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Theatrical Trailer

D

Dylan Neal

VIP
O.K. I screwed up big time! Graumann's Chinese Theater was sold out for every show on the 19th by the time I got there in the morning to buy my tickets (and this theater seats 1,500 people!!!). Not even Star Wars was sold out that early, at least not for every single show.

So instead I had to go to another theater to see the movie, in this case it belonged to the Pacific Theaters chain (a rather large chain at that), and all I can say about our little B5 trailer was that... THERE WAS NO TRAILER!!!! I mean HELLO! When they say the top ten markets I assume they mean more than one chain or God forbid one theater. Unfortunately (well actually quite fortunately) I'm leaving for a ski trip tomorrow for the Christmas holiday, and I'll have to wait until I get back to try and find a theater that is showing the trailer here in L.A. Naturally I was a little disappointed and I'm sorry I have nothing to report on for you - well aside from The Lord of the Rings being the best fantasy, adventure movie ever made - period.

One other note I thought I might mention. Daily Variety just announced that the Fox network has made a 13 episode commitment to a new sci-fi adventure drama created by Joss Whedon with the Sci Fi Channel indicating it's interest in running same-week repeats of the show. Now get this, the ensemble skein takes place hundreds of years in the future and revolves around the crew of a small incredibly mobile spaceship... sound familiar? I gotta tell you, it's getting very hard not to get incredibly frustrated with this network as they fall all over themselves repeatedly for every other project (and there are others) that comes along while always keeping us at arms length - "we'll wait for the ratings, we'll wait for the ratings..."

Ah I'm just bitching I know, I know. And for any Sci Fi suit lurking around here, I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Well it's late and I'm going to bed before I go on a rant here. Go see Lord of the Rings, it's truly remarkable. When I find the trailer I'll report back in. Happy Holidays everybody, here's to 2002!

Dylan

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Gah! Sounds like my adventure. "Sold out here? Try this one... again? What about here?"

I'm still recovering from seeing the movie. It runs circles, rings, figure-eights, around any other movie in the genre. It had its bad parts and its ugly parts, but it's been a long time since a movie made me forget I was sitting in a theater, forget that I was cutting off circulation to my hands because I was winding them too tight. Visually stunning, well-paced, and... well, just fantastic. (I had my problems with it - *cough*arwen*cough* - but, for the most part, my jaw remained squarely on the floor.)

Well, we're sad to hear about the trailer! I read the press release for Firefly - it does seem that small, conflict-ridden ships are the vogue this year, does it not? We're still keeping our fingers crossed that the steady job you get sometime in the next year involves playing somebody named Martel, though... all we can do is tune in and hope, especially since B5 has been put through the wringer of frustration in the past.

Now, excuse me, I have to wander off and somehow reintegrate myself into the real world.

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The writer's life is not meant to be a happy one. We all accept that going in. -JMS
 
I suppose that must be frustrating, being treated differently to everyone else. I was so psyched up about the Joss Whedon news I didn't think about that.

I think it's because they have B5, they think they can do it at their own rate. But they feel compelled to get their fingers in lots of other pies.

Rangers must get a series! Firefly must go ahead so I can create a sister-site for B5LR.com. Listen up SCI FI, I command it.
laugh.gif



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"You're going to die screaming and I'm going to watch."
-- Charlie, The Long Kiss Goodnight.
 
Hey, I won't ge to see the trailer at all, since I'm not in one of those Top Ten Markets. I'm in San Diego.

