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So this afternoon was the SDCC SE Babylon 5: Past, Present and Future panel. I felt like it went well and people told me that we had a good panel so I choose to believe that. Alas, there were technical issues with the slides Troy had prepared so I completely spaced recording is. Sorry folks!!
So Troy and I introduced ourselves and I confessed that it was my screw-up that Jason was still on the panel schedule. We gave a brief history of the genesis of the show and I got to tell the story of how the two ideas JMS had combined into one while he was in the shower one day. We told how it took five years to sell and a little about the changes in character concepts. That was the B5 that Was.
Then we talked about the #FreeBabylon5 campaign and how reruns finally started happening (thought with the exception of the UK, we never kenw if wposted for a e were effective) and eventually the remastered episodes were appearing on Prime without any fanfare. Troy showed a brief video he'd found online that really showed ther improvement. The B5 that is.
Then we discussed the reboot/reimagining and the timeline JMS has postred for a possible greenlight. I read a couple of posts of JMS' where he talked about his approach. Thankfully, a good percentage of the (almost filled!) room had already heard that there was a new series in the possible making. We talked about JMS' Patreon where he's making a point that Patrons get at least a little advance notice of new developments and I also mentioned the new commentaries that JMS has been doing.
About that time folks started raising their hands with questions. There was some concern that JMS might have to pull back from his involvement with fans due to the issue of story ideas. We remembered how the Moderated Usenet group had come about and postulated that something similar might be possible via Facebook, but maybe not Twitter. Everybody knows JMS' desire to stay connected directly to the fans.
Another fan asked how the fans could help increase ratings for the pilot but from what JMS has said , the decision is likely to be made before or without the pilot airing but hopefully he'd let the fans know if there was any way they could help.
My favorite question was in response to JMS' post that he'd take the evergreen elements of the original to use in the reimagining. The fan asked what elements that we thought those might be. I mentioned the whole choices and consequences elements that permeated the show as well as the power of one person to make a differentce to the world.
All in all, I thought everything went really well. Except for forgetting to record! Sorry!!
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