Hooked on Babylon 5

Depends who you ask.

Crusades biggest problem to me was the music...If you really like the B5 universe then you will enjoy Crusade. It expands on the series and has some cool cameos from B5. I would say its about as good as season 1 or 5 of B5 but nowere near the greatness of 2-4.

The BOX set of the 5 movies comes out tommorrow which has Call to Arms (Starts the Crusade Arc).

I liked Crusade. Peter Woodward and Gary Cole made it worth watching, and a couple of the episodes are pretty important if you get into the whole canon aura of the B5 universe (there are a series of Technomage novels, for example, and one of the Crusade episodes ties into it heavily).

Legend of the Rangers, upon reflection, blew. Sorry JMS, but I think most B5 fans were desperate for anything new that they loved it upon first viewing, but in hindsight, it just sucked. I'm glad it didn't get a series and stayed a one-shot movie.

Supposedly he has something else coming down the pipe, not sure if it's a movie, series or whatever, but it's been called B5: TMoS (The Memory of Shadows).

Crusade was aborted on takeoff. It just got the introductions over with and was ready to get on with actually tracking down a cure when it was cancelled. What a disappointment.

The music licks pouch.

It is indeed a theatrical film. Per JMS's 4/29 Usenet posting:


This can mean nothing else.

For comparison, most pre-1950 sound films used the 1.37:1 "Academy Ratio." Widescreen TV sets are 16:9 (a.k.a, 1.77:1), and that is therefore the ratio of widescreen HD TV broadcasts and widescreen TV fare like B5 and CSI. Most feature comedies and "small" theatrical dramas are projected at 1.85:1, while "big" films (think Star Wars, Titanic, The Godfather) use the wider 2.35:1 frame. It is not an aspect ratio used for any but the most theatrical of theatrical films, so JMS using that number to describe the hole his head would make in a wall can't be anything other than a statement that the new project is a feature film release.

The feature would finally tell the story of the Telepath War, post-"Objects at Rest," pre-Crusade.

To narrow it down slightly more, JMS has said that the Telepath War started in 2264 (which is when Lyta told Garibaldi she'd be back) and ended in 2265 (prior to the date of the Rangers movie.) Several of the Amazing Stories/Official B5 Magazine short stories cover incidents involving G'Kar, Lyta and Garibaldi during this period. One has Susan Ivanova returning to B5 to meet President Sheridan and Captain Lochley; another one takes place during the war itself, and involves Lyta and Garibaldi (and a major character from the "Psi Corps" novels).

From hints dropped in the "Telepath Trilogy," it appears the Teep War was initially fought between Psi Corps and Lyta's rogues, but at some point Psi Corps started playing so dirty that EarthGov actually disavowed them and began taking military action against their own agency.

Still later, the conflict spilled outside of Earth space, or Earth asked for help, because the Interstellar Alliance intervened towards the end of the conflict, apparently decisively. (Bester, at least, holds Sheridan responsible for the Corps' defeat, and is still bitter about the intervention many years later.) Presumably the IA actions are mostly outside the Sol system, in the area of other Human colonies, since "A Call to Arms" indicates that an alien fleet under Sheridan has not been in the vicinity of Earth since the overthrow of Clark.

A rough timeline of the major, "late-period" stories:

• Babylon 5 Season Five, 2262.
• "The River of Souls," 2263.
• Telepath War, 2264-65.
• Legend of the Rangers, 2265.
• "A Call to Arms," December 2266.
• Crusade Season One, 2267.
• "In the Beginning" (Centauri Prime sequences), 2278.
• "Sleeping in Light," 2282.

...And it is long fucking overdue.

It was a matter of timing and market conditions. Warner Bros. had been making vague noises about a B5 feature film for years. In 1998, with the move to TNT, a stable national timeslot for the first time in the show's history, good ratings, TV movies and talks going forward about Crusade. First Columbia House, then Warner Home Video released the show on VHS, to initially strong sales. WB started thinking that B5 might become their space franchise.

Their interest eventually extended as far as prying open the vault door long enough to commission a script treatment for a feature film from JMS. He has since mentioned that the plot does concern the Telepath Crisis, the Vorlon manipulation of Human DNA, and might even include a look at the Vorlon homeworld. (Something that presumably could only be done on a feature film budget.)

Then came 1999 and the beginning of a long, downward slide for the fortunes of B5. Crusade was dead by February; the ratings for the reruns were falling with repeated airings. TNT ultimately moved B5 to 6 AM on Saturdays solely to keep their exclusive contract in place and make sure that no one else (like the Sci-Fi Channel) could pick up the Babylonian package and continue Crusade. Within a year "B5 Magazine" was gone, the fan club out of business and Netter Digital shuttered. Nobody was talking feature film at that point.

