Babylon 5

[Rhodan]

Overall, it seems to me more and more that Straczynski is kinda like George R.R. Martin. He is good writer through characters (although I had still problems with Babylon writing here nad there), but he is kinda weak plotter, which might manifest in how he seems to be clumsy with introducing the plotline (The Gathering, B5 season 1, supposedly some episodes of Crusade, Legend of the Rangers) or coming up with the new ideas when the main flesh is gone (B5 season 5, most of B5 movies).

 

[Reverend]

Now see I would have gone with Jeff Conaway and Pat Tallman acting their arses off in that elevator scene...but sure, let's all just focus on the sweaty and/or almost naked actresses...

 

[Farscape One]

Another parallel between JMS and Martin is the incredible world building.

 

[Rhodan]

Another parallel between JMS and Martin is the incredible world building.

Well, I´m not denying that in the slightest.

EDIT: This was actually my old wet dream. GOT (TV show) being written by Straczynski.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

So is the general consensus that the movies suck? At this point the only one that I feel is worth watching is In The Beginning because it’s about the Earth/Minbari war, and will shed more light on it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I enjoyed In the Beginning. Haven't seen any of the other ones.

 

[Takeru]

Not quite how it went down. IIRC the original actor that portrayed Anna for the recorded message back in season 2 couldn't return for whatever reason (I'm assuming scheduling commitments.) So Boxleitner was like "well, I am married to an actress, and she does have some experience playing my wife, so..."
As nepotism casting goes I'd call that a fairly inoffensive case. I mean it's not like the part was created for her, she wasn't the first choice, they were in a bit of a schedule crunch, and it was just such a very simple and easy fix that they'd have been silly not to go for it. It helps that she was also pretty good in the role.

I wouldn't call it nepotism casting at all, she was a bigger name than anyone else on the show and acted circles around her scene partners, It's not really nepotism when the guest star's doing the show a favor.

So is the general consensus that the movies suck? At this point the only one that I feel is worth watching is In The Beginning because it’s about the Earth/Minbari war, and will shed more light on it.

In the Beginning is the only movie worth watching, you're right about that. The other movies, Crusade and The Lost Tales are all pretty bad.

 

[Reverend]

So is the general consensus that the movies suck? At this point the only one that I feel is worth watching is In The Beginning because it’s about the Earth/Minbari war, and will shed more light on it.

Pretty much. 'In the Beginning' is easily the best of the bunch, though if you have any intention of checking out Crusade too, then you'll want to watch 'A Call to Arms' as it's a quasi pilot/bridging movie.

'Thirdsapce' & 'River of Souls' had their moments, but you're not really missing all that much by skipping them. 'Legends of the Rangers' is a bit of an odd duck as while it's technically a movie, it's really just a feature length pilot for a series that didn't get picked up. It's not great (I mean imagine if 'The Gathering' was all we saw of B5!) but there are elements that work...and some that don't. Mostly it's the last time we ever got to see G'Kar before Andreas Katsulas passed. So there's that.
'Lost Tales'....well it's not great, but half of it is at least half-way interesting...I guess? Again, it's another one of those things that was meant to be a first instalment in a series that never happened.

Basically B5 has shite luck when it comes to spin-offs. So another thing it was doing way before NuBSG.

 

[Guy Gardener]

In the Beginning - 40 percent reruns.

Thirdspace - Zombie movie.

Legends of the Rangers - Cowboy Movie.

River of Souls - Porkies 7.

Crusade - Heist Movie.

Lost Tales - Far too little, Far too late.

The Gathering - We didn't know any better.

 

[DonIago]

Pretty much. 'In the Beginning' is easily the best of the bunch, though if you have any intention of checking out Crusade too, then you'll want to watch 'A Call to Arms' as it's a quasi pilot/bridging movie.

'Thirdsapce' & 'River of Souls' had their moments, but you're not really missing all that much by skipping them. 'Legends of the Rangers' is a bit of an odd duck as while it's technically a movie, it's really just a feature length pilot for a series that didn't get picked up. It's not great (I mean imagine if 'The Gathering' was all we saw of B5!) but there are elements that work...and some that don't. Mostly it's the last time we ever got to see G'Kar before Andreas Katsulas passed. So there's that.
'Lost Tales'....well it's not great, but half of it is at least half-way interesting...I guess? Again, it's another one of those things that was meant to be a first instalment in a series that never happened.

