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Author Topic: Babylon 5  (Read 17069 times)
Johny Cee
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Reply #35 on: December 03, 2009, 09:28:58 AM

BSG had sympathetic flawed characters doing morally reprehensible things (crazy pirate Tigh and suicide bombings, Adama and Roslin's political manipulations).

Hm, I somehow stopped watching BSG during Season 2 (I think) is it worth watching the rest ? Do the finish the storyline ?

The best answer is that there's some awesome stuff, and some stuff that just doesn't work.  The wrap-up is really a YMMV situation.

The aforementioned Iraqi Occupation story line is pretty awesome.  Especially how it gets resolved.  The later seasons were uneven, and some plot lines were dragged out too long.  
Khaldun
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Reply #36 on: December 03, 2009, 09:29:17 AM

Watch S3. Rent S4 for the first six episodes. If you're still feeling the love at that point, finish off S4, some decent moments in the battle to recapture Earth.

Go no further unless you're feeling compelled to continue.
Numtini
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Reply #37 on: December 03, 2009, 09:31:41 AM

Soap operas have a storyline but not an arc. It's made up as they go along. That's one of the things that made B5 different, it had a set planned ending.

I have no idea whether BSG fits that or not.

If you can read this, you're on a board populated by misogynist assholes.
Johny Cee
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Reply #38 on: December 03, 2009, 09:33:02 AM

You can now buy the entire Farscape series, minus the final miniseries, for $60 from Amazon.  I'm thinking this might be my next rewatch.
That causes me physical pain. I don't like to think about how much I spent to buy the series for my wife a couple years ago. It wasn't ST:TNG crazy, but it wasn't that far off.

Yah.  I had purchased alot of the DVDs used because the prices were so fucking crazy, but that means about half the DVDs never really worked right.  They had the same pricing scheme that BBC and HBO seem to use.


This is going to sound dirty, but I've actually had a good experience with older TV seasons occasionally checking the local Walmart.  Seems to be a crazy write down on older TV seasons there, though with shitty selection.  That's where I found B5 for $19/season, and they have most of Whedon's stuff for $13 a season.
Teleku
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Reply #39 on: December 03, 2009, 10:27:18 AM

Soap operas have a storyline but not an arc. It's made up as they go along. That's one of the things that made B5 different, it had a set planned ending.

I have no idea whether BSG fits that or not.
BSG is sort of a hybrid.  They did in fact write the entire damn show as they went along, with almost no long term plan beyond 1 or 2 episodes from where they currently where at (like, they literally wrote in the part where Sharon "rescues" Helo at the end of of episode one, half way through them filming it.  Think of the ramifications of just that).  However, the show relied heavily on plot arcs, and you basically had to watch the series in order because they'd just continue right off where the last episode ended.  So even though it was something of a soap opera in space that was written on the go, the average person watching it wouldn't realize it.
BSG had sympathetic flawed characters doing morally reprehensible things (crazy pirate Tigh and suicide bombings, Adama and Roslin's political manipulations).
Hm, I somehow stopped watching BSG during Season 2 (I think) is it worth watching the rest ? Do the finish the storyline ?
I'd definitely say give it a go.  The show probably was at its absolute greatest for all of season 1 and 2 (and the show at its greatest was probably the best sci-fi show ever to make it to TV).  While alot of hate is thrown around, both season 3 and 4 were also good, just uneven.  First half of season 3 is of the same caliber as seasons 1 and 2.  The only problem is that in the second half, they were forced to do a bunch of stand alone episodes by the network, which pissed people off who wanted story arcs.

The final season is where things just began to unravel, as it was really uneven.  Lots of good episodes, but lots of blah mixed in as well.  I don't know if they got new writers or what.  Still, watch the whole thing.  Even if you don't like how it ended, its still nice to see what happens to everybody.

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HaemishM
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Reply #40 on: December 03, 2009, 01:28:56 PM

I think BSG will hold up pretty well.  It's actually more about morality and flawed characters.  Even the overt occupation stuff is told from the side of the terrorists, which makes it much more interesting.

No. BSG doesn't even hold up well NOW in the wake of that fucktastically bad ending (or last season and a half for that matter). The Plan DVD just makes the pain all that much worse. The first 3.25 seasons w/o The Plan? Sure. But I still think B5 was light years better.

As for the arc thing, yes there were shows before B5 that had arcs. B5 just stuck to it from the beginning more than most. It was also notable in that JMS wrote all of the episodes from 1 season of the show on purpose (I think either Season 3 or 4) - that's unheard of.

Tannhauser
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Reply #41 on: December 03, 2009, 02:11:00 PM

He set a Guiness world record for that if I'm not mistaken.

Ashamanchill
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Reply #42 on: December 04, 2009, 01:42:20 AM

Ya that fifth season was god aweful. There's only one cool moment in the whole thing as far as I'm concerned. The ending was alright though.

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Draegan
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Reply #43 on: January 02, 2010, 12:23:28 PM

I'm rewatching this now and I just hit season 5.  God it's awful.
Ratman_tf
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Reply #44 on: January 02, 2010, 02:25:24 PM

I'm rewatching this now and I just hit season 5.  God it's awful.

