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

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by Neroon, Aug 20, 2007.

  1. Phily B

    Phily B Commodore Commodore

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    A series which should be remade is B5. I'd love to see it remade with some proper script writers. I mean, can you imagine the impact the show would have if they killed the President at the end of the Season 1 - with us actually knowing the guy? I'd much prefer them to "Battlestar" up the B5 series. Avoid filler episodes, and expand on the actual political background, stuff like that. Just some rando, thoughts.
     
  2. Jan

    Jan Commodore Commodore

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    ...is insane. --JMS
    ^I wouldn't be interested in a remade B5, not at all. Not because B5 as it is is sacrosanct, it's just that it wouldn't be the same show at all if it were 'Battlestarred' as you say. And I'd drop it, just as I have BSG because of its unrelenting grimness and lack of character development.

    There really isn't any one episode of B5 that didn't have arc material in it at all and even if they served no other purpose, the stand-alones made the characters more real to us. Material in them would often telegraph something coming down the road (another beef I had with BSG-stories coming out of nowhere).

    Jan
     
  3. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

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    i agree. cut that puppy down from 110 episodes + half a dozen movies, to something like an even 100. get rid of Infection, Byron, Keffer, and other crap that just mucks things up. re-write some of the corny "humor", and incorporate To Dream in the City of Sorrows, so we get a little bit more of Sinclair and Sakai even after season 1.

    of course, before i would bother "battlestarizing" B5, i would much rather someone make miniseries for the three trilogies.

    oh, and something about the Teep war, please!!!!!!
     
  4. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

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    one last thing, an episode that could really use a Battlestarizing, is By Any Means Necessary. if you want a super-solid union ep (especially in light of the ongoing strike), Dirty Hands is your episode par excellence.
     
  5. PKTrekGirl

    PKTrekGirl Arrogant Niner Thug Admiral

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    I'm not sure if I'd want B5 'Battlestared'....but I must selfishly confess that I'd love it if one day I popped in a DVD and the CGI were of today's quality.

    I think that is the one thing that kinda dates the show...but other than that, I wouldn't change a thing.

    Well okay...maybe I'd change Byron.....:lol:
     
  6. Neroon

    Neroon Mod of Balance Moderator

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    Not me. B5 doesn't really need to be reimagined, with the possible exception of improving upon the CGI... but even then I am reluctant. I am not a big believe of having lightning strike again to the same effect. What's more, the overall perpetually grim darkness of BSG seems incompatible with the B5 story. Both are effective. Both have their strong points and weak spots. Yet, you will run into real trouble when trying to translate the principles that are successful for the one, over to the other.
     
  7. PKTrekGirl

    PKTrekGirl Arrogant Niner Thug Admiral

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    ^ Well, I think that B5 had it's own darkness - Down-below, Zahadum and the whole concept of the Shadows, the grimness of what the Centauri did to the Narn, the fall of Centauri Prime and Londo's fate, etc.

    But then that was contrasted against more hopeful and 'light' themes and places. I always loved the look of Minbar, for example - it looked so....bright, serene, and mystical. And there were some very positive characters on that show...and positive events. Not everything was grim and a huge struggle.

    I quite like BSG - it's probably my favorite of the scifi shows currently airing new episodes. But it can get overwhelming sometimes. Even for a DS9/Ron Moore fan such as myself.

    Sometimes you want to just say: Can SOMETHING good happen to these characters, please? :lol:
     
  8. Kegek

    Kegek Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Forget B5 as BSG.

    We should have B5 as Dexter, and everything is subjected to the ironic, cheery viewpoint of Mr. Morden, as he goes about his daily routine, nobody aware that he's really an agent of the Shadows. With Vir Cotto in the Erik King role.

    But seriously, I'd love to see the CGI updated. But I don't think a reboot is warranted.
     
  9. Neroon

    Neroon Mod of Balance Moderator

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    ^ I meant to differentiate things a bit more, just as you did. B5 did have that darkness, but there did seem to be more of the hopefulness. When it comes to such philosophies, to each their own. I just think that the more pervasive sense of hopelessness ala BSG doesn't fit the B5 mold.

    Otherwise, how could Lorien have ever made his well-known quote to Sheridan? ;)
     
  10. Tzenkethi

    Tzenkethi Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Drahk and the Xindi
    Anyone ever thought how similar these two are?
    Both are multiple races that serve energy beings and attempt to destroy earth.
     
