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What's so great about Babylon 5?

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  • #31
    As stated earlier, B5 was a series whose story was created whole, and as most storylines the best part tends to be the middle (this was George Lucas' argument for making episode 4,5, and 6 first of the nine Star Wars episodes).

    By season 3, you have a sense of the characters, their history and motivations. You also have a sense of the motivation behind the ancient races and at this point all these elements come together.

    Course, this assumes you like in depth storylines. If you don't then you're probably not going to enjoy B5.

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    • #32
      Lets just say I don't expect to find depth in sci-fi tv series
      Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing

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      • #33
        Good charater establishment and development can occur simultaneously with the presentation of a strong story arc.

        The problem with B5 season one was that there were only vague hints of any overriding story arc.

        It's why I lost interest in Voyager and Enterprise after one season.

        Compare with BSG - which hit the ground running with the main arc.

        I started watching B5 after I saw the TNT prequel movie regarding the Earth/Mimbari war. That created the interest for me. If I had started with season 1, episode 1, I know I would have lost interest.

        I am glad I stuck it out though - the hints in season 2 create a good buildup, and seasons 3 and 4 are really, really good!!!
        Yes, let's be optimistic until we have reason to be otherwise...No, let's be pessimistic until we are forced to do otherwise...Maybe, let's be balanced until we are convinced to do otherwise. -- DrSpike, Skanky Burns, Shogun Gunner
        ...aisdhieort...dticcok...

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        • #34
          I liked B5 namly because it was more "realistic" in terms of the future. You had a reasonable number aliens unlike in Star Wars/Trek where you had more aliens then planets. It also took place far enough in the future that it seems reasonable. I personally don't see intersteller space travel for the next 200 years AT BEST. 500 is a safer choice though.


          But if you really want to find a sci-fi program that IMHO seems to show the future will hold in space, look no further then AL|EN. Nothing fancy, everything looks like it runs off a 386 computer (which is what the space shuttle uses since fancier chips either fry or are damaged from solar radiation from what I understand).

          Why have fancy laser guns when bullets work just as well?
          I drink to one other, and may that other be he, to drink to another, and may that other be me!

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          • #35
            B5 really starts getting good at the end of S1, namely Chrysalis There are some decent eps before that, but it's really finding its feet for most of S1.

            Shame Crusade never really took off, it had a pretty decent cast (apart from Galen).
            mssv.net - After Our Time - Six to Start

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            • #36
              Originally posted by Adrian Hon
              Shame Crusade never really took off, it had a pretty decent cast (apart from Galen).

              I think it didn't catch on namely because it was using the same old "different planet a day" formula that many other sci-fi programs use.
              I drink to one other, and may that other be he, to drink to another, and may that other be me!

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              • #37
                Well, you can't judge the whole series on the first few episodes. The greatness of B5 is that it told a consistent and epic story from begining to end. The characters get involved in larger than life events, confronting the evil Shadows in a desperata final struggle, standing up to their own government that has become tyrannical and corrupt, building a historical alliance of races that spans across the stars. And the characters face huge changes in their own lives. For example, Londo Molari is unable to escape the consequences of his sins and G'Kar transforms from a vengeful warrior to a sacrificial prophet. By the time you get to the end of the series, you are awestruck by the epic story and the characters that made a difference.
                'There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.'"
                G'Kar - from Babylon 5 episode "Z'ha'dum"

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                • #38
                  The Shadows are evil? Vorlon propoganda.
                  Exult in your existence, because that very process has blundered unwittingly on its own negation. Only a small, local negation, to be sure: only one species, and only a minority of that species; but there lies hope. [...] Stand tall, Bipedal Ape. The shark may outswim you, the cheetah outrun you, the swift outfly you, the capuchin outclimb you, the elephant outpower you, the redwood outlast you. But you have the biggest gifts of all: the gift of understanding the ruthlessly cruel process that gave us all existence [and the] gift of revulsion against its implications.
                  -Richard Dawkins

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                  • #39
                    Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Vorlons turn out to be pretty nasty in the end?

                    Where on Earth does one rent Babylon 5? Our local Blockbuster store only rents the major TV shows like Lost, Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and etc. They don't carry even one Science Fiction TV series.

                    Does anyone know if any of the TV networks plan on re-running Babylon 5?
                    "I say shoot'em all and let God sort it out in the end!

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                    • #40
                      Oh, the Vorlons are bastards as well. They just portrayed themselves as sweetness and light. At least the Shadows were honest about their goals.
                      Exult in your existence, because that very process has blundered unwittingly on its own negation. Only a small, local negation, to be sure: only one species, and only a minority of that species; but there lies hope. [...] Stand tall, Bipedal Ape. The shark may outswim you, the cheetah outrun you, the swift outfly you, the capuchin outclimb you, the elephant outpower you, the redwood outlast you. But you have the biggest gifts of all: the gift of understanding the ruthlessly cruel process that gave us all existence [and the] gift of revulsion against its implications.
                      -Richard Dawkins

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                      • #41
                        Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
                        Where on Earth does one rent Babylon 5? Our local Blockbuster store only rents the major TV shows like Lost, Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and etc. They don't carry even one Science Fiction TV series.
                        Netflix (or, in my case, Zip, the canadian Netflix). Try it and you'll never return to your Blockbuster store And since there are no due dates, its better for TV series.
                        Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing

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                        • #42
                          Originally posted by Starchild
                          Oh, the Vorlons are bastards as well. They just portrayed themselves as sweetness and light. At least the Shadows were honest about their goals.
                          They both had the same goal. It's just that they both had their own ways of doing it.
                          I drink to one other, and may that other be he, to drink to another, and may that other be me!

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                          • #43
                            There was a large transition between season 1 and 2, specially with the changing of the main actor. Yes, the effects early on are not the best, but then of course the show was not made by a big budget studio like Paramount, and most of the time it had to fight for funding.

                            As has been stated, the character development, and the great depth given each culture is what makes the show great. All the aliens are not just people with funky looks- they come from unique cultures with different mores, and this is done very well.

                            Season two, specially the episodes that bookmark the Narn-Centauri war (the death of the Centauri emperor, the capture of the Narn Homeworld), and Season three, when B5 breaks form the Earth Allience, when Kosh dies, and the final episode are some of the best hours of sci fi on TV ever.
                            If you don't like reality, change it! me
                            "Oh no! I am bested!" Drake
                            "it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong" Voltaire
                            "Patriotism is a pernecious, psychopathic form of idiocy" George Bernard Shaw

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                            • #44
                              I missed the whole breaking off from Earth part. I saw some episodes in the run up, and some after, but I don't remember any really dealing with the whole fascist earth government thing.

                              I was only able to catch it sporadically when it was actually on. Now I really want to be able to watch all the ones I missed, and better yet watch them in order. Maybe I'll have to try Netflicks. Ugh, I just don't have any money though to rent things.... Maybe I can talk my housemates into it.
                              Captain of Team Apolyton - ISDG 2012

                              When I was younger I thought curfews were silly, but now as the daughter of a young woman, I appreciate them. - Rah

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                              • #45
                                The first season suffers from having Michael O'Hare in most of the scenes. Those few scenes which mercifully escape his "carved from a block of wood" acting, all too often include one of JMS's attempts at "humor".

                                In addition the first season has no real story arc and thus nothing for the actors to play off of. It is really quite weak.

                                The second season is where B5 begins, and while it never reaches the interest level of Farscape, there are two and a half good seasons there.
                                VANGUARD

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