite season of the entire series.
 
Me neither, it's all or nothing really. Except I could understand it with series that *really* go downhill after a couple of seasons or something like that.
 
I couldn't, knowing where they went with it. For me, The X-Files is a show that I could cherry-pick, but not watch all of the episodes over again.
 
For me, The X-Files is a show that I could cherry-pick, but not watch all of the episodes over again.
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And, hard as it is for some of us to believe, there are those who feel exactly the same way about Babylon 5. ("Burn the heretics!" /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif)

In the case of these folks (and people short on cash) S1 is the season most likely to be skipped. I'd far rather have a copy of a favorite mystery novel that is missing the first chapter, where the characters are introduced and the murder takes place, than the last where the ending is. I wouldn't be thrilled with either, but I'd prefer the former if those were my only choices.

I think more people who weren't thrilled with S5 are likely to buy that because it is the end of the story and because the second half is so good. If there is an "optional" season of B5 season one is it. So I think that sales can only go up from here.

Yes, it is true that people in financial straits will likely come back and pick the season up later, but the sad truth is that the bulk of sales for most titles on DVD (or VHS or laserdisc) come in the first month of release, so that's what Warner Home Video has to base its profit projections on. And if S2 is coming in April they have to get moving fairly soon - another reason that the go/no-go decision on each season has to be made on the initial sales of the previous season. Six months actually isn't a huge amount of time to create something like a B5 boxed set. The only practical way WHV can accelerate the release schedule (starting with S3) is to work on multipile seasons at the same time an not wait for sales numbers. That's how Paramount did it. It probably still took them six "man-months" per season to do ST:TNG, they just had multiple teams working at the same time.

Speaking of ST:TNG, that's another example of a show where lots of fans who are not "completists" skipped the first couple of seasons and started collecting with S3, when the show really hit its stride. Some of them will stop with S5 or S6, because they feel the show went downhill from there.

Regards,

Joe
 
I also know a few friends who stopped watching after the end of the Shadow war, mid way through season 4. That was the major story thread they were really into, and when it ended so quickly at the beginning of S4, they were sort of overwhelmed and never came back for the following storylines.

Some of them are now interested, of course, in seeing how it ends now a few years later, but were burnt out at the time. I think some people would buy S2-S4, just for the "crux" of the story, and then maybe tape S&P, B-squared, and Crysalis.

And I think they're fools. ;-)
 
While there were many who didnt like S1 as much as the rest and could conceivably not buy it, and buy the rest, I wonder how many of those who werent planning on buying S1 heard the buzz about "Everyone buy S1 to ensure the rest of the series makes it to DVD!" I'm sure its not a huge number, but there was a big following on the Internet about making sure everyone gets S1 on DVD.
 
I haven't bought S1 yet, but that's only because I, too, am a college student. If I just happen to get a hundred bucks or so for Christmas I think I'll be cruising over to Amazon and placing an order....
 
Seems as if WB has finally come to their senses. Glad to see that the next set is a high priority. I do hope they decide to move up the release date for it as well as any subsequent seasons they release, as I don't want to wait two to two and a half years to have the complete series. That's an awful long time to wait.
 
I don't want to wait two to two and a half years to have the complete series
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Not that I expect this to help much, but it is *only* two years, not two and a half. At this point there are only 4 of those increments left to wait through. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
That is assuming that they stick to the plan of releasing them once every six months, so that doesn't include any delays that may or may not occur.
 
I'd recommend WB take their time on Season 2, but start working on S3/4/5 in parallel. That way they can accelerate the overall schedule, however, do an A+ job on each season from here on out. While I thank WB from the bottom of my heart for S1, I think what happened to our friends on R2 with Sky Full of Stars is *not* good. Any sort of decent Q.A. procedure should have caught that, and I wouldn't want WB to be rushed into putting a lower quality product into production now that they understand that the B5 market is one of the hottest, most loyal, out "there".

-Tim
 
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