Now the show is back on a national network and has been picking up new fans. There has been the inevitable slip in ratings, but the show started off *very* strong, and Crusade did well in primetime two times around on Sci-Fi and is going to be shown again. But it was the DVD sales, of all thngs, that pushed it across the finish line. Enough to convince the WB brass that there's still money to be made from the saga, and in a burst of wisdom, prompting them to "think big," far beyond the confines of the Glass Teat.

Despite Crusade first going forward, the presence of the novel-publishing programme, and the Legend of the Rangers pilot (and potential for an ongoing series) a couple years ago, JMS was in no hurry to "burn" the Teep War story in any other medium, not when the possibility of telling it on the big screen was still there. The Telepath War is one of the few "untold" B5 stories that meets the criteria for a feature film:

1. It can feature all or most of the original characters and actors.
2. It is a self-contained story that can be told in around two, two-and-a-half hours of screen time.
3. It can be understood by, and appeal to, a large general audience, not just fans of the show.
4. It is a BIG story -- not just an overgrown episode. It contains things that simply can't be done on the small screen.

There are several factors that go into the decision to "greenlight" a major feature film of the predicted budget that a Babylon 5 story might command (around $40-75 millions)...the success of the original TV series, the likely core audience that would be conceivably willing to pay the gelt to see a new story on the silver screen, the aforementioned DVD sales of said TV series, to say nothing of test audience reactions.

...The presumed "B5 unwashed," whose hands the film's fate is partially in.

The studios typically maintain that the fact that a test audience hates a given flick indicates that *real* audiences will hate it, the word-of-mouth will suck, and it will be cheaper for the studio to shelve the movie, sell it to cable or release it direct-to-video than to distribute it and advertise it in theaters. So we're back to its being a business decision -- in this case, how to minimize losses.

And it is pretty much the same with all the other examples one can think of: pilots are focus-grouped and test-audienced to death, the majority of them never going on the air. The exceptions that do go on the air are either filling dead time, or they will live or die based upon their ratings.

Most decisions about which scripts to make (for TV and movies) have less to do with their inherent aesthetic quality than with their perceived appeal to a desired audience. Most decisions about which *books* to publish have less to do with quality than what is currently "hot" in the market.

In fact, you can almost always assume that a decision to kill a project is mostly a matter of business. It is the rare decision to go ahead with something that doesn't fit the established template for success or to keep a series going beyond the normal cancellation point that indicates a stubborn (and brave) studio or network decisionmaker trusting his or her gut (i.e., the case of Arrested Development). When they're right (and the project is called Star Wars or the series Cheers or M*A*S*H) they can be very right. When they're wrong...well, they're usually fired.

Not a prob. Something else y'all might find interesting:

Two Fridays ago, (according to a friend of mine who works in Hollywood), Warner Brothers and JMS issued a formal submission to ILM for them to bid for The Memory of Shadows' visual effects. Reportedly, they have also asked WETA to bid.

This means we're getting closer to the official announcement. If they're locking in FX companies, then they should annouce fairly soon. And Joe was out of the country this entire past week; in his words, taking "four international flights in the past six days...I'm hashed." A possible Enn Zedd trip, folks are saying.

On another note, at the moment, I'm recollecting back to when this whole thing was first hinted at by Joe, circa August/September of last year. There was much speculation as to whether this would've been something *other* than a Major Motion Picture, probably more due to us being psychologically unable to wrap our collective wet matter around the notion that Warner Bros. would actually consider such a project, after the last two times at bat were complete strikeouts.

A new series (which JMS later categorically denied), a mini-series, even a radio drama or a direct-to-DVD release, which is the most unfeasible, least cost-effective option of all for the studio. And JMS did go on record as saying he had written an outline for the proposed film, and that it dealt with the Teep War. Also saw something somewhere about Warner Bros. sounding out Walter Koenig on his interest/availability, very preliminary stuff. Of course, this was before the Crusade Debacle and "The Very Long Year of Babylon 5" (1999-2000), when everything connected with the show seemed to go "straight to hell," as Sheridan might have put it.

And consider:

It isn't like WB could produce a decent B5 project for DVD for much less than a TV movie, or even a modestly-budgeted feature film would cost them. If that's the case, why not make a TV movie and try to sell it to Sci-Fi or syndication, then release it on DVD and make twice the revenue?

No TV partner? OK, make a feature film. Sure, it will cost more than a TV movie or direct-to-DVD release, but, again, you get many more bites at the apple: Domestic theatrical box-office, foreign theatrical box-office, domestic and foreign airlines, pay-per-view, premium cable and broadcast television revenues, and on top of all that, DVD revenues.

