Babylon 5 Movie through Studio JMS

[Jan]

Left over from some April Fool's Day joke, I'm afraid.

No truth (or grammar or spelling) to it at all. Sorry!

Jan

[DaveNarn]

Left over from some April Fool's Day joke, I'm afraid.

No truth (or grammar or spelling) to it at all. Sorry!

Jan

Oh, bummer

Bakula would have made a good Jeffrey Sinclair.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

Does anyone think that Joe never intended on doing a new B5 movie, that he just wanted to say he was making one, to use as an attention getter for Sense8? The news of the movie 2 years ago got everyone talking about him, which gave him an excellent spotlight to talk about Sense8. And then as soon as his new show is on and doing super well, all talk about the new movie disappears because the news achieved its purpose, and that was all it was ever intended to be?

It's also possible that 2 years ago, he just got all heady with excitement about his new studio and maybe he really did want to do it, and thought, but not realistically, that everyone would be jumping all over themselves to give him money to do it, and that he'd have time to do it. But then time and reality took over.

And maybe there's still a very unrealistic, not-very-well thought out hope that someday he could do it, but he doesn't really have time to think about it very often. With ten million other projects he can't really be expected to think about it.

I wish we could change the title of this thread because it's mocking all of us with false hope from yesteryear. But it was as true as anyone knew back when the thread was started. Prolly I shouldn't have posted, since the best thing would be to just let the thread die.

But I didn't want to start a new thread just to cry in.

[Jan]

Does anyone think that Joe never intended on doing a new B5 movie, that he just wanted to say he was making one, to use as an attention getter for Sense8? The news of the movie 2 years ago got everyone talking about him, which gave him an excellent spotlight to talk about Sense8. And then as soon as his new show is on and doing super well, all talk about the new movie disappears because the news achieved its purpose, and that was all it was ever intended to be?

Nope. <rolls eyes>

[Delenn_of_Mir]

Nope. <rolls eyes>

Can you share your viewpoint and thought process?

I know it's super positive, but any specific points?

I mean about JMS, not me. "giggles"

You might not have any thoughts since there are so many other JMS projects to think about, or maybe it's none of my beeswax. *I do have a habit of borrowing people's beeswax without permission sometimes.*

Or did you say it already in other places and I should just go away and read them?

*goes away*

[moreorless]

If there was any pretence my guess might be he's actually hoping to get a TV series going and is using the potential of the film to try and light a fire under WB.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

If there was any pretence my guess might be he's actually hoping to get a TV series going and is using the potential of the film to try and light a fire under WB.

*sneaks back*

That's an interesting viewpoint. I think I like it better than mine. "giggles"

So the moral is, ABP & DBO.

Always be positive. Don't be obsessive.

[Jan]

Does anyone think that Joe never intended on doing a new B5 movie, that he just wanted to say he was making one, to use as an attention getter for Sense8? The news of the movie 2 years ago got everyone talking about him, which gave him an excellent spotlight to talk about Sense8. And then as soon as his new show is on and doing super well, all talk about the new movie disappears because the news achieved its purpose, and that was all it was ever intended to be?

This paints him as being incredibly manipulative, don't you think? It also makes no sense because of the way it was announced at his spotlight panel. It wasn't a springboard, as I recall it was at the end of his 'this is what I've been up to/what's coming up' segment of the panel. And frankly, a Netflix show with the Wachowskis doesn't need any extra support. It's plenty all on its own.

It's also possible that 2 years ago, he just got all heady with excitement about his new studio and maybe he really did want to do it, and thought, but not realistically, that everyone would be jumping all over themselves to give him money to do it, and that he'd have time to do it. But then time and reality took over.

Perhaps there was a bit of over-optimism but once again I'll point out that what JMS said this year about building up 'street cred' for Studio JMS is *exactly* what he said two years ago - that after another TV series or two, another movie or two, the studio would be able to attract the major investors it needs. What happened in the meantime? Some projects he discussed two years ago didn't pan out (the over-optimism) and he had two major eye surgeries which took large chunks of time from his work. If you haven't seen what he was contending with with his eyesight, read this article about his leaving comics and look at the pics of what the disease did to his eyes. I know *I* couldn't have worked like that.

I wish we could change the title of this thread because it's mocking all of us with false hope from yesteryear. But it was as true as anyone knew back when the thread was started. Prolly I shouldn't have posted, since the best thing would be to just let the thread die.

That's not a bad idea. I can change the thread title. I gots da Mod Power!

Can you share your viewpoint and thought process?

I know it's super positive, but any specific points?

My main thought is that I shouldn't have posted while on the computer in the middle of the night when the cats woke me up. For the rest, see above.

Always be positive. Don't be obsessive.

Oh, far too late for me to not be obsessive!!

Jan

[Jan]

If there was any pretence my guess might be he's actually hoping to get a TV series going and is using the potential of the film to try and light a fire under WB.

