TrekWeb.com - J. Michael Straczynski Says Babylon 5 Will only Return as a Feature Film

J. Michael Straczynski Says Babylon 5 Will only Return as a Feature Film

By GustavoLeao / 06:43, 15 July 2008 / General Genre/SciFi

According to JMSNews, Babylon 5 producer J. Michael Straczynski posted in an online newsgroup that the only continuation of the series will be as a feature film, if that were ever to be green lit. Here is an excerpt of his post.

"B5:TLT was commissioned at a $2 million budget to, yet one more time,"test the waters" for B5. We did what we could with that, and that was that. As we did with Rangers, which also suffered from not having a lot of money because of concerns about "is there really a B5 audience?" Which is, of course, a foolish question from a studio that has never really understood what it has in B5."

"Of late, there have been more discussions from WB about doing more DVDs, again at a low cost, or a cable thing, again with minimal investment."

"So for the last few months, I've been giving this whole subject a lot of quiet thought. And I've come to a conclusion."

"B5 as a five year story stands beautifully on its own. If anything else is to be continued from that story, it should be something that adds to the legacy of B5, rather than subtracts from it."

"As well intentioned as Rangers and TLT were, as enticing as it was to return to those familiar waters, in the end I think they did more to subtract from the legacy than add to it. I don't regret having made them, because I needed to go through that to get to the point where I am now psychologically, but from where I sit now, I wouldn't make them again."

"So I've let everyone up here know that I'm not interested in doing any more low-budget DVDs. I'm not interested in doing any low-budget cable things or small computer games. The only thing I would be interested in doing regarding Babylon 5 from this point on is a full-featured, big-budget feature film."

"It's that or nothing."

A transcript of the entire post of JMS can be found here.

26 comments Post New | Help

That's a shame | Report this post to moderator
By: Krazy Joe (Odo's file, contact) @ 17:11:48 on Jul 16, 2008 | (1)

The Lost Tales was excellent. I was hoping for more.

You don't need a big budget to tall good, solid stories. Just look at Lost Tales!

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RE: by rassmguy @ 19:13:57 on Jul 16

Babble on, Joe... Babble on. | Report this post to moderator
By: Wojee (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:38:00 on Jul 16, 2008

B5 died at the end of season 4. or maybe s.3. Crusade went nowhere. Lost Tales deserved to be lost. The LotR acronym still belongs in Tolkien territory. One trick pony, dude.

Quote

One More Day - A Mistake ? | Report this post to moderator
By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 03:08:41 on Jul 16, 2008

Yeah, but I think erasing the Peter/MJ marriage and 20 years of Spider-Man continuity was a mistake. If Joe Quesada didnt like the marriage, why he didnt simply divorce them or even kill MJ ? Erasing the continuity was a mistake in my opinion. The current reboot storyline, "Brand New Day", has been awful !

Gustavo

--------

TrekWeb.com Supervising Editor

gl2000@uol.com.br

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RE: | Report this post to moderator
By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 15:23:34 on Jul 15, 2008

Well, okay, I see your point - and lets not forget that he wrote the "One More Day" fiasco, the storyline that ruined the Spider-Man comics franchise for a lot of fans.

Gustavo

--------

TrekWeb.com Supervising Editor

gl2000@uol.com.br

Quote

RE: by Hober Mallow @ 13:47:57 on Jul 16
RE: by GustavoLeao @ 17:37:28 on Jul 16
RE: by Kelvin @ 20:42:38 on Jul 15
RE: by Kelvin @ 20:38:02 on Jul 15

Jesus, what a freaking bulls--t artist JMS is. | Report this post to moderator
By: KazamaSmokers (Odo's file, contact) @ 09:45:23 on Jul 15, 2008

Everytime this sort of thing has happened, JMS has always spun it the same way: "I'm taking the high road. I could go on doing (insert project here) by THEIR rules, but that cheapens my legacy, so I'm going to walk away." Joe - you can fool some of the people all the time, but it's become a joke at this point. TLT looked like crap. The stories were weak. You thought you could make a comfortable piece of change on a DVD-only franchise and people didn't buy. The brass said "no more" and now once again you're spinning it. Do you think we're all rubes, Joe?

Quote

RE: Jesus, what a freaking bulls--t artist JMS is. by FreshPez @ 15:14:54 on Jul 15
RE: by rassmguy @ 11:54:26 on Jul 15

Big budget feature? | Report this post to moderator
By: Captain's Blog (Odo's file, contact) @ 09:11:40 on Jul 15, 2008

Not gonna happen.

--------

"I would be happy for Star Trek to come along decades later with a new group of minds. I'd love someone to say, 'Besides this one, Gene Roddenberry's was nothing!'" - Gene Roddenberry, Starburst magazine

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Good news/Bad news | Report this post to moderator
By: PatBorg (Odo's file, contact) @ 08:57:43 on Jul 15, 2008

The straight to DVD film was great for only 2 million...okay, the second story was, at least.