Why set yourself up to receive only the last option, when -- for a relatively small bump in the initial outlay (which you're more or less guaranteed to make back even if the film is a comparative flop at the domestic box-office) -- you can probably make a bit more, and could make a whole lot more? Especially since the DVD release of a box-office hit is going to sell far more copies than some direct-to-DVD movie that nobody's had the first opportunity to see, and for which you have to spend *far* more money promoting because nobody's ever heard of it before?

From a business standpoint, a theatrical film, although costly, may be the studio's best bet. And a direct-to-DVD release the biggest economic mistake they could make.

The main concern right now is getting Warner Bros. to risk $50 or $60 million (at least) on a theatrical film based on a TV show that was cheap to produce and got adequate ratings but was *never* anybody's idea of a Massive Hit. Or like getting Sci-Fi to pony up $4 million or so to make a TV movie based on the B5 universe after the last one left them giving make-goods to advertisers.

The problem during the 1999-2001 interregnum wasn't that JMS wasn't interested, it was that nobody in Hollywood with the kind of money and production facilities needed to do this was. We then had a shot with Rangers, and for various and sundry reasons we didn't get the show. Disappointing, but hardly a life-changing event. It was inevitable that someone would think about B5 again, because eventually somebody thinks of everything again.

And it was ultimately the DVD sales (as I mentioned earlier) that "tipped the scales," as it were, in B5's favor in the eyes of the Warner Bros. execs enough to consider NOT SIMPLY a new celluloid project, not just a "mere" television series or somesuch, but a bona fide, honest-to-Ghu, big-budget FEATURE FILM. The type of project that, five years ago, we all would've insanely giggled ourselves sick with grief even contemplating, during the death throes of Crusade.

A successful feature film opens up entirely new doors that other "lesser" projects cannot. It is well known that it was the box-office haul of the third and fourth Star Trek movies that finally led Paramount into discussions with Goddenberry (years after he ceased thinking of himself as "Roddenberry") and his cohorts about the likelihood of a new weekly television series...which has since given birth to three more.

It would be the type of project which -- moreso than a new weekly televsion series, moreso than a new mini-series, moreso than anything else -- can throw the doors wide open for *new* types of projects, in other media. New TV stories, new novels, new video games, new toys...across the board in Hollywood the perception is that a motion picture is still the single most perfectly valid leverage and marketing device for getting other languishing properties off the ground.

It tends to run in this direction far more than the opposite: a successful TV show doesn't always ignite interest in a feature, but a successful *feature* gives rise to more spinoff TV descendants than anything else one can name. Ergo, here...a successful run at the domestic box-office might very well end up convincing -- for instance -- the Sci-Fi Channel brass that a Crusade revival (in the form of telefilms or mini-series) is suddenly a solid concept worth pursuing. To say nothing of other ideas that Joe might have up his sleeve.

Originally, during the month betwixt when Joe made that little "slip" and Rick Biggs's death, I drew up a blow-by-blow listing of likely participating characters in the film, and how substantial their roles could be. Simply consider Dr. Franklin to be moved "off-camera" now (considering he reappears in both Crusade and in "Sleeping in Light," both of which take place after the Telepath War ends), and adjust accordingly:

The Absolute Indispensibles:

• John Sheridan: A no-brainer. President of the Interstellar Alliance, the plight of both the "normals" and "blips" becomes his concern during the conflict, walking the lines between the needs of Earth (pardon pun) and the other races under his leadership.
• Lyta Alexander: Another no-brainer. Her uprising long in the planning phases, the Telepath War erupts -- starting causes and party unknown as yet -- upon her return with G'Kar in 2264.
• Michael Garibaldi: Connected to Lyta and Alfred Bester in more ways than he'd care to imagine. Put in charge of financing, training, and equipping Lyta's paramilitary force during her absence, he possesses another very personal grudge against Bester due to his telepathic neural block.
• G'Kar: Lyta's travelling companion from 2262 until 2264, G'Kar has become an advisor to Sheridan and Delenn as of late 2265 (c.f., Legend of the Rangers); he would undoubtedly inform the IA as to Lyta's intended plans, and have some decent character moments and Lovely G'Kar Speeches as a voice of conscience to Lyta's troubled id.
• Alfred Bester: The third no-brainer. Little needs saying, here.
• Lennier: JMS has stated that Lennier meets his fate during the Telepath War, and the early script draft for the Crusade episode "The Path of Sorrows" depicted Lyta Alexander crying out to Lennier during the assault upon the Psi Corps's Mars headquarters. See "Delenn" below for further notes on this one.
• Delenn: Her primary reasons for meaningful direct involvement in the Teep War are twofold: first, as Sheridan's vice-president (per "A Call to Arms") and head of the Rangers, she would be in a direct position to influence the participation of the Interstellar Alliance's frontline forces in any action against the Psi Corps (again, note that the IA is apparently brought into the war once the alien races and outer human colonies are threatened -- an explicit Alliance jurisdictional affair). Second...the setup from "Objects at Rest," concerning Lennier's eventual "redemption" in both she and her husband's eyes for his crime. Having Lennier and Delenn and Sheridan cross paths once more against the backdrop of the war -- while Lennier accomplishes some sort of significant act that affects those involved, redeems himself, and which results in his death -- is a vital part of this story.

