{"id":9342,"date":"2006-07-25T13:08:13","date_gmt":"2006-07-25T20:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/07\/25\/the-return-of-babylon-5.html"},"modified":"2013-06-04T07:23:37","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T13:23:37","slug":"the_return_of_b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/25\/the_return_of_b.html","title":{"rendered":"The Return of … Babylon 5?!<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Woot-astic!<\/p>\n

Joe Straczynski, at the San Diego Comic-Con, announced all sorts of stuff.  A correspondent to AICN recorded the following most significant item (to my mind): direct-to-DVD B5 releases<\/a> called Babylon 5: The Lost Tales<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The biggest announcement I\u2019ll paraphrase: Every 6 months, I get together with WB to discuss what to do something with B5. The DVD sales have raised over 500 million in revenue. Now, I produced B5s 110 episodes at about 90 million dollars. Somehow, B5 is still 50 million in the red. Every time I mention that to WB they say We made a good deal, huh? Anyway, they asked if I wanted to do a feature film but I declined mainly because I can\u2019t yet picture structuring a B5 movie as long as [Andreas Katsulas] and [Richard
\nBiggs] insist on staying dead. Maybe in a year or two I\u2019ll be able to but right now I can\u2019t do something big and those two roles will NOT be recast. <\/p>\n

So I thought about it, and I suggested a bunch of short films. Little mini-movies or an anthology show set in the Babylon 5 universe. I pick a character and develop an hour-long story around that character. Stories that I wanted to tell during the B5 series but never had the chance to develop. They said, Okay. I said I wanted complete creative control. Do not change my words that I write, and I want that in writing. They said, Okay. And I want to direct. They said, Okay. <\/p>\n

This project was green lit less than two weeks ago. Its going to happen. Production starts in September in Vancouver, Canada. Post-production will occur from October to February with a release of the first three anthologies in the second quarter of 2007.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On the B5 Mailing List<\/a>, Joe added this:<\/p>\n

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[W]e’re looking at 3 half-hour episodes\/stories for the first DVD, with additional features and the like in the other half hour. Each story will be worked around a given established character, the specifics of which are still TBD contingent upon availabilities and other issues.<\/p>\n

We have a budget, we’re greenlit, we’re going.<\/p>\n

As for what prompted the interest now at WB…it’s only recently that they’ve finally run through all 5 seasons, which for many years now has been a constant source of revenue, and I think they would love to have something to continue to with. The recent news re: Changeling probably didn’t hurt, but the deal was actually being negotiated long before there *was* a feature film deal with Imagine. As I recall, we finalized the deal right around the time that the Imagine news was announced.<\/p>\n

It was a rather extraordinary 24 hours. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

All sorts of other stuff announced by JMS, too:<\/p>\n