Potential GREAT news for Babylon 5 fans...

[stonester1]

Given that JMS was disappointed with the latter low budget forays into his universe, he laid down the law with the powers that be, that a future Babylon 5 production be given the budget it deserves...or nothing. Seems that TPTB have noticed his success in film writing of late and have been making interesting noises...

http://www.newsarama.com/film/JMS-Week-Movies-TV-100220.html

Also note that JMS says Buffy TVS is one of his fav shows, too.

Good times, y'all...

 

[Mysterion]

I am at best cautiously optimistic for there being new B5 at some point, but am not going to let myself believe it until I am either holding a DVD in-hand, or next in line at the box office to see it.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Or at least seeing an honest to god trailer or production stills.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

At this stage I'd be more excited about the possibility of Blu-Rays of the series (or at the very least, DVDs that don't suck), as opposed to anything new.

 

[OmahaStar]

I'm sorry, what about this is "news"? He's been saying the exact same thing since right after Lost Tales came out a couple years ago.

 

[RAMA]

I'm sorry, what about this is "news"? He's been saying the exact same thing since right after Lost Tales came out a couple years ago.

Prefer he do something NEW. B5 is tapped out...Rangers did nothing...Crusade, not memorable...

RAMA

 

[stonester1]

I'm sorry, what about this is "news"? He's been saying the exact same thing since right after Lost Tales came out a couple years ago.

Up to this point, TPTB haven't been interested in providing B5 the resources he believes are necessary. The "news" is that they seem to be changing their tune of late.

As pointed out in the OP.

 

[stonester1]

I'm sorry, what about this is "news"? He's been saying the exact same thing since right after Lost Tales came out a couple years ago.

Prefer he do something NEW. B5 is tapped out...Rangers did nothing...Crusade, not memorable...

RAMA

Rangers had a lot of interesting elements that could have been great, had it had the opportunity to be refined.

Crusade, IMO, was shaping up to a better first season that B5 had and the ground work was being laid for an EPIC tale. More convince of both since I recently watched both of them...

 

[Technobuilder]

Crusade was stillborn before it even aired and wasn't ever given a chance to grow.

Rangers was ok for the most part, but I had issues with the scenery FX (upgrades) and some of the casting choices. Again, the larger story was there, just didn't get to see it.

B5 always worked best on a slow burn taking it's time to set up characters and scenarios that would play out over the course of several episodes with lasting repercussions. 2-hour telefilm just wasn't going to cut it.

 

[Kegg]

A Babylon 5 movie would have to be something like the new Star Trek movie: Marketable to people who have never heard of Babylon 5. So there's either a lot of exposition, a standalone story, or (likely) both. Tying up lose ends in the universe can't really be a priority, for example. And would it, could it or should it include characters from Babylon 5 or the various less-than-successful attempts at spinoffs? I suspect a new character would need to be the centre of attention.

Interesting to note he likes Dexter. Clearly he and I share that much in common.

Also: Has JMS written any bona fide hit films at this point? I was under the impression The Changeling and Ninja Assassin were not runaway wonders, and pairing with the Wachkowskis would have sounded a lot of prestigious say, ten years ago. Further: JMS would make a darn good Lensman. The heart of the Bab 5 mythos has very strong shades of the Lensman series, to be polite.

 

[Jan]

Also: Has JMS written any bona fide hit films at this point?

Only two have been made so far, as you note, and obviously neither are up there with Avatar. Changeling seems to have taken in a little over twice its budget in the theaters. Even though it didn't come away with any big prizes, Changeling did well with nominations in that years award season. No word on IMDB what Ninja Assassin's budget was but it was rather obviously not intended to be a blockbuster.

It's rather shallow of me but after seeing the opening sequence of the Lost Tales on a fairly big screen back before it came out, I'd really love to see the station with state-of-the-art effects on a *really* big screen.

Jan

 

[23skidoo]

If this happens, it likely won't be a continuation of the original TV series but a reimagining of some sort, considering that we're almost at the 20th anniversary of the thing. Although fans of B5 rightly love it, it has never really gained the same sort of mainstream cachet that Star Trek did. Most people have never heard of it, and it's not as if it's in reruns on every other channel like Trek. And it never became a cultural phenomenon like Doctor Who.

I think the idea is sound and would work well as a movie or new TV series, but I'd be surprised to see a feature authorized that served as a reunion for the original cast (especially with two key members no longer with us). Hopefully B5 fans wouldn't be as opposed to nuB5 like some factions of Galactica fans never took to nuBSG.

Alex

 

[OmahaStar]

I'm sorry, what about this is "news"? He's been saying the exact same thing since right after Lost Tales came out a couple years ago.

Up to this point, TPTB haven't been interested in providing B5 the resources he believes are necessary. The "news" is that they seem to be changing their tune of late.

As pointed out in the OP.