Potential Supporting Players:

• Susan Ivanova: Apart from being captain of one of EarthForce's premier Warlock-class destroyers, and thus likely to be positioned on the front lines of any major military action (and, unlike the other Warlocks, her destroyer having recently been freed of Shadowtech influence that the Corps could exploit), Ivanova holds a very, very personal reason for probable inclusion by JMS in the screenplay: her family history with the Psi Corps, and the organic character outgrowth of Ivanova unleashing her long-held-in-check inner rage. Possibly giving Claudia Christian some significant scenes to play. And again, another tremendous "G'Kar-as-conscience" opportunity.
  
  She and Straczynski have apparently patched up their differences in recent years (Joe speaking glowingly of her on the DVD commentary tracks, the two of them lately appearing onstage together at cons, etc), and this forgiveness and rapprochement could translate into a meaty role for her in the flick.
  
• Elizabeth Lochley & Zack Allan: For any motion picture to feature the words "Babylon 5" in its title, audiences will rightly be expecting to see some glimpse of the station itself. As a strategic point for the Alliance circa 2264-65, the station could serve as a tactical staging area for forces from Minbar and other IA worlds. And its commander and chief of security would be right there in the thick of the preparations to war. (To wit, there is also that long-awaited Lochley/Ivanova Jell-O bitchfight-throwdown that we might end up glimpsing, but I digress...)
• Vir Cotto: Centauri Ambassador to Babylon 5, it is described a number of times in the "Fall of Centuari Prime" novel trilogy that Vir was onboard B5 during the Teep War, and as such would have probable interactions with Captain Lochley and others there. If the war comes to Babylon 5 as is expected, his involvement as an "unofficial" advisor to the IA (owing to Centauri Prime's Drakh-induced withdrawal) could give Stephen Furst some good scenes with both the human characters, and others (for instance, say...G'Kar).
• Dr. Franklin: As head of Xenobiological Research at EarthDome, Franklin holds an important position close to the President herself, and would undoubtedly be consulted during the war effort thanks to his work with legit telepaths. And as the former head of the "underground railroad" he helped to put together. This latter characteristic could be the more important of the two, as coordinating between Lyta's resistance forces and the Alliance might prove to be a major turning point in the conflict. (Note: this character could still "appear" in the finished film via onscreen dialogue references.)
• Susanna Luchenko: President of the Earth Alliance, she'd be rightsmackdab in the political (and military) crossfires arising out of Psi Corps's sudden movement to overthrow the government. And the Earth Senate's disassociation with the agency. Beata Pozniak in fact reprised her role in the shitcanned B5 computer simulator, and might be seen here (assuming that all Contractual Actor Issues are sussed out).

Others Who Might Get A Smidgen Of Screentime, But Who, For Various And Sundry Assorted Reasons, Are More Or Less Even Money Right At This Immediate Moment For Extended Big Screen Glory:

• Londo Mollari: Perhaps the most difficult character to shoehorn into the storyline, it is still possible via one of several methods. Consider: the Drakh, who are still getting settled in on Centauri Prime and gearing up for the attack on Earth, have a vested interest in seeing things go badly for the Humans. They'd certainly want to take advantage of the situation, if they could without tipping their hand. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to have the Centauri secretly selling arms to one side or both, which could give us a scene or two with Londo and Shiv'kala there on the homeworld.
• Shiv'kala: See "Londo" for all pertinent reasons.
• Tessa Halloran/"Number One": Garibaldi's successor as the IA's Head of Covert Intelligence, she'd be in a primo position to place past members of the Mars Resistance into contact with Sheridan's and Lyta's forces, due to the location of Psi Corps's primary headquarters there.
• John Matheson: Maybe, maybe not. But he was certainly on the opposite side of the war for quite some time, up to and during the Psi Corps's probable victory against EarthGov, and is the one Crusade character who could fit into the movie without it feeling totally contrived. Perhaps a brief, passing cameo. Who knows.
• Byron Gordon: As Neroon once said, "...After a fashion." According to the third "Psi Corps" novel, before he died, Byron placed a telepathic simulacrum of himself within Bester's subconscious...which starts surfacing around the time of the war as an accusing, Jiminy Cricket-esque, birdie-on-the-shoulder voice of neglected morality. Much to Bester's woe. Having Robin Atkin Downes doing a few scenes would give some ironic resonance to the whole "Remember Byron" leitmotif, and to the entire first half of Season Five.

