one down..... now lets have one stateside,

[vorlonlovechild]

http://watch.uktv.co.uk/babylon-5/article/about-babylon-5/

Watch has picked up the mantle over in the UK. Now lets be having you stateside.

 

[Jan]

Agreed! Or way more than one! Very excited that they mentioned the #FreeBabylon5 campaign!

Jan

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Agreed! Or way more than one! Very excited that they mentioned the #FreeBabylon5 campaign!

Jan

I am a bit suspicious about this. We are talking about a channel choosing and putting on a show in only a few days. Too fast (unless a second show fell through). I wonder if the FreeBabylon5 was a cheap viral advertising campaign?

 

[JonFrain]

Agreed! Or way more than one! Very excited that they mentioned the #FreeBabylon5 campaign!

Jan

I am a bit suspicious about this. We are talking about a channel choosing and putting on a show in only a few days. Too fast (unless a second show fell through). I wonder if the FreeBabylon5 was a cheap viral advertising campaign?

Hmm. Good point. Hopefully JMS wasn't in on the ruse.

 

[Jan]

What makes you think that it was chosen and a deal struck in only a few days? The only few days involved is the time between the announcement and the first episode. I don't know anything about UK scheduling but that doesn't seem unusual to me.

And I have no problem helping them promote this since they're also promoting the #FreeBabylon5 campaign.

Jan

 

[JonFrain]

What makes you think that it was chosen and a deal struck in only a few days? The only few days involved is the time between the announcement and the first episode. I don't know anything about UK scheduling but that doesn't seem unusual to me.

And I have no problem helping them promote this since they're also promoting the #FreeBabylon5 campaign.

Jan

That's the point. Did JMS start his campaign for B5 on TV after he knew it was going to end up on TV in the UK?

 

[Triple F]

There’s a lot of tripe following the announcement as well. Though that kind of hype is not that unusual. Take this announcement over on Giant Freakin Robot with comments like this.

“Sure, it’s on DVD, but it hasn’t been airing anywhere in syndication…………. Thankfully that tragic absence of televised B5 is finally changing…as long as you’re in the U.K.”
http://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/sc...g-airwaves-british-channel-picks-seasons.html

Fact is, it’s been running in one foreign market or another almost continuously since the original series ended!! Watch is just the latest in the UK – with Bravo having shown it until 2011, and I think the FX (Fox) channel just finished showing it last year.

I know Joe has said it’s up to the fans and he has to stay out of it (though I'm not sure why), but I’ve read numerous announcements now on various ‘news’ sites and not one of them is pointing to the likes of the #freebabylon5 page on facebook or the website. I know I’ll get shouted at for pointing this out, but the only thing being pointed to is jms on twitter and jms on facebook.

Saying all that, the promo video Watch created for the show is pretty cool though. (Amongst other stuff, showing a ship exiting a jumpgate dragging a banner behind it with a bloody big #freebabylon5 on it : )

[edit]
Just posted a shot from near the start of the video. Though I imagine the full thing will be up on Youtube soon enough.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...28430204.70587.178490865572648&type=1&theater

 

[Jan]

That's the point. Did JMS start his campaign for B5 on TV after he knew it was going to end up on TV in the UK?

Which time do you mean? The time he 'started his campaign' in May? Or the time he 'started his campaign in July? Or this latest one? Because he made essentially the same comments that sparked #FreeBabylon5 at appearances at the Phoenix Comicon and at SDCC as he did on Twitter and on Facebook in Sept. If it were his campaign, I probably wouldn't need a Donate button on the website!

I know Joe has said it’s up to the fans and he has to stay out of it (though I'm not sure why), but I’ve read numerous announcements now on various ‘news’ sites and not one of them is pointing to the likes of the #freebabylon5 page on facebook or the website. I know I’ll get shouted at for pointing this out, but the only thing being pointed to is jms on twitter and jms on facebook.

Well, he did spark the whole thing. It's much easier to point to him than to the 4,139 (at the time) tweeters or the 2,780 (now 2,831) Facebook 'Likers'. Heck it's his quotes that are at the forefront of the website.

That said, this site is where I picked up those figures above and Digital Spy seems to focus a lot on what the fans have done.

Saying all that, the promo video Watch created for the show is pretty cool though. (Amongst other stuff, showing a ship exiting a jumpgate dragging a banner behind it with a bloody big #freebabylon5 on it : )

Darn! Now I know how non-USians feel about region locking. I can't access it and I'd love to see it. Definitely sounds like there's a big fan at Watch.

Jan

 

[vorlonlovechild]

the trailer on watch is pretty amazing. I just hope they give B5 the attention that it truly deserves.

and to think My son (now nearly 20) was on at me the other day to dig the DVDs out. Now he can watch one episode a day on Watch. Kudos to them.

Congratulations to all - the first step has been taken.... hopefully more to follow.

#FreeBabylon5

 

[JonFrain]

It is odd that shows like B5 and Farscape don't have a daily spot on SyFy. But then again that channel went to complete crap. Cable TV is really about niches and SyFy pretty much abandoned theirs. And there's no one out there to take their place I guess as they won't make money airing them.

 

[Jan]

I've been kind of hoping we might persuade the Space channel since they've done well with Firefly.

Jan

 

[JoeD80]

That's the point. Did JMS start his campaign for B5 on TV after he knew it was going to end up on TV in the UK?

Doubtful. WB has the rights. He can't pick where the show goes.

 

[JonFrain]

That's the point. Did JMS start his campaign for B5 on TV after he knew it was going to end up on TV in the UK?

Doubtful. WB has the rights. He can't pick where the show goes.

I didn't ask if he arranged the deal. I asked if he knew there was a deal with the UK TV channel before his last statement about it not having a home on TV.

Either way it doesn't matter. There are simply too many channels these days for many people to pick up a show like B5 just surfing unless it's near a popular channel. I pretty much just scan up to channel 70 or so for the most part. They are more likely to find it via netflix when they've watched shows that have a similar target audience and get suggested.

Even Lost ended up on a fairly fringe network. Speaking of Fringe, even a recent show like that is only on the Science channel. Lost was on G4 or something. It seems that the bigger cable networks show endless runs of NCIS and Law and Order and other lowest common denominator shows. The technically savvy that enjoy SyFy are already on board with the digital and internet age. I'm not going to sit and watch a show with commercials if I know it's available on Netflix without them. I'm also not going to sit and watch a TV show when the network tells me too unless it's a REALLY good show that isn't in reruns.

I was very disappointed that B5 didn't take off after it aired on TNT and later on the the SciFi channel. It got decent ratings for a run or two, but it didn't really grow much. I agreed with JMS in believing that airing at a consistent time 5 days a week should have really helped it to grow an audience. I think a lot of Trek fans looked down on it, especially since to the uninformed it might look like a ripoff of DS9. And back then not many people were interested in serialized TV.


I think the only way to grab a decent sized new audience is to get all of the effects redone.

 

[JoeD80]

That's the point. Did JMS start his campaign for B5 on TV after he knew it was going to end up on TV in the UK?

Doubtful. WB has the rights. He can't pick where the show goes.

I didn't ask if he arranged the deal. I asked if he knew there was a deal with the UK TV channel before his last statement about it not having a home on TV.

Uh yeah I got it. And the answer was "doubtful." And that was the reason.