Can't say I blame him. This is the final nail in the coffin of B5, which isn't bad, since the series really stands up. I would have loved to see more, but if not, that's fine.

...although if he were to do comics. Joss is doing Buffy really well. I'd love to see Bab 5 return to four colors...

Quote

Better to walk away than to produce more modest efforts | Report this post to moderator
By: TonyDP (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:48:17 on Jul 15, 2008

After seeing TLT, I got the distinct impression that WB had given JMS a shoestring of a budget to work with. While I was glad that he had a forum to continue telling those stories, I was also really disappointed at how modest and insignificant the whole thing was.

I'm happy that he's seen the light and that he understands that these poor one-off stories really lessen the quality of the overall arc rather than enrich it. I have no faith that WB would ever greenlight a B5 movie however and I wouldn't be suprised if this is the last we see of the show in terms of live action content.

Personally, I wish JMS had taken that $2 million given to him for TLT and used it to do a story that brought Crusade to some sort of coherent conclusion. Leaving that series hanging after 13 episodes was probably the biggest tragedy of the B5 universe (and yes, I am familiar with the whole TNT fiasco).

Quote

RE: Better to walk away than to produce more modest efforts by KazamaSmokers @ 15:39:38 on Jul 15
RE: Better to walk away than to produce more modest efforts by KazamaSmokers @ 15:39:02 on Jul 15

GREAT | Report this post to moderator
By: IamNotBORG (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:14:44 on Jul 15, 2008

Good, because The Lost Tales was a horrible presentation. It felt like watching one of the Trek fan made episodes with digital background all the way through. I did not know that the budget for them was only $2 millions. Wow.

I think if WB wanted to do B5 right they should put some investment in it or allow JMS to bring it to another studio or independently self finance it himself like Serenity did.

I'll wait for B5 comics now that JMS is at DC working for them.

Quote

RE: GREAT by Rhiannon @ 09:37:28 on Jul 15
RE: GREAT by Terry212 @ 07:54:25 on Jul 15
    RE: GREAT by OV-101 @ 08:12:41 on Jul 15
       RE: GREAT by Terry212 @ 12:31:28 on Jul 16
       RE: GREAT by GustavoLeao @ 09:04:03 on Jul 15
          RE: by rassmguy @ 09:17:16 on Jul 15
             JMS and comic books by GustavoLeao @ 13:47:21 on Jul 15
             RE: by OV-101 @ 13:35:21 on Jul 15

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That's a shame | Report this post to moderator By: Krazy Joe (Odo's file, contact) @ 17:11:48 on Jul 16, 2008 | (1)

Babble on, Joe... Babble on. | Report this post to moderator By: Wojee (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:38:00 on Jul 16, 2008

One More Day - A Mistake ? | Report this post to moderator By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 03:08:41 on Jul 16, 2008

RE: | Report this post to moderator By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 15:23:34 on Jul 15, 2008

Jesus, what a freaking bulls--t artist JMS is. | Report this post to moderator By: KazamaSmokers (Odo's file, contact) @ 09:45:23 on Jul 15, 2008

Big budget feature? | Report this post to moderator By: Captain's Blog (Odo's file, contact) @ 09:11:40 on Jul 15, 2008

Good news/Bad news | Report this post to moderator By: PatBorg (Odo's file, contact) @ 08:57:43 on Jul 15, 2008

Better to walk away than to produce more modest efforts | Report this post to moderator By: TonyDP (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:48:17 on Jul 15, 2008

GREAT | Report this post to moderator By: IamNotBORG (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:14:44 on Jul 15, 2008

That's a shame | Report this post to moderator
By: Krazy Joe (Odo's file, contact) @ 17:11:48 on Jul 16, 2008 | (1)

Babble on, Joe... Babble on. | Report this post to moderator
By: Wojee (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:38:00 on Jul 16, 2008

One More Day - A Mistake ? | Report this post to moderator
By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 03:08:41 on Jul 16, 2008

RE: | Report this post to moderator
By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 15:23:34 on Jul 15, 2008

Jesus, what a freaking bulls--t artist JMS is. | Report this post to moderator
By: KazamaSmokers (Odo's file, contact) @ 09:45:23 on Jul 15, 2008

Big budget feature? | Report this post to moderator
By: Captain's Blog (Odo's file, contact) @ 09:11:40 on Jul 15, 2008

Good news/Bad news | Report this post to moderator
By: PatBorg (Odo's file, contact) @ 08:57:43 on Jul 15, 2008

Better to walk away than to produce more modest efforts | Report this post to moderator
By: TonyDP (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:48:17 on Jul 15, 2008

GREAT | Report this post to moderator
By: IamNotBORG (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:14:44 on Jul 15, 2008