JMS teases Babylon 5 feature film at Comic-Con

By the way, ever since this came up and all of the discussions about reboot vs continuation sprang up, I've been looking for a post JMS made back in 2011 when the TV series that WB wanted to do for the new (streaming?) venue that didn't materialize was still being discussed. This was in response to somebody who *really* hated the idea of a reboot. Sadly, I didn't keep a link to the FB post and it's nigh unto impossible to scroll back that far. But here's the text:

Seems like it's likely to still be applicable today.

Jan

 

I don't think there's anything bad about JMS doing a reboot, in whatever form that may take. Douglas Adams after all kept tinkering with "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in all it's various incarnations —*radio, TV, book, movie, etc.

 

Contemporary audiences would likely find old-style B5 way too stodgy just like old-style Trek and perhaps now even JJ Trek. Guardians of the Galaxy and, to a lesser extent, other Marvel universe movies seems to be more zeitgeisty. A B5 reboot as a movie would likely need to subvert the narrative structure of the original to tell a story that would be a commercial success.

 

If JMS gets the money, I'd nominate Terry Gilliam to direct.

 

This is why he shouldn't even be thinking of a theatrical movie. Movies may be catering to the ADHD crowd, but there's a mini Renaissance of good shows on cable where a B5 project could fit right in.

 

I agree, but would Warner Brothers allow a B5-related series to be made, and even if they were agreeable, could they refrain from interfering?

 

And given that he's in the middle of making one of those shows, he's very likely aware of that (in fact, if you listen to the recording of his spotlight, he says so). Just one problem - he can't make a TV show without WB and they insist on sitting on their thumbs.

So the coice would seem to be to do what one can - make a feature film - or do nothing at all.

Jan

 

Considering how much of the original B5 was effectively "Lord of the Rings in Space"; I could go for a reboot that's more "Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Space"

 

I'd also be happy with a book series.

 

WB owns the rights to those too. At this point, making a movie is the only thing JMS *can* do off his own back. Everything else is owned by Warner Bros and they've been unwilling to budge for years now.

 

What got me about The X-Files was how many mundanes would love that show to death, as if it was the only good sci-fi show on TV and there was nothing else on (like Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, or Space; Above And Beyond, Space Rangers, Space Precinct, Time Trax, plus a few others), putting down any of the other shows or not bothering to mention them if they had any alien characters like DS9 and B5-this was brought to the fore for me one day when a classmate in school saw the copy of Starlog that I had and commented on the X-Files card set advertised on the back, saying that she liked the show over DS9 and B5 because 'it didn't have any aliens in it' (of course, she'd probably love the recent version of BSG for just that same reason.) That hatred of other sci-fi shows by them has made me like The X-Files less than I used to-it's a perfect example of the show being 'the whistle that only dogs hear.'

And how do you know this to be a fact?

 

I don't understand the dislike for The X-Files. I saw B5 when it originally aired and loved it, but I really didn't didn't get into The X-Files til I saw it on DVD. And I found I loved The X-Files for many of the same reasons I liked B5, it was a creator controlled show, with an arc and plenty of recurring characters. And if the show created more sci-fi fans so much the better, it was a great show with a huge following.

 

^The only thing The X-Files created was a class of mundanes who like/liked one sci-fi show and nothing else but that show. That's not building up an sci-fi fandom that I know of.

 

People who liked/like The X-Files are mundanes?!? News flash: people who like one TV show aren't obligated to like any other.

 

^^ X-Files was essentially a very mainstream show, appealing to a similar audience that shows like Ancient Aliens appeals to.

Oh, yeah, forgot about that part.

I suppose he's tried to buy back the rights with no luck?

Well, how about if he makes a few dozen one-hour theatrical movies that go straight to DVD and are picked up for rebroadcast by a cable channel?

 

There's nothing mundane about Ancient Aliens. If anything, it's even more "out there" than science fiction, which at least recognizes that it's fiction!

 

Yup. After the new venue didn't materialize he was negotiating for them for quite a while and reported that things started off looking promising but then petered out.

I'll leave the research into what the WGA defines as feature films as an exercise for the student.

Jan

 

Several 2-hour films that have natural breakpoints at 40 and 80 minutes might do. The lawyers might well disagree, of course. That's what they're paid for.

 

For the uninitiated, "mundanes" is a word used in skiffy fandom to describe people who aren't overly absorbed in their fantasy lives.

 

Or who have no Psi rating