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Signs and Portents of a BABYLON 5 feature film!

Isn't it a little late? by chrth	May 4th, 2004 06:31:56 AM
I thought real interest for this show died with season 5, and crusade? I'd think it be as successful as another X-Files film: Not very. It's time has past.
Hey Regent by RenoNevada2000	May 4th, 2004 07:43:34 AM
What's the matter? Your Drahk Keeper won't let you read the CoAxial section of this site? ;)
Umm...I thought coaxial already covered this? by ATARI	May 4th, 2004 09:12:16 AM
I could have sworn I read about this yesterday in coaxial news.
B5 is young is all by Drath	May 4th, 2004 09:12:46 AM
Come on now, Regent, B5 is about the same age Trek was when it started to make movies, so comparing it to the current dying horse is a bit naive, don't you think? I can only hope B5 will hit its stride on film like it did on TV. Season 3 was one of the best season of TV ever.
Drath... by MisterGrimloch	May 4th, 2004 06:32:52 PM
while i do not mean to stomp on your interest in this idea, i must correct you with your assessment that B5, and the Trek movies began at nearly the same time. that is patently incorrect. the first Trek movie was in 1979, and the B5 pilot premiered in 1993. also, since i feel B5 is the single best science fiction series ever made, rightfully ranked alongside such personal favorites as the original Star Trek, and Blake's 7, i cannot help but be concerned that B5 branching off into feature films is about as attractive an idea as Star Wars becoming a television series. in other words, i don't like the idea, but i would certainly pay attention to any B5 offerings that were handed down. Crusade was a sadly short lived series that anyone well versed in the B5 universe would tell you could have ultimately turned out to be phenomenal. 13 episodes, excellent though most of them were, are not sufficient to allow Crusade to be rated as much more than a scratch on the surface. Legend of the Rangers, having done poorly in its ratings, since it was shown alongside an NFL playoff game, was, in my opinion, far better than most gave it credit for. certainly it was not as good a pilot as "The Gathering" was for B5, or "A Call To Arms" was for Crusade, but in my humble opinion it was still an indication that a larger, more colorful series of story threads would have been possible to play out in the weekly television medium. i am very concerned that a B5 movie would be more "mainstream", and ultimately ruined by studio interference. what do i know? anything at this point beyond the novels would be interesting. good day.
Not Sure by Mad_Radhu	May 4th, 2004 08:24:48 PM
A movie project just doesn't seem like it would play to B5's strengths: such as complex, slowly unfolding story lines and characters that grew and changed over time. You really can't fit that kind of stuff into a two or three hour movie, so all you'd be left with would be space battles that took physics into account. I think the major compelling story has already been told and anything that a fan would find cool story wise, a B5 novice coming into the theater would likely be kind of confused. JMS might pull a rabbit out of his hat with this one, but I think a Farscape motion picture would work a lot better right now. B5 just takes too much patience for the casual moive goer, I fear. A remastered SE DVD set with new effects would be kinda cool though (especially those shots that composited live action and CGI together, the ones came out especially crummy in the DVD sets because those shots had to be taken from tape instead of the original film).
TREK & B5 by Captain Gorn	May 4th, 2004 08:47:44 PM
As interesting as B5 was through its fourth year, the way JMS concluded the Shadow War was as cheesy and as laughable as anything in Roddenberry's TREK. Instead of Kirk and Spock mouthing morality and logic, respectively, we had Sheridan and Delenn. B5 was a fun ride until its "Into the Fire' episode with that hopelessly Trek-cliched ending. Ho-hum.
Um Grimlock I think you missunderstood Drath by Smeg For Brains	May 5th, 2004 12:14:22 AM
He meant that B5 has been around about as long as Star Trek was when they made the first movie. I think that a B5 movie would be great, but it would do horribly bad at the box office, unless they somehow watered it down into a terrible Sci Fi action film with nothing in common with the series. I don't really see JMS doing that, so I don't think this film will ever get made. I mean look at the few most recent Star Trek films. Horrible action drek with no decent stories to be found. There is absolutely no way in hell that any of the first four Star Trek films would ever have gotten made in todays Hollywood climate. All they want is stupid action and no "confusing" story to get in the way of the blowin' up stuff. That is really the opposite of what B5 is all about. Sure it always had the potential to have action, but it's action was always dictated by what was happening in the story. It only served the story. Story is a bad thing in Hollywood today, so a story dependent series like B5 has little hope of getting the money needed for a big budget feature. Anyways what would it be about? I think that the quality of Crusade, Legend of the Rangers, and a few of the stand alone tv films (and also much of season 5 as it lost most of it's important story elements when they were crammed into season 4 when it looked like there would be no season 5) shows that the B5's greatness came from the carefully planned epic story, and it is less likely to have anything nearing that greatness come from any spin off concieved as an afterthought. JMS pretty much wrote himself into a corner, because anything grand enough to warant a huge production was covered by the end of season four. Oh and by the way I'm a huge B5 fan. I just would rather not see anything more of B5 until it can stand with the original series. Maybe a new series a'la ST: The Next Generation, where another grand epic story can be told because it takes place after the last episode (or more than twenty years after the end of B5). Then you have new characters to build a new story with, and you don't have to deal with the fact that we know how everything works out for all the characters from B5, but you also have the familiarity of the universe to build on. I guess that I'm saying that the story in B5 was always the most important thing, so the story of any new spin off would be more important than actually having any familiar B5 characters in it. ST: TNG had no Kirk or Spock in it, and it was far better than the original series. B5 was 100 times better than anything Star Trek ever did. i guess I want to see B5 The Next Generation more than B5 the big screen one off let down movie.
