Farscape or Babylon 5?

[kirk55555]

D'Lenn's parts were interesting, although I was pretty sure she'd be staying on B5. I'm not sure why having a single space station is so important to the future, but it still made for a good story.

The station isn't important in and of itself so much as it's function. Nowhere else in the galaxy is there a place where so many races can meet on neutral ground. It's a crossroads. Most of the Minbari leadership certainly don't see it as vital to their continued existence, but that's because they're very much isolationists. Delenn isn't so close minded, but as you've seen, her influence isn't what it once was.

I need to learn better punctuation/get better writing skills (I guess K-12 wasn't enough ) When I said I didn't know why a station was so important to the future, I meant Babylon 4, not 5. I was wondering why the future (and I think its the future because of who The One turned out to be) needed a single space station so badly that they'd rip it from its own time. I mean, I guess its well armed, but its not mobile. If they can take it through time, you'd think they could just build their own station.

 

[Jan]

Being the budget version, B5 isn't mobile. But the other stations were built so that they could be moved. As for the rest...keep watching. This is fun.

Jan

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The problem was, they moved B4 quite a bit too far

Reminds me of Monty Python & The Holy Grail.
"We built the first station, it sank into the swamp. Then we built the second one, that sank into the swamp. We built the third one, that burnt down, fell over, then sank in to the swamp. The fourth one....that disappeared. But the fifth one stayed 'ere."

 

[Lindley]

I think the nod in Torchwood was rather neat....

This is Torchwood Three. Torchwood One was London—destroyed in the battle. Torchwood Two is an office in Glasgow—a very strange man. Torchwood Three, Cardiff. Torchwood Four has kinda gone missing but we'll find it one day.

 

[Reverend]

D'Lenn's parts were interesting, although I was pretty sure she'd be staying on B5. I'm not sure why having a single space station is so important to the future, but it still made for a good story.

The station isn't important in and of itself so much as it's function. Nowhere else in the galaxy is there a place where so many races can meet on neutral ground. It's a crossroads. Most of the Minbari leadership certainly don't see it as vital to their continued existence, but that's because they're very much isolationists. Delenn isn't so close minded, but as you've seen, her influence isn't what it once was.

I need to learn better punctuation/get better writing skills (I guess K-12 wasn't enough ) When I said I didn't know why a station was so important to the future, I meant Babylon 4, not 5. I was wondering why the future (and I think its the future because of who The One turned out to be) needed a single space station so badly that they'd rip it from its own time. I mean, I guess its well armed, but its not mobile. If they can take it through time, you'd think they could just build their own station.

Can't really comment on any of that without getting into spoiler territory, except to echo Jan in saying that actually, yes B4 was mobile and you should most definitely keep watching...and listening. As with all things B5--especially when you think you have things figured out--it's always wise to remember what G'Kar told Sakai in 'Mind War': "No one here is exactly what he appears." Of course, most of the time this only becomes apparent in hindsight.

 

[kirk55555]

Crackers Don't Matter (Farscape) - This was a stupid episode. A few funny moments, but mostly just a waste of time. I did notice something, though. I've been wondering why Zhaan's normal clothes have changed, and I just figured it out. Its so the make up people only had to do her face and hands, probably cutting down their job a lot. I don't really care, but her clothes and gold metal collar/wrist things look really cheap, like fan film quality cheap. Its not a big deal, its just something I noticed while watching this somewhat annoying, forgettable episode.

 

[Greg Cox]

Crackers Don't Matter (Farscape) - I did notice something, though. I've been wondering why Zhaan's normal clothes have changed, and I just figured it out. Its so the make up people only had to do her face and hands, probably cutting down their job a lot. .

It wasn't laziness on the part of the makeup artists. Virginia Hey was having severe allergic reactions to the makeup, so they were trying to minimize it as much as possible.

 

[kirk55555]

Crackers Don't Matter (Farscape) - I did notice something, though. I've been wondering why Zhaan's normal clothes have changed, and I just figured it out. Its so the make up people only had to do her face and hands, probably cutting down their job a lot. .

It wasn't laziness on the part of the makeup artists. Virginia Hey was having severe allergic reactions to the makeup, so they were trying to minimize it as much as possible.

I didn't mean to imply that I thought it was laziness, just that it was easier/faster for them, and probably cheaper. The alergy thing makes sense. Its not like it effects my viewing at all, I was just not into the episode so I was thinking about it.

 

[HighteeHeller]

^Huh, that's one of my favorite episodes, and episode titles.

 

[Rory1080p]

loved Farscape, have the complete set on blu-ray never got into Babylon 5 tbh, watched some of the first season but just never really hooked me in

 

[Lindley]

loved Farscape, have the complete set on blu-ray never got into Babylon 5 tbh, watched some of the first season but just never really hooked me in

The first season is scene-setting. The second and third seasons are rising action, the fourth season is the climax, and the fifth season is the denouement.