Tammy

------------------

"We're in here! Can anyone hear us?"
"I hear you." [giggle, laugh]
"In here!"
"We are here." [giggle, laugh]
-- Londo and G'Kar in Babylon 5:"Convictions"

Tammy's Station
http://community.webtv.net/gkarfan/TammysStation
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Now get this, the ensemble skein takes place hundreds of years in the future and revolves around the crew of a small incredibly mobile spaceship... sound familiar?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, it does. To name a few (in Chronological order as well as I can remember):
Star Trek: TOS
Lost in Space
Buck Rodgers (after they left Earth in the Searcher)
Star Trek: TNG
Enterprise
Farscape
Lexx
Gene Roddenberry's: Andromeda

I guess the angle I would like those of you reading this to see is that idea is not even remotely new. For that matter, Farscape and Lexx are currently run on Sci-Fi already, and they are STILL looking at adding a series with that basic premise. Hell, both Farscape and Lexx both have living ships and they are on the same network! So if we look at things that broadly, then sure its been done, and there isnt much to expect. We all know JMS and I think everyone knows that Rangers will be a lot more than something that will fit into that type of show. Id wager after a season or so, it wouldn't be pigeon-holed into that class at all. And I am sure that JMS is selling the idea of this show to the 'Suits' at Sci-Fi as something that will not fit into that broad a category, but something far more grand. Maybe that is why they are still looking at picking something else like it up.

Anyway, not trying to correct you, but I guess I didn't want you, or any B5 fans reading this, to get frustrated. Mobile ships in the future has been done before, and will be done again. Rangers is different. If it wasnt, JMS wouldnt waste his time with it. I'm sure everything will work out. That being said...

*crosses fingers*

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'I don't believe in the no-win scenario' - JTK
 
Incidentally, my bestest online bud lives in Los Angeles and went to see LOTR yesterday. To avoid jumping through ICQ and throttling her from jealousy, I decided to simply discuss the fact that there was supposed to be a Legend of the Rangers trailer. We both assumed, hey, LA, gotta be one of the top 10.

Um... 'parrently not.
 
Regarding the Joss Whedon series:

I don't think the premise even matters. It's that it is a *Joss Whedon* series. This is similar to Fox being interested in doing a "Battlestar Gallactica" series as long as Brian Singer was involved. When he was no longer involved, their interest waned.

There are some showrunners who carry that kind of clout these days and Whedon seems to have moved over to that A list.

When you look broadly, most premises have been done before. The cop story. The lawyer story. The high school story.

If David E. Kelley says he wants to do a "high school story", he doesn't even have to do a pilot to get the show on air.

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"small incredibly mobile spaceship"???

Star Trek: TOS, No.

Lost in Space, Well, it's small.

Buck Rodgers (after they left Earth in the Searcher), Not familiar with this one.

Star Trek: TNG, No.

Enterprise, OK, I'll give you that one.

Farscape, No.

Lexx, No.

Gene Roddenberry's: Andromeda, No.


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KoshN
-------------
Vorlon Empire

"To Live and Die in Starlight"
pilot movie for "Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers"
January 19, 2002 at 9PM & 11PM EST, January 20, 2002 at 5PM on The Sci-Fi Channel (US).
http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wyvern:
Incidentally, my bestest online bud lives in Los Angeles and went to see LOTR yesterday. To avoid jumping through ICQ and throttling her from jealousy, I decided to simply discuss the fact that there was supposed to be a Legend of the Rangers trailer. We both assumed, hey, LA, gotta be one of the top 10.

Um... 'parrently not.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Reminds me of one of the last lines of Raiders of the Lost Ark:

Suit: "We have top men working on it."
Indy and Dr. Brody: "Who?"
Suit: "Top men."

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KoshN
-------------
Vorlon Empire

"To Live and Die in Starlight"
pilot movie for "Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers"
January 19, 2002 at 9PM & 11PM EST, January 20, 2002 at 5PM on The Sci-Fi Channel (US).
http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/
 
I guess the frustration level (for me anyway) does not find it's emphasis with "a sci fi series centered on a small conflicted spaceship" as much as it does that yet another sci fi series with nothing behind it expect a name (granted a good one) gets the easy, quick nod, fast track while Rangers gets the perpetual "wait and see."

