"I've been on four international flights

[We_Are_One]

in the last six days, and I'm hashed beyond belief."

Hmmm, and where in the ISA has the Great Maker been?

[Joseph DeMartino]

One possibility is Down Under. There was a report last week that both ILM and Weta (headquartered in New Zealand, I believe) had been approached about doing FX for The Memory of Shadows and rumors that Warner Bros. has extended its lease on space at the Fox studio in Australia where The Matrix films were shot.

Allowing for a little linguistic imprecision, a trip to the antipodes could add up to "four international flights" a couple of different ways. If he only went to Australia or New Zealand, or if he's only counting trans-oceanic flights as "international" and ingoring "local" between the two, then L.A. to either with a stop to change planes in Hawaii could be counted as two "international" flights, ditto for the return trip. Conversely a non-stop L.A.-to-Sydney could be one flight, Sydney to Wellington international flight number two, Wellington back to Sydney number 3 and Sydney to L.A. number 4.

JMS's only other known overseas "area of interest" is the U.K., and unless he flew there and back twice in the same week it is hard to get 4 "international" flights out of that. (Given the distances involved most Americans don't think of hops from England to France or Germany as "international" flights in the sense of "long pain-in-the-butt journeys".)

And I seriously doubt that even JMS is crazy enough to travel from L.A. to Europe and back, then to the doorstep of Asia and back, all in a six day period. So I think the most sensible guess is Australia/New Zealand. But I could be wrong.

Regards,

Joe

[bakana]

JMS could have gone US to Europe, Europe to Australia, New Zealand & Vicinity and then back to the US, though.
Not sure how many legs that trip has these days.

Around the world in 6 days...

[Capt.Montoya]

Going to Europe and then Australia seems unlikely, but in the span of six days it could have happened.

Somehow I don't think that even linguistic imprecision would account for a stop in Hawaii to count as an "international" flight. Unless he was really hashed beyond my belief.

It should be easy to go into a flight booking website and check what are the typical routes and stops going to Australia...

[FuryPilot]

Originally posted by Capt.Montoya
Going to Europe and then Australia seems unlikely, but in the span of six days it could have happened.

Yes, this is possible. But I doubt you could get much of anything done while out there.

Figure one day to get to London, day 2 doing stuff and flying home (or off to NZ which would take almost 2 days). Day three would see the end of the first return trip and the start of the second. Day four you would arrive in NZ, do your meeting and then fly home arriving on day 6. Doable, but not fun.

Also, whatever JMS was doing in those two places would have to be very specific -- not open-ended and starting/finishing at an arranged time. So much for scouting locations.

This begs the question -- what kind of sit-down meeting (of such short duration) would JMS have to make an in-person appearance for?

Originally posted by Capt.Montoya
Somehow I don't think that even linguistic imprecision would account for a stop in Hawaii to count as an "international" flight. Unless he was really hashed beyond my belief.

It should be easy to go into a flight booking website and check what are the typical routes and stops going to Australia...

Agreed. I did a quick search on LAX to Christchruch, New Zealand -- that flight would be a two-hop flight, but the second hop is from Aukand, which would certainly not qualify as an "international" flight.

I didn't do an extensive search, so I suppose he could have been doing the LAX -> Australia -> New Zealand thing. Heaven knows I'd love to spead time in Sydney if I had the chance.

Thankfully enough, JMS will (hopefully) fill in the details soon enough, ending this speculation at least.

FP

[Shivkala]

I really hope we do indeed get some "Official" news soon, but I guess for the moment it is not yet time....

Only JMS and WB get to decide that time....like vorlons.

[Joseph DeMartino]

This begs the question -- what kind of sit-down meeting (of such short duration) would JMS have to make an in-person appearance for?

A face to face meeting with possible collaborators, a tour of the facilities, a look around the local area would all be plausible reasons for going to one overseas location for a few days. After all, if one of the factors in a decision on how your movie gets made is where it (or part of it) gets made, you might want to scout the areas involved and make sure you aren't going to hate them before you commit to living in one of them for maybe the better part of a year.

