[Obligitory don’t-beat-me disclaimer] Forgive me if this has been asked before - I searched and didn’t find it.
I haven’t watched much tv in the last several years, but I’ve discovered the joys of Netflix for watching those few truly wonderful tv series (watching Six Feet Under now).
How would you characterize Babylon 5 vs. Battlestar Galactica (new)? I’m not trying to start conflict between those members with favorite shows, but am genuinely interested in distinguishing the two series, before investing the time and money in watching one or both from beginning to end. Which is smart, original, has great characters, quirks or humor, Big Ideas, cutting-edge sf, controversy, throught-provoking, etc?
B5 (imho) was essentially trek with better ideas on alien societies. never did much for me but I am wierd that way.
BDG however is the only show on any channel in all of tv land that I will go out of my way to watch a new episode of. I dont even own a tv (roomate does atm) and I still want to watch this show. Human drama, human stories, under a scifi setting thats quite believable (er quite suspension of disbeliefable?) for the most part and it just works.
Personally, I loved B5 at the time - but I really, really don’t think it’ll age well.
I think there were too many moments and speeches that come off as beyond corny. I’d actually been considering starting a thread to think if anyone else had found that B5 had aged badly.
I think B5 went for Hollywood Realism while BSG goes for more Gritty Realism.
I do think that BSG will age better. Of course, I could be extremely wrong on that, too.
As opposed to Robotech, which, while a bit juvenile at times (with, let’s face it, kissing being a surrogate for sex) , I find has aged pretty well.
There are plenty of eye-rolling moments in B5, but the story is an old one, and as such has aged well. I haven’t got around to watching BSG yet, so I can’t offer an opinion.
For all it’s intentions to be a grown up science fiction show, B5 still has a campy element to it. Not that this is a bad thing. I don’t miss an episode of BSG but I think it will collapse under the weight of it’s own darkness. So far it has held my interest but I am not sure how long it will keep me coming back with depressing episode after depressing episode.
And that’s a good question. I love BSG, but at some point it will become almost…necessary for everyone to put a gun in their mouth and pull the trigger.
Then again, they did just have a big victory against the Cylons, and the war has changed fundamentally - at least until another Resurrection Ship shows up.
So, it’s possible for the mood to lighten - but if it does we could lose the cool aspect of the show.
Really, after dealing with Kain and the Resurrection Ship I think they should have gone for some lighter (not wacky - gag!) episodes. That way we get to see that, if nothing else, small victories ARE possible.
