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Has There Been Any News Re. The New B5 ~2016+~ Theatrical Movie?
- Thread starter KoshN
- Start date
It would be nice if he would write a few more short stories for B5, just to let us know he's serious. I imagine he has many ideas for them.
And which piece of news is the one that we should be talking about for a long time? Is it possible JMS is involved in the tv series for Neil Gaiman's American Gods?
Raw Shark
"And what do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?"
Londo Mollari
And which piece of news is the one that we should be talking about for a long time? Is it possible JMS is involved in the tv series for Neil Gaiman's American Gods?
Raw Shark
"And what do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?"
Londo Mollari
vorlonlovechild
Regular
so.... no B5. 
It's nice he's keeping himself busy tho.
It's nice he's keeping himself busy tho.
Springer
Regular
I'm glad his eyesight has gotten better – if it had gotten worse I imagine it could have threatened to end his career, and then there definitely would have been no more B5. It sounds like it slowed his output down anyway, but now he's back at full stream, maybe if Rising Stars and Midnight Nation are a success, coupled with Sense8, it'll give him the 'street cred' he needs.
Jan, did JMS mention anything about Red Mars? Is it still going ahead and is he definitely off it?
Really interested in him writing some novels too. Have got OtherSyde (got him to sign my 1st edition Hb at one of the Wolf 359 conventions) and Demon Night so I'd be interested in reading more of novels from him.
Jan, did JMS mention anything about Red Mars? Is it still going ahead and is he definitely off it?
Really interested in him writing some novels too. Have got OtherSyde (got him to sign my 1st edition Hb at one of the Wolf 359 conventions) and Demon Night so I'd be interested in reading more of novels from him.
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Jan
Regular
He can't. Well, not without permission from and paying a hefty license fee to Warner Bros. And maybe not even then. More than one company has been told by WB that no licenses are available.
Leaving comics. And no, unless American Gods has something to do with Ray Bradbury, that's not it.
Jan
Jan
Regular
I don't remember if I caught that slide or not but his vision had gotten *really* bad. Like mud on a windshield bad. He showed a pic of what his screen would look like before and it was white on a black background and maybe a dozen words per screen.
He didn't mention it but from what I've seen online, he's off of it and a second showrunner also left and the project's on hold. Doubt if it'll get made, personally.
Me, too.
Oh, and in case it wasn't there when y'all looked at the report, here's the link to the video I took. Sorry for the shakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN_RJcV64ME
Jan
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Jan
Regular
Sorry - there now.
Springer
Regular
Is this why there's never any new merchandise? Every year at SDCC there are all kinds of models, action figures and collectibles from all manner of older or obscure SF shows that still have a fanbase, but never anything from B5. I could never figure out whether it's because people have just forgotten about the show or whether JMS or Warners were somehow an obstacle to it.
Jan
Regular
The last thing that I'm aware of that had a license for anything B5-related was Mongoose with the RPG and proposed novels. After the novels fell though, Mongoose eventually dropped the license because it just wasn't cost effective. WB not only requires a large fee, they expect a part of the proceeds, too. For anything but a large company, it's just not worthwhile for a show that's been off the air for 15+ years.
What's majorly disappointing to me, though, is that I've been told by trustworthy sources that Big Finish, the folks who've done some wonderful audio dramas (especially Doctor Who) have asked about a license and were told none were available. It's as though WB just wants the show to disappear.
Jan
B5_Obsessed
Regular
You never know might turn up.
Jan, I hadn't heard about Warners blocking projects before. Is it possible JMS brought this upon himself? Didn't he say a few years ago that they had mentioned the possibility of other projects, and he told them no, only a big budget film? Do I have that right? It is incredibly sad that B5 has fallen into a deep hole that it can't escape. What an awful situation.
Raw Shark
"The future isn't what it used to be, Mr. Angel."
Louis Cypher, Angel Heart
Raw Shark
"The future isn't what it used to be, Mr. Angel."
Louis Cypher, Angel Heart
Jan
Regular
Yes, JMS turned down more Lost Tales when they didn't offer what he considered a sufficient budget. As for other projects, there may have been a low-budget game that JMS also declined to be involved with. There was at least one reboot TV series a few years ago that was contracted for and JMS had gotten a full season order and good budget and creative control. The venue that was planned for the series failed to materialize, however. Sources I trust have said that Big Finish, the audio drama people, have asked about getting a license and been turned down. During the Free Babylon 5 campaign, I heard of some TV stations that asked about running B5 but were either turned down or got no response. I'm not certain of these sources personally but it fits in with the response that all of us who wrote letters to WB got - nothing at all.
Here's JMS' post from 2008 where he talked about only wanting to do a big-budget feature film. Later in appearances he expanded that to a properly budgeted TV series. This is the key for me:
Jan
Here's JMS' post from 2008 where he talked about only wanting to do a big-budget feature film. Later in appearances he expanded that to a properly budgeted TV series. This is the key for me:
Jan
It's certainly possible that they don't want to do anything to help rebuild the property just to have JMS make a movie they have no control over. WB is really strange regarding B5 and I have a hard time understanding why. Turning down Big Finish makes little sense unless they want to bury the franchise.
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I think the quality of many scripts went WAAAY down after B5 ended, actually after Season 4 was completed. Crusade had meddling for sure, but that doesn't excuse the poor writing, casting and composer. LOTR was super disappointing, especially the goofiness of the battle sequence. It was a solid concept though. Putting Lochley in one of TLT episodes was a misfire as well, I know that Joe became fond of the character but she was probably last on my list of B5 regulars I wanted to see return. It seemed like Joe kept trying to make lemonade of the lemon that was Claudia bailing.
Jeremiah didn't really hit it's stride until late in the first season, but I think part of he issue was being forced to hire recognizable actors that sometimes simply weren't very good.
My understanding is that it is related to WB having many different competing branches. B5 was part of the PTEN branch and the show was produced independently of the WB studio (by Joe & Doug's studio); there is probably no branch in WB left to support it.
hypatia
Regular
It seems bizarre, when you thin of it. But sometimes networks and production companies seem to do this, and I'm convinced sometimes it is that they don't want a project they had moderate profit from suddenly make big bucks for someone else.
If you're really convinced a project is dead, why not sell the rights to some audio plays and such?
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PTEN dissolved before season 5 was even filmed. There was quite a bit of merchandising after that occurred, as well as spinoffs. I'd have to see something concrete to believe your premise. Things dried up after JMS stopped playing ball with them. They know that as long as he's alive, fans won't accept anything he doesn't approve of and it's already a niche product as it is.
Would JMS even work with Big Finish? Would Big Finish want the property without JMS approval? They do good work but where would JMS make the time to provide outlines and approve scripts? And maybe WB doesn't want to work with JMS anymore.
