The "Buck" stops at Warner Brothers
Vigilant fans today unveiled the second phase of their effort to convince Warner Brothers to cast the original actors from the popular five-year television series, "Babylon 5," in the upcoming franchise-based film "The Memory of Shadows." After leaks in December indicated that familiar roles were to be recast with new actors (akin to recasting someone else as Captain Kirk in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"), fans of the highly-regarded science fiction series created by J. Michael Straczynski burned up the internet with their displeasure. One particular message board registered more than 11,000 messages in a thread dedicated to complaints about the proposed recasting.
Original cast members of "Babylon 5" include Bruce Boxleitner (long known to tv fans from "Scarecrow and Mrs. King"), Mira Furlan (currently featured in ABC's runaway hit, "Lost"), Andreas Katsulas (most famously the one-armed man in 1993's "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford), Peter Jurasik (beloved as Sid the Snitch on "Hill Street Blues"), Tracy Scoggins (the sultry-voiced, athletic beauty remembered from "The Colbys" and "Dynasty"), and Peter Woodward (well known to fans of ancient weaponry from his History Channel program, "Conquest").
In this second-wave effort, fans designed "Babylon 5 Bucks" - funny money intended for printing and sending to Warner Bros. as a reminder and veiled warning about the potential income the fanbase can generate for - or keep from - them. Warner Bros. rushed out the DVD boxsets of the last four years of the 1993-1998 television show in a series of rapid releases after what were reported as "staggering" sales of the first season set. Clearly, the potential income in the hands of the fans is indeed significant, and the studio has shown that this particular audience is on their radar.
The "Babylon 5 Bucks," and instructions for letter writing, can be found at the main bastion of the campaign, the KeepB5Alive website (www.keepb5alive.com). One such buck is a fanciful, futuristic design of a credit chit that might have been used on the station itself, containing a promise to Warner Bros. that the bearer will buy "at least one ticket" to see the new film; the other is a set of five phony million-dollar bills featuring actors from the original series and the motto, "In Support of the Original Actors."
Fans all over the vast reaches of the internet community are being urged to send in their "Babylon 5 Bucks" and a letter to Warner Bros. right away, in order to display graphically to the studio execs returning to work after their holiday break that the fans of "Babylon 5" are willing, and eager, to put their money where their mouths are.
Contacts:
Amy Guskin, 610-647-7768, muse@fjordstone.com
Mark Jones (8 AM - 5 PM ET, only), 561-758-9448
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