As most of my comments that follow are about
Babylon 5, I'll admit, I voted
B5 in the poll.
Stargate SG-1 at least the first 7-8 seasons was great, but I was not a huge fan of the last two seasons. I think I'm one of the few male, heterosexual sci-fi fans who does not like Claudia Black and I felt her presence really ruined the last two seasons, though the scripts didn't help. The Goa'uld were great villains and the show did a nice job of mixing some threatening and some campy ones in there. The campy ones really made the show enjoyable, while the threatening ones made it consistently good. The humor in
Stargate really elevated the show for me, but, overall,
Babylon 5 wins for me. "Sleeping in Light" never fails to get me to tear up.
Really? Noted.
So that's a prequel film made during, after the B5 series concluded I take it?
Nah,
The Gathering is the actual Pilot, and was aired a full year before Season 1.
There is an awesome Prequel, called
In The Beginning. It was aired around the end of S4. I personally wouldn't advise viewing it prior to the end of S4, on your first run through the Series (Spoilers and exposes you to some of the most awesome the show becomes, too early, IMHO), but, on a second run through, it is great to watch it first, then The Pilot, Then S1-S5. Many think it's fine to watch it first, and even JMS says it's fine to view first, but, I advise against it.
B5 is my all time favorite show, but, I like SG-1 quite a bit too.
It wouldn't be a new viewer thread for
Babylon 5 if someone didn't mention "In the Beginning" and commenting that it shouldn't be watched first.
Many think it's fine to watch it first, and even JMS says it's fine to view first, but, I advise against it.
Yeah, it casually spoils tons of things the early seasons took their time carefully to reveal a bit at a time. It was made between Season 4 and 5, so that's when I'd watch In the Beginning. The Gathering, though, definitely needs to be watched first, even if some of it, in characters, the looks of characters, and even the tone, doesn't quite match the series that follows.
Followed by people saying it's okay to watch first. Personally, I think that not having it spoil some major surprises out ranks any benefit it gives to new viewers.
So The Gathering is hopefully included on the S1 set. I'll have to check, if not I'll have to locate a copy when the time comes.
Just to be clear, the season 1 DVD set does
NOT include "The Gathering." Just like "In the Beginning," some will argue that it's not necessary. While that's true, given the year between airings of "The Gathering" and season 1, "Midnight on the Firing Line" was written to appeal to those missed it, as well as those who saw it.
You just have to realize that several changes were made, character, actor, and make-up wise between "The Gathering" and the first season. However, the plot points it brings up and the way it introduces Sinclair, Garibaldi, and the alien ambassadors makes it worth your time.
The movies are worth watching. The Gathering and In The Beginning are great. Thirdspace is fun Lovecraftian hokum, River of Souls is enjoyable enough and A Call to Arms is uh.... fucking terrible. Required watching though as it sets up Crusade.
Wow, I loved "A Call to Arms" and rank it as my second favorite TNT movie, behind "In the Beginning." "Thirdspace" is barely worth my time, especially for the fact that they all agree never to talk about the events of the movie again and the show never picked up on anything in it. As someone who shipped Zack and Lyta, the elevator scene drove me nuts.
I think A Call To Arms is great. River of Souls, IMHO, is the weakest of the Movie Set. Though for Straight guys, it does have the Captain Cupcake Lingerie Scene.
Yeah, I have to admit, I liked that scene.
The rest of the movie was forgettable. It's a shame, because I loved the Zack and Garibaldi team on the show. Also, Martin Sheen, what a waste of an actor.
When I first saw
A Call To Arms, I declared it to be the worst thing JMS would likely ever would write. He seems to have spent his entire subsequent career trying to prove me wrong
.
And now he's writing the script for the movie adaptation of one of my favourite comic book heroes. Not sure how to feel.
Well, I liked his first few story-lines of
Amazing Spider-Man, but I bailed well before "Norman slept with Gwen," "The Other," and "One More Day." His work on
Brave and the Bold elicited a "Meh," from me, and I avoided his
Superman and
Wonder Woman runs (though, from what I heard of them, it seems "The New 52" was a mercy killing for those titles. Not a good thing when your the last writer on a title and what follows you is a complete reboot of the characters.
However, he did write the
Thor script and I really enjoyed that movie, so there's hope. Unless you hated
Thor in which case, as a huge
Green Lantern fan, believe me when I say, I feel your pain.
