The Babylon 5(ish) Movie Reboot

[Alberon]

It looks like Babylon 5 is going to be rebooted by JMS as a new movie.

Warner Bros own the rights to the TV series and they're not interested in doing any more B5 on the small screen, but JMS owns the film rights and he could, potentially, make one without WB's involvement.

JMS has said the script will be finished by the end of next year with the film entering production the year after. He plans to offer the project to Warner Bros first but seems prepared to go it alone if they don't want to be part of that either.

"So here's the plan. We're going to have, through Studios JMS, at least two maybe three [television] series on the air next year. We're going to have at least one or two movies going ahead. I'm going to use that to parley serious investment in the studio...I'm not talking Kickstarter, I'm talking a hundred million dollars to two hundred million dollars. We already have people lined up who are interested in doing that [investing in Studio JMS]".

Still not convinced it will actually happen and even if it does it's a shame it'll be a reboot, but the movie world is short of proper space opera epics so why not?

[Mister Six]

It was at least partly because I'd been reading some Culture novels around that time, but when I watched the otherwise dismal Star Trek Into Darkness, I was thrilled by the epic spaceship shots - I'd really like to see that kind of widescreen future aesthetic applied to a genuinely smart, decent sci-fi film.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure Babylon 5 is the right vehicle for a film. A lot of its appeal was in the ongoing narrative an ambitious storytelling (the time travel shit in particular blew me away when I was a kid) and I don't know how well that would come across in a film - even one as bloated a most Hollywood flicks are these days.

[greenman]

As this stage whatever takes places I think a reboot would probably be for the best, besides the cast members who have died part of the success of Babylon 5 relative to say DS9 for me was that the universe could be created to suit the story rather than the story having to fit into the universe.

I would tend to agree that a TV series seems like a better route although I could see elements of a rebooted Babylon 5 working as films. The Earth/Minbari war for example or perhaps a story with a Sinclair like character trying to find out what had happened to him during that war with action as flashback.

Perhaps try for a film as a lead into a TV series? if the former did reasonably well there might be more interest in the latter. Really though Babylon 5 isn't that suitable for a dumbass Michael Bay style blockbuster the way Trek is, not that Trek can't be something more as well but the characters there are well known enough to sell that kind of thing.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I suspect JMS would rather do a TV series, but WB has the rights and don't seem bothered about doing anything with them.  So I don't blame him going the movie route instead.

Babylon 5 really impressed me when I was younger, back then long-form TV narratives were really uncommon.  But with Breaking Bad, The Wire, House of Cards and other shows now becoming the norm, I think it's looking pretty dated - particularly when so much of the acting and dialogue was wooden to begin with. But the ideas in the story (Lord of the Rings meets WW2 in space) are still pretty solid.

So yeah, a movie could be a good idea.  Maybe.

[Endicott]

I suspect JMS would rather do a TV series, but WB has the rights and don't seem bothered about doing anything with them.  So I don't blame him going the movie route instead.

Babylon 5 really impressed me when I was younger, back then long-form TV narratives were really uncommon.  But with Breaking Bad, The Wire, House of Cards and other shows now becoming the norm, I think it's looking pretty dated - particularly when so much of the acting and dialogue was wooden to begin with. But the ideas in the story (Lord of the Rings meets WW2 in space) are still pretty solid.

So yeah, a movie could be a good idea.  Maybe.

Ding, ding, ding, ding.

I've never understood how anyone could make it through any episodes of B5, the script was so terrible. If JMS is writing this its fucked, these days that level of quality just won't cut it.

[greenman]

I think your dealing with different worlds in terms of the budget behind series in the 90's and today. I felt Babylon 5 had a strong core cast and nailed most of its important scenes but supporting cast and less important scenes were sometimes ropey just as they often were in TNG. You were also not dealing with an entirely straight show, a lot of it was deliberately pulpy.

I'd say it was actually LOTR meets the Cold War in space rather than WW2.