ALL SCI-FI

[Gord Green]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/babylon-5-creator-j-michael-170001468.html

Matt Webb Mitovich

Mon, September 27, 2021, 1:00 PM

J. Michael Straczynski is returning to outer space, with a “from-the-ground-up reboot” of Babylon 5 for The CW.
The original Babylon 5 debuted in 1993 and presented a future-history story covering the years 2257-2262, with each year corresponding to one season. In doing so, Babylon 5 is regarded as the first TV series to introduce viewers to the concept of a five-year arc, with a defined beginning, middle and end. Straczynski won over a dozen awards for his work on the series, including two Hugo Awards, the Saturn Award and the Ray Bradbury Award.
Following the original series’ five-season run, which netted five Emmy nominations and two wins (for makeup and special visual effects), Straczynski continued to tell stories in the Babylon 5 universe — with the TNT series Crusade, feature-length films, and a series of novels, novelizations, short stories and comics from DC.

TVLine has learned that the reboot Straczynski is developing for The CW follows John Sheridan, an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space. Babylon 5 serves as a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers and alien diplomats at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war. Sheridan arrival triggers “a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined,” when an exploratory Earth company accidentally triggers a conflict with a civilization a million years ahead of us, putting him and the rest of the B5 crew in the line of fire as the last, best hope for the survival of the human race.

Straczynski — who most recently created, wrote and show-ran (with the Wachowskis) Netflix’s Sense8 — will write and executive-produce (through his Studio JMS) the new Babylon 5, which is a Warner Bros. Television project.
The original “Babylon 5” ran in syndication and on TNT for five seasons, 110 episodes, and seven TV movies, including the 1993 pilot film. The show is considered one of the best sci-fi series ever made by many critics and won numerous awards throughout its run, including two Hugo Awards and a Saturn Award.

Straczynski followed up “Babylon 5” with the TNT spinoff series “Crusade.” The “Babylon 5” franchise also includes novels, short stories, and comic books.

Straczynski’s other work includes the Netflix series “Sense8,” which he co-created and showran along with the Wachowskis. His feature writing credits include the Angelina Jolie-led drama “Changeling,” the action-thriller “Ninja Assassin,” the story for the first “Thor” film, and the story for “World War Z.” He is also an accomplished comic book writer, having worked for DC and Marvel. He is head of the creative council for a new comics publishing company, Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA).

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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Krel]

Oh, goody, goody. B5 with a typical CW cast. Oh, the pain, the pain.

David.

[Pow]

Looking forward to this project with great hope.

We have J. Michael Straczynski at the helm. That's critical because he's the creator/writer/producer of the B5 TV series. So some network hasn't ripped it away from him so that they can mangle it beyond description.

Visual effects have come a long way since B5's 1994 debut and five season run. So JMS will be able to take advantage of the groundbreaking developments in the special/visual effects field that has occurred in the decades since B5 ended.

The sad note is that so many of the original cast members from B5 have died relatively young.

No longer with us are Michael O'Hare (Commander Sinclair) Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar), Jerry Doyle (Michael Alfredo Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin), Stephen Furst (Vir), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allen).

Claudia Christian (Susan Ivanova) left the show after its fourth season under negative circumstances which has become a she said, he said issue between she & JMS. So who knows whether she will be invited back to the party?

Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters) left the show after the first season. So the jury's out if she'll be asked back, or if she even wishes to return?

And we have no information as to what JMS plans for his revival? He may go in some other direction with a mix of the old cast and a new one. He may have the old cast make not much more than cameos, or create an entirely new cast.

JMS is a pretty shrewd customer about television production and the importance of his fans. So I'm betting he won't drop the old cast and trade 'em in for a new & younger cast, like some network would have who took over from JMS.
Networks respect demographics but not always the fans.

I'm a huge Star Trek fan. We've had ST feature films, 7 spin offs (including the animated show), and that's all terrific.

However, B5 had only one spin off, Crusade, and TNT killed it after 13 episodes. B5: The Legend of the Rangers was a TV-movie/pilot that wasn't picked up. I wasn't all that taken with it. There have also been a handful of B5 TV-movies that have been good.

Other than that, B5 has not had nearly the spin offs, reboots, revivals that ST has. It's long overdue...before we tragically lose any more B5 cast members!

[Krel]