I just wish WB would give it up already. There should be some legal action taken. It isn't right that they can just sit on it. It is his intellectual property. They financed the show twenty years ago. If they aren't interested in financing anything else they should not be legally allowed to control it. It is just another example how in this country the term legal does not mean just. [Soap Box Moment!]
There's really nothing unjust about it. It's not JMS intellectual property because he sold it. It's WBs IP and theirs to do with - or not do with - as they like. And whether you like it or not, it's really perfectly just. How would you like it if somebody sold you a chair and then wanted to be able to take it back because they felt you didn't sit in it enough? (reverse soap box moment - been through this conversation recently with too many Sense8 fans)
(OH JAN I have got you on that last sentence.
I know now that you are weakened from discussions with Sense 8 fans, however, I feel that at this juncture the arguments are different because what happened with Sense 8 is too recent.)
I whole-heartedly disagree with your comments. Let me first say that I wrote those statements in haste. I should not have said there should be "legal action." What I should have said is that "in a JUST world there should be legal action." In Looney's ramblings Looney was not clear where Looney was coming from. :wtf:
The reality is WB is a corporation who had NOTHING to do with the intellectual creation of Babylon 5. They gave JMS the power make the show strictly to reap the profits from what HE and HIS TEAM created. He sold them the rights because it is the only way to get things done in that business because as a corporation, or mafia type organization, they won't give you the funding unless you are making it for them to have the profits forever. (And don't get me wrong. I am not saying JMS didn't make money.) There is nothing just about that structure, but it has been deemed legal thanks in part to people who have corrupted the legal system.
WB is not a person with feelings. They are a money machine that thrives on profits and control. I don't think you can compare what I would feel vs what a corporation does about controlling assets they don't deserve to, but thanks to legal reality do, have control over. Since you wanted me to ask myself a comparison question here is a better breakdown of what you suggested in this instance. JMS wanted to build a chair after he had drawn up the plans. He didn't have the funds for the tools to build his chair. The only way to get those funds for those tools was follow rules setup up by the corporations who controlled those tools. These rules stipulated that you couldn't just borrow the funds to build your chair you had to sell the corporation the chair so it was their chair to reap all of the profits that chair could yield. What about that system sounds just? What about that system doesn't actually sound a little criminal? If I want to write a play, but I can't afford paper I go to a bank. I take out a loan to buy paper. Should the bank own the play after they have been paid back what I borrowed plus a hefty profit as interest? The WB isn't a bank, but they have setup a system like a bank only they keep everything.
I understand that in the current legal reality of our society it is deemed that they own it, but my brain can't comprehend that as justice in this situation. What is just is that they not be allowed to sit on HIS intellectual property because they gave him the money to create something with it more than twenty years ago. If he wants to create more then they should not be allowed to stop him after such a long time and after likely making back far more than they ever gave him. If anything they are currently stymieing the creative process of this intellectual property. Having said that I am 100% behind them if they want to partner with him on future projects. If not then justice would mean they can't just sit on it forever and do nothing with it. At a minimum they should sell the rights back to him so he can proceed as he sees fit. He can even cut them in on some of the profits.
Having said all of this I would like to say that I am grateful to them for originally financing the show, but I can't help but feel the show might have been FAR better off if JMS had been lucky enough to join forces with a different studio. I know that it actually is a case of perfect timing in this instance. If WB hadn't been trying to go forward on the PTEN front we might not have gotten B5 when we got it, if ever, but I think we all know where I am coming from. It is all "Ifs and Buts" and wow have I wasted a lot of time on this. :guffaw:
Love you Jan! Thanks for sparking my outburst! :thumbsup: Can't wait to hear you shoot me down and explain that we live in that legal reality that I was bashing and no matter how hard I try to talk outside it nothing will change. I can't wait to hear you tell me that I can't keep living in a fairy tale land where WB has GIVEN JMS back all rights to Babylon 5 along with two hundred million dollars to do with as he sees fit . . . and an apology.
(I REALLY hope you like that last bit. It is comedy gold to me.) :guffaw:
P.S. Jan, you don't actually need to respond. You know me and you know I know I am living in a dream world (A DREAM WORLD THAT IS HOW REALITY SHOULD BE) and not the reality of this situation. I don't need you to explain it all to me like you've had to with the Sense 8 fans. This ain't my first rodeo. We both know that there is some logic to what I said, but we also both know I am crazy and sometimes I need to let the crazy out there into the world. :scream: (That doesn't mean everything I said is wrong. It just means that it comes from idealistic fantasy thinking.)
