JMS (babylon 5) New Announcement Rumour

[quote=”SadGeezer”]I’ve had an email [i](and the wife has read somewhere)[/i] that JMS, the creator of Babylon 5 and Crusade (and Jeremiah) is about to make an announcement about Babylon 5 in the next few weeks!

It’s rumoured that the announcement will be made at the end of January and that it will involve the production (or continuation) of a spinoff series from Babylon 5.

I’m afraid that’s all the info I have. it could be total rumour (I checked the internet and found nothing (even in the babylon 5 moderated newsgroup!!!) so I guess we should take this with the proverbial pinch of salt.

Has anyone else heard anything like this?[/quote]

Maybe I should of been more verbose =)

http://sadgeezer.com/html/displayarticle134.html

Wrote a lil article on it a week or so ago and a link to JMS site where he said it. Janurary 17th I believe is the date of the announcement, and it DEFINITELY concerns B5 not a spinoff, which is *really* interesting. If you listened to the BackTracks on the B5 DVDs each actor expressed huge interest in reviving the series, and a few claimed “I don’t even know why they stopped it when they did.” So perhaps that was a bit of catalyst. We’ll find out on the 17th =)

[quote=”LexxLurker”]Maybe I should of been more verbose =)

http://sadgeezer.com/html/displayarticle134.html

Wrote a lil article on it a week or so ago and a link to JMS site where he said it. Janurary 17th I believe is the date of the announcement, and it DEFINITELY concerns B5 not a spinoff, which is *really* interesting. If you listened to the BackTracks on the B5 DVDs each actor expressed huge interest in reviving the series, and a few claimed “I don’t even know why they stopped it when they did.” So perhaps that was a bit of catalyst. We’ll find out on the 17th =)[/quote]

Wow!

How embarrassing. I should have checked my own bloody website!

It’s hard sometimes, to realise that this website is kept so up-to-date by such a large sci-fi-community and peeps like yerself!

It also seems amazing that although the JMS News site have details, there weren’t any articles in the babylon5 moderated newsgroup (for so long, the only real info site for babylon5!!)

Ok, so I’ll wait for the mid-to-late January announcement with baited breath. And yes, the details of more Babylon 5 stuff (as opposed to spin off series stuff intrigues me too! 🙂

This is from the aformentioned website on November 30, 2003:

[quote=”[url=http://www.jmsnews.com/scripts/MsgStore.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetMsg&List=1&Topic=1&Flags=1&Query=january&QFlags=1&ls=1&qs=1&qt=0]JMSNews[/url]”]On the B5 front, there has been something of rather substantial proportion
that’s finally gone from talk to money, such that I’m now working frantically
to meet some deadlines, but there’s nothing I can say about this until after
January 15th, probably closer to the end of that month.

The only thing I can say is that phase one of the new project is a go, hence
the furious writing schedule at this end of things, which is why I’ve been
silent until deciding to kick up some dust on the political discusion. I’ve
been writing my little brains out.

I know the immediate result of this will be speculation, but if we could keep
that to a low roar on the nets to avoid precluding anything, that would be a
wonderfulness. But trust me: I wouldn’t go on about something in this way if
it wasn’t a significant development. Just trust me on this one for a bit and
hold fire until further word.

(Longtime followers of the various news groups know that an eep means that
something significant has happened, but that I can’t talk about it…the eep is
just a way of saying, on the QT, that something has, indeed, happened and it’s
real, not just speculation or maybe-gonna-happens. So on that basis, you may
consider this an eep.)[/quote]

OOWER!

fluffybunny, I’m really sorry but I inadvertantly deleted your post!!!!

Please could you repost! I’m really sorry (had too much red wine! 🙁 )

[quote=”SadGeezer”]OOWER!

fluffybunny, I’m really sorry but I inadvertantly deleted your post!!!!

Please could you repost! I’m really sorry (had too much red wine! 🙁 )[/quote]

Lol- I can’t even remember what I wrote. Ah well, another post lost to Saddy’s hangover 😀

Oh I remember bits of it- hope the announcement’s delayed for another year if they’ve only just started the writing phase- there was a year gap between The Gathering and S1, and as a result the show just became stronger- beyond the level of ‘adequate’ to very good, leading to awesome in S2 and 3.

