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Potential GREAT news for Babylon 5 fans...

RANGERS died for the same reason CRUSADE did.

People at cable networks having no idea what they were doing.

Both were decent shots, and should have been given a real chance. Neither was, and that's not the fault of R or C. It's the fault of the suits.
 
I have to agree with you gastrof... but, plenty of science fiction has been torpedo'ed by suit's who never paid their brain bill and didn't have the cerebral comprenhension to understand they had a good show on their hands...
 
Would I have liked to see more of Crusade? No doubt at all, I'd even welcome a reboot with different actors. I could do with some space opera-type fare to watch on TV (as long as it doesn't insult my intelligence (such as it is) like Defying Gravity did).

Would I have liked to see more of LOTR? No, based on what I saw in the pilot.

Would I have liked to see more direct to DVD fare like Lost Tales? Again, no, based on what I watched.
 
I liked the relationship between Martell and Dulann...

As did I. There was something very Kirk and Spock about the relationship between Martell and Dulann. Besides G'Kar's final appearance, that relationship was the most memorable thing about the telefilm. The rest, however, didn't really click for me.

But then again I didn't like "The Gathering" when I first watched it. In fact, I slammed it pretty hard in my high-school newspaper column on science fiction. But I now, in fact, prefer the original cut to the TNT cut in many ways.
 
I don't think you can really compare what happened to Crusade to what happened with LotR. Crusade was aborted in the womb because TNT decided they didn't want it anymore, LotR just didn't pull in the numbers to convince the involved parties it was worth the investment. While they're both business decisions the way the former was executed was worlds away from the latter.

As for LotR itself...I'm not sure either way. As far as pilots go it wasn't but, but it wasn't exactly good either. As Jan said the chemistry between the Martel and Dulann was a clear high point and for all of it's issues, I don't think there was anything that couldn't have been fine tuned down the road. No matter what, it's still better than the original version of The Gathering.
 
I thought LOTR was a very good little pilot with interesting characters, good action, an interesting baddie (if not original). I would have liked to have seen more. And I liked the idea of the lady in space firing weapons out of her hands :p
 
If by fruition you mean filmed; twice, I think. 'The Memory of Shadows' had trouble getting off the ground. I'm not certain of all the details but from what I gather the money people were pushing to recast with "big name actors" and the passing of Biggs and Katsulas pretty much took the wind out of everyone's sails. Then there's the second Lost Tales DVD and that was cancelled because 1) the studio didn't order it before the WGA strike and 2) Joe wasn't happy with the results they got out of the meagre budget the last time round and didn't want to do it if it detracted from the franchise.

I recall Jerry Doyle making noises some years back about getting a project going off his own back, but it never even got past vague speculation and turned out to be more wishful thinking than anything else.
 
I thought LOTR was a very good little pilot with interesting characters, good action, an interesting baddie (if not original). I would have liked to have seen more. And I liked the idea of the lady in space firing weapons out of her hands :p
It was a big change from pushing buttons.
Its a good thing she was conscious, else one might wonder if Alliance begun adopting shadow technologie.


The idea was good, but the execution was ludicrous. The way energetic way she had to move around would exhaust the gunner in a drawn out firefight. If the movements and manner had been calm and purposeful, rather than the over the top exertion, it would have been a more believable system.
 
Yeah I was never clear on that, was Doyle going to make new B5 *without* JMS' involvement?!

He (Jerry Doyle, that is) couldn't. WB owns everything about B5 with the exception of the movie rights, which JMS owns. By contract, JMS would need to be involved. What extent his involvement would need to be isn't known. A couple of times Jerry Doyle seemed to be trying to put together investors to try to get a new B5 on the air but it never went anywhere. Which is really par for the course in Hollywood.

Jan
 
BABYLON 5: LEGEND OF THE BROWNCOATS!

(/me gets dragged off to be medicated again)

:lol: - appropriate username.

