Babylon 5 as an animated series?

[Truth66]

A while back I started a thread questiong about Babylon 5 being continued on as Audio CD Dramas. The other day while surfing the channels there was Star Wars: Clone Wars which apparently has been quite successful.
So this obviuously got me questioning, would Babylon 5, or some sort of a spin off series to Babylon 5 look and work appropriately as an animated series?

[Whyruss]

Oh no - pls don't do that. ALL the animated series this far had been pretty bad. I don't want the B5 universe to be ruined

[WorkerCaste]

I think one problem with that is that networks still believe (for the most part anyways) that animation = childrens' programming. I think that would virtually guarantee a B5 that would disappoint all us old fogies.

EDIT: Not that I think it couldn't be done in a great, serious way -- but rather that it WOULDN'T be done. Personally I love the animated medium, so I could enjoy a dramatic, animated production. Just wanted to clarify. :-)

[Truth66]

Oh no - pls don't do that. ALL the animated series this far had been pretty bad. I don't want the B5 universe to be ruined

I agree that if it's not done properly, it could easily be ruined. Look at the cheezy animation that was done when someone turned Star Trek into an animated series.

[oberoc]

If it done correctly, it can be very good. See Spiderwoman and X-men (written by Joss Whedon no less) for examples. -Tino

[glindros]

I can already see the pak'ma'ra as comic relief.

[Marsden]

I agree that if it's not done properly, it could easily be ruined. Look at the cheezy animation that was done when someone turned Star Trek into an animated series.

The animation, not to mention artwork, was bad, but the stories were good (mostly). But I wouldn't want B5 to go that route. I think it's better off as it is now, completed.

[Spoo Junky]

I wouldn't want to see an animated version of B5, to me that's like having those muppet type characters on Farscape. I tried watching that show a few times but I just couldn't get into it. I'm not against animated series in general, though.

[JoeD80]

I think Babylon 5 could be succesful as an animated series, but as mentioned above the networks often view animation as children's programming, except if it's a sitcom. I don't know exactly why they don't think a drama could do well for adults, but I think a lot of people in America have been raised to think that cartoons are for children and they should stop watching them and not do any kid stuff as adults (if you see my DVD collection, you see I don't fall under that notion; it's more cartoons than anything.) I think the 1990s X-Men showed that a cartoon can take the source material seriously and make an interesting show, and I think more recently that Avatar has pushed the American market more towards cartoons that can actually have a dramatic plot and a coherent arc but they still tend to lean towards the younger demographic. As for Babylon 5 specifically, I think the original show did such a good job that I wouldn't want to see a remake of that, but I'd love to see an animated adventure in the same Universe.

[I love Lyta]

At least they would hardly run out of stories to tell, given that they'd have a 1 million year timespan to cover.

And the big advantage of an animated series apart from the lesser production costs is that the possibilities are practically limitless.

Apart from the already mentioned probs however there is also another biggie. They'd have to get the original cast for the voiceover.
I mean: Who would actually accept that series if the main characters are not having their usual voices?
Obviously people who watch SW: Clone Wars did. But in the case of B5 surely I would not.
OR they would have to start at a time when none of the well known characters is alive anymore. But that would rule out what we all hoped for. The continuation of the Crusade story arc...