Babylon 5

[techieMoe]

I don't want to start a geek holy war over this, as I know TV shows can almost become cults in our culture, but last night I watched the first 2 episodes from the first season of Babylon 5. I've been told by friends and other geeks that it's a good show, and that it has a long story arc similar to Battlestar Galactica.

The problem is, I just didn't like it. The acting was wooden from just about everyone but the character of Londo Mollari, and although the makeup effects were pretty impressive, the CG is terribly dated. The stories showed promise but basically boiled down to "A plot, B plot, heroic act by generic commander, end."

My question is, am I just not giving it enough time to develop? Do the characters and stories get better over the course of the series and this is just a rocky first season? I know the first few episodes of Star Trek: TNG were pretty laughable from an acting standpoint, and it took me a couple of tries before I could really get into BSG.

What do you all think? Should I give it another shot, or just write it off as "not my cup of tea?"

[Freston]

I never liked it much. I think I even liked Voyager better (mainly due to 7/9 I suppose )

[elija]

I rate B5 as one of the best sci fi's ever. It is definitely in my top 5 so I would say stick with it

[MikeTbob]

I never got the hang out if either. I can't explain it because I like most shows of this Genre.
Obligatory photo of 7 of 9

[carlosponti]

TROLL



he he joking. it got a lot better after Sinclair left which was pretty much the 1st season. I didn't get to finish watching the series because it got canceled from non cable network and picked up by cable here. at the time i didnt have cable. i did go back one day when i saw the first episode was on tv or hulu maybe but either way. it was pretty cheesy.

[techieMoe]

he he joking. it got a lot better after Sinclair left which was pretty much the 1st season.

That's good to know, I don't like him much.

[cousinlucky]

The first episodes of Babylon 5 were kind of awful but after a while the series grew on me so much that absolutely nothing would cause me to miss an episode. The same episode would come on twice a week on different channels and sometimes I would tape the second episode.

It is a show that will grow on you if you can stick with it. Rating the whole series it is definitely in the top five sci-fi shows in my book.

[oz]

techieMoe, did you ever complete the viewing of the entire Babylon 5 series and/or the made for TV movies?

I was about to start a thread on this very subject when I found this thread thinking that with my new Netflix membership, it would be easy to catch up on all the episodes (and there are quite a lot of them), but I don't want to waste my incoming disks from Netflix if the show isn't all that good, or interesting. Oh, and I do understand that the series had a large fan base that enjoyed it thoroughly.

Too bad it's not currently available by streaming because it would be much easier to test the waters, so to speak.

Thanks for any additional info from you or anyone else that's seen a substantial portion of the series, as I've never seen a single episode.

[techieMoe]

techieMoe, did you ever complete the viewing of the entire Babylon 5 series and/or the made for TV movies?

I was about to start a thread on this very subject when I found this thread thinking that with my new Netflix membership, it would be easy to catch up on all the episodes (and there are quite a lot of them), but I don't want to waste my incoming disks from Netflix if the show isn't all that good, or interesting. Oh, and I do understand that the series had a large fan base that enjoyed it thoroughly.

Too bad it's not currently available by streaming because it would be much easier to test the waters, so to speak.

Thanks for any additional info from you or anyone else that's seen a substantial portion of the series, as I've never seen a single episode.

I never got past the first couple of discs, which might have gotten me past the awkwardness of the first few episodes. I know there are a great many people who quite enjoyed the show, not unlike the various versions of Dr. Who (which I also just don't get, personally). I'd give it a shot anyway. It's not like Netflix charges you more for the number of DVDs you swap out over the course of the month. If you hate it, drop it in the mail the next day.

[cousinlucky]

Babylon Five picks up after the new " captain " arrives and then the intrigue heightens. It just dawned on me that I watched this show in the 1990's and it might seem a trifle backward ( special effects wise ) to be viewed today. I have to admit I was an ardent fan of the show back then.