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April 11: JMS "Yard Sale"
Just a little something fun today. Here's a post by JMS on the B5 moderated group:
Okay. That's it. I give up.
Over the last few days, I've been trying to sort through the tons of boxes that have for the most part been sitting in storage for the last several years to try and find space for all this stuff, and there just isn't any. The floors are wall-to-wall with boxes, crates, palletes, you name it, the detritus of decades of making shows and writing comics and being a pack-rack. It has literally grown to overflow two rental storage facilities.
I have reached the point best expressed by Oscar Wilde's last words:
"Either that wallpaper goes, or I do."
There's just no room, and I'm going insane.
So I'm going to have a yard sale.
Now, understand, the majority of this stuff will never leaving my
hands, and for those I have set aside places here at the house...the statue of the B5 station that sat for five years on the desk of every commanding officer on B5...the actual prop Book of G'Kar...a number of props and bits of memorabilia that have honored places here.
But a lot of the rest is going to go out the door, because either that wallpaper goes, or...well, you get the idea.
It's going to be kind of a JMS retrospective in some ways, because as I said, this stuff covers decades...from memorabilia and storyboards for the Ghostbusters, He-Man and Captain Power series, original scripts from Twilight Zone and Murder, She Wrote...but the bulk of it is B5 stuff.
There are the actual script books I used during production, into which I shoved the script I was working on, the breakdowns, shooting schedules, any storyboards that were needed...the whole thing, in one book per episode, some of which still have my original notations.
There are episodic dailies tapes, with takes and bits not previously seen anywhere, posters, publicity material, a ton of stuff.
Props from the show, from my personal collection, where I have doubles or just no place for them anymore.
(One of the things I'm letting go traces back to the pilot. Not sure if the show would ever actually go, I paid the wardrobe department to make me a B5 captain's uniform. I know, I know, I'm the ultimate geek, but there you are. Suffice to say given the passage of time and calories, there's no way on god's green earth that that uniform is ever going to fit. Not that I ever wore it past the initial fitting, but for sure it ain't gonna happen now. So that's on its way out.)
Another prime item is going to be one of two huge original art pieces that the late Peter Ledger did for me to help sell B5 itself, big, elaborate paintings, signed by Peter. The one I won't sell is the first painting of the B5 station itself from the outside; the one I just don't have room for is the very first visualization/painting of the Garden area, with the core shuttle, folks floating around, and in the bar, a fight breaking out between humans and aliens, with an early version of Garibaldi in the thick of it.
There's caps, and a disco-style prototype of a B5 crew jacket, a few of the original blue key B5 symbol t-shirts made up before we did the pilot and given out at a couple of conventions, an assortment of souvenirs and some truly, truly weird shit, some of which nobody's ever heard of before, let alone seen.
I'm still holding on to about 75% of the stuff, but the other 25% has got to go.
So starting sometime probably next week, the week of the 11th, and from time to time over the next month or so, keep an eye on Ebay. (I'm playing with the idea of doing this chronologically, from the earliest stuff to the latter stuff, but I don't know if I'm disciplined enough for that.) I likely won't put this stuff up every day, only when and as I think of it. So you may have days pass with nothing, then a day when four or five items go up. The Ebay user ID is babylon5auctions.
Once I've cleared out enough room to actually see the floor again, the auctions will stop and that user ID will go away.
Let the games begin.
jms
Even for those of us who probably don't have any chance of actually winning any of these auctions - like us :( - this should be an interesting and fun trip down memory lane. Hopefully, it will remind us how we came to be such great fans that we felt the B5 universe was worth fighting for and will provide a bit of fun distraction while we wait for the next wonderful thing to appear in that universe.
Well, we finally have some concrete news about TMOS. Unfortunately, it is not the news we wanted to hear. Here is JMS's post to the B5 moderated group:
The 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
Some folks have taken this message to mean that all the info which was reported about Warner Brothers and the recasting was incorrect and that the letter writing campaign to WB was misguided and pointless. JMS responded to a poster who suggested this with the following words:
Your assumption is not valid. Which is all I can say for the moment.
So, apparently things are more complex than it seems at first from JMS's post. Perhaps one day we will hear more of the story. But for now we have to simply accept that for the time being TMOS is dead.
It is extremely frustrating to see another B5 project die before its time. And we are also terribly disappointed that the Crusade-related story JMS had written for TMOS will likely never be told (The people who optioned the rights no longer own the rights to produce a B5 movie - those rights reverted to JMS - but they do own the production rights to the specific script, so someone would have to buy the script from them (as well as the B5 movie rights from JMS) in order to produce TMOS -- see JMS's post on the topic for full details) It seems that B5 projects always have a difficult time getting made, and sometimes that can really get us down. But you can never tell what the future will bring, so we will wait and see, secure in the knowledge that with JMS guarding the gates if a future
We now have direct confirmation that the Babylon 5 movie The Memory of Shadows is or has been in trouble. This post from JMS came over the Babylon 5 moderated group yesterday. The future of The Memory of Shadows has reached a critical point. Here is the post from JMS
I know I've been hunkered down a bit of late, and there have been very good reasons for it...which someday I suspect I will be able to tell, perhaps in the form of another fairy tale....
So in the interim, a quick roundup.
