I must have gotten the two characters mixed up at some point because of their scars (and having found the entry again, I have no clue where I got "Vietnam" from): Boggs from Ceremonies of Light and Dark, played by Don Stroud.

> Don Stroud got his scar by jumping into a crowd of men with knives to stop a woman from being raped, according to former story editor Larry DiTillio.

> [..]

> Boggs' scar wouldn't have moved like it did.

> The physical dynamics of the scar would have worked as seen, actually, mainly because that wasn't a piece of makeup, that's a real scar, and it does work that way.

> The scar is real. He had some rough times a few years ago. (Actually, he also appeared with the scar as it's seen here in "TKO," as Garibaldi's corner man, though there it was hidden a bit.) He's still doing a lot of work though.

> (The funny thing was seeing the occasional comment on the nets saying how fake they thought the makeup looked, and why couldn't we manage to do something a bit more realistic looking?)

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/055.html

Yeah, it's hard for writers to do that without a big upfront commitment from the studio. Typically they only get one season assured, if that. And then if the show catches an audience, suddenly the studio flips and demands the writers string it out into extra seasons.

We all know shows that started out strong then got ruined by this stuff, like Lost or Heros. Or the internet's favorite punching bag, Game of Thrones.

I think The Wire is an interesting exception. They never got more than a single season commitment, but still managed to make something that feels cohesive over 5 seasons. They did it by using an ensemble cast where character's arcs can be extended in later seasons, but with new characters entering the mix as well. They also picked a different theme for each season, looking at the failures of american institutions from different directions, and resolving that theme within each single season. The result is each season feels distinct and can stand alone, but they also form a cohesive whole.

Lucifer did a pretty good job of telling a consistent story across its run, despite (or perhaps aided by) the switch to Netflix.

I think CGI-wise we are just spoiled by the multi-million dollar blockbuster CGI. For the time and the media their CGI is pretty good. And yes, it's not perfect, but completely adequate to the time I think. And I don't think the aliens looked "silly" at all - I saw much worse work on many shows, I think B5 had good variety and depth without going overboard - when you shooting over a hundred episodes, making designs that would take 12 hours for an actor to get into is going to be kinda hard. And to be honest, probably won't add that much to the show beyond the initial novelty moment.

While some parts can be pretty corny, let me call out the music as amazing. Each episode has a lot more unique music than I thought!

I’ve come to the conclusion over the years that the overwrought, corny dialogue is just how JMS rolls. But the man can still tell a good story

The CGI was done on a shoestring budget, originally on Amigas and eventually on Dec Alphas. They were using Lightwave3D, which at the time was on the edge of affordable to students or indie producers. So it was neat seeing a tv show doing something you could do yourself on your home PC with enough patience and determination.

It's a remarkable achievement but yes, it does look rather dated sadly.

My main annoyance with B5 is how the alien designs echo human historic stereotypes. A lot of sci fi falls in this trap.

The Minbari are meditative asians. The Centari are a decaying franco-romanesque empire. The Narn are primitive and violent with dark skin and exaggerated facial features. The humans are plucky American go getters. The Vorlons are the only real original alien design, but were deliberately made a blank canvas of mystery.

Mind you in no way do I think it was malicious, just a lazy writing crutch others have used. Star Trek TNG had some pretty glaring examples of the same thing in early seasons. Star Wars patterns the Jedi after Samurai.

Even if there's a universe/plot justification for why all the alien species are humanoid variations too, I think it's a lot more interesting if the writers can come up with unique histories and cultures for the aliens.

Maybe in the not too distant we’ll be able to generate the last two seasons as they were originally intended to be.

Yeah, there was a lot about B5 that was good but a friend of mine also told me it was the worst TV recommendation I ever gave them. You had to overlook a lot. In addition to some of the things you list--though I'd argue some of the acting was pretty good--the future of the show was often in doubt so at least the final season was basically vestigial.

Ivanova would personally rip your lungs out /s

There was a season 5? /s

> How did they get there in the first place, hitchhike?

Plenty of reasons. A few crazy people live there, some running from the law or other authorities, some lose everything gambling, one has been there since the station was built and was afraid to leave. One episode centered around a teenage girl whos parents died so she resorted to stealing food.

And then there's the episode "Gray 17 Is Missing".

When I lived in Hawaii I knew a person who was a recovering drug addict with unstable housing who had gotten enough money to come to Hawaii at one point but not enough to leave. It can happen.

Everyone keeps mentioning the same sci-fi shows mentioned already above, so I am just going to drop this one that I haven’t heard of before stumbling on it accidentally: Killjoys.

And for something more recent: War of the worlds (tv show from BBC+France).

I was never a big tv watcher, so maybe everyone knows.

By Fargate, did you mean Farscape? I didn't watch it until like 10 years ago and really enjoyed it even though it's the opposite of Star Trek. Babylon 5 is what I grew up on at a very young age and it really partially shaped how I see the world today in a way.

BSG started in 2003, which was closer to the 1998 final season of B5 than it is to today.

What do you mean by 'embrace new values'?

Yes, exactly! I'd seen an episode of B5 here and there, but it was hard to know what was going on. My family moved states when TNT bought the show and started airing the series in order 5 days a week as Season 5 was starting to come out. I didn't know anyone yet so the highlight of my day was coming home and watching the next episode, then reading the episode guide. It made me feel like part of a community.

Are the original assets that important? Presumably they are potato quality relative to modern expectations and have to be recreated anyways. So long as you did not require perfect fidelity, pixel-to-pixel rendition, but something within the spirit of the show. Rendering some space blobs seems attainable by a guy with Blender and Unreal.

not all of the models were destroyed, someone got a hold of some of the models and scenes and rendered them at 1080p, they were on youtube for a while at least.

I'd think that they could just take all space/ship shots, and completely start from scratch and it would look good. The changes in tools from then to now, I'd think armatures on internet could look better than something from 90's.

So I'd think someone that is motivated with money, some streaming service, could re-create these.

There are several issues with remastering Babylon 5:

1) the variable frame rate: live action is 24p anything with CG is effectively 60p (both in a 60i container). This is difficult to do in HD.

2) a lot of the source materials for the CG are scattered to the winds, and the surviving stuff is in semi-obscure formats, that make re-rendering expensive.

A few people on youtube have posted fan restorations of the CG based on source-material that have fallen into their hands, and it looks pretty good… but I can’t see WB making the same effort to restore the CG further. Maybe as AI upscaling improves - it might look better.

3) Questions around 16:9 vs 4:3 framing.

Either way - great show - but HD doesn’t do some of the aets any favours.

yes, I beleive the remaster uses AI upscaling.

The Lurker's Guide's order having the movie "In the Beginning" first is controversial and not something I'd personally recommend. It spoils one of the major story arcs of the first two seasons.

Their rearrangement of the TV episodes is fine.