Babylon 5: What should One watch?

[Looney]

Okay I am going to stir the pot a little and hopefully inspire some folks to start talking again.

If you were going to tell someone the perfect way to watch Babylon 5 to see the best of the best what would you say?

(This is not an episode order question. I'm sure this has been done before, but this is LOONEY's poll!!!!!! :thumbsup: )

OPTIONS

1. Everything - THE GATHERING all the way through THE LOST TALES.

2. The Main Series ONLY - MIDNIGHT ON THE FIRING LINE through SLEEPING IN LIGHT.

3. The Main Series plus either or both cuts of THE GATHERING.

4. The Main Series plus THE GATHERING and IN THE BEGINNING.

5. The Main Series plus IN THE BEGINNING.

6. The Main Series plus all of the movies.

7. The Main Series plus the movies and CRUSADE.

8. The Main Series plus CRUSADE.

9. The Main Series plus LEGEND OF THE RANGERS.

10. The Main Series plus the LOST TALES


If the poll allowed 11 options the 11TH option would be "The Movies, CRUSADE, LEGEND OF THE RANGERS, and THE LOST TALES - ONLY", but we all know there isn't anyone out there who would vote for that option alone so it is probably best that I was limited to ten poll options.

PLEASE VOTE AND THEN DISCUSS YOUR REASONING.

 

[Karajorma]

Everything.



I might have not recommended Crusade unless you're really into B5 but rewatching it as part of Mark Watches is making me like it a whole lot more. The only thing I'd consider missing out is Legend of the Rangers because it doesn't go anywhere. Although I might say to miss Crusade and A Call to Arms because that's also a story lacking a conclusion even though what is there is pretty good.

 

[Looney]

Everything.
Although I might say to miss Crusade and A Call to Arms because that's also a story lacking a conclusion even though what is there is pretty good.

But it does have a conclusion. Just watch THE LOST TALES and you know everything worked out just fine. :guffaw: :guffaw: :guffaw:

 

[deaded]

I'd say, everything EXCEPT the Rangers and Lost Tales (and a lot of season 5 maybe).

 

[Looney]

REALLY?!?!?!

I agree that Rangers is flawed, but it also has G'Kar.

I admit I only truly like half of the Lost Tales. Just mentioning reboot ideas over on JMS News and thank you deaded for reminding me of another reboot scenario or inclusion I'd like to see and that is not only something about David Sheridan, but what becomes of Prince Regent Dius Vintari after being mentored by Delenn and Sheridan. There is a WHOLE series in itself.

BABYLON 5: THE ADVENTURES OF DAVID AND DIUS.

And thanks for reviving this thread. I can't believe I only have 6 votes in all this time. :wtf:

 

[Alexa]

REALLY?!?!?!

I agree that Rangers is flawed, but it also has G'Kar.

I admit I only truly like half of the Lost Tales. Just mentioning reboot ideas over on JMS News and thank you deaded for reminding me of another reboot scenario or inclusion I'd like to see and that is not only something about David Sheridan, but what becomes of Prince Regent Dius Vintari after being mentored by Delenn and Sheridan. There is a WHOLE series in itself.

BABYLON 5: THE ADVENTURES OF DAVID AND DIUS.

And thanks for reviving this thread. I can't believe I only have 6 votes in all this time. :wtf:

7!

 

[Looney]

7!

AND THAT OFFICIALLY MAKES IT A PARTY!!!!! :thumbsup:

 

[Looney]

Looks like Looney is having a LOT of success driving people away from this place. At least when it comes to commenting.

WHY DOESN'T ANYONE WANT TO TALK TO ME?!?!?!?!?!


:guffaw::guffaw:

 

[Alexa]

You didn't drive me away, I just haven't been on line as much lately...

 

[Looney]

Aren't you super busy with Amazon Prime Day? :guffaw: :guffaw: :guffaw:

I am so sorry I couldn't resist. I imagine you hate that, but I couldn't help myself. I'm sick I know it.

