When watching the latest episode of ‘Breaking Bad,’ the geek in me cracked up when there was a very quick reference to ‘Babylon 5’ on the show. I never finished watching the entire series, but the few seasons I watched did have me hooked. It’s something that if made these days could have all of the amazingness of ‘Battlestar Galactica‘ with a much better laid out road map to get there. It’s a solidly created universe that if it had more fans, could really do well in this age of science fiction.

So with that being said, J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of the show, has taken to social media and is urging fans to start a campaign for a network to start re-running ‘Babylon 5’ in order to get new fans. He isn’t pushing for new episodes, he isn’t pushing for a reboot, he’s pushing for the show to get into syndication again to try and find new fans. From that point he thinks the sky is the limit. Of course this isn’t the first time he’s hoped that ‘Babylon 5’ would continue.

Here’s what he had to say on Twitter:

 

 

Being limited to only 144 characters per tweet, Straczynski decided to further elaborate on Facebook:

To the online backing and forthing…some hard facts. Because Babylon 5 isn’t on the air in the US anywhere, it’s impossible for the show to add new viewers except one at a time, friend to friend, or if you’ve heard about it enough to want to shell out the money for the DVDs. Casual viewers can’t stumble across it while channel surfing. (As we all know, after Trek was canceled for poor ratings, it found its audience in syndication.) So in answer to the photo below, either WB has to be convinced to release the show somewhere, or a network like Syfy or Chiller or another along those lines has to be prompted to pick it up. If not, quite honestly, and without any way to add new viewers, the show will eventually slide into obscurity. This ain’t something I can do, or even directly participate in. It’s up to the fans now.

Now the cynic in me thinks that this campaign is just a way to try to get some extra paychecks through syndication. Without a plan for the future, there is an immediate time limit of how much there is to see and how the series ends.

The fan in me agrees with this idea because of the fact that I’d love to actually watch the show from start to finish without having to shell out money for the box set (I have a newborn in the house and just can’t justify the expense as much as I’d love to watch the entire show.)

However, the realist in me feels that the only way a network would bite for ‘Babylon 5’ being back on TV would be to reboot the show completely. It would be hard to go any further after such a long break, not to mention the tragic passing of two of the cast members,  Michael O’Hare and Robin Sachs.

The reboot is the idea I would be most excited for but that’s wishful thinking so let’s go with what Straczynski is proposing. Sadly I really feel that the series already has slid into obscurity. That’s a shame. I would love for the world of ‘Babylon 5’ to be revisited. While my preference would be in a retelling I would absolutely stand behind the chance to see the original show in it’s entirety.

What do you think? Are you up for another round of ‘Babylon 5’? Would you want to see a new version of it? Or is there a reason it didn’t fair well originally that still persists today?

Source: Blastr