'Babylon 5' Is Cheaper Than 'Star Trek' And We Love It
J. Michael Straczynski's 'Babylon 5' Rocks And B5 Stands For Low Budget
Feel like engaging in a little nostalgic time warp? No worries, my time machine usually runs reliably. You won’t feel the body piercing temporal energies washing over you - much. Babylon 5 beckons….
Let’s go back to the 90’s to properly access the prophetic science fiction TV archives. Imagine the future spanning gems we’ll uncover. We can also get something off our chests which we’ve wanted to share for awhile. Well, make that something I’ll share. Confession time from your sci-fi guy: Babylon 5 was a cheap show.
Whew! It wasn’t easy but it had to be said.
Now, please, go easy on me. Before you go crazed Red Alert tilt to send in the whole Narn Regime, Centauri Republic or merciless Minbari warrior class assassins to grind my vulnerable humanoid form into space dust, I don’t mean B5’s complex message, fine actors or let alone its sharp writing is cheap. Not at all. Show creator J. Michael Straczynski’s sci-fi show is awesome, yet it was simply cheaply produced.
To be clear: B5 - compared to other sci-fi shows such as Star Trek - tightly reigned in its production budget. Compared with other television space operas it could rightly be called cheap. Low budget. Discount.
However, we must remember, being cheap or doing cheap doesn’t necessarily mean something looks cheap - and with Babylon 5 we saw such proof in every broadcast season. Compared to higher budget shows such as Star Trek, B5 could be called not as lavish or as ambitious in total, but it still managed to deliver respectable visuals.
No matter which show you prefer, fact is both of them blazed a magnificent trail for science fiction lovers everywhere.
Let’s get down to brass tacks, my ever vigilant bean counters. Here’s the TV cost budget breakdown from back in the day:
Babylon 5 is produced on a per-episode budget of roughly $800,000, quite low for a science-fiction series; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, by comparison, has a budget of roughly $1.6 million per episode, and Fox's Space: Above and Beyond is rumored to cost $2 million. Dec 29, 1995
And here is another cost comparison.
Each DS9 episode has a budget of $2 million, but most of that figure consists of fixed costs: actor salaries, studio rental fees, and the like. About $300,000 is left over for guest stars, new sets, special effects, and extras. Nov 30, 1998
So DS9 was spending double or more per weekly episode.
Lighting The Way
No matter how much you loved B5 in terms of its message, characters and writing, it’s inarguable other shows felt more authentic or looked more lavish. Why do some TV shows or movies look or just feel better than others?
Show us the light.
Lighting directors who set up lighting and supervise how a film or TV show is lit are essential for any production. If you think a scene from your favorite film or TV show would look exactly the same if you were there in person on set watching the action unfold, think again. Cinematographers and lighting directors work hand in hand to make everything look just right - either weird, cool, romantic, nostalgic, spooky - as if plucked from a fairy tale or nightmare.
I’m not accusing the hard working production team of skimping when it came to the lighting, but from my perspective it’s clearly a mixed bag. Sometimes the show is lit wonderfully, other times not so much. Sometimes it’s shadowy and darkly fun, otherwise over lit and garish.
Certain parts of the station sets look terrific - the casino, the medlab, the command bridge. Especially well done are the command control consoles which have that bright, colorful Star Trek: The Next Generation look. TNG pretty much pioneered that tech under artist Mike Okuda’s direction. Though other areas, many of the connective corridors and other larger sections, seem under lit or just badly lit.
Perhaps it’s my familiarity and love of the near film noir sets of Deep Space Nine which makes me critical of B5’s less than stellar lighting schemes, but I feel it’s a major reason why some may find fault with its overall look.
The show’s pioneering computer FX - B5’s all CGI rendered ships and battle scenes - are another matter. While clearly dated by today’s digital sophistication, the CGI is generally serviceable to impressive mostly.
Babylon 5 Reboot
I’m rewatching the classic show now in awesome HD. I’m finding it even more glorious than I recall from back in the day. This is a beautiful remastering job. Every B5 fan deserves to own this lovingly restored series.
But a reboot looms before us whether we like it or not.
As a devoted B5 fan, ask yourself and please be honest: Do you really want or do you feel we need a reboot? Honestly, I’m not sure myself. I do know that no matter what the case, whatever we fans want, this reboot will probably happen, though not as early or soon as we were expecting.
Sadly, recent news confirms the worst about the planned B5 reboot. The show was scheduled for the 2022 season on the CW, but its parent company, Warner Brothers, is selling the CW channel, so a new B5 won’t appear until at least 2023.
Here is what B5’s creator, Straczynski has to say:
“Here’s the bottom line. Yesterday, Babylon 5 was in active development at the CW and Warner Bros. for fall 2022. Today, it is in active development at the CW and Warner Bros. for fall 2023. That is the only difference.”
Sounds optimistic. But fan love can often be harsh, tough love. Fan reaction has been mixed in their warm, welcoming reception of a reboot period. Many feel a sequel series - such as what Next Generation did for original Star Trek - is more in order. Unfortunately the harsh reality is many of the actors who played major character roles are deceased.
That many actors who were key players in the classic version are no longer with us is the sad, near insurmountable hurdle any direct continuation of the classic series faces. Unless creator J. Michael Straczynski wanted to fast forward several decades to account for the passing of characters, he needs to produce a full on remake/reboot. All characters will be recast. The most fans could hope for would be enjoying cameos or recast roles for B5’s original acting cast.
Babylon 5 boasts a legendary legacy and its narrative gifts to loyal fans are so powerful that undoubtedly the show will rise again in some glorious, newly incarnated form. Be patient my boisterous B5 babies, seeing your sci-fi ride in jump gate motion again is well worth a longer wait.
all true