Why a Babylon 5 Movie could happen.

[T_Fleming]

There has been some discussion about whether a B5 movie or TV series is possible given the lack of great success that a property like "Firefly" had at the box office. However this discussion fails to take into account the rapid changes that are underway in the business of media. Unlike years past, there are now a number of ways for the consumer to see their favorite science fiction shows. For example, there are DVD box sets, netflix and video ipods. All these create a market for a movie to turn a profit ("Chronicles of Riddick" and "Serenity" are great examples of this). The trend is what is important here. These new methods of delivery bypass the networks and/or distributors. The consumer is directly plugged into the producer. This trends toward a subscription based model for movies and TV shows (much can be said about this). This may be the model of the future (or an aspect of it). Strangely enough something like this is already going on with the fans who make "Star Trek: New Voyages". They had more downloads than "Enterprise" had average viewers in its 4th and final year.

All this means that sooner or later (probably later) the B5 universe will be resurrected.

 

[Recoil]

While I agree that the medium are referring to will get larger and more important in coming years, I do not take that to mean that "its only a matter of time before they do something B5 related." Anything is possible, but we have been saying "could be" for a long time now. Time to move on to other things, and if we do end up with a B5 feature, then great. If not, then so be it.

 

[T_Fleming]

This is not only relevant for a B5 feature, this is a fundamental change in the way things can be done. It is time to move on to other things. This is the other thing to move onto. I'll wager that we start seeing subscription based offerings within the next 5 years. Imagine an original product offered online whose pedigree is Lucas, Spielberg, Whedon.

 

[hypatia]

Isn't the real question: would anyone be interested?

One main advantage to doing a movie for theatrical release would have been the financial reward everyone would have reaped.

What kind of profits could a producer expect from such delivery formats?

 

[GKarsEye]

By the time any of these new trends get big enough to make something B5 happen, the cast will be too old (they're already pushing it). JMS has said that he wanted to make a movie with the main cast so that they can benefit from the financial rewards.

Once that becomes impossible, if it hasn't already, I doubt JMS would be that interested. He says he's not shopping B5 around, just that he would open to something if it's offered to him. I don't see anybody with the power, regardless of new distribution models to think of doing anything B5.

 

[hypatia]

I get a little surprised when I see the animosity some of JMS's "fans" have when they read him saying things like that.

Get over it. B5 had a great run, we're lucky to have gotten it at all. JMS has moved onto other things.

And does anyone really want to see B5 turn into a "Trek-like" empire which gets staler and more vapid with each season?

Personally, I really respect authors who say no to milking their creative works. Anyone remember there was to be a "Dragonriders of Pern" series? No matter how badly done, that would have made bucks for the author (McCaffrey?)

But when she didn't like what she saw of their plans, she pulled the show. I would have loved to see that series, but I am glad it was pulled rather than ruined.

 

[RW7427]

So, is this a new rumor, or the same old ones re-hashed?

 

[hypatia]

It's an observation, RW, if you read the first post.

The poster was talking about entertainment formats.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

New formats allow new possibilities. For instance short doenloads can be watched whilst waiting for the school bus. The system would need to be able to pause when the bus arrives and restart the next morning without damaging the media. (This is easy with flash memory providing someone asks for it.)

Doctor Who ran for decades as 20 minute espisodes with 4 or 5 episodes per story.

 

[RW7427]

It's an observation, RW, if you read the first post.

The poster was talking about entertainment formats.

Ah, thanks.

There's been so much speculation about another B5 movie that one can never tell what's up any more.

 

[PillowRock]

New formats allow new possibilities. <etc.>

None of which addresses the issue that GKE raised about the ages of the cast.

Everything that would have involved G'Kar and/or Stephen (plus Zathrus, from among the recurring non-regulars) is already completely off the table.

