Their timing is considerably more ambiguous. Darned "Changeling" and all that....
B5 Movie book now available
- Thread starter Jan
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Whatever he's publishing in the book he is unlikely to use in a movie, since he seems quite against story ideas being seen before they get used.
In this post from July JMS explained his thinking as to why he's not looking to do any more Lost Tales disks and why he's only willing to do a big budget feature film for Babylon 5 in the future. Recently it seems that WB may be expressing some interest in a feature but I think it's early days to get our hopes up.
I'll be interested to see what people's reaction will be to the Garibaldi segment. After reading it the sub-title of "Voices in the Dark" will make much more sense, I think.
Jan
He wants the multi million dollar budget. Ala the new Star Trek movie I guess.
Citation?
^It's in the post Jan links to:
No low-budget DVDs (I'd gather that also includes direct-to-DVD movies) or cable or computer games. Only a big-ass, multi-million dollar big screen return to the Babylon 5 'verse. And as JMS says, that or nothing.
Ah, I was hoping he'd been a little more specific somewhere. I didn't think that quite ruled out a properly budgeted straight to DVD film.
At one point it seems that he was perfectly willing to do another Lost Tales as long as it was budgeted properly. Both he and Doug Netter specified that at SDCC the week the D2DVD came out. Some discussions were apparently held before the writer's strike but were tabled when the strike occurred. It was afterward that JMS seems to have come to his decision that he's only interested in doing a feature film.
Jan
True he has said that he will only do it with a big budget, but now that he has a BAFTA nominated screenplay and has written a movie that is getting Oscar attention he has effectively hit the big time.
That big budget to do a project of his own is looking a little more likely now. Probably still very unlikely, but an improved prospect at least.
I thought that when Lost Tales (which I've unfortunately haven't had the chance to see yet but eventually will, getting ready to re-watch the series soon) the plan was that JMS was hoping to see how sales did and if they were good they would plan on making more. I guess now he wants to make a big budget movie...what else is there to tell except maybe for the Telepath War that everyone wants to see except him. I was vaugely interested in the concept for Memory of Shadows but really the TP War is the biggest unseen event in the B5 universe, along with the resolution for Crusade.
As is always the case with Warner Bros., they went on the cheap with the first Lost Tales disk and, yes, sales were supposed to be dependant on whether there'd be future discs greenlit. JMS and Doug Netter (his partner in B5) both went on record that there'd have to be a significantly bigger budget for any future Lost Tales even before it went on sale. From what JMS reported, WB was most pleased with the sales (They should have been, since Lost Tales was at the top of the Amazon SF/F DVD charts for several weeks). Talks had been opened at one point before the writer's strike but WB refused to commission anything ahead of the strike on the assumption that there wouldn't be any strike.
Jan
Are you sure you want to know? Alrighty then ...
The only connection with the other two stories is an off-hand reference to Lochley calling Garibaldi to invite him to the party. He's declined, because they've found "something" under the surface of Mars.
There is very little of the Garibaldi we know. Instead, he's saying things like "Oh my God" - he's an atheist, and doesn't have a "god" remember? He has no motivation for any of his actions here.
And we get yet another post-B5 story with an alien race that helped guide Earth a million years ago, and they're still there, still watching. How many times is JMS going to throw in a new form of Shadows/Vorlons before he understands that he already did away with them in the series and he can move on to other things in the B5 universe?
There was nothing cool about this story. There was no sense of fun, and it felt tacked on. It also would have been insanely expensive to film the last five minutes or so. I can only say I'm glad it got cut. Seriously, if it had been there, the few of us who wanted more Lost Tales would have probably given up on Lost Tales volume 2 as soon as they watched it.
There is very little of the Garibaldi we know. Instead, he's saying things like "Oh my God" - he's an atheist, and doesn't have a "god" remember? He has no motivation for any of his actions here.
And we get yet another post-B5 story with an alien race that helped guide Earth a million years ago, and they're still there, still watching. How many times is JMS going to throw in a new form of Shadows/Vorlons before he understands that he already did away with them in the series and he can move on to other things in the B5 universe?
There was nothing cool about this story. There was no sense of fun, and it felt tacked on. It also would have been insanely expensive to film the last five minutes or so. I can only say I'm glad it got cut. Seriously, if it had been there, the few of us who wanted more Lost Tales would have probably given up on Lost Tales volume 2 as soon as they watched it.
Comments on the Garibaldi story:
Regardless of my opinion on the story, I'm still happy to read any new B5, and I was smiling with the first line.
I was a little surprised about the introduction about a hidden alien race guiding earth. No effort was made to tie them to the Vorlons or the Shadows. When details of the find first started, it reminded me of the descriptions of the Shadow homeworld.
At that point I figured it would be a destroy the shadow tech type of thing, but the new alien race really came from left field for me. Then I was hoping it would tie into the demon story line from Lochley, but still nada. Perhaps if it made it to filming some details would have been changed to tighten up the story.
But if I give the Sheridan story a 9, the Lochley story a 2, the Garabaldi Story comes in around a 6. At least he didn't find a Zarg again.
At that point I figured it would be a destroy the shadow tech type of thing, but the new alien race really came from left field for me. Then I was hoping it would tie into the demon story line from Lochley, but still nada. Perhaps if it made it to filming some details would have been changed to tighten up the story.
But if I give the Sheridan story a 9, the Lochley story a 2, the Garabaldi Story comes in around a 6. At least he didn't find a Zarg again.
Regardless of my opinion on the story, I'm still happy to read any new B5, and I was smiling with the first line.
Don't hold your breath. Sometimes it seems like those books are like a carrot on a string, there but always just out of reach. No planned release date has been mentioned.
Typically when one of the scripts team is asked about a release date, they either
a) Giggle
b) Mention they will, happen eventually
c) Give an answer that a Vorlon couldn't interpret.
Frustrating, but of course I'll order it in the first five minutes it's available.
But it's a very sympathetic giggle. More of a chuckle, I think. But *very* sympathetic.
They *will*. Honest. Eventually. There's more B5 stuff to come out and all of that needs to be released before Crusade.
Try hanging from the ceiling and looking through a mirror.
Ever helpful,
Jan
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