The bolded part might have been part of your problem. B5 isn’t nearly as episodic as ST is, and while a few eps stand well on their own, catching one here and there will leave you missing a lot of backstory. The later part of season 3 and most of season 4 especially don’t really stand well as single episodes.
I find it a fairly deep show. ST is very one-dimensional–even the main characters don’t have much depth to them. B5 is much more complex–it delves into the politics of more than one culture, and the characters can have wonderful love-hate relationships. It’s also more consistent, with earlier plot-points coming back later on.
I watched the entire run of B5 about a year and a half ago, and can’t remember an episode with an ethnic-cleansing robot. In fact, I’m trying to remember seeing any robots in B5. And I’m not sure what you mean by it seeming “terminally uncool”.
Bear in mind this was junior high. I could have sworn it was a robot…hmm…
Well, it had a sort of “First they came…” theme in which first one group on this planet was singled out, and then the robot decided another group had to go, and then another and another, etc.
As far as terminally uncool, well, it just seemed a step below even Star Trek on the cool-o-meter, with the starched uniforms, stiff actors, and silly hair. (Hey, I only saw one episode, I’m just saying!)
Ah, I remember that one. Definitely a non-typical episode, and if that was the only episode of B5 that you ever saw, I can understand why you wouldn’t think much of it.
It’s true that season 5 is a let-down, but it’s still worth seeing if only because it brings you to the real series ending, “Sleeping in Light,” which will break your heart.
True. I tried watching B5 and couldn’t figure out what was going on. But then one day I happened to see rerun of the first season episodes and I started to understand what the plot was. B5 doesn’t date well, but its still a good show and if you can use the word “realistic” its more “realistic” than Star trek ever was. With better chracters.
SFX obviously make a difference in Sci-fi shows, but they shouldn’t be the main thing in them. Take Blake’s Seven…it looks like it had a SFX budget of 15 bucks. But the characters were interesting enough that I actually preferred watching it than ST: TNG.
Farscape, however, rocked. I wish they had given it one more season.
I’ve watched a few epsiodes of Babylon 5, and one thing bothers me and makes it hard for me to take the show seriously—and then the fact that it bothers me bothers me even more, because it makes me feel like a pedantic nitpicker:
The whole voiceover intro during the opening credits explaining about “humans and aliens” coming together, as though “alien” meant “non-human.” Doesn’t the word “alien” mean an outsider, someone who came here from somewhere else? If a story is set on Earth, then yeah, the aliens are the ones who aren’t from Earth. But if it’s set somewhere else, out in space somewhere, wouldn’t the aliens be anyone who isn’t from that place? Doesn’t calling non-humans “aliens” display a staggering degree of non-PC ethnocentrism, that undercuts the whole “coming together” idea?
Technically speaking, they are on ‘Earth’, as B5 was built and is run by humans, and for at least part of the series is an Earth territory/colony/station/whatever.
**Babylon 5 **improved as it went on – good in the first season, but better from then on, until the fifth season, which was a drop off, but still pretty good.
Farscape was probably a bit better than B5 in the first season, but was only marginally better in the 2nd and 3rd (where B5 supassed it). The final season sucked so bad that it removed all air from large rooms. Stupid science, terrible scripts, acting that was just a bunch of people screaming at each other for 48 minutes. It jumped several sharks all in one leap.
If I could complain about one thing about Babylon 5 (and I could complain about a lot of things, although I…more or less…liked it), it would be that it turned JMS into “I’m J-f’n-MS!”
Maybe you just had to be there on the message boards at the time, but damn, he really, really got on my nerves.
Another Dragon*Con-inspired plan-to-watch-these-shows person checking in to ask, given what’s being said over in the “shows that fell apart at the end” thread, is it worth watching all five seasons of Babylon 5 when I get around to it, or should I stop after season 4?
No. IIRC it was uncertain they were going to get a 5th season, so it was wrapped up rather abruptly by the end of S.4. Had it ended, there would still be bitching, akin to the constant noise of the browncoats, about how all the loose ends were left dangling, how the network betrayed the show.
As it went, the momentum was lost, but there are great episodes and almost all loose ends are tied up. It feels a bit clunky after the tour de force that was going from mid season 2 to the end of season four, but it’s not bad in any way.
I own seasons 2-5 of B5 on DVD, and seasons 1-3 of Farscape. Never bought s1 of B5 because by the time I had the money, I couldn’t find it locally. Never bought s4 of Farscape, because by the time it came out, I didn’t have the money. Someday I may just complete the collection.
As for the shoulder pads, check out the pilot of DS9. Major Kira wore huge shoulder pads, had this god awful big nose and makeup that made her look very vulture-like. Was very happy they softened that up over time.
Oh, and Lita Alexander. Yup, rowr. Of course, the best bits of trivial are that Patricia Tallman also played the possessed witch in Army of Darkness, appeared in 3 episodes of ST:NG, 3 episodes of DS9, and 1 episode of Voyager.
I am primarily a character-driven viewer, not so much a plot-driven viewer. B5 just didn’t seem to have any characters which resonated with me, they all seemed very flat-ish, even the guy with the poofy hairdo. To those who are much more familiar with the show you may find that an unfair comment, and I won’t argue with you. Just my impressions after catching a few eps here and there. For a plot-driven show I guess that may be par for the course (possible false dichotomy fallacy warning).
Farscape tho was very much a character-driven program, out the wazoo really, which sucked me in right from the beginning. The creators truly went out of their way to fill their universe with compelling personalities of all stripes-wisecracking Crichton, honor-bound Crais who discovers his humanity, Scorpius the Villian who really isn’t a villian, Proud Warrior Race guy D’Argo who is more than some brainless brute with a sword, etc. The females were an interesting lot as well (not giving them short shrift by any means-and Chiana is as hot any any alien babe, ever). The Muppet made for good comic-relief but was more than that.
I’ll probably restart watching it from the beginning again soon (I’ve probably let them sit there and re-ripen long enough), but I will skip the “fungus invades the ship” eps, as they had a few too many of those. The overall series arc I found pretty compelling, if you want to focus on plot. And “Harvey” was a pretty inspired concept.
I’m lucky. I watched both shows when they were being originally broadcast. They both rocked.
But, of the two, I’d rather re-watch Farscape. Like John DiFool says, it’s more character driven and I quickly fell in love with, and felt like the whole crew was my family. I’m a sucker for that. Firefly got me that way too.
