Galen played by an imposter! Forget TmoS!!!

[Jan]

Originally posted by ljg701

Remember how tetchy JMS got when someone tried to contact Jerry Doyle about appearing in TMOS a few months ago?

A major part of why JMS was upset about the fan contacting JD was because JMS mistakenly thought that the fan had used a private email address to contact JD. This was explained after I and another fan admonished JMS for being overly harsh.

It's possible that the B5 fanbase is being manipulated here to secure higher offers for the existing B5 actors. I think there is more going on here than we realise, to some degree I think we are collectively guilty of being naive about the political manoeuvrings that go with casting a film of this nature.

You may be right. And frankly, I don't really care because this movie is where precedent will be set. I don't *want* a Will Decker clone to replace Sheridan or a Saavic wannabe to portray Delenn. Paramount once thought that the original cast didn't matter, either.

In fact, I would hope that the original cast's representation be smart enough to know that this could be the *first* of the movies. If so, there're likely to be clauses that will affect the rates for the next one or two movies. CE, am I on the right track?

As CE has mentioned before, yes, this is a major political ploy. I feel that as the end consumer in this product, I should have a say in it, too, though. My only way to be able to do that right now is to write those letters, politely but firmly indicating that I will show them my approval or disapproval for what they do with where I put my money. I've told them in the letter what I've done to support B5 in the past and that should give them an idea of what I'll continue to do if they handle things properly.

Jan

[Paul]

Knowing Hollywood they will probably get Bruce Willis to play Garabaldi. Jerry Doyle is one of the nicest people. I once e-mailed him and he actually replied.

[Doktor]

Originally posted by ljg701
With respect Doktor he hasn't. Not being able to comment on rumours is not the same as confirming them!

This is JMS you're talking about. The guy who likes to communicate with his fans. In the event that he simply wasn't able to comment, he'd simply not comment. In the event that there's trouble brewing, he says "I can't comment" and you know damn well it's an emphatic indication that there's a situation.

You can read "I can't comment" as "I'd love to tell you how much I'm being fucked up the ass by WB, but I'm contractually bound not to". If you wanna bury your head in the sand and pretend it's something else, then I respect your decision. Enjoy "B5: The Memory of Those Guys That Used to be in the TV Show" when it hits the theatres, ok?

[grumbler]

Originally posted by We_Are_One
.... and I hesitate to make a decision to protest to WB or anyone on such flimsy information...

Agreed, and that is why it is so important that the letters sent out NOT be complaints, but rather expressions of support for the original cast, which is a vastly different thing. If the rumors are false, then the support letters still do some good because they let WB know that the fan base is still alive and active in more ways than just buying DVDs, which could affect decisions at the various "scrub points" the feature still has ahead of it.

It is win-win.

[bakana]

In the event that there's trouble brewing, he says "I can't comment" and you know damn well it's an emphatic indication that there's a situation.

I disagree. JMS simply replied to a direct question by saying I can't answer that.
He has been known offer similar replies in the past when the only "Problem" was that it was Someone Else's perquisite to make any announcements.

People at the Studios are very Jealous of their privleges.
And one of those privleges is being the person who makes the Official Announcements about upcoming projects.

JMS was simply saying: I'm not ignoring the questions, I just can't answer them.
He makes a living working with the studios.
Pissing off a pissant with an MBA is Not career enhancing.

[Dr Maturin]

<<in more ways than just buying DVDs>>

The bad thing about this is that Crusade is not selling too well. Firefly, released one year ago, is kicking its ass on amazon.com and probably everywhere else. Granted, Firefly is fresher on people's minds and granted it was on network TV (not to mention a feature film in post-prod), but I thought Crusade would do much better. Some big chains still aren't carrying it in the store.

Onto this letter-writing topic: I tried to explain this to the people at livejournal, but for the most part they didn't listen to me. They didn't even acknowledge that I was calling for positive letters, not complaints. That said, they finally came to believe the other day. So, I posted a Heenan classic:

"I'm not the type of guy to say 'I told you so,' but...I told you so!"

I think most people who read the thread believed it, but simply did not reply. The naysayers are the ones who will reply the most.