Even assuming that there are no more such losses for many years, there are limits to what the makeup department can do. We're already past the time frame that was to have been for all of Crusade ..... which means that we are *way* past the time frame of the Telepath War. Make up would still have a shot at pulling off the end of Crusade ..... but for how much longer? The Teep War is probably already at the point of pushing it on the make up front.

We would be in a time frame for making a version of the events from the Centauri trilogy, except for the loss of AK essentially taking a bunch of that stuff out of the realm of what is doable.

 

[KoshFan]

Doctor Who also had a brilliant mechanism for swapping out an actor once he got too old/weary of the part, while still maintaining the character. B5 doesn't have that luxury.

Frankly, with Richard Biggs and Andreas Katsulas gone, the ranks are already thinning. If we lose any of the other leads, I'm not convinced a movie would be worth filming.

 

[Jan]

I don't understand the problem that so many people are concerned about the aging factor, really. I go to cons and see the actors fairly regularly - Pat Tallman, Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Stephen Furst, Jason Carter, Mira Furlan, Peter Jurasik, Tracy Scoggins, Joshua Cox and Marjorie Monaghan all within the last 14 months and I honestly don't see so many changes that couldn't be covered with modern professional make-up work. Most of it is strictly surface, such as graying hair in the men. Heck, I saw Bruce the year after the series ended and was struck by how much older he looked and it was mainly because he'd allowed his hair to go all gray.

Jan

 

[A_M_Swallow]

New formats allow new possibilities. <etc.>

None of which addresses the issue that GKE raised about the ages of the cast.

Actors from Doctor Who are recreating their roles from 30 years ago on CD. The Telepath War could come out as a radio play.

Pat Tallman can no longer play a love sick 16 year old girl. She is still pretty and can play a boss job like leader of a revolution.

 

[T_Fleming]

With respect to Babylon 5, I should probably clarify my remarks. I consider the characters from B5 to be a closed book. Their stories have been told. However the universe of Babylon 5 is wide open for exploration. Whether it be the story of Crusade, the Techno-mages, Earth involment in Shadow tech, past Shadow Wars, The Hand, The First Ones, The coming of Valen etc... the Babylon 5 universe is rich, intricate and detailed. It is certainly worthy of exploration. That is what would have been the great thing about Crusade. We would have learned much more about that wonderful universe.

This is the strength of Babylon 5 in the new media age. One can gather unkown but talented actors, creat better special effects for a fraction of the cost 10 years ago and go out and explore that universe filled with great story potential.

 

[vacantlook]

I consider the characters from B5 to be a closed book.

I more or less do too, with maybe the exception of Lennier. Though I know what happens to him that we haven't yet seen, in broadstrokes more or less, I still would like to see the rest of his story. Lyta would be second on that list of those characters I most would like to see their story finished. Not because I particularly like those characters more than others, 'cause I don't, but because those are the two I feel less completed with than the others.

Whether it be the story of Crusade, the Techno-mages, Earth involment in Shadow tech

And alas those three things more or less revolve around one another like a little three-star system.

 

[PillowRock]

The Telepath War could come out as a radio play.

Let's go back and read the subject line, shall we?

What's that word in the middle?

"Movie"

Radio plays are irrelevent to this topic.

Pat Tallman can no longer play a love sick 16 year old girl. She is still pretty and can play a boss job like leader of a revolution.

In the generic sense: Yes, of course she can.

However, this isn't the Star Trek movies getting started 10 years after the end of the series. In the Trek case, they were free to set their story as long after the events of the series as was appropriate for how much the actors had aged.

In the B5 case, they are already locked into a timeline for the major events that we were talking about (such as the Telepath War). Tallman doesn't just need to be able to play the strong rebel leader. She needs to be the rebel leader who is in the range of (at most) 2 - 3 years older than she was when we last saw her in S5.

Yes, audiances will forgive / ignore a non-negligable amount of stretching in that regard. If they were making it now, we would ignore that everybody was 5 years or so older than they "should" be. However, it's not being made now. Nobody is even putting together funding yet. At some point, it does become painfully obvious .... to the point of being problematic .... that all of your characters are signifcantly older than they should be (anybody remember the Sweathogs?). We're talking about projecting trends in movie delivery media into the future.

