What if a BSG-styled remake of Babylon 5 was made?

[DigificWriter]

Joe Washington wrote:

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What aspects of the original show would be changed in this remake? Which aspects would you rather be changed? How gritty do it think it would be? Would it take the same kind of risks in storytelling the way Battlestar Galactica did? Would be the relationships between the characters be portrayed more realistically and develop more organically? Would be the humor less chessy and more sharp and witty like Joss Whedon's brand of humor in his shows?

Let the discussion begin.

I actually tried to create a 'virtual television' (read: script-based fanfiction) re-imagining of B5 with another poster from this board, but it didn't end up going anywhere. I still have a lot of the stuff we came up with, though, and wouldn't mind sharing it with you if you'd like.

[Joe Washington]

I would very much like that.

[DigificWriter]

Joe, send me an e-mail at digificwriter@hotmail.com, and I'll get the info to you.

[EnsignRicky]

I don't see the sense of remaking a show in the image of another's when it's own style was already pretty amazing. Battlestar is a great show, but how would Babylon 5 benefit from a cast of extremely alienated characters sitting around in their undershirts, drinking, smoking, cursing and screwing? That sort of thing might fly in some kind of Centauri spinoff, but as far as the core story goes, it was told and told well.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If B5 is remade, here's one thing I dearly hope they get rid of:

The fact that the whole of B5 is a documentary, made by the ISN network which is frequently seen in the series. We find this out in the closing credits of the final episode. In a nutshell: the whole thing is a holodeck program (at best), or a re-creation by actors (at worst. For example, when you watch an episode with Sheridan, you wouldn't be seeing Bruce Boxleitner play Sheridan - you're seeing Bruce playing an actor playing Sheridan). Whichever it was: I bloody well hated that shit. It totally ruined the whole show for me. I can't look at B5 the same ever again. It's as fake as 'These Are The Voyages...' - perhaps even more so, since at least TATV had real characters as well as holodeck recreations.

[D Man]

dru wrote:

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Amen.

Moore's series was not even successful except by the low standards of the SyFy Channel.

Well, it was VERY successful in terms of being a wonderfully entertaining and meaningful show to me and the other fans who loved it, so I don't care about whatever you perceive SyFy's standards to be. It survived for four seasons and told a complete story, and I loved it all the way through.

I was also a big fan of B5, but I don't know if a remake (nuBSG style or otherwise) would really work for the show. Unlike the original BSG which doesn't really have much at all going for it, in my opinion B5 has many iconic and un-changeable components, including Katsulas and Jurasik as G'kar and Londo, "If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die," Koenig as Bester, and I'm even even a sucker for the infinite cheese-factor of lines like "now get the hell out of our galaxy!"

I wish it were possible to tweak and change a few things about the original B5 like some acting/casting choices, some cheesy dialogue, so-called "comedy" scenes, and a few general story ideas...but overall I think B5 is great enough on its own that it won't ever really need a reboot. JMS's ego produced a great show in the end, even if it also prevented it from being an amazing show.

[Joe Washington]

Digificwriter: Let's so you could know, I just sent an email to your account.

[Tulin]

-Brett- wrote:

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You'd want the storyline to be rambling and incoherent, taking looooooooong detours to cover geriatric soap opera shenanigans and love dodecahedrals, and half the cast are secret Vorlons?

No thanks.

Hear, hear!!!!!!

In fact, can we not mention that show in this thread anymore?

[OmahaStar]

Babaganoosh wrote:

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If B5 is remade, here's one thing I dearly hope they get rid of:

The fact that the whole of B5 is a documentary, made by the ISN network which is frequently seen in the series. We find this out in the closing credits of the final episode. In a nutshell: the whole thing is a holodeck program (at best), or a re-creation by actors (at worst. For example, when you watch an episode with Sheridan, you wouldn't be seeing Bruce Boxleitner play Sheridan - you're seeing Bruce playing an actor playing Sheridan). Whichever it was: I bloody well hated that shit. It totally ruined the whole show for me. I can't look at B5 the same ever again. It's as fake as 'These Are The Voyages...' - perhaps even more so, since at least TATV had real characters as well as holodeck recreations.

