Babylon 5

[rowyn]

"Good ol' Psi Corps. You never cease to amaze me - all the moral fiber of Jack the Ripper. What do you do in your spare time, juggle babies over a fire pit? 'Oops, there goes another calculated risk!'" -- Susan Ivanova, Babylon 5.

We watched some more B5 tonight. That was definitely our favorite line for the evening. Ah, the power of a choice metephor. We just finished episode seven (the quote is from episode six, "Mind War".) The episodes of season one are pretty "episodic". Threads recur, and you can see, especially much later on, how early events lead to later ones. But there's also a lot of stuff that doesn't much matter from episode to episode, stuff that'll happen once and never get mentioned again. I think almost everything that happened in "Infection" was irrelevant to later events, which strikes me as just as well; it's a very forgettable episode.

It's easy for me to poke holes in things. This bit is silly, or that bit cliche, or the acting here is bad. But despite that, I'm still enjoying it a lot. B5, like a lot of shows, is incredible not so much for doing everything right, but rather for getting doing certain things that no show had ever done before, at all.

I'm trying to psyche myself up for another half hour of writing Prophecy, which, honestly, is not too much to ask of myself. I get home at around 4:30 and seldom go to bed before 10. Out of 330 minutes, I can spare 30 for my book.

Guess I'll get to it.

Comments

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

I didn't see much of Babylon 5, but I observed something of this phenomenon, too. In the first season, I saw a few episodes, and I thought (forgive me!) "rip-off of Star Trek". (I do not recall which came first ... Deep Space Nine, or Babylon Five ... but I think by the time I saw some episodes, Deep Space Nine was already on the air.) There was at least one episode that seemed to have some awfully Star Trekkish tech in it, and quite a lot of things that seemed more episodic than a continuing storyline, and I gave up on it for a while. Well, that coupled with the fact that it only could be found on - I think - the Fox network, and back then (in Iowa), the only channel that had Fox was channel 17, on the UHF band, and even with the rotary antenna pointed in the right direction, it only came in moderately well when the weather was just right.

I wasn't until later that I gave it another try ... and saw, to my surprise, the hints of a continuing storyline. However, I only got to see a few episodes; I didn't have the chance to really watch the series seriously, and it was well on its way.

I gather, in retrospect, that a lot of the early episodes were more concerned with establishing the setting, introducing characters, and basically just setting the stage, before launching into the Big Plot. And, really, that was probably a pretty good way of doing it, all things considered. =) (I just wish, well, I would have had a way to faithfully follow it from beginning to end. I've missed out on so much!)

[rowyn]

I had much the same reaction to early B5. I didn't think "Star Trek ripoff" -- B5 and DS9 were released at the same time, but they'd both been in the works for years. Neither one was trying to "cash in" on the success of the other. (There may've been some influence on the creators of one on the other -- Hollywood tends to work like that -- and I'm not sure which came into the idea-pipeline first. At a guess, I'd figure DS9 was invented after B5: a Star Trek series would be an easier sell, and therefore take less time to get into production, so if DS9 had been conceived before B5, they probably could've gotten it on the air years before JMS could sell his idea. But that's just speculation on my part.)

Anyway, I took it for typical TV fare: episodic, Star Trek with less polished actors. I watched it with Jon, but I wasn't sold on it until halfway through the second season, when "The Coming of Shadows" was released, and I knew that nothing in the series would ever be the same afterwards.

I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing all the episodes again. :) I bet someone in your circle of friends will pick up the set -- maybe you can borrow it sometime. :)

She is God.

[zorkfox.livejournal.com]

Re: She is God.

[rowyn]

She and Garibaldi are certainly the most fun to watch. :)

Not going to say much to avoid spoilers

[telnar.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I'm at a disadvantage here because I know both too much about B5 and not enough. Way back when, I saw almost all of the episodes, so I don't want to say anything substantive and risk spoilers. Of course, if I remembered more and could place specific episodes by season and number, then I'd be ok also.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I was sufficiently impressed with it to design a whole RPG campaign in that general style -- careful long-term plot arcs and all, and taking more control of things (and even occasional player actions) than I ever had. It was probably the best campaign I ever did.

... And I never even *saw* Babylon V. Not a single minute of it.

[rowyn]

I never even *saw* Babylon V. Not a single minute of it.

Whyever not? :)

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I don't have the patience for television, really. Though Mothra may change that.