Revisiting Babylon 5.
I haven’t seen Babylon 5 since it wrapped up its final season more than ten years ago. I do have strong positive memories of the series and see it as among the best science fiction on television. Even since it ended and in light of what has come along since I still ranked it as my second favourite overall SF series after the original Star Trek. Indeed I’ve long felt that B5 was much more the real spiritual successor to the original Star Trek than any of the official spin-offs. To that end I was disappointed that Crusade never took off since I think it had the potential to be a worthy followup to B5.
I first found the series midway through its first season, seeking the show out based on strong recommendations from friends. Within three episodes I was hooked. B5 underscored all the things I felt was wrong with the later seasons of TNG as well as DS9. I had initially liked DS9 even though I felt it uneven and I finally drifted away midway through its third season.
Recently I picked up B5’s first season on DVD when the season sets finally became reasonably priced. I’ve just finished getting through all the episodes as well as the three documentaries included in the set.
When B5 first arrived with its broad use of cgi f/x it was a big deal at the time. The extensive use of cgi allowed the show to visualize things that would have been very difficult if not impossible previously for a show of its scope. A decade later with all the advances we’ve seen with cgi f/x on TV and film it’s interesting to revisit B5’s efforts.
I initially watched B5’s five seasons on a 20” JVC flatscreen CRT TV where those cutting edge cgi f/x looked amazing. Seeing them now on a 32” Samsung LCD I have to say it still looks pretty good although it’s quite apparent the f/x sequences are obviously cgi. There’s something of a flatness, a lack of visual nuance and texture that’s apparent although I have to say I don’t find it horrible or jarring. I must also add that with each episode it appears the f/x were gradually improving. I’m eager to see how much they do improve over the forthcoming other season sets.
Regarding the live-action sequences I find the show a visual feast in terms of texture, detail and colour. On another note I still love the music.
Writing wise the show is a little uneven in the beginning, but again it gets better as the episodes progress. The same applies to the performances as the actors and writers are finding their groove. I will say I find B5’s first season much more consistent overall than the initial seasons of TNG and DS9. I do recall a lot of criticism towards Michael O’Hare’s performance all those years ago yet watching it now I see more nuance than I remembered as he, too, got better as the season progressed.
I think it pays to put the early episodes in context. I didn’t see B5’s initial pilot TV movie until later in the series (I kind of forget when I actually saw it), but I do recall thinking the series first season episodes were a huge improvement over the pilot in pretty much all respects. “The Gathering” pilot strikes me as if JMS was trying too hard and just hadn’t nailed down all his ideas yet.
Watching these episodes again after so long I’m reminded of how much I enjoyed this series and find myself getting back into the show’s mindset and rhythms. I’m finding that while I like certain episodes better than others I still find them all very watchable. Additionally I just love the use of humour that serves well to ground the characters. Concurrently I’ve also been rewatching reruns of early DS9 on Space where they’ve just begun second season. There I’m finding I’m sticking with episodes I still find appealing while switching channels when encountering episodes that can’t hold me.
Watching the documentaries was a little enlightening although I do recall much of the materiel from years past. JMS and others make a point of affirming that he’d been trying to sell the show for five years and began putting his ideas down back in 1987. This is obviously long before DS9 was even a fog of an idea over at Paramount. JMS also makes a point of drawing something of an evolutionary connection in terms of television SF from The Twilight Zone to the original Star Trek to B5. Dorothy Fontana and even Walter Koenig also make that connection in their remarks.
I’m not sure how well B5 is remembered now. Certainly people I work with either dimly recall the show or aren’t even aware of it. I do recall that I felt the show had the odds stacked aginst it. It was up against the juggernaut of the Trek franchise and Warner simply didn’t promote the show like Paramount did with Trek. It also often didn’t have the best scheduling and simply wasn’t as visible as the Trek series. Pity, because if better promoted I think it could have been better received. I think it also didn’t help that JMS was initially averse to merchandising the series, in contrast to the extensive merchandising of Trek.
But all that is past. Presently I’m energized revisiting this series and I look forward to picking up the following seasons.
