Babylon 5 Coming Back?

SaturnTim writes "Babylon 5 fans rejoice! It appears that our favorite space outpost is back. It will be returning soon in a series of direct-to-DVD 20min episodes, each featuring the past of one of our favorite characters."

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

[eldavojohn]

It's interesting that this is a straight to DVD production. I'm not a huge fan of Babylon 5 but I am very interested to see what distribution method they seek.

The recent news is Warner Bros. is putting Babylon 5 on iTunes [pocket-lint.co.uk]. That's right, you'll be able to purchase episodes of the sci-fi show on iTunes. Could they promote this service by releasing The Lost Tales a few weeks early on iTunes? I think they could probably garner quite a bit of money from Apple if they were willing to do that.

After all, what better fanbase for Apple to secure than the Babylon 5 tech/trek group? Old nerds with lots of money and few vices. I know some people at work that would buy a video iPod just to have copies of Babylon 5 on their person at all times.

This could probably be a television show that successfully bypasses all traditional forms of distribution which would set huge precedence for weaning the public from the glass teat.

Not quite 20 minutes.

[Trestran]

It won't be 20 minutes, acording to B5 creator JMS. From a usenet post [google.com] by him:

No, it's closer to one-half-hour per story, so figure about 75-90 minutes per DVD, plus additional material adding up to a two-hour DVD. jms

I for one am looking forward to this tremendously. I know that all the previous B5 spin-offs have been rather anti-climatic, abortive affairs (although I haven't seen nearly all of it), but the creative freedom he is getting seems rather amazing. As opposed to, say, Crusade, that according to JMS suffered from a death by studio interference. And having seen some of the memos that were leaked, I see no reason to doubt him.

Cashing in

[alienmole]

I liked the Babylon 5 series just fine, but it had an ambitious overarching plot which did advance over time, albeit slowly and vaguely, that made it a bit more interesting than an ordinary space opera. Shows about the past of the characters sounds mainly like a way to milk the cash cow represented by the most diehard fanboys and anyone who doesn't have any, whaddayacallem, standards. It doesn't require much creative effort in terms of plot, it's just exploiting the franchise.

"Our Favorite Characters" - Your pics?

[Apocalypse111]

I'm betting that the series will be about Sheridan's actions during the Earth-Minbari war. That would provide sufficient eye-candy and war drama for a plot, while at the same time confining the characters to those of primarily human or Minbari origin, keeping G'Kar out of the picture (RIP Mr. Katsulas). Also, during this time frame, Stephen Franklin was galavanting around the galaxy learning about xenobiology, so this war setting would also keep his character out of the picture (RIP. Mr. Biggs).

What JMS should do

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Strazinski could still do a G'Kar story, showing the effects of G'Kar's travels around the galaxy. G'Kar himself wouldn't actually have to appear.

Babylon 5 was okay

[Bullfish]

But what I really want to see revived is Space Above and Beyond. A far superior series to almost all the series mentioned above, well ahead of its time, and killed far too soon by a dumbass Fox.

Re:Alas, Babylon

[HTH NE1]

Babylon 5 pioneered daring and creative storytelling techniques, such as trapping two characters who hate each other in an elevator.

That would be "Convictions".

They're called bottle episodes [tvtropes.org] but they're usually done for budgetary reasons. Trap the characters inside a single set (bottle them up) and play them off each other.

A benefit from saving on sets, locations, and FX is that more money can go into the scripted dialog and character development, though this is more of an example of a bottle scene or situation, and is better for it. Still, that episode has one of my favorite quotes:

"`Go be the ambassador to Babylon 5,' they say. `Will be an easy assignment.' Ah, I hate my life."
"So do I."
"Shut UP!" [zip] [uwyo.edu]

But then there's also this one [wav] [uwyo.edu].