Babylon 5 May Finally Get a Big-Screen Debut 252
Ars Technica reports that "J. Michael Straczynski will shortly begin work on a rebooted big-screen version of his 1990s sci-fi TV series [ Babylon 5]." From the article:
According to JMS's latest announcement, the new script will be targeted at a 2016 theatrical release and will be a reboot of the series rather than a continuation. This is necessary for both dramatic and practical purposes—the series was in regular production from 1994-1998, and the cast has simply aged too far to credibly play themselves again during the series’ main timeline. Additionally, several of the foundational cast members — Michael O'Hare, Andreas Katsulas, Richard Biggs, and Jeff Conaway — have passed away. ... The movie rights to the Babylon 5 property remain in JMS's hands, but the creator is hopeful that this time around, Warner Bros. will choose to finance the film instead of passing on it. Nonetheless (at least according to TV Wise), JMS is prepared to fund the movie through his own production company if necessary — something that wasn't a possibility ten years ago — suggesting that B5 will in fact come to the big screen at last.
And so it begins... (Score:5, Funny)
The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote.
Re: And so it begins... (Score:5, Interesting)
At least he had a good story on the TV series, which really was important. A lot of the CGI effects were at the time decent but today they wouldn't measure up. At least the CGI effects were in most cases only backdrops, so it didn't really matter that they weren't fully realistic. A good thing was that it held stories within the grand story.
The story itself did leave a lot of threads to follow outside the station with several untold stories. The technomages are still a bit of a mystery, who are they actually, and what were their origins?
Re: And so it begins... (Score:5, Insightful)
The story jumped the shark at the end. I'm sorry, as much as I loved Babylon 5, it simply doesn't stand the test of time when you watch it in your 30s rather than as a teenager. It was awesome at first, a character driven Sci-Fi show, and then Sheridan came back from the dead with a Messiah Complex. Delenn always had one of course, even the Vorlons were smart enough to know that (watching Jack the Ripper torture this character flaw out of her was priceless, too bad it didn't take for the long term) as they set her up as their Emissary or whatever the hell she was. What really irked me was the human characters betraying their oath to Earth and going native after they had kicked Clark out of office. The Whitestar fleet or at least one example thereof should have been turned over to Earthforce R&D after the war, but that would required Sheridan to surrender power, so of course it didn't happen.
There's also the complete mess that was Season 5, though here I cut JMS some slack because he was kind of screwed when it looked like the show was getting the axe. The most important piece of back story was pretty damned stupid, the Minbari have thousands of years in space but start a war of annihilation (a pathetic one at that, only 250,000 deaths in two years of war, JMS needs to read about the Eastern Front....) over a botched first contact? Then they stop the war because of some religious nonsense?
In fairness the show did have highlights, Garibaldi was the best human character I think (he was Babylon 5's Chief O'Brien) flawed in every way and very easy to relate to. Londo and G'Kar never jumped the shark, their respective stories stand the test of time. Even the stupid parts (the Earth-Minbari War) had highlights, the President's speech towards the end of "In The Beginning" still chokes me up when I watch it, and the way JMS wove all of the stories together was amazing.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
I know it's difficult, but the series arc works better if you ignore season 5.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Actually you only need to ignore the first half of season 5 (the whole "Tragedy of the Telepaths" subplot was more a tragedy of the viewers), but I think there are some great episodes in the latter half. "Fall of Centauri Prime" is a personal favourite of mine.
You're right. I was looking at it from a story arc perspective rather than a quality perspective.
I wonder if there is a way to reorder that fits the best episodes of season 5 in appropriate places in season 4. Then we could still get the "far in the future" ending, which was an excellent way to end the series.
Re: And so it begins... (Score:5, Interesting)
Except that the series jumped the shark when Sherdian came back from the dead, which was always part of the arc.
FWIW, I never saw it that way. With the powerful races that are in play by that point in the show, it needed someone from the younger races to do something that appears miraculous from our perspective to put us in the same league and make the final outcome to the main plot arc credible. What happened to Sheridan was that something, and it was clear from well before the critical event that the older races knew and understood things about what was happening that the younger races in the show and, by extension, we as the viewers did not, so personally I didn't find it either out of character or a random deus ex machina twist.
