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‘Babylon 5’ Reboot in the Works at The CW with original series creator J. Michael Straczynski
- Thread starter Spectromixer
- Start date
- News Entertainment
I love Babylon 5. However, CW Babylon 5? That just brings up some major alarms. Oh well, lets see what happens. Maybe we'll get 1 good season out of it :).
This is what I am afraid of, and I liked Supernatural and first couple seasons of Flash / Supergirl / Smallville.
This is what I am afraid of, and I liked Supernatural and first couple seasons of Flash / Supergirl / Smallville.
Lol reading Smallville made me have a vision of every episode ending with the gang meeting up at the station's coffeeshop/bar recounting the day's events while a sappy pop song plays in the background.
Where do I sign up?
Orignial series cast members will be envolved
Huh...so JMS plans for the original characters to be involved in some way. That's much more exciting to me than a reboot.
The third tweet in that is Claudia Christian saying that she's involved in some way…
Huh so it would possibly be a sequel series. Wonder if the years of Babylon 5 before it came to an end.
B5 was pure lightning in a bottle and there is no way they'll be able to replicate even half of what made it work without people like Furlan and Katsulas. Even if JMS is involved, and even if somehow some of the old cast come back. It's the last show in the world that needs a reboot.
What in the fuck.
I can't believe it... also being CW-fied is fucking terrifying.
But I guess we're just at that point where ANYTHING gets a remake now. lol
I can't believe it... also being CW-fied is fucking terrifying.
But I guess we're just at that point where ANYTHING gets a remake now. lol
I mean's it's babylon 5 so...yeah.
Anyways, who wants to bet on how exactly WB will torpedo this?
Air the eps out of order?
Rush the series to air before the cgi is done?
Replace JMS with joss whedon and have him antagonize literally the entire cast.?
Course, since this is B5 maybe they will dust off the old classic of mandating a bunch of changes at the last minute for the sole purpose of eating up the budget and making it economically unviable for any channel to run it while also deciding to no longer show it on the CW.
Eh, at least on CW nobody has to watch it for them to keep making it.
JMS wrote Seasons 3 & 4 and the majority (but not entirety) of 5. Seasons 1 & 2 had a team of writers (or at least multiple guest writers).
So many people complaining about the CW in this thread and I feel like I might be living in an alternate reality because from my perspective the CW has had a lot of great shows (and a lot of not so great shows but all networks have those).
All American
Supernatural
iZombie
The 100
Nikita
Jane the Virgin
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Superman & Lois
Black Lightning
And Babylon 5 originally aired on PTEN so it's weird to act like The CW is beneath Babylon 5.
All American
Supernatural
iZombie
The 100
Nikita
Jane the Virgin
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Superman & Lois
Black Lightning
And Babylon 5 originally aired on PTEN so it's weird to act like The CW is beneath Babylon 5.
She says he wants them involved in some way, not necessarily their characters. They could play new characters in a reboot with their original parts recast. I mean, it wouldn't be reboot if it's a sequel.
Some of the original cast was involved in Battlestar Galactica reboot as well, doesn't mean they will be cast in their original roles though.
You joking? Even CW shows with terrible ratings get repeatedly renewed.
This isn't NBC or Fox where sci-fi never gets past a single season. Debris wasn't the best but I'd still have liked it to have gotten one more season at least, and you know that new "land of the lost" type show that's coming out won't last long.
Please no sequel series. That's an even worse idea than a reboot.
EDIT:
So it's not a sequel but they are using the original cast in new roles? If so, cast Bruce Boxleitner as Morgan Clark please.
EDIT:
So it's not a sequel but they are using the original cast in new roles? If so, cast Bruce Boxleitner as Morgan Clark please.
Last edited:
What are the chances of:
a) a puppet episode
b) a musical episode
c) a parody of Star Trek episode
I want them all now.
a) a puppet episode
b) a musical episode
c) a parody of Star Trek episode
I want them all now.
Supernatural is debateable as when it first aired, Sam was technically still a teenager in college. FWIW I am a big fan of Supernatural, and stuck with it all 15 years, but it absolutely fit the typical CW Mold of teen heartthrobs in peril concept. As for Roswell, i never saw the reboot so I can't really speak to it. The point is, the CW has a demographic that the original concept of Babylon 5 doesn't quite fit. It'd be like saying "Star Trek coming to The CW!" except the actual show that the CW airs is Star Trek: Origin of Picard, a show that would focus on the early life/career of Picard. I'm sure the first 2 seasons would be Picard in Highschool or at best going through the Academy as a young 20 something.
Going by the article in the OP, that's exactly what we'd be seeing here. That's pretty normal for a lot for CW reboots/reimaginings anyway.
That said, I could also imagine JMS sneakily doing a reboot/sequel where we have younger actors playing the characters in flashbacks, but keeping with the original's continuity, while having the main story take place in the future and driving the universe's story forward. I have to imagine that he's got a lot of stories that he never got to tell with Crusade and the rest of the attempted resurrections of the universe.
With comics, maybe? Dunno. But B5 is renowned for every script being on time and every episode coming in under budget. That show was incredibly well-oiled, like Londo's hair.
LONDO: "In all my 25 years, I have never had an aide so inept as this one."
VIR: "I'm sorry, sir! It's just I... I... I'm 12."
MORDEN: "What do you want?"
LONDO: "The most popular Instagram in the known galaxy."
IVANOVA: "It's a Jewish prayer."
