Poll Babylon 5 vs Deep Space 9? Which one is better in terms of graphics?
- Thread starter Hadrian
- Start date
Maybe I'm not so exacting but I was ok with both. But some of the designs in B5 were just sooooo awesome--especially the Shadow ships. And then when they showed all the different ships of the First Ones...And all in all I thought B5 space battles were more convincing.
The Shadows themselves were graphics and I thought wonderfully alien. The one time we saw a Vorlon outside of its encounter suit could have been done better though.
also the Vorlon ships were very good (Voy 8472 ships being a rip-off of these).
The Shadows themselves were graphics and I thought wonderfully alien. The one time we saw a Vorlon outside of its encounter suit could have been done better though.
also the Vorlon ships were very good (Voy 8472 ships being a rip-off of these).
Where is the option "Both were awesome?"
Oh, wait. I get it. This thread is trolly click bait, isn't it?
Oh, wait. I get it. This thread is trolly click bait, isn't it?
Both the special effects and the ship designs.
I also find B5's battles more convincing but especially on the season 1 DVD some of the CGI looks....a bit ugly.
No it isn't.I will add a "Both are awesome" option
Special effects and CGI.
Being colorblind, I found B5 difficult to watch.
They're both good to watch. DS9 overall may have some better CGI, but it had more of a budget than Babylon 5 did.
DS9 had higher quality FX and did the same bland and boring shit until Babylon 5 showed up. B5 was far more ambitious FX wise from the get go and this bled over into DS9 much to it's benefit. I typically prefer ambitious FX to realistic FX, because one shows creativity the other is just technical proficiency.
Even back then I thought the CGI on B5 looked like video games, and looking at them today DS9 holds up a million times better, even without HD.
One show had better VFX and did the safest, blandest shit with them. That was DS9. The other show had lesser quality VFX, and gave us epic space battles, constant space traffic around the space station (instead of just the station or one ship if we were lucky), gave us far more interesting stellar visuals using nebulas and dust clouds instead of boring old black space with some stars scattered about, visually interesting FTL travel, etc.
I thought B5's graphics were inferior to DS9's back then too. What they did with those inferior graphics made them infinitely more interesting to watch than the same slow, stultifying graphics we got on DS9. By the time DS9 did the cool fleet scene in "Sacrifice Of Angels" cool fleet scenes were a cliche' on Babylon 5 because they did cool fleet scenes all the time. As I said before, B5's VFX were creative and interesting to watch, DS9's were technically proficient and duller than dirt.
DS9 special effects and photography were vastly better. They had a big budget, and Babylon 5 had an Amiga. In B5's defense, I should add that their idea of space battles was a lot closer to what they would probably really be like. Although, B5 was set in the nearer future than DS9, so that might be just how much development happened in the meantime.
I would've voted for both of them being roughly equal if there was an option for that (that didn't say they sucked) , but since it isn't there, I gave the slight edge to DS9.
Part of this is based on memory and it's been a long time since I've watched B5, but the main comparison I remember making between them was that: B5 had cooler, stranger more interesting and unique designs (Shadows, White Stars, those blocky fighters, etc) - but they weren't as well executed as DS9's (still very cool) designs were. Watching DS9 I never really noticed the cgi much, it blended in to the show very well, but on B5, it stuck out like a sore thumb.
Part of this is based on memory and it's been a long time since I've watched B5, but the main comparison I remember making between them was that: B5 had cooler, stranger more interesting and unique designs (Shadows, White Stars, those blocky fighters, etc) - but they weren't as well executed as DS9's (still very cool) designs were. Watching DS9 I never really noticed the cgi much, it blended in to the show very well, but on B5, it stuck out like a sore thumb.
As much as I love the design aesthetic of Babylon 5 and enjoy their multitude of ship designs etc., they just can't compare to the level of quality achieved on Deep Space Nine. At least not for me. The ship, set and visual designs by John Eaves, Jim Martin, Herman Zimmerman, Mike Okuda and Rick Sternbach are brought to live wonderfully by people like Gary Hutzel and Tony Meininger. Their effects and model work has a sleekness and a lived-in reality to it, that Babylon 5 with its computer rendered effects could never have achieved at the time.
B5 has some striking and innovative designs. And I love how they attempted a more realistic space combat physics. But while the designs are fantastic, the actual on screen CGI graphics have not aged all that well. DS9 with their CGI enhanced practical effects and motion control model work, was more limited in some of what they could present, at least early on. But the images and graphics stand up better over time.
