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Initial Thoughts on the Babylon 5 Reboot
So, the news broke yesterday. The CW is giving J. Michael Straczynski the opportunity to do a full reboot of Babylon 5.
My initial knee jerk reaction was very mixed. On the one hand, we don’t need more reboots and remakes. There are other stories that could be told in that universe. And the Star Trek reboot had…issues (including a complete lack of understanding of how StarFleet should, uh, work).
But now I’ve had time to sleep on my feelings and I’m going to go through some of them here.
What Kind of Reboot Will this Be?
This is the Twitter thread in which JMS explains his philosophy and approach.
It made me feel a lot better, whilst supporting my initial thought that he might be doing this to bring all of the tools he has learned over the last few years back to a beloved story.
This is not going to be a remake. It’s going to be “Babylon 5 as if I was writing it from scratch today.” JMS talks about using his improved skills and maturity as a writer, and also about reflecting the times. He also talks about “technological resources.”
Babylon 5 was the first TV show to make extensive use of CGI. What new technology might the new show bring forth? It was the first show to introduce the idea of the overall…