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posted by chromas on Tuesday September 28 2021, @04:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the my-shoes-are-too-tight dept.

‘Babylon 5’ Reboot in the Works at The CW

Original series creator J. Michael Straczynski will pen the script for the update.

The CW is heading to space.

The younger-skewing broadcaster is teaming with original series creator J. Michael Straczynski for a reboot of Babylon 5.

Described as a “from-the-ground-up reboot” of the original, Straczynski will pen the script for a new potential version of the former syndicated drama from Warner Bros. TV. The new take revolves around John Sheridan (originally played by Bruce Boxleitner), an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space, a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers and alien diplomats at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war. His arrival triggers a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined, as an exploratory Earth company accidentally triggers a conflict with a civilization a million years ahead of us, putting Sheridan and the rest of the B5 crew in the line of fire as the last, best hope for the survival of the human race.

From Gizmodo:
Babylon 5 Is Getting Rebooted, With J. Michael Straczynski at the Helm

Variety reports that Warner Bros. has ordered a reboot of Babylon 5, produced and written by Straczynski as part of a deal between Warner Bros. TV and Straczynski’s Studio JMS. The series is not a continuation of the show, but a “from the ground up” reboot of the cult classic 1993 series, which ran across five seasons and seven made-for-TV movies until 1998.

[....] The series was beloved for its dark sci-fi plots and its approach to a massive, intertwined narrative over the course of its seasons and movies [...]

If only we could see the original vision of B5 as it would have been if no actors would have had to leave the show.

The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. -- Emperor Turhan


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  • (Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Tuesday September 28 2021, @06:00PM (3 children)

    by Beryllium Sphere (r) (5062) on Tuesday September 28 2021, @06:00PM (#1182337)

    So we can look forward to good things when they get a top-class writer.

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  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 28 2021, @08:05PM

    by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday September 28 2021, @08:05PM (#1182412) Journal

    JMS IS a top writer!

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    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 2) by Marand on Tuesday September 28 2021, @09:41PM (1 child)

    by Marand (1081) on Tuesday September 28 2021, @09:41PM (#1182454) Journal

    There's at least a chance of it, yeah. The network is less cancellation-happy than some (*cough* Fox) and tends to make shows with a 3-5 season plan, at least at the outset, which seems like a good fit for a B5 revival. And they can do good writing, especially in the shows with shorter seasons that have less filler. It leads to a sort of emotional whiplash, because their shows go from "Yep, you can tell CW wrote this garbage" to "Okay that was really fucking good. This is still a CW show, right?"

    And sometimes that happens on shows you wouldn't even expect to be any good. They got access to the Nancy Drew IP to make a live adaptation, set it a few years after the books with Nancy as an adult, and added supernatural/horror/suspense elements to it. It shouldn't be good, and has no right being even a little bit good, but it's legitimately well done and usually well written.

    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 28 2021, @11:01PM

      by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday September 28 2021, @11:01PM (#1182473) Journal

      Executives are idiots (Firefly anyone?).

      One show i go to to show this is Black Sails. I loved that show, the tall ships, the characters, the idea of it being a prequel to Treasure Island....

      ....then the executives get involved and cancel it and end it so everyone ends up happy. Welp, the last time i read Treasure Island, it starts with everyone being THOROUGHLY PISSED!

      They ruined the entire BS franchise. Who would buy the box sets now? How could they do a sequel now (a long form of Treasure Island)? Ruined. No more money from the franchise.
      Can they even sell it to anyone else to make more money? (It even looked like they were thinking of giving Jack Rackam his own show, then nothing).

      Short-term thinking, the only kind of thinking some executives know (Firefly anyone?)

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---