Season 5 is best viewed as a collection of disparate standalone stories, of which there are actually a few redeeming ones.
There I definitely agree. JMS didn't get to finish things quite the way he'd hoped, with the potential cancellation after season 4 obviously causing some reordering and early resolution of major plotlines, and things like losing a major cast member for related reasons that they couldn't fix in time when they did get the green light for season 5. However, a few of the individual episodes in season 5, particularly the ones that looked at the station and characters we had become so familiar with from a very different perspective, were some of the best single episodes of the whole series IMHO. There's a great little moment at the end of "A View from the Gallery", where something happens just in time, and it puts the often grand themes and seemingly awesomely powerful characters we normally see in the show in a very different light.
I wonder whether a reboot of the main series is the best way to go, though. It's hard to believe anyone could play characters like G'Kar and Londo with the brilliant individual performances and wonderful chemistry of the original actors. I can watch the new Star Trek films and enjoy a big space fight with the best of them, but I don't see Kirk and Spock, I see a different ship, a different crew, and a very different (read: Hollywood) style. It's more like ST:TNG compared to ST:TOS, a familiar environment but different characters and stories. I'm not sure trying to retell the original B5 story with a bigger screen, a bigger budget, bigger SFX, and none of the original magic is a winning move (although if there's anyone who could pull something like that off, JMS would be the one, and if they manage some exceptional casting as well then it might be worth watching).
Re: And so it begins... (Score:4, Interesting)
Part of the "jumping the shark" was due to money craziness, and the problems when core actors decide they need to do other things with their career. The switch of captains was an enormous problem for fans and the story line, but we'd come to terms with it. The switch of first officers as well, was crippling.
The reboot of Star Trek was, admittedly, a failure. It lacked Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future as a better place as a more mature place and time with a frontier that tested and showed people who'd learned to engage frontiers with the hard-won wisdom they'd learned, who were actually making the galaxy a better place by sharing that wisdom But I was personally very pleased with the "Enterprise" series as an attempt to restart the series in an earlier period and recapture the exploration of a less mature series.
And for Star Trek/Babylon 5 comparisons, there can only be the Deep Space 9/Babylon 5 comparison. Anyone who didn't see parallels simply wasn't paying attention, and it was fascinating, as fans, to see how much better of a storyline Baboylon 5 was, and how much having a larger studio and a larger budget and franchise was able to help Deep Space 9. I really found myself wishing that Paramount, JMS, and the remainders of Gene Roddenberry's core crew and estate could have worked something out for Babylon 5 to have been told in the Star Trek universe with the larger budgets and resources.
I'm forced to admit that as a fan, I was delighted and thrilled to see Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, renowned as Gene Roddenberry's supportive wife, as Nurse Chapel and Lwaxana Troi and the voice of all the computers in Star Trek, pop up as the wife of the emperor in Babylon 5. It was wonderful to see the woman, herself, show her support of the excellent work at Babylon 5 by appear in a small bit fascinating role.
And Walter Koenig's hop from roles as Chekov in Star Trek to Alfred Bester in Babylon 5 was... well, you have to go watch the shows to understand the _completely_ different role Walter Koenig plays, and to applaud the acting and the writing that created it.
Re: And so it begins... (Score:5, Informative)
Re: And so it begins... (Score:4, Insightful)
Regarding the Sinclair -> Sheridan switch (which I didn't mind, I never particularly cared for Sinclair), there was a quite good reason for it [wikipedia.org].
Wow, I didn't know. For O'Hare to be struggling with mental illness, and still be concerned about the rest of the cast, and for the show to continue, shows character like you seldom see anymore. And JMS trying to accomodate O'Hare where it was in his power to do so, even when it put the show at risk, shows integrity over and above what one would expect from the entertainment industry. Really puts today's spoiled, intolerant divas in a different light, doesn't it?
Re: (Score:3)
And Walter Koenig's hop from roles as Chekov in Star Trek to Alfred Bester in Babylon 5 was... well, you have to go watch the shows to understand the _completely_ different role Walter Koenig plays, and to applaud the acting and the writing that created it.