I'd say that the next two weeks are going to be critical for the future of
TMoS. There have been a variety of conversations about a variety of things and
people, and some offers are starting to go out to various individuals...so we
shall see what we shall see.
On the subject of the Crusade DVD commentary...I see another fairy tale looming
in the future...WB has agreed, after quite a bit of noise, to remove the
commentary that I did from all future pressings of the set, since that was the
deal that we had made: use it all, including the explanation of what happened,
or use none of it. So those of you who have your DVDs now, and for the next
bit, will have that commentary. Those afterward won't. I don't know when the
next pressing will be, but whenever that is, is when the change takes place.
The mention of telling a "Fairy Tale" is a reference to the not so veiled way that JMS enlightened Crusade/Babylon 5 fans about the whole screwed up story behind TNT and their killing of Crusade. We suspect that JMS may be alluding to the re-casting issue that has plagued the development of this movie over the last several weeks.
As for the "offers being sent to various individuals", this may be good news. It is reasonable to suggest that these offers are going to the original cast. If they were not then JMS would certainly not take the tone that he seems to take in this post. Again, we know very little of the details here. Our guess is that the last several weeks was spent trying to delay the production start date so that all original cast members could participate in this movie. It would seem an agreeable production start date may have been reached. However this is speculation. This is Babylon 5 so expect the unexpected. Thus...
Again, we urge Babylon 5 fans to write letters to Warner Bros and send B5 bucks with those letters (for information please go to keepb5alive.com). Since JMS said that the next two weeks will be critical, if you haven??t sent your letter and you want your voice to be heard, you need to send it out now!
Finally, just a bit about the Crusade DVD commentary. We have refrained from discussing this issue before since we didn??t want to dilute the focus on the current crisis. Basically what happened is that JMS did commentary for the Crusade DVD??s only after Warners agreed to let him tell the full story about what happened with TNT. Warners then broke that agreement and without telling JMS cut that section of the commentary from the DVD. This was a despicable act by Warner Bros. and we are steaming mad about it. We didn??t want any responses to this issue to interfere with the positive push which had to go out to support the B5 and Crusade actors so we did not mention this issue in our recent letters to Warner Bros. - but when everything with the movie is settled one way or the other, there will be a scathing letter heading their way from us. We just don??t believe in letting this kind of underhanded behavior go without a response. Perhaps if companies like WB know that people are watching what they??re doing and do care about it, they might behave in a more honorable fashion (a long shot we know, but we??ve got to try).
Several Babylon 5 fans have organized a coherent and directed campaign to oppose the intention of Warner Bros. to re-cast original Babylon 5/Crusade character roles. We??d like to remind everyone that this is not a rumor. JMS is currently battling to retain the original actors in these roles. However, time is short and a decision is about to be reached. If you are going to act YOU MUST ACT NOW!
The following is a press release from "A Call to Arms":
January 10, 2005
The 'Buck' stops at Warner Brothers
Vigilant fans today unveiled the second phase of their effort to
convince Warner Brothers to cast the original actors from the popular
five-year television series, "Babylon 5," in the upcoming
franchise-based film "The Memory of Shadows." After leaks in December
indicated that familiar roles were to be recast with new actors (akin
to recasting someone else as Captain Kirk in "Star Trek: The Motion
Picture"), fans of the highly-regarded science fiction series created
by J. Michael Straczynski burned up the internet with their
displeasure. One particular message board registered more than 11,000
messages in a thread dedicated to complaints about the proposed
recasting.
Original cast members of "Babylon 5" include Bruce Boxleitner (long
known to TV fans from "Scarecrow and Mrs. King"), Mira Furlan
(currently featured in ABC's runaway hit, "Lost"), Andreas Katsulas
(most famously the one-armed man in 1993's "The Fugitive" with Harrison
Ford), Peter Jurasik (beloved as Sid the Snitch on "Hill Street
Blues"), Tracy Scoggins (the sultry-voiced, athletic beauty remembered
from "The Colbys" and "Dynasty"), and Peter Woodward (well known to
fans of ancient weaponry from his History Channel program, "Conquest").
In this second-wave effort, fans designed "Babylon 5 Bucks" - funny
money intended for printing and sending to Warner Bros. as a reminder
and veiled warning about the potential income the fan base can generate
for - or keep from - them. Warner Bros. rushed out the DVD box sets of
the last four years of the 1993-1998 television show in a series of
rapid releases after what were reported as "staggering" sales of the
first season set. Clearly, the potential income in the hands of the
fans is indeed significant, and the studio has shown that this
particular audience is on their radar.
The "Babylon 5 Bucks," and instructions for letter writing, can be
found at the main bastion of the campaign, the KeepB5Alive website
(www.keepb5alive.com). One such buck is a fanciful, futuristic design
of a credit chit that might have been used on the station itself,
containing a promise to Warner Bros. that the bearer will buy "at least
one ticket" to see the new film; the other is a set of five phony
million-dollar bills featuring actors from the original series and the
motto, "In Support of the Original Actors."
Fans all over the vast reaches of the internet community are being
urged to send in their "Babylon 5 Bucks" and a letter to Warner Bros.
right away, in order to display graphically to the studio execs
returning to work after their holiday break that the fans of "Babylon
5" are willing, and eager, to put their money where their mouths are.
Contacts:
We will be sending out our B5 bucks today. Please do the same!!!
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