J. Michael Straczynski (Sense8, Changeling), brought to the world a science-fiction show unlike anything we had ever seen. Babylon 5 was a five-year-long story that featured foreshadowing, political intrigue and characters who evolved and grew, in a time when TV shows reset the agenda after each episode. The majority of Babylon 5's award-winning episodes were written by him, and Warner Bros. Television may soon be doing it again. A new reboot of Babylon 5 is in development with Straczynski writing and running the show. It will air on the CW.
Here's the complete description that Warner Bros. gave to The Verge
John Sheridan is an Earthforce officer from a mysterious past. He is assigned to Babylon 5. This five-mile-long space station, in neutral space, is a port-of-call for travelers, smugglers and alien diplomats during a time of uncertain peace and constant threat of war. He arrives to a fate beyond his wildest dreams. An exploratory Earth company accidentally causes a conflict with a civilisation a million years before us. This puts Sheridan and the rest on the B5 crew at the front lines of battle as the best hope for survival of the human race.
This is a pretty accurate description of the original series, with some minor surprises. As a long-time fan, I have mixed feelings.
It's exciting in one sense. Straczynski had told fans for years that Warner Bros. would never again be involved with the show. They told my agent that they had no plans and no intention of doing anything else in terms of TV with Babylon 5. He tweeted that in 2018 and it seemed that that was all.
Won't work. My agent was told by them that they had no plans or intentions of doing anything else in the area of Babylon 5 television. A kickstarter would not pay even a fraction of a single season. This won't change until those execs die or are gone for many years. https://t.co/NZ80WiIIcR J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) April 20, 2018
It's quite exciting to think that Warner Bros. has retreated from their feud with Straczynski and may now expand on the fascinating universe JMS created nearly three decades ago. It's a reboot, not a sequel, or spin-off. This makes me wonder what the CW is thinking.
Yes, there are still some issues with the remastered version. Engadget tells the story of why Babylon 5's original version will never look its best. This is partly due to the aging CGI, which may have been groundbreaking back then. The early episodes have hamfisted plots and scenery-chewing actors. I can see how this might turn off an audience that is used to watching shows like The Expanse. Straczynski still feels the first season was worth it. I believe you would lose a lot if you skipped it.
While the 4:3 remasters transfer does a great job cleaning up old artifacts, and counteracting the bizarre decision to zoom in on low-quality CG (see the examples above and below), noisy footage doesn't always look great on a 4K television.
This remaster is still a great way to see Babylon 5 in modern times. It's so much better than DVDs. This guide will help you follow the agreed-upon viewing order. HBO Max and his crew seem to have rearranged the episodes.
