Babylon 5 PSA

As it sez on the lid, Amazon Prime will be showing all five series of Babylon 5, which I haven’t seen since it first aired in the 90’s, so I’m looking forward to seeing it on a 52” modern HD telly!

It is the dawn of the third age of mankind.

Babylon 5, which I haven’t seen since it first aired in the 90’s

I have. I really loved it when I first saw it, though even at the time some of the episodes were clunky and borderline embarrassing.

If you stick to the arc episodes it’s still got something but generally it’s not aged well in my opinion.

unfortunately the modern telly will also show up the effects…

i ripped the dvd’s and upscaled them ages ago.. looked less than ideal back then even

If you stick to the arc episodes it’s still got something but generally it’s not aged well in my opinion.

Probably better than Star Trek… ?

I absolutely loved that when it was first on. My Wife bought me a complete DVD box set on Christmas but I never rewatched it.

Apparently Prime also has a Babylon 5 animated movie.

I bet its shit now I’m not stoned. I’d love it to be good, but have happy memories of it that don’t need destroying……

(Might have a sneaky peek)

If you stick to the arc episodes it’s still got something but generally it’s not aged well in my opinion.

I disagree.  The first season is a bit hit and miss. But having watched it all just two years ago, the plot and characters are still great  and even the SFX are still passable , especially after the remaster.

Probably better than Star Trek… ?

All bar TOS, definitely, though I’ve also got a soft spot for the generally unloved Enterprise.

Derek!

Babylon Five’s a big pile of shit.

Excellent, will definitely be having a rewatch! Went through them all a few years ago and I think it holds up well. The fifth season is probably the weakest as some of the main cast aren’t present, but it still felt like they were able to wind up the whole series without it being too rushed (I’m looking at you, Expanse…)

Babylon Five’s a big pile of shit.

Get out!!!

F**** sake, I’d just got the gif for that gag

its stll great

there’s an animated sequel movie which I’ve not watched yet

I’ve still got all 5 seasons on DVD – yes it has its failings but some fantastic characters and storylines that still rank it as a classic in my humble opinion. Plus of course one of the early adopters of CGI, with admittedly mixed results….
The long-standing relationship between G’kar and Mollari is awesome.

I’m working my way through the Gigantic Nerd Pack DVD Box Set of Star Trek TNG and looking forward to starting DS9 but maybe I need to take a little holiday… Yes they’re all wobbly at times but Babylon 5 did some amazing things.

Get out!!!

Yaaay!

Synchronicity, that big Star Trek rewatch just had Andreas Katsulas appear in it being pretty G’karish.

It’s a shame it got renewed for a fifth season.  Or rather, it’s a shame the fifth season got cancelled and then un-cancelled after they tied up all the story arcs as best they could at the end of Season 4.  Hence the episode in Season 5 told entirely from the point of view of a couple of janitors.

As a slightly morbid aside, did anyone notice how surprisingly few of the cast members are still alive?

so I’m looking forward to seeing it on a 52” modern HD telly!

You might be disappointed unless they’ve remastered it this time around https://www.engadget.com/2018-06-22-babylon-5-digital-video-quality.html  (it’s still worth watching though!)

I’ve got a long 1hr+ bus commute to work and back each day. This winter I’ve been downloading stuff onto my old Amazon Fire tablet to watch on the go. I’ve just finished the 1st season of Farscape which I missed first time round but really enjoyed now. I tried re-watching the 1st season of Next Generation, but it really hasn’t aged well for me. Babylon 5 though, now we’re talking. That’ll keep me going most of the way through till springtime. Ivanova, Mollari, G’Kar, the series never looked great but the characters and story arc were fantastic.

Thanks very much for the heads up @CountZero

That’s great news. Zwift viewing sorted for the next few months.

I was late to watching B5 originally and started watching S4 when it was originally shown on tv, Channel4 I think? I then watched the first 3 seasons on boxset and it was amazing to see the the overall plot arc build as I knew already how it played out in S4.

S5 from what I remember was very poor seeing that B5 had originally been cancelled and S4 was supposed to be the final season.

I missed it when it first aired in the 90s. I vaguely remember it used to come on after GamesMaster? Downloaded all the episodes as HD Blu Ray rips last year. Season 1 was a bit slow but not too bad. seasons 2-4 were great. Stared watching season 5 but couldn’t get into it.

Ratio of hit / miss episodes is about the same as TNG.

S5 from what I remember was very poor seeing that B5 had originally been cancelled and S4 was supposed to be the final season.

Saw a documentary on Youtube where the writers / creators confirmed this. The final story arc was supposed to be spread out over two seasons but they had to cram it into 1 (season 4), so essentially season 5 is just all filler.

I really loved it when I first saw it, though even at the time some of the episodes were clunky and borderline embarrassing.

Thats the thing about being a SciFi lover. programs are few and far between and you have to accept or grow to like stuff like Babylon 5, which in my SciFi opinion is marginally better than Blakes 7.

The Orville was probably the best post star trek series to be recently released.

Stumbled on FarScape on TUBI the other day.

Quite enjoyable.

Firefly was good as well.

