Babylon 5

[valkyrie013]

Necessity is the mother of invention. Some stories probably became better because of changes while the series was rolling.
Others worse.
Will they do the Tallia. Mind reboot instead of bringing back lyta
How will they reconcile sinclair being valen?
Etc etc. Well see

Though totally looking forward to updated vfx

 

[Thestral]

What I mean is that SUPERNATURAL had a very loyal fanbase. And it was not a small number, either. It was enough to keep the show going for 15 years, longer than any other genre show in the U.S.

I'm pretty sure The CW doesn't have a fanbase like that anymore. Bringing B5 in might help fill that gap, because there are a lot of B5 fans out there, and it keeps growing.

All due respect to the B5 fanbase, as a member of it and somebody who gave up on Supernatural 2/3 of the way through... the two fanbases aren't anywhere near the same scale. And they don't even draw from the same roots.

Your 'classic' CW fan is the Supernatural/Vampire Diaries/Riverdale crowd, or your DC superhero tv adaptations, with heavy crossover between the two. Space opera, and Babylon 5 in particular... is a different genre entirely.

That said, I'm down for a reboot for sure, especially with the ideas I'm reading in the thread about "different avenues" more like the original JMS plan. Takashima and Dr. Kyle would be a cool idea to make it distinct. And I love the idea of Pat Tallman as Bester, Claudia Christian as Neroon (or Ivanova's mom if they keep Ivanova) and Boxleitner as President Clark or General Hague (or what about Lorien? Or Draal?).

 

[Booji]

Oh, really? I always thought the rest of season four would be the Shadow War and season five was going to be the Earth Civil War.

JMS broke it all down in one of the script books. Somewhere in this thread (I think) there is a post of mine that has the volume and page number where he discusses it. I'd look it up but I'm too lazy

 

[The Nth Doctor]

JMS broke it all down in one of the script books. Somewhere in this thread (I think) there is a post of mine that has the volume and page number where he discusses it. I'd look it up but I'm too lazy

Ah, that explains it. I never got those books because they were so damn expensive.

 

[JD]

Just saw the news, and the fact that JMS is involved has me intrigued. It will be interesting to see how differently he approaches things this time.

 

[OCD Geek]

Yeah. Buffy & Angel remakes would be better to maintain the Supernatural/Arrowverse audience. What with the vampires, demon fighting superheroes and crossover events.

 

[DarKush]

I'm very intrigued by this, but I'm also wary. I don't think it's the best network. I wish it were on HBO Max instead because I feel if it was on HBO Max, JMS would get the budget I feel the revival would need, and it would also allow him to push more envelopes (if that's where his creativity took him).

I'm iffy on the reboot idea, but I get it. That said, if they are going to do a reboot why not go the whole way and not bring back Sheridan as the main character? Really get a start over, perhaps using the female lead for JMS's proposed The Memory of Shadows movie to build the revival around.

 

[Steve Roby]

This is not the first time that JMS has thought he'd made a deal with a network or channel that would let him do what he wants. But maybe this time Lucy won't take the football away at the last second.

 

[OCD Geek]

It helps that Mark Pedowitz is an extremely creator-friendly network head. Yeah, JMS might not be getting a HBO Max budget, but 1) he has plenty of experience successfully stretching low budgets and 2) CGI is way cheaper than it was back in the OG Davies' Doctor Who days, let alone the OG Babylon 5 days.

And if it gets acclaim, then Pedowitz will keep it going for as long as it is financially viable despite a low budget (like Jane the Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Legends of Tomorrow).

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I doubt a remake on CW will be as good as, say, a Netflix (or any of several others) revival would be. CW has never impressed me with any of their shows. Cheap and geared towards a younger audience.

 

[DigificWriter]

Will they do the Tallia. Mind reboot instead of bringing back lyta
How will they reconcile sinclair being valen?

Neither of those storylines were part of JMS' original plan and only existed because of Patricia Tallman not coming back and Michael O'Hare having to leave.

 

[Relayer1]

I'm excited - I thought B5 was both a fantastic achievement and a tragic falling short of it's potential. Putting aside the quality of FX, suits screwing with renewal/the arc and any budget/set related issues, some of the cast (with obvious exceptions for Jurasik, Katsulas etc.) were poor.

If this gives us an upgrade like Galactica did, and is greenlit for the whole arc, this could be phenomenal.

Personally, I'd be happy if it was condensed and dropped the few stand alone(ish) and spacer episodes, mainly hitting the big plot points. Say five seasons of eight to twelve episodes, and put all the money on the screen.

And please, better actors than Boxleitner, Doyle, Conaway, O'Hare, Christian, Scroggins & Co.

 

[The Wormhole]

Babylon 5 on The CW. Is anyone else suddenly thinking of the Teen Show version of Stargate featured in SG-1's 200th episode?

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[OCD Geek]

The CW (and its progenitors The WB and UPN) get a lot of shit. But they've given us a ton of great TV over the years, including:
--Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel
--Gilmore Girls
--Veronica Mars
--Popular
--Star Trek: Voyager
--Girlfriends & The Game
--Supernatural
--The Arrowverse (specifically Legends of Tomorrow)
--Jane the Virgin
--Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

There's a lot of diversity in concept and tone there. Just because you have to have a couple teens or twentysomethings in your cast doesn't have to mean that it's gonna limit your show's potential. Shit. Deep Space Nine had Jake and Nog!

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

JMS speaks on the reboot:

https://twitter.com/straczynski/status/1442621159221043202?s=21

 

[Skywalker]

At first I was like "Wut?" until folks in this thread started reminding us of all the various ideas for the original series that JMS either had to alter or drop entirely. I can also see him folding in ideas he ended up trying to use in Crusade (namely the Telepath War). Combine that with some new/OG characters (Takashima, Dr. Kyle), different casting (definitely yes to a trans actor for Delenn, and I love the idea of casting a Black actor to play Sheridan) and 20 years of hindsight and fresh ideas and I'm excited about this.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

JMS speaks on the reboot:

https://twitter.com/straczynski/status/1442621159221043202?s=21

Reading those words are very reassuring, especially regards to recognizing he's a different writer than he was 25 (!!!) years ago and he's added a lot of ideas to his toolkit since then.

 

[OCD Geek]

Reading those words are very reassuring, especially regards to recognizing he's a different writer than he was 25 (!!!) years ago and he's added a lot of ideas to his toolkit since then.

For some reason I always remember the syndicated seasons of The Real Ghostbusters, Babylon 5 and Rising Stars. But I always forget that he co-created/co-showran/co-wrote Sense8 with The Wachowskis (mostly Lana).

 

[DigificWriter]

Apparently some fans think that not doing a continuation means that the characters we're already familiar with won't be used, which makes no sense.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Babylon 5 never really pulled me in, I dabbled in episodes while it was on and I have a vague idea of the overall story. That said, hearing "CW" made me do a double take. I guess the good news is he has a decent chance that it won't get cancelled early.