The Spiritual Successor!!

[Commander Raiden]

Hi All

I know there may be quite a few people on here, who may not be fans of "videogames" but I just wanted to mention that in a mere five weeks or so MASS EFFECT 3 will be releasing world-wide, I see it as the spiritual successor to Babylon 5, as there are many similarities between B5 and Mass Effect, and hell there's even a movie being planned for mass effect! So any B5 fans if interested in this game be sure to check out the extensive previews that are available on Youtube for the game..

With Babylon 5 being lost in a black hole in terms of it EVER re-appearing again...The Mass Effect franchise is the next best thing to it.....

[Triple F]

Considering I like that type of RPG/FPS I canÆt for the life of me figure out why IÆve never played any of the games yet!! Have read a few folks comparing it to B5, so thatÆs another reason to give it a try. Do you know if anyone associated with the game ever commented on the similarites.

[Jonas]

I recently played Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, and I was very impressed. The B5 influence is most definitely noticeable, and the writing (something I'm particularly sensitive to, given what I do for a living) is truly excellent. Great games.

Walking around the Presidium area of the Citadel n Mass Effect feels like walking around B5. And that made me think that games may actually be the perfect medium for a B5 continuation (RPGs, not space shooters).

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

I'll have to check it out. I had assumed by the title that it was a Catholic Apologetic

[Commander Raiden]

Yes I urge all die-hard B5 fans out there to take a look at Mass Effect, there's even a Mass-Effect Wiki available on the web for all to get up to speed about what that universe is all about...I totally agree that B5 could continue as a "mass-effect clone" as a huge action/rpg...sadly game developers out there or publishers are too blind to see it that way....as some people here may know there was to be a B5 game to be released but it got cancelled....

The Reapers (mass effect) and the Shadows (B5) both have striking similarties, the use of jump gates etc....to name but a few...

[Jonas]

If WB gave their approval and JMS could find a good developer/studio, I think this could actually work. Hell, if JMS felt like investing some money, he could probably start his own company and do it himself. AAA titles tend to be expensive, but the tech is getting cheaper by the minute, and if some of the same techniques that were applied to the making of the TV show were applied to the game (i.e. using your resources well), then it could be done and done well. And I think there would be an audience for it.

(I do have some idea as to what I'm talking about. I make games for a living.)

[Commander Raiden]

I would like to know though why J.M.S never thought that the videogames medium could be the perfect place to continue the B5 universe even if the film/tv studio's are reluctant to take it on.....having just seen the remaining part of B5:The Lost tales, it only re-enforced my view that is much left in the B5 universe to explore!!!

I'm no game designer, but as I mentioned, by making the game an action/rpg like Mass Effect, with the odd missions with the Starfury thrown in, something similar to what the space missions were like in Halo: Reach, it could be the perfect combination!!!

[Jan]

It's not a matter of whether JMS thought of something because he doesn't own B5, Warner Bros. does (with only one exception). What would need to happen is for a gaming company to approach WB about doing a game, get it approved and then pay a (so I hear) hefty license fee to WB in addition to the costs of getting a game developed.

Jan

[Triple F]

At the risk of being shouted at again. I think there is a bit more to it than that. jms has made it clear in a number of his posts that Warner does hold the rights to everything (but the movie), but also that no B5 related project can go ahead without his involvement.

IÆll be buggered how those two facts reconcile themselves, but taken with the fact that jms has also said that Warner approach him periodically with new project ideas, then for whatever reason they donÆtÆ come to anything, itÆs maybe not just Warner that has to agree to things.

I know itÆs easy to have a go at Warner for the lack of new B5 material (or me for pointing this out ; ) but if theyÆre not interested in doing anything with B5, then why do they continue to approach him with new B5 related projects!? Perhaps, just maybe, that apparent clause of him having to be involved with anything new in the B5 æverse, is at least partially behind the lack of new television, comic and book material.

[Jonas]

My God, the trolling is off the charts! I need a new trollometer!

[Jan]

Believe me, Triple-F, if you're ever shouted at here, you'll know it. You haven't been.

It's true that we don't know the extent of the involvement that he's contractually required to have. And there's actually a good possibility that there was a game that JMS refused to be involved with and it died - because it was reportedly along the lines of the Lost Tales, a 'let's do something cheap and see what happens'.

I seem to recall that he had veto power over merchandising but I don't know if that's contractual or not. But believe me, given that it was JMS's very first sale of a show, WB wouldn't have given up anything they thought would be of value.

That said, I've generally figured that the 'involvement' would probably be along the lines that he mentioned if 'Jeremiah' had continued without him:

If there were a third season, the studio would have to pay me a consultancy fee but there would be no requirement to actually consult.

With B5 canon being pretty much strictly in JMS' court it's likely that there actually would be at least some kind of conslting needed but it's all theory since none of us know what's in his contract.

There's also a certain amount of protocol that's in play in show business.

It's a simple fact in H-wood that *most* projects never get made. Hundreds and thousands of projects start and stall out. Properties are optioned, scripts are commissioned and then...nothing. Contractual negotiations are entered into and agreement can't be reached and so...nothing. That's the way it operates there, as dysfunctional as that may seem.

Jan

[Marsden]

Yes, that's right. Because if WB would have actually invested into The Lost Tales we probably would have had more of them but they only offered a low budget and JMS didn't want to stay on the cheap.

Basically, 3 people in a room talking because the budget doesn't allow anymore than that. No matter how well scripted and acted and how interesting the story is, it's still just 3 people in a room talking. So WB could say, "JMS pulled the plug" but because they wouldn't fund the project appropriately.

And now for some random out of context quotes*:

It is a matter of prospective.

Understanding is a three edged sword.

This is the wrong tool, never use this tool.


* actually paraphrases

[Triple F]

No Jonas you need something else, but this is neither the time nor the place.

@ Jan
Yeah, IÆm pretty sure cost is the reason behind it, especially when you look at the kind of TV that is being remade, or getting a cinema release. Film/TV sci-fi, especially spaced based sci-fi aint cheap (stating the obvious ; ). Besides, if the original series continues to sell well, and on a DVD format, then the studio has no real incentive (at this point in time at least) to take the financial risk to do another show, or upres whatÆs already been released. I mentioned the jms thing simply because there is something there, but like you say itÆs impossible to know what veto jms has, or not - or how he may use it, if at all.

Going back to the game though. The Mass Effect Universe didnÆt exist before the first game, and fans were created by playing the game. Which means, for people to play a PC or MMORPG game based in the B5 æverse they donÆt need to have been already fans of the show. If the game is good the fans will be created, just like in Mass Effect.

But itÆs all just whistling in the wind at the end of the day, those that make the decisions do so using criteria that, as fans, we might not always agree with or even fully realise.

[JoeD80]

It's highly unlikely that any of the major companies would come forward with a plan for a B5 game because why would they pay for a license for a show that's been off the air for so long in the US rather than just create their own universe and not have to pay any fees?

[Triple F]

It's highly unlikely that any of the major companies would come forward with a plan for a B5 game because why would they pay for a license for a show that's been off the air for so long in the US rather than just create their own universe and not have to pay any fees?

Yup.

The really funny thing is (and this is the socialist in me typing) if the studio gave what would amount to a free licence to a reputable game company to produce just the game, then the possible renewed interest (with potentially million of new fans) would pay huge dividends for the existing B5 products. But that would never happen because they think along the terms of, to quote Delenn, ôMine. Mine, mine, mine mine mine.ö