My Kid's Reboot

[Republibot 3.0]

[In Wendys]

"Hey, Dad, are they still talking about a B5 reboot, or have they abandoned it already?"
"Still talking as far as I know."
"Wanna' hear my idea?"
"Always."
"Ok, I've decided there's too many aliens."
"I think I speak for all of us when I say I didn't see that one coming."
"Think about it: SF shows either always do no aliens at all - like BSG or Firefly - or they do an infinite number of aliens, like there's nothing special about life in space."
"Yeah, those are the conventions."
"Ok, so how about there are just FIVE known species? Us, the Minbari, Centauri, Vorlon, and Narn. That's all there is."
"What about the regular aliens like the Drazzis and Pak'ma'ra and Gaim?"
"When have they ever done anything for you? Take any useful traits and dump them into the big 5. The Drazzi stuff all goes into the Narn, for instance. Hyach/Hyach Do stuff becomes Centauri/Xan stufff, and so on. Throw out everything else."
"And the special guest aliens?"
"Like in Believers or the Lumati or whomever? They all suck."
"True."
"The thing is, no one has ever done a show where there is life in space, but it's rare. That's an interesting twist by itself."
"Actuallly, yeah, it kinda' is."'
"Also, when G'kar says 'There's someone else out there' it makes it way, way spookier."
"True. It would. Wait, you'd have to remove the Dilgar war."
"It's a reboot, right? Of a plot poitn that was thought up half way through the first season?"
"Yeah, it's not much of a sticking point, you're right. And the first ones?"
"Oh, keep them. And extinct species all over the place. And the shadows, but through the run of the show there's only five known species in the galaxy, plus the shadows and the occasional first ones, and Lo'ri'en. And that's all they'll ever be."
"Is this leading someplace? Is there a strategy here?"
"Well, yeah. B5 should always have been B5. It said so itself: 'This is not some deep space franchise, it stands for soemthing.'" B5 should be a completely self-contained show, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Everything should be resolved, no dangling threads. It should be a perfect little jewel, unlike anyting else."
"Well OK then. Can I have some of your Frostie?"
"Mom said no frostie for you, what with your intestinal problems and all..."

 

[Ubik]

[In Wendys]

"Hey, Dad, are they still talking about a B5 reboot, or have they abandoned it already?"
"Still talking as far as I know."
"Wanna' hear my idea?"
"Always."
"Ok, I've decided there's too many aliens."
"I think I speak for all of us when I say I didn't see that one coming."
"Think about it: SF shows either always do no aliens at all - like BSG or Firefly - or they do an infinite number of aliens, like there's nothing special about life in space."
"Yeah, those are the conventions."
"Ok, so how about there are just FIVE known species? Us, the Minbari, Centauri, Vorlon, and Narn. That's all there is."
"What about the regular aliens like the Drazzis and Pak'ma'ra and Gaim?"
"When have they ever done anything for you? Take any useful traits and dump them into the big 5. The Drazzi stuff all goes into the Narn, for instance. Hyach/Hyach Do stuff becomes Centauri/Xan stufff, and so on. Throw out everything else."
"And the special guest aliens?"
"Like in Believers or the Lumati or whomever? They all suck."
"True."
"The thing is, no one has ever done a show where there is life in space, but it's rare. That's an interesting twist by itself."
"Actuallly, yeah, it kinda' is."'
"Also, when G'kar says 'There's someone else out there' it makes it way, way spookier."
"True. It would. Wait, you'd have to remove the Dilgar war."
"It's a reboot, right? Of a plot poitn that was thought up half way through the first season?"
"Yeah, it's not much of a sticking point, you're right. And the first ones?"
"Oh, keep them. And extinct species all over the place. And the shadows, but through the run of the show there's only five known species in the galaxy, plus the shadows and the occasional first ones, and Lo'ri'en. And that's all they'll ever be."
"Is this leading someplace? Is there a strategy here?"
"Well, yeah. B5 should always have been B5. It said so itself: 'This is not some deep space franchise, it stands for soemthing.'" B5 should be a completely self-contained show, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Everything should be resolved, no dangling threads. It should be a perfect little jewel, unlike anyting else."
"Well OK then. Can I have some of your Frostie?"
"Mom said no frostie for you, what with your intestinal problems and all..."

That’s a really great suggestion. I think the additional races added some texture to the B5 universe, but in the grand scheme of things, they were fairly inconsequential. It did help make the ‘UN in Space’ function of B5 more believable. I also always liked the fact that B5 was a bustling mecca full of different species. However, you could still retain the same atmosphere with less.

As you point out, it would make the discovery of more races, new or VERY old, far more dramatic.

 

[Springer]

I think that's a really interesting idea. Not sure if it would take away some of the fun and colour of the B5 story, or whether it would enhance the stories of the five main species. Presumably all the other races would have been wiped out in previous Shadow Wars?

Although in B5 the aliens were always treated as people rather than 'alien' aliens, and the different species were just analogous to different nations allowing JMS to write allegories to twentieth century Earth. So you might lose something from that by having fewer alien species. But in terms of a science fiction story, yes it has been done before in novels but it would be the first time on TV I think.

[In Wendys]
"Well, yeah. B5 should always have been B5. It said so itself: 'This is not some deep space franchise, it stands for soemthing.'" B5 should be a completely self-contained show, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Everything should be resolved, no dangling threads. It should be a perfect little jewel, unlike anyting else."

Oh, don't I wish.