Babylon 5: Is Star Trek the Only Sci-Fi Show?

[stardust]

I have to ask, since I see all this love for Star Trek. Any fans of the last of the Babylon stations?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Honestly I never got into the series. Granted I don't remember watching any. Maybe I should give them a visit.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

I have to ask, since I see all this love for Star Trek. Any fans of the last of the Babylon stations?

I followed the first three seasons, which mostly followed a series of arching linked stories, and particularly enjoyed the plot about Sinclair going back in time, which wrapped up a lot of loose ends very neatly, and the spectacular end of the season, with the White Star crashing into Z'ha'dum.

Later stuff all seemed more fragmented and less compelling, and the spin-off "Crusade" series didn't grab me at all (although the Galen character was quite interesting).

 

[stardust]

I followed the first three seasons, which mostly followed a series of arching linked stories, and particularly enjoyed the plot about Sinclair going back in time, which wrapped up a lot of loose ends very neatly, and the spectacular end of the season, with the White Star crashing into Z'ha'dum.

Later stuff all seemed more fragmented and less compelling, and the spin-off "Crusade" series didn't grab me at all (although the Galen character was quite interesting).

For me, the show didn't enter it's own until the third season forward. All of the 3rd and 4th season were written by JMS, and almost all of the 5th. My favorite part of the show was the dialogue and the speeches. G'kar probably had the best lines.

 

[turbo]

G'kar probably had the best lines.

For sure! "Nobody here is what he seems." The characters evolved and condensed over the years.

 

[slider142]

Definitely. I found Seasons 3 and 4 the most entertaining myself. Season 5 provided an interesting counterpoint and mystery (that is resolved in the Centauri trilogy of novels).

 

[stardust]

I've never read the novels, perhaps I should.

Also, you have to love Vorlon one-liners.

"The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."

 

[stardust]

Thought I give this link:



Babylon 5 20th Anniversary Reunion

 

[vemvare]

I love B5! The longer story arcs and fewer world-of-the-week episodes is something other SF-shows should be more inspired by.

 

[arildno]

I loved the story.

 

[Last_Exile]

IMHO - Babylon 5 was better than Star Trek - for all the reasons given above.

 

[Algr]

I love B5! The longer story arcs and fewer world-of-the-week episodes is something other SF-shows should be more inspired by.

It certainly DID inspire changes in many series that came after it - most notably DS9 and Voyager.

 

[GTOM]

Hmm so far i only watched the very first episode... it hasnt really grasped me.
Are all Centaurians that stupid, they couldn't find an ambassador who can control his rage?

Further series with time travel? I find it hard to accept even in SF, although i loved Hyperion (which that theme also).

 

[Algr]

The next episode introduces the Soul Hunter and is quite good.

 

[Digitalism]

I am a big fan. For me, it's probably neck and neck with tng which I think is the strongest of those series. I think it actually starts off relatively mildly and builds up over the first season with the season finale finally getting the main plot rolling. Seasons 2-4 have more of the "meat" with season 5 wrapping things up nicely. There are a lot of cautionary tales on our own journey of scientific development toward some kind of super civilization. For example in one episode a scientist reminiscent of Mengele creates an immortality serum that will allow for perpetual life. Sounds great right? Well the catch is each dose requires the death of an intelligent lifeform. The Vorlons then destroy the scientist boldly proclaiming, "You are not ready for immortality." Sometimes I wonder the same about us especially if it were limited to just the ultra rich and then no new young people were allowed to replace the old and society became stagnant like if the Romans were to live forever and their values could never be overcome. Anyhow, a great series that gets you thinking. Koshisms are great, Garibaldi's obsession with Daffy Duck, the universality of Swedish meatballs, Zathras, Technomages, and of course all 6 Centauri penises.

Londo is probably my favorite character because he seems very real in terms of motivation, how conflicted he is, his sparring with G'kar, and his tragic end but eventual redemption.

Also, I like the alien perspective on Earth culture. Seeing ourselves through the eyes of another species in quite humorous ways such as this:

(See link at the top)

 

[stardust]

"Understanding is a three edged sword."

 

[Joseph Blauth]

I have to ask, since I see all this love for Star Trek. Any fans of the last of the Babylon stations?

Big Fan. The first TV show to tell a complete story with a beginning, middle and end.

 

[Algr]

Well, The Tripods tried to do that, but got canceled in the middle. It sort of did if you just count the first season.

 

[Khatti]

I'm a massive fan of Babylon Five. I was intrigued enough with their approach to FTL that I'm trying to figure out a similar system for one of my stories.

 

[hagar]

I also enjoyed Babylon 5. It was a great contrast to Star Trek.

 

[hagar]

I turn 69 this summer so I have seen all of the series from the beginning. I did enjoy a lot of T.N.G. as the stories were more involved and as I also grew up with Issac Asimov I am a robot fan and Data was definitely a good character. I also think T.N.G's failure was trying to be politically correct.

 

[|Glitch|]

I am a big fan of Babylon 5 series. It was a great contrast to the Star Trek series. I particularly liked the 5-year story timeline. I also liked the fact that not all the alien species evolved and developed technology at the same rate (like in Star Trek). They had aliens that were millions, even billions, of years older than humans, which most scifi stories usually do not taken into consideration.

I also enjoyed the original Star Trek series, but I couldn't get into Star Trek the New Generation. STNG was written for children, whereas the original ST was written for adults.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

I thought the first three series of Babylon 5 were excellent, but for me the climax was the Z'ha'dum episode, the finale of the third season. Somehow the magic seemed to go out of it after that. The follow-up series Crusade was a major disappointment. (Like Star Trek Voyager and Stargate Universe, I felt it was just an excuse to have an assortment of unrelated episodes with very little progress in the main plot).

 

[cpscdave]

The follow-up series Crusade was a major disappointment.

Crusade was a good example of what happens when the creative force behind the series loses control. Crusade started with a fist fight. Pretty un JMS and B5ish. Apparently there was a large amount of strife between JMS and TNT (network that was airing Crusade) from the start, and it was JMS who decided to end the series not the network.

End result was TNT not really caring, and they aired episodes out of order and made an general mish-mash of it. Too bad, if it was done well it could've been a really cool series that expanded on the universe great.

 

[Paul Uszak]

Big Fan. The first TV show to tell a complete story with a beginning, middle and end.

What about Buffy the Vampire Slayer? It starts small in a library, builds and eventually ends with the destruction of the whole town, death of several leading characters and I infer that she retires (what Buffy's wanted for so long). Would also suggest West Wing if it was Sci-Fi.

 

[Paul Uszak]

I've never read the novels, perhaps I should.

Also, you have to love Vorlon one-liners.

"The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."

"The truth points to itself" is a line that I find very much applies to real life. Especially in a religious dialectic.

 

[nathan mcgrath]

I loved the show. Unlike Star Trek, B5 actually had a story arc!
Has anyone else commented that John Michael Straczynski has been very busy since B5? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Michael_Straczynski

 

[AlabamaCajun]

Loved the show back in the late 90s but lost the station we received it on just after season 4 and have not seen it since.

 

[Khatti]

Loved the show back in the late 90s but lost the station we received it on just after season 4 and have not seen it since.

Oddly enough B5 has never been rerun on TV. I would think that Spike or TNT would run it again but they never do. Sci Fi mustn't be interested either. Perhaps Joe Strazinski simply wants it this way. I don't know.