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June 15: JMS speaks about Richard Biggs and TMoS
Here is a message which was posted by JMS on the B5 moderated board yesterday. We'll let the message speak for itself.
My apologies for the prolonged absence, but the loss of Richard Biggs kind of
took the wind out of our sails and it's taken a while for me to feel up to
saying anything about B5. This has also had the effect of slowing up anything
to do with B5:TMoS (which as some of you have guessed or inferred does indeed
stand for The Memory of Shadows), because in the writing we/I never imagined he
wouldn't be here to be a part of it. More on that another time.
The funeral itself was a very moving ceremony. It was a point of some pride
that, although Richard had worked on a variety of shows, and all of them were
present to varying degrees, the largest contingent was from Babylon 5. The B5
family gathered in full strength, because whatever internecine hassles may have
come up between anybody, there wasn't one person on that show who didn't think
Richard was just a nifty, nifty guy.
There were many crew members present, from art department to camera and office
staff...DP John Flinn, directors Tony Dow and Jesus Trevino, and literally all
the major or minor cast members with the exception of Jeff Conaway (who was out
of town and couldn't make it), Peter Jurasik (who was attending another funeral
on the other side of the country) and Joshua Cox (ditto...it was a bad week for
a lot of people).
So from the cast we had: Bruce, Jerry, Mira (and Goran), Andreas, Claudia,
Walter, Bill, Pat, Marjorie, Tracy, Stephen, Jason, Caitlin, and others I may
have missed or forgotten. From the writing/producing side it was me, Kathryn,
Larry DiTillio, Doug, John Copeland, Kevin Cremin, Skip Beaudine, others.
Out of respect for the privacy of the family, I won't go into details of the
ceremony itself. Suffice to say that he was dearly loved by all, and his
family is held in that same affection by everyone who was there.
I was going to go into more stuff here in general, but I don't seem to have it
in me at the moment. More later, then.
jms
Richard Biggs will be laid to rest today, so we wanted to once again express our sadness at his passing. He is survived by two young sons, so there has been a memorial fund set up to benefit them. The address to send donations for the fund is:
The Benefit of the Children for Richard James Biggs II
If you would like more information about the memorial service, where to send your condolences, or to read messages from fans and friends of Richard Biggs we direct you to the The Zocalo Today website which has suspended its regular news service and is posting information relating to this sad event exclusively.
Our thoughts are with Richard Biggs' family and friends today. We will all miss him.
Today brings us the horrible news that actor Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin) has died. Not much is known right now of the cause of his death. He collapsed early this morning and medical personnel were unable to revive him. He was 43.
Heather and I are saddened by this news. Babylon 5 has always brought us happy and fun times. Now, we cannot think about it without feeling sadness as well.
We had met Richard Biggs at several convention appearances. I believe what struck us most was his appreciation for the fans. He was friendly, funny and he understood how important the character of Dr. Franklin was to the many folks he would talk to.
By portraying the resilience of a character who fought back against his drug addiction and regained control of his life, Richard Biggs was able to positively affect the lives of many. We know this from fans who spoke with him.
The following message from JMS on the moderated board is how we learned of the bad news.
I was awakened today with several phone calls from cast members and Doug to
pass along the terrible news that this morning, Richard Biggs passed away.
We're still gathering information, so take none of this as firm word, but what
seems to have happened, happened quickly. He woke up, got up out of bed...and
went down. The paramedics who showed up suggested it was either an aneurysm or
a massive stroke.
His family members have been informed, and all of the the cast have, as far as
we can determine, also been informed.
This is a terrible loss for all of us. Richard was a consummate professional
but more than that he was an honorable, stand-up guy. If he gave you his word
on something, you never had to wonder about it afterward. He was always
helpful and supportive of all the cast, even those who only came in for one
episode, always with a ready smile and determined to do whatever it took to
make the scene work. He was, quite simply, a terrific guy, and everyone here
is just devastated at the news.
More word as this develops. We may try to have some kind of fund raiser to
help give whatever assistance may be helpful for his kids.
We all miss him terribly.
jms
We wish to send our condolences to Richard Biggs?? family. We will always appreciate the excellent work he did on Babylon 5 and the way he always treated the fans well. He will be missed.
JMS talked about the upcoming B5 project, thus far known only as B5:TMoS, in a recent post to the B5 moderated group. He also mentioned the possibility that some other B5 projects may be coming soon. His message is typically cryptic, but still it makes it clear that things are looking extremely hopeful on the B5 front. Here's the relevant part of the post:
I know I've been absent for a while now, but there are reasons, especially in regards to B5:TMoS. In a project of this nature, and this size, there's stage one (let's do this) stage two (let's make everybody's deal) and stage three (making it). We're hip-deep in stage two just now, and it's taking a freaking long amount of time to get through it all. Stage two is also the most unnerving and nerve-wracking stage when there's a lot of money involved, as there is in this situation.
So every day is a case of "Are we there yet?" and being told yes...almost.
I swear, it's the kind of thing that could lead a monk to murder.
Thing of it is...there's a LOT happening right now in the B5 universe, on a multitude of fronts, some of it in response to TMoS, some of it coming up completely on its own. All I can say at this moment is that if you've been waiting for new stuff in the B5 universe, you may be getting your wish in spades very soon.
Soon, I promise, all will be made clear. I don't like being Mr. Mysterioso on this, but if I say too much, the-powers-that-be will use my head to make a 2.35:1 sized hole in the wall.
