Finally: Babylon 5 REMASTERED and Available for Streaming

[Snarf Zagyg]

I don't know if I missed this post, but this is YUUUUUGE news. I had been waiting for Babylon 5 to be released on HBO Max, but apparently (I still can't believe this ....) .....


IT HAS BEEN REMASTERED!

O.
M.
G.

For those of you not familiar with B5 (as it is known), it is one of the groundbreaking 90s sci-fi shows that started kinda-serialized, and then went nearly full serialization as the show went on. Admittedly, the budgets didn't always keep pace with the ideas, but it was an amazing and influential show. However, one of the huge issues was the CGI scenes, which were groundbreaking for the time, but ... well, required additional work.

It's not perfect; apparently, they went with a 4:3 for the remaster even though the original was filmed in widescreen (I'm guessing due to CGI issues, again), but still. What's more, maybe that means there's hope for shows like DS9?

Anyway, thought you should know. Here's a link to one of the many websites that made the announcement:

'Babylon 5' gets remastered and is now available to rent or buy online

It's available on Amazon, iTunes and HBO Max.

www.space.com

Feel free to comment about anything you want to in the comments!

(As for me, this show will always hold a special place in my heart; I still remember waiting for each and every episode each week to find out what happened, and to discuss it with my friends ... not to mention looking at the nascent web and the Lurker's Guide to see if there was additional analysis ... in the 90s!)

 

[Ryujin]

One of my favourite SciFi arcs. The acting was soap opera grade, getting somewhat better with time, but the stories held up. That was probably in no small part to the shepherding of Harlan Ellison, though his ego doesn't need any boosting.

It was also good to finally hear the reasons for Michael O'Hare's exit from the series, putting to bed all of the rumours, after his passing.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

It was also good to finally hear the reasons for Michael O'Hare's exit from the series, putting to bed all of the rumours, after his passing.

It was good,in terms of there not being acrimony, as oppose to Claudia Christian's departure, but also so very sad.

That said, very few shows have been able to lose the lead and keep going. The re-tooling with Sheridan (Boxleitner) was masterful, and the bringing Sinclair back in to "finish" the B-Squared arc ... that was well done.

 

[Hex08]

Easily one of t he best sci-fi shows around. As far as I know it's the first time we got the type of long form storytelling that would eventually lead to other greats like BSG and The Expanse.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Easily one of t he best sci-fi shows around. As far as I know it's the first time we got the type of long form storytelling that would eventually lead to other greats like BSG and The Expanse.

It makes me think of two things.

First, of course, was that it was the first show that went heavy into long-form storytelling that I can remember. Sure, there were miniseries and so on before that. And X-Files had the "mythology" thing that kind of connected things before it fell apart.

But B5 was the absolute first show that I recall that, while still occasionally doing the "concept of the week," almost invariably had that concept (or parts of it) dovetail into a coherent, storytelling whole. By the time of Season 3, it was pretty much what we'd consider a modern show.

The second thing? The 90s were the boomtime of the syndicate sci-fi shows. B5, Andromeda, Earth:Final Conflict, etc. The shows could be pretty uneven in quality, but there were some real gems in there. If you could find them- the syndication meant that the channels and times were always changing.

 

[Ryujin]

Easily one of t he best sci-fi shows around. As far as I know it's the first time we got the type of long form storytelling that would eventually lead to other greats like BSG and The Expanse.

Many SciFi series have had the concept of "The old Races" or "The Forerunners", but I think that B5 might have been the only one that had them actively taking part in daily life, albeit from behind a mask. It was one of the things I liked about it from the beginning (kind of figured it out early on) and it continued to be a lynchpin of the whole story arc.

 

[Ryujin]

It makes me think of two things.

First, of course, was that it was the first show that went heavy into long-form storytelling that I can remember. Sure, there were miniseries and so on before that. And X-Files had the "mythology" thing that kind of connected things before it fell apart.

But B5 was the absolute first show that I recall that, while still occasionally doing the "concept of the week," almost invariably had that concept (or parts of it) dovetail into a coherent, storytelling whole. By the time of Season 3, it was pretty much what we'd consider a modern show.

The second thing? The 90s were the boomtime of the syndicate sci-fi shows. B5, Andromeda, Earth:Final Conflict, etc. The shows could be pretty uneven in quality, but there were some real gems in there. If you could find them- the syndication meant that the channels and times were always changing.

