Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
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My reasoning behind omitting Sleeping in Light is two-fold:
1) I believe that The Deconstruction of Falling Stars serves as a better denouement to/for the series
2) Because of when it was filmed, SiL is completely unrelated to anything that happened in Season 5 and therefore does not work as a conclusion to that season, feeling entirely out-of-place
I may insert SiL into Season 4 and see if it works better there, but otherwise there's just no reason to include it.
1) I believe that The Deconstruction of Falling Stars serves as a better denouement to/for the series
2) Because of when it was filmed, SiL is completely unrelated to anything that happened in Season 5 and therefore does not work as a conclusion to that season, feeling entirely out-of-place
I may insert SiL into Season 4 and see if it works better there, but otherwise there's just no reason to include it.
I don't quite disagree, but on the other hand I don't think the episode does Franklin any favors either, and I sort of think the denouement is him getting what he has coming to him.
Setting aside any and all arguments concerning the “hard” or uncomfortable nature of the story’s subject matter, there just isn’t anything about Believers that is particularly well-written. Shon’s parents are entirely one-dimensional and completely unsympathetic, Franklin’s bullishness is out-of-character even for how early on in the season the episode is set, and Sinclair decides to ignore his own inner morality for no real reason. Even the B plot with Ivanova doesn’t work because it’s entirely disconnected from the A plot.
When you throw in the uncomfortable and depressing conclusion to the story on top of all of those things, you end up with the only episode of Babylon 5 in its entire 5-year run that is truly cringe-worthy.
The fact that the episode is also truly standalone in terms of the broader context of the series also means that there’s no ‘return on investment’ for having subjected oneself to the episode, which only heightens the horribleness of it.
When you throw in the uncomfortable and depressing conclusion to the story on top of all of those things, you end up with the only episode of Babylon 5 in its entire 5-year run that is truly cringe-worthy.
The fact that the episode is also truly standalone in terms of the broader context of the series also means that there’s no ‘return on investment’ for having subjected oneself to the episode, which only heightens the horribleness of it.
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I always saw Believers as a Star Trek episode that got lost on the way to Paramount, and wound up on the wrong lot.
Written by David Gerrold (of Tribbles fame) no less.
Which is really immaterial. JMS gave the assignment to Gerrold - it wasn't a pitch. It was assigned to him because he'd recently adopted a son. As for it 'feeling' like a Trek episode, while Trek may have done some heavy episodes since, at the time the ending of 'Believers' could/would never have been in a Trek episode.
Is there a good way to watch B5 now? Isn't on any of the big streaming sites anymore.
Rent the DVDs? Buy the DVDs and then sell them again? Borrow the DVDs from a library or a friend?
Have you tried to watch a long series renting discs through Netflix? It blocks your queue for weeks and makes you wait days in between discs.
Buying is the only real option other than streaming if you want to watch at your own pace and actually enjoy it.
In terms of finding Viewing Orders for the series, the best place is actually at The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 (http://midwinter.com/lurk), which is the source for the "base order" I used to build my viewing order and just a fabulous resource for Babylon 5 in general.
With regard to streaming, the series is available through Amazon Instant Video, but not for free.
With regard to streaming, the series is available through Amazon Instant Video, but not for free.
Sounds like a prime example of a first-world problem. Netflix doesn't do disc rental in the country where I live but I've had a better experience with other rental companies in the past. I wouldn't bother nowadays -- too many trips to the mail box and having to clean crud off the discs. I swear it looked like people eat their food off them or worse.
Each season is less than $20 on DVD or streaming from Amazon and the whole shebang including all 5 seasons, Crusade and the TV movies is less than $90 on DVD. One could probably sell them for only a few dollars under that I guess. I bought the complete DVD collection in the UK for £60 ($72).
IIRC, iTunes still has it.
Yes, it's a first world problem. Would you expect anything else from a Star Trek hobby board? Pointing that out adds no value to the conversation, as it is equally applicable to any complaint made in the domain of science fiction television.
US video rental stores have all gone out of business due to a combination of Netflix, streaming and illegal downloading. 'Rental' pretty much means using Netflix delivery. I'll check out the price on iTunes if it's meaningfully cheaper than just buying.
Also buying would probably mean skipping season five.
US video rental stores have all gone out of business due to a combination of Netflix, streaming and illegal downloading. 'Rental' pretty much means using Netflix delivery. I'll check out the price on iTunes if it's meaningfully cheaper than just buying.
Also buying would probably mean skipping season five.
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