Breaking Down JMS' Tweets on the Upcoming Babylon 5 Reboot

[Thebestoftherest]

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." Albert Einstein.

[Nealithi]

Sure. I think I mentioned it elsewhere. Hollywood hates new ideas. New ideas are a risk. But nostalgia has a built in fan base. So redo what has been done before should at least make back production costs. It makes it a safe bet.

Why now is answered with that nostalgia claim. Ignore it and it becomes another story or franchise that disappears into the background of history. Why not a B5 TNG, because it is derivative and there has been enough comparing the two series as it is. Also the end of B5 saw the destruction of the station the show is named for. So how/why would anyone put another with the same name? It was literally the fifth iteration of the Babylon station. So any next generation would be B6 or higher.

And to look at comparisons. Would you say BSG 1978 and BSG 2004 are the same show?

Have stories EVER been Truly Original? Star Wars started as a Flash Gorden adaptation and draws heavily from classic literature and the Heroes Journey. Star Trek was stated, by Roddenberry himself, that to be the Forbidden Planet but with a more diverse cast instead of all white guys. The Lord of the Rings is based on old stories like Beowulf, even taking names straight from the story instead of coming up with new names. Tomb Raider started as a straight up ripoff of Indiana Jones and Indiana Jones is based on old action serials that Lucas watched as a kid.

Hell, one of the most famous writers of all time, William Shakespeare, most of his works are either A) Adaptations B) Historical Pieces or C) Propaganda Pieces. Of his 37 plays only FIVE original, that we know of, and ALL of them where clearly inspired by other stories.

Originality is overrated. Nothing is new. EVERYTHING is borrowed or taken from somewhere.

By your pedantic emphasis I can say yes. Yes at one time stories were original. When Oog told Ugh of his first hunt.
But literally the point I was making is that change can be good. My example BSG 1978 vs. BSG 2004. Both can make good claims to being BSG. But they are not the same show by any means. Let a new B5 stand or fall on its merits and weaknesses. That is what I am saying. Does JMS have to tell the exact same story? No, nor should he. You can't capture that same lightning in a bottle twice. They came close in the NuTrek, Kelvin, what ever they are calling it this week. And came into a stride with ST:Beyond. So there are examples where it can change and do well. We shall see if JMS succeeds.

[Yukaphile]

Bad writing is the game changer and it's what upsets me so much, why I realize there's NO HOPE for all our beloved older IPs long-term, and that whether you love conservatives or hate them, they're right - we live in one of the WEAKEST generations ever, with great abuse by human nature and our tools haven't changed to keep up with our flaws and overcome them. There is a quote I want to share.

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” The quote, from a post-apocalyptic novel by the author G. Michael Hopf, sums up a stunningly pervasive cyclical vision of history.

Take Superman. Off-topic, okay, sure, but recently he's become a bisexual climate activist. Bisexual, it's not Clark, so whatever. But why in the name of ALL HOLY FUCK is Superman MARCHING like an idiot? HE HAS SUPERPOWERS. He could literally help CHANGE the climate back to what it is supposed to be, and it's not like it's interfering with humanity at all in a way that goes against his virtues. Climate change allegory, that can work. This is not how you do it, it's so lackluster and has no imagination. These are the standard industry hires. I could be a thousand times better than this! How about the recent Mace Windu comics that made the black man look like a monkey, that didn't seem to get much outrage? For people who will just mindlessly consume whatever they are fed while claiming it's not "progressive" enough, where's your fury over that, huh? My God, this is truly one of the bleakest times for entertainment culture I can recall and it is only getting worse, not better. I could go grab that Mace Windu blackface type racial caricature, if you want. Because no, I'm not lying, that really exists...

This is why you fail, this is why people are flocking to manga and not comics, to name one subgenre of the entertainment industry. Why should we care about story when they've hired weaklings who won't defy the business owners?

[Al-1701]

What's Superman supposed to do about Climate Change? Move the planet further from the sun? Suck away Earth's atmosphere and replace it with a new one? And even if he did, it wouldn't solve the problem that we pump excess CO2 into the atmosphere.

And Hopf's attitude is why I hate the post-apocalyptic genre and its parasitic relationship with science fiction. Hard times are an excuse for the powerful to not care about the powerless. Good times are an opportunity for society to advance itself. That's why the powerful (or least those who perceive themselves as powerful) have such a fetish about the hard times try to sabotage the good times.

[Yukaphile]

HE'S SEALED UP RIPS IN REALITY BEFORE. Don't give me that. He could shoot eye lasers at the hole in the ozone layer and boom, it's sealed up. Bam. Check and mate.

[Thebestoftherest]

Then can we get back on topic before Yukaphile keeps distracting us.

[Al-1701]

Should I bring up powerful lasers can create ozone in an oxygen atmosphere? Nah. Besides, it ignores the not solving the cause of the problem anyways.

Anyway, back to Babylon 5. I wonder if B5 will be more O'Neil-like (like the colonies in Mobile Suit Gundam). About the only thing that made it an O'Neil cylinder was that it was hollow and cylindrical. Also, will we get more shots of the internal environment?

[TGLS]

What's Superman supposed to do about Climate Change?

Kill all the industrialists who are pumping all the CO2 into the atmosphere.

OK, we all know that Superman wouldn't do that.

[CharlesPhipps]

Reboots are very often better than the original.

Need me to prove you wrong in three words if you disagree?

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES.

Sometimes they take what is best about a property and distill it.

[Thebestoftherest]

Batman: The animated series is a adaptation not a reboot.