Babylon 5 Movie through Studio JMS

[Jan]

He ain't a one-trick pony. If we were all like Jan we'd be happier than a Pooh Bear in a forest full of nothing but honey trees.

Ain't it the truth! When I was (much!!) younger I used to wish really hard for a writer who could write fast enough to keep up with my fast reading. Wouldn't start series until the trilogy or whatever was complete. (Piers Anthony actually almost came close to being fast enough except for the fact that he pretty much wrote the same book over and over, just with different puns.)

And then came JMS who writesandwritesandwrites and I figure I probably don't even know about half of the stuff he's written and shoved in a drawer (and boy, does that drive me crazy!!). And the interminable wait for things to get made IF they get made...? Well, let's just say that there's more than one qualification for that 'Jan Schroeder is insane' that JMS has commented about me...twice.

Okay...gonna wander away and fondle my script collection now...

Jan

[Jonas]

I'll disagree with you a little bit there. It's true that B5 is finished, but so are the books "A Game of Thrones", "A Clash of Kings", "A Storm of Swords", etc.

To be pedantic, those books do not tell a complete story; they're more like B5's seasons.

I think most people would argue that Crusade and Legend of the Rangers were attempts at franchising the B5 universe, and I would venture that most people would call them unfinished works.

Agreed (and I personally think it would've been better not to go in that direction, although I adore The Lost Tales). But a B5 movie wouldn't pick up any of those threads anyway, since the plan was to do a reboot.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

Yep, I understand the dysfunctional dynamic between WB and JMS. It's a damn sad situation. I also understand that JMS needs to work where the money is. I actually give him more of a pass than GRRM in that regard. GRRM probably has a brinks truck delivering money on a daily basis I'm just happy we have Game of Thrones on HBO because it's the only way we are going to see the ending to the story.

I still contend that something B5 related could have or could be done if the will was there. It's been nine years since The Lost Tales?

JMS is never going to match the will of a fan like me who only loves B5 and nothing else he has done. His will is divided in a thousand ways, with a thousand loves or more.

He ain't a one-trick pony. If we were all like Jan we'd be happier than a Pooh Bear in a forest full of nothing but honey trees.

Sadly, I just love one kind of honey that comes from the one-of-a-kind, extremely rare honey tree of which there is only one. Sure, it exists in the forest and Pooh Bear will reach it eventually, but we just have to be extremely patient while we wait for him to reach it.

*screams silently into the wind*

[Technomage-Galen]

JMS has tried really hard over the years to do more B5, but since WB holds all the rights to his creation he hasn't had the ability to do anything. He even tried buying the rights back and WB said, "No. We hate B5 and refuse to do anything with it, and we refuse to let anyone else do anything with it because it will make us look bad when it's successful."

Now that he has studio JMS, he has the possibility of doing a movie or movie series, but since he couldn't do B5 for a very long time he's gotten involved in hundreds of other projects and it's impossible for him to work on all of them at once.

He's extremely busy and has obligations to all the people with the money to help him do B5 eventually. But he's like a politician, he has to give his benefactors the projects they want first before they'll agree to fund the movie. At least this is how it works in my head. "giggles"

Yep, I understand the dysfunctional dynamic between WB and JMS. It's a damn sad situation. I also understand that JMS needs to work where the money is. I actually give him more of a pass than GRRM in that regard. GRRM probably has a brinks truck delivering money on a daily basis I'm just happy we have Game of Thrones on HBO because it's the only way we are going to see the ending to the story.

I still contend that something B5 related could have or could be done if the will was there. It's been nine years since The Lost Tales?

[Technomage-Galen]

Except Babylon 5 is finished, and ASOIAF isn't. Which is a pretty huge difference. B5 was never really intended to be a franchise, anyway, so whatever JMS ends up doing, it's never going to be "more B5" in the traditional sense.

I'll disagree with you a little bit there. It's true that B5 is finished, but so are the books "A Game of Thrones", "A Clash of Kings", "A Storm of Swords", etc. I think most people would argue that Crusade and Legend of the Rangers were attempts at franchising the B5 universe, and I would venture that most people would call them unfinished works.

I'm currently deep into a DVD re-watch. I think the last time I watched the whole series was back in the TMOS days which was about a decade ago. It really strikes me how relevant the show is to today's political and social environment.

The television dynamic has changed in the past decade as well. Now it seems like every cable channel is clamoring for it's own unique serialized content. Even MTV has a high fantasy show for goodness sake, and SyFy has gone back to doing hard science fiction. I think a B5 universe show would do really well as a 10-12 episode series. I know I'm preaching to the choir here. Then you have to deal with the whole dysfunctional JMS/WB Television dynamic to get anything TV related done.

The old saying goes--Where there is a will there is a way. I simply question whether the will is there any longer. This isn't a complaint against JMS, merely an observation as an outsider. He doesn't owe me or B5 fans a thing.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

I'm sorry to say, but I've pretty much given up on anything new B5 related ever occurring.

