I watched this again tonight and my impressions from my first viewing remain unchanged. The first story with Lochley and the priest I felt was pretty dull and uninspired and a forgettable stand-alone story while the second story with Sheridan, Vintari and G a l e n I think is very good and I love how it ties in with the overall B5 mythology.

Overall though, I think what hurt the "Lost Tales" the most was the bare-bones budget that was most apparent with the sparse production design and the short length of the two stories.

Utter disappointment. Of all the stories to explore, I have no idea how that got put out. Wouldn't have cut it in the series IMO. Only redeeming quality was seeing Boxleitner in there again. I'd rather have the 90's graphics and set with a real story to fill out groundwork already put out there.

The sets were gone, and that meager budget didn't let them make ones that looked like the old. The virtual sets were themselves pretty cheap. You watch Sanctuary now and you can see how well it can be done.

I think it also killed the series. JMS had been planning on doing more of these, but after how this one turned out changed his mind. Too bad, as I would've liked to see the Garibaldi story (more than the Lochley one) as well as other stuff, but at this point, after all these years, I think it safe to say that B5 as we knew it is now gone.



The Jedi Master

At the time of production, when jms told us the Garilbadi story had been shelved, all of us were pretty disappointed. Some voiced it while most just stored it in the "Here We Go, Again" category, no doubt due to constant set backs in the B5 Universe. Personally, I didn't even bother and I had pretty much thrown the towel after TMoS got the Axe. And I can tell you these constant set backs struck home for him just as much as it has for us.

To make things "worse", jms has not been around as much in the news group that has been, for way over a decade, THE place to be if you wanted to be in the loop with his projects (B5 or otherwise) or just talk about politics, society, etc.


As far as I know, he was contacted by WB last year. What for, he couldn't say at the time.

He's been a lot more busy since The Changeling was a (relative) success. Personally I wish he'd give up the comics writing as I've never given a damn about that. If he stuck to script writing it would be best for us.



The Jedi Master

Too much good money in that for him to give it up!

The box office success of THOR has also really elevated JMS's rep in Hollywood as well.

Oh and Underworld 4 will be coming out soon and he co-wrote that.

He loves it (almost/just) as much as B5.. and that's saying something. I'm not a fan myself but he is and comics are the flavor of the month.

Regarding the "he was contacted by WB last year" comment, check this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebjwol7B8gg&feature=related

FF to 5:08

JMS is very active on his Facebook page and he responds personally to posts people make there quite regularly.

Same feelings for Lost Tales here, liked the second one, first one I can't even remember. The virtual sets didn't bother me that much. If you have a good story and good actors that stuff kind of fades into the background.

He always did, back in the newsgroup and in Genie before that. I suppose that's where the fans from the DVD era hang out and the fact he personally responds might make them all go crazy.

LOL I won't deny that since JMS has responded to a couple of questions that I posted before. Patricia Tallman and Claudia Christian are also pretty active on FB and also often respond to fans.

Pat and CC were always very nice to fans. Well, to be fair, B5 actors have always been WAY "above average" nice to fans (when compared to other sci-fi actors of that era). Some actors.. some VERY KNOWN actors, I might add.. were so far up their behinds that they not only refused to take pictures during an event, they'd do so in front of everybody, often to the embarrassment of his fans.

Pat (along with Jerry Doyle) was just about one of the funniest people to have interviewed. Jerry cracked jokes all the time and she always made people laugh about her problems shooting while an airliner went over the studio.

I can't believe there's THAT much money in writing for comics. Sure, when he was out of the TV business and hadn't made it into film it paid the bills, but now with Changeling and then Thor...



The Jedi Master