It would never bother me that Lexx, Firefly, Enterprise, Farscape, or whatever got on the air. I could live with Invisible Man, Black Scorpion, First Contact, First Wave, Andromeda, Jules Verne, Roswell, and Space:A&B getting thier shots. I could take all the good, bad, and average Sci Fi shows getting on air - I just can't for the life of me comprehend how all these shows get thier chances without having to jump through the same hoops as Rangers! I mean, JMS has to rate in the same category or better than the creators of these shows, and he has a five year series, an aborted series, and some made for TV movies to back him up....


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-Devin Barber
 
KoshN, I think you missed the point by putting too much emphasis on "small". They're all still starship environments, which have a lot of commonalities.

And even though Moya, Lexx and Andromeda are not small ships, they have a small crew which creates a similar atmosphere and character dynamic.

The ship is less important than the crew manning it. There are two major crew types, an official crew and an irregular crew. Official crews are like the Star Trek serieses, where the majority of the characters have a common (generally military) background.

Irregular crews are where the characters have more diverse backgrounds, like Farscape or Lexx.

I'm willing to bet that Firefly will be more like an irregular crew, which will make it more comparable to Lexx, Farscape or Andromeda than B5:LR.

Admiral Dave

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[This message has been edited by admiraldave (edited December 20, 2001).]
 
As far as I know (and I don't know much, living in the boondocks as I do), right now the honor of "small, incredibly mobile spaceship" has been conferred on Rangers and Firefly. I'm not sure Enterprise really cuts into the cake with that one. And Farscape, with the irregular crew aboard Moya, is currently number 1 in that genre - the whole premise of the show relies on the fact that the crew gets tired of each other, and quickly.

I also heard the promise of conflict between the crew on Rangers - I think Na'feel's ISN interview confirms that, for me.

I agree. It's incredibly frustrating.

Oh, to be a showrunner. :p

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The writer's life is not meant to be a happy one. We all accept that going in. -JMS

[This message has been edited by channe (edited December 20, 2001).]
 
KoshN:

I wasnt being literal to the point of ALL those being small. If you carefully read my post, and perhaps I should have been more clear, I was speaking in more broad terms. The point being a ship in the future doing exploring and things of that nature. To a degree I named shows that while the ship itself may not be small, but they have relatively small crews (ok the 2 Star Trek ones dont fit that, but they do explore). Lexx and Farscape have very small crews, as does Andromeda. That was my point. I don't think the actual size of the ship is as important. I was speaking in general terms of that type of Genre...

------------------
'I don't believe in the no-win scenario' - JTK
 
Well, if you want to get more specific in comparisons between Firefly and the world of B5, it sounds like Firefly will feature a crew on the run (Crusade, Season 2) that backed the wrong side in a civil war (Elizabeth Lochley) on a ship without a home port (the Minbari Warcruiser Trigati).

Of course, these concepts may also be as old as the hills too, but like living ships and interpersonal conflicts, they sure do seem to be in vogue these days.

------------------
"Draal gave Zathras list of things not to say.
This was one. No.... *tsk tsk*
No. Not good.
Not supposed to mention... "one", or... THE one.
Hmmmm.
You never heard that."

[This message has been edited by B5_Obsessed (edited December 20, 2001).]
 
There are only so many stories.

What matters is how you tell them.

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The writer's life is not meant to be a happy one. We all accept that going in. -JMS
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dylan Neal:
O.K. I screwed up big time! Graumann's Chinese Theater was sold out for every show on the 19th by the time I got there in the morning to buy my tickets (and this theater seats 1,500 people!!!). Not even Star Wars was sold out that early, at least not for every single show.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, the big event movies do big business, at least on opening day. I could swear Phantom Menace was sold out opening day, since there was a line for 6 weeks in advance.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>
So instead I had to go to another theater to see the movie, in this case it belonged to the Pacific Theaters chain (a rather large chain at that), and all I can say about our little B5 trailer was that... THERE WAS NO TRAILER!!!! I mean HELLO! When they say the top ten markets I assume they mean more than one chain or God forbid one theater.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Do we know if Graumann's Chinese was definitely going to have the trailer? I was in Orange County at the Irvine Spectrum, which is one of the premiere theaters in OC, and they didn't get it. We assumed that the big theaters in OC would get the LA spillover, since we are considered the same market most often. Oh well, guess not.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>
Unfortunately (well actually quite fortunately) I'm leaving for a ski trip tomorrow for the Christmas holiday, and I'll have to wait until I get back to try and find a theater that is showing the trailer here in L.A. Naturally I was a little disappointed and I'm sorry I have nothing to report on for you - well aside from The Lord of the Rings being the best fantasy, adventure movie ever made - period.

