Would it be reboot or still set in same universe? Me I would set in same universe but ignore the spin-offs and focus on a new crew maybe 10 years in the future and follow the earth/telepath war which would go bigger and start to involve aliens. Sheridan and Delean would be used from time to time. Maybe even a episode involving Londo but the main cast would basically be all new characters. Sheridan and Dellean's son would be a regular but not the series star and would basically be a criminal on the station. Jason
There's no point in bringing the show back as opposed to starting a new IP if it's not in the same universe. You'd have to go to a period of time where the outcome is not totally known. So I'd set it a few years after the destruction of Babylon 5 and focus around trying to reconstitute an interplanetary alliance.
^This. If it's not the same universe, what's the point? Just give the writers and producers the freedom to come up with what they want. If it's the same universe, that's a long argument. I think a lot of shows, like Babylon and Farscape were amazing, not just back in their time, even when I rewatch them now. I love the new Star Trek shows and the last few movies, and I loved DS9 more than anything, but I don't need a DS9 reboot. Same for Babylon.
Honestly, I'd do a reboot. Babylon 5 is asking for a reboot for several reasons. Pacing issues. Both Seasons 1 and 5 have a lot of unneeded stories for opposite reasons. In Season 1, JMS had to prove he could do an episodic show before telling the story he wanted. Season 5 was unexpected, so they had to invent new things external to the main narrative. And then of course there's the issue that Season 4 had two seasons worth of plot. Acting issues. G'Kar and Londo were wonderful, but much of the remainder of the cast were honestly kinda meh. And some of the guest stars were very poorly acted. Budgetary/FVX issues. I don't think this needs to be elaborated. Doing a straight-up retelling of the show would arguably be easier than most other series, because JMS wrote basically all of the arc-critical scripts. Though I recognize he doesn't have rights to the show himself at the moment.
As much as us sci-fi fans love the show, I don't know if there'd be enough interest from the general public for a revival, so I'd go reboot. I'd bring in JMS as a EP, but I'd put someone else in as showrunner. The big thing would be to get a big name star or showrunner to bring in the people who never watched the original.
True, but those are much more concept-driven franchises, whereas I'd argue B5 is as world-driven a franchise as Star Trek or Star Wars. Put a bunch of people on a station called Babylon 5 with the same names as the original cast and call it the last, best chance for peace and tell a totally different story with a different outcome. You might have told a good story, but it gained nothing from the title. So why call it Babylon 5 and not Deep Space 12 or Peacekeeper Station or some other name?
I'm loath to go with a reboot or remake of B5 because I don't think you can recapture that G'Kar or Londo dynamic and I don't want them to try. I think JMS unfortunately put some self-imposed limitations on the growth of the B5 franchise by establishing that Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations, which cuts out easy branding of a Babylon 6 or 7, etc. series so people know it's a new series. Further, I think he made a mistake by not making David Sheridan the lead character for Legends of the Rangers and using that pilot, and potential series, to take forward the B5 universe. I was looking at a little of LOTR, on Amazon Prime video, the other night and thought again what a missed opportunity. Crusade was another missed opportunity, but he got screwed by the studio IMO and that wasn't JMS's fault. Despite the missteps with Crusade and LOTR I still think the future of B5 lies in the future and that they should build on what they have instead of rebooting or remaking what already came before. For one, B5 got five seasons, two spin-offs (even if both failed), several telefilms, and a straight-to-video film, compared to the original BSG's one season, so there's far less room or need to tell or finish a story there. B5 would be more ambitious and I would argue expensive to remake than BSG was, so why not just go with a sequel series set in the future? Preferably with David Sheridan as the main character or one of them, so they could still use the B5 actors that are still with us, and perhaps do some Obi-Wan stuff with John Sheridan. Or they could do like a Star Trek: Picard thing and focus a sequel series around one popular B5 character, like Delenn. I think her character has the potential here to go all kinds of places and do all kinds of things.
I think B5 never lived up to it's potential, hampered by mediocre writing and acting. So a reboot that improved on those elements would be welcomed. Oh and better SFX.
I feel that if you go with a reboot you need to basically reimage the old characters and tell a new story but one that feels epic in it's own way much like the old show. Instead of being inspired by Lord of Rings maybe go with the Bible or Shakesphere or something. Jason
I'm a Gen Xer who was a teen when B5 came out, so the special effects didn't bother me, and still don't. They were never really at Berman Trek level, but better than just about any other science fiction series out there at the time. Some of the costuming could've been better. I didn't have a problem with the writing for the most part, though was some of the acting wasn't the best and the humor didn't always work either. If they did reboot or remake it I do think they would have to go with a reimagination. It's still not something I prefer, but a reimagination would allow them to perhaps go places JMS was limited to due to budget and studio constraints.
Babylon. The story of Jinxy building the first three stations, the politicians raising the money and the diplomacy, and the terrorist that eventually blow up the first three stations, and how they fail to blow up the second two. Every season starts with a Babylon station blowing up, and then it says "12 months earlier".
I don't see why they couldn't reboot the show. The concept is really good IMO. The Moore BattleStar reboot uses the same basic premise as the original but obviously has much better overall writing/acting and at the time special effects to modernize the show. It would need to be a series that has Discovery/Expanse level budget though to do it right.
I would at least want to see them stick to basic plots with the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War. If you don't at least stick to basic plot outline there's really be no point doing it as a reboot.
I'd base the reboot on JMS's original concepts for the show, including the original 5-year-arc document written before season one that includes Sinclair from beginning to end.
Comics and novels? They can finish the story from The Crusade there, then whatever. Let the show stand as is.