[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by RubberEagle [/i]
[B]Well, how much time do you think is there in your standard 42-minute TV Episode for the A-Story?
And since these 30 minute segments will essentially be short stories, i don't think they will have much of a b-story... [/B][/QUOTE]
I still think its a tease, after so long with no new B5, i'm hungry for DEPTH, not jsut a little glossy quick story.
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
Ah, there we have it. That's exactly why I'm not hugely impressed by this announcement. jms is good at doing long--term plots, he's not that great at doing short quick stuff. Plus long--term stuff usually has a much better payoff.
Someone mentioned a spat with Mongoose, what was that all about?
RubberEagleWhat's a rubber eagle used for, anyway?
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Anla'Shok Douglas Nicol [/i]
[B]I'm really not sure what to think at this stage.
Someone mentioned a spat with Mongoose, what was that all about? [/B][/QUOTE]
mongoose has/had a license to do B5 novels, and advertised that they were jms approved and based on additional notes by jms, when he had exactly zero involvement in them.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by RubberEagle [/i]
[B]Well, how much time do you think is there in your standard 42-minute TV Episode for the A-Story?
And since these 30 minute segments will essentially be short stories, i don't think they will have much of a b-story... [/B][/QUOTE]
Who says the three different shorts couldn't be tied together in a fashion anyway?
Perhaps JMS is clever and runs a couple b-stories across the three shorts.
It could very well be one larger story told from three different perspectives too. Each episode revealing more and more.
I’d be stunned if he didn’t have a few carrots/teasers leaving us clamoring for more at the end of each short or DVD anyway! Gotta start somewhere after all...
Maybe I’m just the optimist. I loved B5, genuinely enjoyed Crusade, and was actually okay with Legend of the Rangers and the TV movies… …I’ve got hope {insert B5 hope cliché quote here}. As to the just let it rest folks… …imagine some of the great stuff we would have missed out on if the had just let Star-Gate, Star Trek, BSG, Dune, etc. etc. etc. rest.
Somebody poured some "cynical fluid" in Biggles’ tank. :p
"Who says the three different shorts couldn't be tied together in a fashion anyway?"
Good point, I hope that these are just the start of a new era of B5 material. As long as JMS truly stays in control of the content I hope that translates into good material. JMS himself has said he doesn’t write short stories, I’m hoping he’s learned to do just that. I still hope for a full length series again someday as movies are too short to tell a deep story.
"... I loved B5, genuinely enjoyed Crusade, and was actually okay with Legend of the Rangers and the TV movies… "
Same here. A Call To Arms and In the Begining were the best of the movies. Except for the interference from TNT, I thought Crusade was off to a good start. LotR was painfully predictable and didn't seem like it was written by JMS at all.
"Somebody poured some ‘cynical fluid’ in Biggles’ tank. "
With all the disappointments we've had, I have to side with Biggles. As one of the original members of Firstones we’ve been through too many false-starts, cancellations, etc to get excited until it’s nearing release. But I am hopeful.
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
I've always been cynical. :p Pessimists can only be happily surprised.
As for your other examples:
[list][*]I dislike Stargate SG1. In my opinion it's the poster child for the bad parts of with the "keep going untill it's so crap noone watches it anymore" method of making TV.
[*]Have you [i]seen[/i] Voyager or Enterprise?
[*]BSG wasn't a "let's keep going making more!" thing, it was a complete restart. Although now it's looking like it's going to turn into a "let's keep going making more!" thing; it remains to be seen if it will be good or bad.
[*]Haven't seen any Dune stuff.[/list]
Something that goes on without an over-arcing story can be good, but trying to make stuff in the same universe with the same characters forever inevitably leads to bad stuff as ideas run out and get repeated. Sometimes the bad stuff can be avoided or pulled out from, but it's more likely to just turn to cliched, predictable crap, like Voyager. It is for this reason that I always prefer a complete story to be told and then nothing more than for an original story to be milked with spinoffs for ever more. Maybe this won't happen with what JMS plans, but maybe it will.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Biggles [/i]
[B]I've always been cynical. :p Pessimists can only be happily surprised.
