Babylon5.....in HD!

[JamesRye]

(you might want to check the rules at https://www.trekbbs.com/rules/)

Maybe crowd funding could be a way to get select episodes of DS9/VOY in HD?

 

[Tom]

I love B5, but these are just some fans trying to clean up the title sequence. Now if they did a whole episode like 'Severed Dreams', I might contribute.

As for DS9 and VOY you would need at least a minimum of 5 million to get started on those series. i'm not sure how much over all, but it would be very pricey since many of the VFX model would have to be recreated.

 

[JD]

Damn, I thought this was an announcement of official remaster.

 

[JamesRye]

It is at least the original artist that did the sequence, and he raised the funds after just one day! Personally, with DS9 and VOY, I would settle for just an HD remaster of Emmissary, Way of the Warrior, Scorpion and Equinox.

 

[BillJ]

This seems like a waste of time and money. Though, one question: does he have access to the film elements featuring the actors?

And the title of the thread is incredibly misleading.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Wait... this is just for a CREDITS sequence?
Whatever. Pass.
As far as episodes, would Warners even allow it?
And, another vote for how misleading this thread title is.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

If they were doing it as a proof-of-concept thing to try to convince WB *spit* to spring for a remastering, then it might have been worth it. Otherwise, naah.

 

[Neroon]

Maybe crowd funding could be a way to get select episodes of DS9/VOY in HD?

We don't allow links for sales or fund-raising, even when it's for a noble cause such as this. ^_^

However, if you want to put it in your signature.....

 

[David cgc]

Well, since the link is gone and the other posts are fairly vague on what we're all actually talking about, Adam "Mojo" Leibowitz, one of the original CG artists who worked on Babylon 5, pulled out some of the original files that he had in his personal collection, and decided to do a new, clean render of the fly-around of the station from the season 3 opening titles, and started a teeny crowdfunding campaign to cover the cost of render time and cleaning up twenty-year-old files to make sure they'd come out nice. I've attached a couple of test shots he's posted.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Babylon 5 is a property for which WB seems to have an inherent distaste and almost pathological distrust so any dreams of the company investing a single cent in it are likely to remain just that. It just doesn't appear to fit the current model for turning a profit -- likely perceived as too niche, too geeky, and too lacking in growth potential. It seems it's no longer respected as a cash cow -- if it ever really was. The corporate bean counters reportedly argued that it had always lost the company money despite substantial sales on DVD.

 

[David cgc]

Babylon 5 is a property for which WB seems to have an inherent distaste and almost pathological distrust so any dreams of the company investing a single cent in it are likely to remain just that. It just doesn't appear to fit the current model for turning a profit -- likely perceived as too niche, too geeky, and too lacking in growth potential. It seems it's no longer respected as a cash cow -- if it ever really was. The corporate bean counters reportedly argued that it had always lost the company money despite substantial sales on DVD.

Well, they're hardly unique in that respect. Older properties are free money, so long as the "free" part is in play. Otherwise, you get a better return on investment from something new (please, no remarks about remakes).

Babylon 5 sticks out because of how lousy the DVD transfer turned out. Stargate SG-1, or DS9 and Voyager, also aren't getting HD remasters. TOS and TNG were bonafide phenomenas that also didn't have near as much VFX work to redo as Babylon 5 did, and even with that, TNG's remaster wasn't popular enough to justify continuing the project with DS9 and Voyager.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

If only WB were churning out products of equivalent quality that are of interest to me. The company likely doesn't think it's worth the effort of trying to suck any more money from old farts like me with limited lifespans and tight wallets.

 

[Marsden]

Babylon 5 is a property for which WB seems to have an inherent distaste and almost pathological distrust so any dreams of the company investing a single cent in it are likely to remain just that. It just doesn't appear to fit the current model for turning a profit -- likely perceived as too niche, too geeky, and too lacking in growth potential. It seems it's no longer respected as a cash cow -- if it ever really was. The corporate bean counters reportedly argued that it had always lost the company money despite substantial sales on DVD.

