JMS for Star Wars TV. Opinions?

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-10-07 04:02am

Apparantly, an interview with Jim Ward reveals that in addition to a Live-Action series, we might be getting a fully animated movie. Interesting.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2004-10-07 10:45am

Stofsk wrote:
Ender wrote:No slam against him of B5, but on a smallscale is where his stories work. Largescale is not for him. Remember, an incredibly bloody war only had a quarter of a million casualties.
That fits in context, though. The Minbari weren't targeting civilians, and if they had the death toll would have risen dramatically, I'm sure.

Yeah they were. Its heavily implied they used bio weapons and we see the scene with the people trying to defend the civillians in the bunker, remember?

Besides, since when is 250'000 casualties NOT considered 'bloody'? It's not as bloody as a million casualties, but it's a lot bloodier than a thousand. Why can't it be put down to perspective?

For the scale, its a drop in the pan.

And incidentally, I partially agree with you on this. JMS can do large scale but he seems to excel at the smaller scale. Interestingly, when the plot required large scale action that was what got delivered; when the budget increased, we saw more of this (season 4 and 5, and the late part of season 3). Even the TV movies showed this as well. ITB for instance. He can do 'large scale'.

The "large scale" ness comes from comments in the comics, not the show. We didn't see 30,000 ships on screen, we read about them in his comic. This is a guy whose favorite term is "megawatt".

I have other problems with JMS, which is to do with his dialogue writing skills. And the cliche scifi brainbugs. But his experience would frankly be welcome to writing a TV show like this. B5 gave him over 5 years of necessary experience writing, producing and creating a show from the ground up, and keeping it alive at the end of every season. Now, he won't have to fight as hard. There would be advantages to working under such conditions. And his presence would be much more welcome than FUCKING Berman and Coto offering their advice, with the latter throwing his resume out into the open.

Hire SG-1 military consultants, bring on a damned good technical advisor and listen to him, use farscape and sg-1 writers for snappy dialogue, JMS for overall plotlines, and keep a strick eye on continuity, and it would work.

But franky I'd just be stoked if they handed it off to the Clone Wars crew and did more cartoons.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-10-07 11:01am

Geography might make this an issue, but it would be seriously cool to bring in Saxton on the project...

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-10-07 11:04am

Satxon lives in Germany right now, doesn't he? That could make things a bit easier.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2004-10-07 11:04am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Satxon lives in Germany right now, doesn't he? That could make things a bit easier.

England.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-08 02:05am

Ender wrote:Yeah they were. Its heavily implied they used bio weapons and we see the scene with the people trying to defend the civillians in the bunker, remember?

Implication is simply that: an implication. It doesn't actually state anything with certainty. And I also don't think it was even implied at all.

We know the Starriders Clan harboured Deathwalker, who created bioweapons for them. When the War started, they came to the council with these weapons and petitioned their use; the Council told them to go to hell. Furthermore, in ITB, we see the civilians in the bunker, but we don't see the Minbari walk in and slaughter everyone. The only time we do see them in HtH it's between a Warrior and a Marine. Furthermore, ITB directly states that the Minbari were thus far only targeting military units, not civilians. If they had targeted civilians do you really think the war would last 2-3 years, given the sort of firepower disparity we see between the two? (where battles last seconds, and a dozen EA Hyperions and Novas can be blasted by the Minbari)

Besides, since when is 250'000 casualties NOT considered 'bloody'? It's not as bloody as a million casualties, but it's a lot bloodier than a thousand. Why can't it be put down to perspective?
For the scale, its a drop in the pan.

In context, it makes sense. 250K makes sense if all you're doing is targeting the enemy's military forces.

The "large scale" ness comes from comments in the comics, not the show. We didn't see 30,000 ships on screen, we read about them in his comic.

30'000 ships? I don't recall that being said in any comic. Unless you're talking about the B4 miniseries, which stated that the final battle in "Into the Fire" had thousands of ships from all the sides arrayed against each other.

But franky I'd just be stoked if they handed it off to the Clone Wars crew and did more cartoons.

I wouldn't, I hate the cartoons. If they hired someone besides that Samurai Jack guy, and increase the length to MORE than 3 mins, I'd be happy.

Perhaps a Mod can split this thread to OSF? I'm sorry for the B5 tangent.