Babylon 5, Past, Present, and Future!

Preacher

This thread is kind of a split off because of all the talk about B5 in the favorite ending of a show. If the mods don't agree please feel free to delete

For those wondering what the hell Babylon 5 is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5

The most recent development!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5:_The_Lost_Tales

With the release of the lost tales coming, I hope they succeed but I have to say I am reluctant to watch a 45 minute segment about Lochley, the actress who plays her sucks and her character is terrible, that she apparently received a promotion for sucking is all the worse.

Jacobkosh

I feel like the hate for Lochley has a lot more to do with rabid fannishness than anything else. It's not Tracy Scoggins' fault that Claudia Christian bailed on the show; she was given an unenviable job and yeah, a sorry excuse for a backstory but she ran with it and had become, at least by the end of S5 and definitely during Crusade, a full-fledged character in her own right. The things people said at the time, though, went so far as to permanently sour me on the idea of any sort of participatory fandom.

(And let's take off the rose-tinted shades and look at Claudia Christian's performance through most of the first season. "Stiff" doesn't begin to describe it, and Usenet at the time was full of people calling for Tamlyn Tomita to come back. The character's likeability increased in direct proportion to the degree that they allowed Christian to just play herself rather than act. If Christian had had only the same amount of screentime that Scoggins got I don't think anyone would remember her very fondly today.)

As for the DVD, if Straczinski put Lochley in there we can safely assume that he had a reason beyond giving you a stroke. I'm going to opt to trust him on this.

Preacher

Well I didn't really have the whole she's trying to replace Ivanovah problem, it was the she just wasn't a good actress. At least Christian was an interesting person/actress on the show.

I still think there should be more Lando/Garibaldi interaction. I felt in season 5 Garibaldi was largely ignored and the show lacked for his presense.

Clevinger

I have a question for you B5 enthusiasts (all two of you),

In the last episode of season 4 (or whichever episode where they showed all of the future), did Garibaldi die in that hostage situation? It's been a while since I watched it, and I was also losing interest in the show at the time as well, but I seem to remember that he was telling the person not to shoot, and then the screen cut to black with a shot.

First, what was that scene all about in the first place, and was Garibaldi killed?

Thanks. It's bothered me since I watched it long ago.

Richy

Clevinger wrote: »

I have a question for you B5 enthusiasts (all two of you),

In the last episode of season 4 (or whichever episode where they showed all of the future), did Garibaldi die in that hostage situation? It's been a while since I watched it, and I was also losing interest in the show at the time as well, but I seem to remember that he was telling the person not to shoot, and then the screen cut to black with a shot.

First, what was that scene all about in the first place, and was Garibaldi killed?

Thanks. It's bothered me since I watched it long ago.

He didn't die. The shot was from Byron shooting the guy aiming at Garibaldi

redx

I'm amazed to learn B5 has a future at all.

Was a rather big fan and have seen the whole thing a few times. Didn't know this stuff existed.

It's a damn shame I won't be stealing, cause I doubt I'll be able to find it in a brick an mortar store around here for some reason.

Balefuego

B5 is pretty awesome. It sucks that Crusade got fucked over. Any future B5 projects wont feel complete without Andreas.

But I'd like to see the Telepath Wars.

That is all.

PiRaTe!!!

The Lost Tales Preview with Atmosphere of Galactica fame doing the visual effects: http://babylon5.warnerbros.com/

VoodooV

I have to admit that I'm skeptical. I'm glad to have more B5 again, but im taking my standard approach of assuming it will suck, so that even if its just marginally good. I'll be pleased.

Jacobkosh

Yeah, I'm wondering which JMS is going to show up for this - the pretty cool one who wrote the bulk of B5 and a couple cool comic series (in particular, Midnight Nation), the burn-out case of "Legend of the Rangers", or the utter lunatic who had Aunt May and Mary Jane don Iron Man armor to fight Dr. Doom.

VoodooV

jacobkosh wrote: »

or the utter lunatic who had Aunt May and Mary Jane don Iron Man armor to fight Dr. Doom.

please tell me you're kidding.

please?

lie to me?




