Babylon 5

[MacNimon]

This is a little update on that story from several months back about the proposed direct-to-dvd B5 series. It maybe doesn't tell us much more than we knew before, but at least it confirms that shooting on the first couple of scripts has been completed, and that it is now in post-production.


Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Warner Bros. will be producing new Babylon 5 programs. The title is Babylon 5: The Lost Tales. There will be individual, self-contained stories, some from notes that Straczynski recently rediscovered. The format will be short films of 40 - 45 minutes. They will be distributed direct to DVD with two episodes and some supplementary material appearing on the first disc to bring the total running time to two hours per disc. A network is interested in airing them also. Straczynski will write, direct, and have complete creative control.

The DVD with the first two stories will be titled "Voices in the Dark". Straczynski originally wrote three scripts for this DVD (of 25 - 30 minutes each) focusing on Sheridan, Lochley, Galen, and Garibaldi. However, as preproduction began, Straczynski decided that the he had set too much on his plate for a new director. The more challenging Garibaldi story has been put off to a (hopeful) second DVD, and the other two stories will be expanded so that the total running time remains the same. The production offices in Vancouver officially opened on 23 October 2006. Filming began on 14 November 2006, and the shows was shot in high definition with digital cameras.

Straczynski notes that his scripts for this show, which he will eventually publish, are far more detailed than his Babylon 5 scripts, essentially incorporating his directorial notes.

The three episodes will visit Mars, Minbar, Babylon 5, Earth (where Straczynski promises a "rather startling sequence"), the future, and the distant past. The shows will introduce a new kind of Minbari cruiser. It is unknown which venues are unique to the postponed Garibaldi story. Straczynski will shoot each segment a little differently so that each episode is complimented by its own unique visual style. There will be some pivotal scenes that cross the two episodes on the disc. The CGI effects will be re-imagined to make use of modern technology.

Straczynski's cut (without CGI) was turned in to the Studio on 08 December 2006. Atmosphere (the effects house for Battlestar Galactica) is working on the CGI, and Chris Franke is working on the music.

Video blogs from Straczynski recorded during production will begin to appear online in late January 2007.

The first DVD will probably be released in the second quarter of 2007

[MacNimon]

In fact, here's a more up-to-date link, including behind-the scenes photos... Babylon 5

[Rob McCow]

OMG they're actually making new B5! Not Crusade or LOTR nonsense! Hurrah.

[Jon Masters]

Screw B5 ! What we really want is Kosh: The Early years

Kosh's Mum: I'm doing tea. What do you want ?

Kosh : Never ask me that question !!

[Andy Frankham]

Sweet, I'm half way through 'Crusade' at the moment, then only have 'In the Beginning' and 'Sleeping in the Light' to go. Just in time for the new DVDs. Sweet.

[Wayne]

Good stuff! B5 rocks!

[MacNimon]

Following the links at the bottom of that last page I mentioned, you get to a site which is basically flogging copies of MJS' Babylon 5 scripts,

A total of 15 volumes containing all 92 Babylon 5 episodic scripts plus two B5 TV movies written by J. Michael Straczynski. Each book contains a minimum of 7 scripts and including additional materials, averages 430 pages.

with loads of extras (unfilmed scripts, etc)

It was the following which caught my attention, though...

Why Volume 15 is Not For Sale
(and never will be)


Volume 15 is not for sale and never will be. It is only available as a free gift for folks who go the distance with the 14-volume set. And by the way, when we say free we mean free. Even the shipping/handling is paid for by us and that includes international fans.
What makes Volume 15 so special is that it is packed with never-before-seen material from Joes vault. So whats in Volume 15 you ask? Heres what J. Michael Straczynski has to say:


