Farscape or Babylon 5?

[Greg Cox]

I admit that I gave up on B-5 early on, because I was underwhelmed by the first few episodes, but friends I trust convinced me to give it a second chance--and, yes, it does get much better once the big arc plots kick in.

I still prefer Farscape, however. At its best, it's wild, anarchic, and full of vivid, colorful characters. (Did I mention that I have a framed, autographed photo of Chiana on my office wall?)

[Jeff O'Connor]

I think I'd go with Farscape. Both are in my top five, though. But Farscape's worst is probably better than Babylon 5's worst, and its characters come to life more (as they're more of a focus).

Babylon 5's plot definitely outweighs Farscape's, for me, but mileage can and will vary on that as well. B5 goes for a sprawling epic, whereas Farscape keeps things more personal and grounded, but still manages to reach dizzying highs.

[Jeff O'Connor]

Oh yeah, and Farscape's acting is definitely superior overall. You might find yourself scratching your head at the praise for its acting as you go through the first season, but eventually, that cast finds its footing so damn nicely. So in other words, wooden, cliched performances in the first few episodes ought not to deter you; they get so. Much. Better.

Babylon 5, on the other hand, has a few stellar performances surrounded by mediocre performances. I think a lot of that has to do with the directing, honestly; every now and then, the seemingly-subpar cast members manage to suddenly steal a scene.

Oh, and Babylon 5 has some horrendously poor guest actors, IMO. I don't mind "low budget" in most of the traditional senses of the term, but some of the one-shot villains are just absolutely laughable. Makes me sad.

[John Clark]

Greg Cox wrote:

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I admit that I gave up on B-5 early on, because I was underwhelmed by the first few episodes, but friends I trust convinced me to give it a second chance--and, yes, it does get much better once the big arc plots kick in.

I still prefer Farscape, however. At its best, it's wild, anarchic, and full of vivid, colorful characters. (Did I mention that I have a framed, autographed photo of Chiana on my office wall?)

I was more the opposite. I watched the first couple of episodes of Farscape but came back to it near the end of the first season (possibly around Nerve?) and then got hooked. B5 caught me straight away.

[Jeff O'Connor]

I can definitely see how either series would have a hard time hooking someone early on, really. If my grandmother hadn't started watching the both of them, I might have passed them over as a kid.

I'm confident I'd have returned to them as an adult, given my ongoing interest in space opera settings, but yeah.

[JD]

I enjoyed Babylon 5 back when I watched it a few years ago. I bought all of the seasons and movies, and watched it straight through and plan to do so again. But I really enjoy Farscape a lot more.
I thought Farscape was a lot more fun. B5 is basically a traditional sci-fi story, it is very well done, but IMO there is a lot more originality in Farscape. I like the characters better in Farscape, and thanks to the absolutely amazing work done by Jim Henson's Creature Shop (IMO Farscape was one of the best things they ever did) it has a lot more interesting aliens. I know a lot of people make fun of the fact that it's puppets in space, but that was one of my elements of the series. But I'm also a huge life long fan of The Jim Henson Company, so I could be a little biased.

[aelius]

I, on the other hand, am not a fan of puppets.
I LOVE Farscape. Its awesome. It is not a puppet show. After a while you forget you are not looking at aliens.
In answer to your question though, I don't know. they are both among my favorites. If you plan to get them both eventually I would say it doesn't matter. You should enjoy whichever you get and can get to the next when you can afford it.

[JD]

^Oh, I agree complelty about the puppets in FS, it's just something that I think should be addressed when recommending them.
After a few episodes you really do start to think of Rygel and Pilot as other characters, and not as the puppets.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Farscape - more imaginative, better actors, more well-drawn characters, much more entertaining.

[tomalak301]

I love both shows, but I would go for Farscape, just because I feel the characters had a much significant change in Farscape than they did in B5. Also, Farscape I felt was a whole lot more fun, while on B5 they did have fun bits (Ivanova and Mollari), it seemed more serious in the later years.

[Ian Keldon]

Having seen all of B5 and having tried to watch Farscape and not been able to even finish an ep, I'd have to say B5 all the way.

Stronger acting, better plot and dialogue, stronger through story. Win-win-win across the board with B5.

[Ian Keldon]

My Name Is Legion wrote:

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Farscape - more imaginative,

Translation= funky but murky through story that doesn't seem to have much to say OR do a very good job of getting there.

better actors

Complete and utter horsecrap!

Katsulas, Jurrasic, and Furlan in particular stand head and shoulders above Browder or Claudia Black.

Boxleitner was excellent in his role as was Doyle, and Carter, Biggs, and Conaway are very strong supporting actors

more well-drawn characters

Londo, G'Kar, Franklin, D'lenn, et al vs a bunch of muppets whose names I can't ever remember?

Clear win for B5.

much more entertaining.

So entertaining I couldn't even make it through a full episode...

Go peddle your kool-aid elsewhere, Legion, because it ain't selling with me.

[RoJoHen]

Ian Keldon wrote:

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Go peddle your kool-aid elsewhere, Legion, because it ain't selling here.

Except that Farscape is one of the most popular shows on the board, along with B5. And out of curiosity, which episode of Farscape did you try and watch?

[Ian Keldon]

^Actually tried several different eps from time to time when I could catch them over the years, and recently tried to do the S1 E1 thing and couldn't even get through the pilot.

It was mostly because of the fact I liked Browder as Cam Mitchell that I even tried that last time. Crichton just annoyed the heck out of me, as did the muppets.

And no, it wasn't because theywere muppets, (one of my all time favorite supporting characters [Supreme Commander Thor] was a "muppet") it was because I found them uninteresting and forgettable.

ETA: I changed my prev post to be more precise.

[RoJoHen]

Well, it's not for everybody. I would probably have a hard time if I watched the show starting with the first season. I was introduced to it with the 3-parter at the end of Season 2, which is just full of action. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I frickin loved it anyway!