JMS at SD Comic-Con 2011

[axolos]

Ok, so I have found some news on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/Brotodeau/stat...77929166733312
- JMS is in ongoing negotiations with Warner Bros. for more Babylon 5.

http://twitter.com/#!/ScottIGN/status/94877992546869248
- J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) says a new Babylon 5 show might happen. Might.

So, nothing definite... we will have to have more patience I suppose.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Impatient folk! Jan oughta be paid for the quick service she provides!!!! I know she has a paypal...

Vakie, the IGN post you saw is pretty misleading.

I shall leave Jan to make the full report.

[Jan]

Hi folks--Gonna get this done and posted as soon as possible so it's gonna be quick and dirty.

RE: B5 Yes, there was a B5 thing in negotiations (yes, good budget - yes, full season commitment, yes, creative control) for a new distribution system but that venue never materialized.

BUT - after this, JMS went to them and said that if they weren't going to do A, B & C, let him do D, E & F. So there are negotiations going on but nothing he can talk about in detail.

In other TV news, he's attached to write a pilot called "Epidemic" centered around the CDC that's a combination of procedural and mystery . It's pre-sold with two overseas companies bidding on it and they're looking for a partner in the US.

That's the real news from the panel. I'll try to write more later on.

Jan

[vakie]

Thanks, Jan. Hm, curiouser and curiouser...

[Triple F]

jms gets asked about B5 all the time, heÆs said in the past that potential B5 projects get raised regularly and come to nothing for whatever reason, but (and I could be wrong, as always) with one movie exception he never tells folks about them at the time. Yet SIX MONTHS ago this mysterious new one was at a stage where it looked interesting - solid - enough to mention, and now 6 months later theyÆre still in negotiations, and no one has even let out a peep as to what it could be. Even potential multi-million tent pole movies arenÆt that secure, let alone a tv show.

Only last week or so he said he would have something to tell folks at this con. He could have told the fans the ôyes, good budget - yes, full season commitment, yes, creative controlö at any time, as by doing it now it clearly has no impact on the ônegotiationsö. Though that was *his* decision of course.

IÆm getting way too cynical in my old age, and this is not the forum to suggest what this is seriously starting to looks like. As a B5 fan I sincerely hope I am very very very wrong.

IÆll check back in in a year or so to see if it ended up being Warners fault, again. ; )

[KoshN]

Hi folks--Gonna get this done and posted as soon as possible so it's gonna be quick and dirty.

RE: B5 Yes, there was a B5 thing in negotiations (yes, good budget - yes, full season commitment, yes, creative control) for a new distribution system but that venue never materialized.

BUT - after this, JMS went to them and said that if they weren't going to do A, B & C, let him do D, E & F. So there are negotiations going on but nothing he can talk about in detail.
<snip>
Jan

Would love to know what that "venue" was. DAMMIT, if A, B and C were bridge pillars, and D (the "venue") was the last pillar needed to cross the river, it seems like we're always running up against a last pillar that can never be built. It's like it's a Warner Brothers TEASE, oh we're almost there, but...... Nooooooooooooo! Bwahahahaha!


I wish JMS would tell Warner Brothers and the fans that he's DONE with the B5 universe, and that IT'S OVER, and that he'd stick to his guns about it. At least then there would be CERTAINTY.

As far as Warner Brothers then doing something in the B5 universe without JMS, I'd avoid it like the plague.

[KoshN]

IÆm getting way too cynical in my old age, and this is not the forum to suggest what this is seriously starting to looks like. As a B5 fan I sincerely hope I am very very very wrong.

IÆll check back in in a year or so to see if it ended up being Warners fault, again. ; )

Where Warner Brothers is concerned, there is no such thing as being "too cynical."

[Jan]

Triple-F...go back and read what I wrote. There are two completely different B5 projects discussed. One is dead. One is in very early stages of development.

Jan

[KoshN]

Triple-F...go back and read what I wrote. There are two completely different B5 projects discussed. One is dead. One is in very early stages of development.

Jan

Project 1: Venue never materialized. Therefore, dead.
Project 2: Early stages of negotiations. a.k.a. Back to square 1. It's deja vue all over again. (Yogi Berra). No problemo; we're all going to live forever.

doesn't quite cover it, not even close. I'm about ready to Hulk-out.

