So, let's go into deeper B5:TMoS speculation

[Kevin]

Somehow I have the strong feeling that if JMS does have a theatrical film going, it's going to concentrate on the characters the fans can really stand behind. After all, as Bruce did say in the S2 commentary "it's been attempted to be spun off twice, failed both time." He's right. Not let's not get into arguments of quality or reason for failure (I'm well aware of all of that as most of you know), but I don't think there's anyone here who can say that they prefered the Rangers or Crusade cast to the original. And JMS knows that, and I think for him to go to a theatrical release means he's going to pay off the people who've been in this for the long haul, and the best way to do that (and to get as many of the original cast in as possible) is to concentrate on those characters, the ones who deserve it and the ones the fans, who'll have to be at the center of the concern for this project.

If it's the teep war, I really do see Sheridan, Garibaldi, Delenn, Lyta, Lennier, and Bester having to be the main center of this, which a high possibility of Ivanova (especially since I think jms always regretted that he didn't get to out her psi powers), Zack and possibly Lochley and G'kar, in that order I believe. As others have said, I have a hard time seeing Londo and Vir being fit into the process, and while the Drakh could most certainly play a part, it might be easier for the sake of new viewers to keep them out of it.

Then again I had no idea how they'd fit all the people that they did (especially Londo) into In the Beginning, so you never really know ;P

[CRONAN]

I don't think there's anyone here who can say that they prefered the Rangers or Crusade cast to the original
------------------------------------------------------------------------
With the exception of Chambers, I'd very much like to see one or more Crusade characters incorporated into future B5 projects. The Crusade cast at least, (never saw lotr) was on par with that of B5 in my opinion.

Crusade all the way! W00T!

[Stunaep]

I have to agree here. Eilerson and Galen were at least as interesting as the B5 main cast. But in a theatrical film, yes, B5 cast all the way.

Besides, which sane person, not to mention network executive, would greenlight a movie which were based on a show, that got canceled before it even aired.

[CRONAN]

Sure having a new project on the horizon starring all the Crusade characters would be extreme, in much the same way cramming the entire cast of B5 into Crusade's first season. However, they still managed to gradually incorperate a few B5 characters into the storyline (Locklley, Franklin, f ex. Bester and Garibaldi almost made it).

In a new B5 project, you wouldnt necessarily have to base the storyline on the Drahk plague or Shadow tech simply because it contained a Crusade character.

I've been having these dreams of late, envisioning Crusade cast members starring in main roles.......

[Davco92]

I can easily see Sheridan speaking to "Number 1" or Lockley (maybe during a meeting with Vir) toward the end of the movie to coordinate a last minute combined assault on the Psi Corps fleet. I also wouldn't be too upset if the Excalibur just happened to be visiting B5 when the crap hit the fan. Whitestars, the Excalibur, maybe a Sharlin thrown in for fun - that would be a great battle sequence to watch. Maybe a 3-way free-for-all, with the Drakh popping in to liven things up a bit. Probably not likely, but it would be nice.

[moelawn]

Why is a theatrical release expected?

I have been out of touch for awhile (too much overtime plus baseball season has started and I have a ticket plan), and would appreciate someone telling me why the speculation is that TMoS will be a theatrical movie. I am aware of the "wrong side of the river" message and the message of April 29 that indicates the budget is large.

With the success of the Dune mini-series on Sci-Fi, a six-hour mini-series followed up by DVD sales a few months later seems plausible to me. Not that I wouldn't go see the movie, I would see it the First Friday, but I wouldn't mind enjoying a six-hour telling of the tale instead of two hours.




"Just my luck. The first time in my life I am a war hero and nobody knows about it. And worst of all, I'm married to you."

-- Marcus to Franklin in "Racing Mars"

[nyranger66]

From: http://www.jmsnews.com/scripts/MsgSt...ls=0&qs=0&qt=0

Soon, I promise, all will be made clear. I don't like being Mr. Mysterioso on this, but if I say too much, the-powers-that-be will use my head to make a 2.35:1 sized hole in the wall.

edit: fixing the dang quote tags

[snodman]

As mentioned before (perhaps not in this thread, though) 2.35:1 is the screen ratio for a theatrical movie. And the middle of May (the purported official announcement date) fits the "opposite of can't" clue because that is the week of the Cannes Film Festival. The Cannes festival is a place where many theatrical movie announcements are made (things like "The next James Bond movie will be released in November 2005 and the Bond girl this time will be...."). So expect an announcement that a B5 movie will be made, the title of it, the estimated release date and the stars who will appear in it (many of whom might get a nice trip to the south of France in the spring for a photo op.).

[RCmodeler]

...deleted....

[snodman]

Super Panavision is 2.35:1, so is one of the Todd AO processes. At that ratio you do get black masking bands on the top and bottom of even an HDTV, but they are small. But it looks great in a theater (think Lawrence of Arabia or Star Wars).

[RCmodeler]

I never even heard of Super Panavision.
- Cinescope uses 70 mm film.
- Panavision uses standard 35 mm film and a anamorphic (image compressing) lens.
- How does Super Panavision work?

I prefer IMAX myself. Anything less than 5 stories tall is too small. ;-)

[Sigma]

Originally posted by RCmodeler
I haven't seen a 2.35:1 movie since the 60s. Virtually all current movies use normal Panavision which is 1.85:1.

