It was one of the best sci-fi programs on television even though the 5th season was kind of weak. Of course it is just a television show and I don’t care how good it is it won’t make a great deal of difference in your life.
Marc
It does get better and better till season 4, but I think the 5th season is generally considered to be the weakest. The show was threatened with cancellation so they wrapped up a lot of things in season 4 and they even filmed the series finale. (But not aired till the end of season 5.) Still, Babylon 5 is like the Tolkien or Star Wars stories - the series is just one section of a continuous story that has no beginning and no end. So they had plenty of stuff to put into season 5 and there are some strong episodes.
I was going to start a thread to ask for good B5 quotes to get the uninitiated interested in the show, but maybe this thread is the right one. Any suggestions? Most quotes listed on the Net are too short to be self-explanatory. Example: “Our thoughts shape the universe, they always matter” is a good line but I can’t remember enough to put it in context.
I’ve never seen it, but what’s-her-face was really hot.
Yeah, but I’m not much of a sci-fi fan. I’ve tried to watch an entire episode but I’m just not into it. Actually I don’t think I’ve ever watched a full installment of any Sci-Fi Network show, besides the Twilight Zone.
And despite what Lord Cecil thinks, excessive use of the word “Hon” does not play a part in this.
One of the best Sci-Fi series ever, only brought down by a sub-par Season 5, and horrible spin-off series attempts. Seasons 2-4 are as good as they get though.
Season 4 is the best single season of any show ever in my opinion.
Fairly early in the season on they resolve the main thing that’s been driving them for seasons, and you think wow that was great but we’ve got most of the season left, what now? Then they crank it up a notch and it just get’s even better.
Cabnnot reccomend it to much.
Wish i could say the same for my spelling
Babylon 5…wtf is that? Never seen it. Is that the sci/fi flick w/ Bobby Wheeler from Taxi? (Lame ass actor, sucked in Taxi too.)
Haven’t watched Star Trek in years. Can’t stand the Simpsons or King of the Hill.
I suppose if I didn’t have a life and too many responsibilities, I could waste time w/ TV. As it is, I don’t watch it but a few hours a week, if that much.
I used to like the West Wing, but now that’s gone to shit too.
Anyway, I gotta go work…2 h/school teenagers eating me outta house and home. :smack:
[Kosh]
You do not understand.
But you will.
[/ Kosh]
This stands alone as the greatest Sci-Fi series in television history.
Farscape could have been better, but it never got to complete its run.
I really liked the show, but all the monkeying around with “no there won’t be a fifth series, yes there will” messed up not just the last season but also the last half of the fourth to the point where the long story arcs were shot to hell and it all got too irritating. However:
Abso-friggin-lutely. Some of the individual episodes was dogs, but this one was a masterpiece of writing. I’d love to hear Polycarp’s views on this one.
“Please do not thump the Book of G’Kuon; it is disrespectful.”
–G’Kar
G’Kar: “It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain. If we are wise, what is born of that pain, matures into the promise of a better world. Because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past.”
G’Kar again: “The Universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice. The language is not Narn, or Human, or Centuari, or Gaium, or Minbari. It speaks in the language of hope. It speaks in the language of trust. It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion. It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul. But always, it is the same voice. Tis the voice of our ancestors speaking through us and the voice of our inheritors waiting to be born. It is the small still voice that says we are one. No matter the blood, no matter the skin, no matter the world, no matter the star, we are one. No matter the pain, no matter the darkness, no matter the loss, no matter the fear, we are one. Here gathered together in common cause, we agree to recognize this single truth and this single rule. That we must be kind to one another. Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us and each voice loss diminishes us. We are the voice of the universe. The soul of creation. The fire that will light the way to a better future. We are one. We are one.”
I have to agree with (most) everyone else in saying that this is the best sci-fi series out there. A lot of people slike to see an episode or two and say it sucked, but I can easily do the same with any TV show. Go watch “Encounter at Farpoint”, the first ep. of TNG and tell me it’s a good episode. And as far as the first season of TNG goes, it is one of the better ones.