THE LOST SCRIPT FOR SOUL HUNTER
UNRELEASED DRAFT OF AND THE SKY, FULL OF STARS
THE BABYLON 5 WRITERS BIBLE
BREAKDOWN OF THE ENTIRE 5-YEAR STORY ARC WITH SINCLAIR
For over ten years, fans have asked What would Babylon 5 have been like had Sinclair stayed? After we finished the movie, but before we got the series going, WB asked to see a breakdown on this five-year arc thingie. So I wrote a six or seven page, single spaced outline of the entire five years with Sinclair still in place. The document makes for fascinating reading when compared with the series as it developed. Not only that, but the same document has a brief outline for A POTENTIAL BABYLON 5 SEQUEL SERIES, which would have been entitled BABYLON PRIME.
THE LEGENDARY ALTERNATE VERSION OF THE EXERCISE OF VITAL POWERS
This is the secret script written as an elaborate practical joke on the actors, which contains the Londo/GKar seduction scene

While it certainly would be interesting to read how different things could have been had studio execs not intervened and had Micheal O'Hare replaced by Bruce Boxleitner after Season One (and I'd have loved to have seen the actor's reaction to this Londo/G'Kar seduction scene! ) what this page doesn't advertise is the price. Yes, I know it says "free if you buy vol.'s 1-14", but it takes a little bit more digging to find the $39.95 per volume price tag. At todays exchange rate, what's that? About 20? So you're talking around 280 plus postage before you even qualify for this freebie!

I think I'll pass on this one....

[MacNimon]

The Lost Tales seems to have made a favourable impression on someone who has apparently got his copy early from Amazon...

Review and spoilers here...The Final Frontier

Sounds good to me!

[Rob McCow]

Can B5 be good again? We can but dream! Or buy this DVD and see for ourselves.

[WhiteCrow]

Can B5 be good again? We can but dream! Or buy this DVD and see for ourselves.

Without G'Kar, one of the most enigmatic characters who managed to appear in most of the spin-offs, I cannot see it being too good.

I think unlike Star Trek, Babylon 5 has had it's day. It had a great storyline, but the attempt to spin off new ones hasn't been too successful.

[Paul Monk]

I think G'Kar is in it though. Haven't they used previous clips or something and cg'd them in?

[Paul Monk]

I love the way the guy on that forum keeps insisting that he got his early!

[Wayne]

I love the way the guy on that forum keeps insisting that he got his early!

Yeah. From what i can gather, July 31st was the US release date, & September 3rd is the UK release date. At least that's what it says on Amazon UK.
I think i'll dabble with The Lost Tales, but will probably wait until they come down a bit.

[MacNimon]

I've just picked up a copy of B5 The Lost Tales this morning in Asda, 8.97. It would probably be cheaper online, but impulse buying is where supermarkets make their dosh, isn't it? Anyway, I'll post my thoughts next week sometime once I've had a chance to watch it. Dracula is at the top of my viewing list though, at the moment!

[Wayne]

I've just picked up a copy of B5 The Lost Tales this morning in Asda, 8.97.
I'll post my thoughts next week sometime once I've had a chance to watch it.

I'm still hedging on this, so i'll look forward to seeing what you think.
I lean towards agreeing with Mr.McCow about B5. The spin-offs have been good, but not in the same laegue as the 5yr series.

Dracula is at the top of my viewing list though, at the moment!

Has he Risen From the Grave yet?

[MacNimon]

Halfway through it. I had to pause it to answer the phone...I'm just going to watch the rest of it now!

[MacNimon]

I eventually got round to watching this yesterday. I really wasn't expecting too much from this, but it was surprisingly really enjoyable. Unlike those other spin-offs, this one actually felt like Babylon 5. Good stories, excellent effects work, B5 style music...and both Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggins slipped back into their roles as if they'd never been away. The biggest drawback was the lack of extras and supporting cast...there were basically the characters who were central to the plot, with an occasional body or two walking around in the background...this was the only thing that really set this apart from being a regular tv episode (and showed it's lack of budget), if there could only have been cameo appearances from at least one or two other regulars (rather than their names just arising in conversation...although Dr Franklin is apparently exploring beyond the rim with G'Kar, explaining away their obvious absences) then this wouldn't have been out of place as a regular season B5 episode(s). But having said that, once you get caught up in the stories you really don't notice this, as the stories are pretty gripping. Maybe a little bit too much religious mumbo-jumbo for me in the first segment, not enough to waste my viewing though.

