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

[colonyearth]

Re: Ivonova

Originally posted by thebaron
This may be a little off the topic but I wonder if there will be room in the movie for Claudia Christian. I know that JMS and CC didn't part on the best of terms but it has been a while. Maybe they can come to an agreement on some type of role for her in the movie, especially if it is about the telepath war.

What do you know? I made it sort of on topic.

CC and JMS have long since made their peace with one another. I can't see JMS not writing Ivanova into the story.

As for the David Sheridan thing...I said his story hasn't been told in full and that this could lead to a sweeping epic trilogy that could include the David element. We kind of saw what happened with David in the Centauri books, we did not see all of it and everything after. It was not a central point nor was it gone into in any detail. I would personally like to finally see David Sheridan.

What I said was all thought and speculation on just where all of this could well lead. Only time will tell.

CE

[AaronB]

I wouldn't know. I'm still waiting to get the season 3 dvds

[snodman]

And didn't she turn up on the season 3 (or was it season 4) box set as part of the recently recorded voiceovers of the cast members discussing one of the episodes? That portends very good things about writing her into a B5 movie. If she is in good enough graces to get asked back for contributions to the enhanced box set stuff, she should make the movie.

[Stunaep]

Re: Ivonova

Originally posted by thebaron
This may be a little off the topic but I wonder if there will be room in the movie for Claudia Christian. I know that JMS and CC didn't part on the best of terms but it has been a while. Maybe they can come to an agreement on some type of role for her in the movie, especially if it is about the telepath war.

What do you know? I made it sort of on topic.

I think she'll probably be there. She is one of the main cast, and would have a major role to play, with her hatred against the PSI-Corps, and being a latent telepath and all.

[Kevin]

The story of what happens to David Sheridan after getting a keeper attached to him is told in the Centauri Trilogy.

[Dipper]

CE, you mentioned that David Sheridan could be in a major role in the movie. Has JMS given any hint as to what's going to happen him after he opens the thing with the Keeper inside ?

[AaronB]

Ivonova

This may be a little off the topic but I wonder if there will be room in the movie for Claudia Christian. I know that JMS and CC didn't part on the best of terms but it has been a while. Maybe they can come to an agreement on some type of role for her in the movie, especially if it is about the telepath war.

What do you know? I made it sort of on topic.

[colonyearth]

I'm posting this here as well so hopefull no one will miss it:

Sorry for the double post here, but if you recall the comment I made in this forum previously that it's up to us, the fans, now to spread the word, well, I've posted a poll over at www.sg1archive.com about B5. Everyone head over there, join up and post a positive response to the the poll.

It's in the off-topic discussion and called "Babylon 5 poll, What do you think of B5 and the new film".


There are some wishy washy types there who aren't convinced and some who haven't seen it really. If such a poll were overwhelmingly positive for B5 (and there are some fans there who've voted positively) we might be able to convince some SG-1 fans to take a first (or even second) look at B5.

Help us out!

CE

[SpooRancher]

re: In Spades

Don't forget the B5 RPG, published by Mongoose Publishing (in Canada).

Very well done, much better than the Chameleon Elcectic "The Babylon Project" which died a horrible and twitching death a decade ago.

Each sourcebook goes in depth, one for each season, and one for each of the major governments (Earth, Minbari, Narn and Centauri) as well as one for the Technomages.

It is obvious that jms has a greater hand in this project than in the previous one, it is truer to the series. And has little wonderful glimpses of the rest of that "1000 years in each direction" we keep talking about. I can't wait to finish my collection.

[circularREASON]

RE: ''IN SPADES''

More B5 on tv?
B5 Computer Game reborn?
New Movie?
More Books and Comics?
Audio Books?


Are we greedy?

You bet your arse!

[colonyearth]

And one more piece of info...I hope you all find VERY enlightening:

Just a side note to those who think a film isn't viable. According to Box Office Magazine, if you take the domestic gross of any film, you can then triple it, at least, when adding in foreign box office and DVD sales to estimate the film's income. That also does not account for tie-in sales and marketing. So if you figure at the least, 10 million people in the US alone go see the film, that's 10 million times an average of $8.00/seat. That comes to $80 million gross domestically alone. Now triple that to include foreign box office and DVD sales, and a B5 feature film could and will probably bring in approximately $240 million gross (and those are conservative figures).

Can we say...hello success? Even ST: Nemesis, though not considered a huge box office hit by a long shot here, ended up more than doubling its cost in the long run when Paramount added foreign and DVD into the mix. (Which I guess expains why they're apparently letting Berman do another one -- *shudders at the thought*.)

Anyway, this is a good example as to why WB is so excited about B5. And like I said this doesn't even account for tie-in sales, which could have something to do with JMS' "in spades" statement. You have to figure that WB is going to want this to be very successful, so the marketing campaign I believe is going to be very big and aggressive.

Yay!

