quote:So I thought about it, and I suggested a bunch of short films. Little mini-movies or an anthology show set in the Babylon 5 universe. I pick a character and develop an hour-long story around that character. Stories that I wanted to tell during the B5 series but never had the chance to develop. They said, Okay. I said I wanted complete creative control. Do not change my words that I write, and I want that in writing. They said, Okay. And I want to direct. They said, Okay.
This project was green lit less than two weeks ago. Its going to happen. Production starts in September in Vancouver, Canada. Post-production will occur from October to February with a release of the first three anthologies in the second quarter of 2007.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Wow. Two reasons it'll suck right there- total creative control for JMS and not any tweaking of his horrid dialogue.
With no one to say "Chop-Socky weapons systems is a really bad idea" JMS is sure to give a stellar product.
On the other hand, I'm all for it- it'll keep this bozo off Trek.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
In which of your many fantasy worlds does a director/producer not having full creative control automatically guarantee that a show doesn't ever suck or have the odd episode with a really bad idea (but sure interspersed with great dialogue) made?
Your critique of JMS is getting awfully old, too.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
It's no guarentee at all it wont suck, but I've read great JMS stuff- really truly great stories he wrote for comics. With an editor.
I really think the guy can be a extremely creative person, but in recent years he's become an egotist, and not allowing anyone to shoot down bad ideas is the downfall of many such creative type in the comics field. It holds doubly true with JMS, who actually blamed the fans for LOTR's poor showing.
While I dont think studio execs should be re-writing dialogue, (they can hire someone qualified to assist JMS though!) getting a studio/network to say "we're good with whatever you want to schlock out" as a pre-requisite to starting is certainly a recipie for disaster.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
All right. Science fiction's one-hit wonder stikes again!
Mark
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
No, not just in recent years. JMS has always been like that, from the first episode of B5 onwards. The difference is that today he knows (and is a bit full of himself because of it) what the result can be if he's handed all the ropes, and he thinks his record where B5 is concerned is spotless. That's why he won't accept so much as a studio note anymore, doing B5 all on his own against major odds and the cancellation of Crusade (after being treated like shit by TNT) have locked him into "reject all outside interference, good or bad" mode.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
He claims otherwise. How much that's true, who knows?
The last times I watched a JMS-created work, "Crusade" and "Legends of the Rangers" both were sunk because of outside influences. Really, does anyone NOT know the story of how TNT demanded that JMS include stuff like more sex and fistfights, and that when he finally drew a line and refused to make more changes, they pulled the plug on the show... before the pilot episode had even aired?
Crusade wasn't great, but it had immense potential in many of its characters. And really, how many shows hit the nail on the head from the very beginning. (And even shows that do, like Firefly, still get canned. But that's neither here nor there.)
I just watched "In the Beginning" with my family last week... I'm gathering that these "anthology stories" are probably going to be in a similar, but probably not as grand, vein. I eagerly look forward to it!
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, we know one side of that story.
As for myself, I've seen B5 a few times (that is, the whole show from start to finish; not including Crusade, which I only watched the once; and I missed that last pilot, or rather, missed most of it; catching the last ten minutes or so, combined with the general opinion of it, kept me from seeking it out again) but in a sense I'm more interested in the nature of the project. I've been following MIT's Convergence Culture Consortium with some interest lately, and this seems like an interesting example of what they keep going on about.
So, stepping aside from the argument about just how hard B5 totally rocked/sucked, do you suppose something like this has legs outside of a somewhat narrow, long tail-y niche of wizened fans? Does it need to? Am I shallow for worrying about production values? (Actually, personally, I am not all that interested regardless, but I am sort of thinking with an eye towards other TV shows nearer and dearer to me that I would like to see more of.)
HE SHOULD JUST PUT THEM UP ON YOUTUBE I THINK AM I RITE??
(Am I?)
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
If there's any silver lining here, it's that we know Vancouver can crank out decent looking sci-fi on a budget - they've got a track record stretching two decades now. "Legend of the Rangers", complete with its silly weapons station, sticks as one of the better LOOKING entries to the B5 canon.
The stories from jms can be good. His own writing and atrocious dialogue can't. So will the carpet match the drapes on this latest return to the well? We'll see.
Mark
PS - Just to prove myself right, I went and re-watched the boring parts of "A Call to Arms". There are numerous places where people are together, and one of them just starts talking... And talking... And talking... And no one else reacts or replies or discusses. There's even one speech when Garibaldi is walking around the bridge of a ship talking and giving orders... To no one. And then he leaves! There's one guy he looks at for a split second as he leaves, but during the entire time beforehand he doesn't address anyone, discuss things, or whatever. They just keep talking at no one for no reason. ARRRGH!
