Hay, Dr. Phibes! Great Maker!

Doctor Phibes

Interesting! I hope they do a good job of it. When I watched B5, it was better than any sci-fi I'd ever seen on TV.

Catseye3

Ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy! A dream come true!

That said, I hope with all my heart that the creators of the new show retain what I loved best about B5: Its warmth, its human-ness! I later watched a single episode of Battlestar Gallactica, and maybe I caught a bad one, but I found the storytelling so absolutely cold that I had no interest in watching more of it. B5 was full of small moments of anger, anxiety, pettiness, arrogance, humor, nobility, uncertainty, dumbness -- all the things you find in humans, and it worked perfectly. It drew you in and made you fall in love with the characters. If the new show didn't have that element, I'd rather they didn't do the new show at all, so bitterly disappointing would it be.

No, they can't go back into that river. It wouldn't work, for reasons even other than that so many of the actors are dead. Would you want to see an "updated" remake of G'Kar? Vir? It would be an awful discordancy. It would make me angry at the creators and turn me off the show.

Although, it would be cool if they could reprise Lando in some other capacity -- a promotion? -- and have him occasionally recollect interactions with Vir in the form of reminiscences, slugging in scenes from the original show, (including especially his calling Vir a moon-faced assassin of joy, LOL.) Such re-runs would be much beloved, I think.

Great news. Great!

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

There were several things that were amazing about the show.

JMS started with a premise: "I'm going to tell you a story, and it's going to take 5 years to do it."

JMS wrote most of the episodes himself, giving it continuity and insight that a "writers' room" might not have.

He planned for departures of characters, giving each of the main characters a "trap door," whereby a character can be replaced (like Sheridan's entry into season 2).

In the early days of the internet (1994), he was very very engaged on usenet where he discussed the show with randos who would comment, criticize and ask questions.

I hated the way Season 4 seemed to end the story, and then, Season 5 felt like it was tacked-on. I understand the politics of renewal, and with the uncertainty of renewal for a 5th season, he did what he could to try to give a satisfying, if not great, end to S4.

Today, most series of that nature run 10-13 episodes. I imagine high production costs are what set that limit. With the number of "non-arc" episodes in B5, I imagine a re-boot could easily fit into the 10-13 episode framework.

With JMS at the helm, I have little doubt that it will be faithful to the premise of the story he envisioned 25 years ago.

Hope he succeeds.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/babylon-5-reboot-the-cw-j-michael-straczynski-1235075236/

https://www.space.com/babylon-5-reboot-in-development

https://in.ign.com/babylon-5/167575/news/babylon-5-on-the-verge-of-being-rebooted-by-its-original-creator

Doctor Phibes

The casting in the original series was spectacular. I thought Bruce Boxleitner was a bit of a poor choice - a bit too all-American boy compared to Michael O'Hare, but pretty much everybody else was perfect. Who would have thought that Pavel Chekhov would be so damn creepy and evil once he put a wig on?

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@doctor-phibes I have to agree.

"Bester...." mwuahhhahhaa!

Also replacing Claudia Christian with Tracey Scoggins was a disaster, imo.

Catseye3

@george-k said in Hay, Dr. Phibes! Great Maker!:

Also replacing Claudia Christian with Tracey Scoggins was a disaster, imo.

Yep, zero charm.

Doctor Phibes

@george-k said in Hay, Dr. Phibes! Great Maker!:

Also replacing Claudia Christian with Tracey Scoggins was a disaster, imo.

Yeah, I'd forgotten about that. I try not to think too much about the 5th season of B5.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@doctor-phibes said in Hay, Dr. Phibes! Great Maker!:

Pavel Chekhov would be so damn creepy and evil once he put a wig on?

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Doctor Phibes

@george-k said in Hay, Dr. Phibes! Great Maker!:

Also replacing Claudia Christian with Tracey Scoggins was a disaster, imo.

My favourite ever episode was the one where Ivanova and Talia Winters got very friendly, and were lounging around together in satin night attire. The internal move playing in my head was something to behold.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@doctor-phibes said in Hay, Dr. Phibes! Great Maker!:

My favourite ever episode was the one where Ivanova and Talia Winters got very friendly, and were lounging around together in satin night attire. The internal move playing in my head was something to behold.

I don't remember that one. YouTube, please?

Catseye3

@george-k said in Hay, Dr. Phibes! Great Maker!:

I don't remember that one. YouTube, please?

Oh lord, now we've lost George for the rest of the day.

Doctor Phibes

@george-k said in Hay, Dr. Phibes! Great Maker!:

@doctor-phibes said in Hay, Dr. Phibes! Great Maker!:

My favourite ever episode was the one where Ivanova and Talia Winters got very friendly, and were lounging around together in satin night attire. The internal move playing in my head was something to behold.

I don't remember that one. YouTube, please?