[Jan]

Originally posted by bakana
I disagree. JMS simply replied to a direct question by saying I can't answer that.
He has been known offer similar replies in the past when the only "Problem" was that it was Someone Else's perquisite to make any announcements.

I understand people not accepting that JMS hasn't actually raised a red flag but there's a couple of points to make here. JMS's post *isn't* in answer to any direct question in that thread at all and the 'Danger Folks' thread wasn't the first thread on the subject. I don't know what to make of the fact that it seems to have been made in response to a wry post about Kuchner being cast. Considering how things pop up on the moderated newsgroup, it probably isn't meaningful.

People at the Studios are very Jealous of their privleges.
And one of those privleges is being the person who makes the Official Announcements about upcoming projects.

Very true, which JMS has always made clear in the past.

JMS was simply saying: I'm not ignoring the questions, I just can't answer them.
He makes a living working with the studios.
Pissing off a pissant with an MBA is Not career enhancing.

What I find the most disturbing is the paralell to what happened during Crusade. Generally, JMS will simply debunk a rumor, ignore it completely or give a simple reason why he can't comment. In the incident of the Crusade/TNT memo, JMS's response to questions was eerily like the one this week.

I know I keep repeating this, but I truly believe that polite letters to WB thanking them for the project and expressing support of the original cast can't hurt and might just help.

Jan

[KoshN]

Originally posted by Z'ha'dumDweller
<<in more ways than just buying DVDs>>

The bad thing about this is that Crusade is not selling too well. Firefly, released one year ago, is kicking its ass on amazon.com

People have been bitten in the past by Warner Brother's bad packaging [assembly process or bad (CHEAP) hub design leading to loose scratched discs] and they'd much rather buy the set locally, where they can ensure that they have a pristine set before they leave the store, nice, simple and direct, with no shipping sets back and forth between the customer and the mailorder house, and waiting for a good set to arrive, hopefully without any loose scratched discs.

Plus, some people are returning their Crusade DVD Sets in protest over Warner Brothers editing out JMS's TNT comments, deletions that were done after they'd agreed to include the comments.

Originally posted by Z'ha'dumDweller
and probably everywhere else. Granted, Firefly is fresher on people's minds and granted it was on network TV (not to mention a feature film in post-prod), but I thought Crusade would do much better. Some big chains still aren't carrying it in the store.

I had trouble finding it. Prior to this, I bought my final sets of Seasons 2 thru 5 at Wal-Mart. Had to go to Best Buy to get the Crusade set, and there are a lot fewer Best Buys around compared to Wal-Mart. Crusade would probably be doing a lot better if more stores were carrying it. Evidently, the decision was made at the corporate level, not to carry Crusade at any Wal-Mart stores. A local manager told me that she couldn't stock it if she wanted to.

On a positive note, the Crusade hub design holds onto the discs better. On a negative note, they used the Buffy Season 2 hubs, which hold onto the discs for dear life, with the "Push" button only releasing one pin (the one at 12 O'Clock).

Buffy Season 2 Bad Hub Design

[Dr Maturin]

I don't know about all this packaging stuff. I takes my discs out and place them in a big CD case, letting the boxes decorate my shelves.

I pretty much had to with my DS9 sets, as it's a bitch to get them back into the slip case.

[KoshN]

Originally posted by Z'ha'dumDweller
I don't know about all this packaging stuff. I take my discs out and place them in a big CD case, letting the boxes decorate my shelves.

That's what I did with my Firefly set, and am thinking of doing with my Crusade set.

[Dr Maturin]

<<People have been bitten in the past by Warner Brother's bad packaging [assembly process or bad (CHEAP) hub design leading to loose scratched discs] and they'd much rather buy the set locally, where they can ensure that they have a pristine set before they leave the store, nice, simple and direct>>

I disagree. Many other WB videos are selling much better. And I don't mean no brainer big sellers like the Matrix super duper set.

I think that Crusade's relatively weak sales are due to:

1. Ignorance of the material's existence.
2. Ignorance of the material's subject matter.
3. Reluctance in buying a cancelled show.

Of course, the third only applies to those who are not in the first two groups.

