JMS has TWO new B5 related things in the works

[Ubik]

Cross posted from JMSNews, Jan reported back from the 'Together we will go' book launch event that JMS stated he's got two B5 things in the works but that he's contractually not able to say any more than that.

This, coupled with the fact he was also looking to speak to folks with the original B5 VFX assets, there are a few likely guesses that arise from that. So... LET THE SPECULATING BEGIN.

My best guesses:

-An animated series or features for HBOMax, likely produced in house as WB has a respected animation arm.

-B5 audio drama.

CAVEAT: These things often come to nothing, but it's fun to speculate a bit.

 

[Springer]

Exciting! Though as you note, we have been here before, with The Memory of Shadows and the reboot that never happened (though I suppose that could still be on the cards).

I think we know about the animated features that are planned, and I'm really curious about how they are going to turn out, if they indeed happen.

I did read a rumour somewhere that the other project was a documentary, a bit like DS9's What We Left Behind documentary. That was crowd-funded though, so dunno.

 

[Ubik]

Exciting! Though as you note, we have been here before, with The Memory of Shadows and the reboot that never happened (though I suppose that could still be on the cards).
.

Yeah, and the B5 movie! That one was announced with such swagger and confidence that I really bought into it.

I'd be very down with animated stuff. I'd also love to see more guest writers with JMS as exec producer / showrunner.

 

[Moonface]

oh! exciting!

 

[Looney]

Yeah, and the B5 movie! That one was announced with such swagger and confidence that I really bought into it.

You say a B5 movie was announced "with such swagger", but I always remember there being a caveat mentioned every time JMS talked about there being a movie. I had HIGH hopes of there being a movie, but I was always realistic that it was dependent on whatever money he could raise and what success he could have with all of the other things he was trying to make including SENSE 8. I think it was pretty obvious that initially Sense 8 was not the home run he was hoping for as far as immediate success in the mass media world. But I understand why he might have gotten his hopes up that it would be a huge hit with the scope of what they were doing.

I know this is very defensive, but your wording made it sound like you were tricked and I never remember JMS saying "I'm making a Babylon 5 movie, period end of sentence buy your ticket now." I always remember him adding the stipulations of "street cred" and "investment". I wanted to believe, but those two stipulations are high hurdles to jump. And if I am being honest, two very believable backdoors out of announcing that you are making a movie. I can claim I am making a B5 movie if I can get the funding from investors and then when I can't get it made you'll know why. That and the fact that I have no legal right to make a Babylon 5 movie.

 

[Springer]

I agree Looney, JMS was being cautious, but to be fair it did have a director attached to it, a filming schedule and production offices set up in the UK. So there was a level of excitement to it beyond JMS just saying he wanted to make a movie.

I wonder how far into pre-production it got? Were there design concepts, had they cast anyone etc? I know there was disagreement about getting Tracy Scoggins back as Lochley, in that WB wanted to recast her. Who knows, maybe it will take form as one of these animated features?

And on that topic, what stories would people like to see in these animated features? One has got to be the Telepath War, surely? Especially as most of the principle players are still with us – Lyta, Lennier, Matheson, Bester, and stick Ivanova, Lochley and Sheridan in the mix. I think an animated feature could really showcase the psionic battles better than the series did in The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father.

 

[Ubik]

I think we're talking about two different projects here. Yes, TMOS got further along...

I think Looney and I were both talking about the San Diego Comic Con announced B5 film in 2014.

Quoted from news articles at the time

"Speaking at San Diego Comic Con last week, Straczsynki announced that he would soon be sitting down to write a Babylon 5 feature film, which is envisioned as a reboot of the iconic sci-fi series. JMS said that he plans to get the script locked down by the end of 2015 and the film would then enter production the following year in 2016.