There it all is.

Beyond Joe currently reworking the film's screenplay to get around the loss of Richard Biggs, most of this still tracks, considering the clues that have been placed in all the "future" narratives that have taken place "after" the Teep War (Crusade, etc).

The B5 movie won't be B5 without G'Kar AND Londo. Their absences were felt in the movies that didn't have them. Hell, the EPISODES without them were seriously lacking.

'Tweren't nuthin.

Added the entries on "Vir" and "Ivanova" to that list, since they apparently got chopped off during the original transcription process.

Quite coincidentally, I'd originally had Talia up on that last "Smidgen of Screen Time" list, having written up a partial entry for her, but decided to leave it off there, for the nonce.

Essentially, it outlined the likelihood of her involvement in the storyline, given that (A) Talia would be far more valuable alive than dead to the Corps with her Vorlon involvement and her knowledge of the now-president of the Interstellar Alliance; (B) Bitch-Talia's disdain of "mundanes" would be simpatico with Bester's, and would further aid in keeping her alive; and (C) Andrea Thompson, like Claudia, has patched things up with Joe, and would probably enjoy busting loose on camera with Bitch-Talia (per her April 1996 Starlog interview) once again.

That, and there're yet other character reasons enough for both she and Claudia to return: their..."relationship," in other words. If the role contained substantial meat on its bones, JMS might conceivably land both actresses for the film, as both have expressed great pleasure in the discussions that "Divided Loyalties" has provoked in the years since.

The other major thing to consider is that Garibaldi never learns what became of Talia, per Final Reckoning. A scene in the novel depicts him in a Parisian café with another telepath reminiscing and regretting never having successfully tracked her down, despite the vast interplanetary resources of the Great Edgars-Garibaldi Empire. This could still get finessed for the film -- he'd simply never have to cross paths with Talia, while still leaving all the meaningful character moments between her and Ivanova intact.

As for other characters, from what I remember of the trilogy, Lauren Ashley doesn't appear in any of the books -- before or after the Telepath War -- which could allow for an appearance in the flick; another place to catch a "glimpse" of the Psi Corps "death wagons" is in the short story "Genius Loci," where Lyta and G'Kar encounter a heavily-armed battleship similar in configuration to that Asimov-class ship seen in "The Corps is Mother..."

One specific eventuality that the Interstellar Alliance-connected characters are going to have to deal with during the early phases of the war is the ability to move freely about, both openly and clandestinely. Indeed, we're almost guaranteed to see Sheridan and/or others undertaking "covert," off-the-record mission(s), sans any official Alliance backing, in order to bring the war to an early close.

This is entirely in keeping with Sheridan's character: him not giving a shit about going to ground and working outside of the "legitimate" political channels if it would aid the nominal "good guys" in the fight. This could involve ditching any official White Star flights and calling in a favor or two from his old acquaintance Captain Ivanova in order to secure transportation for whatever action he has in mind. And it's virtually assured that she would go right along on his word, having very similar propensities and inclinations her ownself.

Which brings up another point: until the IA becomes actively involved in the conflict, there is going to be a major problem with getting folks like Sheridan, G'Kar (a civilian), Garibaldi (another civilian), et al, around the Earth Alliance in a "non-formal" capacity...they simply can't go in riding high atop a White Star when they are forbidden from interfering in what is (intially) an expressly EA jurisdictional matter, circa 2264.

Leading to yet another valid reason for Ivanova's participation in the storyline, which is -- namely -- the availability of her ship to accomplish this. Later on, when the fleets of the Alliance are cleared to commence hostilities against the forces of Psi Corps, such an opening would exist, but having the EAS Titans function in a similar capacity to the Victory and Excalibur also has the potential to advance the greater plot in a much more dynamic fashion than seeing Sheridan and others politick with Bester and EarthGov from afar, via StellarCom.

Babylon 5 was in many respects The Londo And G'Kar Show.

No Rebo and Zooty cameo? Damn!

Seriously though, thanks for the info and speculation on the project. It certainly sounds like you've got your finger on the pulse of B5-dom.

Thankee sai. Some of this I'd already posted on other sites and has gotten cleaned up and rewritten, but it's
still quite germane to the situation that they're looking at over in Hell-Ay.

