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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 3:37 am
by Sorus
Sorry - was talking about BSG there. I tend to fixate on details
(such as being annoyed with the way they resolved Starbuck's storyline)
to the point where they overshadow the big picture.
As for B5, I do need to watch the last season again. And agree about Crusade - I don't think it would have been as good as the original, but it certainly had potential.
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 11:02 am
by Cail
Sorus wrote:Sorry - was talking about BSG there. I tend to fixate on details
(such as being annoyed with the way they resolved Starbuck's storyline)
to the point where they overshadow the big picture.
I can't argue that. I got what they were doing, but it wasn't handled well.
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:56 pm
by Hashi Lebwohl
Crusade probably could have gotten more steam had they explored the post-Shadow War technomages a little more than they did. Did you know that Galen had access to all of his most power Shadow tech? He could cloak himself like the Shadows could, he could surround himself with the same sort of shields their ships used, he could tap into any communication network, fire the same sort of projected energy from his hands like Shadow ships did when they screamed, and, most importantly, he could target a spherical volume of space to separate into its own pocket universe which would then collapse out of existence. He was probably the single most powerful being in the galaxy at the time of Crusade. The only spell he didn't know was the one Elezar (another technomage from the books) had where he could take control of someone else's spell and redirect it.
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:34 am
by Cail
Crusade's done and....I remember it being better. Sorry Hashi, but Galen was the weak part of the series. Had it not been cancelled before it aired, things might have become more interesting, but with what we have......ehh....
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 2:50 am
by Cail
So I've finally consumed every bit of filmed B5 there is. I didn't care much for Legend of the Rangers, and I thought The Lost Tales were both really good.
On balance I think this is one of the best sci-fi-fi TV shows extant. Had it been filmed 10-15 years later, the effects would have been better, and it would rival the BSG reboot. BSG is a better-looking series, B5 is the better written.
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:51 am
by Sorus
I think the fact that JMS had the whole storyline planned from the beginning made a huge difference, even with the changes that they were forced to make to the final season.
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 11:02 am
by Cail
Sorus wrote:I think the fact that JMS had the whole storyline planned from the beginning made a huge difference, even with the changes that they were forced to make to the final season.
Agreed. There were no dangling threads left at the completion. Plenty of avenues to explore, but nothing that left you scratching your head.
It'd be nice to revisit it now that it's nearly 20 years on and about time for Sheridan to die. I'd be up for a 2-hour coda.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 6:04 pm
by dlbpharmd
Now that the entire series is available on Prime, I'm watching for the first time.
I've watched only the first 10 episodes or so. It's pretty weak so far.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 6:09 pm
by Cail
dlbpharmd wrote:Now that the entire series is available on Prime, I'm watching for the first time.
I've watched only the first 10 episodes or so. It's pretty weak so far.
It gets better. Season one has a few decent episodes, but most are pretty rough. Unfortunately, there's a lot of material there that's important later, so you really can't skip it.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 8:04 pm
by Sorus
I've noted before that I'm one of the weird people that actually really liked the first season, but it does also get better. Definitely worth sticking with it.
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:50 am
by Skyweir
Im one of the weird ones too .. I enjoyed season one as well.
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 4:51 pm
by Cail
Sorus wrote:I've noted before that I'm one of the weird people that actually really liked the first season, but it does also get better. Definitely worth sticking with it.
I think that once you've seen the entire series, season one becomes much better.
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 1:53 am
by Hashi Lebwohl
Season One was also JMS still figuring out how to do the show correctly and not make a Star Trek clone. Season One was also plagued by lawsuits and allegations over whether B5 was a DS9 rip-off or whether DS9 was a B5 rip-off.
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 10:24 pm
by Sorus
Very true. I attended a lot of Star Trek conventions around that time, and the promoter-types always had a little PSA about how we should avoid B5.
Which is probably at least part of the reason I got into it.
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 9:25 am
by Skyweir
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 1:19 pm
by dlbpharmd
I just watched the first really good episode in Season 1, "Believers." It involved the alien couple who bring their critically ill son to Dr. Franklin. It was very well written with a couple of twists.
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 4:26 pm
by Cail
You've only got one really horrible one ahead of you. Drink heavily for, "Grail".
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 11:48 pm
by Sorus
dlbpharmd wrote:I just watched the first really good episode in Season 1, "Believers." It involved the alien couple who bring their critically ill son to Dr. Franklin. It was very well written with a couple of twists.
Written by David Gerrold, best known as the author of
The Trouble With Tribbles. I believe it was shortly after he adopted his son, and he initially questioned why JMS chose him to write that particular episode, but he ended up very emotionally involved in the script.
(One of my favorite episodes, and it got a bit of flack in the beginning for 'not being proper scifi' - so I'm always happy to see a good review.)
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 8:37 pm
by Hashi Lebwohl
That was one of the episodes where JMS was significantly more "edgy" than Star Trek ever was. We also got the classic "the avalanche has already begun; it is too late for the pebbles to vote" wisdom from Kosh.
The physicians from Star Trek would have been bound by the Prime Directive to respect the parents' wishes regardless of their own personal feelings...except for maybe Bashir--he might have made the same decision, given what we know of him.
Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 2:40 pm
by Cail
For anyone interested in diving into this series, it's now streaming on Amazon Prime.