In some ways JMS and B5 related material remind me a lot of GRRM when it comes to ASOIAF. They are both eagerly attend comic con panels, bury themselves in a multitude of other projects, are happy to discuss old works, and appear totally apathetic for creating new material in those universes.

JMS has tried really hard over the years to do more B5, but since WB holds all the rights to his creation he hasn't had the ability to do anything. He even tried buying the rights back and WB said, "No. We hate B5 and refuse to do anything with it, and we refuse to let anyone else do anything with it because it will make us look bad when it's successful."

Now that he has studio JMS, he has the possibility of doing a movie or movie series, but since he couldn't do B5 for a very long time he's gotten involved in hundreds of other projects and it's impossible for him to work on all of them at once.

He's extremely busy and has obligations to all the people with the money to help him do B5 eventually. But he's like a politician, he has to give his benefactors the projects they want first before they'll agree to fund the movie. At least this is how it works in my head. "giggles"

[Jonas]

I'm sorry to say, but I've pretty much given up on anything new B5 related ever occurring.

In some ways JMS and B5 related material remind me a lot of GRRM when it comes to ASOIAF. They are both eagerly attend comic con panels, bury themselves in a multitude of other projects, are happy to discuss old works, and appear totally apathetic for creating new material in those universes.

Except Babylon 5 is finished, and ASOIAF isn't. Which is a pretty huge difference. B5 was never really intended to be a franchise, anyway, so whatever JMS ends up doing, it's never going to be "more B5" in the traditional sense.

[Technomage-Galen]

I'm sorry to say, but I've pretty much given up on anything new B5 related ever occurring.

In some ways JMS and B5 related material remind me a lot of GRRM when it comes to ASOIAF. They are both eagerly attend comic con panels, bury themselves in a multitude of other projects, are happy to discuss old works, and appear totally apathetic for creating new material in those universes.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

That's the spirit! And I promise I wasn't trying to beat you up, I was just trying to understand. If you picked that up, I'm sure others probably did so I was curious (okay, nosey )

Jan

No worries!

Maybe JMS will make an exciting B5 announcement on my birthday in 2 months. That'd be sweet.

[Jan]

I'm trying to turn over a new positive leaf, so twill only post positive things from now on. So any day now Joe is going to say something new about the B5 movie. Like, "hey guys, guess what? I finished the script and it's amazing. Y'all are gonna love it."

That's the spirit! And I promise I wasn't trying to beat you up, I was just trying to understand. If you picked that up, I'm sure others probably did so I was curious (okay, nosey )

Jan

[Delenn_of_Mir]

I'm trying to turn over a new positive leaf, so twill only post positive things from now on. So any day now Joe is going to say something new about the B5 movie. Like, "hey guys, guess what? I finished the script and it's amazing. Y'all are gonna love it."

[Jan]

My interpretation was the last time Joe had mentioned the movie/script he was already less sure about doing it, and then you said that lackluster announcement came before he found out he was going to be showrunner for Red Mars.

I'm feeling stupid still. What mention was 'less sure about doing it'? The last mention that we had was that he planned to finish (not 'write', not 'begin', *finish*) the script in 2015 - which was exactly what he'd said from the very beginning. Where's the lackluster?

I understand the impatient part - I share that! But he's beer *awfully* quiet the past few months. That often is a precursor to big news. Whether it's B5 or not, that's fine with me!

Jan

[phazedout]

To re iterate what Jan says....
JMS works on multiple projexts, all the time, he's a machine. Plus I'm sure there'll be lots of flights between where he lives and where the show is filming (isn't all american Sci Fi shot in Canada thse days). Nice 3 hour flight, plenty of writing time.

As we say in discworld fandom, you need to have the P word

[Delenn_of_Mir]

Umm...huh? What are you talking about? I'm reasonably sure you're reading something that I can't see?

Jan

"giggles" That's true with me and most things.

My interpretation was the last time Joe had mentioned the movie/script he was already less sure about doing it, and then you said that lackluster announcement came before he found out he was going to be showrunner for Red Mars.

So in my head that meant he definitely won't have time for it, since he's got even more new work that he didn't know about before.

I was already thinking in my head. It's March 2016, no news, so it's prolly not happening, when I read your post. I'm just very pessimistic about things I'm excited for. And not patient. At All. (shakes head impatiently)

[Jan]

So it's not happening then?

*sighs* I wish he wouldn't say he was going to do B5 things until after he had done them then I wouldn't have to decide which emotion to give in to, relief or despair?

Maybe despairelief! "giggles"

Be positive, Delenn! Maybe the universe saw it was going to turn out really badly, and we should just trust the universe to give us the right things at the right time, in the right format.

Umm...huh? What are you talking about? I'm reasonably sure you're reading something that I can't see?

Jan