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Is There a New Babylon 5 TV Series In Development?
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Ubiquitous
Sep 19, 2011, 5:01:29 AM9/19/11
to
by Patrick Munn
Babylon 5 - Warner Bros. Televsion, a subsidiary of Time Warner What's
the real story, will Babylon 5 be returning to our television screens
soon?
Over the past few weeks, in fact since San Diego Comic Con 2011, there
has been a lot of talk about the chances of J Michael Straczynski and
Warner Brothers working on a new Babylon 5 Television series. However,
that was all recently denied by Straczynski in response to comments made
by Walter Koenig, so what’s the truth? Are there any new Babylon 5
projects in development or is this all rumour and innuendo?
A Fan Base Crying Out For More
Back in its hey day Babylon 5 was the recipient of numerous awards and
accolades, in fact according to the Writers Guild of America series
creator J Michael Straczynski is the only writer to have ever written 44
consecutive episodes of an hour long television series. But since going
off the air in 1998, little has been heard from the diverse universe.
Sure, there have been a number of attempts to get a spin off on the air,
but all ultimately failed (Crusade, The Legend of The Rangers and The
Lost Tales).
The last of which, The Lost Tales, had been given a “poultry” budget of
$2 million from Warner Brothers as they were “testing the waters for more
Babylon 5”. It was that situation in 2007 which prompted Straczynski to
tell Warner Brothers (who own all rights to Babylon 5, except for feature
film rights which are retained by Straczynski) that he would only be
interested in creating more Babylon 5 in the form of a big budget feature
film.
But as with all things, with a little distance, some reflection, and
probably the fan base consistently asking if there would be any more
Babylon 5, Straczynski changed his tune. In early 2011, he said that he
hoped to have an announcement on the future of Babylon 5 by April, 2011.
The April Announcement
On April 20th, 2011, Straczynski took to his official Facebook page to
update the fans. In the announcement he merely said that things were
“progressing” in regard to Babylon 5 and that he couldn’t say anything
further at the time. A number of fans, their hopes of some new project
having apparently been dashed, took to the internet to ask the never shy
Straczynski why he was teasing them and being so coy about a new Babylon
5 project. His response was rather direct: “Re: the B5 thing...I'm not
being coy, it's just that over the years, it's like B5 has been the
football, the fans (and I to a degree) have been Charlie Brown, and the
studios/networks have dutifully executed their role as Lucy.
Consequently, I'm not saying anyTHING to anyONE for any REASON until I
know for a stone cold fact that there's ink on contracts and we're moving
ahead on something of substance.”
Subsequent to the announcement in April, Straczynski once again said that
he hoped to make a statement regarding the future of Babylon 5 at the San
Diego Comic Con 2011.
San Diego Comic Con 2011
During his spotlight at SDCC, Straczynski was finally able to reveal some
details about the ever elusive project to which he had been referring all
year. The proposed project was for a re-boot of the Babylon 5 series, he
had been given a commitment for a full 22 episode first season, with a
$2-3 million dollar budget per episode and full creative control. The
proposed series was to be part of a new distribution service, but
negotiations for the quote unquote “new distribution service” dragged on
for well over a year and eventually fell apart. While details of the
“distribution service” is unknown, there has been a lot of speculation
that it may have been a streaming web service, think Hulu meets first run
syndication.
On the back of saying negotiations had fallen apart, Straczynski also
said that while the project as it existed is no longer a viable option,
he was in negotiations with Warner Brothers regarding more Babylon 5. His
exact words on the subject were: “After negotiations between Warner’s and
the other parties involved with this new distribution system fell apart,
I went back to Warner’s and said ‘If we’re not going to do A, B and C,
let me do D, E and F. So negotiations are on going but are at a very
early stage.”
Hopes Dashed?
Coming off of SDCC, the fan base was left with the chance that there
would be more Babylon 5. Further to this Walter Koenig, arguably best
known for playing Chekov on Star Trek and Psi Cop Bester on Babylon 5,
told fans at a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas that “He told me that he
is in negations to re-acquire the rights to Babylon 5 and it looks pretty
good.” It didn’t take too long before the statement was picked up by
various websites, including trekmovie. Straczynski was quick to respond
to the comment via twitter, saying “Walter misspoke: I am not in
negotiations with WB to develop more Babylon 5.”
It is important to note that Warner Brothers own all non-feature film
rights to Babylon 5. Walter’s comment indicated that Straczynski was
looking to buy them back from the studio, something that would be
prohibitively expensive. So was Straczynski denial a blanket denial that
there would be nor more Babylon 5 or strictly in relation to the claim of
him buying back the rights to the series? When I spoke to some of my
contacts inside Warner Brothers they told me they couldn’t comment on any
on going negotiations, but that Straczynski had been speaking to them
about a Babylon 5 project. But not, as Walter had said, to buy the rights
back. So it would appear that as reported by Straczynski at SDCC he is
still negotiating for more Babylon 5. But at this stage, it is far from
certain that there will be a new series, but it can’t be ruled out as a
possibility.
Babylon 5 - Warner Bros. Televsion, a subsidiary of Time Warner What's
the real story, will Babylon 5 be returning to our television screens
soon?
Over the past few weeks, in fact since San Diego Comic Con 2011, there
has been a lot of talk about the chances of J Michael Straczynski and
Warner Brothers working on a new Babylon 5 Television series. However,
that was all recently denied by Straczynski in response to comments made
by Walter Koenig, so what’s the truth? Are there any new Babylon 5
projects in development or is this all rumour and innuendo?