I remember JMS saying once if something WB owned burned down in South Africa it came out of any profit B5 made so therefore it didn't make any money. @Jan probably knows the whole story there. I know hollywood accounting is inscrutable.

 

[Noname Given]

Babylon 5 is a property for which WB seems to have an inherent distaste and almost pathological distrust so any dreams of the company investing a single cent in it are likely to remain just that. It just doesn't appear to fit the current model for turning a profit -- likely perceived as too niche, too geeky, and too lacking in growth potential. It seems it's no longer respected as a cash cow -- if it ever really was. The corporate bean counters reportedly argued that it had always lost the company money despite substantial sales on DVD.

What? They tried to do a direct to DVD outing of stories (didn't sell well); and then tried a THIRD continuation series attempt with "Legend of the Rangers" but as JMS just seems able to regurgitate the EXACT SAME TING over again (and badly too) - Read: yet ANOTHER even more ancient evil super race (that no one heard of until the plot needed it) out to end all life in the Galaxy...

Not everything gets (or deserves) an infinite shot at the well. (So to speak)

 

[BillJ]

What? They tried to do a direct to DVD outing of stories (didn't sell well); and then tried a THIRD continuation series attempt with "Legend of the Rangers" but as JMS just seems able to regurgitate the EXACT SAME TING over again (and badly too) - Read: yet ANOTHER even more ancient evil super race (that no one heard of until the plot needed it) out to end all life in the Galaxy...

It also seems like a property that got less and less resources as it went on. They went to the well too often, but going there and doing cheaply can really do a number on its ability to attract people.

Nothing says big time production like having Gary Cole as the lead. I would've done it, but I was busy working at Wal-Mart.

 

[137th Gebirg]

JMS lost me at Crusade. I really wanted to like it, but it wound up being too much of a Space Battleship Yamato/Stars Blazers rip, done poorly. Didn't even bother with Rangers. B5 was good for its time but probably wouldn't hold up against other properties these days. All IMO, of course.

 

[Noname Given]

JMS lost me at Crusade. I really wanted to like it, but it wound up being too much of a Space Battleship Yamato/Stars Blazers rip, done poorly. Didn't even bother with Rangers. B5 was good for its time but probably wouldn't hold up against other properties these days. All IMO, of course.

I hear you. When they got to the point where the Exacalibur basically had a Wave Motion Gun (with the exact same drawbacks) - I remember laughing and thinking to myself: Man, is there anything he won't rip off?"

Hell B5 was basically "Lord of the Rings...IN SPACE! )

 

[137th Gebirg]

Precisely... Not to mention having the Earth covered by an alien virus that will destroy all life within the year unless Renegade finds the cure and gets it back in time. Gamilon planet bombs and Iscandarian Cosmo DNA maybe? I was very disappointed at JMS' flagrant plagiarism on that show and lost a lot of respect for him.

 

[mos6507]

I was very disappointed at JMS' flagrant plagiarism on that show and lost a lot of respect for him.

The plagiarism started with the Tolkienisms in B5 proper (Technomages, ancient-ones, elf-like Minbari, Aragorn-like rangers, Zathras speech mannerisms like Gollum, prophecies, etc...)

Don't get me wrong, I like B5 but it really wears its influences on its sleeve. They say good art copies and great art steals but you have to try to cover your tracks better.

(BTW, Yamato itself borrows heavily from Jason and the Argonauts, hence the ship being renamed Argo for Starblazers. But I'd classify its approach as stealing rather than copying.)

 

[137th Gebirg]

And Star Trek III also stole directly from Yamato II with the stealing of the Enterprise (Yamato), to be pursued by the newer and larger vessel that was more automated and designed to replace it, Excelsior (Andromeda). The only difference being, Captain Hijikata was a far more noble and honorable commander than Styles was!