Why did Legend of the Rangers have to suck? why? WHY?! It should have been a slam dunk. It should have been like...Kage no Gundan, cept in space damnit!

DanHibiki

I just hope that with this coming out Space channel will start airing some B5 episodes.

I've had it with Andromeda re-runs!

StormyWaters

I still tear up a little in the last episode where they show all the characters, specifically with Marcus and the indefinite hold placed by Ivanova.

Preacher

I think all I would want out of a new Garibaldi tale is some espionage and him beating people up... And Lando needs to say some more interesting centari phrases that seem crazy but then make sense.

Der Waffle Mous

Londo


Lando


Centauri

Tach

WHY wrote: »

Londo


Lando


Centauri

God, it's like a "Who's the bigger Intergalactic Pimp" contest...

Jacobkosh

I think the guy with six wangs wins.

Preacher

Sorry it's been a while and my spelling sucks.

clsCorwin

I don't think any other show gave me quite the feeling that B5 gave me when I watched it.

Decius

jacobkosh wrote: »

I think the guy with six wangs wins.

Well Lando is only human, and prone to the flaws of his species. Londo is Centauri, and is his own tentacle hentai.

sorry

too soon?

darleysam

you know, this is a series i one day need to find on the cheap (the complete box set is over £100, and i don't want to spend that much on a whim. Doubt it'll ever be cheaper, though), and watch through. I remember watching at the start, and being like "ooh, this is cool, it's not star trek!", then stopped for a bit, came back and everything was different. Suddenly they're parading around space on a ship looking like an ornament, and some dude's lost an eye.

jkylefulton

When buying B5, it's best to just completely write off the fifth season (with the exception of the Neil Gaiman "Day of the Dead" episode, and the series finale, "Sleeping in Light"). Just pretend that the first tv movie, "In the Beginning", is the fifth season.

Balefuego

Thats not true, the 2nd half of season 5 is pretty good, everything with the Drakh I enjoyed.

Also The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari and The Fall of Centauri Prime are two of the best episodes in the series.

The problem with season 5 is that JMS didnt know if he would get to do one, so he crammed as much into season 4 as possible.

The war against Earth would have been given much more room to breathe and in fact wouldnt have ended until partway through season 5. JMS has always said in the original plan, Intersections in Real Time would have been the season 4 finale. And fuck that would have been a great cliffhanger.

Cantide

Don't worry about the weaknesses in Season 5; Sheridan's outburst in "And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder" makes the whole thing worth it:

"Now we gave you a promise. And we are bound by that promise! And damn you for asking for it! And damn me for agreeing to it! And damn all of us to hell because that is exactly where we're going! We talked about peace! You didn't want peace! We talked about cooperation! You didn't want cooperation! You want war! Is that it? You want a war! Well, you've got a war!"

Ghostalker

Season 5 did really pick up after they put that whole telepath story line to bed after Byron was dealt with.

Christ, I hated him.

Der Waffle Mous

Yeah, Byron sucked. The concept was made of awesome, but the execution was pretty weak, especially since it was less about the start of the Telepath war, more about how Lyta suddenly realizing nobody likes her.

Except Zack.

Poor Zack.


At least her descent into crazyness was done well later on.
*Pshew* "You're not the only one who's mind was touched by the vorlons."

clsCorwin

I just rewatched the final episode for the first time since it aired. Damn. I forgot how damn powerful that show is.

jkylefulton

Yeah, it gets me every time I watch it.

It's sad that we'll never get any new G'Kar or Dr. Franklin stuff.

hawkbox

Why did you have to remind me of that? Damn it!!!!

clsCorwin

G'kar was the heart and soul of B5.

AceCoxswain

Finally finished watching season 5 after picking it up on sale a couple of weeks ago. My roomate, who had no previous exposure to B5, refused to believe the show I was watching was made ten years ago.

I definitely second the comment that B5 can never quite be the same without Andreas Katsulas... there were plenty of compelling characters on the show, but something about the Shakespearian delivery G'Kar always had was really captivating.

Mikesta

clsCorwin wrote: »

G'kar was the heart and soul of B5.