JMS's first choice for the role of Bester was Patrick Mcgoohan and the character was primarily written with him in mind, that being said, Koeing did a fantastic job of taking the character and running with it. JMS did a very good job with the regular antagonists. Morden was another good example, like Bester designed to completely retard sympathy.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Star Dreck was shit from the start, and Rottenberry's "vision" was at best naive claptrap and at worst unredeemable drivel.
That was kind of the point of Star Trek, or at least the point of TNG and to a lesser extent TOS. I'm sorry that you didn't get that, it wasn't for everyone, but it was and is the reason why the reboot completely sucks ass and has nothing in common with Star Trek other than the title and character names.
Is the near-utopia presented in The Next Generation attainable? Probably not, human nature being what it is, though if anything made it possible it would be an abundance economy with virtually limitless s
Re: (Score:3)
What I hated was how the networks treated the show. They'd shift it around in time or cancel it, without giving advance notice to viewers. So it was a real chore at time to keep watching. At once point when it was announced that the next season was moving to the TNT channel the local broadcaster decided to cancel halfway through the season with no warning (but managed to catch a rerun of one of the missed episodes at 2am from a neighboring market that I could just pick up if I held the antenna right).
What
Re: And so it begins... (Score:5, Insightful)
So, wait, you're upset that the characters were flawed? Aliens acted in ways that made little sense? That's what made the show good - no one was perfect, the "good guys" did stupid shit too, and not everyone seemed rational. I liked it.
But yeah, season 5 had little to offer.
For me the show's attraction was watching Andreas Katsulas, Peter Jurasik, and Stephen Furst playing against one another, and the arcs of their characters. Londo discovering morality too late to do anything but suffer for his sins, G'Kar discovering what it means to be a religious leader (some of JMSs best writing IMO), and Vir showing that even in the most corrupt society, a strong moral compass serves you well in the long run.
Re: (Score:2)
Totally agreed about the G'Kar/Londo/Vir storylines. The non-human characters often got the best personal storylines and character development in B5, because the human officers (and Delenn as a notable exception to the non-human rule) tended to be tied up in moving the main plot arc forwards much of the time. Lennier was another non-human who had a diverse range of relationships with other characters and developed well through the series, at least until his completely implausible Toby Ziegler style characte
Re: (Score:2)
Re: And so it begins... (Score:5, Insightful)
As somebody who got INTO Babylon 5 in his 40's, I disagree; Babylon 5 was the best program on TV ever. (Barring, of course, the hot mess that resulted from the on-again/off-again cancellation of Season 5.) There were a few discontinuous episodes in Season 1, but seasons 2-4 were like old soap operas; you didn't dare miss an episode, or you wouldn't be able to catch up.
Even though I generally despise "reboots" of old favorite stories, I'm glad that JMS is doing it, and I wish him the best of luck in it.
Re: (Score:2)
There were a few discontinuous episodes in Season 1, but seasons 2-4 were like old soap operas; you didn't dare miss an episode, or you wouldn't be able to catch up.
Which was also why it was totally impenetrable for anyone who hadn't been watching since season one, episode one. I remember seeing one episode in season one or two and thinking "WTF? Who are they? Why are they fighting? What's going on?" and totally lost interest. I finally got hooked on it during the Shadow War, bad-ass black ships against everyone else in the galaxy as that one was rather obvious. It was only after that I bothered to watch the reruns and figure out what the heck happened leading up to th
Re: (Score:2)
Which thankfully isn't a problem nowadays. Otherwise shows like Game of thrones or Walking Dead would suffer the same fate and poor ratings that Babylon 5 did.
Re: (Score:2)
Was it really that hard to have a 20-30 second "Previously on Babylon 5" giving you at least the essentials of the back story?
Babylon 5 was a show for nerds, most of whom had access to the internet and could look up the lurker's guide to babylon 5 on hyperion. As a supposed nerd (welcome to Slashdot!) you don't get to complain that you couldn't comprehend Babylon 5 because you found it impenetrable. I hope you've learned to internet since then, bro.
