Let the wild speculations about what the next B5 project will be, when it will happen, and if it will truly get into production begin!
Ain’t It Cool News has posted a cryptic note from JMS in response to a question posted to his Facebook fan page:
To summarize briefly, Tazzer asked JMS if we’d really, truly seen the last of BABYLON 5 either on TV or in theaters. JMS’s reply, simply, was…
Ask me again after next April.
Let the commentary based on unabashed and unfettered dreams and speculations commence!
Link: Ain’t It Cool News: More BABYLON 5 On The Way?? Is There The Possibility Of Hope??
Come on dudes, you’re kind of behind on this one.. 🙂
JMS has been discussing this since a couple of weeks ago on FB, and you only hear about it from AICN now..? 😉
JMS on November 18:
“It [more B5] couldn’t be done for the CW, they tend to do their own stuff and not inherit shows (we’ve had this conversation in the past), and giving away co-ownership of a show to a network owned by another studio is anathema to most places these days. They’d rather have 100% of nothing than 50% of something.
But there may be more than one way to skin this particular cat, as they say in places where apparently cats are not overly popular.
Without being too specific, and with all the usual caveats about how not everything that gets discussed happens…there may be something I can talk about on this topic come March/April.”
JMS on November 19, on whether he would like to do a show for AMC:
“It’s a possibility. We’ve had talks from time to time, along with HBO and Showtime, and doors have been opened (and remain open) to me at both the cable and broadcast networks. It’s just that after Jeremiah, which was likely the most horrendous experience of my career to that point, I felt I needed a long break. I knew it would be at least five years. It’s only now, almost eight years later, that — barring a couple of gigs here and there, including a pilot I wrote for Dreamworks and Spielberg — that I’m willing to dip my toe back into TV in any serious capacity.”
Then on November 25, a fan asked again if we will see more B5, a series or a film, and JMS answers:
“I have no interest in doing any more low-budget DVDs because they don’t allow me to tell the story the way it needs to be told. The only thing(s) that could bring me back would be either a big-budget feature or a full TV series where I have the kind of creative control I need.”
Follow-up question to that: “Any progress at all been made on either a movie or new tv series at all?”
and JMS replies: “Ask me again after next April.”
This latest post from November 25 is what AICN reported on, but there has been a lot more discussion on it before.
Wow… what’s all the anger for? What did we do?
If you had been listening to the podcast, we talked about it right after his New York Comic Con announcement that WB had called him. But we haven’t heard anything new and B5-specific since then, until now, because no one had asked him again specifically about a B5 project since then.
Check out Show 215, for notes and links, and geez, go easy with the condescension next time!
whoa, take it easy, Summer, there’s no anger or condescension.. see all the smileys? just joking around.. playful banter and all that. love the show and you guys, and do listen to it. 🙂 just trying to be informative and helpful.
Okay, then 🙂
This was the first specific mention related to B5 I’d seen from The Great Maker directly (cryptic or otherwise), thus the mention. If I’d seen other mentions before today, I would have posted them then 🙂
Just chalk my touchiness up to stress and lack of sleep.
You had me going for a minute. As I check my various media outlets early before heading to a theme park. I almost screamed for joy.
Sigh.
The whole article referencing jms’ next April comment.
This seemed like old recycled news to me, but I have to remember that many fans, while loving the show aren’t always on top if every bit on minutiae.
If this helps keep Babylon 5 in people’s minds and helps to reinforce it’s popularity, that’s a good thing
Hey, I’m hoping he takes me up on my offer to call our VM line and give us a scoop when the time’s appropriate!
If that were to happen, I’m sure we’d hear Tim squee clear over on this side of the country 🙂
Of course, you could always ask him directly. I sent this email to the show on Nov. 4th. –
Hi Babcasters. Mark from Corona. Thought you would like to see this post on jms’ Facebook page, “Friends of J. Michael Straczynski” page in answer to a question I sent him today.
“Just relistened to your interview with the Babylon Podcast. It is fun to listen to you tell those back stories. Knowing full well your are (always) fighting writing deadlines, is there any chance you would make another appearance there? Or are you a little tired of talking about the past and want to only look to the future?”
Fans of J. Michael Straczynski Sure, I’m totally open to the idea of round two on a range of topics. Past, present, future…time is an illusion…which means I paid way too much for my watch.
Seems like somebody there needs to make a call. He does have a couple of things of note going on right now to talk about. Maybe even……
dare we say it?……………………………Lensmen?
mc
‘Fraid Tim’s not going to be happy about this…I asked JMS for the traditional year-end update (and specifically mentioned Lensman) and part of his reply was:
JMS: “Lensman is on hold at Universal, because they know it would cost a mint to produce and they’re not certain about the name value, if it’s well enough known to bring in an audience that will make the investment pay off…”
His entire answer can be found:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fans-of-J-Michael-Straczynski/139652459402959?ref=ts#!/pages/Fans-of-J-Michael-Straczynski/139652459402959#!/profile.php?id=100000605761840
grumblefrack.
Hey World. Not everyone has Facebook or wants to Facebook, so making it so only Facebookers can see your news is so not cool.
