trappedslider
Legend
JMS planned out 5 years/seasons of B5* but he lost his notes for 5 and it became a jumble due to that and a quick uncancelled.
Along with having in-story reasons in case actors had to leave for whatever reason.
I'm beginning to dislike Netflix (re: Archive 81, 1899, Warrior Nun etc cancellations)
- Thread starter Mercurius
- Start date
Along with having in-story reasons in case actors had to leave for whatever reason.
For a certain value of "success" (that is bad and wrong).
Netflix Claims It's 'Never Canceled a Successful Show' - IGN
Netflix has a history of canceling series shortly after they begin, but the company says it doesn't drop the successful ones.www.ign.com
What actually happened is that he was told the show was ending with 4, scrambled to wrap everything up, and then the ratings were so good that the network ordered a fifth season and he had to stretch out a cut subplot into a full season.
trappedslider
Legend
The show was originally plotted to have a five-season arc. When PTEN finally disintegrated and the show was not renewed for a fifth season, the fourth season was reworked to finish the arc. The show was subsequently granted a fifth season by TNT, but with almost all of its major plot threads resolved. To add to the problem, JMS’ original notes for season five were lost while he was attending a convention. The fifth season which resulted was noticeably less action-driven and was composed partly of scripts that had been cut from earlier seasons for various reasons:
In the Babylon 5 script books, JMS states that he had Season Five neatly-plotted out... and then the only copy of his notes were stolen while at a con. His failed attempts to recover them resulted in the contentious "Telepath Colony" arc, which was supposed to last three episodes but wound up being eleven. JMS had other plans for S5, but those notes went missing (again) in a hotel room. Compounding the problem was Christian, the only cast member whom JMS couldn't re-sign; the departure of Ivanova and the introduction of her replacement Lochley caused additional strain on the season.
Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
It's starting to happen. Fleabag is exactly the length Phoebe Waller-Bridge wanted it to be, no more, no less.
trappedslider
Legend
It was and still is a rare show that even if it's a "filler" the metaplot is still referenced and moves a bit in the background.
Rabulias
the Incomparably Shrewd and Clever
Agreed. I put "filler" in quotes because they did not feel like filler, but the big plot definitely took a back seat in them.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
JMS cited Blake's 7 (13 episodes per season) as an inspiration for the Babylon 5 metaplot.
Which, ironically, also suffered from cancelled-not-cancelled.
B5 is a great example.
They had to have the big 20+ episodes a season. Now sure there are a couple bad ones.....you will have them in any show. But if you have a 22 show season, even if 5 are bad, that makes 17 at least average.
Character episodes are nice, where there is no big "action/end of the universe" plot, just a story about the character. Plus B5 did a good job of world building by putting things in the universe and establishing them, without doing the TV thing of spontaneously having something just "there and happen" for the plot of that single episode.
I wonder what the New B5 will be like....they will encounter the Shadows half way through the first episode? The Shadow War will be the season 1 finale? And if it's not cancelled, season two will be vs Earth?
Uh I have bad news for you friend
Ryujin
Legend
They could jump to the seeding of the virus on Earth and give the show a countdown clock, to raise the stakes.
Ryujin
Legend
I think that it's currently in development hell, but not dead. Didn't Straczynskisay that he was still shopping it around?
payn
Legend
While I love B5, the writing is great, the production is....not great. The acting is...not great. The effects are...not great. I'd prefer to see a split in the middle and get like a nice 13 episode season with good production value and a more concentrated less episodic story telling. I think your 5 bad episodes and 17 ok ones is a complete underestimation.
Yeah, it's dead at CW. Can take it elsewhere but basically back at square 1.
Yea, but all you can do is make a show. You can't really control a lot of things.
And it's not like EVER super short 13 episode show is the ABSOLUTE best show EVER.
Well, my Bar for a Bad episode is a bit high, I think most are at least average. I'm fine will focused episodes with only like one or two characters, for example. And I loved, say the B5 "news" episodes:not only was it a good way to do a box show, but they would give us huge information dumps.
payn
Legend
No, but they dispense with a lot of filler and throw away episodes. I remember being sad about shrinking seasons/series too. One day I realized I don't really miss the long ones that much. In fact, when I go back to them I find my self skipping about half the season because of all the filler. A lot of folks are the types that think there is no such thing as too much of a good thing, but I am dead tired of the fan service and lack of concentrated story. I have come to really appreciate the production value of a shorter series. Also, the shorter series allow great talent to do movies and shows at the same time.
Rabulias
the Incomparably Shrewd and Clever
At the time and for their cost, the effects were pretty spiffy.
As rough as this news might be, they might have dodged a bullet not ending up on CW.
Ryujin
Legend
Indeed. The best that a room full of networked Amigas could produce.At the time and for their cost, the effects were pretty spiffy.
As rough as this news might be, they might have dodged a bullet not ending up on CW.
Now that The CW is out of the question I suppose we won't be subjected to a B5 crew made up of late 20-somethings, playing late-teens, in constant love triangles.
Similar Threads