This is an interesting question and I thought I'd answer it separately. (Don't tell the moderator that I'm double posting! )

First and foremost, of course, is the fact that only JMS knows his own thoughts but my first reaction is that this isn't it. While I don't follow industry news at all, it seems that Kevin Tsujihara, CEO of WB Entertainment is bent on doing things the way he wants, much to some people's dismay, and it doesn't seem to include B5 in any way.

Is it likely that WB will come on board whenever it comes time for JMS to look for major investors? Dunno. I'd hope that they'd realize how silly they'd look if they didn't support it and it became even a modest hit. But studios have been known to do pretty stupid things in the past.

My personal feeling is that JMS has quit hoping they might do something with the property and is doing the only thing he can do after his attempt to buy the rights back dead-ended. But that's just me.

Jan

[Looney]

Here is a Looney Look at it.

I think JMS was so psyched about Sense 8 that he thought Sense 8 would be the springboard of a B5 feature. I think Sense 8 hasn't brought him the success and recognition he hoped for, wanted, and deserved. We all know it is a great show, but I think we also all recognize it might not have the mass appeal needed to get what JMS wants. I mean it is great there is a second season coming, but that didn't happen immediately. Hopefully the second season will bring with it the recognition it deserves.

My next thought is on the financing front. If JMS really thinks he can eventually raise one hundred million dollars for a feature film budget on his own, then my guess is he won't go to WB until that is a lock. Yeah they might say great do it on your own, but they might also say here is another fifty to hundred million. They might also say feature film and let's do a new series. Really the money talks and if he can eventually raise that much then there is no telling what might happen. I mean honestly it is pretty awesome that he could give us a sixty million dollar figure. I think it is great he could throw that out there. And I think it is great given that we all know Sense 8 didn't make quite the splash he, and we all, hoped it would. Sixty million is a really great start. Now we just have to hope Rising Stars and Midnight Nation boost that "Street Cred" even more. It would be especially helpful if that happened before they were released. And of course, we all need Sense 8 Season 2 to explode in popularity.

[Jan]

And I think it is great given that we all know Sense 8 didn't make quite the splash he, and we all, hoped it would.

Speak for yourself. I'm not sure where you got any kind of 'we all know' anything from anywhere, but given that Netflix has financed an even bigger second season than the first, I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. Is it 'mainstream viewing'? Of course not. "We all know" it was never intended to be, don't we?

[DaveNarn]

A Narn's perspective -
Ironically a major B5 movie may suffer the same fate as the first Star Trek Pilot… too cerebral.
Consider the new Trek movies, they are dumbed-down to sell to the biggest entertainment markets - foreign countries like China.
Would the nuances of our culture be lost in translation?

[Jan]

Consider the new Trek movies, they are dumbed-down to sell to the biggest entertainment markets - foreign countries like China.
Would the nuances of our culture be lost in translation?

Are they? Or are they just going after a different, updated market? Not trying to be confrontational, I'm very curious. Have there been any quotes from the studio to that effect? I'm certain that every language is capable of subtleties so is it a matter of lousy translation, then? I'd be interested in finding out.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

Thanks for getting the mod to change the title, Jan.

It does make sense that with all his eye problems he was unable to do a lot of new work, which is reasonable. And Sense8 is all the studio has done, so it does make sense that back then he thought they would have accomplished more by now - so that would mean the goalpost didn't really shift - time kinda shifted it, but it wasn't intentional, and his intentions never changed.

When you first told us what he said, to me it just sounded like a copout, and I interpreted it as he'd never wanted to do it in the first place and he was just giving a lame excuse. (I can see why that interpretation wouldn't make any sense to you, since you're thinking about it logically, and I was thinking about it illogically) But now that you've explained it logically, it sounds like a genuine answer now.

And there still could be a teeny tiny bit of hope that maybe in 10-20 years or so there could possibly be a movie.

[Looney]

Speak for yourself. I'm not sure where you got any kind of 'we all know' anything from anywhere, but given that Netflix has financed an even bigger second season than the first, I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. Is it 'mainstream viewing'? Of course not. "We all know" it was never intended to be, don't we?

If I were wrong Netflix would have renewed for a second season sooner than they did. Plus, Netflix had to hope it would be 'mainstream viewing' as did JMS. I hoped it would be 'mainstream viewing' because I know that mass consumption is becoming the only measure of success in that industry. JMS isn't going to build "Street Cred" to finance future projects with niche projects. Numbers are what matters and if massive numbers of Netflix viewers watched Sense 8 wouldn't people be talking about it? Wouldn't you read about it more in the media? Well the masses watching, talking, writing, and awarding it is what builds "Street Cred" in that industry. I would say buying it as well, but I don't know what the home video deal is for Sense 8. I know some Netflix shows make it to Blu-Ray and DVD and some don't. It doesn't seem to matter how big the show is only what their deal with Netflix is; i.e. I can't figure out why some of these Marvel Netflix shows haven't started being released on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Long story long Jan, I have no actual evidence other than the events as they have unfolded. JMS basically telling everyone it would change television forever (Look it up) + The time it took to renew + mainstream media coverage + average person on the street having ever heard of it = Not helping generate the "Street Cred" JMS and the rest of us wanted it to generate. . . .