Babylon 5 thread

This thread is for fans of the great show Babylon 5 to talk aobut it.

lol man not responses it was like hte best sifi ever....

Its still the best scifi.

What is there to discuss?

I liked it, Thought it was wierd but cool.

Babylon 5 was fantastic, great themes, impressive and admirable characters (especially the captain), and an epic larger-than-life arc with amazing villains and plot twists. In short, in terms of story and characterization, probably the best sci-fi show ever created, rivaled only by Firefly.

I always liked the space battles.

The sets were amateurish dime-store jobs cobbled-together at the last moment. The alien-designs were preposterous - like those Italian aliens, for example. The protagonist Captain Sheridan was a simpering idiot on the vomit-inducing All-American Farm-Boy Hero model. The "Toaster" effects rapidly became outdated and now look cartoonish and feeble. I relieved myself wetly on Babylon 5.

Still my favourite Sci fi series closely followed by Battlestar Galactica (the new one of course). Great characters on one of the few series where storylines in later seasons explained things that happened in earlier seasons. The shadow War was great and the series was so much more interesting that the typical moralistic Star Trek garbage "war? we can't have war that would make things too interesting" Of course there were a few dodgy episodes Bab but what series doesn't have the odd "off topic" sort of episode. The characters were great though especially Londo, G'kar, Garibaldi and Marcus Cole.

Originally Posted by Gavmundo

Great characters on one of the few series where storylines in later seasons explained things that happened in earlier seasons. The shadow War was great and the series was so much more interesting that the typical moralistic Star Trek garbage "war? we can't have war that would make things too interesting" Of course there were a few dodgy episodes Bab but what series doesn't have the odd "off topic" sort of episode. The characters were great though especially Londo, G'kar, Garibaldi and Marcus Cole.

Drop Marcus Cole off and i agree 100%

Originally Posted by HansDuet

Drop Marcus Cole off and i agree 100%

Heretic!! How can you not like Marcus? He rocks!! lol

No he doesn't (Rangers are lame anyway)

I would add Morden to the list.

Well I disagree. Marcus is a good character, certainly up their with the best of them but we'll agree to disagree. I'd also agree with Morden as a class act.

Only character that really tend to annoy me are Sheridan and Delenn. Sheridan was ok until he became romantically involved with Delenn (who's without doubt the most annoying character in history).

Im not a fan of Delenn either. Sheridan is better than Sinclair (a very dry character)

Oh, and many more good characters: Bester, Lord Refa, Vorlon Inquisitor and so on.

Favourite Sci-Fi show ever! Loved the themes, the plot twists...etc etc. The sets is not exactly the best but once you get used to it and get the story, its was an amazing ride! No such thing as good and evil, no clear cut villains, everyone is just doing what they think is best for his/her race and thats what made the chars very deep coz there are a lot of underlying reasons and causes that made them who and what they are.

Babylon 5 came a few years too early. As a show with a continuous plot, it certainly came before America was ready to commit to long-term watching. Had it arrived after "24" made this sort of viewership, it may have enjoyed a larger audience--and hence a better budget.

Heck, even sans the budget of, say, a Battlestar Galactica (the new one), current technology would still have allowed for a far-superior experience.

I'm a fan of all the characters, more or less. I'm not necessarily a fan of many of the actors/actresses that played them, though. Sheridan was decently portrayed--necessarily as diplomatic and politician-like as he was military in his demeanor. Ivanova was annoying; Marcus reminded me of the Sherrif of Rottingham from "Robin Hood, Men In Tights"; Dellen reminds me of the annoying castaway French woman from "Lost".

Terrific storyline, though the ending left much to be desired. Doing away with the Vorlon vs Shadow clash of the ages--which had been a pillar of the saga--was a poor move; having them reduced to petulant children when the uber-ancient types arrived was simply too much. I would much rather not have purchased the last DVD collection and never have known how it all ended.

Originally Posted by Phoebus

Terrific storyline, though the ending left much to be desired. Doing away with the Vorlon vs Shadow clash of the ages--which had been a pillar of the saga--was a poor move; having them reduced to petulant children when the uber-ancient types arrived was simply too much. I would much rather not have purchased the last DVD collection and never have known how it all ended.

I agree with you, and season 5 is entirely unnecessary, but there's a reason why it had to happen. JMS did not know if his show would be picked up for season 5, and as the story goes the network played with the idea of cancellation, throwing all of his hard work and the story away. So he had to rewrite the ending for the story (the shadow/vorlon war oringinally resolving in season 5) into season 4, to MAKE SURE his story would not be butchered. Additionally, the last EPISODE of season 5 was actually shot WITH season 4 to end the series. Then, season 4 wrapped up successfully, the show was picked up again, so he shot a new ending for season 4, and went on with season 5 placing the final episode of the show at the end of that. So very unlucky corporate maneuvering, not terrible story-writing, is to blame. That's why I can entirely forget about season 5 and still have a great impression about the show as a whole. I just watched Season 2 again, before my free Netflix trial ran out... and it was great stuff. Sheridan exudes exactly that clean-farm-boy mentality that some previous poster disliked, but that's what I find most appealing. You could always rely on Sheridan to shelter the Narn cruiser, to fight for his principles -- to do the right thing.

Delenn was a better character when she was still bald.

I would like to see that French chick on Lost shave her head and go about prattling about the mystical balance of the universe - then she and Locke could get married and have horrible bald babies.

Terrific storyline, though the ending left much to be desired. Doing away with the Vorlon vs Shadow clash of the ages--which had been a pillar of the saga--was a poor move; having them reduced to petulant children when the uber-ancient types arrived was simply too much. I would much rather not have purchased the last DVD collection and never have known how it all ended.

I certainly second that

Thanks for the info, Sig. One thing I found interesting about the show is that Sheridan wasn't really (I don't think so, at least) a "clean farmboy"; I think he was definitely a man of principle, but I also think that he demonstrated his cunning enough times and that much of his persona was largely an act that played into the alien prejudices (young humanity, inexperienced starfaring culture) he had to deal with daily.

Granted, the actors (and, to a certain extent, the storywriters) were not always to pull it off, but the show had way too much intrigue and political maneuvering for a genuinely "Aw shucks..." type (see post 7 )to operate effectively. At least that's how I interpreted it.

Originally Posted by Phoebus

Thanks for the info, Sig. One thing I found interesting about the show is that Sheridan wasn't really (I don't think so, at least) a "clean farmboy"; I think he was definitely a man of principle, but I also think that he demonstrated his cunning enough times and that much of his persona was largely an act that played into the alien prejudices (young humanity, inexperienced starfaring culture) he had to deal with daily.

Granted, the actors (and, to a certain extent, the storywriters) were not always to pull it off, but the show had way too much intrigue and political maneuvering for a genuinely "Aw shucks..." type (see post 7 )to operate effectively. At least that's how I interpreted it.

Not in the "aw shucks" way, you're right I meant more like, "What could be more important than doing the right thing?"