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My first instinct is still to say „I wouldn’t, because the original is so great. Not perfect - nothing ever is, and I‘m aware of B5‘s flaws - but it is still one of my all time most beloved tv series, and thus I instinctively dread it getting a second rate makeover.
My second instinct is to do what I suggested a couple of years ago, when we first heard rumors there might be a reboot, which is: a parallel show which covers the same years as the original does but focuses on different characters and situations, those we didn‘t or couldn‘t see much of in the original show - Centauri women ( you knew I‘d start with the Centauri, didn‘t you?) from their own pov (both women who live on Centauri Prime and women who try to have a different life elswehere), and more of the non-noble Centauri in general, ditto for the Narn (and here one could use, for example, Na‘Toth‘s departure at the end of s2 for a storyline following her and through her some other Narn), more human civilians, too; how did the Minbari who weren‘t in the Grey Council react when it was broken up, how about making a worker Minbari a pov character, what became of Delenn‘s s1 friend the poet, and so forth.
HOWEVER. This isn‘t what was asked. And in past years and decades, I‘ve come across reboots of sci franchises wich I really liked - not just of shows where I didn‘t have an emotional attachment to the original (Battlestar Galactica comes to mind) but where I did (the German sci fi series Perry Rhodan since some years now runs parallel to the original a reboot called Perry Rhodan Neo. ) Pondering what makes a good reboot (for me, as always, this is highly subjective), I decided that a good reboot wonders what the core of a story/series is. And then doesn‘t try a remake (a remake is a different thing), but tries to put its own spin, influenced by the different time of creation, on it. In the case of BSG, I‘d say Moore and friends concluded the core is „planets inhabited by humans get attacked by androids, cataclysmic events ensue, the survivors then look for Earth, but the Cylons are still an issue“ and went from there. Presumably he was also aware original BSG was influenced by Mormon beliefs and decided to include a strong religious element - but not for the human characters, for the robots/androids/cylons. As for the original BSG characters, some made it in name and function to the reboot, but not necessarily in personality, others were combinations, and others were unique to the reboot.
( So what is the core story of Babylon 5, and how could one reboot it? )
So these are some thoughts of how to make a reboot that‘s not just a remake.
The Other Days
My second instinct is to do what I suggested a couple of years ago, when we first heard rumors there might be a reboot, which is: a parallel show which covers the same years as the original does but focuses on different characters and situations, those we didn‘t or couldn‘t see much of in the original show - Centauri women ( you knew I‘d start with the Centauri, didn‘t you?) from their own pov (both women who live on Centauri Prime and women who try to have a different life elswehere), and more of the non-noble Centauri in general, ditto for the Narn (and here one could use, for example, Na‘Toth‘s departure at the end of s2 for a storyline following her and through her some other Narn), more human civilians, too; how did the Minbari who weren‘t in the Grey Council react when it was broken up, how about making a worker Minbari a pov character, what became of Delenn‘s s1 friend the poet, and so forth.
HOWEVER. This isn‘t what was asked. And in past years and decades, I‘ve come across reboots of sci franchises wich I really liked - not just of shows where I didn‘t have an emotional attachment to the original (Battlestar Galactica comes to mind) but where I did (the German sci fi series Perry Rhodan since some years now runs parallel to the original a reboot called Perry Rhodan Neo. ) Pondering what makes a good reboot (for me, as always, this is highly subjective), I decided that a good reboot wonders what the core of a story/series is. And then doesn‘t try a remake (a remake is a different thing), but tries to put its own spin, influenced by the different time of creation, on it. In the case of BSG, I‘d say Moore and friends concluded the core is „planets inhabited by humans get attacked by androids, cataclysmic events ensue, the survivors then look for Earth, but the Cylons are still an issue“ and went from there. Presumably he was also aware original BSG was influenced by Mormon beliefs and decided to include a strong religious element - but not for the human characters, for the robots/androids/cylons. As for the original BSG characters, some made it in name and function to the reboot, but not necessarily in personality, others were combinations, and others were unique to the reboot.
( So what is the core story of Babylon 5, and how could one reboot it? )
So these are some thoughts of how to make a reboot that‘s not just a remake.
The Other Days