Ain't It Common News by Nuke-Marine	May 5th, 2004 12:48:57 AM
Jeez, the rumor mills been churning for over a month in the newsgroups about this project "B5:TMoS". I go to the AICN chat room to talk about the possibility of a B5 movie on May 1 and not 30 minutes later some story about it gets posted here. To top it off, it doesn't have all the dirt that's available straight from jms (although cryptically). As for the "Rising Stars" complaint, jms posted quite vocally about his stance with TopCow and the "Rising Stars" movie which ended with him keeping hold of the last few comic strips. JMS can keep a deadline if doing 100 scripts for a 5 year series is any indication.
Gweat Makah! by flossygomez	May 5th, 2004 01:27:52 AM
I can't wait for the CGI of Londo's "Genital Array". Oh shit, wasn't he strangled? How will they work this out...I just can't see a Bab5 movie without the Londarian in it...I mean...what's the point? And if they don't have G'Kar eating a pigs head while singing Gilbert & Sullivan, I really want my ducats back!
TMoS?? WTF? by ScaryMonkey	May 5th, 2004 04:44:57 AM
Does anyone have any idea what that acronym is, or am I just dense? Please feel free to rip me up if I missed something obvious. Also, speaking as one of the biggest B5 fans in existence (it took watching the entire series THREE TIMES in order to complete my VHS collection, and then they released the friggin' DVDs), the two-hour movie format was never the series' strong suit. "Thirdspace" and "River of Souls" are two of the worst B5 outings produced (which still puts them miles above most made-for-tv movies). Straczynski's writing style just doesn't sing in the 90-minute format, at least not so well as it does in the slowly-unfolding episodic format. Wait a minute... what the fuck am I doing, complaining? Not wanting it? Fuck that! I ain't no panty-waist fuckin' naysayer! I'm joyous, gleeful yaysayer! This is B5 on the BIG SCREEN!! Of course I want it! I want it like drowning people want air! I'm giddy as baboon in estrus for this motherfucker! Give 'em hell, Joe!
I think... by DocPazuzu	May 5th, 2004 05:26:10 AM
...Tim Bisley in Spaced pretty much summed it up.
You misunderstood me MisterGrimloch by Drath	May 5th, 2004 09:33:59 AM
Or rather I didn't phrase it very well. I wasn't saying B5 started that lone ago, I was saying Babylon 5 is now about the same age as Trek was when it went to the movies--"about" being the key word. Trek was what, thirteen years old when the motion picture came out? Babylon 5 is now about 11 years old having started in '93 with the first B5 TV movie. I figure it'd be another two years before a B5 movie could come out if got started in the near future.
Thank You, Smeg by Drath	May 5th, 2004 10:04:29 AM
I'm sorry, I didn't see your post. Thanks for backing me up. I agree that the danger of watering down B5 is for a mass audience could prevent this movie from ever happening. I wouldn't dismiss Trek 2 as mindless action, but it was still generalized in a way that I don't think JMS would do with B5. I'll hope for the best though.