Only JMS and WB get to decide that time....

Actually only WB gets to decide that time. If it were up to JMS he would have told us by now.

Regards,

Joe

[bakana]

Scouting Locations would assume that at least Parts of the movie are going to be filmed Outdoors.

It'd be an interesting departure since, up to this point, 98% of B-5 was filmed Indoors.

In fact, most of even the apparently "Outdoor" locations were almost certainly filmed on a set and the scenary added in post production.

"Alien" landscapes that we haven't already seen are getting difficult to find these days.
Some of the cactus and scrub in the California desert backlots have been in so many films they've got SAG memberships...

[Andrew_Swallow]

You are assuming that JMS is scouting for TMoS. He is also Executive Producer on an unnamed 'Network Show'. That is likely to need locations shots and possibly a sound stage renting.

[WorkerCaste]

Maybe he just decided to have a quiet vacation in a remote spot before the projects get really revved up.

Hmmm. Well. Um. Ok, maybe not. Well, probably not. All right, definitely not.

[Joseph DeMartino]

It'd be an interesting departure since, up to this point, 98% of B-5 was filmed Indoors.

So was about 95% of the Trek shows, and probably 90% (except for stock-footage long-shot exteriors) of most sitcoms - and all for the same reason: money. With a big screen budget they can afford to shoot on real locations.

However, "four international flights in the last six days" does not sound like a location scout to me. Way too much travel, not nearly enough time. More like business meetings, meet'n'greet kinda things is a more plausible explanation regardless of which project he's working on.

Regards,

Joe

[circularREASON]

The Flight to Australia REALLY takes it outta ya.

Personal Theory - Europe, Australia, New Zealand, USA.

That would fit in nicely I think with TMoS.

[Joseph DeMartino]

Personal Theory - Europe, Australia, New Zealand, USA.

Since it seems unecessarily expensive and a logistical nightmare, I rather doubt that TMoS will be doing anything in both Europe and Down Under. This isn't a Bond film, for Heaven's sake. I think it will be one or the other, depending.


And I stick with my theory that following a schedule like that proposed above in six days would be suicidal and - again - unnecessary. (Why do Europe and England now if he plans to spend several weeks or months in the U.K soon anyway? Why travel to that many continents in such a short span of time? What could be so urgent? Unless you're the Secretary of State trying to head-off a nuclear war sometime in the '70s it is really hard to imagine a plausible scenario for so much globe-trotting in such a compressed period of time.)

Finally, I think you're a flight-hop short. At least I couldn't find any non-stop London to Sydney flights.

Regards,

Joe

[FuryPilot]

Originally posted by circularREASON
The Flight to Australia REALLY takes it outta ya.

Personal Theory - Europe, Australia, New Zealand, USA.

That would fit in nicely I think with TMoS.

I just don't see it, cR. That sort of flight time in 6 days leaves about 1 half-day at two locations, maybe.

My theory (like it matters) is LAX -> New Zealand w/ a stopover, and back.

Saturday: leave
Sunday: get on the right time schedule
Monday - Thursday morning: meetings, scouting and sightseeing (yeah, right).
Thursday afternoon - Firday: fly home

This sounds like a much more workable plan.

Of course, this is speculation about supposition on possibly spurious data. Lots of people (including myself) are going stir-crazy for news.

FP

[circularREASON]

I could be wrong ( more often than not I am - but hey I am not perfect ).

USA to EUROPE - 1 flight
EUROPE to AUSTRALIA - 1 flight
AUSTRALIA to NEW ZEALAND - 1 flight
NEW ZEALAND to USA - 1 flight.

all pretty much long haul flights?

Makes some kinda sense - but I do agree - why would he come to europe - may have NOTHING to do with TMoS - maybe more to do with another subject.