CE

[colonyearth]

Here's some info I posted over at B5tv.

Ah..."And so it begins"...again. The argumentative speculations as to the storyline for TMoS. We really have no idea as to the plotline for this, and JMS is a master of the red herring. It is truly a Vorlon style mystery that will only be revealed when we jump from the balcony in a collective move to jump JMS, throttle him and scream, "Why can't you just speak like a normal person!"

I've run the gamut of thoughts and ideas on this subject, and some of you can testify to that effect (especially those who recall the outright civil war between those who agreed with me and those who agreed with JDM back in January when the Great Maker spoke his first words in months and uttered the acronym "TMoS."

Since that time, I've watched S5 again and done my research and can now fully agree with JDM that there's a very big chance that we're getting a TW film. I now also can see a lot more potential for such a story than I could back then, since I had blanked on certain things said and done during S5.

IMHO this film could well be either a TW film or a DW film. I truly believe both are viable. Or JMS could throw us all off and go in a totally different direction all together. For all we know, he's going to delve into what he was setting up and planning for LoTR and we'll meet The Hand. (Remember, we have no idea who they really were or what they were about, but since JMS has the B5 universe mapped out in detail 1000 yrs in either direction, we know he did know what The Hand was and how they fit into the world of B5.)

I've said it before and now I'll say it again...if JMS and WB are smart, they're planning at the least a one-off film that, while it may conclude in a satisfactory manner, will clearly set-up the potential for two more films to make a trilogy. In that vein, a TW film would work. It could stand alone, but still set up and hint at other, bigger events yet to come (think S1 and how much arc material was being dished out and we didn't realize it until S2). Those events to come could well be the CRUSADE arc (which was also a part of the Drakh War), The Hand, or the Drakh War in full. We don't know the full details of the TW...who was involved exactly and how. It could well be intricately tied into the events that were to follow. One must ask oneself why the Drakh took 5 years to launch the attack on Earth? What finally prompted the attack and what else might Earth have done to provoke it in the Drakh's eyes. If there was anyone they would want to get to it would be Sheridan, Delenn, and the Minbari...why Earth? Could it have had something to do with the Shadows and their relationship with Psi-Corps? Could that then start a chain reaction of events that forever tied the destiny of telepaths to the Drakh?

Did The Hand have something to do with these events and the Drakh themselves?

And finally, could all of these events become a part of the larger picture that eventually led up to the full Drakh War and the fall of Londo, G'kar, and Centauri Prime? In theory, and clearly in my mind it's possible. And we're talking about JMS here who's imagination is fully capable and usually more than willing to tie such intricate webs together in ways he's never revealed. I mean, who saw Sinclair as Valen coming early on?

Thus, a TW first film could stand alone while setting up future events and intrigue. Then if it does as well as I hope and dream, JMS and WB have a whole sequence of events, spawned from the first film, that could conceivably tell an even larger tale and in the end be as epic as LOTR.

Oh, and for whoever said there were only two battles basically in the Drakh War. You're basing that statement on the things we've been allowed to see only. The Drakh conflict went on for almost 16 years...we don't fully know every battle, every conflict, every event. The Centauri books tell a good part of it, yes...but only from the perspective of Vir and Londo. What was going on everywhere else? We didn't actually see the events involving David Sheridan, we were told about them. Personally, I'd love to see them, and see the full, epic, all perspective view, realized on the big screen of what all happened. I want to see with my eyes the full build-up to Londo and G'Kar's deaths and see that event play out in full...knowing I'll be in tears the entire time. I want to see Vir ascend to the throne and see with my eyes that all will be ok.

There is still much to tell and those who think there isn't, either aren't paying very good attention to the detail, or have no faith in JMS.

"I see a [great story] reaching out of the stars!" Epic in scope and character, and as moving as the B5 series, itself.

JMS himself has spoken of the threads that tie events together. Do you not see how one event, the TW, could set into motion the events that followed? And thus, launch the potential for a trilogy? I clearly see it, but then I'm a storyteller, so I not only can see all of the possibilities, but tend to strive to do so. I pick apart the hints and moments and in my mind allow them to go in every direction possible to find the best and most exciting stories available that make sense and build upon what has come before while maintaining full respect and continuity.

As for pulling new butts into the seats, the TW has that potential and can still inform new audiences of prior events much easier. This story cannot and will not be set during the run of the series. If the film(s) are good enough, they alone will make people want to get the series DVD's to find out and see for themselves the full backstory that sounds and looks so cool when spoken of in the film(s).

Not to mention, I can see a massive ad campaign and marketing blitz. Any less simply will not suffice.

That is all for now...carry on.

CE

[colonyearth]

Bottom line here is that this is JMS writing this and he's got a nice amount of cash to pay for it, time to make it right, and the apparent full backing of WB.

I really don't think any of our main cast of characters will be relegated to cameo or obscurity. I simply cannot imagine that JMS won't bring back the full cast and give each and every one of them important roles in the story, each contributing vastly to the end result in some way or another.

