Uusi Babylon5!

[Otto J. Makela]

J. Michael Straczynski kertoo Twitterissä:
https://twitter.com/straczynski/status/1442621159221043202

To answer all the questions, yes, it’s true, Babylon 5 is in active
development as a series for the CW. We have some serious fans over at
the network, and they’re eager to see this show happen. I’m hip deep
into writing the pilot now, and will be running the series upon pickup.

The network understands the uniqueness of Babylon 5 and is giving me a
great deal of latitude with the storytelling. As noted in the
announcement, this is a reboot from the ground up rather than a
continuation, for several reasons. Heraclitus wrote --

“You cannot step in the same river twice, for the river has changed, and
you have changed.” In the years since B5, I’ve done a ton of other TV
shows and movies, adding an equal number of tools to my toolbox, all of
which I can bring to bear on one singular question: if I were creating
Babylon 5 today, for the first time, knowing what I now know as a
writer, what would it look like? How would it use all the storytelling
tools and technological resources available in 2021 that were not on
hand then?

How can it be used to reflect the world in which we live, and the
questions we are asking and confronting every day? Fans regularly point
out how prescient the show was and is of our current world; it would be
fun to take a shot at looking further down the road.

So we will not be retelling the same story in the same way because of
what Heraclitus said about the river. There would be no fun and no
surprises. Better to go the way of Westworld or Battlestar Galactica
where you take the original elements that are evergreens and put them in
a blender with a ton of new, challenging ideas, to create something
fresh yet familiar. To those asking why not just do a continuation, for
a network series like this, it can’t be done because over half our cast
are still stubbornly on the other side of the Rim.

How do you telling continuing story of our original Londo without the
original Vir? Or G’Kar? How do you tell Sheridan’s story without Delenn?
Or the story of B5 without Franklin? Garibaldi? Zack?

The original Babylon 5 was ridiculously innovative: the first to use CGI
to create ships and characters, and among the very first to shoot
widescreen with a vigorous 5.1 mix. Most of all, for the first time,
Babylon 5 introduced viewers accustomed to episodic television to the
concept of a five-year arc with a pre-planned beginning, middle and end…
creating a brand new paradigm for television storytelling that has
subsequently become the norm. That tradition for innovation will
continue in this new iteration, and I hope to create additional new
forms of storytelling that will further push the television medium to
the edge of what’s possible.

Let me conclude by just saying how supportive and enthusiastic everyone
at the CW has been and is being with this project. They understand the
unique position Babylon 5 occupies both in television and with its
legions of fans, and are doing everything they can to ensure the maximum
in creative freedom, a new story that will bring in new viewers while
honoring all that has come before.

Onward!

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/babylon-5-reboot-the-cw-j-michael-straczynski-1235075236/

--
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