Actual April announcement

[KoshN]

Absafraggin wonderful. Lucy has pulled the football out, again.

Well, she is PREDICTABLE.

[KoshN]

So, the tone sounds like this is pretty much game over for JMS and WB on Babylon 5.

They've still left a little bit of hope out there, the D, E and F negotiations. In this case, hope is like a Poison Ivy plant that unfortunately WILL NOT DIE no matter how much Brush-B-Gone you put on it. Hell, you could pour Brush-Be-Gone on it full strength and then hit it with a 100 Megaton Thermonuke and it'd still grow and give you a rash.

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me fifty thousand times, shame on me.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

One of my other favorite writers, Terry Moore, talked in his panel about an upcoming possible movie adaptation of his comic, Echo. Studio bought the rights, they hired a writer to do the script, said it was 50/50 that it was going to production (which 50/50 is a HUGE chance in terms of hollywood) but he didn't sound excited at all.

He didn't sound excited because he said even at that stage, there's 1,000,000things that could kill a production. So though it's moved along very, very well, fans shouldn't likely go on too much of an emotional rollercoaster if it doesn't happen.

B5, because it's an established universe, I feel like we expect them to do something with the brand which takes us out of the reality of the fact that the vast majority of tv or movie projects never get made for zillions of reasons. At least JMS tells us why.

[KoshN]

One of my other favorite writers, Terry Moore, talked in his panel about an upcoming possible movie adaptation of his comic, Echo. Studio bought the rights, they hired a writer to do the script, said it was 50/50 that it was going to production (which 50/50 is a HUGE chance in terms of hollywood) but he didn't sound excited at all.

He didn't sound excited because he said even at that stage, there's 1,000,000things that could kill a production. So though it's moved along very, very well, fans shouldn't likely go on too much of an emotional rollercoaster if it doesn't happen.

B5, because it's an established universe, I feel like we expect them to do something with the brand which takes us out of the reality of the fact that the vast majority of tv or movie projects never get made for zillions of reasons. At least JMS tells us why.

It appears that the best thing to do is to wait to see what comes out of the Black Box that is Hollywood (in this case), and if it has certain names connected to it (e.g. Berman and/or Braga, J.J. Abrams or Roberto Orci), avoid it like the plague.

[David Panzer]

Or just take the "I'll believe it when I see it" point of view.

[Jan]

JMS posted last night:

The reboot would have used as many of the original B5 cast as possible, just so I'm clear on that point.

Jan

[SmileOfTheShadow]

So it was going to be a reboot?

[Jan]

^^ Post 104 in this thread.

Jan

[DGTWoodward]

This is what I do not understand...

How can it be back to the "early negotiation stages" between JMS and WB, if WB have already given him practically carte blanche on his other requests/demands? What's left to talk about? They either want to do it or they don't.

Commit to a full season? Check.
Maximum possible number of original cast members? Check.
Decent budget per episode? Check.
Complete creative control? Check.

This is what is confusing me...What does that leave, over which to negotiate?

[Jonas]

^^ Post 104 in this thread.

Jan

But reboot in what sense? Because if no-one else can ever play G'Kar, and the story of B5 cannot be told without G'Kar...

[Joe Nazzaro]

At the risk of becoming a member of the grammar police, I get the sense that a lot of people that have been talking about a so-called 're-boot' are taking that to mean that JMS was talking about starting from scratch or starting all over again, as though he was going to re-tell the five-year story he already told. While I realize that use of the word has come into fashion after the recent Star Trek film and so forth, but I just want to point out that 're-boot' can also mean to re-start, as in to re-boot your computer. As far as Babylon 5 is concerned, a re-boot could mean starting up a storyline that could take place at any point in the B5 timeline. But since JMS has clarified his wish to use as many original cast members as possible, logic would suggest a new series would take place in the gap between the events in 'Objects at Rest' and 'Sleeping in Light, where certain characters are definitively dead. As for the actors who are unfortunately no longer with us, I have no doubt that Joe is a good enough writer to work around that.

[Jonas]

At the risk of becoming a member of the grammar police, I get the sense that a lot of people that have been talking about a so-called 're-boot' are taking that to mean that JMS was talking about starting from scratch or starting all over again, as though he was going to re-tell the five-year story he already told. While I realize that use of the word has come into fashion after the recent Star Trek film and so forth, but I just want to point out that 're-boot' can also mean to re-start, as in to re-boot your computer. As far as Babylon 5 is concerned, a re-boot could mean starting up a storyline that could take place at any point in the B5 timeline. But since JMS has clarified his wish to use as many original cast members as possible, logic would suggest a new series would take place in the gap between the events in 'Objects at Rest' and 'Sleeping in Light, where certain characters are definitively dead. As for the actors who are unfortunately no longer with us, I have no doubt that Joe is a good enough writer to work around that.

That's what I was thinking, too. It's just that the term reboot has acquired a very particular meaning in the film and television industry/press, which makes the phrasing a little confuzzling.

[Jan]

This is what is confusing me...What does that leave, over which to negotiate?

Whatever this new thing is, it's something different. Obviously the last thing was episodic in nature. This new thing may not be. And even if it is, it's obviously for a different venue. Contracts don't carry over; negotiations would have to start from scratch and WGA rules are different from one form to another.

Jan

[lotjx]

Yes, it would have to start from scratch, but JMS has a bit of leverage going in since he now knows that WB has a good amount of interest in doing it. Before, we thought WB didn't care then he gets an offer like that one. He knows they are want to do a show, they just lost the format on which to do the show. WB is also in a very weird place. Yes, they are a major force, but their power is lessening. The Harry Potter films are done, Green Lantern didn't do well which they were kinda hoping to use as a way to do more DC movies than just the big two and their network is in a bit of disarray. They are not in the greatest positions when it comes to geek stuff. Babylon 5 is one of the few sci-fi things they have and they know it. So, I do think there is some hope, but it all depends if the WB people are willing to say screw it and throw new B5 show either on CW or another WB friendly network by the mid-season break instead of another version of Mean Girls which seems to litter that network.

[Garibaldi's Hair]

A couple of things strike me in all the fall-out over this particular dead-end ... one of which Joe Nazzaro has already covered, in the shape of the strict, narrow definition of the word 're-boot' that TV and movie fans use. As Joe said, I re-boot my computer to get it running again in the proper way and when it re-boots it goes back to how it was to start with. Nothing changes, except I have now got rid of the crud cluttering it up.

The other thing is that this was a commitment to a new series, well budgeted and with a full season commitment. That is a pretty big step by WB in the context of their previous treatment of the show, however I am reminded of several recent discussions here and at B5TV where the general consensus was that there isn't really a TV network in the USA where B5 would fit.

It appears that WB agree with that, as the TV show commitment was tied to a new outlet (whatever that might have been), and it is the collapse of that new outlet that has prevented it from happening.

So, in terms of why new negotiations are required ... the contracts were probably tied to that new outlet so would need renegotiating for whatever outlet they are now looking to use for a new project. If WB want to simply take that new series somewhere else, my understanding is that things like budget, etc., would be by agreement with the network on which the show was to land and outside the control of WB, Therefore whatever had already been agreed becomes irrelevant.