Came across a slightly apropos posting from Joe, which serves to more or less signpost the broader overall storyline direction that his plans for the Telepath War will take:


The hints scattered throughout Crusade, the short stories, and the novels indicate that the Telepath War starts out as Lyta's rebellion in 2264, but then explodes beyond the confines of a mere "normals-versus-teeps" counterinsurgency. Garibaldi had been preparing, financing, training, and organizing her troops for two years, so they are pretty much ready to go when she gets back with G'Kar. Once the Psi Corps commits acts of warfare against normals and the Earth Alliance -- the war spilling over past the outer Human colonies into the space belonging to other alien races -- it officially becomes an Interstellar Alliance affair. Thereby justifying a full military response by Sheridan's forces.

(Vide "The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father," and the cruisers being maintained on standby in hyperspace, unbeknownst to even the government of Earth. The Corps clearly had substantial designs upon humanity with this much firepower socked away, enough hinted at elsewhere to conceivably stand toe-to-toe with EarthForce itself.)

At some point, as mentioned, it clearly spreads; first involving the mundanes -- which is why Psi Corps is disbanded and Bester sought for war crimes -- and eventually the Interstellar Alliance. Based on Bester's comments in that unproduced Crusade episode ("It was a war, not a crisis. I don't know why everyone feels the need to minimize it"), and the fact that Bester is a fugitive war criminal, it makes things quite clear that this was indeed an all-out contretemps.

As to after the war ends...Bester might be in a position to make a nuisance of himself, but he certainly doesn't have the wherewithal to launch anything big enough to be remembered as a war *after* 2265. A little low-intensity terrorism, hit-and-run raids for awhile, perhaps, but nothing more. It seems that even such assets as he has in 2267 are mainly being used to help keep the "Odessa" teeps one step ahead of the law.

All indications from the final "Psi Corps" volume are that Bester devotes most of his time, resources, and personal energy after the war to avoid getting recaptured.

Hey, Leto, you wouldn't happen to be Joseph DeMartino, would you?

The actor's commentaries usually don't give away much and are more for comedic value than any inside information, but yeah, JMS's commentaries are loaded with spoilers.

Every time Richard Biggs comes on screen, I can't help but think "Dr. Shaft"

While searching for a work-related file tucked away on a pulled hard drive, I came across this piece that I wrote. Penned this back in 1999, probably during the summer months of the original TNT Crusade run.

It was something that attempted to reconcile the two seemingly separate "Gideon introductions" that we glimpse, first in "War Zone," and then in "Racing the Night," and the two different depictions of his mission assignment. Upon thinking about it further, I came to the conclusion that both were workable within the continuity framework, and that JMS wouldn't have gone and written two blatantly different segueways that would've aired within weeks of one another and then picked apart by us fen if he weren't intent upon the veracity of either one.

Edited and cleaned up a skosh:

Analysis: Methodology for Constructing a Coherent Timeline for the Disparate Crusade Premières:

1. The first key event under scrutiny is, of course, the Drakh attack upon the Earth, followed by the commissioning of the Excalibur for the cure-finding mission as seen in "A Call to Arms." During the aftermath, Captain Gideon's Explorer-class ship emerges from hyperspace at Earth, a near-mutiny is avoided, and they are ordered to set course for Mars.
2. Upon arriving at Mars, Gideon meets with the Senator there, and is informed of their "desire" for his involvement as the mission's commander, per Sheridan's recommendation. Segue to the events transpiring upon and near Ceti 4: the EA destroyer being annihilated and Eilerson's colleague getting blasted out the sky.
3. At this juncture, it should become apparent that this is where the Babylon 5 sequence involving Gideon being given the Excalibur and his wager-making with the alien ambassadors occurs. Between the two act-breaks, Gideon goes from Mars to striding onto the bridge of the ship, and is already quite familiar with her...this would, of course, logically necessitate the placement of the scene where he lays eyes on her for the first time in between these two scenes in "War Zone." Some familiarization would have to occur with the ship's systems during the interrim period. It seems that a substantial amount of time should be placed between the scene where the captain meets with the Senator the subsequent crash of the Drakh ship.
4. Now in command of Excalibur, Captain Gideon orders a course back to Mars from Babylon 5, and meets up with Lt. Matheson and Dr. Chambers and Dureena there. The "Racing the Night" scenes also flow seamlessly into continuity here when one watches the particular scene where Dureena and Gideon are on their way up to the ship: He describes her in intricate detail (er...the ship, not Dureena), and of course, Dureena is already quite familiar with it, per "A Call to Arms." She riffs right along: "It'll do."
5. En route to the testing range, they pick up the distress signal from the IPX expedition on Ceti 4...and events now proceed normally in the episode.

