J. Michael Straczynski Says There is New Studio Interest in Babylon 5 Feature Film

[stormy]

Now your talking !!! I would love to see more Crusade and I bet they could getall or almost all of the old cast.

[Skydiver]

gotta agree, if they want to 'reimagine' anything, restart crusade.

it stands teh best chance of success.

what will stand in the way of any project is the conundrum of jms wanting little to no network 'you need to do....' and the networks in general refusals to NOT stick their nose into the creative process

I just don't get it. the networks, etc, hire these creative folks and tell them to make things and be creative....then rip the rug out from under them telling them HOW to be creative and what to do.

that's what ended crusade. the network met JMS with a list of demands and changes to be made - and i think among them was to sex up the show - jms said no and there was no agreement, so the series ended

[Col.Foley]

Well, I do admire him and believe whole heartedly in what he did. Not to mention that I like the idea of general story-arcs and character development being mapped out prior to a show even going into production. Honestly, wouldn't the Asuran or Asgaard story-arcs in Atlantis been all the more interesting if hints of their presence were dropped throughout the series?

True actually. You do have a point.

[nx01a]

Well, I do admire him and believe whole heartedly in what he did. Not to mention that I like the idea of general story-arcs and character development being mapped out prior to a show even going into production. Honestly, wouldn't the Asuran or Asgaard story-arcs in Atlantis been all the more interesting if hints of their presence were dropped throughout the series?

If SGA had been B5, BAMSR would have been the culmination of seasons of setup, not a quick resolution to a too powerful enemy [who I loved!]. The best bit of foreshadowing tptb did was Ayana and showing Atlantis leave Earth in 'Rising'. From that sequence, I always knew the show had to end with Atlantis returning to Earth. And it did.

gotta agree, if they want to 'reimagine' anything, restart crusade.
it stands teh best chance of success.
what will stand in the way of any project is the conundrum of jms wanting little to no network 'you need to do....' and the networks in general refusals to NOT stick their nose into the creative process
I just don't get it. the networks, etc, hire these creative folks and tell them to make things and be creative....then rip the rug out from under them telling them HOW to be creative and what to do.
that's what ended crusade. the network met JMS with a list of demands and changes to be made - and i think among them was to sex up the show - jms said no and there was no agreement, so the series ended

Crusade all the way! I still think the Apocalypse Box is ridiculously cool!
JMS, as good a writer as he is, does need some direction. His choices for the last two B5 projects were... iffy at best. His work on the Amazing Spider-Man comic book series was similarly iffy. This is why I was happy to hear that there was a creative consultant on SGU. Harlan Ellison was the cc on B5 and I'm thinking he reined in JMS' more outlandish plans or focused his powers for good. I always maintain that creative types need guidance. As a 'creative type' myself, God knows I need it. Of course, there's too much interference, like what killed Crusade.

[nx01a]

As an example of what The Lost Tales should have been like, here's a very brief and spoiler-filled synopsis of the short story Hidden Agendas.

[Redhooks]

If SGA had been B5, BAMSR would have been the culmination of seasons of setup, not a quick resolution to a too powerful enemy [who I loved!]. The best bit of foreshadowing tptb did was Ayana and showing Atlantis leave Earth in 'Rising'. From that sequence, I always knew the show had to end with Atlantis returning to Earth. And it did.

I agree with your assessment of BAMSR where you would have seen more of the set-up to final battle. The one thing I thought BAMSR lacked was a believable reason for the Travelers to join the battle. A word from Larrin and the rest of the Travelers signed on? Too convienient and it would have been interesting to see Sheppard trying to convince the whole governing body of the Travelers of the fact that this was the right thing to do. There could have been a lot of verbal conflict from other Travelers who did not want to fight along side the Wraith. Martin Gero and Joe Mallozzi both have stated in reply to people who said that BAMSR should have been a two part episode that they would rather have one tight episode than two flabby ones. I disagree with that reasoning because the expanded time could have been used to show more of the diplomatic side of the building of the "alliance."

Of course I would have never been against seeing more of Larrin in the episode or the other episode of an expanded two-parter.

[coldmachine]

That's not to say that there aren't a plethora of potential side-stories that could be explored. I just like the idea that the Babylon station is closed to any further stories or events and that anything else takes place in-universe but not on-site. I even like the idea of the events taking place at the same time as the events of B5, but elsewheres - like seeing a transport abducted by the Shadows and their on-board 'weapons' (eg Humans) being placed into ships.

I'm fairly new to B5, I've watched it all once and have started rewatching again. I am on episode 3 or 4 of season 2, but I always felt that the only problem with the show that I have is that they ended the shadow war way too easily. I mean come on, the Vorlons and Shadows decide to leave with the first one and that's it?? They leave their technology just laying around for the Drahk to pick up? With how well the entire show was done how could they end that part(biggest part of the show) the way they did? I felt cheated. But other than that, great show.

[HAL2100]

I agree with your assessment of BAMSR where you would have seen more of the set-up to final battle. The one thing I thought BAMSR lacked was a believable reason for the Travelers to join the battle. A word from Larrin and the rest of the Travelers signed on? Too convienient and it would have been interesting to see Sheppard trying to convince the whole governing body of the Travelers of the fact that this was the right thing to do. There could have been a lot of verbal conflict from other Travelers who did not want to fight along side the Wraith. Martin Gero and Joe Mallozzi both have stated in reply to people who said that BAMSR should have been a two part episode that they would rather have one tight episode than two flabby ones. I disagree with that reasoning because the expanded time could have been used to show more of the diplomatic side of the building of the "alliance."

