A new Babylon 5 animated movie has been confirmed for release this summer, named Babylon 5: The Road Home. After a couple of cryptic hints, the original show’s creator J. Michael Straczynski confirmed the movie on Twitter at the start of May, describing it as “a love letter to the fans.” Here’s everything we know so far about the exciting follow-up to the old favorite sci-fi TV show.
Babylon 5 is a space opera sci-fi TV series that originally aired between 1995 and 1998. It later spawned several TV movies, a spin-off series, and several novels and comics. The main story focuses on a space station, the titular Babylon 5, and the diplomatic tensions between the different peoples who live there. Set in the aftermath of several interstellar wars, Babylon 5 deals with a few complex topics, including imperialism, slavery, rising fascism, and impending existential threats. While the special effects may now look a bit dated by modern standards, the story still holds up as a classic, with a cult fanbase to this day.
What Babylon 5: The Road Home Will Be About
The story of the Babylon 5 TV show included some convoluted storylines. They often involved destiny and time travel, and the new follow-up movie promises more of the same. Babylon 5: The Road Home will see the hero John Sheridan, who ended the original story as President of the new Interstellar Alliance, thrown into alternate realities and different timelines. Sheridan will uncover secrets about the history and meaning of the Universe while trying to find his way home.
Why It Is Good That Babylon 5’s Revival Will Be Animated
Animation is an ever-popular medium. It works particularly well for science fiction and comic book movies. For a franchise like Babylon 5, with two limited comic series published by DC, it’s a fitting medium for Babylon 5: The Road Home. Live-action sci-fi movies are being made with ever higher budgets, producing spectacular visuals in movies like the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. It’s important to remember though, a lot of modern movies are largely animated, with characters like Rocket Raccoon being rendered entirely in CG.
In an era of older story franchises being rebooted and revived, a live-action movie would need a big budget to do justice to the old favorite. As a full animation, it has fewer constraints. Babylon 5 is known for sweeping space battles and bizarre alien creatures, and while the battles were always animated anyway, the alien characters needed either extensive prosthetics or animatronics which need a lot of time and effort to create. For both of these things, an animated movie will be able to give them the prominence they deserve.
Will The Original Babylon 5 Cast Return For The Road Home
Several key members of the original Babylon 5 cast are returning to voice the characters they’re known for. Most notably, Bruce Boxleitner will be reprising his role as the main protagonist John Sheridan, and Claudia Christian will be returning as the sharp and sarcastic Susan Ivanova. Other major characters from the original show will also be back, including Peter Jurassik as the patriotic Londo Mollari; Bill Mumy as the conflicted Lennier; Patricia Tallman as the powerful psychic Lyta Alexander, and; Tracy Scoggins as station commander Elizabeth Lochley.
Several other characters from the original show will also be appearing, voiced by new actors, including the half-Human half-Minbari Delenn; the messiah figure G’Kar; Doctor Stephen Franklin; the troubled Michael Garibaldi, and; the mythical hero Jeffrey Sinclair. The strange alien caretaker Zathras is also due to make an appearance. It’s likely that other well-known characters will reappear in Babylon 5: The Road Home too, but their voice actors have yet to be announced.
When Babylon 5: The Road Home Will Release
So far, the only official release of the new movie is a first-look image of the Babylon 5 space station itself, in orbit around the planet Epsilon III. Babylon 5: The Road Home is being produced by Warner Bros. Animation, with the screenplay written by J. Michael Straczynski himself. The exact release date has not yet been confirmed. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be releasing it to watch online in VoD streaming, as well as making it available in DVD, BluRay, and 4K formats.
Full details for Babylon 5: The Road Home have yet to be confirmed, and are expected to be made public in mid-June. When this announcement arrives, viewers can expect a more detailed summary of the plot, a trailer, details on where to stream the movie, and the all-important release date. Until then, while there may be few solid details yet confirmed, this is doubtless enough to tantalize long-time fans of Babylon 5. From his social media posts, Straczynski himself is clearly excited by the project. Hopefully, Babylon 5: The Road Home will give audiences exactly the revival it promises to be.destiny and time travel
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