Babylon 5 potentially getting a CW Reboot
- Thread starter Tyrus Rechs
- Start date
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
I dread what they'll do to the series but probably love the CGI models
I'm... tentatively hopeful.
According to the article, JMS is both writing and to be the executive producer, so the original creator is still at the helm. CW is a subsidiary of WB after all, and B5 was originally produced by WB. They may just be looking at the current media landscape of reboots, and the far greater acceptance of epic linear storytelling on TV (far more than when B5 originally aired), and are willing to let JMS make it as he would have originally wanted.
We can hope, anyway.
But damn will some actors have huge shoes to fill.
According to the article, JMS is both writing and to be the executive producer, so the original creator is still at the helm. CW is a subsidiary of WB after all, and B5 was originally produced by WB. They may just be looking at the current media landscape of reboots, and the far greater acceptance of epic linear storytelling on TV (far more than when B5 originally aired), and are willing to let JMS make it as he would have originally wanted.
We can hope, anyway.
But damn will some actors have huge shoes to fill.
DarthOne
☦️
(Looks at SW, Doctor Who and Star Trek)
Yeah, I’m gonna go with ‘how about no’. Especially since JMS seems to have caugh a bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (or at least did back when I still used twitter a few years back), which doesn’t say good things.
Plus, do I have to remind everyone how Star Trek Discovery make the Klingons into ‘totally not Trump supporters’ with their ‘make the Klingon Empire Great Again’ logo?
Yeah, I’m gonna go with ‘how about no’. Especially since JMS seems to have caugh a bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (or at least did back when I still used twitter a few years back), which doesn’t say good things.
Plus, do I have to remind everyone how Star Trek Discovery make the Klingons into ‘totally not Trump supporters’ with their ‘make the Klingon Empire Great Again’ logo?
SHUT YOUR ***** MOUTH!!!
ITS NOT TRUE! ITS NOT TRUE! IT CANT BE TRUE!
If I don't know about its existence then it doesn't exist...
On a more serious note I remember JMS talking about wanting to do Babylon 5 again a few years ago and I was still rather uninterested. I mean I had already seen the original and I guess I'm just not interested in seeing a remake of the entire storyline again? It felt pretty well covered the first time around unless it somehow is a drastic improvement over the original without sacrificing that strong original narrative.
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The actors have big shoes to fill, but seeing the show reshot with modern CGI would be nice.
How it would turn out depends on the acting and what they decide to change.
If it's largely the same show just with updated CGI and new actors (who are properly decent) then it would be worth a watch. If they try to woke it up... well that would get a solid thumbs down.
I mean if it becomes a game of spin the trans wheel to see which main character had their dick lopped off... Or if suddenly being racist (as opposed to speciest) becomes a thing...
How it would turn out depends on the acting and what they decide to change.
If it's largely the same show just with updated CGI and new actors (who are properly decent) then it would be worth a watch. If they try to woke it up... well that would get a solid thumbs down.
I mean if it becomes a game of spin the trans wheel to see which main character had their dick lopped off... Or if suddenly being racist (as opposed to speciest) becomes a thing...
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Hmm, you know I never saw the original B5? I didn't have access to the right channels for the first half and when I tried to watch it later it was in the middle of a long arc and I couldn't tell what was going on so I just dropped it and somehow never came back.
This could be good for me to finally see what it was about.
This could be good for me to finally see what it was about.
DarthOne
☦️
There’s these neat things called ‘DVDs’ that you can watch. And you can buy episodes on things like iTunes or watch it on some streaming services.
Word of warning though, season one is a bit ‘meh’ at times. So I’d recommend skipping most of it except for some key episodes:
Midnight on the Firing Line
Soul Hunter
Mind War
And the Sky Full of Stars
Signs and Portents
A Voice in the Wilderness
Babylon Squared
Chrysalis
Terthna
Professional Lurker
The problem is that JMS is not the same person who created the original Babylon 5; it's been over two decades since it ended, how could he be? Compound that with the fact that he was far from the only one who was responsible for that show being good (many of whom are now dead), as well the CW as a network having a... particular culture and demographic that does not mesh well with the original show's tone (name the last show they had that didn't ultimately revolve around teenagers and/or young adults with emotional issues); I'm certain this is going to be utter dreck.
49ersfootball
Well-known member
What could possibly go wrong ?
JMS Responds
Tyrus Rechs
Active member
Looks like JMS has responded to concerns on twitter.
Still very wary myself, getting even close to the cast of the original is a tall order.
Still very wary myself, getting even close to the cast of the original is a tall order.
