{original post unavailable}
See, here's what I don't understand in all this.
It's not that the cast was let go, THE SHOW IS OVER. You can only "let go" of an actor if the show continues and the actor is out. THE SHOW IS OVER. I've been saying for five years, "This is a five year story. When it's over, it's over."
I think part of the problem was that some in the cast didn't want to ever deal with the reality of that until it hit them. I read many interviews where they said, "Well, Joe says it's a five year story, but I don't see any reason why this can't go on." If you cushion yourself from it, then it can only hit you in the face later. (On the last few days of shooting, several people asked, "Why couldn't it have been a *six* year arc? Why the arbitrary five?" It is what it is.
Toward the end of filming, we spoke to all the cast, apprised them of the work progressing toward a feature film, the likelihood of additional TV movies before then, and so on. But we also said, specifically, "Babylon 5 the series is over."
But you must admit that it's quite a jump between "the series is over" and "the actors were fired." Technically speaking, EVERYONE is fired when a show is over.
As for Crusade, there are a couple of people who might transition over, but that is *a different series*. And must have its own identity (should it go into production). You maybe do one or two B5 feature films, with the whole cast, as Crusade runs on a separate track on TV.
As for John Flinn...same situation. John was the DP on B5 for all five years, minus those episodes DPd by Fred Murphy. Babylon 5 is now over, and so that task is over. Crusade (see previous disclaimer) should have an entirely different look from B5, to make it its own show, and that generally requires a different DP. That's pretty much standard in the business.
jms |
|