I like this approach the most! plus, why not have a more muti-ethnic cast? I really doubt white people are going to be as ''prevalent'' in the future as they are now!
What if a BSG-styled remake of Babylon 5 was made?
- Thread starter Joe Washington
- Start date
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.
B5 was already pretty dark, what would be the point?
I thought most of the character developments in BSG were pretty forced in the last few seasons. Don't see any improvement there.
Not one of the better thought experiments.
RAMA
^Not NU-BSG Dark!
And don't forget about the old timer TREKKIES bitching about NU-TREK!
To this day I still enjoy the B5 CGI, aside from the first season of course. It may not be as amazing as modern day stuff but in its own little reality it looks gorgeous.
At the end of season one he angrily ordered armed troops to storm Colonial One, arrest her at gunpoint, and throw her in the brig.
That would be because Foundation hadn't yet figured out how to make it look good. Nothing develops overnight---without all the work on B5, Trek would not have been able to switch to CGI when it did. The groundwork wouldn't have been there.
I'll admit the CGI is weak, but I don't understand the "damn those pioneers, why didn't they do as well as those with the fully-developed tech!?" mindset.
I don't understand that mindset either, I mean CGI had to start somewhere! these people that expect nbg cgi results on a show that pioneerd CGI in the first place is absurd!
Here's an example of what could happen in the B5 remake: of course, all of your Babylon 5 fans know about the events of Midnight on the Firing Line. I felt the aftermath of the Ragesh 3 incident wasn't explored enough. We didn't see Londo's nephew after that episode. He just disappeared without a word and Londo never mentioned him either after that, which is odd since Londo seem to have cared about his nephew in that episode. So let's show in the first season how Londo's nephew dealing with what happened on Ragesh 3. Maybe he's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. And what if it's the Ragesh 3 incident that prompts Morden's arrival on Babylon 5? He goes there under the guise of a reporter from Earth who wants to know more about the details of the incident and how the people on Babylon 5 feel about it, specifically the alien ambassadors. During each of his "interviews" with each ambassador, he makes an attempt to explore how their true desires are so the Shadows could use them to make that ambassador their puppet. Like in Signs and Portents, the ambassadors' responses will be the same including Londo's except this time, after getting to know Londo's nephew more and the pain he's going through, we feel for Londo more when he finally vents out his frustration about Ragesh 3 and the whole decaying state of the Centauri Republic to Morden.
Also, in this version, we see that one of the reasons why Londo spent time with Adira is to distract himself from his sorrow about his nephew and Ragesh 3. Because with her, he can forget that for a moment and only think about the happiness he feels with her. There would be a few times prior to her death that we see Londo checking up on her and sometimes communicating to her at long-distance when he feels so lonely and so trapped by the role he chose when he made his deal with the Shadows.
Also, in this version, we see that one of the reasons why Londo spent time with Adira is to distract himself from his sorrow about his nephew and Ragesh 3. Because with her, he can forget that for a moment and only think about the happiness he feels with her. There would be a few times prior to her death that we see Londo checking up on her and sometimes communicating to her at long-distance when he feels so lonely and so trapped by the role he chose when he made his deal with the Shadows.
Garibaldi would be a woman.
The Shadows would've been created by man.
The league of non-aligned worlds would be human colonies.
Not all dialogue would involved 'nuts' or 'straight to hell'.
Warren Keffer would be renamed Warren Sheridan.
Delenn would be a school teacher.
The Shadows would've been created by man.
The league of non-aligned worlds would be human colonies.
Not all dialogue would involved 'nuts' or 'straight to hell'.
Warren Keffer would be renamed Warren Sheridan.
Delenn would be a school teacher.
S
Stone_Cold_Sisko
Guest
I'm putting aside the 'should they' part of the remake since that was not the OP's hypothetical. In this scenario, it's being remade period, and what should they do?