To answer all the questions, yes, it's true, Babylon 5 is in active development as a series for the CW. We have some serious fans over at the network, and they're eager to see this show happen. I'm hip deep into writing the pilot now, and will be running the series upon pickup.
The network understands the uniqueness of Babylon 5 and is giving me a great deal of latitude with the storytelling.As noted in the announcement, this is a reboot from the ground up rather than a continuation, for several reasons. Heraclitus wrote -- "You cannot step in the same river twice, for the river has changed, and you have changed." In the years since B5, I've done a ton of other TV shows and movies, adding an equal number of tools to my toolbox, all of which I can bring to bear on one singular question: if I were creating Babylon 5 today, for the first time, knowing what I now know as a writer, what would it look like? How would it use all the storytelling tools and technological resources available in 2021 that were not on hand then? How can it be used to reflect the world in which we live, and the questions we are asking and confronting every day? Fans regularly point out how prescient the show was and is of our current world; it would be fun to take a shot at looking further down the road.
So we will not be retelling the same story in the same way because of what Heraclitus said about the river. There would be no fun and no surprises. Better to go the way of Westworld or Battlestar Galactica where you take the original elements that are evergreens and -- put them in a blender with a ton of new, challenging ideas, to create something fresh yet familiar. To those asking why not just do 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? The original Babylon 5 was ridiculously innovative: the first to use CGI to create ships and characters, and among the very first to shoot widescreen with a vigorous 5.1 mix. Most of all, for the first time, Babylon 5 introduced viewers accustomed to episodic television to the concept of a five-year arc with a pre-planned beginning, middle and end…creating a brand new paradigm for television storytelling that has subsequently become the norm. That tradition for innovation will continue in this new iteration, and I hope to create additional new forms of storytelling that will further push the television medium to the edge of what's possible.
Let me conclude by just saying how supportive and enthusiastic everyone at the CW has been and is being with this project. They understand the unique position Babylon 5 occupies both in television and with its legions of fans, and are doing everything they can to ensure the maximum in creative freedom, a new story that will bring in new viewers while honoring all that has come before.
Onward!
The network understands the uniqueness of Babylon 5 and is giving me a great deal of latitude with the storytelling.As noted in the announcement, this is a reboot from the ground up rather than a continuation, for several reasons. Heraclitus wrote -- "You cannot step in the same river twice, for the river has changed, and you have changed." In the years since B5, I've done a ton of other TV shows and movies, adding an equal number of tools to my toolbox, all of which I can bring to bear on one singular question: if I were creating Babylon 5 today, for the first time, knowing what I now know as a writer, what would it look like? How would it use all the storytelling tools and technological resources available in 2021 that were not on hand then? How can it be used to reflect the world in which we live, and the questions we are asking and confronting every day? Fans regularly point out how prescient the show was and is of our current world; it would be fun to take a shot at looking further down the road.
So we will not be retelling the same story in the same way because of what Heraclitus said about the river. There would be no fun and no surprises. Better to go the way of Westworld or Battlestar Galactica where you take the original elements that are evergreens and -- put them in a blender with a ton of new, challenging ideas, to create something fresh yet familiar. To those asking why not just do 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? The original Babylon 5 was ridiculously innovative: the first to use CGI to create ships and characters, and among the very first to shoot widescreen with a vigorous 5.1 mix. Most of all, for the first time, Babylon 5 introduced viewers accustomed to episodic television to the concept of a five-year arc with a pre-planned beginning, middle and end…creating a brand new paradigm for television storytelling that has subsequently become the norm. That tradition for innovation will continue in this new iteration, and I hope to create additional new forms of storytelling that will further push the television medium to the edge of what's possible.
Let me conclude by just saying how supportive and enthusiastic everyone at the CW has been and is being with this project. They understand the unique position Babylon 5 occupies both in television and with its legions of fans, and are doing everything they can to ensure the maximum in creative freedom, a new story that will bring in new viewers while honoring all that has come before.
Onward!
Two shows which had promising starts but later turned to shit. In Westworld's case, woke shit.
DarthOne
☦️
Never in my life would I have imagined, a few years ago, that I’d be praying to God that a Babylon 5 show would not get made.
Yet here we are.
I actively dread what could (and very likely will) happen. Never mind the difficulties of differentiating the old vs new series in discussions, but this would be extremely damaging to the franchise as a whole. Like with NuBSG, Disney Wars and STD, it would likely end up completely overshadowing the original series, at least for a fair few years.
Even if it doesn’t go woke, I do suspect we’ll get a fair bit of #CurrentYear morality jammed in. If not for it then for the sequels.