And as pointed out in my post, this is exactly what he's been saying for years. There is no news here. And to back this up, here is a message from jms from July 2008 which says the exact same thing.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

If this happens, it likely won't be a continuation of the original TV series but a reimagining of some sort, considering that we're almost at the 20th anniversary of the thing. Although fans of B5 rightly love it, it has never really gained the same sort of mainstream cachet that Star Trek did. Most people have never heard of it, and it's not as if it's in reruns on every other channel like Trek. And it never became a cultural phenomenon like Doctor Who.

I think the idea is sound and would work well as a movie or new TV series, but I'd be surprised to see a feature authorized that served as a reunion for the original cast (especially with two key members no longer with us). Hopefully B5 fans wouldn't be as opposed to nuB5 like some factions of Galactica fans never took to nuBSG.

Alex

I imagine that there would be a nuB5 at some point. In fact, at this point, I'd prefer it to a continuation of the original series. Perhaps even a return to television where the station and its milieu can be used, as it was in the first couple of seasons, to tell anthology-like science-fiction tales. Perhaps even using something JMS has been proposing since Crusade: purchasing short stories from leading science-fiction authors and turning them into scripts. Or maybe contemporary LitSF authors like Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi could contribute stories and scripts.

Moreover, I'd like to see the metastory not copied wholesale from the original in any reboot, reimagining, re-whatever. In fact, I'd prefer it to take more of a subtle backseat in any new venture. As much as I love the series and its novel-like structure, I lament the fact that not many other writers got to play in the rich tapestry of the B5 universe.

 

[OmahaStar]

No word on IMDB what Ninja Assassin's budget was but it was rather obviously not intended to be a blockbuster.

Box Office Mojo shows a production budget of 40 million, domestic gross of $38,122,883, and total worldwide $60,462,347.

As for Changeling, its budget was 55 million, and its total worldwide gross was just under 113 million. I don't know about you, but that's a HUGE amount of money to me!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I'm more interested to read that the Forbidden Planet project is still alive. After Avatar, one can imagine that Warners would be taking that sort of thing seriously...

 

[Jan]

And as pointed out in my post, this is exactly what he's been saying for years. There is no news here. And to back this up, here is a message from jms from July 2008 which says the exact same thing.

Omaha, I'd say that the news, such as it is, is:

Oddly, WB -- which is being very nice to me at the moment, given how things are going film-wise -- has been coming around to say "So how much money would you need to make this work?" so there may be something to this. We'll see.

Bearing in mind that there are far more discussions in H-wood than movies are ever made, another point that JMS has made in the last year or so is that when he comes up with a B5 story he burns to tell as a feature, he's not bound to WB to do it since he owns the movie rights. So far he hasn't hinted that he's come up with that story.

Jan

 

[Kegg]

Only two have been made so far,

Ah.

No word on IMDB what Ninja Assassin's budget was but it was rather obviously not intended to be a blockbuster.

Which does raise the question: What does JMS really mean when he means a potential Babylon 5 movie? Look, clearly, we're not talking about an Avatar budget, but is a Ninja Assassin budget what he'd expect? WB's question seems especially pertinent there.

And as pointed out in my post, this is exactly what he's been saying for years. There is no news here. And to back this up, here is a message from jms from July 2008 which says the exact same thing.

It does seem to be a reach. I'm frankly extremely dubious as to whether or not any more Babylon 5 sees the light of day; it's even less plausible than more Farscape. Low budget direct-to-DVD fare sounded financially viable; but since JMS isn't keen on that I wouldn't be surprised if this is the end of the matter.

But hey, as he himself once remarked, he never aimed to create a franchise. I'm fairly happy with what exists, truthfully.

 

[OmahaStar]

I'm frankly extremely dubious as to whether or not any more Babylon 5 sees the light of day; it's even less plausible than more Farscape. Low budget direct-to-DVD fare sounded financially viable; but since JMS isn't keen on that I wouldn't be surprised if this is the end of the matter.

As usual, I'm of two minds about this.

First, I'm very happy with what we got. He told the story he set out to tell, a five year novel for television. It is a complete beginning, middle, and end, all told the way he wanted to tell it.

Second, I do want more with the characters. It's not about the station, and never was. The story was always about the characters. With the "novel for television" concept, why can't there be more stories told with these characters, in a written format? I'm still waiting on the graphic novel jms was writing years ago. Farscape has proven that the comic format can be used to continue the story as the creator intended.

New B5 material doesn't have to be on the screen. The thing about Babylon 5 is that it will never die. It endures, and will continue to do so as long as we remember.

 

[stonester1]

I'm sorry, what about this is "news"? He's been saying the exact same thing since right after Lost Tales came out a couple years ago.

Up to this point, TPTB haven't been interested in providing B5 the resources he believes are necessary. The "news" is that they seem to be changing their tune of late.

As pointed out in the OP.

And as pointed out in my post, this is exactly what he's been saying for years. There is no news here. And to back this up, here is a message from jms from July 2008 which says the exact same thing.

Nothing there about the studio actually expressing interest in a big budget B5.

Oh well.