  11. DWF

    DWF Admiral Admiral

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    The Drahk aren't a multiple race and the Shadows weren't energy based beings, they could be killed with energy weapons or PPGs.
     
  12. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

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    the Drahk certainly seemed like a multiple-race society, in that there were at least three kinds of Drahk i can remember:

    the "ambassador" who met Delenn, and was all time-shifty;
    the standard drahk including the dude who put the keeper on Londo;
    and that red-eye "count-dracula" looking drahk who seemed like a leader or some such - from crusade maybe?
     
  13. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    I think the red-eyed one and the "ambassador" who met Delenn are actually the same, but yeah, the Drakh certainly seemed to be a multiple-race society, as they were depicted on Crusade and Babylon 5.
     
  14. Jan

    Jan Commodore Commodore

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    ...is insane. --JMS
    I always thought of it as more of a separation of types for different jobs, such as with bees. The 'drones' would be the soldiers and messangers while the 'thinkers', such as Shivkala on Centauri Prime actually ran things. Technically, the Keepers were Drakh, too, and an outsider would think that they were a separate race if they didn't know that they 'budded' from another Drakh. Wasn't it established in the novels that the Drakh have something of a hive mind?

    Jan
     
  15. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    You know, there's definitely more about the Drakh in the Legions of Fire books, but I can't remember anything off the top of my head.
     
  16. scorpius1701

    scorpius1701 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The Drakh are one race, the ones seen that put the Keeper on Londo. The timeshifty guy only refers to himself as "Emissary" meaning he isnt really a Drakh.I guess this was done to preserve the surprise in season 5 when the Drakh reveal themselves.
     
  17. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    Except we see that time-shifty guy later on, early in season five sans time-shifting, and again on Crusade. If my memory is correct.
     
  18. Dusty Ayres

    Dusty Ayres Commodore

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    Blame the useless, dumbassed, cynical, mundane fucktards that make up the majority of the TV audience for this state of affairs and for both Painkiller Jane and Flash Gordon. If it weren't for their over-love of Battlestar Galactica
    that the critics developed, and if it weren't for the way that certain network executives are so cheap and unwilling to spend the money on programs that have traditional space themes, we'd be getting sci-fi that's just as amazing as the show we're talking about in this thread. But no, all we can get is really dark shite that's good for a while, but then get tiresome, and that are also 'open ended story arcs' because they're really plotless shit.

    John Kenneth Muir talks about this state of affairs in an article on his blog called Making Lemonade: Or How I Feel The Need, The Need For Speed...on the new Battlestar Galactica, which I will excerpt here;

    http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2005/06/making-lemonade-or-i-feel-need-need.html

    At least, 'we've always got Babylon 5'.
     
  19. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    You'd probably be best of taking that to the Battlestar Galactica forum, Dusty. Personally, I thought Muir's book, which I received for Christmas and read over the holidays was interesting, but also quite flawed. Here, too, he blows a lot of things out of proportion, like one use of "Jesus!" that was improvised on-set by Michael Hogan and never heard on the series again, and ignores some of the facets of his own argument (sometimes the hawkishness of the original Galactica is an asset, sometimes it's a source of criticism in his argument). He goes on to make the usual gallery of "GINO" complaints, bemoaning the series' use of American political commentary (even though the original did the same, only in the era of the cold war).

    But, then again, I've managed to enjoy both Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica (new and old), so what do I know?
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2008
  20. Dusty Ayres

    Dusty Ayres Commodore

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    Sorry, Hirogen Alpha, but I had to get that off my chest, even though I like Battlestar Galactica. The mundanes are wrecking sci-fi TV completely, to the point that if a show like Babylon 5 was sold to TV today, it would be changed from what we love it as to what Battlestar Galactica is. It seems that mundanes think that sci-fi can't be anything unless it looks normal or low-budget (Flash Gordon) or half-fantastic (Bionic Woman and Smallvile). I wish that Joe and Jane Average would just watch the shows and like them for their fantasticness, or stick to the mundane sludge they usually watch, because turning Flash Gordon and the Bionic Woman into the drab crap they are on TV now does nothing for them at all.

    Better yet, instead of watching and reading sludge, I'd suggest that they turn the TV off and read some sci-fi, so that they can understand the tecnological world they live in, and to not fear it so much.