Well, that's at least ONE weight off my chest....

To those who've heard the news already, and those just now finding out...the
SciFi Channel today announced that we have a new Babylon 5 TV movie going into
production that will also serve as a pilot for a likely new series.

The movie (and the series) is under the heading of BABYLON 5: THE LEGEND OF THE
RANGERS. The specific title for the 2-hour movie's story is "To Live and Die
in Starlight."

There isn't much I can tell you about the story because we're kinda keeping the
details under wraps as much as possible for the time being. What little I can
say....

It's set in the B5 universe just under 3 years after the events of "Objects at
Rest." At this point there's one major character from the B5 universe in the
script (a fan favorite). Where B5 was a heavy drama with some adventure/action
elements, this one is a little more skewed toward adventure with underlying
drama (which is about what you'd expect from the Anla-Shok).

We've been sitting on this information for a while now...such that we're
already well into pre-production. We'll be shooting this movie around mid-May,
well in advance of any potential actor's strike (the script is done and so far
everybody likes it a LOT).

We've already got designs coming in on a new ship, and a new *kind* of
ship...and we're going to be getting more into Minbari aesthetics, technologies
and philosophy.

It's got some great characters, and it's a lot of fun.

I have other news to announce on other fronts...have since the end of the year,
in fact...but I'm still sitting on the details awaiting another press release
from another studio. What I *can* say is that I have a firm GO order to
executive produce a new series (nominally SF) that will go into production
after the potential SAG strike. When that's finally over, if the strike indeed
happens, we pull the trigger and go into principal photography and it's an
order for a full season's worth of episodes.

I can't give you any details right now on the subject, title, studio or
network. That will have to await the studio's release...so don't even ask.

As far as doing both projects at the same time is concerned...it's actually
quite common, as testified to by folks like John Wells and Aaron Sorkin and
David Kelly and others. So there won't be any conflict.

More later.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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and don't send me story ideas)