Post by thechase on Sept 19, 2021 8:48:42 GMT -5
Posted on a B5 Facebook group back in July
www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4141813452573683&id=178490865572648
I've been debating with myself for a while about whether sharing this little snippet of info would be a good idea or a bad one. Not least because anyone who has been a B5 fan for a while will know how every few years a rumour starts up about how there's a new B5 project in the works and it always comes to nothing. . . . . . So, is there any real point in essentially starting/sharing a new one!?
That's the 64,000 dollar question, and I know some fans who read this will not be pleased that I've came down on the side of sharing some of this. But at the end of the day this Facebook page is called Babylon 5 - some behind the scenes stuff . . . . So, f'ck it. Here goes.
Over the last few months jms has been saying things (mainly to those who signed up to his patreon page/group), dropping hints about there being not one, but two B5 related projects in the works right now (that's not that unusual as those past rumours I mentioned often start with something jms has said and sometimes that sparks off a lot of speculation, and sometimes it doesn't). So much so that a lot of fans have (rightly) become a little jaded when it comes to news about new B5 stuff and take the approach I'll believe it when I see it. . . and I kinda fall into that group myself. . . But this time, at least part of the hinting/clues related to something I was doing in an indirect sort of way, so it piqued my interest more than something like this usually would. . . . . . .
Back in March this year, he posted a tweet about former Foundation and Netter employees uploading high resolution re-renders of the CGI to youtube - and he wanted them to contact him about something pretty cool relating to the original 3D files. Of course, former Netter and FI employees weren't uploading new CGI to youtube . . . It was me - and just to be clear I've never worked in the industry, I just got access to some of the assets a few years back and decided to re-render a few shots to see how they looked without all the conversion do-da which royally screwed with that genuinely important and ground breaking work from the Foundation Imaging crew.
Anyway.. . .as the person who was responsible for the uploading of clips referenced in jms's tweet I got wind of what he was telling some of those that got in contact with him - even got to read a few emails, and while the details vary slightly (and there's some interesting insights about his thoughts on Lightwave and who helped who back in the day), the bottom line is the request from jms abut getting hold of the original 3D models was NOT to do a proper remaster of the show. . . . The models were requested for reference purposes only. . . Someone wanted to get a close look at them basically.
There's not a lot of details, and as mentioned the details vary ever so slightly as he was talking to different people but the upshot is WB want to do some animated material set in the B5 universe, movies were mentioned, a series of them was mentioned (perhaps one or two a year). I've no idea if any of the original actors would be brought on for voice work, no idea what "style" these animations will take and don't know what time period or stories they might touch on. How far along in the development process was also unclear.
But basically, that's it - the requested 3D models are for their animators to use as a starting point to create their own thing - there are no plans for anyone from the original team to be involved, at least not at the time this was all said. WB are apparently pretty keen to do this - which isn't too surprising, but I'm not going to get into all that complete horse hockey about someone at the studio hating the show and how they will never do anything new with B5.
By all means view this as gossip, even another bit of speculation - and dismiss it accordingly, but that's the gist of what I was told about why the request for the original 3D models was made a few months back.
That's the 64,000 dollar question, and I know some fans who read this will not be pleased that I've came down on the side of sharing some of this. But at the end of the day this Facebook page is called Babylon 5 - some behind the scenes stuff . . . . So, f'ck it. Here goes.
Over the last few months jms has been saying things (mainly to those who signed up to his patreon page/group), dropping hints about there being not one, but two B5 related projects in the works right now (that's not that unusual as those past rumours I mentioned often start with something jms has said and sometimes that sparks off a lot of speculation, and sometimes it doesn't). So much so that a lot of fans have (rightly) become a little jaded when it comes to news about new B5 stuff and take the approach I'll believe it when I see it. . . and I kinda fall into that group myself. . . But this time, at least part of the hinting/clues related to something I was doing in an indirect sort of way, so it piqued my interest more than something like this usually would. . . . . . .
Back in March this year, he posted a tweet about former Foundation and Netter employees uploading high resolution re-renders of the CGI to youtube - and he wanted them to contact him about something pretty cool relating to the original 3D files. Of course, former Netter and FI employees weren't uploading new CGI to youtube . . . It was me - and just to be clear I've never worked in the industry, I just got access to some of the assets a few years back and decided to re-render a few shots to see how they looked without all the conversion do-da which royally screwed with that genuinely important and ground breaking work from the Foundation Imaging crew.
Anyway.. . .as the person who was responsible for the uploading of clips referenced in jms's tweet I got wind of what he was telling some of those that got in contact with him - even got to read a few emails, and while the details vary slightly (and there's some interesting insights about his thoughts on Lightwave and who helped who back in the day), the bottom line is the request from jms abut getting hold of the original 3D models was NOT to do a proper remaster of the show. . . . The models were requested for reference purposes only. . . Someone wanted to get a close look at them basically.
There's not a lot of details, and as mentioned the details vary ever so slightly as he was talking to different people but the upshot is WB want to do some animated material set in the B5 universe, movies were mentioned, a series of them was mentioned (perhaps one or two a year). I've no idea if any of the original actors would be brought on for voice work, no idea what "style" these animations will take and don't know what time period or stories they might touch on. How far along in the development process was also unclear.
But basically, that's it - the requested 3D models are for their animators to use as a starting point to create their own thing - there are no plans for anyone from the original team to be involved, at least not at the time this was all said. WB are apparently pretty keen to do this - which isn't too surprising, but I'm not going to get into all that complete horse hockey about someone at the studio hating the show and how they will never do anything new with B5.
By all means view this as gossip, even another bit of speculation - and dismiss it accordingly, but that's the gist of what I was told about why the request for the original 3D models was made a few months back.
www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4141813452573683&id=178490865572648
