The Big Picture: The Boot, Part Two

[TheKruzdawg]

Babylon 5. God that show was just all over the place and had way too many seemingly filler episodes. It felt liek it was full of really interesting ideas that never went anywhere. I would enjoy a reboot but I'd want a solid ending built in and that just doesn't happen on basic cable.

Sure there were a fair number of episodes (at least from the first season I've rewatched recently) that don't really advance the overall arc of the show, but they almost always had some kind of small character arc contained within them. For example, the episode "Believers" in season 1 where Dr. Franklin is the main character and wrestles with upholding his oath as a doctor against violating the religious beliefs and wishes of a family in order to save a child. Hardly any of the rest of the main cast is in the episode but we get a better understanding of Franklin and what he believes.
There are a few exceptions to that rule, but I never felt that an episode was ever wasted.

Perhaps I've just got super nostalgia glasses for the show since it was something my dad and I always watched together, but I'd love to see it on the air again. Though it would be very weird to see other actors portray the same characters.

 

[Angnor]

Ditto for Babylon 5. I cringed when Bob said it should get the "Star Trek reboot treatment." That's the absolute last thing I'd want to happen.

While I wouldn't want it to turn out like the Star Trek reboot, I'd love to see Bablyon 5 get a full treatment. Season 4 rushed a conclusion to the plot due to fears of cancellation, and Season 5 was then basically filler.

 

[Angnor]

Babylon 5 was a great show in my opinion, hampered by limitations in CG. And I admit, I'd love to see a remastered version of the original, but I doubt a reboot would really be possible.

Along these lines, I'd love to see someone redo all the cgi/special effects for The Last Starfighter.

 

[Kuomon]

I'm all on board for a Harry Potter reboot, but as a TV show instead of a film series. A lot of what hampered the later Potter movies was a need for bombastic climactic scenes that really did not fit with the tone of the books. Plus, the world of Harry Potter is ripe to be explored and add side stories to.

 

[wolf thing]

i want to see a sequel to babylon 5. set on earth after the burn (i think thats was what it called), when they have reverted back to a medieval society and the alliance rangers are trying to guided them. either that or a more direct sequal following sheradains son and what happened to him and the shadows paricite.

personaly i dont think a reboot of babylon 5 would be a good idea, rebooting star trek i was fine with because it more about the characters meetting weird stuff and solving it with very few plot points carrying over to episodes, babylon 5 is too plot focused, its all about big events and character arcs i think it would be a waste of time to reboot it, if they do thought, they should not use the old characters.

 

[Temple Guard]

Babylon 5 and Gargoyles are the only shows I watched in my childhood that I continue to watch every couple of years. The stories and characters just keep pulling me back in.

 

[theyellowmeteor]

What's with the Escapist and reboots?

 

[Toy Master Typhus]

I still wanna see a Reboot...reboot

 

[person427]

I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention mlp more considering friendship is magic is pretty much the most successful reboot of anything I can think of. It took something that was firmly entrenched in what was perceived as what young girls wanted to watch and turned it into something that goes way beyond its intended audience. It did the impossible, it made girl stuff cool.

That's exactly why it wasn't mentioned, this is a list of things that should be rebooted, not things that were already rebooted very well.

 

[TWEWYFan]

I'm very much with you on Gargoyles, this series could probably benefit from a television landscape changed by shows like Avatar the Last Airbender and even Adventure Time. They still probably couldn't be explicit about Lexington although they might have more leeway to up the level of subtext.

 

[Shjade]

When you say you can do a Star Wars/LotR marathon but not a Harry Potter marathon though, you're talking about 3 movies vs 8. Definitely not a fair comparison, even if you're talking about the LotR Director's Cut.

That's actually his whole point, Ninja.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

5) Eh... sure, why not?

4) This was a series that by all intents and purposes easily could have made a great 7 season TV series. A lot of the nitty gritty details can't be justified in a full movie, but a TV show would have worked wonders.

3) Yes! Let's get this done! TO KICKSTARTER!

2) Eh... I preferred Deep Space Nine

1) No, just no. Some things can change, but that doesn't justify a reboot.

 

[Nerdstar]

I agree with bob on the number 1 pick, if/when the Simpsons ends id like to see what someone new could do with it, however that dos bring up the question that all reboots and reimaging's face "how much can you change a character or premise before there an entirely different thing?" that's what I'm wondering.