As one can now clearly see, the events of "War Zone" span a significantly longer period of time than was apparent before one views "Racing the Night" for the very first time...or rather, if one caught the series during the original TNT run. Further, this little illustration should assist in visualizing the chronology of events in a reasonably linear fashion concomitant with Joe Straczynski's original storytelling intentions. Rather pompous and blathery, but for funsies.

Appears that JMS has completed the penultimate screenplay draft on B5: The Memory of Shadows (oh, and a few other things, too):




Yup, saving that bit for last. Figures.

But not unexpected. He's done between three and four drafts of the film to date -- the first two were confirmed to have been worked on in this past year, prior to Rick Biggs' passing, and he's done at least one, if not two (counting this one), in the months since.

The "retooling" phase is almost finished, and this new draft is also undoubtedly a revision that takes into account the abilities and parameters set by whichever VFX house(s) they're talking to. Which is pro forma in the industry. You do rewrites once the final budgets come in, and adjust the major action set-pieces to fit.

He's working to accomodate not only whatever notes the studio's seeing fit to grace him with (which, given the control he likely has over the project, should be of a "fiscal," rather than a "creative," nature)...but also to shoehorn in the needs and egos of somewhere betwixt twelve to fourteen minor and major speaking parts from the series, to say nothing of adequately and organically servicing as many of these people as he can within the confines of a two to two-and-a-half-hour-long film.

Since he's going to be spending time in Britain circa October, likely as not overseeing the early stages of mounting his "Dancing Chorus Line Monks" stage play as writers are wont to do in the first couple of weeks -- hanging about while the director and production crew put things into position, and leaving once it starts to run itself -- this will give him time enough to do that final B5 draft and return to the states once the flick ramps up its *own* production by year's end.

What they're saying is that Warners are still aiming for a potential (potential, mind you) Summer '05 release date, and any project of this magnitude would by definition NEED to get underway no later than the last couple of months in the year, in order to accomodate the post-production schedule that a substantially FX-laden movie like this requires. Most of the actorly contracts will have been signed by this point, and presumably equitable enough deals reached with those "principal" to the storyline to ensure sufficient participation and enthusiasm.

Give it another month, month-and-a-half at the outside, and the final "go" press releases should start appearing.

Great stuff, Leto.

If WB is serious about a Summer '05 date, they're basically up against the wire right now... either that or they're doing a great deal of pre-production and prep-work while the script is being re-written. It's possible to get a film done in 10-11 months, but pretty touch-and-go, especially an FX-heavy gig like TMoS would be.

If we don't hear an official announcement real damn soon, I'd expect the eventual date to be winter '05 or summer '06.

Bringing ILM and WETA into the bidding process is a very good thing -- it shows, at least, that WB is serious about this and is prepared to deal with the big boys. (Not that I'm singling out ILM and WETA, per se -- if Sony Imageworks or Digital Domain were involved in the bidding, so much the better.) Boutique houses have their pluses, but I'm way more comfortable with WB (apparently) choosing a big house with serious feature experience.

In terms of projects dear to my heart, this reminds me a bit of the excitement back in the early pre-LOTR days, when we knew Peter Jackson was trying to get the project going.

Yup -- as David Blake put it, it's gonna be "fuck-or-walk time" very, very soon for the studio and the producers if they want to hump this thing out by a mid-to-late summer release window. Which I still highly doubt's going to happen, personally. With JMS jaunting off to Europe in October and one more draft to do for the studio, this thing's gonna be one tight pussy to lick, if that's where they're wanting to head.

Figure on a probable later start-date if and when the "I's" and the "T's" on the contracts are dotted 'n' crossed for the actors and production personnel (most of which are at the very least nearly fully negotiated, going from what I hear from various folks). For many of the talent, they simply didn't *want* to start on the movie so soon after Rick Biggs's death; now that they've had grieving space, I undoubtedly foresee a dedication in the flick's opener or closer for the missing soldier on the battlefield.

As for the VFX houses -- yep, any of the ones you mentioned would bring something unique to the project, and there is obviously some serious money on the table (as Joe stated last fall) since they're holding talks with the High Potentates. Which bodes well for the rest of the movie's overall "look," and the calibre of creative technicians they'll be bringing to bear on the project; one of the key ingredients next is to lock in a director and cinematographer willing to subserviate themselves to Joe and Doug Netter's and John Copeland's gameplan.

It's probable that Warners will be looking "inside" the B5 family for at least the directorial chores; much rampant speculation is that Mike Vejar's the first in line to score the gig, given his overall reputation and his "demo reel": no fewer than three major telefilms -- "In the Beginning," "A Call to Arms," and "Legend of the Rangers"; provocative major series installments such as the "War Without End" two-parter, and "Racing the Night," which was Crusade's original intended bow.

