Babylon 5 reboot?

[maniacalpha1-1]

Not sure how I missed this August last year but :

http://screenrant.com/babylon-5-movie-reboot/

Would have preferred a same-continuity continuation but a reboot is better than nothing.

Thoughts?

 

[manimal]

/passes out without even reading link

 

[The Boston Dangler]

if it is to be re-done, i'd only be happy with JMS in 100% control and i'd much rather have a 4-5 chapter tv series than a movie.

iirc, his reasons for the do-over are:
1. the show was completely screwed over by the tv companies
2. the show was shot in sd because he believed hd upsampling was legit
3. there are directorial and writing boo-boo's on JMS' part

B5 is one of my favorites and among the best sci-fi ever. it's a shame to discard the actors' wonderful performances that were as defining of the show as anything else. that being said, the show did come out pretty flawed - far more so than star wars 4-6.

 

[Belegost]

I just don't see a movie format being able to convey the character growth, and development of relationships that evolved over the course of the series.

How do you get G'Kar from an angry, almost reckless, young ambassador lacking tact and decorum to the figure that spawns the Book of G'Kar for his patience and wisdom?

Or turn Molari from a strident supporter of his empire, toeing the official line, bursting with pride for his government into the disillusioned, nervous, and cynical, Molari who takes the throne and watches his world burn?

Not to even go into Garibaldi...

That evolution of the characters was, to my mind, the core draw of the show - anyone can do a show about a war with ancient evil; but it's a lot more difficult to deeply show the effect on the people involved.

 

[HN]

Delenn: This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw or be destroyed.

Earth Force Officer: Negative. We have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ship.

Delenn: Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!

/mic drop

 

[dr150]

This will not happen.

Off the top of my head, 24 and Stargate with (TV cast) had promised movies. Never happened. Too difficult to get promised funding.

The fact that Entourage managed to film a movie is a minor miracle.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

I certainly don't like movies, I prefer tv show format for everything. Dark Tower? Make it a show. B5 reboot? Show please. New Star Treks? Show please.

Movies are just too much action and no character development.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I hope it never happens. The cast made the show, as did telling the story over seasons instead of a couple of hours.

Bringing in a cast of twentysomething Ken and Barbies for a grimdark re-imagining with more lensflares and explosions might sell some tickets but I doubt I'd enjoy it.

 

[JPS35]

Delenn: This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw or be destroyed.

Earth Force Officer: Negative. We have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ship.

Delenn: Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!

/mic drop

An absolute classic!

Kosh: The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote.

 

[Kadarin]

Londo on the Hokey Pokey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr8tOa_En7A

Babylon 5 Epic Battle Montage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSa6Zl8fcyo

If any show deserves updated graphics, it's this one.

 

[manimal]

Londo on the Hokey Pokey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr8tOa_En7A

Babylon 5 Epic Battle Montage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSa6Zl8fcyo

If any show deserves updated graphics, it's this one.

Just put the epic battle montage while I eat a sandwich.


thnx!



BTW this was the greatest TV opera of all time.


Like it was said earlier the acting by Andreas Katsulas and Peter Jurasik was some of the best long term character developments ever portraid on television.


Bruce Boxleiter was born to play this character.


I could see Ben Browder and Castle playing a reboot sheridan.

I would love to see Krispin Glover and Steve Buscemi and chracater actors like that make a star studded series. It could happen.



Please say no to Shia Lebeeef

 

[Kadarin]

Agreed, no Shia LeBoof. That guy's worthless as an actor.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

It's terrible that so many of the cast from the original B5 are gone...GKar, Dr Franklin, Zack, so many...it will be weird seeing a similar story play out with different actors. It will be weirder still seeing some of the old actors playing different roles

Spoiler

rumors of Bruce Boxleitner playing a rebooted President Clark for example

, and weirdest of all would be if anyone redid their own role, like Londo for example.

But I'd rather have something than nothing.

 

[Exterous]

/passes out without even reading link

:awe: I was just wondering if we would see something like this given all the other reboots. B5 is high on my list of thigns to rewatch

 

[ethebubbeth]

2. the show was shot in sd because he believed hd upsampling was legit

B5 was shot on Super 35mm so it could be cut for either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio, and was in fact shot in HD.

The issue was they rendered all the CG in 4:3 NTSC to save money, and figured that it could be re-rendered in higher resoluation 16:9 later if it got a high definition release down the line. The problem was that the effects studio went belly up or was bought out (I can't remember which) and all the original models and work were lost.

When it came time for a DVD release, all they had for the CG and effects shots were the 4:3 NTSC masters that they pan and scanned to 16:9. Throw in some botched deinterlacing and it just looks terrible

From wikipedia:
The scenes containing live action ready to be composited with matte paintings, CGI animation, etc., were delivered on tape already telecined to the 4:3 aspect-ratio, and contained a high level of grain, which resulted in further image noise being present when enlarged and stretched for widescreen. For the purely live-action scenes, rather than using the film negatives, "Warners had even forgotten that they had those. They used PAL versions and converted them to NTSC for the US market. They actually didn't go back and retransfer the shows."
With the resulting aliasing, and the progressive scan transfer of the video to DVD, this has created a number of visual flaws throughout the widescreen release. In particular, quality has been noted to drop significantly in composite shots.

 

[Brainonska511]

iirc, his reasons for the do-over are:
1. the show was completely screwed over by the tv companies
2. the show was shot in sd because he believed hd upsampling was legit

1. I seem to remember from the commentary on the DVDs, the TV execs pretty much stopped giving notes after Season 1, so I didn't think this was as much of an issue. The bigger issue was when they were told it would stop after Season 4, so you get a kind of condensing of the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War, but then it was rescued by another channel for Season 5, which is kind of why that one fits in so awkwardly. If it was going to be 5 seasons total and not have had the cancellation danger, I'm sure Season 4 would have spilled over into Season 5 and what was season 5 might have been condensed a little.

2. I thought it was shot on film. The live action stuff could be moved to HD (if the studio wanted to spend the money for a relatively niche tv show), but the CGI would all have to be redone, as the original models were lost and the computer technology at the time encouraged them to use only good-enough-for-tv resolution.

 

[manimal]

I would pay big money for a redo of all the Digital effects and restore the original print of all the actors.

I would also let JMM edit out a few epidoes and edit in the relavent scenes from those episdes and tighten up the show into a 4 season blockbuster.


Someone start a kickstarter!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

1. I seem to remember from the commentary on the DVDs, the TV execs pretty much stopped giving notes after Season 1, so I didn't think this was as much of an issue. The bigger issue was when they were told it would stop after Season 4, so you get a kind of condensing of the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War, but then it was rescued by another channel for Season 5, which is kind of why that one fits in so awkwardly. If it was going to be 5 seasons total and not have had the cancellation danger, I'm sure Season 4 would have spilled over into Season 5 and what was season 5 might have been condensed a little.

season 4 was indeed intended to be season 5, with season 5 originally to be a spin-off show. the real problem was that prime time entertainment network, a crappy network made up of UHF channels, randomly changed the airtime. this was way before the internet was commonplace, so you'd tune in on sunday night and...maybe it would be on a 9, or 12, or 1am, or monday, or tuesday. the network failed in the show's 4th season, prompting the hurry-up by JMS.

what was lost from the 3rd and 4th seasons? i'm not sure it was anything essential, probably just peripheral fluff.