[Ariake]

Perhaps another reason as to why Crusade is not selling well: It is close to Christmas, so it is on people's wish list, but because so few stores stock it, no one can find it. I have not been able to find it in the Portland Metro Area myself. Haven't looked terribly hard, as it is on my wish list, but I do look for it when I am out. No luck. I have only seen pictures. I am very picky about condition of about 95% of everything I buy, so I generally refuse to buy things over the internet, as I prefer to choose the one in the best condition. I cannot do that over the internet, and I have been burned through Amazon too much to trust them. I have always tended to ignore Amazon and their lists anyway as I do not feel that they are an accurate representation of spending/purchasing habits. Also, I have seen nothing in regards to advertising for Crusade. I actually saw ads for Babylon 5 and the movie set, but nothing for Crusade. I had to dig through the release schedule posted at comingsoon.net to find the show's release date. Besides, if WB really wanted to sell Crusade, it would be in all of the stores and it would be selling.

[Paul]

I was at Wal-Mart which didn't have Crusade. BJ's Wholesale Club had one set left. I remember the frakus over the WB's B5 packaging. I had to buy replacement case fro all three sets. Loose disks were prevelent as well. I had to exchange my season 1 set due to one horribly scratched disk.

[tlsmith1963]

Originally posted by Paul
I was at Wal-Mart which didn't have Crusade. BJ's Wholesale Club had one set left. I remember the frakus over the WB's B5 packaging. I had to buy replacement case fro all three sets. Loose disks were prevelent as well. I had to exchange my season 1 set due to one horribly scratched disk.

I was also very surprised that Wal-Mart didn't have Crusade. I got mine at Suncoast. I got tired of taking back scratched DVDs so I got something that takes the scratches off the DVDs. It's called DVD Doctor, I believe.

Tammy

[Capt.Montoya]

Originally posted by ljg701
With respect Doktor he hasn't. Not being able to comment on rumours is not the same as confirming them!

Assume the following highly speculative scenario. (I have no evidence for any of the below, just my own thoughts)

[WB have made offers to some of the existing B5 actors to appear in TMOS.

Actors hold out for a higher offer.

WB says 'if you don't accept, we'll offer your roles to other actors'

WB calls B5 actors bluff.

B5 Actors cave in.]

Now, if JMS comments on any of the above he's indirectly affecting the negotiations and would no doubt irritate WB.

We may be at the 'WB calls B5 actors bluff' stage of the scenario above. If there is currently legal stuff going on with respect to contracts and payments for appearing in TMOS, there is no way on the planet JMS can say anything, as this may give the actors ammunition.

Remember how tetchy JMS got when someone tried to contact Jerry Doyle about appearing in TMOS a few months ago?

It's possible that the B5 fanbase is being manipulated here to secure higher offers for the existing B5 actors. I think there is more going on here than we realise, to some degree I think we are collectively guilty of being naive about the political manoeuvrings that go with casting a film of this nature.

Just my thoughts, I may of course be utterly wrong. Hopefully this will be resolved sooner rather than later...

I doubt the actors would be doing that.
In any event if WB wants to underpay them they would be wrong.

Those in the industry have told us some informed speculation about the political manouevring that may actually be going on:

The studio suits (WB movies, not those at WB TV with whom JMS has dealt in the past) want more recognizable "film actors" instead of the original cast in TMoS.
JMS has fought this according to several sources, but can't comment on it publicly.
The studios leak information about a new cast and the potential recasting of Galen and Lochley, expecting that the fans won't say anything.
If the fans keep quiet the suits can tell JMS "see, no one minds nor cares if we replace the actors."
JMS can't ask directly nor tell people anything about writing letters to WB, but he has not denied the rumors of recasting, nor said that writing letters is unnecessary, and has said instead that he'd like to say something but can't.

What baffles me is that it seems that JMS already put some new important roles in the script, roles that can be filled by "film star name actors." I see that as a compromise by JMS already, catering to the studios desires. The (still undenied) rumors that characters from the series would be recast, by the whims of the suits at WB films, seems much more difficult to understand, since they will play supporting roles. Which is why I think those letters supporting the original cast are so important.