I haven’t got all the links I collected about this topic on this machine, but from what I understand JMS to be saying, the new project is:

1. Babylon 5, not a spinoff

2. Not a series

3. Not print media

Now, that seems to me to mean that it is either a TV miniseries or a feature flick. Given the money involved in the latter, and the fact that the series it is being derived from is neither Trek nor a 1960s TV series that you can recast, i am betting for the former.

If I had to guess a subject, I would say its finally the Teep Wars. I know JMS has been keeping this back as the topic of a feature film 9which is why the series and books just skip right over it) but even if it is a TV miniseries I think he has to realize that he won’t be able to have his stars around forever, and the only subject that seems worthy of all the hoopla would be the Teep wars.

Anything as bland as the bulk of the TV movies or [i]The Legend of the Rangers[/i] would kill the franchise dead. JMS needs to hit a home run with this one, and his best-developed idea HAS to be the Teep Wars.

Comments?

A Teep wars series would be so awesome, but I too was of the impression that JMS was saving that for a feature film (which would be the better option, IMO, but never mind)- however, that said, the main characters in a teep war film would probably be Lyta, Bester and Garibaldi- and, if memory serves correctly, no one, not even a [i]fan[/i], has been as enthusiastic about a B5 revival as Jerry Doyle has been. A series set during the 1260 shadow war? It’d be good to see how the war turned out, with Valen forming the grey council etc. and how G’Quan was involved, but that’s more TV movie, IMO.

[quote=”Nebagram”]A Teep wars series would be so awesome, but I too was of the impression that JMS was saving that for a feature film (which would be the better option, IMO, but never mind)…[/quote] If I am reading the tea leaves right, JMS was always saving the Teep Wars for a feature. However, the stock of B5-realted materials has taken a huge hit since he mapped out his strategy, with two failures in a row (though the books have done nicely, that’s only “nicely” compared to other small-niche-market books.

So, I don’t really think the money would be there for a theatrical flick, much as I would love to believe otherwise. In a way, that’s good, because from script completion to theatrical release would be years.

Even if it is only a TV miniseries, I think JMS needs to bring out his best concepts to the next B5 product, and the Teep Wars are almost certainly that. Plus, he could get the series actors to play the roles now, when their chronological age is correct for the role, not five years from now when things would be more difficult.

[quote]… if memory serves correctly, no one, not even a [i]fan[/i], has been as enthusiastic about a B5 revival as Jerry Doyle has been.[/quote] True, but Doyle has been talking about just a continuation of the series. Straczinski has already said he has zero interest in writing for such a project, and Katsulas and Jurasik have already also said that they will not return to a series unless it is at least partially written by JMS. So, I think Doyle’s effort is doomed to fail, but at least Jerry has kept the name of the franchise in play.

All we can do is keep doing our part to make sure the DVD sales are strong, and hope for the best. And I think the Teep Wars would be “the best” even if only in a miniseries format.

Hi!

I’m new here, but a big B5 fan. I don’t know if this has been posted before, or even if it’s relevant but this is the word from JMS himself:

“To the many questions that have arisen here of late…yes, as I mentioned
before, there is the possibility of something Babylon 5 related on the horizon,
but again I don’t want anyone getting excited until we know if either one of
these two projects is going to actually come to fruition. We should know where
this lands in the next few weeks. The only thing I will say is that they’re
not print projects, so if you were to assume it’s for TV or film you wouldn’t
be too far off…but that neither of them are series. And that’s all I’m going
to say about them for now.”

http://www.jmsnews.com – message 17017

So there you go

bambooshoot 😀

[quote=”Headgehog”]I don’t mean to be critical of anyones’ posts here, but I think we’re doing that speculation thing that he asked us not to do. [/quote] When JMS askes us not to speculate, he is referring to speculating on the usenet site where he himself appears (I think he is concerned about the “silence implies consent” issue) not the fan boards. I am sure he understands perfectly well that his announcement will lead to speculation on boards like this – and in fact that almost surely is why he reveals these kinds of things. It keeps the juices flowing and the franchise alive.

He eggs on the speculation if you read the Usenets, so I’m not so sure that we need to obey his every command. He wouldn’t of said anything at all if he wanted to keep it quiet.

I’d guess he’s more worried about *negative* reaction to pre-production hype which could cost him funding.

Not all of his productions were originally labeled B5: Many of the early LotR commercials including one I got on a Lexx tape never even mentions the word B5.

He pretty much told us it had to do with Babylon5 the day he said it was a B5 project. Even though it’s the word for the greater universe of his stories, he doesn’t always use it so prominently in his postings.