The hope is that Warner Bros, who produced the Babylon 5 television series, would step up and green-light a “big budget” feature film once the script has been completed. But owing to the nature of the deal that Straczysnki inked with the studio to produce Babylon 5 in the early 1990s, he, rather than Warner Bros, owns the feature film rights to the show. Should Warner Bros. choose not to greenlight a B5 movie, Straczynski would still proceed with the feature, which would then be funded and produced through his Studio JMS banner on a budget of $80 – $100 million."

And from Jan's report of the panel:

So it's been a really big year for Studio JMS. And due to that, he can now look to doing a feature film ffor B5. JMS recapped that WB owns everything about B5 except the movie rights and even though he holds the film rights, to take a B5 movie to another studio without holding the TV rights wouldn't work. There's one studio in LA that doesn't care about that - Studio JMS - and in 2015 JMS will write the script. He'll give WB the opportunity to step up, but if they don't, Studio JMS will make it in 2016 on thieir own with a $1-200,000,000.00 budget.

This stuff was all said with a totally straight face, and not many caveats were given. It was all big lights and bluster.

The caveats about 'street cred' came later when it became painfully clear it was never going to happen. It was presented in no uncertain terms as 'i'm going to write it' and Studio JMS are going to make it if WB pass on it. This is why I take any B5 announcements with a large truck load of salt. JMS loves hyperbole, especially his own.

 

[Ubik]

On balance, I think JMS learned a lot from the San Diego outing, and has been a lot more cautious with announcements, waiting for things to be locked in contractually.

But the B5 Movie thing left a bit of a sour taste because it was presented so confidently.

 

[Springer]

Right, yes of course. I'd completely forgotten that the reboot was intended to be a movie not a series (which in hindsight makes more sense as JMS only had the movie rights). And yes, I do remember him now saying that Studio JMS would make it if no one else did – a bold claim!

To play devil's advocate: JMS was searching for investors if WB weren't interested, and what an investor wants to hear is confidence that a project will go ahead. So JMS had to appear really confident to give the project any chance. As it was, it seems no one was interested in investing in it. But for the fans, it does then seem like the goalposts got moved.

I really wasn't sure at the time how I felt about a reboot, and still aren't sure, so I didn't invest myself in the idea as much. Probably why I don't remember the details now!

 

[Ubik]

R

I really wasn't sure at the time how I felt about a reboot, and still aren't sure, so I didn't invest myself in the idea as much. Probably why I don't remember the details now!

If animated features / series are a thing, then I think I'd feel fine about a reboot in a different medium. It definitely gets around a lot of issues. Who knows what it'll be at this point!?!

I guess we just wait and see.

 

[Kyehlar]

Audio Drama just doesn't work as well here in the States. Big thing over in the UK with the Big Finish productions of Doctor Who and the like. I'd lean more towards the animation if you're going to involve previous cast members who are still with us.

A complete reboot though? Is there enough demand for it?

 

[Karajorma]

There definitely is a demand for it. Just that the bar for a reboot is so high that very few people honestly believe a new show could clear it.



That said, a shitty reboot might actually be a good thing for the show. We'd all be pointing at the original and saying "Just watch that. It was so much better" and a few more people might actually listen to us.

 

[Moonface]

I don't believe in a reboot of any kind. But I do think that there really might be something in the bushes: After all: they released the remastered version just now. Why make a remastered version, if a reboot is upon us? The remaster makes sense as an extra cash grab when something new is about to happen...

 

[Ubik]

A complete reboot though? Is there enough demand for it?

I think so... I mean, absolutely no one thought BSG needed to be resurrected, and that was a massive hit that crossed over into popular culture and made SF 'cool' again. I know a lot of people who don't give B5 the time of day due to the somewhat shaky acting and how dated it looks.

 

[Springer]

I guess, for the show to have any popularity with future generations, a reboot will be necessary at some point, or the show will just be forgotten. But one of the reasons that nu-BSG was a success was because it was written to be incredibly relevant to the situation at the time, a complete transformation from the original series.