Posted by Toadkiller (Member # 425) on :
I never was able to get past the era of "cardboard man" aka the first commander of B5.
*Shudder*
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Oh, I know what you mean. Sinclair was such an AWFUL actor. Fortunately, he's gone after the first season, with only a single appearance in a later episode and another brief cameo. If you can survive a small number of episodes from the first season to get the introductions of the major plots, then you can move on and enjoy the rest of the series.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Rewatch season 1 after a long break from B5 - it is and Sinclair is actually WAY better than you remember. Then my rewatching moved into season 2 and I really disliked Sheridan after watching season 1 a couple of times. He was to... corny and over the top.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
In many ways, Michael O'Hare reminds me of Philip Anglim - and not just because there's a slight resemblance. With Vedek Bareil, I could never figure out whether he was just being all enigmatic and holy, or if it was just that Anglim was the most wooden actor in Trek ever. The official line remains that TPTB, including JMS, felt that they needed a more bombastic take on the hero, rather than the aura of quiet confidence Sinclair gave off.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Andrew: Yeah, Sheridan's entrance in S2 was like a bucket of cold water to the face. Refreshing, but not exactly pleasant. I've read that JMS and Bruce Boxleitner deliberately overdid his happy-go-lucky attitude for the first half of the season, to establish more of a character arc as all of the doom and gloom developed.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
And you better watch the dissing of Michael O'Hare. I met him when I lived in New York. We went to the same sci-fi book store and fairly quickly became friends. He's a great guy and I think Sinclair just had the wrong sort of background to play a hero (I've known fighter pilots, and the best ones are completely unrufflable -- like he played ex-squadron-commander Sinclair).
Not to mention, he wears glasses because contacts (like he was forced to wear on the show) really bother his eyes -- hence his tendancy to look like a deer in headlights.
--Jonah
Posted by Xenon (Member # 1894) on :
A friend of mine is a big SF fan (as are all of us in my weekend RPG group). But he's the odd-one-out in our group, in that he has a passionate hatred for all things Star Trek. He is particularly venomous about the "Roddenberry Cult", as he calls it.
What the rest of us find amusing is that he practically worships JMS -- anything JMS does or is even rumoured to be thinking about doing suddenly becomes The Next Big Thing in his mind, and he gets really gung-ho about it. His attitude towards JMS is not that much different from a lot of extreme Trekkies that I've known... and he doesn't realize he's doing it.
(I should mention the rumour about JMS doing the next Star Trek and see how he reacts. I predict his head will explode.) Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Not so much rumor as actual, unchosen proposal.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Peregrinus: It's cool to know that. I've never seen Michael O'Hare in anything other than B5, so I've got no frame of reference. And considering that he was only in the first season, he didn't exactly have a chance to truly settle into the role. I feel that he had a few great outings... I loved his performance in "By Any Means Necessary," for example, for the very reason you describe in his demeanor. He was calm, rational, but still crafty, managing to play both ends against the middle. I think that was his best outing. So while I'm not too fond of the character, he certainly was never BAD at all. Sorry if I came across otherwise.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Only thing I remember seeing him in other than B5 was an episode of Law & Order. I think he was a rape victim's dad.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
I don't know how much screen stuff Michael's been in (need to go to IMDB...), but he is a pretty accomplished stage actor in New York. He's a working actor, with no need to be a celebrity. And he was doing well enough at the time that he was sending his son to Stuyvesant High School just down the street from above mentioned book shop. Pretty smart guy, too, and he likes the genre a lot.
One thing he told me -- the blue spacesuit he wore as the "future Sinclair" in "Babylon Squared" was the unused third Discovery I suit from the pod bay rack in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I know this because we were both at the book store on the day the episode aired, and we hung out to wtch it on the owner's TV (along with a few other customers -- *heh*).
--Jonah
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I saw him on LA Law once, presumably a repeat. And saw Claudia Christian in one too, at around the same time, maybe even the same ep (but probably not). She was playing a post-op trans-sexual!
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
No, just checked, it WAS the same ep (a 1991 one). How weird is that?
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
I saw him on an episode of TJ Hooker (that was playing in repeats a while back) I think Armin Shimmerman was also in the episode.
Oh I also met him at a fantastic B5 convention in 1998 in Sydney - VERY nice guy. By the end of the weekend he sorta how can I say this - recognised me/acknowledged me from the other days of the con. Mira Furlan and Josh Cox were also there. Mira was great!
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I've read that JMS and Bruce Boxleitner deliberately overdid his happy-go-lucky attitude for the first half of the season, to establish more of a character arc as all of the doom and gloom developed.
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)