Well, the one thing that really strikes me about BSG is for some of its problems (overall story consistency, plotting, ironicallly B5's strongest asset), it really excels in a serious feel, which if you read JMS' original postings about B5 and how it was supposed to be like the Hill Street Blues of the sci-fi genre, to take a serious drama style look at sci-fi... BSG really did accomplish that. It doesn't have the "novel" feel of B5 but I think its the one shows critical community has rallied around as the 'Hill Street Blues' type serious sci-fi.
So with that in mind, yes a big part of that was stylisticly, while I would tone down the shaky-cam, I'd have a similar cinematic style.
The acting is one area where a redone B5 could be improved dramatically. There are many bad actors (Conway, Ivanova), a few actors who are average but are still likeable out of shear earnestness (imo Boxleitner, Mira, Jerry Doyle, Katsulas), and one or two good ones. On BSG the only actor I think was bad/mediocre was Cally, with Helo and Tori being kind of mediocre and everyone else imo was rather strong.
I think probably the Shadows could be more of a mystery in the vein of LOST or BSG's (non-existent) Cylon motives. Clark's totalitarian rule would probably be a lot darker. We'd have less standalone episodes. The music would be a little different style. Naturally the effects would be better. However, the overall plot shouldn't stray too much from the B5 we had.
Well, the one thing that really strikes me about BSG is for some of its problems (overall story consistency, plotting, ironicallly B5's strongest asset), it really excels in a serious feel, which if you read JMS' original postings about B5 and how it was supposed to be like the Hill Street Blues of the sci-fi genre, to take a serious drama style look at sci-fi... BSG really did accomplish that. It doesn't have the "novel" feel of B5 but I think its the one shows critical community has rallied around as the 'Hill Street Blues' type serious sci-fi.
So with that in mind, yes a big part of that was stylisticly, while I would tone down the shaky-cam, I'd have a similar cinematic style.
The acting is one area where a redone B5 could be improved dramatically. There are many bad actors (Conway, Ivanova), a few actors who are average but are still likeable out of shear earnestness (imo Boxleitner, Mira, Jerry Doyle, Katsulas), and one or two good ones. On BSG the only actor I think was bad/mediocre was Cally, with Helo and Tori being kind of mediocre and everyone else imo was rather strong.
I think probably the Shadows could be more of a mystery in the vein of LOST or BSG's (non-existent) Cylon motives. Clark's totalitarian rule would probably be a lot darker. We'd have less standalone episodes. The music would be a little different style. Naturally the effects would be better. However, the overall plot shouldn't stray too much from the B5 we had.
What if each season was no more than 13 episodes long?
Unnecessary.
B5 was sufficiently "dark" in tone and it was populated with credible and realistic characters. There's simply no need to turn it into something else when it was pretty much spot-on first time around.
B5 was sufficiently "dark" in tone and it was populated with credible and realistic characters. There's simply no need to turn it into something else when it was pretty much spot-on first time around.
Agreed. CGI had to start somewhere. Crapping on B5's FX with the benefit of hindsight and the technological advances made in the 15 years since the series proper premiered is just ridiculous.
The story would move faster, less need for filler episodes.
Still, the canvas of the story arc did mean even the smallest filler episode did contain at least one little hidden plot point which could be major later on.
How about in this remake, Sheridan was the one who suffered from the missing 24-hour gap while trying to move on from the presumed death of his wife Anna?
Then Sinclair really would be a dull character.
What if Sinclair instead plays the role of General Hague? But instead of General Hague, it would be General Sinclair.
(To Option #1)...Then Sinclair wouldn't exist, which would probably be for the best, in that case. I can only speculate, but I imagine if Straczynski had realized that the Sinclair character would have played itself out by the end of only one season, he would have gone back to the drawing boards and created a different lead.
(To Option #2)...I don't know if that makes sense. Sinclair was mistrusted by most of the top people at Earth Dome.
(To Option #2)...I don't know if that makes sense. Sinclair was mistrusted by most of the top people at Earth Dome.
I must admit this is the first time I have ever heard anyone hint that B5 wasn't dark *enough*. 
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