B5, though, is still remarkably prescient to our modern times. Sometimes it feels like it was written last year, not 25 years ago. Any reboot, if it wants to be relevant, is just going to retread those same things, but as Karajorma says, the bar is set incredibly high, and would there be any point in just doing the same thing again?

That said, I'd be open to a reboot that follows the Babylon Prime storyline instead. It's kind of like the alternate history of B5 and there's not many outside of hardcore fans that know about it, so the storyline would be a surprise to most.

 

[Moonface]

hmm... you're right. a reboot with a different storyline would be a possibility. Kinda like snowpiercer...

 

[Jan]

This stuff was all said with a totally straight face, and not many caveats were given. It was all big lights and bluster.

The caveats about 'street cred' came later when it became painfully clear it was never going to happen. It was presented in no uncertain terms as 'i'm going to write it' and Studio JMS are going to make it if WB pass on it. This is why I take any B5 announcements with a large truck load of salt. JMS loves hyperbole, especially his own.

As the one who was actually there, can I just say that your characterization of "not many caveats were given. It was all big lights and bluster. " is entirely off base? I don't have time to look at my report or find the video right now but JMS made it clear that X was supposed to happen. And Y was in the works and that based on those projects Studio JMS would be in a position to do a B5 movie. They were all mentioned at that time so you leaving them out is mischaracterizing what actually happened.

Was there spectacle to the announcement? Sure. That's kinda the whole point of SDCC, both presenting and attending, you know.

 

[Ubik]

This stuff was all said with a totally straight face, and not many caveats were given. It was all big lights and bluster.

The caveats about 'street cred' came later when it became painfully clear it was never going to happen. It was presented in no uncertain terms as 'i'm going to write it' and Studio JMS are going to make it if WB pass on it. This is why I take any B5 announcements with a large truck load of salt. JMS loves hyperbole, especially his own.

As the one who was actually there, can I just say that your characterization of "not many caveats were given. It was all big lights and bluster. " is entirely off base? I don't have time to look at my report or find the video right now but JMS made it clear that X was supposed to happen. And Y was in the works and that based on those projects Studio JMS would be in a position to do a B5 movie. They were all mentioned at that time so you leaving them out is mischaracterizing what actually happened.


Was there spectacle to the announcement? Sure. That's kinda the whole point of SDCC, both presenting and attending, you know.

I re-listened to the panel before leaving my comment. I find that JMS presents it very confidently, and says in no uncertain terms:

I will write the script next year (2015), I will offer it to WB, if WB pass we are making it and we have investors interested.

It's all said in quite strong terms, and myself, like a lot of others really got their hopes up. I realise it's all amped up to generate hype! Hence me being a bit cautious about new B5 stuff and rumours... but it's fun to chat. I think JMS has gotten better at leaving big announcements until contracts are inked and ready to go.

I do agree that he was clearly trying to grow momentum from Sense8 to get more projects off the ground. It's a shame Sense8 wasn't the smash hit we'd all hoped for.

 

[Jan]

I re-listened to the panel before leaving my comment. I find that JMS presents it very confidently, and says in no uncertain terms:

I will write the script next year (2015), I will offer it to WB, if WB pass we are making it and we have investors interested.

You do know that the script was written, right? That seems pretty indicative that he was quite confident, as a seasoned pro like JMS doesn't generally write scripts on a whim.

 

[Ubik]

I re-listened to the panel before leaving my comment. I find that JMS presents it very confidently, and says in no uncertain terms:

I will write the script next year (2015), I will offer it to WB, if WB pass we are making it and we have investors interested.

You do know that the script was written, right? That seems pretty indicative that he was quite confident, as a seasoned pro like JMS doesn't generally write scripts on a whim.

I did not know the script was written! I followed it with interest, but never heard that. When did he announce that? Pretty cool. Any hints as to what form it took.

It also means he must have felt pretty confident about it happening as writers rarely draft anything without an agreement. Anyhow, enough of that. What are your thoughts Jan? Care to speculate as to what the two projects might be? What would you be most excited to see?