The idea was good, but the execution was ludicrous. The way energetic way she had to move around would exhaust the gunner in a drawn out firefight. If the movements and manner had been calm and purposeful, rather than the over the top exertion, it would have been a more believable system.

Yeah, that was the one flaw in the fire control system that I saw, but I liked the idea behind the system overall.

Interestingly enough, there was an article some years ago by a gentleman who works for a company that develops systems based upon similar principles. If you're interested, I've attached a text copy of it.
 

Attachments

  • [B5JMS] Review of Liandra's Weapon System.txt
    17.8 KB · Views: 5
B5 is all about a very specific and elaborate story. A nuB5 reboot would be silly if it attempted to tell a different story because then it completely misses the point.

A reboot of Crusade? That could work.

A series about the Telepath War? Sounds awesome!

However, any other kind of continuation just wouldn't make much sense. It's not that there aren't stories to tell in the B5 universe. It's just that most of those stories would be too far detached from the original story for me to really care.
 
The idea was good, but the execution was ludicrous. The way energetic way she had to move around would exhaust the gunner in a drawn out firefight. If the movements and manner had been calm and purposeful, rather than the over the top exertion, it would have been a more believable system.
Well that was the initial concept. I think all the frantic flailing was something "they" (whomever "they" happened to be) decided to do literally at the last minute.
I agree it's not a terribly practical system and I like to think that it actually works the way it was originally envisioned and Cantrell was just doing it "her way". Had ther series gone ahead I imagine the novelty would have worn out (along with the actress's arms and legs) and I envisage a scene where Dulann pulls her aside and say basically "You need to take it easy in that thing and start using it properly. Na'Feel's getting really tired of emptying all the sweat out of the emitter boxes." ;)

He (Jerry Doyle, that is) couldn't. WB owns everything about B5 with the exception of the movie rights, which JMS owns. By contract, JMS would need to be involved. What extent his involvement would need to be isn't known. A couple of times Jerry Doyle seemed to be trying to put together investors to try to get a new B5 on the air but it never went anywhere. Which is really par for the course in Hollywood.

Jan
Indeed. Very few pitches get made into pilots and only a small percentage of those actually air and get made into a series and a lot of those don't get past 13 episodes, let alone a full season.
The fact that B5 has managed to have three shows make it as far as a pilot is saying allot about the viability of the franchise...though to be fair it should be pointed out Crusade never really had a pilot and was picked up sight-unseen.

B5 is all about a very specific and elaborate story. A nuB5 reboot would be silly if it attempted to tell a different story because then it completely misses the point.

A reboot of Crusade? That could work.

A series about the Telepath War? Sounds awesome!

However, any other kind of continuation just wouldn't make much sense. It's not that there aren't stories to tell in the B5 universe. It's just that most of those stories would be too far detached from the original story for me to really care.

You'd think the same thing about BSG after the series ended, but I have to say I'm rather enjoying Caprica so far. From Psi Corps, IPX, the Rangers, the Techno-mages, to the The Great Burn, the New Earth era and beyond. B5 has plenty of little nooks and crannies in which to set a compelling story.

To be honest, if there's ever going to be another series I'd much rather it be within the established canon. Not because I'm some puritanical continuity nerd (he said with a straight face) but because a re-telling would either be 1) pointless because we already know how it unfolds, or 2) So altered from the source material to avoid the former that it bares little resemblance to the source material.
Of course the latter was done to BSG with great success and I much prefer the new series to the old, it's just...I don't want to see it happen to B5. I mean can you imagine Katee Sackhoff as Garibaldi?! Sure it looks good on paper, but when the bald spot starts to take over in season 3 it'd just look weird. :evil:
 
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I'm a big fan of JMS and enjoyed most of the B5 stuff (I even liked the Lost Tales DVD) but I have to say, I'm just not all that excited about anything new. The epic story is over, and anything else would just filling in the margins.

I'm far more excited about the prospect of a JMS-penned Lensman film.
 
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