Good News, and Very, Very Bad News
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The good news is that an independent source, http://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7515 has reported a start date for the filming of [i]The Memory of Shadows[/i]
[quote]Babylon 5 Movie Starts Filming in April
Source: Production Weekly December 8, 2004Steven Beck will direct a big screen adaptation of the popular sci-fi TV series Babylon 5. The movie, titled The Memory of Shadows, is intended for theatrical release and was written by series creator J. Michael Straczynski. Production Weekly reports that the project starts filming this April in the UK.
In “Shadows,” the technology of the ancient and extinct Shadow race is being unleashed upon the galaxy by an unknown force, and Earthforce intelligence officer Diane Baker, whose brother was recently killed in a mysterious explosion, it out to find out who is behind the intergalactic conspiracy.
Joining her is Galen, a techno-mage who has been charged with keeping the technology out of the hands of those who would abuse it.[/quote]
The bad news comes in two parts. The first comes from JMS himself on [url]http://jmsnews.net/msg.aspx?id=1-17253[/url]
[quote]>I’ve listened to the commenary and features but I haven’t heard anything
>really
>about what happened. Certainly not anything like the story we were told at
>Hawthorne. One wonders if they gave in and let JMS talk about what happened
>and then simply edited it out.Yes, that’s exactly what happened.
I sat down to watch the DVD set yesterday, having picked it up at the local
store, and went to the commentary. I’d put that information at the very start
of my commentary.Now, understand: what I’d told WB was this….if you want me to do the
commentary, my requirement is that you let me tell what really happened. If
you want to use the commentary, you have to leve that in. If you don’t want to
have that in, then don’t use the commentary at all. Everybody agreed.So I started it up…listened…and it was gone.
In its place is a segment taken from the on-camera interview.
This was the one tape they didn’t send me for approval, which being busy I
didn’t track back, but I was always told there wasn’t a problem. At no time
did ANYONE from WB or New Wave Entertainment tell me that this was being done.Doing these DVDs was the only way I had to date to get the bad taste of that
experience out of my mouth, the sheer dishonesty and rudeness of it all.So much for that goal.
The term “furious” doesn’t even begin to cover it. I’m normally a very quiet,
soft spoken kind of guy.But last night I broke the sound barrier and the dictionary all at the same
time.Furious.
You have no idea.
jms[/quote]
The second bit comes from several reports on [url]http://jmsnews.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=584[/url]
[quote]Heya, Jan!
Can you get through on the newsgroup Straczyski posts on? I’ve been hearing things I don’t like the sounds of. It finally got me to register there but there’s trouble. Yeah, I emailed the moderators. This is waht I was trying to post:
<<Suddenly I’m hearing rumors from people that there’s trouble with your new movie.
A friend of mine told me that Warner’s getting cold feet because they only want Blockbuster hits with big stars. Isn’t Babylon 5 successful enough? I know you said the DVDs sold really well. Just because it’s a TV show doesn’t mean it won’t be a hit. Are they talking to other studios? Anyways, my friend told me that the money folks are looking for movie stars to take the place of Bruce and Mira and the rest because they think nobody’ll come see TV actors. That’s dumb. He says that you don’t want to change the actors and that’s what’s holding everything up. I’m glad to hear that but now there’s the news about you filming in April. Does that mean everything’s okay now? I don’t think I want to see it without the stars I already know.
Please tell us!!!
Dani>>[/quote]
and
[quote]According to my source, this is a problem folks!
WB has suddenly in the eleventh hour decided that TMoS isn’t high-profile enough since it’s roots are in TV. The financiers are, according to my source, looking for big named actors over JMS’s objections because they don’t think fans will come out to see TV actors in a big screen film. JMS is supposedly battling on their behalf, but my source tells me that things are coming down to the wire and that a decision will have to come soon…either replace the cast with big stars in the same roles or not.
Supposedly WB is also not considering it to be big enough and are in negotiations with other studios to distribute it.
My source tells me, they’re sending out casting notices on main cast…word is to prove no firestorm will come from the fanbase if this gets out and thus shut JMS up.[/quote]
Both of these quote come from people who have proven to know thier stuff (i.e. made predictions that came true).
My feeling is that JMS will sink the project rather than let the original actors down.
So, the good news is that production has started, and the bad news is that is likely will never be finishd. 🙁
I hate to say it, but I think they’re both right.
Putting my B5 fanboi’ism aside, how on earth can B5 bring in a “movie-sized” audience? When was the last time any of these actors were in a movie production? Sure the DVD will sell great, but it really looks like this movie might pull in 5 million at the box office, at best with the current cast.
I really dont understand why this wasn’t a made for TV movie, then sold on DVD ala Farscape IF they wanted the original series cast.
A compromise would’ve been to go the “Star Trek” route. Allow the original cast to retain their roles, but give larger roles to the big time stars (Khan, Malcom McDowell, Christopher Lloyd, etc…)
I’m really scratching my head over this one. Both sides seem awfully stuborn.
Well, given that “Diane Baker” isn’t a current B5 charactor and is the mani charactor in the movie as written by JMS, I would argue that the movie was gonna do just what you say: have a new main charctor with the old cast in “supporting” roles. In fact, that is what would HAVE to happen given that JMS has said repeatedly that the story of Babylon 5 itself has been told and he won’t be revisiting it.
Recasting the original charactors is dumb, though. Better to have none of the original charactors in the film at all. I don’t think a movie needs big names to sell, though. It seems that The Lord of the Rings did just fine with a cast that was generally unknown before their appearance in it.