TALIA: "omg same LOL"
BYRON: wait no actually this one's already primed for CW
VIR: "I'm sorry, sir! It's just I... I... I'm 12."
MORDEN: "What do you want?"
LONDO: "The most popular Instagram in the known galaxy."
IVANOVA: "It's a Jewish prayer."
TALIA: "omg same LOL"
BYRON: wait no actually this one's already primed for CW
oh wow, so original actors taking some part will be fun then!
a lot of them are dead, though :(
a lot of them are dead, though :(
Someone has to play the random aliens that make up The League of Non-Aligned Worlds, after all! ;p
In all seriousness, this is like the absolute worst case scenario for me. I've always been in favor of a Babylon 5 reboot -- lightning in a bottle or not, I'd be interested in seeing if it can happen twice -- but I have a very, very low opinion of The CW. Its content doesn't mesh well with me at all.
Rising Stars had lot of behind the scenes issues, Top Cow was behind lot of the delays and taking artists off the production and switching them around.
Babylon 5 is already older than the original Battlestar Galactica series was when it got rebooted.
Just in case you haven't felt old yet today.
Just in case you haven't felt old yet today.
Like. HBO was literally right there. Did JMS shop B5 around and get a dozen negatives? I always figured this IP isn't quite worth the dollars some folks believe, but good lord, this is bottom of the barrel.
Riverdale actually has some pretty nice sets/costumes and Crazy Ex Girlfriend had a pretty sizable budget going by the musical numbers
Trust they're diversifying their lineup but we will see
Trust they're diversifying their lineup but we will see
That... wouldn't be that bad actually. They could do a reverse Tapestry episode as a series finale where Q tries to get Picard to not get involved in the fight with the Nausicaans that leads to him getting stabbed in the heart, only for it to backfire! They could flesh out the characters Cortan "Corey" Zweller and Marta "Marty" Batanides, two of Picards friends from his Academy days, as major characters.
My slash fiction will become a reality!
Seriously, though, I am a bit wary of the CW doing it but I am chuffed to see anything B5 in the works again.
How exciting!
Sam was actually 22 when Supernatural started. But yes, they were young and probably appealed to a younger audience but the point is that the CW also had shows that didn't skew so young and I don't see why they would cast a bunch of teens or people in their early 20s for Babylon 5.
Superman & Lois features teenagers but the majority of the cast is in their 30s and 40s. Walker is similar, two teens in supporting roles but the rest of the cast is adults ranging from early 30s to 60s. And those are two of their more successful shows.
Claudia Christian was 28 when Babylon 5 started, Richard Biggs and Andrea Thompson 33, most of the others were 40+ but generally the age range isn't that different from some other CW shows.
And how does the original concept not fit the CW demographic? They've been doing genre shows for years now and definitely have an audience for them, Babylon 5 had action, mystery, some comic relief, love stories etc., I can see it working well for them.
And if they must have some younger characters Vir and Lennier could easily be aged down to early 20s without changing their characters, they both were portrayed as young and inexperienced compared to their respective ambassadors (even if Bill Mumy was actually older than Mira Furlan).
When was the last time you actually watched anything on the CW? Because that sounds more like a bad parody of what people expect from the CW not what most of their content is actually like.
You will be missing out on an incredible show, but if too old for you to handle then it's whatever.
I think there are some seriously premature reactions here. I love the original B5, it's my all time favorite show. I would like there to be more of it, and if a reboot is the way JMS makes that happen, then it's great freaking news.
Sure, I'd love to see an expansion of the story, but obviously that's not what is on the table. WB owns the TV rights to B5, so where else would it go but CW?
I hope this is good, if it's not, whatever, that takes NOTHING away from the original. This could be the way to get B5 into the main stream in a way it hasn't been for decades, and that is good news to me.
With Claudia saying original cast are involved in some way, there are tons of ways this could go that could be genuinely exciting. JMS gave us B5, and I don't know anyone else I would trust more to bring it back respectfully.
Sure, I'd love to see an expansion of the story, but obviously that's not what is on the table. WB owns the TV rights to B5, so where else would it go but CW?
I hope this is good, if it's not, whatever, that takes NOTHING away from the original. This could be the way to get B5 into the main stream in a way it hasn't been for decades, and that is good news to me.
With Claudia saying original cast are involved in some way, there are tons of ways this could go that could be genuinely exciting. JMS gave us B5, and I don't know anyone else I would trust more to bring it back respectfully.
To be true to the original series, all VFX shots will be rendered in real time using a Pentium 4 and a dusty GTX 750ti.
Honestly, I'm not worried about it being a CW show. The thing that I'm looking forward to the least is the zoomers who are going to watch this show as their first exposure to Babylon 5 and accuse JMS of ripping off Mass Effect and/or re-igniting the DS9-vs-B5 fanbase wars of the late 90s.
Honestly, I'm not worried about it being a CW show. The thing that I'm looking forward to the least is the zoomers who are going to watch this show as their first exposure to Babylon 5 and accuse JMS of ripping off Mass Effect and/or re-igniting the DS9-vs-B5 fanbase wars of the late 90s.
Let's fucking do this. Totally down, up to and including the CW portion. The 100 was a lot better than a lot of people realize, B5 deserves another shot at making it, and CW will keep shit around for forever.
This lets it keep a little of the scrappy underdog spirit that powered the original; I'd have anxiety about cancellation constantly if they gave it a full on HBO budget.
This lets it keep a little of the scrappy underdog spirit that powered the original; I'd have anxiety about cancellation constantly if they gave it a full on HBO budget.
