Babylon 5- best at the epic stuff?

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

The first few seasons of Babylon 5 were excellent. But somehow the story drifted apart after someone decided to make, what's his name, that captain, into a living God. I didn't like that part at all. The whole series turned into something like cult worship.

I can understand why some people would find that whole religious icon business a turnoff.

BTW, it was JMS who decided to make Sinclair a "god" like figure, and both Sheridan and G'Kar were adulated if not outright worshipped by people easily impressed by the mix of power and goodness in one person (let's face it, that mix doesn't happen very often, and when it does, we go and ruin it by deifying them. Next thing ya know folks are killing and dying for an icon )

It's a classic example of dammed if you do, dammed if you don't. /

I think JMS wanted to bring this fact to its logical (and realistic) conclusion; that a good, powerful person/organisation will be both deified and demonized, depending on who's examining them and how close or far removed from the events the examiners are.

[systemlord]

That whole Sheridan cult worship thing just turned me away from the series. Before this, I really enjoyed the show, especially the part about the Shadows and the Vorlons. The show's writers did a poor job at resolving this epic conflict. I felt everything was swept under the rug way too quickly.

What's her name, the Minbari ambassador. Her character was ruined when the writers decided to turn her into Sheridan's pet. Everything was Sheridan this Sheridan that. We must follow the one, we must obey the one, we must die for the one. Give me a break.

[Skydiver]

i enjoyed the show. I remember going to extreme measures to watch it. NO one locally was carrying it, so, thanks to a friend that worked at a local tv station, we taped it off the satellite feed and had private viewings.

It had a great story and fantastic plot. To this day, i look at other sci fi shows and think 'gee, how much 'better' could it be if the writers actually had a plan in mind instead of making it up as they go along

[aAnubiSs]

Her name was Delenn. Never liked her very much.

Yes they got rid of the Vorlons and Shadows waaay too easy.

[VirtualCLD]

That whole Sheridan cult worship thing just turned me away from the series. Before this, I really enjoyed the show, especially the part about the Shadows and the Vorlons. The show's writers did a poor job at resolving this epic conflict. I felt everything was swept under the rug way too quickly.

Well, to give them some credit, IIRC they had planeed for teh story to take 5 years, but they were almost certain that season four was going to be their last season. In fact, they had filmed the series finale towards the end of their shooting season four, thinking the show was over. As a result, they had to wrap up the whole story one season earlier than planned. Then, at the last minute, they were given a fifth season, so they had to film a new season finale and re-shoot parts of the episode before that. The actress who played Ivanova already had something else and could not return for the fifth season, so they had to get rid of her character, but save the character so they could use the original season finale they shot at the end of season four, and show it at the end of season five.

Anyway, long story short, they ended up rushed for season four which is why the whole "epic war" story seemed a little rushed.

[ibwolf]

The Vorlon / Shadow resolution came maybe a little too quickly. But really, it's not like the younger races could have actually fought them. Once their true nature was revealed thing proceeded to their logical conclusion. The Earth cival war however was given a more climatic ending. In fact I think JMS when forced to tighten up season 4 to wrap up as much as possible (with season 5 unlikely) he did so more at the cost of the Vorlon/Shadow showdown then the Earth civil war resolution.

And it's worth pointing out that this show was most certainly not written by committee. Starting around the middle of season 2 JMS wrote every single episode except a couple of episodes in season 5. One vision.

As for the 'Sheridan cult' that some have a problem with here... I don't really see it. Sheridan became the leader of the resistance. It's the type of job that will get put on a pedistal. But even then there were some that didn't buy into it, people who actively opposed him. And there were several other ongoing threads at the same time (most especially about Centauri and Narn) that Sheridan was not intimately connected to. So the show never become about Sheridan as such. And the season 4 finale did a nice job of looking at his character from a different perspective.

[ibwolf]

My son really enjoyed the Crusade spin-off. He really liked the "mage's" humor. "Look there goes my liver..."

Crusade was interesting but it didn't have the depth that B5 had/has.

I got hooked on B5 after watching just one show of Season 2 w/ Bruce Boxlitner (sp). I didn't get to see season 1 till it started over again. I enjoyed it immensly and enjoyed it even more watching the 2nd time round knowing more of the backstory.

Crusade got butchered by TNT execs. The people that had bought season 5 of B5 and ordered the Crusade series were replaced as Crusade began filming. The new managment didn't like B5 or Crusade and didn't think it fit in with their programming. When 5 episodes had been aired they halted production and ordered a number of changes made to the show, including a new uniform (the only good change in my opinion), more action, more sex and a 'how they all wound up together' first episode (instead of just jumping right into the story as JMS intended).

JMS agreed (reluctantly) to this and a further 7 episodes were produced before even more changes were demanded. At that point JMS knew that the show was dead and production halted permanently.

Crusade had a lot of potential but got ****ed by the management and since TNT had exclusive rights to B5 no other channel was willing to pick up Crusade (although the sci-fi channel would have been if B5 reruns could have been included). By the time TNT's B5 license ran out no one wanted to pick up the 'failed' series.

[Wyrminarrd]

Yeah, Crusade suffered at the hands of execs though I also thought it could have been cast better, some of the characters lacked feeling.

B5 is without a doubt the most story driven powerfull sci-fi series so far. JMS managed to hold control and guide the show along a thight path that avoided plot holes and excessive use of the rest button.

That being said, I still prefere the feeling I get from Farscape. Farscape is just way more fun and isn´t afraid to push the limits.

[Baal_Lord]

Crusade didnt have enough action! i love all the episdes of B5 involving the planet killers, there is alwyas a pretty big battle

[GeneralJackO'Neill]

Well, I thought Crusade was good.