Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski has twitter teased (can we call that tweased?) a secret Babylon 5 project which is finished but won't be revealed until next year's San Diego Comic Con.

Which he describes as "100% crescent fresh".

The great thing is that the secret B5 project isn't one of those "maybe it'll happen/maybe it won't"...it's done, it has a '23 release date, and it's the closest thing to the original B5 in tone of anything we've done since. As if no time has passed at all. 100% crescent fresh.

Done as in done. Finished. And all of the main B5 cast members still around participated. I can't tell you what it is or even what form, because that announcement has to come from others, but I'm very proud of it (and Patrons will, as ever, be first to get the deets.)

The agonizing part is that, even though it's finished, the project won't be debuted until a big presentation at next year's San Diego Comic Con, after which it will be made available.

It's a lunar crash?

Or was this an auto-correct fail for certified fresh, as in Rotten Tomatoes?

Secret tomato moons aside, have they done anything since the original B5 other than the short lived (one series) Crusade spin off?

While the official status of the Babylon 5 reboot is that it will be allowed to compete again for a series order next year - usually failure means total rejection - the CW Network recently changed ownership.

New owners Nexstar are aiming to cut costs, saying that CW presently spends almost twice as much on programming as other networks.

Sci-fi isn't cheap to make.

On the other hand they're also hoping to broaden programming.

Long known for producing tween oriented content, the average age of CW's audience is actually 58.

A show like Babylon 5 could help in that department.

Unfortunately the San Diego Comic Con is held mid year, long after pilot orders are decided, so our guess is that the CW plan to give it the same defer-until-next-year treatment and use this secret project to test the viability of a reboot.

Crescent Fresh?

On closer examination we traced "crescent fresh" back to a 90s MTV comedy show called Sifl and Olly.

Never heard of it before.

Apparently "crescent fresh" is "cool".

Or was, back in the day.

Wouldn't be surprised if many other sci-fi fans also don't understand this reference.

[ Main Image: Babylon 5 station. Credit: Warner Bros via Den of Geek. ]

References

Andreeva, Nellie (August 29, 2022). The CW Widens Programming Scope To Include Sitcoms & Procedurals, Begins Testing Outside Studio Deals With ‘The Hatpin Society’ From EP Rachel Bloom. Deadline.

Hayes, Dade (August 15, 2022). The CW Will Be A Profitable Network By 2025, With Broader And Cheaper Programming, New Owners At Nexstar Signal. Deadline.

J. Michael Straczynski [@straczynski] (August 31, 2022). Done as in done. Twitter.

J. Michael Straczynski [@straczynski] (August 31, 2022).The agonizing part is that, even though it's finished the project won't be debuted until a big presentation. Twitter.

J. Michael Straczynski [@straczynski] (August 31, 2022). The great thing is that the secret B5 project isn't one of those "maybe it'll happen/maybe it won't". Twitter.

Leavell, Eric (March 21, 2007). Crescent Fresh Explaination (Sifl & Olly). YouTube.

Wikipedia. The Sifl and Olly Show. (viewed September 5, 2022)