A challenge you say? Yes...but again I repeat, this is JMS.

9 days to the Ides of May!

[Joseph DeMartino]

Not to mention Joe, you forgot one key person here... Lennier.

Actually, I planted a rather obvious reference to Lennier without naming him, in the hope of avoiding a spoiler. Maybe I was being too subtle. I don't try for "subtle" very often, and when I do the results are often other than what I intend.

Regarding the Technomages and/or Exaclibur showing up in a Teep War film. Doesn't work with the timeline, folks, The Teep War begins in 2264 and is over in 2265. Excalibur isn't launched until late 2266, the same time that Galen becomes the only Technomage to leave the Sanctuary more-or-less permanently.

RE: The Drakh/Centauri connection. It wouldn't at all be necessary to go into the entire history of this twisted relationship. All that anyone in the audience would need to know is that the Drakh are aliens who hate Humans, were allied to the Shadows and who now run Centauri Prime behind the scenes with Londo as their puppet. The whys and wherefores of the relationship would not have to be explained - just the fact.

Fans are often too close to a story and think that every aspect of it has to be explained to each newcomer. This really isn't the case. Most movies (and nearly all TV shows) involve a kind of story-telling shorthand that we all absorb without thinking about it. To hear some people talk about involving Londo or Vir in a feature film you'd think a movie could never show us a married couple without then explaining their entire courtship, what their friends and families thought of it all, all the years of their marriage leading up to the moment we meet them and what the caterer served at their wedding reception.

The Lord of the Rings is a culmination of a story that started thousands of years in the past, and which was itself the result of still older events. Yet the films tell us very little about all that accumulated history. (And the books don't really tell us that much more until you reach the appendices.) But the fact that Tolkein (and Jackson) know all that history gives the story on film or in print an enormous depth, because it extends far into the past and even farther into the future (because the Red Book is a history written by our heroes and their heirs many years later, and because Middle Earth is our own Earth and we are the ultimate heirs of Gondor and the other kingdoms, living in a world from which all the other "speaking peoples" have withdrawn, except, perhaps, for Hobbits, who live on in legend under various names, and whom we still sometimes glimpse despite their skill at hiding from us.)

Again, all that anyone needs to know of the peripheral characters and races is what is necessary to the story being told - whatever that story is and given role a given race/character will play in that story.

Consider Garibaldi. If he has a small part in a B5 feature as the mentor of a younger character, what does the audience need to know about him?

We need to know the nature of the relationship, regardless. Is the young man an businessman, maybe an employee or a young Mars entrepreneur? Is he an EarthForce officer? Is he the son of an old friend?

With the businessman Garibaldi's position as head of Edgars-Garibaldi would be most important. Depending on the film, his service in EarthForce and on B5 might not even be mentioned. He could even be shown to be an old friend of President Sheridan's (or described as such) without anyone's specifying how they know each other if that is no salient to the plot.

With the EarthForce officer Garibaldi's military experience would certainly might be mentioned. It might also be vaguely indicated that he's now retired and in business, but it may or may not be a story point that Garibaldi is rich, so that might not come up.

In neither of these situations would the fact that Garibaldi is married or that he has a child be especially relevant, so it might not come up at all. Ditto his history with alcohol. OTOH, if his protege is shown to have a drinking problem, that might be the most important aspect of Garibaldi to the story, and we might hear about almost nothing else.

In no case would we need his entire biography to understand his place in a scene or two in one of these stories where the young man, and not Garibaldi, is the main focus of attention.

Regards,

Joe

[colonyearth]

Originally posted by e5comp
I don't know about that. I 'll take the DS9 series premiere "EMISSARY" any day over Legend of the Rangers. That chick doing karate kicks and punches to shoot at the enemy ships was comical.


Pat

Emissary was ok...but unfortinately was still Berman Trek...ICK!

And as for the gunnery pod, that is the main point of contention people have with LoTR, but as pointed out over at B5tv, what made it to screen is not the way it was scripted or intended. Due to budget contraints, what we got for the gunnery room was a last minute, cheap solution to the problem and I'm convinced it would've been changed for any series.

And Cronan, if you read carefully, I said that if anyone makes it over to the big screen, it will be Franke, especially considering that of all the B5 folks, he is the only one who's actually worked on a feature film. Actually, more than one: two examples, RISKY BUSINESS and LEGEND (both with his fellow members of Tangerine Dream, for whom he composed the majority of the music.)

However, WB and JMS could still decide to go with a more sweeping and operatic score to enhance the epic feel of a feature film.

And on the score for LOTR, you'd be in the minority my friend. Sorry. Two time Oscar winner for score and nominated all three times. And for all intents and purposes three of the greatest and most sweeping film scores ever composed. I'd love to find out that Shore was composing for B5:TMoS.

CE