Mostly a trip down memory lane for me, with few if any new revelations, but it's a pleasant trip.

FirstNationalBastard: Gwen Stacy had Norman Osborne's children. Therefore B5 is retroactively not great.

Of all possible counter-arguments to subby's headline, this is by far the best. I bow in your general direction.

If by "greatest" you mean genre-canned and dull.

I remember reading rec.arts.sci-fi.television.babylon5 back in the day.  No one was allowed to post anything that might be considered a story idea, for legal reasons.. supposedly one story got pushed back 2 seasons because someone mentioned something just like it.

Giving Flounder a major role and the involvement of Bruce Boxleightner pretty much killed it for me.  Also the weird transylvanian accents that those space-vampire looking dudes had were pretty annoying.  Cool graphics for its time, though.

My vote goes to Space: 1999, with a nod to the Original Battlestar Gallactica (or more correctly stated, the ONLY Battlestar Gallactica).

/Off my lawn, you blasted kids!

That's a joke right?

I liked B5, but the acting was really uneven, and JMS couldn't write ordinary human dialogue to save his life.

Beedeebeedee!

Teufelaffe: Alphax: supposedly one story got pushed back 2 seasons because someone mentioned something just like it.

People in the entertainment industry who do shiat like that need a nice hard punch in the baby-maker.  Leaked story info is supposedly why Mass Effect 3 ended up getting a terrible, shiatty ending instead of their originally planned ending that did not involve a glowy space kid and some Monty Hall pick-a-door-for-your-ending crap.

I think this was a case of 'oh crap, he mentioned a story idea that we were already working on.. now we have to track down this stranger on the Internet and get him to sign legal documents that he's NOT the one that gave us this idea!'

Funny, Deep Space Nine premiered in January of 1993.

I thought Robotech came over in the 80s... Or Star Trek was from the 60s. Same with the original Doctor Who. How can these be 20 now when they are well over 20 years old.

Quark debuted over 35 years ago.

I pronounce it "Baby Lon 5", just to annoy everybody, including myself.

X Minus One, biatches.

cman: Oh HELL no

DS9 was greater than all other Treks plus Babylon 5 combined.

Even if you prefer DS9, it wouldn't have been what it was without Babylon 5.

Before B5 caught on, DS9 was going to follow the same "standalone episode followed by reset button" formula as TNG. B5 is what brought the simple concepts of story arcs and character development to genre television.

JammerJim: I liked B5, but the acting was really uneven, and JMS couldn't write ordinary human dialogue to save his life.

Next time you watch it, think of it as Londo and G'Kar's story, which happens to include ancillary characters and events. You'll be bothered far less by the weaker actors (especially Patricia Tallman, Jeff Conaway, and that horrible Byron guy) if you watch it with that mindset.

FirstNationalBastard: Gwen Stacy had Norman Osborne's children. Therefore B5 is retroactively not great.

That was Joey Q's call. JMS wanted them to be Pete's.

Alphax: Teufelaffe: Alphax: supposedly one story got pushed back 2 seasons because someone mentioned something just like it.

People in the entertainment industry who do shiat like that need a nice hard punch in the baby-maker.  Leaked story info is supposedly why Mass Effect 3 ended up getting a terrible, shiatty ending instead of their originally planned ending that did not involve a glowy space kid and some Monty Hall pick-a-door-for-your-ending crap.

I think this was a case of 'oh crap, he mentioned a story idea that we were already working on.. now we have to track down this stranger on the Internet and get him to sign legal documents that he's NOT the one that gave us this idea!'

This story doesn't pass the stink test.  If they had a script that they were working on when someone on the internet posted an idea then they have 0 worries.  It is very VERY hard to prove that someone stole your idea.

Mentat: Reading this thread, I feel like I'm being nibbled to death by ducks . CATS

At least, according to Earth culture enthusiast Vir Cotto..

notsureifserious.png

I loved towards the end when G'Kar was a spiritual leader and he mentioned that Narn books are replicated and reprinted exactly the same as the original manuscript, which was why on page 348 there was a giant ring in the middle of the text where Mr Garibaldi had put his coffee mug down while proofreading it.

And I remember grabbing popcorn, watching the pilot and watching it and going meh.  Then caught up again middle of second season when someone told me about the arc and what went on.

Anyone else having fun with the schedule being a constant moving target?
IIRC correctly, it ended up at 10:30 on Saturdays for us after Hercules or Xena

rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 was fun with JMS posting all the time.
//and writing snail mail petitions to get a 5th season.
//still have yet to see season 5 because of the knowledge JMS wrote season 4 as the last season before he got word there would be a 5th

KatjaMouse: I honestly hated Babylon 5. I watched the entire first season last year and could not bring myself to watch the rest. I kept hoping "Maybe it'll get better with the next episode..." and it never did. So I didn't get the appeal for the show, unfortunately.

It got better after replacing Cardboard Cutout Man with Tron.

As i said on the DS9 thread at its best B5 is better than DS9 and at its worst B5 is worse than DS9.

Passing through gethsemane just pips far beyond the stars and and the rock cried out is just a bit better than in the pale moonlight.

Either way Mollari, Dukat, G'Kar and Garrick will live on much longer than Sheridan, Sisko, Kira and Ivanova.

clkeagle: B5 is what brought the simple concepts of story arcs and character development to genre television.

Sorry, but The Incredible Hulk used the "simple concepts of story arcs and character development" and pre-dates B5 by 15+ years.  And that's just American TV.  I'd be willing to bet that the Brits have something even older that uses story arcs and character development.

/I love the B5 fans who try to make it out to be some innovative show that broke new ground...it was a farking re-write of the Lord of the Rings, ffs.