[DGTWoodward]

Well, that's it for me I m afraid. As Koshn said...it really is back to square one.

As of right now, I am diverting my interest away from any new B5, because I have a sneaking regret that it will just never materialise. Certainly not with the current line-up of suits in charge at WB and how they do (or actually don't do) things.

I must now ask myself...why does JMS bother only to get the rug pulled out from under him at the last minute every.single.time?

Let's face it, it's just not going to happen, and JMS should see it by now, I mean, he has been jerked around by his own B5 related expectation even more than we have. And as fans, we have been jerked around a lot, what with the cluster fuck moving to TNT for season 5 turned into, and CRUSADE being killed by TNT before even one episode aired, the death of the first movie before even any concrete casting had been done, the dreadfully mixed RANGERS movie which despite showing promise was derailed by being shown by SyFy at the worst possible time-slot to ever exist, the slightly wordy (ie a bit dull) LOST TALES which even JMS described as weak due to lack of budget (a fear he has sadly clearly regained from that experience, after obviously losing it to his growing confidence during B5's initial run) and now this.

No, sadly, I feel that I must now add my voice to the ones who suggest that JMS should draw a line in the sand for BABYLON 5...much to my deep regret. I feel that he should be the one that now says..."that's it! You want to make B5 any time in the future, you'll be doing it without me"

Wow! I cannot believe I just said that! The truth is, I have felt that the window of opportunity for more good B5 has been slowly closing over the years and that the last-minute failure of this now dead B5 project was the final closing of the window latch.

I hate to say it, but Joe really should move on now. We have the series, the TV movies, what there was of CRUSADE and The LOST TALES, let it end there.

[Bonehead]

I was just about to say the same thing. I give up now too.
I cant take any more vague, distant, half-promises. (i understand it's not Joe's fault, but still)
It's finished for me this time
Goodbye all

[vakie]

I don't know why people are getting so upset. Things are obviously in better shape than before. If WB is willing to give a proper budget and full season order like that, it seems B5/JMS has more pull with them than before.

Even if one project didn't happen (due to reasons not relating to B5), there is obviously some interest, even from WB's part, to keep B5 alive somehow.

[Jan]

It'a not for me to argue with anybody's feelings but lest anybody forget, the PTEN network that B5 was originally on was a new distribution system in its time and it collapsed, too. As Zathras said, "At least there is symmetry".

As usual, much of the panel was questions from the audience. The first question asked JMS how and when he knew a script was ready to send out. He told the person that since he'd only finished the first draft, that he probably needed to run through it at least twice more.

Much of the rest was the need to follow your dreams and passions. I asked JMS to please read the Never Surrender Dreams document from the Foundation but he declined, saying that he really sucks at reading aloud.

In personal news, JMS has just recently re-connected with his sister for the first time in 25 years. She was at the panel. JMS was in a smaller room than usual this year but it was filled completely.

Jon, Lee (or any lurkers out there I haven't met yet)? Have I left anything out?

Jan

[KoshN]

I don't know why people are getting so upset.

It's the cumulative effect. Lucy, Charlie Brown & the football.

Things are obviously in better shape than before. If WB is willing to give a proper budget and full season order like that, it seems B5/JMS has more pull with them than before.

Even if one project didn't happen (due to reasons not relating to B5), there is obviously some interest, even from WB's part, to keep B5 alive somehow.

When it comes to Warner Brothers, the only obvious thing is their fecklessness, their INability to get a new B5 project out the door, due to the dysfunctional nature of their company as a whole.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Jon, Lee (or any lurkers out there I haven't met yet)? Have I left anything out?

Jan

Not that I remember. He dropped most of his news in little sound bites almost as afterthoughts in between stories that were anecdotes to questions.

As far as everyone's sentiments over a new B5, shows get created and killed every day at every stage of production. There was a pilot that was premiered here which had great actors, great script, great production, it really could have been the next best thing to hit tv (Locke & Key) but it was killed by the studio after having been filmed. Imagine getting to that point and losing a show. At least B5 was nipped in the bud at the rumor stage.