[/B][/QUOTE]
Ha, I've said pretty much the same thing before.
And has JMS said he doesn't like writing short stories? His short story adaptations of his New Twilight Zone episodes were pretty good I thought.
Comments
[B]Well, how much time do you think is there in your standard 42-minute TV Episode for the A-Story?
And since these 30 minute segments will essentially be short stories, i don't think they will have much of a b-story... [/B][/QUOTE]
I still think its a tease, after so long with no new B5, i'm hungry for DEPTH, not jsut a little glossy quick story.
Someone mentioned a spat with Mongoose, what was that all about?
[B]I'm really not sure what to think at this stage.
Someone mentioned a spat with Mongoose, what was that all about? [/B][/QUOTE]
mongoose has/had a license to do B5 novels, and advertised that they were jms approved and based on additional notes by jms, when he had exactly zero involvement in them.
[B]Well, how much time do you think is there in your standard 42-minute TV Episode for the A-Story?
And since these 30 minute segments will essentially be short stories, i don't think they will have much of a b-story... [/B][/QUOTE]
Who says the three different shorts couldn't be tied together in a fashion anyway?
Perhaps JMS is clever and runs a couple b-stories across the three shorts.
It could very well be one larger story told from three different perspectives too. Each episode revealing more and more.
I’d be stunned if he didn’t have a few carrots/teasers leaving us clamoring for more at the end of each short or DVD anyway! Gotta start somewhere after all...
Maybe I’m just the optimist. I loved B5, genuinely enjoyed Crusade, and was actually okay with Legend of the Rangers and the TV movies… …I’ve got hope {insert B5 hope cliché quote here}. As to the just let it rest folks… …imagine some of the great stuff we would have missed out on if the had just let Star-Gate, Star Trek, BSG, Dune, etc. etc. etc. rest.
Somebody poured some "cynical fluid" in Biggles’ tank. :p
Good point, I hope that these are just the start of a new era of B5 material. As long as JMS truly stays in control of the content I hope that translates into good material. JMS himself has said he doesn’t write short stories, I’m hoping he’s learned to do just that. I still hope for a full length series again someday as movies are too short to tell a deep story.
"... I loved B5, genuinely enjoyed Crusade, and was actually okay with Legend of the Rangers and the TV movies… "
Same here. A Call To Arms and In the Begining were the best of the movies. Except for the interference from TNT, I thought Crusade was off to a good start. LotR was painfully predictable and didn't seem like it was written by JMS at all.
"Somebody poured some ‘cynical fluid’ in Biggles’ tank. "
With all the disappointments we've had, I have to side with Biggles. As one of the original members of Firstones we’ve been through too many false-starts, cancellations, etc to get excited until it’s nearing release. But I am hopeful.
As for your other examples:
[list][*]I dislike Stargate SG1. In my opinion it's the poster child for the bad parts of with the "keep going untill it's so crap noone watches it anymore" method of making TV.
[*]Have you [i]seen[/i] Voyager or Enterprise?
[*]BSG wasn't a "let's keep going making more!" thing, it was a complete restart. Although now it's looking like it's going to turn into a "let's keep going making more!" thing; it remains to be seen if it will be good or bad.
[*]Haven't seen any Dune stuff.[/list]
Something that goes on without an over-arcing story can be good, but trying to make stuff in the same universe with the same characters forever inevitably leads to bad stuff as ideas run out and get repeated. Sometimes the bad stuff can be avoided or pulled out from, but it's more likely to just turn to cliched, predictable crap, like Voyager. It is for this reason that I always prefer a complete story to be told and then nothing more than for an original story to be milked with spinoffs for ever more. Maybe this won't happen with what JMS plans, but maybe it will.
[B]I've always been cynical. :p Pessimists can only be happily surprised.
[/B][/QUOTE]
Ha, I've said pretty much the same thing before.
And has JMS said he doesn't like writing short stories? His short story adaptations of his New Twilight Zone episodes were pretty good I thought.
[B]Cannibal Corpse will do the soundtrack. [/B][/QUOTE]
Now that would be something :D