Star Wars? Lord of the Rings? ST:Nemesis? Road to Perdition? X-Men 2? All Matrix movies?

They all are 2.35:1

[Jan]

Originally posted by RCmodeler

I prefer IMAX myself. Anything less than 5 stories tall is too small. ;-)

Oooh, now *that* would be cool! Talk about epic in scope and scale!

Jan

[RCmodeler]

Originally posted by Sigma
Star Wars? Lord of the Rings? ST:Nemesis? Road to Perdition? X-Men 2? All Matrix movies? They all are 2.35:1

Yep you're right. Cinescope is 2.75:1. *That's* the ratio we haven't seen since the 60s.

[colonyearth]

Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino
Oh, for pity's sake why not? He included most of them in In the Beginning, after all, and that was a 92 minute movie of the week.

They don't have to be major appearances. And anyone who thinks the Telepath War can only take place on Earth and Mars, or won't involve the station, or Delenn, or automatically excludes the Centauri, either hasn't had access to or hasn't paid attention to the hints that have been given about it, especially in "off-air" venues.

1) Lyta's rogues necessarily arm, train and assemble their forces outside of Earth-controlled space.

2) Psi Corps not only has the Black Omega squadron, but access to other spacecraft, including the secret motherships.

3) In order to fight a real war against a paramilitary organization like Psi Corps Lyta and company aren't going to be able to limit themselves to terrorist bombings, raids and guerrilla tactics. They're going to have to bring in heavy weapons, large numbers of people and protect their transports against intercept by the Corps. Did somebody say "space battles"?

4) Lyta's group is getting funding from the Narn, and from Garibaldi, and almost certainly paying off various alien governments to provide sanctuary for her people until she is ready to take on the Corps. A war like the one she is planning is necessarily going to hurt Earth, but since it will be a matter of internal EarthGov security and dealings with its own citizens, the IA will have to remain neutral. The individual alien governments will also have to keep hands off - officially. That doesn't mean that there won't be the usual arms smuggling to both sides, or that alien groups or governments hostile to Earth won't encourage something likely to be bad for the Humans. Certain groups with a particular dislike for Human telepaths would be especially tempted to intervene, if they could do so without leaving fingerprints. B5 would be a hotbed of intrigue in such a case, much like Berlin or Vienna in the aftermath of WWII. You'd certainly think the Drakh would like to encourage Lyta's little band, since however the war went lots of Human Teeps would likely die. Did someone say "Vir", "Londo", "B5"?

5) We know from both the unfilmed Crusade script "Value Judgments" and the final volume of the Psi Corps trilogy that the Corps loses the war and is destroyed, and that Bester becomes a war criminal after he slaughters thousands of teeps and mundanes housed in Corps "re-education" camps. We also know from these same sources that Bester blames the Corps's ulitmate defeat on the IA in general and John Sheridan in particular, because the Alliance interevenes militarily late in the war. (Did someone say "Space battles"?) Given the Alliance's charter, the only way that Sheridan could intervene in the war is if it spills out of Earth space and starts damaging, injuring and killing non-Earth facilities and people. So we have to assume that the war does exactly that. It may be the Psi Corps raids Lyta's off world bases, and that they retaliate. It may be the Psi Corps's "off the books" assets - including the carriers and the camps - are kept outside of EA boundries in order to provide Bester and company with "plausible deniability" - and the Sheridan finds them. Either way a much bigger war, which will clearly involve the IA Advisory Council, EarthForce, Babylon 5 and various former League worlds would develop by the end - and you just know that Garibaldi is going to be in the middle of all of it. (And just how will Sheridan react when he finds out that Garibaldi provides Lyta with the means to unleash a war that must kill thousands of people - in large part to avenge himself on Bester. Is this one of the unseen events that makes Stephen Franklin ask Garibaldi if he she order one ticket or two to Minbar in "SiL"? OTOH Sheridan and Garibaldi seem to have gotten over the Teep war by the end of 2266 and A Call to Arms.

6) We know that a certain Minbari's fate is intimately connected with the events surrounding the Telepath war. Did somebody say, "Delenn"?



Regards,

Joe

I'm in complete agreement with JDM here. Not to mention Joe, you forgot one key person here...Lennier. That alone would bring Delenn into the story.

Watch your S5 dvd's carefully folks...Bester alone gives multliple clues as to just how big and epic a TW story could become.

Could it still be something else? Yes. But to ever doubt that JMS can't create a fully fleshed out, feature film, epic tale that completely involves the full cast and locations (especially B5, itself), is to doubt the Great Maker. And I for one have no doubts that he will bring back the full cast and have the film be about them and their roles in the events and deliver great battles, intrigue, very moving drama and fun comedy and excitement. I know I will walk out of that theatre with a chill down my spine and a tear in my eye.

And as a filmmaker I hate to tell you all that sets can be designed and built for B5 that will make it look amazing on the big screen. TV sets and lighting are different and those same technics will not be used in a feature. As for the FX, duh! Of course they'll be done on a much bigger budget, and though the ship designs for the most part will have to remain the same, the quality and overall effect of them will be big budget...did you all forget the difference ST:TOS and the films? Hello. Even if the FX had not been destroyed it wouldn't have mattered, they would've still be done from the ground up for a feature. It's a totally different beast.


More in next post....

CE