I haven’t seen Babylon 5 since it wrapped up its final season more than ten years ago. I do have strong positive memories of the series and see it as among the best science fiction on television. Even since it ended and in light of what has come along since I still ranked it as my second favourite overall SF series after the original Star Trek. Indeed I’ve long felt that B5 was much more the real spiritual successor to the original Star Trek than any of the official spin-offs. To that end I was disappointed that Crusade never took off since I think it had the potential to be a worthy followup to B5.
I first found the series midway through its first season, seeking the show out based on strong recommendations from friends. Within three episodes I was hooked. B5 underscored all the things I felt was wrong with the later seasons of TNG as well as DS9. I had initially liked DS9 even though I felt it uneven and I finally drifted away midway through its third season.
Recently I picked up B5’s first season on DVD when the season sets finally became reasonably priced. I’ve just finished getting through all the episodes as well as the three documentaries included in the set.
When B5 first arrived with its broad use of cgi f/x it was a big deal at the time. The extensive use of cgi allowed the show to visualize things that would have been very difficult if not impossible previously for a show of its scope. A decade later with all the advances we’ve seen with cgi f/x on TV and film it’s interesting to revisit B5’s efforts.
I initially watched B5’s five seasons on a 20” JVC flatscreen CRT TV where those cutting edge cgi f/x looked amazing. Seeing them now on a 32” Samsung LCD I have to say it still looks pretty good although it’s quite apparent the f/x sequences are obviously cgi. There’s something of a flatness, a lack of visual nuance and texture that’s apparent although I have to say I don’t find it horrible or jarring. I must also add that with each episode it appears the f/x were gradually improving. I’m eager to see how much they do improve over the forthcoming other season sets.
Regarding the live-action sequences I find the show a visual feast in terms of texture, detail and colour. On another note I still love the music.
Writing wise the show is a little uneven in the beginning, but again it gets better as the episodes progress. The same applies to the performances as the actors and writers are finding their groove. I will say I find B5’s first season much more consistent overall than the initial seasons of TNG and DS9. I do recall a lot of criticism towards Michael O’Hare’s performance all those years ago yet watching it now I see more nuance than I remembered as he, too, got better as the season progressed.
I think it pays to put the early episodes in context. I didn’t see B5’s initial pilot TV movie until later in the series (I kind of forget when I actually saw it), but I do recall thinking the series first season episodes were a huge improvement over the pilot in pretty much all respects. “The Gathering” pilot strikes me as if JMS was trying too hard and just hadn’t nailed down all his ideas yet.
Watching these episodes again after so long I’m reminded of how much I enjoyed this series and find myself getting back into the show’s mindset and rhythms. I’m finding that while I like certain episodes better than others I still find them all very watchable. Additionally I just love the use of humour that serves well to ground the characters. Concurrently I’ve also been rewatching reruns of early DS9 on Space where they’ve just begun second season. There I’m finding I’m sticking with episodes I still find appealing while switching channels when encountering episodes that can’t hold me.
Watching the documentaries was a little enlightening although I do recall much of the materiel from years past. JMS and others make a point of affirming that he’d been trying to sell the show for five years and began putting his ideas down back in 1987. This is obviously long before DS9 was even a fog of an idea over at Paramount. JMS also makes a point of drawing something of an evolutionary connection in terms of television SF from The Twilight Zone to the original Star Trek to B5. Dorothy Fontana and even Walter Koenig also make that connection in their remarks.
I’m not sure how well B5 is remembered now. Certainly people I work with either dimly recall the show or aren’t even aware of it. I do recall that I felt the show had the odds stacked aginst it. It was up against the juggernaut of the Trek franchise and Warner simply didn’t promote the show like Paramount did with Trek. It also often didn’t have the best scheduling and simply wasn’t as visible as the Trek series. Pity, because if better promoted I think it could have been better received. I think it also didn’t help that JMS was initially averse to merchandising the series, in contrast to the extensive merchandising of Trek.
But all that is past. Presently I’m energized revisiting this series and I look forward to picking up the following seasons.