A Fan Base Crying Out For More
Back in its hey day Babylon 5 was the recipient of numerous awards and
accolades, in fact according to the Writers Guild of America series
creator J Michael Straczynski is the only writer to have ever written 44
consecutive episodes of an hour long television series. But since going
off the air in 1998, little has been heard from the diverse universe.
Sure, there have been a number of attempts to get a spin off on the air,
but all ultimately failed (Crusade, The Legend of The Rangers and The
Lost Tales).
The last of which, The Lost Tales, had been given a “poultry” budget of
$2 million from Warner Brothers as they were “testing the waters for more
Babylon 5”. It was that situation in 2007 which prompted Straczynski to
tell Warner Brothers (who own all rights to Babylon 5, except for feature
film rights which are retained by Straczynski) that he would only be
interested in creating more Babylon 5 in the form of a big budget feature
film.
But as with all things, with a little distance, some reflection, and
probably the fan base consistently asking if there would be any more
Babylon 5, Straczynski changed his tune. In early 2011, he said that he
hoped to have an announcement on the future of Babylon 5 by April, 2011.
The April Announcement
On April 20th, 2011, Straczynski took to his official Facebook page to
update the fans. In the announcement he merely said that things were
“progressing” in regard to Babylon 5 and that he couldn’t say anything
further at the time. A number of fans, their hopes of some new project
having apparently been dashed, took to the internet to ask the never shy
Straczynski why he was teasing them and being so coy about a new Babylon
5 project. His response was rather direct: “Re: the B5 thing...I'm not
being coy, it's just that over the years, it's like B5 has been the
football, the fans (and I to a degree) have been Charlie Brown, and the
studios/networks have dutifully executed their role as Lucy.
Consequently, I'm not saying anyTHING to anyONE for any REASON until I
know for a stone cold fact that there's ink on contracts and we're moving
ahead on something of substance.”
Subsequent to the announcement in April, Straczynski once again said that
he hoped to make a statement regarding the future of Babylon 5 at the San
Diego Comic Con 2011.
San Diego Comic Con 2011
During his spotlight at SDCC, Straczynski was finally able to reveal some
details about the ever elusive project to which he had been referring all
year. The proposed project was for a re-boot of the Babylon 5 series, he
had been given a commitment for a full 22 episode first season, with a
$2-3 million dollar budget per episode and full creative control. The
proposed series was to be part of a new distribution service, but
negotiations for the quote unquote “new distribution service” dragged on
for well over a year and eventually fell apart. While details of the
“distribution service” is unknown, there has been a lot of speculation
that it may have been a streaming web service, think Hulu meets first run
syndication.
On the back of saying negotiations had fallen apart, Straczynski also
said that while the project as it existed is no longer a viable option,
he was in negotiations with Warner Brothers regarding more Babylon 5. His
exact words on the subject were: “After negotiations between Warner’s and
the other parties involved with this new distribution system fell apart,
I went back to Warner’s and said ‘If we’re not going to do A, B and C,
let me do D, E and F. So negotiations are on going but are at a very
early stage.”
Hopes Dashed?
Coming off of SDCC, the fan base was left with the chance that there
would be more Babylon 5. Further to this Walter Koenig, arguably best
known for playing Chekov on Star Trek and Psi Cop Bester on Babylon 5,
told fans at a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas that “He told me that he
is in negations to re-acquire the rights to Babylon 5 and it looks pretty
good.” It didn’t take too long before the statement was picked up by
various websites, including trekmovie. Straczynski was quick to respond
to the comment via twitter, saying “Walter misspoke: I am not in
negotiations with WB to develop more Babylon 5.”
It is important to note that Warner Brothers own all non-feature film
rights to Babylon 5. Walter’s comment indicated that Straczynski was
looking to buy them back from the studio, something that would be
prohibitively expensive. So was Straczynski denial a blanket denial that
there would be nor more Babylon 5 or strictly in relation to the claim of
him buying back the rights to the series? When I spoke to some of my
contacts inside Warner Brothers they told me they couldn’t comment on any
on going negotiations, but that Straczynski had been speaking to them
about a Babylon 5 project. But not, as Walter had said, to buy the rights
back. So it would appear that as reported by Straczynski at SDCC he is
still negotiating for more Babylon 5. But at this stage, it is far from
certain that there will be a new series, but it can’t be ruled out as a
possibility.
Captain Infinity
Sep 19, 2011, 6:13:24 PM9/19/11
to
Once Upon A Time,
accountants are just chicken.
**
Captain Infinity
Ubiquitous wrote:
>The last of which, The Lost Tales, had been given a “poultry” budget of
>$2 million from Warner Brothers as they were “testing the waters for more
>Babylon 5”.
When it comes to funding uncertain projects those Warner Brothers
>The last of which, The Lost Tales, had been given a “poultry” budget of
>$2 million from Warner Brothers as they were “testing the waters for more
>Babylon 5”.
accountants are just chicken.
**
Captain Infinity
Michael Bowker
Sep 19, 2011, 7:16:46 PM9/19/11
to
On 9/19/2011 3:13 PM, Captain Infinity wrote:
> Once Upon A Time,
> Ubiquitous wrote:
>
>> The last of which, The Lost Tales, had been given a �poultry� budget of> Once Upon A Time,
> Ubiquitous wrote:
>
>> $2 million from Warner Brothers as they were �testing the waters for more
>> Babylon 5�.
>
> When it comes to funding uncertain projects those Warner Brothers
> accountants are just chicken.
>
>
> **
> Captain Infinity
I thought a chicken in every pot was a GOOD thing.
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