Babylon 5 Remastered Now Available To Stream On HBO Max

Babylon 5, the '90s science fiction show that never quite exceeded its more popular Star Trek competitor, is now available in fully remastered form on WarnerMedia's HBO Max platform. You have a couple of different options to watch the remastered version, with it being available on Amazon and iTunes in addition to HBO Max.

Many popular '90s shows never get a proper remaster despite their popularity, and for good reason: they often featured just enough CGI to make things expensive. While the original film can be rescanned at a higher resolution and post-processed for quality, the CGI elements must be recreated or upscaled for modern televisions — both of which take considerable time.

Babylon 5 joins the relatively small list of '90s TV shows that have received a remaster, and now is your chance to watch it. The series has a total of five seasons that ran from 1994 to 1998; the show was shot on Super 35mm film and originally broadcast in 4:3 standard definition.

When the series finally made its way to Amazon Prime, fans complained that the quality wasn't great and that some parts were nearly unwatchable. The newly remastered version is likewise offered in 4:3 aspect ratio rather than the widescreen fans got with the DVD release. The quality is definitely upgraded, but don't expect to be blown away by the changes.

According to Warner Bros via Engadget, it took about six years to remaster the series. Fans learned about the project in late 2020 when the remastered version appeared on iTunes and Prime Video, but details on the work weren't provided at the time. In addition to those two platforms, you can now stream Babylon 5 Remastered on HBO Max.