[B5JMS] Is B5 dead?

[b5jms at mail.fsl.cs.sunysb.edu]

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From: "Frank Franklinson" <osiris at swfla.rr.com>
Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 02:34:11 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 24

Ok, I've been a lurker here for a long time. Posted a few times years ago,
but the last time I tried to post, it was kicked back to me. Anyway...

I've been with the show since the beginning. I've seen all the episodes
enough times to probably be considered sick in the head. I have the books. I
remember the feeling I got when I unwrapped a pack of cards many years ago,
and lay my eyes on a JMS autograph. The show still makes me laugh and cry
like a child.

But now, the movie project is gone. There are no more film (tv or movie)
rumors floating around. You can't even turn on the one channel supposedly
committed to sci-fi, and see episodes (yeah, I have them all on dvd, but
there is still some magic in being able to turn on the tv and see Londo
scheming). Sci-fi in general seems to be dying. And frankly, I'd trade every
new sci-fi show and movie over the next 10 years to have one new B5 project
take a 5 year run. But it's not going to happen.

Are we now reduced to hoping for a book once or twice a decade? Is there any
reason to have hope for more of what we love so much?

Is Babylon 5, as we know it....dead?




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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com
Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 06:24:08 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 37

"Are we now reduced to hoping for a book once or twice a decade? Is
there any
reason to have hope for more of what we love so much?
Is Babylon 5, as we know it....dead?"


This question comes up periodically, and I'll give it pretty much the
same answer that I always give...that there is a difference between
*dead* and *complete*.

If a novelist writes a book, and he doesn't write five more books in
that universe, with those characters, is the book dead?  Or completed?

When I embarked on B5, I wasn't out to create a franchise, wasn't
looking to springboard this out into a zillion other projects...I
resisted merchandising, and made it clear to all parties that this
would be five seasons, no more.  Because that's I figured it would take
me to tell that story.  The only thing I asked of the universe was that
I be able to tell the story to its end, and that I not die before
finishing it.  That's all.

And somehow, both happened...and I'm happy with that.

I've said it a hundred times before...if something happens to come up
in the B5 universe that's fun to tell, and someone wants to provide a
venue, great...if not, also great.  I told the story that I wanted,
needed to tell.  When Zack says, in SiL, "We did what we said we were
gonna do, and nobody can ever take that away from us," that was the
author speaking through him.

What I set out to do with that show, I did, and nobody can ever take
that away.  I told the story I wanted to tell.  Everything else is
lagniappe.

jms