Of course I would have never been against seeing more of Larrin in the episode or the other episode of an expanded two-parter.

Not to mention that building up to 'Be All My Sins Remembered' as a finale would have quite nicely wrapped up a few things while leaving things open for Direct-To-DVD movies.

One thing that I detest is shows that quickly OR easily kill off villains, especially when the villains are the nearly invincible. The biggest mistake that Star Trek ever did was to destroy the Borg.

[nx01a]

Species 8472 was a brilliant concept, but it just led to Voyager punking the Borg for 4 seasons.

The Asurans remain my favourite Stargate villains. Replicators with Ancient technology who simply don't like us. BAMSR really should have been the series finale, then get Atlantis back to Earth in the movie[s].

I think the end of the Shadow War was the only realistic resolution. It was never a war about territory or power, it was about ideology and, in the end, Sheridan refused to play the game. There's no way even the combined power of every single younger race could have defeated the Shadows or the Vorlons, much less both. In the end, they would have just killed everyone and started fresh with more younger races. Sheridan had to change how they thought since he couldn't nuke em all.

Did anyone read the Hidden Agendas synopsis? I say it's a great concept, and it also featured all of the human characters from B5 in S5 AND Ivanova!

[Blistna]

I'm fairly new to B5, I've watched it all once and have started rewatching again. I am on episode 3 or 4 of season 2, but I always felt that the only problem with the show that I have is that they ended the shadow war way too easily. I mean come on, the Vorlons and Shadows decide to leave with the first one and that's it?? They leave their technology just laying around for the Drahk to pick up? With how well the entire show was done how could they end that part(biggest part of the show) the way they did? I felt cheated. But other than that, great show.

I totally agree, but there were other story lines that needed to be finished and there wasn't enough time in just one more season...so they ended that part of it, so we could see Clark dead and Earth/mars free.

However...on a larger note about B% as a movie, it would need to be a bigger then just one movie to make a good enough story. B% was a show with an epic scope that no other show has -- and to see that in a one movie shot at glory? Sorry, I would want a bigger and better story line.

But I think it would be better for WB to remake the sereies, like they did with Battlestar. But thats just me!

[Empress Vajnraa]

I totally agree, but there were other story lines that needed to be finished and there wasn't enough time in just one more season...so they ended that part of it, so we could see Clark dead and Earth/mars free.

However...on a larger note about B% as a movie, it would need to be a bigger then just one movie to make a good enough story. B% was a show with an epic scope that no other show has -- and to see that in a one movie shot at glory? Sorry, I would want a bigger and better story line.

But I think it would be better for WB to remake the sereies, like they did with Battlestar. But thats just me!

I have to disagree about remaking the whole series, at least so soon. In ten or twenty years if there haven't been many more movies it will be a different story.

If a new Babylon 5 got consistent support from a new network so the show would last the whole five years it would need to fill out the shadow war/clark story then I would be all for it. B5 was a good show but the atmosphere was very light. I'm not calling it cheesy but it was a very "90's" show. It could use a more dramatic kick (Not the sort of emo dark re-do that BSG got but there does need to be more drama, IMO).

Plus, the story would need to be changed a bit to accommodate those who've seen the original. I say, shred the flab of the show and stick more with the arcs of immediate consequence. Rename the "Rangers" to something that doesn't bring up thoughts of a certain kids show, make the Minbari and the Centauri (Hell, most/all B5 aliens) less human in appearance and attitude.

[Blistna]

I have to disagree about remaking the whole series, at least so soon. In ten or twenty years if there haven't been many more movies it will be a different story.

If a new Babylon 5 got consistent support from a new network so the show would last the whole five years it would need to fill out the shadow war/clark story then I would be all for it. B5 was a good show but the atmosphere was very light. I'm not calling it cheesy but it was a very "90's" show. It could use a more dramatic kick (Not the sort of emo dark re-do that BSG got but there does need to be more drama, IMO).

Plus, the story would need to be changed a bit to accommodate those who've seen the original. I say, shred the flab of the show and stick more with the arcs of immediate consequence. Rename the "Rangers" to something that doesn't bring up thoughts of a certain kids show, make the Minbari and the Centauri (Hell, most/all B5 aliens) less human in appearance and attitude.

Well, as long as they remake the series :-). But I really think they need to keep the aliens as they are -- there is actual reason for them to look the way they do.

Spoiler:

As it was said by Luerian (sp?), the universe created everything and learns every time it creates again. That means when the universe created humans/centauri/Minbari/ect...the universe created them all alike. I mean, you ever wonder why the Verlons (sp?)/Shadows looked "alien"? Because they are older -- and I bet the next round of creations would be "alien" as well.

But if they do create the series again -- they need to do so with GREAT actors. I mean everyone on B5 was for the most part a GREAT actor, and just got better over time. And I personaly love Londo. I mean, he was a bad guy for the better part of the series, but you began to see he wanted to be good -- but did not know how. To me, every human at some point has been Londo. Everyone, at some point, feels like they can't do anything but what they know is wrong (either as a kid or a grown up). It might not be anything bad -- maybe you feel you have to be poor, keep the same friends, keep the same job, or whatever -- but as Londo found out, and as most ppl, you always have a choice. B5 was so amazing in so many ways!! :-) I want to watch more NEW stories!!!

[Aegis]

Indeed. I believe that was the general thrust of my post. But yeah. One story that the movie could be based on, and easily, is what happened to David, and Lenier, or a combination of both. that would make for a great plot a movie could explore

Or maybe Sebastian from season 2; he probally knows quite a bit about Vorlon tachnology, as he flew one of their ships to Babylon 5.