The Return of "Babylon 5"
The 1990's was the dawn of CGI for TV and "Babylon 5" took advantage of the technology to extend its budget and do the large scale format science fiction that had only been hinted at by shows such as "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation" only hinted at. It also proved that there was room for more than one science fiction show on television that wasn't named "Star Trek".
Amazon Prime has brought back "Babylon 5" and, while it doesn't look as sharp as any contemporary show (or even "The X-Files" or "Star Trek: The Next Generation" both of which underwent extensive rescanning from the negative source where possible and, where necessary, new visual effects added), "Babylon 5" more than makes up for the lack of sharp images with great, large scale storytelling. The close ups certainly look pretty decent upscaled.
For fans the series looks much better than the old DVDs when upscaled to HD. Having said that, Warner Brothers really needs to do the extensive restoration of the series. While it would be expensive, the sales for streaming (and, to a lesser extent, home video sales on Blu-ray) and the value of the franchise would be increased. "Babylon 5" continues to have value just as "Star Trek" did for Paramount. Hopefully, the studio will realize the value and spent the necessary coin to update the visual effects, rescan the original negatives to bring the series up to date. Having said all of that, the show is still watchable if varying from a bit fuzzy to very fuzzy looking.
Yes creator/writer/producer J. Michael Straczynski's writing could be heavy handed and the dialog could be stilted at times but the type of epic storytelling hadn't really been attempted before--a five year story arc covering the establishment of the fifth space station designed as the first interstellar way station but also a place where diplomacy would reign.
The late Michael O'Hare played Commander Jeffrey Sinclair during the first season. Sadly, O'Hare passed away in 2012. The rumor at the time was that O'Hare was removed at the behest of Warner Brothers who felt that he was too wooden in the role (in retrospect what you realize after watching a handful of episodes is that O'Hare was perfectly fine in the role after he loosened up a bit and the role was fleshed out). O'Hare wasn't removed and all the horrible rumors online about why he left were as far from the truth as possible--O'Hare suffered from schizophrenia that worsened during the shooting of the series. He approach Straczynski about the demons that were overtaking him and asked to be written out of the series. Straczynski counter offered that they could delay shooting until he got medication and was controlled. O'Hare, afraid the series would be cancelled and throw everyone out of work. O'Hare, who returned briefly during seasons two and three to conclude his story arc with the series, rarely worked n TV after leaving the series. It was a sad burden that Straczynski had to bear until O'Hare's death when he revealed the exact reason why the actor left the series.
Straczynski created a number of "trap doors" where he could introduce alternate characters should an actor leave or die during the run, it would be possible to replace those characters with others rather than recast the role (it should be noted that at least one minor role was recast but, with the heavy make up, it wasn't as noticeable). Bruce Boxleitner did a terrific job of replacing O'Hare as Captain John Sheridan and the change also allowed Straczynski to up the tension as the character was known as the "Star Killer" for wiping out a massive attack by the Minbari.
Sadly, O'Hare, Richard Biggs, Jerry Doyle, Andreas Katsulas, Johnny Sekka (the doctor from the pilot episode) and Jeff Conaway from the cast are no longer with us. It would be a fitting tribute if the series could continue to live on with the series restored.
The series won two Hugo Awards and certainly deserves to be seen by a younger audience. Sure, the series has its flaws but those flaws are relatively minor compared to the epic storytelling and ambition of Straczynski, the directors, cast and crew displayed with this series.
It's nice to see the series available again after a long spell out of the public eye (it has continued to be shown overseas just not in the U.S. since around 2003).