Projecting out in time to when those trends actually come to fruition ...... I don't see that distibution model really being up and running in time for the actors to be remotely believable as being only 2 or 3 years older than they were in S5. And that's the age that the need to be for anything related to the Telepath War (and the fates of Lyta and Lennier).


Now, if you're suggesting that JMS go all Berman-and-Braga on us ..... and erase everything about the existing timeline that might be inconveniant for a new project...... and move the Telepath War 10 years further into the "future" (relative to S5) than what has been previously stated / shown, so that he can make the cast fit ......

Yeah, that could theoretically be done.
I just don't see JMS doing that to his story.

 

[KoshFan]

With respect to Babylon 5, I should probably clarify my remarks. I consider the characters from B5 to be a closed book. Their stories have been told.

Fair enough -- but if that means that those characters won't be included, that sort of defeats the point of the movie from JMS's perspective, and more importantly also essentially scuttles the possibility of a real movie. I can see it being pitched now -- "Yeah, it's set in an established universe, so we'd be selling it to the fanboys alone and they'll lynch us if we do anything wrong. Plus, we're not including any of the original cast, so a lot of the original selling points are gone." That might have worked for ST:TNG, but it was quite a gamble then, even with the Trek franchise doing pretty well.

However the universe of Babylon 5 is wide open for exploration. Whether it be the story of Crusade, the Techno-mages, Earth involment in Shadow tech, past Shadow Wars, The Hand, The First Ones, The coming of Valen etc... the Babylon 5 universe is rich, intricate and detailed. It is certainly worthy of exploration. That is what would have been the great thing about Crusade. We would have learned much more about that wonderful universe.

Personally I'd love to see the coming of Valen done somehow. But that runs afoul of one really tragic gap. To film/record the coming of Valen in any way would require Zathras, and Tim Choate is no more. Which means Zathras must be a character of the printed page alone from here on out.

The First Ones -- well, part of their grandeur is that they're mysterious. If there was more B5 stuff I'd love to catch glimpses of them now and again, but focusing on them would ruin it.


One thing that could be done within the next, oh, two decades would be the "Delenn's last quest" story that JMS has kicked around. In that case Delenn is supposed to be ancient, and any flashbacks could be to, say, Sheridan's last days, and that would allow the cast to look normal with their aging. But I don't know how JMS would want to do it.

 

[T_Fleming]

I don't think that JMS is interested in carrying out stories with the old B5 characters. Remember that the storyline of "The Memory of Shadows" movie centered on Galen and another techno-mage. When JMS had the chance to do something new in the B5 universe he did "Legend of the Rangers" not B5 year 6. As I mention above, this is why I believe a new B5 project is inevitable. New characters and new storylines in the age of new media.

 

[Recoil]

With respect to Babylon 5, I should probably clarify my remarks. I consider the characters from B5 to be a closed book. Their stories have been told

This very line is why I am never too excited about the possiblity of a B5 movie. Sure, I was looking forward to TMoS when the hype was around --- but at the same time I think we all knew it wasn't going to involve the full B5 cast rather it was an offshoot story. Maybe the Telepath War, maybe more about Crusade. THOSE are the stories Id like to see in a B5 feature. At this point, I'd like them told in whatever medium I can get them.

Joss Whedon did a short 3-book comic series for Firefly that took place between the end of the series and the begining of the movie Serenity. Helped fill in the gaps.

At this stage of the game, I would love for JMS to tell the Crusade story however he can, as long as he gets it out of his head and out to the fans. Rangers and the Telepath War would be a bonus as well...but Crusade to me was the more interesting one to hear about. As far as a movie...never really thought one had to include the original characters (at least not all of them) in the first place. Like was said, I consider that story told.