The characters are one of the best things about the show. G’Kar is, in my opinion, the best. He has a lot of background with him and the Book of G’Kwon, and the Centauri hatred. The writers decided to make him a noble, proud, honerable man, and theynever deterred from that one bit. A perferct foil, actually, to Londo (well, until Londo learns his lessons in later seasons, and then way in the future when he’s emperor.)
Season 2 was good - Season 3 was the epitome of good TV sci-fi. Went rapidly downhill after that.
The best thing about Babylon 5 was foundationism.
Uh huh. Well, there’s an episode of TNG where Lwaxana Troi falls in love with a scientist named Timicin, but soon discovers that he is reaching the age where his people will ritually kill him so he doesn’t have to suffer the ravages of age. Lwaxana convinces him to seek asylum on the Enterprise so that he can continue his work of trying to stop his system’s star from going supernova, but his people reject any further work from him since he is supposed to be dead, and there is talk of rejecting all his work over his career since they see him as a traitor. Finally Timicin decides to return to his people and meet his fate. Lwaxana and the Enterprise crew don’t like it, but they allow him to return.
And when they announced this plot twist, I immediately heard Michael York screaming:
“NO!! Don’t go in there! You don’t have to die! Well NO ONE needs to die at 30! You can live! LIVE!!! Live, and grow old! I’ve seen it! SHE’S seen it! Well, look! LOOK!” [holding up his palm] “Look, it’s clear!”
5 extra reasons to love B5:
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Virtually every major character is over 35 (or the alien equivalent thereof), and acts it. This is especially evident in the realtionships - when the characters fall in love, they do it slowly, hesitantly, and with a great deal of tenderness. The show’s central romance is one of the one of the most mature - and most touching - I’ve ever seen on TV.
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There’s a great deal of fantasy mixed in with the harder-than-average -for-TV science fiction. Therefore, instead of technobable you get prophecies, visions, lengthy discussions onmortality and destiny, and the occasional quarterstaff duel. In many ways, the show is like Star Trek written by a Tolkien geek.
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Lots of allusions to other SF. For instance, when they suspect that an alien drone craft may be programmed to destroy sentient life, the captain says: “Be careful. It might be a Berserker.”
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No kids. I can think of only two episodes which featured children in speaking parts, in in both cases they were dead by the end of the episode. Kids have no business appearing in science fiction.
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A sense of grandeur rarely seen on TV. It’s one thing to show a huge fleet of human and alien ships set off to fight a hopeless batle against a godlike enem; it’s a littel bit more to have the fleets commander recite the last verse of Tennyson’s Ulysses as a voiceover while they’re doing it. It’s just that littel bit of elan that makes the series great.
B5 had good episodes, bad episodes, and middlin’ ones, but oh the good ones were good. (you need not watch the fifth season. As far as I am concerned , it never happened)
Characters develop slowly over the course of the show, such that watching season one reruns during season four was somewhat of a jolt.
Actions. Have. Consequences.
Good people do bad things for bad reasons.
Redemption just may be possible.
Every alien race on every planet has a dish very similar to swedish meatballs.
Okay, people, do you know HOW MANY SPOILERS ARE IN THIS THREAD??? After all the work I went to NOT spoiling my mom when she started watching, and you’re handing Polycarp potential spoilers all OVER THE PLACE!
You MUST watch B5! I’d start near the end of the first season. Poly, hon, do NOT watch the pilot first. It sucks. Also as previously stated, do not watch “In The Beginning,” which is really good but is one huge spoiler. I started watching about six or eight episodes from the end of the first season the first time SciFi reran the show. I was hooked within a week.
I, too, was raised on Trek. I still have a great deal of affection for it. Heck, I’m a SECOND-GENERATION Trekkie. But in a lot of ways B5 blows Trek right out of the water. It hurt me to admit this at first, but not anymore.