Babylon 5 - Appreciation Thread

Just finished Season 3 (I took it slow) last night, and I have to say....MAN this is a well-done show. Particularly when you get into the latter part of Season 2 and onward. It's definitely "90s" but it's surprisingly well done for a syndicated 90s sci-fi series.
 
Half way through Season 4 right now. First half was the high point. Gawd, had forgotten just how great this show was. At one point Ivanova mentions an invite from the Drazi ambassador to a religious function; later the action is following Sheridan walking down a corridor when Ivanova stumbles out of an elevator drunk; behind her in the elevator there's a passed-out Drazi and she's wearing green and purple sashes. "Don't ask", she says, then wanders off. It's funny even if you don't know the show, if you saw the first season it's frickin' hilarious. :lol
 
Half way through Season 4 right now. First half was the high point. Gawd, had forgotten just how great this show was. At one point Ivanova mentions an invite from the Drazi ambassador to a religious function; later the action is following Sheridan walking down a corridor when Ivanova stumbles out of an elevator drunk; behind her in the elevator there's a passed-out Drazi and she's wearing green and purple sashes. "Don't ask", she says, then wanders off. It's funny even if you don't know the show, if you saw the first season it's frickin' hilarious. :lol

I remember that scene, and also the reference to the earlier episode regarding the the sashes :lol
 
Heh.

One down side has been that I've not been able, this time through, to not picture how the original storyline would have gone, with Sinclair and those close to him - and it would have been SO cool. We'd have had Catherine Sakai going through the whole storyline that Anna Sinclair went through instead, and since we'd known Catherine beforehand (and presumably would have gotten to know her better) it would have been gut wrenching.

It's a little academic as I didn't find Catherine particularly warm, but Anna was almost a throwaway character by comparison.

Two or three years ago I mentioned to my wife that Game of Thrones is basically the construction manual for Dragon Age, which she mentioned on her DA fangirl forum and apparently it opened a few eyes. Well, sweet ***** on a stick, could Bioware be any more obvious about ripping off B5 lock stock and barrel too? There's a frickin' Lazarus Project! Shepherd = Sinclair/Sheridan, obviously enough; but you also have Indoctrination, Reapers = Shadows, there's even a Collectors analogue in the Drakh. Or rather, the other way around.

I mean none of this is any surprise to me; was really the first thing I thought on playing the game - ******, even the Citadel basically IS Babylon 5 itself - but the sheer extent of the pilfering is pretty ballsy. It's almost a rate of one ripoff per episode.
 
I have seen every episodes and movies at least 5 times.

I have read a LOT of the books.

I'm a HUGE Babylon 5 fan... good old times! Every time i watch it or google it, it brings a LOT of memories back :)

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I wonder if that would have happened without Morden planting the idea in "Day of the Dead?"...

And I knew that Michael O'Hare's departure caused the storyline to change, but I hadn't considered that it would have been Catherine who got brainwashed. Makes sense though, since she was always out exploring remote systems.
 
She actually was the first to go to Z'ha'dum, wasn't she? JMS says she was never going to be the one to awaken the Shadows, but I doubt Anna's actual awakening of them was in the original plan anyway. That was all told in retrospect, so he may have been employing a sophistry there. Sakai would have filled the *important* part of that - being the person close to the commander of the station who gets turned for the enemy; the rest is window-dressing and frankly not that great an idea IMO. Anna waking up the bad guys has a touch too much of the 'Vader building 3PO' about it.
 
True, but it was the whole Icarus crew, not just her. They would still have needed to bring Morden into the story, as he was way too good a villain.
 
Yeah, first person we *followed* going there, I should have said. Sakai that is. Clearly Morden had a backstory and it's not that I strongly objected to Anna's being retconned into it.

Hell I'll forgive anything for a show that gave us the "wave at you like...this" setup and payoff. :lol
 
You can tell which season you are watching by Garibaldi's receding hairline. ;-)
 
I heard some particularly unflattering stories about O'Hare from Jerry Doyle on his show once. O'Hare supposedly punched an actress in the stomach for flubbing her lines on one episode. There's a good reason he was replaced after the first season, no one really seemed sorry to see him go. He was also a diva, having his own 'posse' that followed him everywhere.

JMS revealed the true story of O'Hare's departure here: J Michael Straczynski's Promise (Babylon 5 Reunion) - YouTube
 
I stupidly ignored this show for so many years, but my husband finally convinced me to watch it (He has all the episodes and movies). I finally conceeded, and boy, am I glad I did. I have only just finished watching season 2 and I'm just loving it!!!

It's great to see excellent acting, and great characters in a well-developed story...something hard to come by these days! I can hardly wait to start watching the next season!

(I've deliberately not read much of this thread for fear of being spoiled, but I sure have noticed how many ideas DS9 must have stolen from this show...it can hardly be a cooincidence)
 
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Better late to the party than never! :lol

You are going to love the rest of the Series!!!
 
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