Watching Babylon 5 for the first time
- Thread starter Toxteth O´Grady
- Start date
Yeah, time has not been kind to the cast of Babylon 5, especially considering how many of the original Star Trek cast are still alive (not to mention the fact that DeForest Kelly and James Doohan lived for decades after the show originally went off the air).
Which reminds me, the link I posted does not have Michael Ansara on it, who died in July 2013. He played Elric on Babylon 5, as well as Kang and Luxwana Troi's husband, Jeyal died in July 2013, so that's another one to add to the list.
Which reminds me, the link I posted does not have Michael Ansara on it, who died in July 2013. He played Elric on Babylon 5, as well as Kang and Luxwana Troi's husband, Jeyal died in July 2013, so that's another one to add to the list.
The DS9/B5 thing has never seemed important to me.. except thar DS9 maybe raised its game in response to B5 ( and got away with it because Berman was too busy with Voyager to veto what they did). If so, B5 delivered two of the best sf series of the 90s, which is nice!
There will be more focus on this particular battle in the first season.
You will definitely find out about Babylon 4.
It was Joe and Michael's decision. Joe offered to shut the show down until he got better but Michael didn't want the show to fail because of him.
There's still a very big part of the arc that was kept for season five.
The Fall of Centauri Prime
It was his health - he was having health problems on-set during the filming of The Gathering (out of breath in one take) and this was the reason he was not kept on for the series. He didn't do any acting after that.
Last edited:
Re: Soul Hunter - I think of it as "The Evil Popeye episode."
Still one of my favourite eps of any show. W. Morgan Sheppard is a living treasure.
Could not have said it better. With the arrival of Season Three of DS9 they suddenly had nice and colored space nebulas as background settings, too, and the DS9 scriptwriting got more interesting.
I would also like to add that Christopher Franke's music / score immensely contributed to the "B5 Experience", IMHO (unfortunately they used another composer for the telefilms and I thought that was a rather unfortunate decision).
Bob
P.S.
B5 is the only TV series where upon first time viewing I actually freaked out in front of the TV set and yelled at some protagonists "Don't do it!!!"
Same here! During a particularly exciting moment during the battle in Severed Dreams, I actually sat up and yelled "Ram it down their throats, baby!!"
My wife probably thought I'd gone nuts, but she was also wrapped up in the moment, so she barely looked at me.
Stewart Copeland was the original composer for "The Gathering" but Franke re-scored it for the TNT special edition. The only other composer for the TV movies was for "A Call to Arms" with music by Evan Chen who did the music for Crusade.
Yeah, I know that feeling!
Jan
Good luck to you. I'm happy you are watching it, it's great. It is my favorite show of all time, and I was in love with Star Trek for 20+ years before that came on (still am) but B5 is my all time favorite now.
I'm really looking forward to your comments over time.
One think I'd like to say, IMO, is I didn't think that Micheal O'hare's acting was stiff or wooden, Sinclair was a somewhat stiff character. The reasons you will see upcomming that made him that way. I'd say more but you should see it for yourself. I just think it was a realistic portrayal and not a "tv" prortrayal, where almost everyone is dynamic and wonderful. There are dull people in the world, you know, and I'd imagine they'd still have them in the future. Now, I'm not saying Sinclair was actually dull, quite the opposite, but he presents himself that way until you get below the surface, so a causual viewer may jump to that conclusion, but they'd be wrong.
I'm really looking forward to your comments over time.
One think I'd like to say, IMO, is I didn't think that Micheal O'hare's acting was stiff or wooden, Sinclair was a somewhat stiff character. The reasons you will see upcomming that made him that way. I'd say more but you should see it for yourself. I just think it was a realistic portrayal and not a "tv" prortrayal, where almost everyone is dynamic and wonderful. There are dull people in the world, you know, and I'd imagine they'd still have them in the future. Now, I'm not saying Sinclair was actually dull, quite the opposite, but he presents himself that way until you get below the surface, so a causual viewer may jump to that conclusion, but they'd be wrong.
Thank you, I agree. Wooden is a bad word, although that's a criticism I've seen used.
I'm taking my time with this series. I feel like if I binge-watch something I don't let episodes digest and it's easy to forget about some because it just ends up being a footnote on the way to the end of the show. Also, I don't want to watch too many when I only have the first two seasons to watch at present.
The last episode I watched was "Born to the Purple." A little more background regarding the Centauri is brought forth.
I've found that my feelings so far about Londo are mixed. Sometimes he can be funny, but I hope his constant flakiness regarding his position as Ambassador isn't going to be a long-running thing because I can see it getting old very quick. I think I like Vir more than I like him at this point. I hope that changes.
I'm liking G'Kar and I'm looking forward to learning more about his species.
So far I'm finding the episodes to be pretty average. But I've heard that the show gets fantastic later on, so I'm going to keep going.
The last episode I watched was "Born to the Purple." A little more background regarding the Centauri is brought forth.
I've found that my feelings so far about Londo are mixed. Sometimes he can be funny, but I hope his constant flakiness regarding his position as Ambassador isn't going to be a long-running thing because I can see it getting old very quick. I think I like Vir more than I like him at this point. I hope that changes.
I'm liking G'Kar and I'm looking forward to learning more about his species.
So far I'm finding the episodes to be pretty average. But I've heard that the show gets fantastic later on, so I'm going to keep going.
Oh, also, watch the lighting. I don't know if it was intentional (apparently not), but, as the show opens it's mythology, and your view of the B5 Universe increases, the lighting turns up. To me, I've always viewed as being in the dark earlier on
You will go through many twists and turns as you get to know the characters
You will go through many twists and turns as you get to know the characters
I'm also going through it for the first time. I'm into season 4, and Bryan Cranston just showed up for a small role; It was a nice surprise since I just recently binged watched Breaking Bad on Netflix. Cranston is a fantastic actor, and brought a lot to a little role. This show continues to surprise me how much I appreciate the intricate story lines and the acting, especially G'Kar and Londo.
This is a thread that builds up and leads to a particular story. It will not be the same repetitive thing.
There is pretty much a steady improvement where the show just keeps getting better.
Like many shows at this early stage the characters are still finding their voices to a degree. I don't want to say much so as to avoid spoilers but characters like G'Kar and Londo do change over the course of the series esp. when you compare what they are like in later seasons to early season one.
And yes the show gets better later on, S1 is all about setting the universe.
But to expand a bit of B5 each season had a sub-title. Which was also the title of an episode in that season so
S1 was subtitled - Signs and Portents
So that is one of the key episodes of the season and series. Even some of the bad episodes to contain little details that will play a part in the show to some degree.
As for Born to the Purple without giving too much away the character of Adira does have an impact on events that occur during S3. What those events are well you'll have to find out for youreself - spoilers!
Similar threads