Good thing they’re on hiatus until January. Maybe Tim can work through this before a whole podcast gets dedicated to it.
I’m sorry, you forgot to phrase that post as a question. 😉
If by ‘World’ you’re talking about JMS’s fan page on Facebook, you’ll be happy to know that DougO (siteowner of JMSnews.com) has been trying to figure out a way to import JMS’ posts for some time now. Apparently it’s a ‘non-trivial’ problem (translation: really, really hard) so he’s looking at another solution. Meanwhile, I try to run around to various places reposting the parts I know people are interested in like some kind of demented town crier.
I’m not privy to what JMS thinks but I can see where the Facebook page would be far better for him in several ways.
Yes, retrieving information from Facebook is fraught with peril, from what I’ve heard over the years. It’s the same as having your account randomly turned off because someone who thinks they’re one of the cool kids decided they didn’t like you after all. I feel DougO’s pain.
But seeing that it’s a fan page owned by someone else, how is it better? If it were JMS’ own personal Facebook account, I’d lean towards giving it a pass, but it’s not. Unless I’m completely misunderstanding how fan pages work — this is just some random person who started a JMS fan page, and now he’s posting messages to it, cutting off the majority of his decades-old fan base, and only updating a fraction of that number who can still can keep up with information on that page, right?
And no, I meant World. Everyone seems to be slobbering all over Facebook as the new internet “thing” you have to have or you’re not a cool kid, but it’s a completely closed system. I don’t mind it when part of a system is closed, but wth Facebook, if you don’t have an account, you can’t read jack shit on any Facebook page, not one word. So you’ll pardon me if I won’t drink the Koolaid and think your sandbox is so special that you think I must jump through 25 hoops and kiss a few asses before I am “allowed” into your playground; and then based on another combination of arcane rules and regulations, you still get to employ some randomosity and still not let me in.
F*ck you, your Facebook, and the horse you both rode in on. And yes, for the record, I have nothing to do with the Facebook pages for the FPM sites, other than trying to figure out how to get some of the website info to cross-pollinate to them. It’s almost as bad as trying to get info out… makes me dream of something less painful, like flossing with hand grenades.
Actually, the Fans of JMS page was set up by JMS when he decided that his personal page should be more for professional use. Which means that he can control the content and not be dependant on moderators if he needs something edited (which couldn’t be done with Usenet, anyway) or deleted . He still has the capability to appoint others as mods, though (admins, as they’re called on FB) if he chooses.
I don’t see that he’s really cut many people off since there are many newer fans who don’t have a clue about Usenet and there are fewer newsreaders out there all the time. Facebook, Usenet…far as I can see, there’ll always be hoops to jump through but JMS does try to keep the wall between himself and the fans al low as possible while still protecting himself from the less well adjusted folk out there. And if/when DougO can get it set up for JMS’ posts to show up on the JMSnews.com archives, the net result should end up with more accessibility rather than less. And far more than most celebs have.
My anger is directed more towards Facebook, and the newbie users who think the Internet begins and ends at Facebook (it feels like AOL all over again)
I have no patience with such cluelessness, and yes, those folks are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. 🙂
But yes, we are cut off, because I still have not seen the full message you’ve been talking about, nor *any* Facebook news that he’s posted. And the only people wh can be appointed mods are people who have Facebook accounts of their own. Again, with the exclusionary BS.
Yet again, we are the bastard red-headed stepchildren of the B5 fandom. Irksome, it is.
The entire ‘year-end round-up’ message has been posted to both the moderated newsgroup and the JMSnews forums. Any time there’s particularly major news, I make sure to post it on the top of the JMSnews archive page. Since those are the places that most people have gone to for years looking for info on JMS…
Facebook is not all that helpful either.
I’m on Facebook, I’m also on the Fans of J. Michael Straczynski page, but I missed JMS’ reply to Jan’s post.
The reason being that when you “Like” a group or fan page in Facebook, you have to option to have posted on your news feed, posts by JMS, or posts by everyone. I choose only posts from JMS since posts by everyone would clutter my news feed. But apparently, posts by JMS only includes posts that JMS originates. Replies to other people do not show up on my feed.
So if JMS’ year-end update was a reply to Jan on his fan facebook page, then I’m sure that lots of other people missed it.
I only found out about it from Jan’s comment above.
Yes, it was a reply to my post asking for an update, Dennis. It’s kind a a tradition toward the end of the year that somebody ask for a round-up of the various things that have been heard or rumored. Most of JMS’s interaction with fans has always been answering fan questions.
One has to visit the actual page in order to see posts from JMS that are replies rather than new threads he starts if they don’t opt for the entire feed. I’m hoping that the idea that DougO is working on will make the JMSnews archives work again as they did before as an archive of all of his posts. Looks like it’ll need a little more human intervention than the importer from the Usenet groups did, especially since with FB, the question or post that JMS is responding to is pretty much never quoted.
I did mention Babylon Podcast to jms on FB and he said he enjoyed doing the show. He also said he would be open to coming back on the podcast.
Sounds like April would be a good time to book that. 😉