Info on TMoS recasting and letter writing campaign

[Chris Springob]

As I'm sure 95% of the people reading this already know, some news has recently come out regarding the recasting of the old characters in the as-yet-not-officially-announced B5 movie The Memory of Shadows, and this has sparked a letter writing campaign to dissuade Warner Bros. from going through with this. Much more info is available here.

This topic has been covered extensively in this thread, however it occured to me that there might be a large contingent of people on this site, as committed to B5 fandom as anyone, who actually don't know about this yet because they never visit the B5 World forum, sticking to, say, Off Topic and Babbleon.

Since this site no longer has a "news" front page, I was wondering if there was any chance that we could get a banner on this site that directed people to news about the recasting, or even a "sticky" topic in each forum about the recasting to let people know.

 

[AntonyF]

I've not been paying attention to the news of late. Has JMS said anything?

I won't provide a link to sites that talk of "sources" and all that clap trap. But if JMS has said things, and there's substance, I'll consider it some more.

 

[Flounder]

He's only referred to the dropped commentary on the Crusade DVDs. Not a word on the casting. At least not publicly.

But check out the news only posts. (The entire casting call is now available.)

 

[hypatia]

Yes, the casting call is rather telling, isn't it? And if you know anything about the business, you'll know why JMS keeps posting (to let his fans know he is still at the site).

 

[Chris Springob]

No, JMS hasn't said anything yet. Even though this issue is starting to dominate discussion on the moderated group, JMS is ignoring it, but continuing to post on other topics. Presumably, he thinks it would be bad form for him to use his leverage with fans against WB. But fans acting on their own is of course a different matter.

I understand if you don't want to provide a free ad for the letter writing campaign. However, I think there may be some B5 fans who only visit forums like Off Topic and Babbleon--never check B5 World or any other B5 news sites because it's not as if there's been much activity in the B5 universe for the last two years.

Those people might not be aware of all the stuff that's come out in the last week. In addition to the recasting news, we have stuff like the extensive plot information given here (beware spoilers for TMoS in that link). You might be interested in simply allowing one thread in the other forums saying "hey everyone, come on over to the B5 World forum to hear about the major developments going on with TMoS. Join the letter writing campaign if you want to. You can read the discussion and decide for yourself." It's an ad for your site within your site. Just inviting people to one of the forums that they don't normally visit but might be interested in reading *now* because of everything that's going on.

 

[darth_librarian]

Re: Info on TMoS recasting and letter writing camp

Back from the states, very very jet lagged, and I met Markas!!!

All this stuff sounds scary, but i'm hoping its will blow over. Will wait for a JMS statement before acting... Or at least sleep on it. Ahh, sleep.

 

[SwiftBiscuit]

Re: Info on TMoS recasting and letter writing camp

Ant said much the same thing but what kind of statement can jms give at this time? The project hasn't been officially been announced yet so he can't talk about it directly. He's in no position to confirm the rumours since doing so would confirm the project. The only option he has is to deny the rumours - something he has gone out of his way to not do.
So the question is, why deliberately not squash this rumour. If things are going well then why would he allow the fans to give a second demonstration of force (DVD sales being the first display)? Even if it's just a bargaining chip to help with the original cast's salary demands - is that such a bad thing?

I do think that B5TV.com missed the action when it came to this rumour. Personally I'd have put up a "watch this space" type of notice on the front page. Just acknowledging the rumour can't be anything bad, but it maintains the site's position at the forefront of B5 fandom. I wonder if TMoS cast & crew would be posting here this time around...

 

[hypatia]

Re: Info on TMoS recasting and letter writing camp

Back from the states, very very jet lagged, and I met Markas!!!

All this stuff sounds scary...

Meeting Markas sounds scary?

 

[Chris Springob]

Re: Info on TMoS recasting and letter writing camp

I do think that B5TV.com missed the action when it came to this rumour.

Well, I don't know that I'd put it that way. Ant specifically dropped the "news" aspect of the site because he doesn't have the time to maintain it. I don't think he really has any kind of *obligation* to renege on that now that things are moving fast with TMoS. I was just suggesting that he could allow for this one piece of publicity for the part of the site where other fans are posting B5 news anyway.

 

[darth_librarian]

Re: Info on TMoS recasting and letter writing camp

Back from the states, very very jet lagged, and I met Markas!!!

All this stuff sounds scary...

Meeting Markas sounds scary?

No, he was great!!!
All this recasting stuff, its jsut horrid...
JMS has now said that he 'can't comment but would like to', I guess that's about about as offical as you can get under the circs. I agree with Chris, it would be good to have just a small article on the front of the site.