is babylonian 5 any good

[Sindatur]

We're waiting for tmosler to get back to us about her Babylon 5 viewing and keeping the thread warm while we wait.

It would work out MUCH better if you "kept it warm" with b5-oriented content.

For example, how many folks here can recall how they started their B5 viewing? Was it at the urging of a friend or a commercial or a convention. etc?

I was very, very fascinated with CG Animation, and a Space Opera Fanatic and the Commercials for The Gathering roped me in. I wasn't completely entranced by the story yet, but, the first shot of the Vorlon Cruiser coming in for Docking had me desperate to see more, even if the story turned out to be garbage. Then And the Sky Full of Stars aired, and I knew the Series was going to be very deep and incredible and I was a fan for life (For the story as well as the CGI) from that episode on, and it just kept getting better from there.

 

[RandyS]

So...is anybody else going to even mention B5 in this thread?

Jan

Babylon 5 is a great show.

 

[RandyS]

We're waiting for tmosler to get back to us about her Babylon 5 viewing and keeping the thread warm while we wait.

It would work out MUCH better if you "kept it warm" with b5-oriented content.

For example, how many folks here can recall how they started their B5 viewing? Was it at the urging of a friend or a commercial or a convention. etc?

Since you asked for a story, here's mine:

After seeing The Gathering in first run in 1993, I thought it good, but figured that it was just another "one off" in the sci-fi boom that happened that spring alongside DS9 and Space Rangers, and one or two others that I can't recall at the moment. I had no idea that it was going to be a series, and, a year later when THAT was announced, I attempted to watch it, only, my TV guide listed it as being on Sunday mornings at 3:30am. So, I set my VCR, but ALWAYS got the last 30 minutes of a movie, and an informerical. This went on for two years, and I finally just gave up, figuring that this series was a hoax, or lie, or something.

Then, in 1998, TNT premiered the fifth season, along with reruns of the first four, at a promised 7pm weeknight time slot. I was skeptical, but again, set my VCR, and to my surprise, ACTUALLY saw the show. Shortly after this, I discovered that it was a serialized program with a set ending, so, rather than watch it every week, I taped all the episodes on TNT, acquired an in-order episode list, and waited for season five to end. Then, when I had them all, I started watching one episode a day off my tapes in early 1999, and was hooked.

Also, around this time, I became aware of that whole "DS9 stole from B5" business, and THAT helped to make me curious about the show too, since I had been watching DS9 on my local FOX station for it's entire run (the TV guide reported CORRECT air times for that show).

 

[Silvercrest]

The Vorlons and Shadows were treating the species of the galaxy as their giant ant farm. That's the point of G'Kar's speech to Sinclair's girlfriend after all. As Lorien put it, they were no longer interested in helping the younger races, instead, the Vorlons and Shadows had become interested in proving who was right. They were an Internet argument made manifest. The younger races were the hapless victims of titanic trolls.

I am going to remember this one.

So was Lorien a moderator?

 

[nightwind1]

We're waiting for tmosler to get back to us about her Babylon 5 viewing and keeping the thread warm while we wait.

It would work out MUCH better if you "kept it warm" with b5-oriented content.

For example, how many folks here can recall how they started their B5 viewing? Was it at the urging of a friend or a commercial or a convention. etc?

Well, I was a member of the B5 forum on GEnie, before the show ever aired. Saw the first episode as it was broadcast, and every episode as it aired after that.

 

[JD]

I just watched B5 for the first time a couple years ago because I kept hearing people talk about it on here. I bought each season as I went along, and I think this was when I was home most of the time due to medical problems, so by the time I got to the second or third seasons I was watching 5 or 6 episodes at a time.

 

[T J]

short answer, yes, long answer...

Now I had to go watch that whole episode! One of my favorites... the mass drivers are nasty!!!

Love me some B5!

 

[Sephiroth]

short answer, yes, long answer...

Now I had to go watch that whole episode! One of my favorites... the mass drivers are nasty!!!

Love me some B5!

there were so many good moments i wanted to post but they were too...spoiler-y

 

[RJDiogenes]

I probably read about it in a magazine, because when it was first on, the local station (38) aired it at some weird hour late Sunday or early Monday. I taped the first few (I think they were out of order) and thought they were pretty good-- then I got to Sinclair's "Unless we go to the stars" speech and I was hooked. It just got better and better from there on out.

They were an Internet argument made manifest. The younger races were the hapless victims of titanic trolls.

Heh. Best description of B5 ever.

 

[Gov Kodos]

The Vorlons and Shadows were treating the species of the galaxy as their giant ant farm. That's the point of G'Kar's speech to Sinclair's girlfriend after all. As Lorien put it, they were no longer interested in helping the younger races, instead, the Vorlons and Shadows had become interested in proving who was right. They were an Internet argument made manifest. The younger races were the hapless victims of titanic trolls.

I am going to remember this one.

So was Lorien a moderator?

I guess, or an asleep at the switch admin.

 

[Silvercrest]

Yeah... come to think of it, he banned all the trolls without even issuing any warnings! And managed to get himself banned at the same time.

Don't think I'd want to hang out on that board....

 

[Sephiroth]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_oQkSh2lq8[/yt]

 

[RJDiogenes]

Yup, that's the Internet, all right.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Pope G'Kar, that's what's needed. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz1VNbQYiTw[/yt]

 

[Sindatur]

"Put Your Face in the Book"

 

[DalekJim]

Babylon 5 is fucking awesome.

Almost as fucking awesome as Robert Heinlein.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I haven't yet bought any season sets (the operative word is "yet"), and only saw part of the first season (but almost everything from season 2 on), but I certainly found it worthwhile.

Kind of curious: with DS9 and B5 being produced about the same times, their respective producers were making well-publicized efforts to differentiate their shows from each other, and yet those efforts seemed to backfire most of the time, making the shows that much more convergent.

 

[DalekJim]

DS9 is my fave Trek show for sure, but B5 topped it. B5 wasn't part of an established major cash cow so was able to be much more ambitious with its storytelling. No way would DS9 have ever done anything like Deconstruction of Falling Stars.

DS9 is a procedural adventure of the week show featuring collection of varied story arcs.

Babylon 5 is a story.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

DS9 is my fave Trek show for sure, but B5 topped it. B5 wasn't part of an established major cash cow so was able to be much more ambitious with its storytelling. No way would DS9 have ever done anything like Deconstruction of Falling Stars.

DS9 is a procedural adventure of the week show featuring collection of varied story arcs.

Babylon 5 is a story.

I agree

Bab5 was WILD at times, just off the radar. It was NOT procedural. I think many have been trained into expecting the procedural, the standard, the expected and they weigh the worth of a show as to how well it does that. Bab5 could be messy and under baked at times but that was because it just went for it, it did sci fi FIRST rather than as the backdrop to mainstream expectations of a tv show.