January Meme: Return to Babylon?

A couple of disclaimers first: Babylon 5 wasn't perfect in the sense of having no flaws, but it was perfectly its unique self, if that makes sense, flaws and all, and a lot of that had to do with the fact that post mid s2, every single episode save one was written by its creator. It might have avoided a few trapfalls if JMS had continued to use other scriptwriters in addition to writing himself - but then it might not have been the show I fell in love with and remained in love with. There have been other shows, with and without space stations, since, and while I'm fond of my other space station in the Trekverse as well, dearly so, there's only one Babylon 5. (It was the last of the Babylon stations. At the dawn of the third age....) I don't think that for as long as JMS is alive, I could bring myself to support an incarnation of Babylon 5 he doesn't support. And even aside from the bad blodd between him and Warner Brothers: seeing as he managed to tell his five seasons novel against the odds to the finish, I really really doubt that beyond the various spin-off attempts, he would want a continuation/reboot/prequel/whatever. Yes, other creators are possessive about their brainchildren as well, and I've recently watched and praised Watchmen which had Dave Gibbons but most assuredly not Alan Moore on board with its existence. But you know - a) while I have been mpressed as hell by the original Watchmen back in the day, I never loved it the way I love B5, and b) I don't feel for Alan Moore the way I feel for Mr. Stracynski in this regard, especially after reading his memoirs and wondering how he ever made it into adulthood alive, coherent and creative.

Above all: there's really no need for it.Sleeping in Light was one superb finale; why spoil it with continuation?

But let's say we live in a alternative universe where JMS is totally on board with another Babylon project. Then, while, say, the story of Valen and Babylon 4 could be interesting, or the long discussed and never filmed Telepath War, I think I would prefer it if indeed something happened the way it did with Watchmen in its tv incarnation - some creative mind takes the important themes of B5, looks at our present and creates a new story with new characters (cameos by some of the older ones possible), and does so in a way that wasn't already amply and superbly covered by the original.

For example: as muccamuck pointed out recently, the human part of the B5 saga is reallly really really entrenched in the military. There are some nods to civilians in the first season, and with the Mars Resistance, but there are no civilian human main characters, unless you count the telepaths, which doesn't really fit due to the conditions they live under. Now, since my own B5 emotional attention is mostly with the Centauri and the Narn - who is this person named Sheridan, and why do you claim he's a main character? - , this was not much of a problem for me, but she's right, and it contributes to the big problem that I've mentioned in an earlier meta, that JMS wanted to simultanously tell a Tolkien-esque narrative and a modern political narrative, and that's why we end up with vilified reporters and vilified historians whose questioning of the great man theory of history is just plain wrong in the narrative, and with Sheridan and Delenn taking turns as presidents of the Alliance uncontested as if it was a monarchy, which for a show that in its first three seasons describes a democracy sliding into fascism is really, shall we say, unfortunate.

So: a story in the B5 verse that takes a look at today's problems and hasn't be told already should really be civilian-heavy. Including the pov of reporters hounded and vilified for doing their jobs (not propagandists for Clark). Why not tell the stories - and the overall story - this time through various civilian characters as far as the human part of it is concerned? And not just for the humans. It was a bit rich when Delenn in s4 said "you forgot the working caste" to her fellow Minbari, because until then we'd never seen Delenn interact with a working caste Minbari, either. So: give me a Minbari worker pov. As for my Centauri, how about some Centauri women who have to decided to build themselves an off world existence? We've only seen wives and daughters of nobles and one slave, but clearly the Centauri do not solely consist of the nobility, and after all the terrible events both done by and happening to their people, emigration would make much sense. Given the legal status of women even at the best of times, it would make further sense that if Centauri emigrants were mostly female.

Which brings me to another current subject: refugees. We've had some of them - Narns during the Centauri occcupation come to mind, but they weren't the only ones - depicted, as well as Byron's telepaths in early s5 (which, err, well, you know) - but usually this happened not through their own pov. So, my very vague and hypothetic idea would be to tell a new story in this universe combining various individual stories through a couple of civilian characters from various races who have lost their homes or decided to leave them due to all the events in the original show, and have been on the move in the years since, living on ships and only intermittently on planets because more and more are getting shut off to them.

Such a scenario could also use some of the Drakh Plague storyline which Crusade could not tell. Bring back Dureena and Max Eileerson. Or not, if it's set long after. And I would certainly watch, in that parallel universe where JMS is okay with it being produced in the first place. Would be something I'd want? Well, life lessons for the Babylon 5 Watcher definitely include: Never answer the question "What do you want?"....

The Other Days