Never mind how we’ll likely end up constantly fighting off the thrice-accursed Yaoi fangirl swarms that seem to gather around new franchises like locusts.
Yet here we are.
I actively dread what could (and very likely will) happen. Never mind the difficulties of differentiating the old vs new series in discussions, but this would be extremely damaging to the franchise as a whole. Like with NuBSG, Disney Wars and STD, it would likely end up completely overshadowing the original series, at least for a fair few years.
Even if it doesn’t go woke, I do suspect we’ll get a fair bit of #CurrentYear morality jammed in. If not for it then for the sequels.
Never mind how we’ll likely end up constantly fighting off the thrice-accursed Yaoi fangirl swarms that seem to gather around new franchises like locusts.
Like most of y'all, I'm seriously excited and completely terrified all at once...kinda like the 'first time'.
REALLY hope it doesn't go Woke.
On a side note, I'm glad it's a redo honestly. There's no way they could create the same level of character that the B5 show gave us...Lando vs G'Kar, Vir and Linear, Garibaldi and all the rest.
@DarthOne isn't wrong, but there are a LOT of nuggets even in the bad episodes where some of the characters absolutely shine. So don't be afraid of watching them all. Just understand that there were some definite 'misses' in the first season episode-wise.
REALLY hope it doesn't go Woke.
On a side note, I'm glad it's a redo honestly. There's no way they could create the same level of character that the B5 show gave us...Lando vs G'Kar, Vir and Linear, Garibaldi and all the rest.
@DarthOne isn't wrong, but there are a LOT of nuggets even in the bad episodes where some of the characters absolutely shine. So don't be afraid of watching them all. Just understand that there were some definite 'misses' in the first season episode-wise.
DarthOne
☦️
Like most of y'all, I'm seriously excited and completely terrified all at once...kinda like the 'first time'.
REALLY hope it doesn't go Woke.
On a side note, I'm glad it's a redo honestly. There's no way they could create the same level of character that the B5 show gave us...Lando vs G'Kar, Vir and Linear, Garibaldi and all the rest.
See, if they were to do anything, I’d rather it was a continuation of the setting with new characters and a new story, rather then Babylon 6, I mean, 5: the Electric Boogaloo. Then again, I’d have rather had all this happened years earlier before the risk of the show being a clusterfuck of Political Correct/woke BS.
(Good Lord, can you imagine if they wokify the Narn/Centuri conflict? Or the Vorlons and Shadows? Clarke being a thinly-disguised Trump expie is almost a certainty, given how the Left view him as Hitler at worse, and Mussolini if they’re feeling rather charitable that day)
Trust me, getting to see the various special effects and spaceships in Glorious Modern CGI won’t be worth anything if the story is crap. That assuming that they even look anything like the original designs we know and love.
DarthOne
☦️
There’s also the whole ‘Minbari were originally supposed to have their sexes look opposite of humans, ie the females look masculine, and how Delenn’s transformation into a Minbari-human hybrid would make her more feminine.’
Obviously that was dropped back in the 90’s. But I shudder to think how that could be interpreted or worse, played up, in a remake made in #CurrentYear. Especially with the whole ‘trans acceptance’ push still going on.
Obviously that was dropped back in the 90’s. But I shudder to think how that could be interpreted or worse, played up, in a remake made in #CurrentYear. Especially with the whole ‘trans acceptance’ push still going on.
bintananth
behind a desk
For a series with a pre-planned number of seasons or volumes (5 in B5's case) which gets all of them the first and last tend to be the weakest. The middle ones are where it shines.
The first because the creators are figuring out what works and what doesn't work. If enough doesn't work the series gets dropped after - if not part way through - the first one.
The last because the creators are wrapping things up, have to shorhorn stuff into the plot which doesn't really fit anymore, and are sometimes just mailing it in like an employee who knows they're getting laid off: "they show up, do the bare minimum, get paid, and go home."
The middle seasons have to be better than the first because if they aren't the series will get dropped.
ST:TOS was supposed to run for five seasons but only lasted three. Sure, ST is quite popular now. At the time it was cancelled the ones who decided to drop it felt there were better things they could make instead.
Actually, the 5th season was poor in comparison b/c JMS and crew thought they were not going to get their contract extended to a 5th season. So he ended up cramming a finish into the 4th season. Shortly before the 4th season ended...they were told they were actually getting a 5th season.
Though it really doesn't matter why. @bintananth is right that the 5th season suffers some.
Though it really doesn't matter why. @bintananth is right that the 5th season suffers some.