As for the DP position, I personally would prefer a cameraman with experience shooting in "scope," with all the compositional technique and expertise that your average "TeeVee" DP typically cannot emulate without adequate experience. These are usually chosen by the director, and vetted by the producers and studio. Depending upon whether the film's going to be shot largely on soundstages or with more "on location" work, the cinematographer's role is going to be crucial...as a "f'r'instance," the legendary John Alonzo aided the look of the seventh Trek movie tremendously, which proves that even a SkiFfy show-derived movie can boast substantial sumptuosity when the money's in the right place.

Again, we may or may not make a "Summer '05" release date, but I must admit that the thought of potentially having a B5 flick serving as one of Warner Brothers' major, prestige "tentpole" summer releases alongside the likes of Chris Nolan's Batman film makes for much chop-lickin', and validates the notion that this fucker's finally hit the bigtime.

While generally speaking I'm opposed to in-house TV directors brought onto features, arguably Vejar's B5 stuff is a bit bigger in scope than usual. Still, David Livingston (GENERATIONS) is an example of what you don't want to bring to the table -- perfectly capable, but perfectly bland.

Actually, most dramatic series DPs that I'm familiar with are well capable of shooting in all sorts of aspect ratios and styles... moreso now than ever before, IMHO, with all the HBO and cable series bringing strong visuals to the TV forefront. Given the FX-heavy budget (no doubt), it's highly likely any feature would be shot Super-35, which isn't a scope format (and, of course, the show was shot Super-35 as well).

Still, as you mention, Alonzo brought a great look to the table with GENERATIONS. The question will be whether familiarity with the series will be countered by a fresh but different newcomer.

Depending upon whether the film's going to be shot largely on soundstages or with more "on location" work, the cinematographer's role is going to be crucial...[/quote]

Given it being B5, I think we can assume the vast majority of it will be stage work (not a bad thing, necessarily).

Regardless of when it gets released, WB would be wise to emulate Fox -- they've shown that a tight budget combined with a fanbase and clever marketing can open a niche property strong (AvP). Of course, one would hope that a B5 movie would have somewhat better legs than that did.

Interesting statement from jms:

 

July, 2011 

Last year, the studio offered a full season of a new and rebooted B5 as part of a new distribution venue they were creating (us and several other shows from the same studio were part of the same deal). We'd have a full season, a big budget, and total creative control. The negotiations (not between us but between the participants of the venue) dragged on for over a year, we were told repeatedly this is going to happen, but finally, the participants couldn't make the math work. So we and the other three shows that they were hoping to put out there got set aside. 

At this point, I've told the studio that if this isn't going to move ahead, there's something else they need to consider and there's a very informal negotiation going on now in that regard. We'll see where it goes from there. 

But again, B5 was never created to be a Deep Space Franchise, we wanted to do our 5 years and get out clean. That was my intent going into this, and if that's where this ends up, I'm happy to stick with that. 

 

Even with it's budget limitations, BABYLON 5 is the best sci-fi epic to ever come on TV and probably will never be surpassed. Amazing show.  

How about instead of rebooting, they retool the old transfers, update the CGI (because I love the show, but god daaaaaayum it looks terrible on modern day HD TVs) and rerelease the show on DVD and/or Blu Ray a la Star Trek. There has to be a strong, loyal base willing to buy multiple copies for that to be cost effective.

 

I just want another reason beyond 'New girlfriend has to see this!' to watch the show.

 

hehe I always tell all the angry or disappointed fans of Lost or Battlestar that they really should watch this, because they knew what they were doing from Day 1.

This.  Because those first four seasons were like no televised science fiction that had come before.  At the time it was something special but time, the shite movies and DS9 doing it better has not been kind to it.

 

Agree 1000% on the suggestion that they "refresh" the FX on the original show. Do NOT agree that DS9 did it better. Babylon 5 was a novel for television. DS9 was an episodic show with a story arc overlaid on it. Despite the similarities they are different beasts.

DS9 had better acting, dialogue, and production values.  B5 had a better (if VERY similar) overarching story.  I love both shows, but B5's biggest weakness, in my humble opinion, is Bruce Boxleitner.  There's just an "aww, shucks" quality to the guy that rubs me the wrong way.

Oh I agree that DS9 was more consistently great, while B5 has a mixture of greatness and shite. I think Boxleitner was an interesting contrast to Michael O'Hare. O'Hare had Gravitas to spare, and would have been a better President. I don't think Boxleitner quite made the transition from Captain of a space station to leader of an interstellar organization believable.

 

What I thought was so interesting about DS9 was the fact that the Dominion literally wants to dominate the Universe out of fear that they will be dominated. The Shadows and Vorlons operate out of abstract philosophical principals.