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If CGI is at the point where you could replace some of the wooden supporting actors, then I'd be up for that. But yes, a remake without the original G'Kar, Sinclair and Franklin? No thanks.

It’s one of the problems with any reboot. Getting new blood to fill some very big shoes. Especially when the actors had 5 years to make the role theirs.

 Nevelon wrote:
It’s one of the problems with any reboot. Getting new blood to fill some very big shoes. Especially when the actors had 5 years to make the role theirs.

To be honest many of those actors filled those shoes in the first season.

It's tricky and not just a case of individual actors but also the dynamic between the actors on the screen. I think NCIS is a great example here. The original series is bound together with actors who really filled their roles and worked together fantastically. However in the spin-off series, at least my impression, is that they've got replacement Gibb's characters (ergo leaders) who have strong actors; but many of the rest of hte cast don't quite fill the role with their personality enough.

Of course any TV series has this to deal with, but when you're following a major series that did it well there's far more pressure. There's also a high risk that the series can end up trying to emulate the other; so you end up with new actors and a new script that is trying to do the same as the old one and that can mean things feel forced and flat.

What about a special edition just replace the CGI?

I'm curious... has anyone that wasn't a big fan during the original run watched it? If so, any thoughts?

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
What about a special edition just replace the CGI?

Redoing all the CGI from scratch would be massive task. They would have to redo all the models etc and then animate it from scratch using dvd's as a model. There just ain't money in it for it to make worthwhile. Best we could hope is process JMS mentioned where they use some masters they DO have of the show(don't recall exact technical things) to do basically new cleaner higher resolution version was it in 4x3 picture ratio. This would result apparantely in best and cleanest version of the show ever but not quite true HD.

Still would cost bit money. And tv studio has zero interest to do anything with rights and JMS only has rights to movies which he isn't interested doing with on small budget.

They did that for Star Trek TOS, but that had fewer effects shots needing done, IIRC, and also has a much bigger potential audience.

IIRC, a project to do the same for TNG was cancelled for cost reasons.

Agreed. If CBS doesn't feel it's worthwhile to upgrade the more popular and much more recognizable contemporary Star Trek DS9 show to HD with new effects then B5 stands even less of a chance.

A B5 remaster with redone CGI could be possible if B5 got a remake or a new series continuing in the series and thus generating a big new fanbase. Right now a redo of the CGI would be neat and has some market, but B5 hasn't been major nor mainstream so there's no prospect of high profits.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
They did that for Star Trek TOS, but that had fewer effects shots needing done, IIRC, and also has a much bigger potential audience.

IIRC, a project to do the same for TNG was cancelled for cost reasons.

No, they did TNG, you can get all seven seasons on Blu-ray with updated effects shots where it was necessary due to the better picture quality. The problem is that didn't sell as well as hoped, so plans to carry on and do similar things for DS9 and Voyager went away, and other studios considering doing it with their old TV shows took note. Mind you, it wasn't exactly unforeseeable - TOS was a three season boxed set, the TNG remaster was a goddamn 41 disc set if you wanted the full 1080p version, and since you could stream the 720p version on Netflix it's hardly any wonder that the "middle class christmas present for dad" size TOS release did well, and the "for fans who DIY their kitchen to look like 10 Forward" size extras-bloated physical TNG releases didn't.

 Yodhrin wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
They did that for Star Trek TOS, but that had fewer effects shots needing done, IIRC, and also has a much bigger potential audience.

IIRC, a project to do the same for TNG was cancelled for cost reasons.

No, they did TNG, you can get all seven seasons on Blu-ray with updated effects shots where it was necessary due to the better picture quality. The problem is that didn't sell as well as hoped, so plans to carry on and do similar things for DS9 and Voyager went away, and other studios considering doing it with their old TV shows took note. Mind you, it wasn't exactly unforeseeable - TOS was a three season boxed set, the TNG remaster was a goddamn 41 disc set if you wanted the full 1080p version, and since you could stream the 720p version on Netflix it's hardly any wonder that the "middle class christmas present for dad" size TOS release did well, and the "for fans who DIY their kitchen to look like 10 Forward" size extras-bloated physical TNG releases didn't.

Aye, I've never understood those huge volume releases. Storing and dealing with that much physical media is a PITA. Want to watch a different episode? Gotta get up, swap discs, wait through the loading and menu again. It sounds like a minor thing, but it's really not, that little tiny bit of effort does keep people from watching stuff, that's the whole schtick behind the Remote Control. It also means you can't take it with you easily on trips. The portability and ease of use of a simple rip has been a huge driver of piracy forever, and what drove the popularity of Netflix binging.

That the remaster of TNG failed as a result should be surprising to nobody.

One route however may be to get Streaming services to cover the cost, split the revenue, and make a big huge campaign of the remastered release.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 ingtaer wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Nice news!

I can alternate between that and Andromeda for some palet cleansing cheese.

Is Andromeda any good? I was recommended it back in the day but the person who recommended it said I should watch Farscape first and that I didn't enjoy.

I watched the first few episodes back in the day, then rewatched them a few months ago and they... showed promise. I liked that the ship was more about 'realish' technology (barring the FTL/slipstream) like nanotech and drones. No force fields, no teleporters.

It's also hard to miss the parallels with Firefly's cast. Idealistic military man, pragmatic gun dude, flaky engineer, pragmatic woman 2nd in command, priest... Not a completely one to one but it struck me.

But I hear the show runner left after the first season, Hercules took over and things went really off a cliff.

Amdoemoda was pretty horrible in the end. It started with a goal and a plot, and things where OK.

Then it devolved into hercules in space, not even trying to be anything else and just sank into the pits.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
They did that for Star Trek TOS, but that had fewer effects shots needing done, IIRC, and also has a much bigger potential audience.

IIRC, a project to do the same for TNG was cancelled for cost reasons.

Yeah. But scene count is lot less and scenes are simpler and as you noted audience is bigger. There was money to be made there. Less so with more resource intensive B5. And later star treks didn't get that treatment presumably because redoing CGI for those more effect series would be more resource intensive...

Alas B5 crew's assumption about ease of CGI in future weren't quite as true as they thought AND somehow studio managed to lose the original files...