The Lost Tales - What Next?

[Talwyn]

I saw that ôThe Lost Talesö has been rated Number 1 in the Sci-Fi. Category & 6 overall in sales on Amazon.com.

Does this mean the project is a commercial success and if so, will we be seeing more DVD releases of B5 stories in the future?

I understand that JMS has many projects on the boil at the moment but I do sincerely hope that he has time to produce further B5 material.

Would anyone here know if there has been any news in regards to future productions of more Lost Tales?

[Garibaldi's Hair]

Simple answer is we don't know yet. More complicated answer is that it is in WB's lap to decide whether to fund any more regardless of how much or little time JMS has to devote to it.

As far as online sales are concerned it certainly looks to be a hit, but I imagine WB will have their own formula for deciding based on overall sales (including bricks and mortar stores as well as online) and how much actual money the disc has made before deciding one way or the other.

Although the rankings look good, we have no idea how many actual sales they relate to, nor how much money WB would make from them. Also it is only one website.

[Truth66]

I think everyone was hoping for that announcement at the last Comic Con, but nothing was announced. With JMS having his hands in so many projects, it got me thinking. Is there anyway that JMS could produce these or any other B5 projects on his own as an independent? I think he knows full well that there's definitely a market for more B5. However, I'm not sure how the production and copyrights of B5 are spelled out. If I remember correctly he does hold the production and copyrights for a motion picture. Whether this could be transferable to future DVD productions, I'm not sure.
George Lucas has definitely proven how successful one can be when producing things as an independent.

[Jan]

As I understand it, he holds the movie (read: feature film) rights to B5 but that doesn't change the fact that WB owns the B5 universe entire. In other words, as we saw with TMoS, JMS could be commissioned to do the script and could sell the option to make a B5 film without WB's participation. Also as we saw, the actual making of something like that without a major studio underwriting and distributing that film are extraordinarily complex. Chances are, if this first disk is successful, if direct-to-video rights weren't spelled out in the original contract, the answer would be that no, JMS couldn't do any of these as an independant.

Jan

[qstor]

I was hoping that a move to make a feature film of B5: the Memory of Shadows would happen. But JMS doesn't own the rights to the script anymore, AFAIK.

Mike

[Jan]

I was hoping that a move to make a feature film of B5: the Memory of Shadows would happen. But JMS doesn't own the rights to the script anymore, AFAIK.

That's my understanding also. He was commissioned to write the script by the person/company who'd optioned the movie rights.

There's the possibility that we might see the script for TMoS in the script book *if* the optioner was a signator of the WGA minimum basic agreement. If not, JMS may not have the right to reprint the script. I don't think we'll know that until the time comes.

Jan

[Joe Nazzaro]

I'm not all that sure that we'll see the Memory of Shadows script anytime soon. It's been my experience that a lot of writers will cannibalize their best ideas for use in other projects, which seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do when your currency of exchange is ideas. A good recent example of that is David Gerrold's Blood and Fire script for TNG which was rejected by Roddenberry- actually Roddenberry's lawyer, so Gerrold eventually turned into a novel with different characters and settings. But within the last several months, that script has now been re-tooled as a classic Trek script for the fan-produced New Voyages (with Gerrold directing), so it's interesting how things evolve over time.

[RMcD]

That reminds me of Douglas Adams and Shada (a Doctor Who serial that was never finished due to a BBC strike). The setting and a good part of the plot ended up in the novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

[Jan]

I'm not all that sure that we'll see the Memory of Shadows script anytime soon. It's been my experience that a lot of writers will cannibalize their best ideas for use in other projects, which seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do when your currency of exchange is ideas.

That makes sense but I wonder if your example works in this instance, Joe. After all, David Gerrold hadn't actually sold that Trek script and JMS did sell the TMoS script. Would he actually be able to use any of the scenarios again? Not that I don't think it'd be cool, especially since he'd hinted that some part of the Crusade story might be in it, I'm just wondering.

Jan

[Radhil]

The specific plot, the specific characters, no.

It being his universe though there's no reason he can't re-write from his original notes and come up with a new spin to the entire thing. He's already re-used phrases, character templates, plot twists, and thematic elements across all his work, usually to great effect. No reason why he can't re-use a time-period or an arc.

Head-banging frustrating for him probably, but doable.

[Talwyn]

Following up on what Garibaldis Hair mentioned: I wonder how we could find if W.B would comment on sales of TLT? I know it's early days since the DVD release however if the numbers look good then certainly it would give W.B a good reason to continue to get behind the B5 DVD movies. After all, they're a business and if they are making money then they will want more of the same I think

I would be curious to see what other story lines JMS could follow up with as well. Would he use Sheridan, Lochley & Galen as central figures again or instead ask other cast members to return to reprise their roles?

[vacantlook]

I would be curious to see what other story lines JMS could follow up with as well. Would he use Sheridan, Lochley & Galen as central figures again or instead ask other cast members to return to reprise their roles?

The idea is that TLT is an anthology series with smaller, more intimate stories focusing on various characters from the show. This first disc was originally going to have three stories focusing on Sheridan, Lochley, and Garibaldi. The Garibaldi story got pushed back to the tentative second disc. jms has also made small hints and statements that he'd like to do stories for Delenn and Londo. I imagine if he can think up good ideas for other characters, they could get their own stories too. I think it'd be fun to see stories for Lennier, Lyta, and Bester even.

[qstor]

I haven't been following JMS's comic book work that much. I saw mention of a new script not the Silver Surfer or the Vietnam one. I was wondering if that was B5 related. Hopefully somethings moving in WB that's B5 related

Also was the Garibaldi story for a second DVD like TLT shot?

I'd like to see a story with some of the characters from Crusade in it.

Mike

[vacantlook]

Also was the Garibaldi story for a second DVD like TLT shot?

No, it wasn't shot. They realized that they just didn't have the money required to produce the visual effects for Mars, and that's why they pushed it off to a tentative second disc.