Babylon 5 to be rebooted as a cinematic film!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

More details here:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/...-budget-movie/

[Saracen]

Hmmm.

Well, time will tell and I s'pose I'll reserve judgement, but I have to say I have reservations. I enjoyed Babylon 5 a lot, and I've got huge doubts about how successful a reprise would be.

I'd have loved to see more of it back when it first came round, and watched it all again a couple of years ago (got it on DVD), but ..... it's kinda like a much-loved classic car - if you give it a 21st century paintjob, jazz up the interior and stick fancy wheels on it, you risk destroying the charm of the 'classic'.

[e-LAN-go]

A truly wonderful series that was ahead of its time.

I wish Warner Brothers would release a remastered version on blu-ray like Star Trek TNG which is terrific.

I hope JMS can pull it off as I think the time is ripe for new B5 related material.

The most recent iterations were underwhelming but I enjoyed Crusade which I thought was a little underrated.

[Scryder]

That's great news. Babylon 5 was one of my favourite TV series, and would love to see more from the universe. And with today's tech, the effects should look fantastic. I suppose a reboot will be the best way to do it as a number of the main cast have passed away and the rest are in to their 60's.

At the moment I've been catching up on a couple of the B5 podcasts; The Babylon Podcast and The Babble on Project. And it's interesting to hear some of the stories from the cast and crew.

[Ferral]

I will reserve judgement on this one.

Big fan of B5 and like Saracen I watched all of it not that long back with owning the box set that has everything in it including Crusade, really nice set for a ground breaking TV series.

[cptwhite_uk]

I was a massive Babylon 5 fan back in the day, during my informative years I'd even say it influenced my moral compass to some degree, such was the show's moral depth. I have the box set like others and was a major team member of The Babylon Project, which I've mentioned before, one of the larger Total Conversion mods for Freespace 2.

Like Saracen I'm wary of how successful a reboot would be, especially if funded and directed by JMS. The problem is Babylon 5's storylines were very much 'of their time' - somewhat dodgy acting and sets, but interesting stories, often slow paced and often at tangents to the main story branch. I'm not sure they could capture the spirit of the show with the demands to requirements of a modern day Sci-Fi show. It's almost like a trade-off, on the one hand it might be enjoyed by a core group of fans but be a commercial flop, on the other it might fair well commercially but be adjusted beyond recognition of being Babylon 5 in all but name. Either way it would be viewed as a failed venture.

Personally I think if this were to go ahead JMS needs to let someone else take the wheel so a different vision of the show under someone else's guidance can be produced. I also think it might be a a little too soon. I'd love a reboot but maybe the time isn't quite right yet - maybe another 5 to 10 years for a cleaner cut from the original series and all its spin off episodes.

Here's a great little clip for anyone's who's never seen the show:

[shaithis]

I only recently re-watched the gigantic B5 complete boxset......I have to keep the faith that they will do a good job of this......

[KeyboardDemon]

Wasn't the Mass Effect series influenced by Babylon 5?

I think it would be awesome to see a feature film, I did enjoy watching episodes of Babylon 5 but have never watched an entire season, I would like to see it start to finish though, I think I'd enjoy that.

[SUMMONER]

Awesome, lets hope they don't muck it up.

[Bonebreaker777]

Big fan of "Babylon 5" and the spin off "Crusade" as well. Hoping for slightly greater story depth...

[TheAnimus]

all I can think of

GET OUT.

[Bonebreaker777]

That video is not for UK?

[cub1061]

Cool, can't wait. I enjoyed watching this as a kid and with todays tech the movie will be awesome. imagine 3D

[Pleiades]

Still disputes about which came first B5 or DS9: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/02/is-...-off-babylon-5

I aver that B5 was superior in every way however...

[Galant]

The articles I've read said that J Michael S. wants to let the original series stand on its own and have this movie take the concepts and ideas and run in a slightly different direction with them, so, depending on what that means, it looks like purists might not be happy.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBH,I don't know why they don't explore the Earth-Minbari war or even the Dilgar war as a film or a series?? It would also have the advantage of probably attracting the attention of people who never watched the original series.