Londo and G'Kar had great chemistry. I think I could make a compelling argument for the idea that their duality made the show.

Also, this talk of B5 has inspired me to don my old Londo avatar. Without even changing my title or sig.

Balefuego

I just got my friend to start watching B5, its awesome to see someone reacting to everything for the first time.

Xenocide Geek

so like

season 5 was horrible. i mean, honest to god terrible.

but that's excusable, because didn't whoever was funding/publishing the show essentially form the creator (i know his name, but no way in hell am i going to try and spell it) to make the fifth season?

i thought i read that somewhere. he originally envisioned the real end of show as season 4.

clsCorwin

No, he planned it as 5 seasons, but the final episode was shot during season 4, and if they didn't ge picked up for a 5th season, it would air.

Balefuego

Xenocide Geek wrote: »

so like

season 5 was horrible. i mean, honest to god terrible.

but that's excusable, because didn't whoever was funding/publishing the show essentially form the creator (i know his name, but no way in hell am i going to try and spell it) to make the fifth season?

i thought i read that somewhere. he originally envisioned the real end of show as season 4.

No, you have it backwards. It was always planned for 5, but while doing the 4th he didnt know if he would get to do a 5th, so he shoved a bunch of the story from the 5th season into 2nd half of season 4. If season 5 had been guaranteed the Earth Civil War would have extended into season 5 rather than ending at the end of season 4.

Fallingman

I'm thinking of picking this up again.

I just wonder if it all wont seem a bit dated these days...?

For anyone interested (and in the UK i guess), I found the 1st box set for £18.

Pseudonym

WHY wrote: »

Yeah, Byron sucked. The concept was made of awesome, but the execution was pretty weak, especially since it was less about the start of the Telepath war, more about how Lyta suddenly realizing nobody likes her.

Except Zack.

Poor Zack.

I loved the bit in one of the B5 TV movies where Zack tries to ask her out on a date. Except she's possessed or something. It makes for a very awkward elevator ride. Just about killed me. I curse the fact that if he had asked her out on a less weird day that we might have been spared all that emo telepath shit with Byron.

And Byron's a douche bag. I had this feeling that the show wanted us to see him as one of the "good guys", but he's a bigoted, whiny, lazy, cult leader. How are we supposed to see him as anything but a jackass? I mentioned the "telepath plot” to several people who hadn't seen the last season, and to a man they thought I was talking about the underground telepath railroad episode from season one. Those telepaths did constructive things like escaping rather than squatting in down below and singing songs and saying shit about willow trees to girls to get them in the sack. And that first group of telepaths could think on their own. Byron's just sit around staring, and go all violent if he's not around to mind control them, or whatever the hell he was doing to make them so weird. Yep, Lyta should have hooked up with Zack. He'd bring a pizza!

So, anyway, is Zack in the new DVD coming out? God I hope so!


Edit:Season 5 isn't that bad. Now the Rangers DVD movie, that's bad! They punch the other ships, I swear to god!

Ghostalker

The only redeeming thing about Legend of the Rangers was having G'Kar in it. If it weren't for him I'd forget it even existed.

zeeny

I just saw the trailer and I got a hard on. Probably shouldn't get one's hopes up, but it doesn't look bad at all. Some eye candy added to the typical babylon style.

Gorak

Pseudonym wrote: »

And Byron's a douche bag. I had this feeling that the show wanted us to see him as one of the "good guys", but he's a bigoted, whiny, lazy, cult leader. How are we supposed to see him as anything but a jackass? I mentioned the "telepath plot” to several people who hadn't seen the last season, and to a man they thought I was talking about the underground telepath railroad episode from season one. Those telepaths did constructive things like escaping rather than squatting in down below and singing songs and saying shit about willow trees to girls to get them in the sack. And that first group of telepaths could think on their own. Byron's just sit around staring, and go all violent if he's not around to mind control them, or whatever the hell he was doing to make them so weird. Yep, Lyta should have hooked up with Zack. He'd bring a pizza!

Fucking Byron asshat!

Why did the only English character have to be some notty little shit that everyone wants to throw out of an airlock?