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WB looking into Babylon 5 in HD?

Syndication is certainly important, as are home video and digital distribution (iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, etc.). Being in HD will help keep the series circulating in all three arenas.
 
At the end of the day it comes down to money, will they earn more money in the medium to long term by spending money in the short term. Unfortunatly sometimes studios look at the short term, i.e. it will cost X amount but we only thing we get Y amount back in the next year (were Y is less than X)
 
Babylon 5 only has a fraction of the fan base Trek does.

JUST the first three years of Babylon 5 (66 episodes) has more FX shots in it than the whole of ST:TOS and ST:TNG combined (258 episodes)

I’d say it’s unlikely you’ll be seeing a full HD version of B5 anytime soon. Doesn’t make a lot of economic sense to even try it at this point in time.

(BTW, the article linked to at the start was talking bull shit – the Warner VP never said the B5 fan base is large enough to warrant a blue ray release….. typical half arsed internet reporting just to get people to share it.)
 
^ Perhaps, but any publicity is good publicity, the mere idea being discussed hopefully helps the campaign to get the show back on the air and streaming services.
 
LOKAI of CHERON said:
Probably the best B5 fans can hope for is some kind of upscaled standard version à la the Farscape BD release.
Click to expand...
This. If WB is determined to squeeze a few more drops out of B5 on home video, this is the way to go. While still SD, the 4:3 NTSC masters are the best quality that exist right now, and are a good bit cleaner than the 16:9 mess on DVD. Put them onto a full series blu-ray set at a reasonable price, and I'd buy that. As other have said, a full-on HD remaster would just be way too complicated.
 
I wish companies would use Blu-rays as a medium to release standard def older shows in their original form but with far fewer discs than DVD box sets include. These days I sometimes end up using Netflix to watch shows I own on DVD just because it's quicker than switching discs and opening cases and so on. As cool as something like a big box containing dozens of DVDs holding the entirety of B5 is, I'd like a couple of slim cases with discs packed with whole seasons a lot more. The larger capacity that Blu-ray discs offer has gone underused in this sense I think, getting drowned out by the clamor to make everything HD.
 
I wouldn't buy a 4:3 upconverted NTSC Blu-ray version despite the many flaws that exist in the region 2 PAL DVD release. WB are paying the price for not looking after their cash cow. If TPTB want to splash some cash, I'd rather see a new grand space opera based on a SF universe that isn't related to Farscape, Firefly, Star Trek, or Babylon 5. There are plenty of authors to choose from -- Isaac Asimov, Stephen Baxter, Iain M Banks, Lois McMaster Bujold, Peter F Hamilton, Larry Niven, Alastair Reynolds, or even E E "Doc" Smith. I hear that we might be getting a Spielberg-produced Halo TV show sometime soon. Hopefully, TV space opera will be back in vogue for a while.
 
this is great news it actually sounds like wb cares about babylon 5 and despite recognizing it would be costly is looking into it. I would buy this in a second if its half as good as the tng blu rays have been.
 
What does everyone think about the CGI being redone? Does it take away from the original? Or would it improve the show?
 
I would be interested in seeing the special effects modernized. If done with respect to the original material, it could be spectacular.
 
Well it's already been done and to great effect I think.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1emoP8Xh1k[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGVWdmDbCYs[/yt]
Since this was made the technology has only improved, so it's really jet a matter of hiring talented and passionate artists.

Speaking of technological improvements, just look what can be rendered these days *in real time*.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pShKKOV_gA[/yt]
And even that was on an ageing graphics engine optimised for eight year old hardware. It's quite scary how fast things are advancing.
 
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