On an all new Babylon 5...

Looks like we will be getting all new Babylon 5s!

One, a reboot. Which I'm not as thrilled about, but let's face it, more than half of the original cast is dead.

Two, it's on the CW. That might be an issue, just the way the move to TNT caused problems. L

Three, it's being written and run by JMS. So I'm going to give it a try anyway.

https://www.space.com/babylon-5-reboot-in-development

Honestly, I'd be happier with a full-on VFX upgrade and HD restoration of the original series.

So you were happier 8 months ago? https://www.engadget.com/babylon-5-remastered-hbo-max-digital-download-080058907.html

Yes, saw that. Not a great restoration. The VFX were basically just upscaled. The author of the article you linked even said the HD upgrade isn't much better than what's already available.

We need a proper restoration like the studios did with TOS or TNG, but I know it's not going to happen.

JMS' track record after the final season of B5 was not great at all, so I'm not holding my breath for this new series. But of course, I'm going to watch it anyway.

I liked Sens8 and hope that his graphic novel Rising Stars gets a Hollywood treatment.

Yeah, B5 is probably gonna be to the CW what Enterprise is to UPN.

Hopefully it's not Powerpuff Girls level trash but I trust nothing on that network not to pander to the lowest common denominator.

I was referring specifically to his B5-related shows.

Crusade, Legend of the Rangers and The Lost Tales were, to be polite, pretty much train wrecks.

I dig B5, but he was already pumping a dry well before the end.

A lot of that was due to interference from the host network, tho.

Yeah, it got cancelled on the WB, so he tried to wrap up the show. That's why the battle with the First Ones was truncated, it could easily have been a season all by itself. Then it unexpectedly got picked up by TNT, so season 5 had to be reworked from scratch and yeah, it wasn't as good. The thing is I was interested in where it was heading - the Telepath War and the fallout for Garibaldi and Lyta. They didn't get to do that arc though.

Crusade I actually liked. The ending hook was interesting too - the captain was going to be assassinated in the last episode of season 1. Whether he would have miraculously survived would have been an open question, but considering they wrote out Sinclair for Sheridan unlike just about every show out there there would have been a real chance. And I very much wanted to know more about the Apocalypse Box.

Lost Tales I also liked. Legend of the Rangers I never bothered to see. Plus he was pumping out television movies, several good (Thirdspace, A Call to Arms), others not so much (River of Souls).

As to the CW, the more I think about it the less that bothers me - they are the spin off of WB, and that was the group that produced the first 4 years. They can do entertaining shows that they commit to, like Supernatural. So I'll give them, and JMS, a chance.

The big problem in my mind is what do they do with the big roles, like Lando and G'kar? How do you redo those charactes, and can you find actors that can do them justice? Maybe, but that's the most difficult task, IMO.

There can never be another Andreas Katsulas. I pity whoever tries to play G'Kar. Also, any reboot lacks suspense since we've already seen the entire story. We already know that the Great War is between manipulative ancient civilizations championing order and chaos.

And of course it's WB, which likely means the Suits will want a Hip Young Cast doing Hip Young Cast things.

We don't know that is how he is going to do it at all. He wants to be predictive - one of this big personal senses of accomplishment is how much it foretold, politically. He says that will be his focus. It could go very, very differently.

Maybe Katie Sackhoff is available to play G'Kar.

LOL. Actually, it would be hilarious if they cast a big name actor as G'kar, and then had him disappear after the first ten episodes, and have Na'toth take over for the rest of the show.

I'm cautiously optimistic. Delenn once said time is circular, right?

But that original 10 season, two series outline JMS had in mind is... hopefully still not his plan.

Details at the link.

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/synopsis-of-jmss-synopsis-of-the-original-arc-for-b5-spoilers.53739/

He's stated that he's learned a lot since his original work on the show and plans to include that in the new show. Considering several of the elements of his original 10 year plan didnt' make it into the show, he might introduce some of those aspects.

But he's not just going to do the same show as a reboot. I imagine it will look even more different from B5 than BSG did from it's original.

But I guess we'll see.

I'm fine with them updating everything, but part of me wants the entire thing to start with Peter Jurasik as Londo spending the last day of his life telling some kids the story.

Only way to go for me. Mira was the last straw, goddamnit. As JMS said, how do you do Sheridan with no Deleen? B5 with no Garibaldi, Zack or Franklin? Londo with no G'Kar?

Sounds like it's not a straight forward retelling and everything we know is going in the blender.

Just don't go changing The Shadow vessels. I still wanna hear that scream.

It might be interesting to have in this universe different First Ones remaining behind, with different motives and abilities. Most of them were only barely touched on in the original.

https://babylon5fanon.fandom.com/wiki/First_Ones

Given that the CW is mostly dead, and that scripted shows are dead on TNT and TBS, is this thing still kicking?

It got kicked back a year. In theory it's still alive, per JMS. We'll see.

He indicated that with the CW changing owners right at the time it was supposed to spin up that they couldn't get funding.

However, with new ownership, they might not go forward. Personally I'm not holding my breath, I'll be pleasantly surprised if it happens.

https://twitter.com/straczynski/status/1653799076641779712?s=46&t=iYW3foyqIA6Tn8VWwn3nwQ

J man says that we’ll get the details next week.

Animated?

I mean, if Start Trek of all franchises can swing it, why not Babylon 5?

If it's not a reboot, with so many of the original cast dead now it's probably easier to revisit those characters with repurposed voice clips or decent imposters than fully recasting the roles.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/m...road-home-voice-cast-unveiled-1235483312/amp/

Voice cast/plot details announced.

so, stargate infinity/sliders?

It sounds like a one shot appetizer for the reboot, probably connecting to it somehow?

I'm guessing it'll be something of a hybrid between Deconstruction of Falling Stars and What If?