Forum > Media and Inspiration
Babylon 5 Reboot in Development
Ratman_tf:
Speaking as a fan who is currently at halfway through Season 5 of a rewatch, I'm not very interested in this.
Babylon 5 was very much a product of it's time. When it was thought that Star Trek was the only sci-fi television show with any staying power, B5 came along and, with great effort, managed to get all 5 of it's planned seasons out, and carve out a fan niche of it's own.
It's planned storyline was revolutionary for it's time, when episodic television was the status quo. (Yes, there are exceptions)
But now? I feel like JMS has said and done everything that he wanted to say and do, and his sequel series and most of the TV movies (excepting In the Beginning) were really a (pun intended?) shadow of the main series. Crusade was terribly clunky, despite having some really great ideas (What's in the box?!?!?) and Legend of the Rangers was downright atrocious.
No, not even addressing whether it's going to be some kind of Woke garbage, Babylon 5, warts and all, is a complete story that's well worth watching, and the chances of a rehash adding anything of entertainment value are slim.
But for fanboy's sake...
--- Quote ---To those who have asked why we’re not just doing a continuation…for a network series like this, it can’t be done because over half our cast are still stubbornly on the other side of the Rim. How do you telling continuing story of our original Londo without the original Vir? Or G’Kar? How do you tell Sheridan’s story without Delenn? Or the story of B5 without Franklin? Garibaldi? Zack?
--- End quote ---
There's 20 years after the end of the series and the decommisioning of Babylon 5 to tell stories in. They shouldn't dig up the bones of old characters. Do something new in the same setting. Only Zak was shown to still be on the station 20 years later, and he can be sidestepped, since the actor is likely not age appropriate anymore. Lockley could have moved on after a few years.
Just to make the point. They don't need to make a rote sequel with the same characters.
ThatChrisGuy:
--- Quote from: jeff37923 on September 28, 2021, 11:03:23 AM ---Direct from Variety.
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/babylon-5-reboot-the-cw-j-michael-straczynski-1235075236/?fbclid=IwAR1eHIrzPnsuBJZo57iCmb7gCagZeLjO5Wm0__Y6bLOsR9C7m07wIGSMvP0
--- End quote ---
Seeing "Reboot," "The CW," and "Babylon 5" together is a factory of sadness eclipsing even the Browns.
Edit: screwed up formatting
Ratman_tf:
--- Quote from: Shrieking Banshee on September 28, 2021, 11:29:48 AM ---Babylon 5 was more hippie dippy and niavely idealistic then friggin STAR TREK.
But for the people that liked that sort of thing, it was made well. Babylon 5 needs maybe a CGI upgrade at most. Reboots are cynical cashgrabs and those that consume them are the kind of person that eats fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
--- End quote ---
The CGI got so much better over the course of the series, an update would be great, but cost to return ratio would likely be prohibitive.
Stephen Tannhauser:
--- Quote from: Ghostmaker on September 28, 2021, 11:13:30 AM ---I don't know if JMS is woke or not, but I have no confidence either way. Either he's on the woke train, in which case it'll SUCK. Or he's not, at which point he'll get cross-threaded with the wokeists and spend inordinate amounts of time and energy fighting them.
--- End quote ---
There is reason to be optimistic, I think. JMS is one of the few explicitly atheist writers I've encountered who nonetheless groks religious thought and religious people well enough to write them in a serious, non-patronizing and non-offensive manner. That ability is usually incompatible with Woke sensibilities. And JMS has previously demonstrated enough stubbornness to disdain PC sensibilities where they would interfere with the story he wants to tell.
That said, I have to admit that much as I loved Babylon 5 in the '90s and would love to see a version done with everything that could be brought to bear on it now, there's a part of me that kind of wonders, "What's the point?" I know the story of the Shadow War, the secret of the hole in Sinclair's mind, the arc of Sheridan and Delenn, and everything else, and for JMS to overhaul those to the point of being surprising again he will have to lose all the mythic resonance of the original arcs. So I would probably check this out for curiosity's sake but couldn't guarantee sticking with it.
Lurkndog:
I dunno.
On the one hand, I'm worried it might turn into woke garbage, or CW fluff.
On the other hand, though, it is true that B5 had to change course abruptly at a number of points, due to actors becoming unavailable, and threats of early cancellation. It would be interesting to see a version of Babylon 5 that went more according to plan. The show could be tighter overall, and avoid the pacing issues of Seasons 4 and 5.
They could also include elements like the Telepath War that were never filmed for the original show.
It would also be sweet to see a version of Babylon 5 shot with the technology they use for The Mandalorian. There's just so much more you could do.
One thing I haven't seen yet, and it may not be decided yet, is what the budget is going to be like, and how many episodes are going to be in a season, and how many seasons are planned.
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