Also, who gives a flying fuck why anyone is fighting anyone? You sound like one of my parents trying to understand Anime. You know, the kind that opens on a battle or something and they
Re: (Score:3)
I'm sorry, as much as I loved Babylon 5, it simply doesn't stand the test of time when you watch it in your 30s rather than as a teenager.
I watched it for the first time in my 30s and still found it absolutely brilliant. Just sayin'.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sorry, as much as I loved Babylon 5, it simply doesn't stand the test of time when you watch it in your 30s rather than as a teenager.
I watched it for the first time in my 30s and still found it absolutely brilliant. Just sayin'.
I got my girlfriend into it after what happened with Battlestar Galactica, and while the first season is a bit of a slog, she absolutely loved it after that.
Re: (Score:2)
That was half the point of the series. Even Republicans should be able to relate to it if after the "birther" stuff with Obama.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"then Sheridan came back from the dead with a Messiah Complex."
Note that this was part of the arc from the beginning, it just would have been Sinclair. After Michael O'Hare had to leave, Sinclair didn't die but he did turn out to be an actual Messiah.
"the human characters betraying their oath to Earth and going native after they had kicked Clark out of office."
They were forced out, because they had taken up arms against EarthGov despite having done it for the "right" reasons.
Luchenko: "Right or wrong, you l
Re: (Score:2)
The main back story plot point of the botched first contact was fine. You have to remember their leader died in that first contact. Wars start for all sorts of stupid reasons. As for the number of fatalities being low that is explained as they mostly fought in the colonies or in space where few people actually lived. If they actually started bombarding Earth as they planned then the fatalities would increase a lot.
Re: (Score:3)
Have you considered Colon Blow to treat that uptight pedantic Hatorade?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The CGI was groundbreaking and a great deal more than just "backdrops". Every ship, planet, piece of debris, weapons fire as well as the interior of various parts of the station was made on *Amigas* with zero model shots. When they had enough money for a small render farm they could create large space battles in real time.
They kept the details secret even though big names like ILM and Paramount wanted to know how the hell they did it with so little equipment and a shoestring budget (we didn't see the battle
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Bzzt. The pilot was made on Toasters, yes. The series was made on a render farm of NT workstations. Then somewhere around season three, they started compositing in some practical FX with the digital (improved explosions). There was no "secret", it was simply very good use of Lightwave, and there was no "real time"-- the CGI was rendered one frame at a time, and assembled / composited on digital tape. The primary benefit was cost-- Build one Hyperion class heavy cruiser, swap out the name plate texture,
Re: And so it begins... (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
So... what 2000s /2010s series will be rebooted (but should not)?
If the currrent trend continues, I'd say "all of them".
Netflix Time Now? (Score:5)
Re:Netflix Time Now? (Score:5, Informative)
It's a reboot, not a continuation. It starts from the beginning, so you don't have to see the TV series in order to watch the movie.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed; why would JMS spend his own money to redo something he's already done?
So while everybody here is talking about B5, we really should be talking about those subsequent series/movies and how they measure up.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe they could get around to putting the series up on Netflix
All the discs are available, last I looked. I don't know why you'd look for anything on the vast wasteland that is Netflix streaming - there's nothing there but tumbleweeds and Netflix-original stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Unfortunately, there isn't anything they can do about that without a huge infusion of money. Basically, they lost all of the FX material and it would all have to be redone from scratch. That's the problem with a relatively low-budget production.
Even if they still had the material it would have to be redone - low polygon count models and low res textures don't make good HD images.
Re: (Score:2)
Except that a lot of the ships (and station itself) *have* been redone for the 2007 stories. And I'm pretty sure the people that made the amateur videos would be happy to give them the models.
An amateur redid parts of a battle from DS9 in HD, and was asked by someone from Foundation Imaging to contact him (don't remember where I've read this). DS9 also used motion control for the ships, which makes it even harder, and it could be possible to do it.
http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/... [trekcore.com]
Since B5 was entirely CGI,
Re: (Score:2)
It looks pretty awful on anything with a HD resolution these days so that probably wouldn't help it.