The reason for the feature film is to make the kind of money that a feature film can make, which dwarfs anything a TVM can make. Plus, with the virual guarantee of significant DVD sales (WB made more than $100 million on the sales of the series sets) made it seem like a no-lose situation. They seem to be rethinking the idea of distributing it themselves, though, so they may be following your line of reasoning.
I would have preferred a TVM myself, because it would be likelier to happen and would be in our hands sooner.
JMS’s comment on the news about recasting
[quote]I would like to be able to comment on this, but for the time being I am not
able to do so.jms[/quote][url]http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17259[/url]
Now comes news from the mira-f yahoo group that, in response to a quesion about TMoS, Mira Furlan, at Visicon in Missouri during the weekend of Feb 19-20, 2005, revealed that there would be no movie for the time being:
[quote]Question and answer session at VisionCon – I think someone asked the question – she said “It’s dead” and something to the effect that jms would probably try to resurrect it at some point. She didn’t elaborate much more than that, at least not in public. And it’s basically what she repeated to various people who asked the question of her at the autograph table – I was sitting next to her the entire time she was autographing.[/quote]This kinda conforms to the vibes we all have been getting from JMS’s latest posts – that Wb features was not happy with the way things were shaping up.
Maybe the good news is that WB television will take advantage of this. That surely is the only good side to the movie cancellation I can see.
I like B5 but do we really need another movie or show from it. The spinoff sucked, most of the movies made around it as semi add-ons/spinoffs aren’t that great.
Sorry folks but if it happen to hit the screen I know I wont be easy to cough up $8+ dollar to see it. What was one of the last movies… 3rd space?….OMFG….that was a total rip off of a wing commander game (few years before) and terrible directing! Then you have the Rangers spinoff….*shutters…..if i had to hear the phrase “we live for the one we die for the one” ONE MORE TIME!!!! 👿
It seems to me that anything outside of the original story seems bare and plain….don’t know who’s at fault…actors, directors, writers, it’s something and it’s terrible!
Well, it is true that the crusade spinoff and some of the B5 movies were not that great, but still, I always find JMS storylines interesting.
Really. it is a pity that, for whatever reason, no new B5 movie is going to be produced just yet.
Anyway, let us just hope that, as JMS himself recently said in one of his emails, it is only a matter of time (probably a few more years 🙁 ) before the next B5 movie is finally produced.
According to JMS, TMoS is dead/shelved:
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17289The rule of thumb in Hollywood is that for every thousand scripts that get written, only a few dozen get into development, and out of those, only one will ever get made…if that.
A little over a year ago, I was approached by a company that wanted to make a Babylon 5 movie. They optioned the rights, and commissioned a script. (It’s worth mentioning that I, not WB, own the rights to a B5 movie. When we were negotiating the original B5 deal — by whose terms I will never see a dime in profit — the one thing they did let me have were the movie rights, figuring they’d never be worth anything in the long run.)
Anyway…on December 27th of 2003, the script for “The Memory of Shadows” was turned in, and the process began of trying to make the deal work with all the various forces involved. It is, to say the least, a very difficult process on any movie where the studio does not directly take the financial reins. In terms of B5, Warner’s position was esssentially, “We only do big-budget movies with big names, so you’re on your own.” If there were big-name movie actors in the film, they’d get behind it; without that, things become very problematic, especially as far as the financing was concerned. You much have to put together a consortium of international interests and business plans rivaled in complexity only by the Allied invasion of Normandy Beach.
Nonetheless, every attempt was made by the people involved to get this deal in place. This was not being done by Doug or myself, but rather by the company/individuals who approached us and optioned the rights. At times, it seemed we were inches away from a deal…stages were reserved at Elstree, actors were contacted, a director was in place, the script went through many revisions, a few key staff were hired, again not by me…it was really a year-long roller coaster ride. During that time, the people involved, with every good intention, tried very hard to pull the necessary pieces together on the deal. The option expired in late December 2004, but I renewed it without cost, to give those involved more time to try and make things work.
In the end, however, the deal could be put together, and it did not look as if that was going to change at any point in the foreseeable future. So the option has reverted, and to all intents and purposes, the project has dead ended. Nor do I think this particular incarnation will arise again at any point in the future, though prognostication has always been a tricky art, especially if you have to do it without the benefit of hindsight.
This was not the first time someone’s taken a run at a B5 feature film, and it will not be the last. Eventually it will happen, because such things are simply inevitable. If they can do a Brady Bunch movie, you can be sure that sooner or later, somebody’s going to do a B5 movie. The only thing I can say without equivocation is that when that day comes, as the rights-holder, I will make darned sure that it’s done right, because I’d rather have no B5 movie than one that doesn’t live up to what fans and I myself would want to see.
To that end…I can wait.
Anyway, just thought you should know the story.
jms
I totaslly agree that The legend of the Rangers was dreadfull, and agree that that was completely JMS’s fault. The acting wasn’t bad, it was the concept and the dialogue that let the show down, and those were totally the responsibility of JMS.
However, I totally disagree that Crusade sucked. It was far more rich and deep than the first 13 episodes of Babylon 5 itself, and the concept for the rest of the five-year arc was great. The problem was that the show was strangled in its crib, and we saw some of he squirmings under the blanket (namely, the first six episodes aired, which were designed by TNT Atlanta to give them the excuse to pull the plug).
And [i]Thirdspace[/i] was not the last movie made, it was the second one made. It was a ripoff of HP Lovecraft (or an homage, if you prefer) and he similarities it shared with Wing Commander were at best incidental (unless WC was ripping off Lovecraft). I agree it was not very good overall, but it had some great acting that rescued it from the dialogue.
Now, if you want to bitch about [i]River of Souls[/i] you have to stand in line.
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