Someone didn't bother watching the pilot for this series, did they? If someone did watch it, they would have heard the line "I was there at the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind." Someone would have noticed that every time there was a voice over - especially season finales - the voice was speaking of the *past* as though this was a future history.

As Londo once said, "I can only assume you have not been paying attention!"

[Jan]

OmahaStar wrote:

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Someone didn't bother watching the pilot for this series, did they? If someone did watch it, they would have heard the line "I was there at the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind." Someone would have noticed that every time there was a voice over - especially season finales - the voice was speaking of the *past* as though this was a future history.

As Londo once said, "I can only assume you have not been paying attention!"

Now, Omaha, I was paying attention (though I didn't see the pilot the first time around) and I did notice that the opening sequences were all in the past tense but I never guessed that the entire series was supposed to be a documentary from the future of the B5 universe (not bothering with spoilers since the very nature of the thread assumes familiarity with both shows).

That said, I honestly don't understand Babaganoosh's claim that the whole series was spoiled for him. After all, we did know that we weren't actually tuning in to the future every week, right? So if we were already aware of watching actors and actresses, what harm was the added layer? Especially since it obviously didn't intrude on your enjoyment the first time you saw it.

Jan

[middyseafort]

Jan wrote:

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That said, I honestly don't understand Babaganoosh's claim that the whole series was spoiled for him. After all, we did know that we weren't actually tuning in to the future every week, right? So if we were already aware of watching actors and actresses, what harm was the added layer? Especially since it obviously didn't intrude on your enjoyment the first time you saw it.

Jan

Moreover, it doesn't negate the events of the series. It still "happened" in that fictional universe whether or not we saw it unfold in real time or from a historical perspective. The idea that it was an ISN documentary doesn't mean that Babylon 5 was the dream of an autistic boy looking into a snow globe.

In any case, the documentary/docudrama/whatever wasn't very overt other than in the opening credit narrations and some of the "captain's log" narratives. Something that was there, as JAN says, to add another layer.

[Harvey]

The fact that the series was revealed to be a documentary of sorts neither added or subtracted to the whole for me. The revelation just felt gratuitous, almost as if it was uttered only in order to have a diagetic reason for the crew photographs that flash in the final seconds.

I don't know why you're emphasizing the fact that the series is often narrated in the past-tense, Omaha. This fact informs us that the characters are recounting their story after the fact, but it doesn't predicate that the entire series had to have been a fictional recreation. It strikes me as an unneeded layer of fiction that serves no real purpose except to provide one last "gee-whiz" to the audience.

[David cgc]

Harvey wrote:

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The revelation just felt gratuitous, almost as if it was uttered only in order to have a diagetic reason for the crew photographs that flash in the final seconds.

That's exactly how I view it. It's no more a part of the series than the idea that blue text floats in space and through the hallways whenever the crisis of the week begins. Nor do I believe that everyone on Babylon 5 has a psychological condition which results in all of their memories lacking color.

[RandyS]

Mr Light wrote:

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I thought one of the things that made B5 the best show ever made was its perfect tone. It managed to be funny and serious without one compromising the other. BSG, on the other hand, was unrelentingly dark and too much of a downer. While I would like to see the action/budget level stepped up a notch on B5 I wouldn't touch its tone for a second.

Agreed completely. as far as "dark and and gritty" goes, B5 is as dark as sci-fi should get. Every copy of New Galactica should be burned, and it's producers should be put into therapy.

Okay, rant over. That said, B5 is perfect as is. No need for a remake.

[stonester1]

Disagree. There is no limit, on light or dark. A story should be as light or dark as needed. B5 worked. BSG worked.

Blade Runner was BSG dark, but the story would not have been enhanced by lightening it.