 

[Cpt. Slow]

So, Moviebob went from pissing on just laid to rest bodies of recent shot films/series, to just pissing on the still breathing ones. And not a Simpson's fan though, but the idea of a reboot is just unthinkable. Babylon 5 I can see being rebooted but not in the current Star Trek style. The show isn't comatose enough to being injected with J.J. Abraham's mix of speed, crack and cocaine.

 

[Dusk108]

I'd love to see a reboot of Gargoyles and Babylon 5. Though I'd much rather see a battle star galactica style reboot than a star trek style. Gargoyles would be interesting, I only saw the first season or two of it before the station I was watching it on dropped it for something else, power rangers I think.

The rest of the list I'm different to.

 

[Mr. Q]

First time posting a message on The Escapist forum. Had to toss in my two cents after seeing this video.

5) Wow! I thought I was the only one who thought about rebooting this movie. I agree with Bob saying that Monster Squad had some inconsistency issues, mostly because it was trying to be for kids but had more adult elements like impalement and foul language. That said, I'd like to offer a few stipulations for this reboot. First, the rights to remake it should go to Universal Studios. Just to make it offical. Second, the make-up effects must be done by Rick Baker. The original effects were done by the late Stan Winston and it would be great to see another make-up legend get a chance to do something like this. Plus I loved Rick's revision of the Wolfman and I'm dying to see how he handles the other classic monsters (maybe toss in a few more like the Bride). Finally, play down the CGI and have more practical effects. I liked the Wolfman remake a bit but the overuse of CGI spoiled it for me. Besides, Rick did one of the best werewolf transformations long before CGI hit it big and it still holds up to this day imo.

4) I think its too soon to reboot the Potter series at this point, so lets leave it alone for now. As for watching all 8 movies, I'd be up for it if you had plenty of energy drinks on hand. ^^;

3) Excuse me...


OK, I think I've got that out of my system.

I'm game for any reinterpretation of Gargoyles, be it new series or movie trilogy. If the former, Disney would have to make sure it would last long enough on TV to allow it to cover everything the creators want to say. I really don't want to be left hanging like I was with the rebooted Thundercats. But that is mostly due to Cartoon Network being run by a pack of idiots these days. If the latter, please get someone that has actual passion for this property and can do it justice and is not in it for a paycheck and will do a piss-poor job(looking at you, Michael Bay).

2) I've never really got into this series so I can't offer an opinion on it in any way.

1) Again, much like the Potter reboot comment, its too soon to do such a thing. If anything, maybe do a spinoff show with certain characters like Apu.

 

[brazuca]

You can't reboot the Simpsons and Call it The Simpsons. The core of this series is that family. Doind The Simpsons without them is making Futurama. I'd still wacth the shit out of this reboot.

 

[RoonMian]

I would prefer if instead of rebooting Harry Potter the Anti-Harry-Potter, Artemis Fowl, got the same kind of lavish, big budget movie adaptation. That's something I would really really love to see. The problems Bob mentioned about the Harry Potter movies wouldn't even be there all that much in hypothetical Artemis Fowl movies because those books hardly contain any fluff at all, they are not a huge doorstopper each but straight action.

 

[Deathlyphil]

I feel like quite a nerd for knowing this, but I have to pass it on.

B5 was the first show to ditch models and only use CGI for the space shots. The reason they only have about 5 stock exterior shots in series one is because it took so long for each piece to render. Hell, they were being rendered on Amigas! They had to leave them on overnight and pray that they didn't crash, because if they did they'd have to start all over again.

Personally, I would love to see a reboot of B5, but it would have to be with JMS at the wheel, or at least writing the scripts. From season 2 onwards he wrote every single episode, bar one in series five that was written by Neil Gaiman.

If JJ Abrams goes near this series, I will lose all hope for humanity.

 

[darksakul]

I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention mlp more considering friendship is magic is pretty much the most successful reboot of anything I can think of. It took something that was firmly entrenched in what was perceived as what young girls wanted to watch and turned it into something that goes way beyond its intended audience. It did the impossible, it made girl stuff cool.

I think the reason Bob did not mention MLP more is because (quoting Bob) he hadn't seen any of it.

I would not be right for Bob to comment more on a series he has not seen.