A decent opening installment here though, hopefully this will be successful enough to allow further releases with a slightly bigger budget. 7/10

[Wayne]

I eventually got round to watching this yesterday. I really wasn't expecting too much from this, but it was surprisingly really enjoyable. Unlike those other spin-offs, this one actually felt like Babylon 5. Good stories, excellent effects work, B5 style music...and both Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggins slipped back into their roles as if they'd never been away. The biggest drawback was the lack of extras and supporting cast...there were basically the characters who were central to the plot, with an occasional body or two walking around in the background...this was the only thing that really set this apart from being a regular tv episode (and showed it's lack of budget), if there could only have been cameo appearances from at least one or two other regulars (rather than their names just arising in conversation...although Dr Franklin is apparently exploring beyond the rim with G'Kar, explaining away their obvious absences) then this wouldn't have been out of place as a regular season B5 episode(s). But having said that, once you get caught up in the stories you really don't notice this, as the stories are pretty gripping. Maybe a little bit too much religious mumbo-jumbo for me in the first segment, not enough to waste my viewing though.

A decent opening installment here though, hopefully this will be successful enough to allow further releases with a slightly bigger budget. 7/10

Hmmmm........ Gotta admit, i've got some mixed feelings about it, Kenny.
I was kind of expecting just one feature length story, so there i was watching the first story, thinking it was about to pick up into some big confrontation between Lochley & Simon Burke, or something, but it finished & went into a new story!
I agree with some of your points about the B5 atmosphere, which was greatly helped by using Franke to provide the music again, & i agree that Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggins slipped effortlessly back into their roles. Infact for me, their performances were easily the best thing about it, because to be honest i thought the stories were a bit average.
I think part of the problem was that they were very talky & not really much on action. The other problem for me was a sense of familiarity with the basic themes. The exorcism theme was a bit more up my street, but the mixing of this aspect of religious mythology into Sci-Fi, whilst it was well presented here, & Scoggins was particularly good, It just had a kind of 'heard it all before' sense about it for me, & it wasn't even covered it great depth. Storywise i was expecting it to go up to another level.
Same thing really with the old 'would/should you kill Adolf Hitler as a child' theme. They even made the parallel explicit by having Galen actually mention it in the script. I just couldn't help but think: 'Not this old chestnut'. And i honestly thought it was really obvious that Sheridan wouldn't kill the young prince.
So storywise i was a bit disappointed, as i felt that these two tales were just 'variations on a (familiar) theme again. I felt much the same after watching the re-make of 'Outer Limits' a few months ago, & once again i found myself asking: 'Does Sci-Fi have anything to offer me anymore that i haven't heard/seen before'? That might sound odd coming from someone who's been getting enthusiastic about a dozen versions of the same film for the last 3 months, But it's my honest reaction.
I'd like to see more B5 Lost Tales, but i hope they come up with some more imaginitive & original ideas. That said, i'm not sure how well B5 works for me as a series of short, standalone stories. IMO, B5's greatest strength was it's sheer scale & scope.
I hate to be less than fully enthusiastic about it Kenny, because i genuinely loved the original series, but only the strength of Scoggins' & Boxleitner's performances raise this a notch above average for me. 5.5/10.

[MacNimon]

I've got to agree that the series great strength was it's epic scale, it told (and intertwined) so many storylines over it's 5 seasons, which meant that any project like this was going to be B5-lite. It's quite simply part of our expectations for Babylon 5. I've got to agree with your comments about reworking old themes yet again, but I didn't really mind here because both Tracy Scoggins and Bruce Boxleitner's characters are simply so likeable, and the performances so enjoyable, that it wasn't a major concern to me. Based purely on the strength of the scripts themselves, and the obviously limited budget, I'd probably agree with your rating. But as I said before, it was the little things like Christopher Franke's score which made it feel more like Babylon 5 than any previous spin-off attempts. I think that was what I appreciated most.

