Not disapointed - my take on Babylon 5

[davekill]

An epic five year television novel full of sly humor and gritty stories - ala J. Michael Straczynski, Harlan Ellison, D.C Fontana, David Gerrold and more.
Its Harlan's original "City on the Edge of Forever" script or an even darker DS9 sans Kako and the kids.

After "The Gathering" pilot movie and halfway though the first season, I see that Babylon 5 can't be compared to other sci-fi.
It's in a league of it's own and thank goodness it wasn't shown on the FOX network ;)

The early episodes introduce you to a cast that's at first strange yet familiar:
G'Kar - Jeriba Shagan (Enemy Mine) without the lisp.
Londo Mollari - Grandpa (The Munsters) cool fangs
Jeffrey Sinclair - Troy McClure (The Simpsons) or Zap Brannigan (Futurama). A good commander with the weight of the station on his shoulders.
Micheal Garibaldi - Officer John McClane (Die Hard). Didn't know Bruce Willis had a twin brother!

The first important episode "Signs and Portents" has a commentary track by Straczynski where he gives a lot of insight into the Babylon 5 Universe. Caution, he always has a rabbit up his sleeve.

note: NASA asked permission to use the "StarFury" fighter design for a proposed space station forklift. The craft pivots around the operator so there is no harmful g-force effects. Straczynski approved on the condition that if developed - NASA must call them "StarFurys" :)

The DVD release of the series are digital transfers of the original 16.9 format. Though the 3D graphics and set pieces are quaint by today's standards I find them charming - and it goes to show far we've come in a short time.

I've learned a lot thus far in sci-fi 101 at Rico-U.
1. FarScape
2. Firefly/Serenity
3. Space Above and Beyond
4. Babylon 5
5. Vartox's music reviews

...and the tuition can't be beat!

[Ktrek]

And for anyone interested I saw that BestBuy was offering the season sets at $19.95 again. Considering at one time these were over a hundred dollars each....that's a real bargain!

Kevin

[Rico]

Dave - glad you are enjoying B5 and those other shows too.

Kevin - That's a great deal on those DVD sets.  Thanks for the heads up!

[Blackride]

We started watching Babylon 5 again. The wife can not get over the quality of the special effects :(. They do look a bit aged when compared to DS9 stuff at that time. I know that one is CGI and the other is not. Effects do not make a show though....

[billybob476]

The wife and I are into season 3. Get past the first season and the effects get better. I find they get noticeably better each season.

[Rico]

It really isn't a effects show.  Sure there are battles (especially in the later seasons) but those are just to move the story and characters.  I guess effects have never really bothered me as long as the story and characters are good.  Heck, I still watch classic Trek (with the original effects).

[billybob476]

Well season 1 the effects got to me a bit, but it was more an issue of resolution. The space scenes were really 'jaggy' and fuzzy which threw me off.

One thing that I find cool however are the ship designs. You can tell they looked hard at current spacecraft and came up with a sort of natural evolution. I also like how Earth doesn't have gravity generation so they have to make ships with spinning sections for centrifugal gravity.

I also like how because of that people live on the inside surface of the 'spinning tube' of the station, held down by the spinning force. It just makes the show more believable then having magic gravity generators.

[Rico]

What type of setup are you watching the show on?  A large TV?  Upscaling DVD player?? 

[Omra]

Because there was only one writer with a singular vision the characters and story direction stayed consistant.  Which was a big deal for me, in other series characters would sometimes act 'out of character' when a episode was written by a new or guest writer.

And I LOVED how the characters developed and grew over the course of the series.  Each going through their own personal struggles and trails, and overcoming them to become a better and more enlightened person.

You became so personally invested in them that by the time the final season came (and much too early in my opinion) the end stories of each the characters really hit hard.

B5 is one of my all time favorite series, I always look forward to new B5 movies.

[billybob476]

What type of setup are you watching the show on?  A large TV?  Upscaling DVD player?? 

40" LCD with and upscaling player at 1080i. This it only looks this way in season 1.

[davekill]

Like a good book - once you begin the  Babylon 5 box sets, it's hard to put them away.
I watched the TV movies during the course of the series, as recommended by IMBD and finished in about five weeks. Glad it wasn't cancelled before it's time, TNT rescued Babylon 5 to come back for the fifth season.
The TV movie prequel "In the Beginning" was great stuff and really helped to complete the story.  :)

[Blackride]

What type of setup are you watching the show on?  A large TV?  Upscaling DVD player?? 

What type of setup are you watching the show on?  A large TV?  Upscaling DVD player?? 

40" LCD with and upscaling player at 1080i. This it only looks this way in season 1.

I have a PS3 and a Pioneer Elite Blu-Ray player with a 50" Panny 50" Plasma professional calibrated. The picture during special effect is not that good but I have not seen it past season 1 yet. The star trek DVD's on my system look awesome though :)

[billybob476]

Well I finally got through all of Babylon 5. Overall it is a great show, very well written and aside from a few instances (and part of season 1) it is very well acted.

The last few episodes of season 5 are an amazing ending to the series. The last episode made me feel like I had lost a friend (or two!)

My MAJOR issue was the last episode of season 4. It basically tells us everything that is going to occur in season 5 which really takes away the impact of the events of the final season. It was a completely unnecessary episode.

Aside from that I have to agree with the idea that B5 was the "Galactica of the early 90's"

[Rico]

It's a very well thought out and written series.  Interesting characters and some excellent acting.  I'm glad you got a chance to see it.  Gotta love DVD box sets.  :)

[Feathers]

My MAJOR issue was the last episode of season 4. It basically tells us everything that is going to occur in season 5 which really takes away the impact of the events of the final season. It was a completely unnecessary episode.

IIRC the original end for season 4 was the episode that eventually aired as the last in season 5. That got moved once the show was renewed and the 'new' season 4 final episode was put together and aired in its place. You've got to question how much time they put into that one.

(Background: The original B5 concept was a five year story arc concluding with the end of the Shadow war. Season 5 got cancelled so the story line was compressed to fit seasons 4 and 5 into one season - season 4. The show subsequently got renewed after all so they had to come up with a whole new Season 5 story line and tack it onto the end. Personally, I found season 5 to be the weaker as a result...sorry if everyone knows all this or if I'm slightly off track - it's a long time since I researched all of this.)