Katsulas commentaries

[zathros99]

Dear JMS:

Got my copy of B5, The Fifth Year dvds and was disappointed that no commentary was included by Andreas Katsulas. Why was there no commentaries by Katsulas in any of the five dvd volumes? Without a doubt Gkar is my favorite character and I was looking for insights from Katsulas.
Lastly, why not a film about the war between teeps and normals?

Thanks,
Zathros99

[Jan]

Re: Katsulas commentaries

Originally posted by zathros99
Dear JMS:

Got my copy of B5, The Fifth Year dvds and was disappointed that no commentary was included by Andreas Katsulas. Why was there no commentaries by Katsulas in any of the five dvd volumes? Without a doubt Gkar is my favorite character and I was looking for insights from Katsulas.
Lastly, why not a film about the war between teeps and normals?

Thanks,
Zathros99

Zathros,

As far as we know, JMS doesn't hang out here. The site archives his posts and recently started the forums but we've never seen JMS here. You might want to check out the Babylon 5 moderated newsgroup.

As for Andreas' participation, we don't know for certain, but JMS did post that:

Andreas and (I believe) Peter have thus far declined to be interviewed or to do
a commentary because they would like to be compensated for their participation,
and WB isn't able to do that for any of the cast. I could probably intervene
and push this with them, but I don't think it's right or fair to get between an
actor and a chance to get paid. I think they *should* get paid for doing this.
I think *anyone* who does a commentary or the like should get paid, but the
budget just isn't there for it, and I don't feel comfortable telling somebody
that it's okay not to get paid for doing a day's work.

While we're disappointed, most of the posts I've seen support Andreas in this decision. After all, we're pretty sure that the recording studio and others involved with the extras were compensated, so why not the actors?

Jan

[SciFiRanger]

It would stand to reason that the recording crew and studio would be contracted and paid to generate the content requested by the WB. The actors should have also been paid but the WB was probably unsure of how many DVD's they would actually sell in the begining thus the budget was really low and locked in for the release of all the seasons. The actors being very pasionate about their beloved B5 were probably reluctant to participate for free but were willing to do so with hopes that this would generate interest in B5 again and as a result they would get more work in the B5 universe. This is not to say that Andreaus and Peter were not willing to support the DVD's without compensation, I just think that they don't live close enough and were unwilling to fit the bill for the travel expence just to lend there support. They may have also been busy with other paying projects at the time and could not pass on them for a non-paying gig.

[Kevin]

It's not just a matter of WB feeling this way - no one gets paid for DVD stuff like that. It's become an issue with many more shows/movies then just B5.

And Peter Jurasik, although unsure in the beginning, has been involved in the DVDs for the most part.

[Ben-Thayer Dunnthaedt]

Didn't the other actors doing the commentary go to Wilmington, NC - where Peter Jurasik lives - to do it? Jerry Doyle says something to the effect of "coming to you live from Wilmington" at the beginning of the session. Did they actually go to NC?

But to have a commentary from Andreas...now that *would* be something. I'll bet he has a ton of great anecdotes to discuss.

[AmyG]

No, Peter was in Wilmington; the rest were in CA. They were in separate studios, but recording at the same time, thanks to the magic of technology.

And yes, Andreas _does_ have some great anecdotes to tell. If you ever have the opportunity to see him at a con, it's a not-to-be-missed event.

Aisling