So does Star Trek (TOS, heck even some of TNG) but people still love watching them for the stories and they always make the Netflix most-popular lists.
And, heck, arguably B5 has a better story than Trek ever did.
Re: (Score:2)
And, heck, arguably B5 has a better story than Trek ever did.
Star Trek had a story? What made B5 great was that there was a story arc. Star Trek never seemed to have any continuity from one episode to the next.
Re: (Score:2)
And, heck, arguably B5 has a better story than Trek ever did.
Star Trek had a story? What made B5 great was that there was a story arc. Star Trek never seemed to have any continuity from one episode to the next.
TNG had story arcs from season one, but they were never the focus.
Re: (Score:3)
And, heck, arguably B5 has a better story than Trek ever did.
Star Trek had a story? What made B5 great was that there was a story arc. Star Trek never seemed to have any continuity from one episode to the next.
Different kinds of story.
Star Trek at its best was short fiction told in space. The main characters left to themselves would be fine, but external events turned them into foils against which the actual story unfolded. After the story they'd generally reset so the next episode could tell a new story.
B5 was a character drama told in space. The main characters left to themselves generated the story. They had to evolve in order for the story to advance.
Re: (Score:2)
The Prisoner, 1967, had a story arc.
Re: (Score:2)
It looks pretty awful on anything with a HD resolution these days so that probably wouldn't help it.
So does Star Trek (TOS, heck even some of TNG) but people still love watching them for the stories and they always make the Netflix most-popular lists.
Depends on what you are looking at - both B5 and the older ST shows were filmed on film, and the FX for ST TOS and most for TNG were also done on film, while those for B5 were digital and rendered to be good enough (if that) for analog TV resolution.
The resolution of film is good enough to at least look better on HD than on SD - but the digital effects will show the pixels.
And that's ignoring that for both TOS and TNG Paramount has released HD versions with "better" FX.
Re: (Score:2)
They FX look old, they don't look awful. I look thru the 90's CGI and see that the fights are some of the best directed, edited, musically scored battles ever.
I still get goosebumps and my heart pounds when I watch the fights when B5 seceded from the Earth Alliance, the Shadow War, the battle to free Proxima, the fight with the Centauri vessel when B5 was protecting the Narn cruiser (the sweeping camera arc showing the B5 interceptors intercepting the Centauri shells) among many others.
That being said, I
Re: (Score:2)
Agree with this. The effects look old, but they still carry the emotional punch when they need to. I can remember absolutely all of those scenes perfectly, so they clearly did something very right.
Re: (Score:2)
It's like toy story. They only had the rendering power to make things look like plastic toys and it worked because that's what they did.
Re: (Score:2)
...but there are already films (Score:2)
The whole point behind babylon 5 was the huge story arcs...two great ones. I will watch the movie...but I don't care like I would about a series. Its a shame too as there is not many "in space" series at the moment.
Re:...but there are already films (Score:4, Insightful)
It was also very dependent on the cast. It takes a lot for the audience to relate to guys in alien costumes, even SF nerds like me. I'm doubtful the magic will happen again.
Wow, a lot of the cast died so young - Jeff Conaway to drugs, Andreas Katsulas to smoking, Richard Biggs at 44 to a heart condition. Good to see Stephen Furst still going (aside from playing my favorite character on B5, he successfully changed his dangerous lifestyle during the B5 years, losing almost 100 pounds).
But whatever else goes wrong, at least the fighters "in space" won't fly like jets. Did any other SF TV series or movie get that right? The space battles are still cool to watch, aging effects and all, just because it makes some physical sense.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There's a reason for that too though, since they explicitly deploy and fly Viper's in the atmosphere several times during the run of the show. So they'd have to be at least aerodynamic enough for that (they also imply that atmosphere use uses way more fuel then space combat, relatively).
Re: (Score:2)
The whole point behind babylon 5 was the huge story arcs...two great ones. I will watch the movie...but I don't care like I would about a series.
Perhaps a B5 movie could be a launch for a B5 multimedia universe like the Marvel Universe. The tie-in between the theatrical movies and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show is excellent.
