Rumor has it that a Babylon 5 reboot is in the works on the CW, led by original show creator J. Michael Straczynski. And by rumor, I mean every sci-fi site, and JMS’s own twitter feed. That’s right, straight from the horse’s mouth1:
Much of the fan response I’ve read has been mixed, and I understand.
Babylon 5 is a cult classic that redefined science fiction television in the 90s and beyond. It gave us multi-season story arcs in an era of episodic TV. It pioneered computer-generated graphics in weekly sci-fi television. It gave us memorable characters: great (albeit reluctant) heroes, and tragic (though still terrible) villains. It gave us ominous storylines of contagion, mistrust, political intrigue, and tyranny that seem strangely prophetic even today.
CW is best known as the network of angsty, pretty teen superhero shows. And is also a descendant of the same WB network that for years has held the TV rights to Babylon 5.
I understand the mixed response. It’s fear. Fear that a show that we’ve loved and watched and rewatched until our poorly-upscaled DVDs have worn out… will be turned into Pretty Kids with Problems — In Space!
But to quote the show itself:
The enemy is fear. The enemy is ignorance. The enemy is the one who tells you that you must hate that which is different. Because, in the end, that hate will turn on you. And that same hate will destroy you.
“And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”, Babylon 5
As a fan, I’ve been guilty of this sort of toxic fandom myself. After all, I’ve ranted about every modern Star Trek series, including Star Trek: Lower Decks, which friends of mine have enjoyed and called the closest thing we’ll likely see to TNG-era Star Trek.
But why should we react negatively to this?
Haven’t we dreamed of all-new Babylon 5, in breathtaking 4K resolution?
Haven’t we wanted to see and hear new stories of our favorite characters?
Haven’t we been hoping for a Babylon 5 theatrical movie, ever since the credits rolled on “Sleeping in Light”, way back when we were using our 56kbps dial-up modems to read Sisko vs. Sheridan lists on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated?
Sure, some people will complain about it being a reboot. But what other option is there?
In the years since Babylon 5 ended, we’ve sadly lost many of the actors who played our favorite characters.
Michael O’Hare (Jeffrey Sinclair)
Jerry Doyle (Michael Garibaldi)
Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin)
Tim Choate (Zathras)
Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan)
Stephen Furst (Vir Cotto)
Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar)
Mira Furlan (Delenn)
All of the actors who played these characters have passed Beyond the Rim. What should we do? Recast just them? Let their characters pass on as well?
Even for the actors who are still with us, twenty-plus years have passed. Many have moved on. Should we2 de-age them on a weekly basis? Or just progress in realtime, and let them be 20+ years older? What about Sheridan, who is canonically dead3 twenty years after the events of Season 4?
Or advance the timeline forward, past their lifespans, in a sort of Babylon 5: The Next Generation?
JMS has said there will never be a Babylon 6.4
Some people are afraid that the CW will meddle in the Babylon 5 reboot, turning it into another overly glam young adult superhero shows.
But this is JMS we’re talking about. He worked his way up to producer, as he says, in defense5, so that he could better fend off executive meddling.
During the original run of Babylon 5, he promised “no cute kids or robots.” Are we afraid he’ll turn this into “pretty plastic characters everywhere”?
He has said before that Babylon 5 was the merger of two desires: the desire to write a mythic story of great heroes and battles and adventures. Perhaps, in the words of Londo Mollari,
A story about great deeds, about armies of light and soldiers of darkness. About the place where they lived, and fought, and loved, and died. About great empires. Terrible mistakes.
Emperor Londo Mollari, Babylon 5 “In The Beginning”
And another desire, to write… in the words of Londo Mollari, “A true story”, perhaps, about the daily life of ordinary people on a space station.6 People like the dockworkers, who struggled with budgetary and safety issues on Babylon 5. People like Zack Allan, faced with a choice between trusting his government and trusting his colleagues. People who ate at restaurants, and visited the batting cages for a little practice, and stopped by the bar after work for a refreshing Zima, and even went to the bathroom.7 People, perhaps, with names like Bo and Mack?
Are we afraid that in 20 years, JMS has become detached from reality, to the point that he wants to forget half of his story and replace it with flashy colorful costumes? Great Maker! Why would we think that?
I mean, in Valen’s name, this is the JMS who spaced a teddy bear he received as a gift because he despises cute things. Who spaces a teddy bear?! And you think this human would enter into a deal with CW if he didn’t think he had creative control?
So, long story short (is a phrase I’m obviously unfamiliar with), I understand the response from the fans. I understand the fear. The fear that the reboot will be… different.
But imagine…
No Star Trek: The Next Generation. (What, from the creator of the original? Why would Gene Roddenberry revisit his most successful project, so many years later? There’s no room for that campy 60s space western stuff in the sophisticated 80s!)
No Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (A TV show based on that goofy comedy movie? Where the vampire slayer girl detects vampires with… cramps? That writer8 has lost his mind!)
No Battlestar: Galactica reboot. (Reboot a 70s Star Wars ripoff? With Edward James Olmos as the lead? That’ll be pure felgercarb! Why can’t Ron Moore come up with something new and fresh?!)
A Babylon 5 reboot will never be the same as the original. But it’s an opportunity.
It’s an opportunity for JMS to revisit his sci-fi child universe, with twenty years more experience in writing, with twenty years of progress in CGI technology, with a clean slate and new actors, and hopefully with a bigger budget.
It’s an opportunity for new fans, who were too young to see Babylon 5 during its original run, to be introduced to the universe, and possibly to rewatch the original.
And it’s an opportunity for longtime fans of the show to see the Babylon 5 universe anew.
So I’ll watch for news about this reboot with cautious optimism bordering on childlike excitement.
Because, c’mon! It’s Babylon 5!
I hope we’ll see Starfuries.
Faith manages.9
1. Not that I’m calling JMS a horse.
2. I keep saying “we”, as though I and the other fans have any say in the matter. But it’s JMS’s universe — he just lets us live in it for an hour a week if we’re lucky.
3. Babylon 5 came out in the 90s. Season 4 premiered in 1996. I’m not giving a spoiler warning.
4. You probably expected a citation here. But this is a rant, not a scholarly article.
5. No, still not citing. JMS might have said this in an interview. He could have posted it online. Maybe he never said it at all, and I’m making everything up. Who knows?!
6. If you’re still expecting a citation, prepare for disappointment. For all you know, I’m making it all up. Maybe there is no JMS. Maybe there is no TV show called Babylon 5. Maybe nothing is real.
7. But not the methane breathers’ toilets. Never go in there.
8. Whose name I have strangely not mentioned.
9. But Willow is in Tech Support
FTL Pizza 