Babylon 5 was possibly the best science fiction television show ever made. The original creator, Joseph Michael Straczynski (JMS), is returning to recreate it. It is a reboot that carries over key concepts from the original series, but is not restricted by anything in the original.
Most of the original cast have unfortunately died. Those who are alive may get cameos in different roles.
It will be as close to the original as the remade Battlestar Galactica was to its original.
There was an analysis and proposal for rebooting Babylon 5 made one year ago. The special effects should match up to the Expanse.
The villains and races can be amped up.
The story twists and use of point of view characters can look to what Game of Thrones did in its first five seasons. There would be little need for the many filler episodes used in the first season.
JMS often changed characters in the original version because of problems with actors and contracts. The characters and their roles can be juggled to arrive at a fresh story with new surprises.
Characters and heroes that made it the end of the original series would not necessarily make it to the end of this series.
To answer all the questions, yes, it’s true, Babylon 5 is in active development as a series for the CW. We have some serious fans over at the network, and they’re eager to see this show happen. I’m hip deep into writing the pilot now, and will be running the series upon pickup.
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
The network understands the uniqueness of Babylon 5 and is giving me a great deal of latitude with the https://t.co/jnCj989Csd noted in the announcement, this is a reboot from the ground up rather than a continuation, for several reasons. Heraclitus wrote —
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
— “You cannot step in the same river twice, for the river has changed, and you have changed.” In the years since B5, I’ve done a ton of other TV shows and movies, adding an equal number of tools to my toolbox, all of which I can bring to bear on one singular question:
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
How can it be used to reflect the world in which we live, and the questions we are asking and confronting every day? Fans regularly point out how prescient the show was and is of our current world; it would be fun to take a shot at looking further down the road.
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
So we will not be retelling the same story in the same way because of what Heraclitus said about the river. There would be no fun and no surprises. Better to go the way of Westworld or Battlestar Galactica where you take the original elements that are evergreens and —
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
— put them in a blender with a ton of new, challenging ideas, to create something fresh yet familiar. To those asking why not just do a continuation, for a network series like this, it can’t be done because over half our cast are still stubbornly on the other side of the Rim.
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
The original Babylon 5 was ridiculously innovative: the first to use CGI to create ships and characters, and among the very first to shoot widescreen with a vigorous 5.1 mix. Most of all, for the first time, Babylon 5 introduced viewers accustomed to episodic television to —
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
— the concept of a five-year arc with a pre-planned beginning, middle and end…creating a brand new paradigm for television storytelling that has subsequently become the norm. That tradition for innovation will continue in this new iteration, and —
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) September 27, 2021
SOURCES- JMS
Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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