Sci-Fi, fantasy, and comic book are excellent genres for a character-driven TV series with tie-in theatrical movies for the big events that need that kind of FX budget. Even some action/adventure could benefit from this. Imagine a "James Bond universe" where the TV series doesn't have Bond in it very much at all. It could
This was the best... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
"And best of all, this was the first series to kill off 'major' characters"
That's not true. Off the top of my head, MASH killed Henry Blake, and that was probably the first time a major character was killed off in a major series (other than a cast member dying). It was much more sporadic before the 90s, but it did happen.
Re: (Score:2)
That's not true. Off the top of my head, MASH killed Henry Blake, and that was probably the first time a major character was killed off in a major series (other than a cast member dying).
In the case of McLean Stevenson, he quit the show, and instead of just writing his character out, they killed him. This is no different from any other show where the actor's off-screen circumstances (death, etc.) caused the show to have to write around it.
On B5, however, characters that you grew to love (like Marcus) were "dead men walking" from the first second they appeared on screen, because that's what JMS had already written. AFAIK, B5 really was the first to kill off characters as part of the planne
Re: (Score:2)
This was the best series on TV.
The more you like a show, the more you should hope no one decides to revive it.
Re: (Score:2)
That was one of the great things. It not only had Chekhov's gun, it also had Chekhov.
Noice! (Score:3)
What's a reboot? (Score:3, Insightful)
I loved B5. I hate reboots, at least as I understand the word. I have no problem with replacing the actors. That happens frequently in movie franchises. James Bond has been played by a number of actors, and even the gender of a major supporting character was changed in that franchise without calling it a reboot. In my mind a reboot is when the producers and/or director want to take advantage of the name and existing fan base, but decide to do two other distasteful things: First, change key story concepts that have already been established, and second, they usually want to retell yet another origin story. Why is this being called a reboot, and is JMS calling it a reboot himself or are others just misusing the term? I'll gladly go see a new B5 movie (and I really don't go to many movies), but I'll avoid a B5 reboot like I would avoid an Ebola infected missionary. If JMS wants to tell a completely different Sci-fi story then I would welcome that too, but he should not reuse the B5 name, If he wants to pick back up story telling in the B5 universe then he shouldn't try to tear down what has already been done.
On a side note, the list of lost actors from the B5 production should include Tim Choate who played my favorite character, Zathras.
Re:What's a reboot? (Score:5, Interesting)
I would say that "reboot" can mean different things, in much the same way that "Zathras" can refer to more than one individual, depending on how you pronounce it :) There is the one you describe (change the story line / concepts), but I think it's also possible to simply retell the story, or perhaps tell "more of the story" (i.e. start a bit earlier in the arc, or give additional background). Our technology has changed a bit since 1994 (I mean, gad, we were still running Windows for Workgroups back then!) so it makes sense that we can better imagine the future from this perspective. I respect JMS and believe he would not tamper with the core precepts in the series. And while there are lots of faithful fans who remember the original series, there is also a huge audience of people who aren't familiar with the original series & would enjoy an excellent space opera.
Re:What's a reboot? (Score:4, Insightful)
I heard they wanted to do a reboot of Star Trek, which I guess could be interesting ... I mean, it's been 12 years since a Star Trek movie was last released.
Re: (Score:3)
True, and it looks like we'll never have another Star Wars movie.
Re: (Score:2)
True, and it looks like we'll never have another Star Wars movie.
Probably you whooshed me, but Disney bought rights in 2012 and has the first of a sequel trilogy in production and scheduled for release next year.
(Then we'll probably get presequels...)
Re: (Score:2)
*Whoosh*
There hasn't been a Star Trek movie in twelve years. There won't be another Star Wars movie as long as J.J. Abrams is attached to it. He should stick to the (mediocre) things he does best.
Re: (Score:2)
Mediocre? You give far too much credit. Lost was perhaps the worst series ever made.
Re: (Score:2)
True, and it looks like we'll never have another Star Wars movie.
Weren't three enough?
