I tried to warn them. But it all happened, just the way I remember.

[4thofeleven]

So the big news for Babylon 5 is, for the first time in a long time, not the death of a cast member, but a full reboot! And I'm... cautious?

I mean, on the one hand, a new Babylon 5 with modern production values and less behind-the-scenes drama could be interesting - on the other hand, Babylon 5 told a complete story, and I'm not sure it needs to be retold. This isn't a situation like Battlestar Galactica, where the reboot can take advantage of the unfilfilled potential of the original series – I think we already got the best version of the Babylon 5 story we could have had.

(Certainly better than JMS's original “Babylon Prime” story outline.)

And, of course, there's point two – JMS himself. Huge amount of respect for the work he put into the original show, but let's be honest – his writing since then has been hit or miss at best, and his attempts to expand the B5 universe beyond the original series were forgettable at best, dire at worst.

I don't know. I'm torn. I want this to succeed, but I guess I'm not really expecting miracles. Essentially, I'm not sure this is a story that needs a reboot.

 

But enough of that, let's ask the important question: To maintain symmetry, which minor 90s Trek actor should play reboot Bester?! Ensign Kim would be the obvious answer to “Who was the Chekov of the 90s", and you'd get the same playing against type effect if they cast Garret Wang. I think Alexander Siddig could be delightful sinister if given the chance. Finally, Armin Shimmerman has the right height. So, so many options.

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

Oh, that is a tough one. On the one hand, Season 5 definitely could have wrapped things up better. (I still can't believe they didn't even mention Talia as one of the people they missed in one of the scenes where they're all sitting around being sad that the show is ending.) The whole telepath plotline in general could have used more development. I completely get the impulse to do it over. But this usually doesn't work. It'll be a different version with different strengths and weaknesses, and just...why?

JMS's explanation of "why reboot" seems to be, "I learned a lot since then and we could also incorporate new stuff now!" But why not apply those new skills and modern dilemmas to a new story? Maybe it could be in the B5 universe somewhere, because surely interesting stuff was happening to people other than the characters we've already met. Though as you point out, that might not work out so well either.