I recently worked my way through Andromeda (The Canadian equivalent of SyFy ran it endlessly, for years) and it doesn't hold up very well, especially not the final season. It really feels like "Hercules: The Space Journeys." I actually like Sorbo's over the top style of '80s action 'acting', but fully admit that it doesn't have the stamina to make a product with a shelf life of decades.

I'm working my way through Earth: Final Conflict again, after having seen it in first run on TV, and it suffers from something that you mentioned previously; a major stumble when swapping out the main character. Then, in season 3, they remove one attractive female member of the cast to replace her with the stereotypical hot blonde, to try and renew interest. As I recall their already fairly poor ratings were flagging even more at that point.

By way of comparison, B5 seems to hold up pretty well. For me, at least. I would put this down to their concentration on character development and story, over sensationalism. I can even ignore the Amiga-based effects that could now be done to better than what was then Hollywood big budget standards, on a personal laptop because the stories they are telling behind those effects are compelling. Pity that it was so hard to keep up with when it was first on-air what with the constant moving of time slots, moving to another network, etc..

Time for a "palate cleanse" of watching some of the B5 movies, I think

 

[Umbran]

However, one of the huge issues was the CGI scenes, which were groundbreaking for the time, but ... well, required additional work.

So, that's not quite correct, by my understanding. The original broadcast versions of the CGI were fine - Straczynski was thinking ahead, and produced CGI technically better than the dominant CRT TVs of the time could really show.

However, when they ported that over to DVD format, the studio did a slipshod job of it. For many years, the only way to see the show was off these crummy DVD ports.

For HBO Max, they did go back to the masters, and did a more proper port. You are correct that they kept to the original broadcast ratio for cost reasons - the filming was all done in widescreen, but CGI porting to that would have taken more work than in the original broadcast ratio. The information to do it exists, but it wasn't deemed cost effective - the fans will love the remastered thing in the original broadcast ratio anyway.

What's more, maybe that means there's hope for shows like DS9?

If CBS/Paramount sees that we fans will flock to remastered versions, it would be a selling point for Paramount+, yeah.

So, for goodness sake, watch B5, and get that message out! We all want to see O'Brien in high definition!

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I recently worked my way through Andromeda (The Canadian equivalent of SyFy ran it endlessly, for years) and it doesn't hold up very well, especially not the final season. It really feels like "Hercules: The Space Journeys." I actually like Sorbo's over the top style of '80s action 'acting', but fully admit that it doesn't have the stamina to make a product with a shelf life of decades.

I'm working my way through Earth: Final Conflict again, after having seen it in first run on TV, and it suffers from something that you mentioned previously; a major stumble when swapping out the main character. Then, in season 3, they remove one attractive female member of the cast to replace her with the stereotypical hot blonde, to try and renew interest. As I recall their already fairly poor ratings were flagging even more at that point.

By way of comparison, B5 seems to hold up pretty well. For me, at least. I would put this down to their concentration on character development and story, over sensationalism. I can even ignore the Amiga-based effects that could now be done to better than what was then Hollywood big budget standards, on a personal laptop because the stories they are telling behind those effects are compelling. Pity that it was so hard to keep up with when it was first on-air what with the constant moving of time slots, moving to another network, etc..

Time for a "palate cleanse" of watching some of the B5 movies, I think

Andromeda had a great concept.* The first season was pretty good! After that, it was diminishing returns, and it really fell off the cliff in the final season.

*I have to imagine that Whedon saw it, and the Magog were in the back of his mind when he made the Reavers.

I have a special place in my heart for E:FC. I think that the first season, for the time, was amazing. Great. Really well done. But then they switched out the lead actor and the writers, and the show was terrible after that. I am ashamed to say that I loved the first season so much I kept watching for a while, and checked in periodically, after that, but the shows were just so bad. I have trouble thinking of a show that was more disappointing. Even now, thinking about it hurts.

 

[Ryujin]

Andromeda had a great concept.* The first season was pretty good! After that, it was diminishing returns, and it really fell off the cliff in the final season.

*I have to imagine that Whedon saw it, and the Magog were in the back of his mind when he made the Reavers.

I have a special place in my heart for E:FC. I think that the first season, for the time, was amazing. Great. Really well done. But then they switched out the lead actor and the writers, and the show was terrible after that. I am ashamed to say that I loved the first season so much I kept watching for a while, and checked in periodically, after that, but the shows were just so bad. I have trouble thinking of a show that was more disappointing. Even now, thinking about it hurts.

Guy with a slightly modified CVI as a fifth column style spy to a god-like hybrid who is fully known by one of the "enemy" was a bit jarring.