Also,  Valerian and a Thousand Planets also on TUBI.

I liked it, lead actor was a bit naff. The graphics etc. Concept…awesome.

Might look for the French comics. Looks like Star Wars lifted most of the Ideas from Valerian.

I’ve watched and re watched Babylon 5 over the years and I’ll dig out the dvds and watch it again at some point.

I bought the recent cartoon film and it did a reasonable job. I could do with watching it again.

johnnersFree Member

All bar TOS, definitely, though I’ve also got a soft spot for the generally unloved Enterprise.

I also have a soft spot for Enterprise – It’s better than Voyager.  DS9 is my favourite Star Trek.  It takes a loong time to get into its stride, but from late season 2, to mid season 7, it’s bloody excellent.  It somewhat copies B5 with a major arc running right through it, but lacks the very cleverly woven plot of the early hints that B5 has.  JMS is a creative genius.  B5 from season 2 also has a better cast.  It’s not until season 4 with the introduction of Worf that DS9 really hits it off.

The big question though is DS9 “inspired” by Babylon 5? Although DS9 was first to air Babylon 5 had been in pre production for several years before DS9 was written and the writers had pitched it at several production companies including Paramount (owners of Star Treck). There does seem to be a lot of similarities between the two.

DS9 is my favourite Star Trek. It takes a loong time to get into its stride, but from late season 2, to mid season 7, it’s bloody excellent

I know you’ve sometimes got to put the time in to get the payoff but I’m not much invested in the ST universe and I’d given up on it by the middle of season 1. And waiting for it to really hit its stride when Worf turns up in season 4 is quite the ask!

it was amazing to see the the overall plot arc build as I knew already how it played out in S4

The arc’s still great, the filler not so much – in an ideal world of like to separate out the arc episodes and follow them but there’s just enough wee nuggets sprinkled into the rest to pretty much rule that out.

Don’t get the idea I’m not still a fan, I’m off now to dig out my full set of dvds!

When is this supposed to be happening?

When is this supposed to be happening?

2256 IIRC.

2258 – you disappoint me, Cougar.

Tsk. It’s 2257-2262, plus the odd temporal detour for episodes like Babylon Squared and War Without End.

The big question though is DS9 “inspired” by Babylon 5?

Yes, it was. Full stop.

No, no, NO!  The first season intro of B5 clearly states – “This is the story of the last of the Babylon  Stations – the year is 2258, the name of the place is Babylon 5”

https://youtu.be/BtrUhIuEqdY?feature=shared

…and you people call yourselves fans.  Stop bringing this weak ass **** and represent!  🙂

The big question though is DS9 “inspired” by Babylon 5?

The other question is, was Species 8472 ‘inspired’ by the Shadows from Babylon 5.

Thats the thing about being a SciFi lover. programs are few and far between and you have to accept or grow to like stuff like Babylon 5, which in my SciFi opinion is marginally better than Blakes 7.

I loved Blakes 7, it had really good characters, some of whom were definitely morally questionable. I had a serious case of the hots for Servalan, who, let’s face it, isn’t a nice person!

The other question is, was Species 8472 ‘inspired’ by the Shadows from Babylon 5.

As I never watched DS9, I knew nothing about Species 8472, so I’ve just done a bit of digging, and there’s a lot of chatter about any similarities. Tenuous, as far as I can see, but the Shadow ships are far and away among the coolest SF alien ships as far as I’m concerned. As it happens, I’ve tracked down an online model shop that sells small models of the Shadow ships, and I’ve got two on their way, one for a mate who does a lot of modelling. I think they just need painting, which is fairly simple – matt black with tiny white dots all over; if they have the rough surface of the original ships, that’s just a bit of careful dry-brushing.
Bigger resin kits are sodding expensive! This one is £14 – bigger ones are over £100! This is about the size to sit on my coffee table.

I loved Blakes 7, it had really good characters, some of whom were definitely morally questionable. I had a serious case of the hots for Servalan, who, let’s face it, isn’t a nice person!

Should anyone be interested, there’s a feature on Blake’s 7 in last month’s SFX magazine, issue #385 with Wicked on the cover.

(It’s actually the “December” issue, magazines always run ahead presumably so people will still impulse-buy the ‘current’ mag even though it’s a month old. This month’s is the “Holiday Special.”)

dyna-ti
Full Member

The Orville was probably the best post star trek series to be recently released.

I love the whole thing of the Orville. “Star Trek with jokes”, they said, so I nearly didn’t watch it. Then it turns out the jokes are mostly just terrible, and it’s like Scott Grimes especially takes great pleasure in killing them at birth. And it’s got funny situations but mostly it’s more like the funny bits in Babylon 5, like, you can totally see Ivanova having to play Latchkum. And as it goes on they find the confidence to do less and less of the oneliners and it ends up almost straight-faced Star Trek TNG. It’s so strange. But actually yeah really good sometimes.

Eh since nobody’s mentioned it Babylon 5 fans should watch the Expanse. It’s not the same, but it’s got some of the same feels. The massive change of direction at the end of the protomolecule stuff and earth/mars war is the most Babylon 5ey thing ever. The entire series they spend in a cave, not so much.