Babylon 5 potentially getting a CW Reboot

[DarthOne]

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.

Still doesn’t approach NBSG or Westworld levels of decay.

 

[GoldRanger]

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

FFS, just pirate it.

 

[Tyzuris]

CW reboot?

Yeah this sounds like something that should be passed. At least till some other company takes over production of this reboot.

 

[Flintsteel]

CW reboot?

Yeah this sounds like something that should be passed. At least till some other company takes over production of this reboot.

The CW is half owned by WarnerMedia. Who are the original distributor of B5. It's basically a shift from out-of-house to in-house production, but with the original creator/writer.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

OK, since this may be a thing...let's talk casting. Who do you think should play the various parts?

I've got one idea off the top of my head:

Susan Ivanova by Stana Katic?

 

[Terthna]

OK, since this may be a thing...let's talk casting. Who do you think should play the various parts?

I've got one idea off the top of my head:

Susan Ivanova by Stana Katic?

It's a CW show; odds are, they're not going to be casting anyone we've heard of before.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

It's a CW show; odds are, they're not going to be casting anyone we've heard of before.

That may be true, but it's also something that WB/CW has never done, which is reinvent a show. I can see them grabbing some 'names' in order to provide a fan base beyond that of just B5/Sci Fi.

 

[Captain X]

I'm sure it will be a very diverse cast.

 

[LTR]

Looks like the sale of the CW hasn't cancelled the Babylon 5 reimagining as JMS is calling it, comparing it to how Westworld and Battlestar:Galactica were changed from the original source material.



JMS released a statement on Patreon pertaining to the issue and basically stated the main development is the Babylon 5 show has been pushed back to Late 2023 instead of Late 2022.

I will be posting a link to this shortly so that other online folks can get the news, but wanted to let Patrons here get the word first, even if only by a little bit.

Anyone who knows the history of Babylon 5 knows that the path of this show has never been easy, and rarely proceeds in a straight line. Apparently, that has not changed.

About a month or so ago it was announced that the CW Network, B5’s home for the last year while the pilot script was in active development, was up for sale. When news of this broke, the immediate question was: will this have any effect on B5? Situations like this have a way of upending development because new owners usually want to put their imprimatur on what programs go forward. Like everyone else, I’d hoped there would be no immediate impact, and that progress on the project would continue onward unabated.

A few days ago, I heard from inside Warner Bros. that there were a number of High Level Conversations taking place with the CW to determine how many pilots, and what sort, could be picked up during this transition, especially given pre-existing deals and commitments. This made sense given the preceding paragraph, but I remained optimistic.

Today, about an hour ago, Deadline Hollywood announced the slate of pilot scripts being picked up for production by The CW. Babylon 5 was not on that list.

When a pilot script is not picked up to production, 99.999% of the time, that’s the end of the road for the project, the script is dead.

However: shortly before that piece was published, I received a call from Mark Pedowitz, President of The CW. (I should mention that Mark is a great guy and a long-time fan of B5. He worked for Warners when the show was first airing, and always made sure we got him copies of the episodes before they aired because he didn’t want to wait to see what happened next.)

Calling the pilot “a damned fine script,” he said he was taking the highly unusual step of rolling the project and the pilot script into next year, keeping B5 in active development while the dust settles on the sale of the CW.

Here’s the bottom line:

Yesterday, Babylon 5 was in active development at the CW and Warner Bros. for fall 2022.

Today, Babylon 5 is in active development at the CW and Warner Bros. for fall 2023.

That is the only difference.

Would it have been wonderful if we’d gotten the green light today? Absolutely. Of course. But it seems we will have to wait a little longer. What matters is that the project is still very much alive, and when the time is appropriate, that window will give B5 fans the opportunity to express their passionate support for the series to the new owners of the CW.

As noted above: the road to Babylon 5 has never been easy. But the good news to come out of today is that the road is still very much intact.

Onward.

JMS

 

[Captain X]

I honestly kind of wished neither he nor anyone else would "reimagine" (or whatever you want to call it) B5. As it is, it's a classic '90s show. I kind of fear what it might be turned into, and basically every other franchise I've ever loved has had this happen to it and been the worse for it, I'd really rather B5 get left alone.

 

[Jormungandr]

...I'm sorry, but in this climate, it's going to be a disaster. I'm dreading this.

 

[Agent23]

On the one hand, I want more Babylon 5.

On the other, considering how everything is woke garbage atm, and how most reboots and re-imaginings of the past few years have turned to absolute shit, well, I hope it flops hard in 2 episodes.
And yes, I am counting nuNSG as a failure, because after the first 2-3 seasons it went to total crap, and don't start me on the stupidity of the ending.


But this is JMS we are talking about, remember LotR, TLT and Crusade(which was kinda decent, but still got axed)?

The guy has very bad luck where sequels are concerned.

They should just touch up the old stuff and re-release it, maybe replace the old CGI and background stuff with updated graphics.

Maybe they should try and do some side stories in the same universe, like the psicorp war and what happened during the time skip between the ending and the end of the shadow war, Drakh and all.

But frankly, the original B5 concept was good, the idea of having a self-contained story was a good one.