Re: (Score:2)
Aye. Too bad Leigh Brackett passed away.
Re: (Score:2)
I heard they wanted to do a reboot of Star Trek, which I guess could be interesting ... I mean, it's been 12 years since a Star Trek movie was last released.
I know this is heresy but I liked B5 better than most of the Star Wars and Start Trek stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
I know this is heresy but I liked B5 better than most of the Star Wars and Start Trek stuff.
I officially sanction your position. It is not heresy, it's truth. There is certainly Star Trek which is better than anything in B5, but "most" of Star Trek is far inferior.
Re: (Score:2)
I know this is heresy but I liked B5 better than most of the Star Wars and Start Trek stuff.
I officially sanction your position. It is not heresy, it's truth. There is certainly Star Trek which is better than anything in B5, but "most" of Star Trek is far inferior.
What I liked about the B5 series was mostly the fact that it had Maciavellian politics and space battles where the fighters didn't fly like aircraft even though they were located in deep space. They made an honest attempt to respect Newtonian physics. I went off the Star Wars series after the "Battle of the Teddy Bears" in Return of the Jedi although I rather like the animated "Clone Wars" series. I never really watched much of the original Star Trek and the Star Trek NG series just bored me out of my scull
Re: (Score:2)
What I liked about the B5 series was mostly the fact that it had Maciavellian politics and space battles where the fighters didn't fly like aircraft even though they were located in deep space.
Star Trek movies have always been about space battles and ridiculous action, even though people like to blame JJ Abrams for that one. That said, there are quite a few Star Trek episodes that do a good job of dealing with a social issue and/or politics in an interesting way.
I went off the Star Wars series after the "Battle of the Teddy Bears" in Return of the Jedi although I rather like the animated "Clone Wars" series.
For really good Star Wars, you have to go to the books. The same expanded universe that Disney announced is no longer cannon so they can "free up" their screenwriters or some other bullshit. Well, as far as I'm concerned, if I have to
Re: (Score:2)
One of the problems with trying use the original actors in the film is that a significantly large number of them, including Tim Choate [wikipedia.org], are dead. Though I do agree with you, Zathras was one of my favourites too.
I'm shocked really at how many are gone - since I have fond memories of the show its really hard to think that 20 years is all that long ago but I was watching a video o
Re: (Score:2)
Here is an interesting example. Macross the anime series and Macross the movie (DYRL). The movie differs a lot from the series, the explanation is that it is a movie in-universe loosely based on what happened during the human-Zentraedi war.
This could be something similar. An in-universe movie about what happened 2258-2261.
Re: (Score:2)
Tim Choate who played my favorite character, Zathras
Don't forget he also played my favorite character: Zathras.
Re: (Score:3)
I loved B5. I hate reboots, at least as I understand the word. I have no problem with replacing the actors. That happens frequently in movie franchises. James Bond has been played by a number of actors, and even the gender of a major supporting character was changed in that franchise without calling it a reboot. In my mind a reboot is when the producers and/or director want to take advantage of the name and existing fan base, but decide to do two other distasteful things: First, change key story concepts that have already been established, and second, they usually want to retell yet another origin story. Why is this being called a reboot, and is JMS calling it a reboot himself or are others just misusing the term? I'll gladly go see a new B5 movie (and I really don't go to many movies), but I'll avoid a B5 reboot like I would avoid an Ebola infected missionary. If JMS wants to tell a completely different Sci-fi story then I would welcome that too, but he should not reuse the B5 name, If he wants to pick back up story telling in the B5 universe then he shouldn't try to tear down what has already been done.
On a side note, the list of lost actors from the B5 production should include Tim Choate who played my favorite character, Zathras.
I'm not opposed to the idea, but it's important to remember that it's no guarantee of success. Consider all the elements that can cause a TV show to fail, cast, characters, writing, concept, plots, etc. With the reboot you're starting out on familiar ground so you avoid a lot of potential pitfalls, but you still have a big risk of making a dud.
The original B5 was great, but to be honest it's not doing anything anymore. The people who watched it have already extracted all of the joy they can, and the small m
Fuck me (Score:3)
please dont reboot!!!! A continuation of the world but no fucking reboot.