Basically B5 has shite luck when it comes to spin-offs. So another thing it was doing way before NuBSG.

Pretty much agree with all of this. It seems that when JMS drifted away from the main B5 arcs he could come up with "interesting" stuff easily enough, but had trouble finding "good" again, and I could probably argue that he never found "great", though it's hard to know what might have happend with "Crusade" if it hadn't been canceled. I guess the same goes for "Legends of the Rangers", though the main plot point it seemed to be looking toward in the future was...concerning to me.

 

[Farscape One]

I actually truly loved CRUSADE.

 

[Reverend]

Pretty much agree with all of this. It seems that when JMS drifted away from the main B5 arcs he could come up with "interesting" stuff easily enough, but had trouble finding "good" again, and I could probably argue that he never found "great", though it's hard to know what might have happend with "Crusade" if it hadn't been canceled. I guess the same goes for "Legends of the Rangers", though the main plot point it seemed to be looking toward in the future was...concerning to me.

For the spin-off's at least, I think it's more a case of they never had the chance to ramp up to anything great. I mean again, just imagine what one might think of B5 if it was just 'The Gathering' and the first half of the first season is all there ever was. You'd never recognise what we being set-up since you never get the season 3 & 4 pay-offs.

The tragedy of 'Crusade' especially is that literally the next few episodes that were to be filmed before the plug was pulled would have been that show's 'Signs and Portents'/'And the Sky Full of Stars' equivalent, and the finale would have turned the whole show on it's head way more than 'Chrysalis' did...admittedly partly because the hook for the show's premier was never meant to be the driving story, but something the network insisted on. That's a whole other discussion though...

 

[Farscape One]

Yes, CRUSADE had the potential to be equal to B5... maybe even surpass it in some areas.

It was a good cast, and good characters. Gideon and Galen were particularly good.

About the only thing I felt a bit jarring was the music in some areas, but they were going for something different and I looked at it as an experiment later on.

 

[DonIago]

I wasn't going to bring up the music. Experimental is fine and good, but I couldn't get into it at all. It got in the way of me enjoying the show.

 

[Rhodan]

The tragedy of 'Crusade' especially is that literally the next few episodes that were to be filmed before the plug was pulled would have been that show's 'Signs and Portents'/'And the Sky Full of Stars' equivalent, and the finale would have turned the whole show on it's head way more than 'Chrysalis' did...admittedly partly because the hook for the show's premier was never meant to be the driving story, but something the network insisted on. That's a whole other discussion though...

Wait, the Drakh plague was something the studio came up with? That´s part of the story I never heard about.

BTW, I´m trying to read the Centauri trilogy, but I´m not sure if I can get back to the universe without it´s visuals.

 

[Timby]

Yes, CRUSADE

I know that it's common parlance in Hollywood and whatnot, but capitalizing every letter of a show is a really annoying affectation.

CRUSADE!

Edit: I have diarrhea because I put too much butter in my dinner so it's PASSING THROUGH GETHSEMANE

 

[Reverend]

Wait, the Drakh plague was something the studio came up with? That´s part of the story I never heard about.

I forget the precise back and forth of who said what, but IIRC what it amounted to is that TNT wanted some kind of "quest" so the crew would have some big important mission and it's all action packed and high stakes from the start. So that's what he got, but it would have been tossed out the window once JMS was sure they stopped paying attention.

 

[DonIago]

Wait, the Drakh plague was something the studio came up with? That´s part of the story I never heard about.

BTW, I´m trying to read the Centauri trilogy, but I´m not sure if I can get back to the universe without it´s visuals.

The Centauri trilogy is a great read. Peter David has some degree of his usual tendency for "humor", but it's pretty manageable this time around.

If you need the visuals you can always rewatch the show.

 

[Rhodan]

I forget the precise back and forth of who said what, but IIRC what it amounted to is that TNT wanted some kind of "quest" so the crew would have some big important mission and it's all action packed and high stakes from the start. So that's what he got, but it would have been tossed out the window once JMS was sure they stopped paying attention.

OK, thanks. That might explain the whole change in Drakh modus operandi which was pretty subtle until now.

 

[Forbin]

Now see I would have gone with Jeff Conaway and Pat Tallman acting their arses off in that elevator scene...but sure, let's all just focus on the sweaty and/or almost naked actresses...

I can appreciate both.