NEW Babylon 5 Series in Development!

[moreorless]

I actually think maybe the biggest choice JMS has with this is what is the tone like?

Really to me al ot of the sucess of the original series is just how much ground it can cover from tragic drama to comedy. More modern sci fi does tend to go down the route of taking itself very seriously, the odd bit of comedy in something like The Expanse I spose but generally not. I actually felt that the show closest to Babylon 5 in recent years is actually Stranger Things, obviously big difference in plot/setting but it has that some mix of serious drama and comedy, maybe a little more towards the latter than B5 was but I think the effect is quite similar.

[Ubik]

I actually think maybe the biggest choice JMS has with this is what is the tone like?

Really to me al ot of the sucess of the original series is just how much ground it can cover from tragic drama to comedy. More modern sci fi does tend to go down the route of taking itself very seriously, the odd bit of comedy in something like The Expanse I spose but generally not. I actually felt that the show closest to Babylon 5 in recent years is actually Stranger Things, obviously big difference in plot/setting but it has that some mix of serious drama and comedy, maybe a little more towards the latter than B5 was but I think the effect is quite similar.

A bit of humour is good, but someone please keep JMS away from broken penis jokes. I cringed so hard at the humour in Sense8. Same for a lot of B5, some of it lands, and some it is really just awful. All a matter of taste, of course.

[Looney]

A bit of humour is good, but someone please keep JMS away from broken penis jokes. I cringed so hard at the humour in Sense8. Same for a lot of B5, some of it lands, and some it is really just awful. All a matter of taste, of course.

This gives me an idea for a possible topic, worst joke in Babylon 5. I have my choice. It wasn't a great joke and it was not delivered well. TRY TO TOP THOSE CRITERIA. LOL (I'm not revealing my choice until I read some opinions on whether we should take it to its own thread or let it fly here.

I highly doubt JMS will allow the tone of the new series to be too serious, though I do expect it will be darker overall.

[moreorless]

A bit of humour is good, but someone please keep JMS away from broken penis jokes. I cringed so hard at the humour in Sense8. Same for a lot of B5, some of it lands, and some it is really just awful. All a matter of taste, of course.

I think B5 benefited a lot both from having a lot of excellent comic actors(especially Jurasik, First, Katsulas and Christian) and just generally being very good natured, the jokes themselves weren't always exactly the work of genius but they were delivered in a fashion that made them very charming for me anyway,

[Jan]

A bit of humour is good, but someone please keep JMS away from broken penis jokes. I cringed so hard at the humour in Sense8. Same for a lot of B5, some of it lands, and some it is really just awful. All a matter of taste, of course.

I'm perfectly okay with the use of humor to change the tone, especially to keep tension ratcheting up too high. Not all humor is going to be to my taste. And I also understood, even before JMS posted about it, that some of the humor wasn't meant to be funny to today's audience (any more than "Well, EX-cuuuuse ME" is funny anymore) particularly in regard to Reebo & Zooty. No, I didn't care for the broken penis thing, and I'm not even equipped to empathize with anything of the sort. But as an example of the awkwardness of the Kala and Rajan's marriage, I didn't mind it.

[Jan]

For those who've voiced conceern that the reboot would be slanted toward a young audience, JMS posted last night:

Because the President of the CW is a huge fan of the original show, they let me do whatever I wanted. Nobody tried to skew the show one way or another.

Full tweet:https://twitter.com/straczynski/stat...35335440568322

[moreorless]

I'm perfectly okay with the use of humor to change the tone, especially to keep tension ratcheting up too high. Not all humor is going to be to my taste. And I also understood, even before JMS posted about it, that some of the humor wasn't meant to be funny to today's audience (any more than "Well, EX-cuuuuse ME" is funny anymore) particularly in regard to Reebo & Zooty. No, I didn't care for the broken penis thing, and I'm not even equipped to empathize with anything of the sort. But as an example of the awkwardness of the Kala and Rajan's marriage, I didn't mind it.

I mean that whatever its other faults I don't think was ever intended to be funny at face value, indeed if anything the joke was that they werent funny to the audience..

Really though I think the show benefited from the humour being strongly baked into characters like Londo, G'kar, Vir, Ivanova, Garabali, etc the same way it is to say Tony Stark in the MCU. Theres a big difference between that and trying to throw in ill advised zingers at characters who they really don't work with that end up undermining the drama, with B5 I think a Londo without the humour would be a weaker character.

[Looney]

WOW! Glad I didn't start that thread. LOL

And I totally moreorless agree. LOL Comedy is a slippery slope, but it is soooo vital in certain instances. Without the humor the original would not be what it is. And so many of the characters fit different humor perfectly. Londo and G'Kar were larger than life and bombastic. Ivanova and Garibaldi were cynical and sarcastic. Vir was innocently trying to keep his head above water. Lennier was somewhat of a deadpan fish out of water. And the list goes on. Take those qualities away from any of characters and you aren't left with much entertainment value.

[Jan]

No real news, but confirmation that the B5 reimagining is still active:
https://deadline.com/2022/05/babylon...Oqo-7Gw4n-XHzs

[Ubik]

Good to hear, I still hope it happens. Not convinced it will, as past experiences have taught me to temper my expectations. Would still just be nice to see something in the B5 universe again after so long.

[Jan]

When JMS posted the Deadline link to his Facebook page, a number of people commented who apparently hadn't seen much of what he'd written before:
https://www.facebook.com/officialjms...47495973422009

[Looney]

I have to admit that I am very excited .....and equally terrified.