As for guesses after reading that Usenet thread I think

The Myth of Sheridan
The Myth of Shadows
The Mystery of Shadows

seem likely candidates based off the 5th season and movies like Thirdspace where Lyta alludes to the fact there is a LOT of bad technology floating around out there from the Vorlons and Shadows.

The Myth of Sheridan seems to egocentric, but I could see it being a title if it was a B5 series told from the distant future where Sheridan is seen as a legend/myth.

Can’t wait to hear more from JMS, he really teased us when he told us someone got it right!

Is there anymore news on this?

I hate to sound impatient but I am!!!!!!!

Bambooshoot 😉 😆

A report filed on B5TV.com by one of the fans today:
[quote]JMS was at a Comic Book Convention to help raise money for Hawthorne High School’s floundering art program. I’m sure you’ll be getting much more info because I met people from both the Moderated site and JMSnews.com.

The day just finished with JMS generously answering questions for an hour and a half. The Q&A took place in a large classroom where someone had written J. M. Straczynski: TMoS 101, on the blackboard which he erased when he came into the room. There was much joking about the TMoS project all through the session. He said he wished he could talk about it but couldn’t. However, halfway through when someone asked a question about the Mages he pointed to the erased blackboard without saying a word. Later, when someone asked about Crusade he again pointed to the erased blackboard. Was he joking? We’ll soon know.
[/quote]
While it would be fun to think JMS is going to give us something in this movie about both the Crusade and Technomage arcs, it is unfortunately just like JMS to pull our legs in matters like this.

Only a week or so until we know (the “Ides of May”).

Oooh it’s all so exciting!

I’ve just finished watching my season 4 boxset (Thanks Sadgeezer!) and I want MORE!

Does that make me a junkie?

Bambooshoot 😆

Well, JMS posted a few more tidbits today. You can find the whole post (including some info on the Biggs memorial service) [url=http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17108]here[/url] but the two key points for fans are:
1. that the title is, indeed, [i]The Memory of Shadows[/i] and
2. that Richard Biggs was to be in it (and by inference the movie features the original cast).

He posted again this morning (Hopefully getting back in the habit).

Among other things he claims that TMoS may have an “adjunct”, I’m thinking a TV series personally based off the movie, but we’ll see.

He also mentioned he was offered an Executive Producer role for a Network TV series, that he personally has nothing to do with, but is such a great project he has to be on board.

Anyone else thinking Star Wars? 😕

Anyways, there’s 2 new posts over at JMSnews.com

He also talks about the B5 Movie DVDs as well as the Crusade DVDs and commentary.

On the 15 June post, my ideas are this:

1. I doubt the new adjunct project is a TV series. WB has been stunned and pleased by the DVD sales (basically, they recouped the entire costs of the first three seasons at least through DVD sales alone), but planning a new series before the movie is even started seems way premature to me. It could be a miniseries to “whet the appetites” for the movie, or it could be something less obvious. But it has to be one of the things [i]The Memory of Shadows[/i] wasn’t, and a lot of them (animated series, comic book, radio play) don’t make much sense. But another one of the things it wasn’t was a computer game, and we know that [i]Into the Fire[/i] by Sierra was over 90% complete when it was shelved. Given the propensity for movie/game tie-ins, I would regard this as a good bet.

2. On the new show he is EPing, I have little idea, save that this is the likeliest thing besides TMoS that would get him to London in time to see his play produced there. I recall that about 4 years ago he and Josh Wheden were very close to doing a TV series together, and this may be the culmination of that effort now that Wheden is done with Buffy and Angel and soon will be done with Firefly (which I believe is in shooting now). JW will be ready for a series in 2005, and if JMS is going to England in, say, the fall, it may be connected with the TV series, and JW has been interested in a revival of the [i]Dark Shadows[/i] series in Victorian England if rumor is true. Not much chance of all this coincidental stuff being true, but it is an interesting set of circumstances.

3. On the “coded message” to England and Australia, I have to believe that this is the news that the R2 and R4 movie sets will have all five movies in the boxed set, rather than the three previously announced (their sets as announced lacked ItB and tg, because those had already been released). Another possibility is that JMS himself has decided to attend some cons in those countries because now he has a reason to do so.

4. On the new book series: great news. The three trilogies were very strong and I am looking forward to more of them.

Has anyone heard anything lately? In this case I believe that no news is BAD news. I mean we should have heard something a few months ago right?