But to be honest, regardless of what may be planned for the future with these dvd releases, I think the only real way forward for Babylon 5 is a full-blown revival of the series. There is a gap of 15 years or so between the final 2 episodes of season 5 (although I can't remember exactly when Crusade was set) with new ongoing story arcs being hinted at/started towards the end of the series (and even way back in Season 3's War Without End time-travel story) which weren't brought to a satisfactory conclusion, although conclusions were hinted at. After all, a lot can happen in 15 years...so another epic multi-season (I'd settle for a 3-year one this time!)story is what we really need. At least then there would be a place for stand-alone stories such as these 2 (from The Lost Tales) if they used the tried and tested successful format used previously.

Unfortunately with US networks being what they are, the chances of this will be practically non-existant, particularly if JMS is already struggling to get decent funding for straight-to-dvd releases. But if Star Trek and Doctor Who can be successfully resurrected, we can always hope...

[stuartdg]

Just watched this,I preferred Tracey Scoggins but both she and Bruce Boxleitner do give strong performances;similairly I appreciated the use of Crusade's enigmatic Galen.The score also evokes atmosphere but this doesn't make up for the lack of background noise,it doesn't feel busy enough to be true Babylon 5

[MacNimon]

I've just been watching a few episodes from the tail end of season 3...what's most noticable now is the amount of people/aliens walking around. Babylon 5 is supposed to be a very busy place, something which is noticably lacking in the dvd.

[MacNimon]

I just came across this quote from Joe Micheal Straczynski on http://jmsnews.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2861

It's a few months old, but it seems to signal an end to any future B5 productions...

One final note re: recent discussions on TMoS and more Lost Tales.

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.

And if it's nothing, I'm totally cool with that because the original
story stands on its own just fine. I'm not lobbying for it, I'm not
asking fans to write in about it (nor should you) because such
campaigns never really have much impact...that's simply the position
I've taken up here. Lord knows I don't lack for other things to do
these days. I'm busier on more prestige projects with terrific people
and great film-makers than at any other time in my career.

At the end of the day, for me, it's not just a matter of getting more
B5. It's a matter of getting more *good* B5 that respects what came
before it and doesn't have to compromise visually or in terms of
action. The original show deserves better than that, the surviving
cast members deserve better than that, and the fans who have supported
it over the years definitely deserve better than that. A lot better.

So I've drawn that line in the sand, and I'm happy living on whichever
side of that line the universe puts me. Just thought you should know,
'cause it's your show too.

jms

I quite agree with him. Any future plans for B5 should bigger and better than the series, and not be made on the cheap like Legend Of The Rangers and The Lost Tales. Warner Brothers have apparently made quite a tidy profit from this series, but they're still not prepared to invest serious money in it.

Personally, I feel that under the circumstances it's best to leave it alone now, unless it's done right...which doesn't look likely. So sadly it looks like no more B5...

[MacNimon]

Double post...forum playing up again!

[WhiteCrow]

Yes it is kind of sad. Babylon 5 was and is to this day the best sci-fi TV series ever.

I have never seen it's like like before or since.

It was epic, and amazing journey of growth with the characters, the slow reveal of plot, which actually made sense unlike X Files or Lost.

But it's the epicness which makes it a problem, it's hard to watch some of it without ending watching large portions of it. Thats probably why I've not bought the entire series on DVD.

And it certainly had issues, sometimes some corny dialogue. Its sad it's legacy are shows like Battlestar Galactica, Lost and Heroes, which now use impossible to ever follow season arcs.

Yeah I'll have a moment of silence for B5 please!

[Rob McCow]

Yeah I'll have a moment of silence for B5 please!

Hush! Sheridan's washing his socks!

B5 was a great series. People may mock the hair-dos, but at it's best it was incredibly exciting. I had a great time picking it up on video. It felt absolutely huge and I was moist to recieve as much of it as I could.

But... the magic was gone. It dried up during 'Thirdspace' and had completely evaporated during 'River of Souls'. By the time 'Crusade' started the series was cheap, naff and silly. I'm glad that JMS has decided to call it a day.

Go and write another sci-fi epic, sir!