Drath, and Smeg..... by MisterGrimloch	May 5th, 2004 06:53:32 PM
read your posts, and yes indeed there was a miscommunication. however, there was not miscommunication evident when Smeg wrote that he felt ST-TNG was far superior to the original series. i couldn't agree with you LESS, sir. but that is a topic for another forum. as for B5, yes the fifth season was less gripping than the other seasons, but i would argue that if taken for what it was, and the episodes viewed in a singular sense, they prove that questionable B5 is still leagues ahead of anything else found on television. as for the telefilms, i am apparently very lenient when compared to the average B5 viewer. i felt that In The Beginning was excellent, utilizing many scenes, and plot points originated in the series, and presenting them in an entertaining fashion. Thirdspace was, in my view, ALOT better than most give it credit for. the aliens were fairly creepy, and the interplay amongst the characters was right on the money. scenes such as Zack babbling to Lyta, in the lift, were hilarious, and very well done. the dream sequence with Ivanova and Vir was also sufficiently surreal to add the right amount of depth to this film qualifying it as a solid "sci-fi/horror" film. personally, i enjoyed it immensely. River of Souls contained alot of clunky dialogue, but ultimately had an interesting story, only interrupted by the Lochley/Hologram silliness. and for my money, the music in River of Souls was great. then we have A Call to Arms, which is the film i feel does not need any "qualifying" whatsoever. it is a solid, balls to the wall sci-fi action film, with a great sense of urgency. remember folks, we are talking about "television movies" here, so there needs to be some allowance when it comes to production levels. finally, we have Legend of the Rangers. yes, i thought the weapons room scenes were silly, but overall, this potential series pilot showed promise, and since nothing more ever came of the idea for "The Hand", there is really no way to fully appreciate what it was JMS had in mind. i agree that Legend is the weakest, but i again feel it is a cut above the incredibly boring Trek spinoffs. B5 will probably NEVER return to the greatness of seasons 1,2,3, and 4 (chaotic though season 4 was, i was gripped by every single episode, regardless of the somewhat sudden end to the Shadow War. and i don't care what anyone says, season 1 was excellent, with Chrysalis and Babylon Squared being my two personal favorites.) but then, as far as i'm concerned thats a level of excellence that will rarely be touched again by ANY concept. good day.
one other things, guys... by MisterGrimloch	May 5th, 2004 07:09:00 PM
who the fuck ultimately cares whether of not a B5 movie is a "stellar box office success" or a "total dud", because if the film is finished and excellent, its one more thing we can enjoy. i have no financial gain or loss connected with ANY of these franchises, and i seriously doubt any of you do either. there have been 10, count them, 10 Star Trek films and if you look at the domestic box office for each one, and consider the years in which they were released as a guide for dollar adjustment, there have been 2, yes 2 Trek films that were "big hits", and those are the first, and fourth. one more thing, i will firmly admit that i not only on the side of argument that says B5 was 90% solid throughout its 5 year, 110 episodes, 6 telefilms run, but i am also one of "those people" who think the Star Wars prequels are ridiculously under appreciated, and if you've read any of my posts in the Lord of the Rings films forums, you will know that i feel THAT trilogy is, while solid and entertaining, greatly overrated. finally, i would like to say that when the name "Star Trek" is spoken, i feel only one item rises to the level of excellence we all hope for in our entertainment, and that is THE ORIGINAL SERIES, period. ALL, and yes i mean ALL of the spinoffs were mediocre bores at best (TNG, DS9), and laughable turds at worst (Voyager, Enterprise). but, don't anyone take offense. these statements reflect only my irrelevant opinion, and i am very open minded to allow for a change of heart about these thoughts should anyone care to invest comment upon it. thank you, and good day.
Not to turn this into a Star Trek discussion... by Smeg For Brains	May 5th, 2004 09:06:14 PM
... but My opinion (which I know is not at all widely held) is that the original Star Trek was most often very silly, and has held up extremely poorly over the years. It was often formulaic, contradicting, and usually blunt with it's "messages" to the point of idiocy (the episode with the planet with warring clans who turn out to be decendents of comunists and capitalists and they have a flag exactly like the American flag, and the United States Constitution, and Kirk "dramatically" reads the consitution for them so they know what it really says is the perfect example of an idiotic story idea with all the subtlety of an icepick through the eyeball). There are very few episodes that actually warant the praise that the show gets. I admit that it deserves respect for laying groundwork for much better things to come, but TOS is just that. A groundbreaking series that did what it could at the time, and pales in comparison to shows like B5. I can see B5 being watched in 30 years, and being discovered by new fans as well. When was the last time that Star Trek TOS found any new fans in young geeks that weren't converted by older fans, or parents or something? I bet even Voyager created more new fresh ST fans than TOS has since TNG first started (and Voyager is horrible garbage). Anyways these are all just my thoughts and no offense is intended, so if you disagree thats great. You shouldn't care what I have to say anyway. If you like TOS, great. I'm a guy who worships The Prisoner as one of the best shows ever. That is my opinion, but I can easily see where others would not agree. That's the funny thing about opinions, there are 6 billion different sets of them in the world, and they are all right.
yo smeg: film will get made by DMented	May 6th, 2004 12:12:55 AM
The screenplay was evidently already approved, so IF this is in fact a film, deals are being signed as we speak. Even on a modest film budget Straczynski could deliver am amazing couple of hours. B5's main obstacle to greater popularity was, in fact, budget -- and a B5 film would not have that problem. JMS is smart enough not to write something only B5 fans could care about; I'm sure he wants there to be a sequel. Well, let's see: comics are more than ever considered great movie source material. And not coincidentally, he began writing quite a few comics some years back, when this trend was a bit younger. "Writing comics? What is he crazy?" some said. "Comic writers can't possibly make as much as TV writers!" Yeah, but how much do film writer/producers make? Crazy like a fox.

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