It may be too late, (Score:3)
"Guardians of the Galaxy" was not a sequel or a reboot.
It suggests as well that audiences have grown more than a little weary of "dark" sci-fi and fantasy.
As much as I admire B5, I think its time may have passed.
Re: (Score:3)
B5 was full of lighthearted moments and humour (admittedly less so towards the end). Thinking about Londo going "but in purple... I'm STUNNING" still cracks me up just thinking about it. Or G'Kar getting drunk with the grail seeker "They made a very satisfying.. THUMP when they hit the ground". Lennier and Vir commiserating, "they never listen...". Or Sheridan's terrible jokes.. "Kosh who?" / "Gseundheit!". I could go on all day. :)
Sure there was a serious, epic plot underlying it all.. but you can sa
Re: (Score:2)
I hope audiences are not too tired of "dark", because Guardians set audiences up for one of Marvel's darkest ever story lines. "Darker" than the "Dark Phoenix Saga"? Try darker than 14 year old Kitty Pride with inoperable ovarian cancer.
Warning - Spoiler below, but about an old comics series, not about this movie
Jim Starlin loves to draw comics where Death is the punch line. In the Star Reach underground line, he wrote a story titled "The Birth of Death", and one called "Death Building", Marvel gave Starl
What about Babylon Park? (Score:2)
It would be nice to see some new episodes of that.
More Shadows, less Psi's (Score:2)
Re:More Shadows, less Psi's (Score:5, Informative)
They thought they weren't getting a Season 5, which is why they rushed to resolve all the major plots by the end of S4, leading to a rather underwhelming S5.
So what you say is true, but not really their fault.
Re: (Score:2)
You absolutely ought to watch "In the beginning".
It is awesome. In fact, better than most B5 episodes.
Kickstarter? (Score:2)
If Kickstarter worked from Veroncia Mars, then I don't see why it wouldn't work for B5.
I'd pay the cost of a DVD/Blu-ray if fund it, it I could get a disc as a reward.
The Jackson-Hobbit Syndrome in reverse (Score:4, Insightful)
So JMS wants to take a story originally told in over 4700 minutes, and condense it down into a 120-minute feature film (or is he thinking a series of five of them)? What could possibly go wrong?
Seriously, one of the things that makes B5 a classic of the genre was the way it gradually unfolded an epic tale over the course of five years. Sure, there were a lot of B sub plots and C plot-of-the-week elements that didn't contribute directly to that overall storyline, but they provided the texture that made the A plot matter. For example, the viewers cared about the fate of the Centauri because they'd come to know (and seen the transformation of) Londo and Vir; without that, they're just a bunch of space vampires. To be honest, I'm not really a big fan of the soap-opera approach to storytelling that's become fashionable in hour-long TV dramas and monthly superhero comics... but B5 was a rare example of how it works. Without that format, without that scope, it would become just the Reader's Digest edit of The Lord of the Rings in Space.
Re: (Score:2)
Space Vampires? They're Space Romans, not really even Space Romanians or Space Transylvanians...
In breaking news (Score:5, Funny)
J.J. Abrams is signed to direct. He's never seen a single episode of the TV show, but he's sure that, if he uses enough lens flare and explosions, no-one will ever notice.
Re: (Score:3)
I'll pass (Score:2)
Last Exit to Babylon (Score:3)
Speaking of Babylon, I wouldn't mind seeing a movie of Roadmarks [wikipedia.org]. In the mean time, perhaps I'll dig the book out of the closet and re-read it...
Hopefully he will do it right... (Score:2)
B7 (Score:3)
Any word on the proposed Blake's 7 movie? That one show that deserves a resurrection.
Why? (Score:2)
Sure B5 was the best SF TV series ever, but it doesn't nrrd a reboot
You couldn't fit the complex story arc into one movie anyway
Can't he write some other story set in the B5 universe, with new characters
If its just about money, maybe we could pay him not to do a reboot.
Forget B5 (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:An Unconditional Truth (Score:5, Funny)
No. There is another.
"Ivanova is god."