 

[kirk55555]

The Quality of Mercy (Babylon 5) - This was a good episode. Londo's parts were great, I especially like the reveal about a part of his...anatomy The parts with the killer were also interesting. It definately confirmed my opinion that I would not want to live in a society that has telepaths. The killer deserved a horrible punishment, and I think getting his mind wiped is probably a fate worse than death, but its also really freaky, and I'd argue its more of a cruel and unusual punishment than anything. Just to clarify, in real life I support the death penalty (I'm NOT saying that to start conversation about the subject, I'm just saying it to give some context), but this mind wipe thing seems pretty bad. Not that serial killers like this guy wouldn't deserve it, I guess it just goes back to me not being able to find any real good uses for telepaths in Babylon 5. They just seem to exist to do evil or borderline evil things. I guess helping in negotiations is harmless, but besides that they always seem to be involved in morally ambiguous activities. While watching this episode, I realised I haven't seen G'Kar in awhile. I'm betting he'll be back for the next episode, the season 1 finale.

 

[Jan]

...they always seem to be involved in morally ambiguous activities.

I don't think it's a spoiler to note that even the good guys on this show sometimes do morally ambiguous things. They just feel that they're doing it for a good reason. But then...doesn't everybody?

Jan

 

[Gov Kodos]

...they always seem to be involved in morally ambiguous activities.

I don't think it's a spoiler to note that even the good guys on this show sometimes do morally ambiguous things. They just feel that they're doing it for a good reason. But then...doesn't everybody?

Jan

And the telepaths and their behavior, place in society and over all issues are in their current state because of how Earth chose to deal with them. It's an interesting arc and you can put the pieces of their trouble together but it is rarely directly focused on to the extent of the Shadows and Vorlons, or even Centauri court etiquette.

It takes a lot of going back and watching a lot of different episodes and characters to piece together the state of telepaths on Earth. Even then, there's a lot open to interpretation and speculation unless you want to take the Telepath trilogy of books into account. None the less, the telepath problem is an Earth created problem.

 

[kirk55555]

Picture If You Will (Farscape) - This was a bland, average episode. Maldis didn't really need to be seen again, and i wasn't a huge fan of his to begin with, but maybe they could have done an interesting episode with him. This episode wasn't it. Still, the only thing i really hated about this episode is that they teased something that I really want to happen, Chiana getting killed. I knew as soon as it happened that it wasn't a "real" death, but I was still disappointed to see her alive. Besides that, it was just boring and forgettable.

 

[Sindatur]

Picture If You Will (Farscape) - This was a bland, average episode. Maldis didn't really need to be seen again, and i wasn't a huge fan of his to begin with, but maybe they could have done an interesting episode with him. This episode wasn't it. Still, the only thing i really hated about this episode is that they teased something that I really want to happen, Chiana getting killed. I knew as soon as it happened that it wasn't a "real" death, but I was still disappointed to see her alive. Besides that, it was just boring and forgettable.

I like Picture If You Will, for the Rygel moments

 

[RoJoHen]

The worst part of Picture if You Will is Maldis' GIANT HAND! So ridiculous.

 

[JD]

Yeah, that one was definitely not one of their better hopes.
And just so you don't get your hopes up again,

Spoiler: Chiana's Fate

Chiana is alive at least up to the last issue of the post-PK Wars comic series.

 

[kirk55555]

Chrysalis (Babylon 5) - I'm finally at the season 1 finale. It was pretty good, although it did have some goofy, head scratching moments. A cocoon, really? If Deleen doesn't come out of it as a butterfly, I'll be disappointed I'm not a fan of shadowy orginazations in general, so I'm not too excited to see the guy and his invisible aliens. Also, when it comes to Kosh's "secret", it hasn't been a secret since the first episode. I saw his room, saw a light behind his curtain, and thought

Spoiler: Vosh

energy being

I don't know too much about him, but I'm pretty sure I'm right about that, especially since I did kind of get spoilered in another thread, not that it was much of a spoiler. I really hope Londo stays around. From what I've heard, the B5 cast is basically a revolving door, with few characters/actors staying more than a season or two. I know Sinclair is gone next season, except for special appearances. I know Ivanova eventually leaves and doesn't show back up (except for maybe the last episode). I hope Londo stays around for awhile. Overall, this episode was pretty good, although the cocoon and invisible aliens were really, really goofy. The cocoon so much so that I think the show may have just jumped the shark. Still, i'm enjoying this, and will probably get season 2 when I can afford it.

Comparing B5 to Farscape, they have their strengths and weaknesses. Farscape has better developed main characters (the B5 exception being Londo, who is awesome), but farscape also has Chiana, one of the mkost annoying sci fi characters. B5 has a few bland characters (like the doctor), but no bad/annoying characters. Farscape had more bad episodes, but B5 had more bland episodes. I like them both, but I can't really put one over the other. I would almost give the advantage to Farscape, I really like a lot of the characters/main story, but Chiana, mixed with a weak beginning to its second season (which I'm watching) pretty much makes it even with B5 so far.

 

[RoJoHen]

His name is Kosh. With a K.