Do not go to Z'ha'dum

[selenak]

Babylon 5 movie reboot?? My first instinctive reaction was a massive DO NOT WANT. Not because I can envision the roles only played by the original actors, btw. I mean, right now I can't imagine anyone matching Peter Jurasik, Andreas Katsulas and Stephen Furst as Londo, G'Kar and Vir, but do I know every actor ever? No, I don't. And I've often been pleasantly surprised by actors rising to occasions and alternate interpretations, etc.

However, and this is crucial: I really don't think the B5 concept is suitable for a movie. At all. Star Trek movies are tricky enough and rarely succeed because the movies all insist on a conventional "let's defeat the big bad" plot which was never what anyone watched the tv shows for. But what made B5 so innovative back in the day and what really remains key to its greatness was that it really was a five years novel developing on screen. Long before shows like The Wire did it. B5 was the arc show to end all arc shows. And you were expected to keep up. When, in season 3, a two parter like War Without End revealed some key plot points, you were expected to remember the episode Babylon Squared from season 1 where these were first set up as well as all the other developments since then that had taken place. There was no "last time on Babylon 5" to help you out. What made B5 great was the character developing over years; what made it unique were the Londo and G'Kar arcs. And you can't do those in two hours. You just can't. Sheridan? Sure. Delenn? You'd probably lose the changing relationship to Neroon and the entirety of Lennier beyond "loyal sidekick", but you could do Delenn in two hours, too. You could simplify the Shadow War into: "Earth officer, veteran from war, rebels against Earth going fascist and teams up with ambassador from former enemy to fight against creepy spider aliens". But that was never what B5 was about to me. (And loses the "Vorlons and Shadows are both rotten" that distinguishes the Shadow War storyline from its obvious LotR precedent and just about every good versus evil fantasy war ever.)

I know I'm a hopeless Centauriphile, but surely you don't have to be to regard Londo's arc as the absolute key to the show? And again: Londo and G'Kar going from arch enemies to friends in a subplot (because a movie is bound to focus on the human characters) in two hours just can't be done with anything like the same emotional weight, let alone G'Kar going from crafty ruthless ambassador/former guerilla fighter to enlightened sage, Londo going from comic relief with melancholic moments to villain to anti hero to hero. And Vir! A movie probably would end up giving him only a sentence or two, and thus there would not be the heartbreaking loveable everyman (everyCentauri?) hero whose conscience and loyalty are so important.

Also: the B5 tv movies aren't exactly confidence inspiring when it comes to JMS and B5 film scripts. (Otoh, JMS can write a standalone movie script per se - I liked the one for Angelina Jolie as a mother who is given a child not her son.) They're not as bad as some fans would have it, but they certainly, none of them, reach the level of the show at its best. An episode like The Coming of Shadows justly won the Hugo. Even the best of the B5 tv movies, In the Beginning, wouldn't have had a shot. (Not least because In the Beginning really relies on you knowing the show for the emotional pay off.)

In conclusion: DO NOT WANT. Would rather JMS writes something not B5, something new, to amaze and astonish.

Comments

[percysowner]

I agree! I loved, loved, loved B5. I can not see it being remade as a movie. The greatness was in the journeys of Londo and G'Kar. I really can't picture anyone doing G'Kar except Andreas Katsulas, although I could be surprised. If they were redoing the entire five season and getting all five upfront, instead of ending early then having to scramble to make a fifth, I would be more confident that it had a chance to be good. But a movie, I don't think so.

[selenak]

Yes, redoing the entire show with seasons 4 and 5 done as mapped out instead of scrambled and stretched respectively, that would be different. I just can't see a movie working. It would be a standard space opera with battles and heroic humans and wouldn't convey what made B5 special at all.

[saturnofthemoon]

Part of me wants it, just to have anything B5-related. But as you said, I can't really see it working. We would probably get stuck with something like "Thirdspace." I'd be a lot happier if JMS wrote a series of novels to fill in the gaps in B5 mythos and kept Peter David out of it.

[selenak]

You know which movie I really would have loved seeing? The one about the Telepath War he didn't get greenlighted. That would have worked as a story in its own right set in the B5 verse and probably accessible to people who hadn't followed the show. But a reboot of the show proper in movie form? Nope.

[saturnofthemoon]

Oh yes, I have been waiting for the full story on the Telepath War for 16 years. Even if it had to be recast with different actors, I would still be thrilled to learn the final fates of Lyta and Lennier.

[wee_warrior]

I can't really see it, either, and I say that as someone who was a casual viewer at best (however, I have a whole gaggle of friends who watched the show religiously, and played the RPG based on the concept, and I know they like the Centauri/Narn plot best, too. I don't know if their RPG-group even had "normal" human characters, but I remember three Centauri and one rogue telepath.).

That Angelina Jolie movie was Changeling I believe? It's based on a true story which I researched a while back. Very unsettling. I didn't know JMS wrote that.

[selenak]

Yes, it was Changeling. And see, the JMS authorship is something a dedicated B5 viewer picks up at the very latest when Christine gives her son exactly the same advice Sheridan's dad gave Sheridan ("never start a fight, always make sure to finish it"). :)

How did the film compare with your research?

[wee_warrior]

Alas, I haven't seen it yet, but I heard that in the film, they make it seem likely that her son survived, whereas in real life, it unfortunately looks like he fell victim to a serial killer (Real Life proving that it is worse than any soap opera by actually including a serial killer subplot).

[lizbee]

Agreed. I'd be intrigued by a reboot if it was a television series, because I think a lot of B5's themes are even more relevant to the 21st century, but a movie just wouldn't ... fit.

Honestly, if anything, I'd like to see JMS exploring the universe via graphic novels -- not the terrible, cheap ones of the '90s, but with proper, talented artists and better writing. That would get around the issues of deceased and aged cast members, Claudia Christian's terrifying Botox face, budgets and the like. It wouldn't be a massive hit sale-wise, but what is? And I for one would be willing to pay a fair bit of money for a quality product.

[selenak]

Good graphic novels sounds like an awesome possibility to explore the B5verse!

[percysowner]

I read an interesting theory about this. Warner Brothers owns the rights to B5 as a TV show, but JMS owns them for movies. There is some indication that JMS has been trying to get Warner to reboot the series on TV. By talking about making a movie he's trying to apply a little pressure to make them do the TV series. The idea is they may not be ready to reboot the series,but they also don't want to have JMS define the universe in a movie. If this is a gambit to get the show rebooted, I'm all for it.

[msilverstar]

How could a movie ever compete with the two B5 Big Reveals, the Vorlons and the Shadows??? Seriously, that was amazing TV partly because it was such a slow built, and would be completely spoiled in a movie setting.

Also, the G'Kar and Londo love takes a while to build.

[nenya_kanadka]

I'm willing to be convinced, if only because more B5 is (in theory!) a thing I approve of, and I've watched all the films to date (mediocre as they tend to be). But I still have a pretty strong Do Not Want flinch reaction to the thought of a reboot. I'm not even very invested in Londo and G'Kar, but after the Trek reboot movies I'm very very gunshy. Reboot "In The Beginning" or something, maybe, but...I don't see how you can properly represent this show, of all shows, in two or three hours. The complexity is the *point*. Agh.