Niners Unite...around Babylon 5! - The Lost Threads

[Mal]

Anthony Sabre wrote:

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Just finished watching Mind War. Awesome episode! The best one so far. The analogy about the ant at the end was perfect. And the introduction of Sigma 975 was a nice way of opening the door to a mystery without giving away too much.

no one here is exactly what he appears
if there was one sentence that summed of B5, that's it!

Anthony Sabre wrote:

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Great to see Koenig playing a role other than Chekov as well.

if couple of times you see him, it's like - hey look it's Chekov. next couple of times you go back and watch TOS, and it's like - hey look, it's Bester...

Smiley wrote:

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To Dream in the City of Sorrows: This is a great character piece for Sinclair, and it ties up a lot of loose ends. I will not look at a few certain episodes the same way after reading this book. Marcus rocks! Keeping the review as spoiler-free as possible, I would love to see a novel or fan fiction devoted to Sinclair's time after his final appearance on the show. There's a tease in the epilogue, but there are a lot of story possibilities left unexplored.

actually a pretty damn good novel. not as good as the technomage trilogy, but what fan-fic is?!?!

i really wish we got one, just one Sinclair episode post-season 1 (and war without end doesn't count!). it would have made B5 just sooooo much better.

[middyseafort]

Mal wrote:

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i really wish we got one, just one Sinclair episode post-season 1 (and war without end doesn't count!). it would have made B5 just sooooo much better.

I too hoped that Sinclair had been given an episode set on Minbar in season two, something that would've impacted events on the station in the following episode. Oh, well.

If there is every a novel series again, I'd like to see a trilogy set during the first Shadow War with Valen and Babylon 4. I know there's the comic "In Valen's Name," but that only showed a few select incidents from that period. Speaking of which, did the comic series every state what the Minbari actually called B4?

[Smiley]

Maybe they called it the Fortress of Light. Knowing them, Babylon 4 would not be poetic enough.

[middyseafort]

Smiley wrote:

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Maybe they called it the Fortress of Light. Knowing them, Babylon 4 would not be poetic enough.

I like it.

[Phily B]

Season 1 is really shit though.

Honestly, I've never seen anything like it. Its AWFUL unless you've watched the rest of the seasons. Its probably one of the most unique TV shows evers. The problem for me is everything outside of the core cast, and story.

[Phily B]

Also I really wish they hadn't gone past season 4, or knew they had an extra season. The Earth war is the best part of the whole show, but it goes a bit too fast. Season 4 is great, it just feels like its cramming two seasons into one.

[Phily B]

Trying to watch Season 5 now.

Whose idea was it to have that woman as Captain? She is awful. She isn't a bad actor or anything, she just doesn't fit at all.

[Mal]

Phily B wrote:

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The Earth war is the best part of the whole show, but it goes a bit too fast. Season 4 is great, it just feels like its cramming two seasons into one.

[kosh]yes[/kosh]

Phily B wrote:

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Trying to watch Season 5 now.

Whose idea was it to have that woman as Captain? She is awful. She isn't a bad actor or anything, she just doesn't fit at all.

not a "fan" but certainly better than *ducks* ivanova.

(it's the voice. i'm just a sucker for the voice... )

[Phily B]

Ivanova would've been ok, only because of the connection. She grew on me after season one, but I never felt like she was her own character and never had the presence of Garibaldi, Franklin or Sheridan. She was pint sized, and even if she did her best and put in decent performances tbf she was never intimidating.

Also Matt Striker (WWE wrestler) reminds me A LOT of Mr Morden.

[Smiley]

Thoughts on The Shadow Within: I was a little nervous about this one since Anna is not my favorite character on the show. However, after the first couple of chapters, I really warmed up to the character. Anna, John, and Morden are all presented in sympathetic and realistic ways, and both storylines proved to be quite interesting.

Some of you may know that I have a fondness for ranking lists. Here is my list for the first nine B5 novels:

1. To Dream in the City of Sorrows
2. Voices
3. Personal Agendas
4. The Shadow Within
5. Accusations

6. Blood Oath

7. The Touch of Your Shadow, The Whisper of Your Name
8. Clark's Law
9. Betrayals

None of them totally rocked my socks, but the top five are quite solid, the sixth is okay, and the bottom three are out of my personal continuity.

[Anthony Sabre]

And the Sky Full of Stars

This episode pretty much makes it official. I'm hooked. Glad I didn't watch B5 during its original run. I get to enjoy it now.

[Neroon]

Anthony Sabre wrote:

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And the Sky Full of Stars

This episode pretty much makes it official. I'm hooked. Glad I didn't watch B5 during its original run. I get to enjoy it now.

Most of my original run consisted of borrowing VHS tapes from a friend, in exchange for a batch of ginger snaps.

I tell ya though, watching it in first run would have been maddening but exquisitely so. Waiting each week for what would come next. But I'm impatient enough that I'm grateful I didn't have to wait so long.

[Mal]

Anthony Sabre wrote:

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And the Sky Full of Stars

This episode pretty much makes it official. I'm hooked. Glad I didn't watch B5 during its original run. I get to enjoy it now.

i didn't watch B5 till after it had already ended. then, i watched it 3 times through in 3 months (an experience i highly recommend!).

anyway, it's become my standard practice now. i only watch shows after they are canceled except Doctor Who... cause's it's just too damn shiny!

the way BSG has been recently, i wish i had the same policy back when it started too...

[Jan]

Neroon wrote:

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I tell ya though, watching it in first run would have been maddening but exquisitely so. Waiting each week for what would come next. But I'm impatient enough that I'm grateful I didn't have to wait so long.

"Maddening but exquisitely so" describes it nicely. First you'd would watch the episode and, if lucky, any encore showing. I was lucky to find some great online communities where we'd discuss (and dissect) each episode, too. Nothing like hanging out with the shows writer/creator as well as all the rest of the fans as we'd wait for an 'eep' as to whether or not each season would be renewed. That was truly maddening! Still, as into the show as I was, I didn't appreciate the true genius of the B5 method of storytelling until the second viewing, when the episodes were 'stripped' on TNT.

Jan

[Phily B]

Trying to watch season 5. I think the credits are the best part of it so far.

I think B5 is one of the most unique shows out there though, there is defo something about it that gets you to watch it multiple times. I wish all shows were done like this, script and a sense of direction before going out and shooting it. The fact that JMS could do S5 because he had a bible is pretty amazing.

Though I can understand why its under rated overall and never got any critical praise.