Dylan
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, if you are off skiing in California, looks like you'll have some good snow this weekend. Storm coming in today, and good timing too, since it was nice and sunny and warm for those of us who stood in line for Lord of the Rings. I hosted a Line Party in Irvine, and when SciFi sent out shirts for Legend of the Rangers to wear to opening night of LOTR, I asked for extras. They sent me 6, so I was able to give out shirts to people as prizes for costumes and scavenger hunts and the like. We had a good time in line on Tuesday night for the midnight screening, and I added promotion of the B5 universe to that, so all is not lost.




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Peace, Love and Rock & Roll,

Kailin
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jaxb5ranger:


It would never bother me that Lexx, Firefly, Enterprise, Farscape, or whatever got on the air. I could live with Invisible Man, Black Scorpion, First Contact, First Wave, Andromeda, Jules Verne, Roswell, and Space:A&B getting thier shots. I could take all the good, bad, and average Sci Fi shows getting on air - I just can't for the life of me comprehend how all these shows get thier chances without having to jump through the same hoops as Rangers! I mean, JMS has to rate in the same category or better than the creators of these shows, and he has a five year series, an aborted series, and some made for TV movies to back him up....
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think one key piece of information to have is *price*. What did it cost for SciFi to get all of those shows.

I think Black Scorpion and Jules Verne were very cheap. Thus, I wouldn't put them in the same category as B5:Rangers.

I'm sure if Warner Brothers wanted to sell a series to SciFi for "Black Scorpion" prices, it would be a much easier sell

------------------
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dylan Neal:
So instead I had to go to another theater to see the movie, in this case it belonged to the Pacific Theaters chain (a rather large chain at that), and all I can say about our little B5 trailer was that... THERE WAS NO TRAILER!!!! I mean HELLO! When they say the top ten markets I assume they mean more than one chain or God forbid one theater. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dylan,

I just saw this on rastb5m:

"To my great disappointment, after getting to the theater to see LotR
(the other one) last night with my wrapped car and my carload of
Ranger-tshirt-wearing friends, there was no LotR trailer. My contact at
SciFi tells me that the trailer won't be running with LotR until next
Wednesday, when their ad-buy kicks in. Pity they couldn't manage to get
it done for yesterday's premiere, when it would have made the greatest
impact."

So, there's your answer. I guess somebody didn't get their assignment done on time.
frown.gif


------------------
KoshN
-------------
Vorlon Empire

"To Live and Die in Starlight"
pilot movie for "Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers"
January 19, 2002 at 9PM & 11PM EST, January 20, 2002 at 5PM on The Sci-Fi Channel (US).
http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/
 
Rats!

B5 Suit Syndrome kicks in again... can't anyone give this show a break for once?

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The writer's life is not meant to be a happy one. We all accept that going in. -JMS
 
I just got word from Sci Fi that the trailer doesn't start until the 28th - thanks for letting us know!

Everyone seems to be missing the point of my concern over Firefly. I could care less how similar the shows may or may not be, the point is that Sci Fi seems to have just given away another hour of programming. They don't have that much to start with and as I said, they're very excited about about several other pilots, not to mention their previously announced pick-ups as well. As far as I'm concerned, Jan 19th can't get here soon enough, time and space is becoming scarce. Thank God Battlestar Galactica has been postponed for the time being.

Dylan

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