We're always happy to get reassurance that things are still on track with B5:TMoS. But there's more to this message than just that reassurance. It certainly looks to us like JMS is trying to give some hints here about what type of project B5:TMoS actually is. He makes the strange statement that the powers-that-be will make a 2.35:1 sized hole in the wall with his head. 2.35:1 is the aspect ratio used for widescreen theatrical release movies. Furthermore, JMS says specifically that there is a lot of money involved in this project. Both of these hints make us believe that B5:TMoS going to be a theatrical release movie rather than the DVD project which we had earlier speculated that it would be. We still find this a bit hard to believe, but the hints seem pretty strong to us.
We did have good reasons for believing that a B5 movie was not a realistic possibility, but it seems that things may be changing. If Firefly, a series that was on the air for only 13 episodes, can get a theatrical release film, then certainly it should be a possibility for B5. A few years ago neither of these properties would have been seriously considered as movie material by the suits because they just don't have the potential to make a very large profit at the box office. So what's different now? DVD's!!! The suits have come to recognize that the sales of the DVD of a movie can be as important in determining the final profit as the box office take. Movies which did only mediocre business during their theatrical release but developed a strong "cult" following and sold incredibly well as DVD's have gone on to make much greater profits than movies that were initially box office hits (for example, the film Office Space). Both a Firefly and a B5 movie have great potential for DVD sales - and the suits can point to the series DVD sales figures as solid evidence of this so they don't have to stick their necks out at all to support these projects.
If our speculation is correct and B5:TMoS is going to be a theatrical release, then this will be one more example of the power of DVD sales figures and the greater power that we as fans now have to influence what gets made by speaking with our buying dollars.
Well, for now we'll have to wait a bit longer to see exactly what B5:TMoS is actually going to be, but it's fun to speculate. We were also pleased to hear that other B5 projects may be popping up soon. We'll hold off on the celebration until we get solid word on these, but it's nice to have some real hope again on the B5 front.
In a recent post to the B5 moderated group JMS had this typically cryptic thing to say about the upcoming B5 project.
Oh...and starting around the Ides of May, look to the wrong side of the river for word from Harry, Jack and Albert.
Not that I'm enjoying this, of course....
jms
Noting the Harry, Jack, and Albert are the names of the Warner brothers, we translate the statement as follows: Look for an official announcement by Warner Brothers about the upcoming B5 project in early to mid-May.
As with JMS's previous posts about this project, we take this news as a good sign that things are still on track, but it's still frustrating that we have to wait until May to get any concrete details about the project. It's tempting to read things into the choice of May as the time for the announcement. May is commonly when tv projects are announced. And although JMS ruled out a tv series in early posts on this project (see Oct 7 B5 news), he left it out of a more recent listing of what the project would not be (see March 2 B5 news). But since it could very well be that May is when enough of the details, contracts etc. will be in order for Warners to feel comfortable making an official announcement, we really can't say if the choice of May is significant or just the way things happen to have worked out in their timeline for the project. We'll just have to *wait* (Urgh??) and see.
Luckily, there is something to keep all of us B5 fans busy while we wait. The 5th season of B5 will be released on DVD on April 13th. This looks to be another nice boxed set with some interesting extras. It will be sad to see B5 come to an end again, but what an incredible ending??enjoy!
Here's the latest from JMS on the new B5 project. This is taken from a post to the B5 moderated group. The post does not give any more concrete details about the nature of the project or its content, but it does indicate that things are still on track. Yeah!
Y'know, if there's anything more annoying than having to sit on good news, I can't think of what it might be. (Well, okay, being staked to an ant hill at high noon is a pretty obvious one, but you get the idea.)
The only things I can say right now about B5:TMoS is that now that all the correct agreements have been signed, sealed and delivered, the draft has gone in, met with great enthusiasm all around, notes have been received, and the next draft is in process and has to be delievered within two weeks so that certain other steps can be set into motion.
I still can't tell you what it *is* because that has to come from the proper people through the proper channels at the proper time...but I can tell you a few cases of what it *isn't*...it isn't a novel, or a short story, a comic, an animated series, a radio drama or a stage play. Beyond that, deponent sayeth not.
Except to say that it's pretty cool.
Here's the latest from JMS on the B5 project he mentioned at the end of last year:
It's taken longer than hoped for to be able to talk about this, because it's taken longer than hoped for to go through all the machinations of the deal. Depending on the nature of a given deal, it can take a few weeks to a couple, three months to actually cut the deal and finalize the language in terms everybody can agree with. We only literally finished the deal last week.
Writing on B5:TMoS is complete, and as soon as the powers that be sign off on everything, it can be turned in and we can start moving. At that point, I can say more about this.
Figure another couple of weeks.
jms
We are very happy to hear this positive news and we can't wait to hear more about this project. There has been a lot of speculation among the fans about what the title of the project is based on the initials JMS gave in this post. Our personal favorite and best guess is "Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows" - sounds intriguing, doesn't it? There's also still speculation about the exact nature of the project. Based on what JMS has said previously about it and our own reading of the market, we believe that it must be a direct to DVD project - probably a movie but perhaps a mini-series. Well, only time will tell whether or not our speculations are correct. Until then, enjoy the anticipation! It's been a long time since we've had a B5 project to look forward to, so we intend to take full advantage of the chance to enjoy looking forward to it. We hope that you do, too :)
Babylon 5/Crusade/JMS News Archive July 2003 - January 2004
Babylon 5/Crusade/JMS News Archive September 2002 - June 2003
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