I only watched one or two episodes when it was on, but now I'm tempted to buy one of the DVD sets -- possibly the DVD of the five Babylon 5 movies (ads for which are in current comics).
Recommendations? How similar is it to Deep Space Nine (which I liked OK, but didn't love)?
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Bab 5 was awesome! I watched all the seasons in reruns after I came in on the cliffhanger of season 2 or 3. The one where Cmdr Sheridan goes to Zaadum. Awesome stuff! It blew DS9 clean out of the water. Highly recommended!
-------------------- “By far, the strangest of all living beings is VALIDUS! No one knows his origin … nor even precisely what he is! But his power is known and feared throughout the universe! His strength is incalculable, and though he does not possess a superior intellect, the pure energy of his brain causes mental lightning to flash around his head, he is force personified!”
From: Conn. | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
I LOVED Babylon 5! I don't think it's a good idea to pick up the movies first since you might not understand a lot of what's going on and it'd spoil a lot if you ever plan on seeing the show in order. I'd go out and start from the very beginning instead. I'm not kidding, the whole five seasons is pretty much one huge story (some key story elements were foreshadowed seasons in advance)!
Deep Space Nine seemed influenced by B5 in its last season with making the Dominion War one large storyarc, but it so paled in comparison with the complexity of B5, that I couldn't enjoy it.
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Suddenly Seymour: Validus, put a spoiler warning in that post!!
Oh dont you worry. I didnt tell you HOW how the cliffhanger ended. When I saw it, I was like and it just got better from there! Oh yeah!
-------------------- “By far, the strangest of all living beings is VALIDUS! No one knows his origin … nor even precisely what he is! But his power is known and feared throughout the universe! His strength is incalculable, and though he does not possess a superior intellect, the pure energy of his brain causes mental lightning to flash around his head, he is force personified!”
From: Conn. | Registered: Aug 2004
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Ya know, a lot of B5 fans felt (and feel) obligated to bash DS-9. sure there were similarities, hell- probably direct rip offs- but having grown up in the 70s when sci-fiction on TV was pretty pathetic, I really enjoyed having two great series to watch!
Both were written pretty damn well and had great characters, which once seemed impossible, given the shaft that TV execs used to pidgeonhole the genre into.
Of course, B5 was the better of the two, but that doesn't mean DS-9 was without merit. In fact, it had a lot.
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:Originally posted by DrakeB3003: I LOVED Babylon 5! I don't think it's a good idea to pick up the movies first since you might not understand a lot of what's going on and it'd spoil a lot if you ever plan on seeing the show in order.
Ah, OK. I thought the movies might have been stand-alone stories, but it looks like they're pretty firmly tied into the series continuity.
The only thing I'm afraid of now is if I buy the first season, I may have to end up buying all of them...
Registered: Jul 2003
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Babylon 5 is my favorite show of all time, and the science fiction series that went further than any previous one had dared to go: a self-contained arc written as a novel instead of as a franchise (though it became a franchise, as well).
I haven't seen the show in a long time. But at the time, nothing consumed my waking hours quite as much as B5 -- trying to figure out the prophecies, the cliffhangers, the back story. B5 promised a big payoff in the end and, after four years, it delivered. This remarkable feat was even more outstanding considering the numerous cast changes and constant threat of cancellation that it overcame.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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Faraway Lad
Senator of the UP. Permanent Ambassador to the Court of Saint James
posted
Stu,
I love B5. It is best though to start at the beginning and work through. The movies are nice "extras" but aren't (i think) essential to the story.
Be warned though, if you do like it you will have many late nights and a pretty empty wallet as you have 5 years worth to catch up on. I have the first four seasons am waiting to get the last one when it comes out over here.
-------------------- Faithfull
From: Newcastle upon Tyne England | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Yeah, B5 had a lot going for it. The first season pretty much sucked though. The guy who plays Sinclair is almost cartoonishly wooden. It's the reason I didn't watch the show until I started catching it in reruns on TBS a few years later. Once Boxleitner joins the show and the writers figure out what the hell they're doing, it gets good, but until then it's first-season Next Gen bad.
From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Nov 2003
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quote:Originally posted by STU: I thought the movies might have been stand-alone stories, but it looks like they're pretty firmly tied into the series continuity.
Actually, the stories themselves are stand alone (you don't need to movies if you watch the series), but these stories take place within the context of a series that went through major status quo changes in its five years (hence the comment that they're full of spoilers). I'm also not sure how accessible those movies are if you're not familiar with the characters and their context.
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Kent Shakespeare: Ya know, a lot of B5 fans felt (and feel) obligated to bash DS-9. sure there were similarities, hell- probably direct rip offs- but having grown up in the 70s when sci-fiction on TV was pretty pathetic, I really enjoyed having two great series to watch!
To be fair, that cut both ways. A lot of hardcore Trek fans felt the need to bash B-5 when it first came out as well. Then there were the rumors (don't know how true they are) that J. Michael Can'tspellhislastname pitched B-5 to Paramount as a Star Trek series only to have them steal it for DS9, which didn't help.
quote:Originally posted by Director Lad: Yeah, B5 had a lot going for it. The first season pretty much sucked though. The guy who plays Sinclair is almost cartoonishly wooden. It's the reason I didn't watch the show until I started catching it in reruns on TBS a few years later. Once Boxleitner joins the show and the writers figure out what the hell they're doing, it gets good, but until then it's first-season Next Gen bad.
I disagree on both points, Director Lad. Michael O'Hare, who played Sinclair, was a more cerebral and understated actor than Boxleitner, who was more in keeping with the Hollywood model of a leading man: gung-ho, handsome, etc. Neither character or actor was necessarily bad. Both were appropriate for the story at the time, I think.
As for the writers not knowing what they were doing, Straczynski oversaw them, as I recall. He spent the first season establishing the setting and the characters. It moved slower than later seasons, as I recall, but it was deliberate.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I liked DS9, as well. Comparing B5 to DS9 is like comparing NYPD Blue to Barney Miller. Both of the latter are cop shows set in New York, but that's about it.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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and it just got better from there! Oh yeah!![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
