Babylon 5 Movie chatter

[circularREASON]

Hey if we get more B5 (oh please announce that movie already) why the hell shouldn't JMS direct it. Surely this would mean that his vision would be as intended so we all win.

[KoshN]

Hey if we get more B5 (oh please announce that movie already) why the hell shouldn't JMS direct it. Surely this would mean that his vision would be as intended so we all win.

He shouldn't direct it, at least not all by himself, because he is not an experienced director. We got his vision in B5 (TV eps and movies) & Crusade with him directing only about 2% of it (only SiL and B5:TLT, IIRC.). Like I said, I think he'd be better off working with experienced B5 and/or Crusade directors (i.e. Mike Vejar, Jesús Treviño. David Eagle, Janet Greek or even Stephen Furst). How many shots do you think we're going to get at a B5 feature film? Would you want to risk what will probably be our one and only shot with an inexperienced director? JMS could still retain creative control by being the overall boss, guiding the director who's actually doing the hands-on running of the show, similar to what JMS had during B5 and Crusade.

Leave the nuts and bolts of direction to the directors who have more B5/Crusade experience.

[waspfan]

The Wachowskis. He is friends with them now...

B5 Trilogy --

Telapath War
TMOS replacement - ending crusade --
Drahk War

alright wake me up --I am sleep blogging

[JoeD80]

JMS could still retain creative control by being the overall boss, guiding the director who's actually doing the hands-on running of the show, similar to what JMS had during B5 and Crusade.

The problem here is that movies aren't run the same as television. jms could get his vision on TV without directing because the producer / show-runner is the visionary that everyone is working hard for. In the case of movies, the director is the visionary that everyone is working hard for. Not really a fair system, but it's the way it works around here for the most part. In the case of "Changeling" jms was lucky that Ron Howard and Clint Eastwood liked his script enough to shoot it word-for-word and scene-for-scene. Some directors don't do that; e.g. when Oliver Stone did Quentin Tarantino's script for Natural Born Killers and re-wrote it so much with some other writers that Tarantino wanted to remove his name completely (he ended up with a story credit). He'll either have to find a director that wants to be true to his vision (like Eagle) or if he ends up with a director that has his own ideas, jms would surely walk off the project as he's been known to do when integrity is being compromised.

[Andrew_Swallow]

JMS may be able to make himself executive director.

[Jan]

It's all really a moot point at the moment. I imagine we'll find out when and if a B5 movie is greenlit.

BTW, Stephen Furst mentioned at a con this past summer that he's a producer now, not a director.

Jan

[Garibaldi's Hair]

The problem here is that movies aren't run the same as television.

And for that very reason, I wouldn't feel particularly comfortable with the notion of a B5 feature film the hands of a TV director either ... no matter how many episodes/TVMs of B5 they have helmed in the past.

A feature film needs a director who understands and has experience in the feature film format and way of doing things rather than someone with a background restricted to the small screen.

[Clark Kent]

And for that very reason, I wouldn't feel particularly comfortable with the notion of a B5 feature film the hands of a TV director either ... no matter how many episodes/TVMs of B5 they have helmed in the past.

A feature film needs a director who understands and has experience in the feature film format and way of doing things rather than someone with a background restricted to the small screen.

Fo'sho. For example take a look at Star Trek: Generations, it was directed by one of the series' better directors but it still looked like a two-hour episode. Same with Jonathan Frakes' TNG movies.

[Zoltan]

Fo'sho. For example take a look at Star Trek: Generations, it was directed by one of the series' better directors but it still looked like a two-hour episode. Same with Jonathan Frakes' TNG movies.

Yet, when Stuart Baird came in as an outsider to "Nemesis", one could hear a lot of opinions (even from the cast) that he "wasn't good for Star Trek" (I understand that many more were dissatisfied with the script, that's not what I'm arguing though). And yes, one could also argue that Baird isn't really a high-profile director either.

What I'm trying to say is: there are a lot of factors that play if we're going to like how a movie is directed, and cannot be simplified to the question whether the director has ever worked on a movie or not.

Then again, what do I know about the directing bussiness anyway?

[Darth_librarian]

That was a reason why Trek died on TV and film, once it became its own thing, its own creative bubble with a clique of Trek only writers and directors, it lost the chance to gain new auidences. I think the new creative team behind the Trek movie was a specific attempt to readress that.

It would be great to see a big name movie director with with JMS to acomplish this. I will also expect the numbers returned by Paramount for Trek 11 to heavily influence Warners over any B5 movie. The Whackowskis would be great actually.

Damn, I got all excited again, after promising myself not to.

[Marsden]

At this point I'd rather they didn't make one. I don't think it would really add to the story, the best we can hope for is a cool eye-candy type experience that really doesn't change anything.


Now if they decided to make another 5 year series, that's something else but it would have to be something else entirely as Babylon 5 was a great story that has already been told. This is almost like waiting for the fourth movie of Lord of the Rings (and I don't mean Hobbit)


When JMS said he wasn't making any more Lost Tales I was terribly disappointed, but now that that feeling has worn off I understand and agree completely and a new movie sounds like it could be... trouble.

[grumbler]

At this point I'd rather they didn't make one. I don't think it would really add to the story, the best we can hope for is a cool eye-candy type experience that really doesn't change anything.


Now if they decided to make another 5 year series, that's something else but it would have to be something else entirely as Babylon 5 was a great story that has already been told. This is almost like waiting for the fourth movie of Lord of the Rings (and I don't mean Hobbit)


When JMS said he wasn't making any more Lost Tales I was terribly disappointed, but now that that feeling has worn off I understand and agree completely and a new movie sounds like it could be... trouble.

I disagree completely. JMS deliberately built into B5 some additional stories that would be told outsode the series, and then built an extremely interesting "what happens to the leftover Shadow technology when the Shadows are gone" theme into Crusade. Either of those stories would be well worth the telling.

I thought in particular that the origins of the Technomages (as shown in the trilogy) and the implications of those origins for the Crusade story (which explained galen's appearance therein) were brilliant adaptations of the very things that JMS was trying to say in the series, and exciting in and of themselves.

The B5 universe is deep enough to have three or four stories as compelling as the one completed in the TV series. While I would agree that THAT story has been told, and we really don't need any more Lost Tales (interesting as the concept wa as a series of potboilers), I would love to see what JMS has to say about (a) what he has hinted at and not said, and (b) what he has held in reserve for the right venue.

[Marsden]

I hope you're right.

[KoshN]

I disagree completely. JMS deliberately built into B5 some additional stories that would be told outsode the series, and then built an extremely interesting "what happens to the leftover Shadow technology when the Shadows are gone" theme into Crusade. Either of those stories would be well worth the telling.

I thought in particular that the origins of the Technomages (as shown in the trilogy) and the implications of those origins for the Crusade story (which explained galen's appearance therein) were brilliant adaptations of the very things that JMS was trying to say in the series, and exciting in and of themselves.

The B5 universe is deep enough to have three or four stories as compelling as the one completed in the TV series. While I would agree that THAT story has been told, and we really don't need any more Lost Tales (interesting as the concept wa as a series of potboilers), I would love to see what JMS has to say about (a) what he has hinted at and not said, and (b) what he has held in reserve for the right venue.

Agreed, provided these are continued with the original cast (as much as possible). However, time is running out and nobody (e.g. Warner Brothers & JMS) seems concerned about that.