It is, but the good parts are what made me a B5 fan. G'kar, Londo and anything else that isn't about emo psychics.



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Draegan
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Reply #45 on: January 03, 2010, 03:23:04 PM

I stopped watching at ep3.  Should I keep watching?
Sir T
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Reply #46 on: January 03, 2010, 03:53:58 PM

I think the only good episode is called "the long night of Londo Molari". Where he becomes Emperor. Watch that and forget the rest
« Last Edit: January 03, 2010, 11:29:56 PM by Sir T »

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Reply #47 on: January 03, 2010, 05:48:41 PM

Watch it all so that you can complain about it later.  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

B5 had some great parts and is one of the few sci-fi series to use premonitions well. You know what is going to happen between Londo and G'Kar (plus some other things) but the pay-off is worth it when it gets there.

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Reply #48 on: January 04, 2010, 06:36:23 AM

If you just want the meat, there are plenty of episodes that you can cut out of each season, ones that don't advance the story arc. I'm sure there's an online list for 'condensed B5' of only the good stuff.
jgsugden
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Reply #49 on: July 30, 2016, 11:29:03 AM

Garibaldi has joined G'Kar, Franklin and Sinclair in the beyond. Jerry Doyle was a nut, but I loved what he did on screen in B5. RIP

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
Khaldun
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Reply #50 on: July 30, 2016, 07:03:20 PM

Did a great job at the character. That's about all you can say for him.
Surlyboi
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Reply #51 on: July 30, 2016, 07:15:49 PM

Jesus. What's killing them all? The shadows?

Tuned in, immediately get to watch cringey Ubisoft talking head offering her deepest sympathies to the families impacted by the Orlando shooting while flanked by a man in a giraffe suit and some sort of "horrifically garish neon costumes through the ages" exhibit or something.  We need to stop this fucking planet right now and sort some shit out. -Kail
Abagadro
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Reply #52 on: July 30, 2016, 07:26:24 PM

Garibaldi has joined G'Kar, Franklin and Sinclair in the beyond. Jerry Doyle was a nut, but I loved what he did on screen in B5. RIP

Zack Allan (Conaway) as well. None of them particularly old either.

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Merusk
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Reply #53 on: July 30, 2016, 07:31:30 PM

Franklin (Biggs) had aortic disease and died in 2004 at 44.
G'kar (Katsulas) died of lung cancer in 2006 at 59.
Allan (Conaway) died of OD in 2011 at 60.
Sinclair (O'hare) had a heart attack and died in 2012 at 60.
Garibaldi (Doyle) died last week at 60, no cause announced yet.

60 is a bad age to be a B5 actor, it would seem.

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Riggswolfe
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Reply #54 on: August 16, 2016, 04:18:26 PM

To this day I still haven't seen a single episode of B5. If it ever hits Netflix or whatever I'll check it out. I feel like I've missed a major geek milestone.

"We live in a country, where John Lennon takes six bullets in the chest, Yoko Ono was standing right next to him and not one fucking bullet! Explain that to me! Explain that to me, God! Explain it to me, God!" - Denis Leary summing up my feelings about the nature of the universe.
Khaldun
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Reply #55 on: August 16, 2016, 05:56:46 PM

Honestly, if you just watch the recommended "central arc" episodes and skip the filler, it's still really impressive. The filler is mediocre to awful to beyond awful, so when folks start up and watch all of that in sequence, they're often legitimately dismayed. But the core story and characters are great right up to the point that JMS got embarrassed at the LOTR homaging and tried to find a way to switch, awkwardly to homaging a mash-up of Moorcock and Vinge instead.  Even after that it's good.
Sir T
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Reply #56 on: August 16, 2016, 11:41:56 PM

You could check out the spin off TV movies as well. I really love "Thirdspace" which is basically Lovecraft in space, but its done well. I haven't seen the "River of Souls" but I've heard its pretty good.  "In the Beginning" has some really good moments but to be honest its pretty uneven.

But I echo what was said above. Stick to the recommended episode list. I regard myself as a B5 fan but I quit watching 5 episodes from the end of season 4 becasue it was pretty much all fillier and stuff which I really didn't care about.

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HaemishM
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Reply #57 on: August 17, 2016, 07:13:04 AM

I absolutely disagree about just watching the recommended episodes. Sure, there are some down episodes and most of the first season is a bit of a trial considering the low production values (especially compared today) and their attempts to find their narrative footing. But I think even the bad episodes are good setups for the really fantastic episodes, and I can't believe anyone would want to skip any of season 4. Also, Sleeping in Light is just one of the best sendoffs a show could ever hope to have.

jgsugden
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Reply #58 on: August 17, 2016, 08:07:21 AM

I agree with Haemish.  You need to put on your 90s goggles and expect some bad with the great, but this entire series is worth watching.  I watch it every few years and still hold out hope that the B5 universe will find some new life.  Nothing JMS has done since holds a candle.


2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
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