Thank you for stopping back in. I swear I am about to start Private Messaging people to get them to come back. It is needy, but this just seems like it has the potential to be a far more fulfilling social media experience than the likes of Facebook, but Facebook gives people immediate gratification.

Weird. I could have sworn the poll said it had 11 votes and now it says there are only 10. So strange. :wtf:

 

[Alexa]

A ghost in the machine?
Husband and I are watching B5 every night. Enjoyable, esp seeing who can quote what.

FB has palled for me, I mostly read my groups and use it to stay in touch with family.

 

[Looney]

HA! Are you keeping score on the quotes?

 

[Ubik]

I kinda wish I'd never watched Crusade, or LOTR... Lost Tales was also pretty awful but almost worth it for the updated CGI.



The series proper, In the Beginning and The Gathering are superb. Nothing else was really needed.

 

[Alexa]

HA! Are you keeping score on the quotes?

No...he could not win. I like to be nice to him...

 

[Looney]

I kinda wish I'd never watched Crusade, or LOTR... Lost Tales was also pretty awful but almost worth it for the updated CGI.

I don't get this. You'll have to explain why you wish you had never watched CRUSADE. And if you'd never seen LOTR you would eventually have watched it out of curiosity. I don't get THE LOST TALES comment either. I agree that the first half is kind of a waste of time, but I feel the implications of the second half make it all worth while. We find out that there is another person Delenn and Sheridan took under their wings. So many possibilities there.

No...he could not win. I like to be nice to him...

LOL I'm glad you are able to be nice to him, but what happens when he misquotes?

 

[Triple F]

John Copeland summed it up pretty well. How it is difficult to make lightning strike twice, and how jms hadn’t had anything like the same amount of time to work out the Crusade story. . . I know it’s something I can harp on about, but a tv show is also a lot more than simply the vision of one man – it’s visual story telling - and by the time you got to Crusade a lot of creative types who had been involved with developing the show were no longer around.

Crusade had potential but it felt largely mailed in with regard to the writing, acting and especially the visual FX – the music was a pretty big mis-step as well. If I remember right even jms said something to the effect that returning to the ‘verse was an error with hindsight, and the choice of music was not a good one. By the time you get to LoTR jms is basically on his own, and it showed BIG time – there was a lot of rehashing of ideas going on.

Lost Tales was better (yet another not so subtle link with Tolkien), but that was largely down to the CG lead being a fan of the show and even though he wasn’t asked to, he introduced the new updated ship designs – and did a LOT of unpaid overtime to make things look as good as they could (the addition of the Warlock was his idea as well). . . That kind of commitment (severely lacking with LoTR) was almost like having some of the old original team back onboard . . and it resulted in some impressive visuals.

 

[Springer]

Lost Tales was better (yet another not so subtle link with Tolkien), but that was largely down to the CG lead being a fan of the show and even though he wasn’t asked to, he introduced the new updated ship designs – and did a LOT of unpaid overtime to make things look as good as they could (the addition of the Warlock was his idea as well). . . That kind of commitment (severely lacking with LoTR) was almost like having some of the old original team back onboard . . and it resulted in some impressive visuals.

I didn't realise that. The CGI person did a really great job. Hat's off to them.

With regards to the poll, if someone is going to sit down and watch the entire five years, they might as well watch all of the rest hadn't they? Surely they'd be curious.

I haven't watched Legend of the Rangers since it was first released, so my memory of it is fuzzy. I remember thinking it was okay, a little pedestrian, not impressed by the mysterious baddies and the weapon system was embarrassingly bad, in concept and in practice. But hey, it had G'Kar.

Lost Tales, I Iiked the Sheridan story. I'd have been happy with more instalments like that.

Crusade is a mix. Sometimes I watch it and think it's decent, other times I watch it and think it's not so great. And it's hard to disentangle exactly what's going wrong, given the studio interference. I thought JMS' writing for Crusade was by and large good, particularly the characterisation; Path of Sorrows is a good example.The virtual sets were really bad though and just made the show look cheap – something I never felt with B5. And yes, the music was dreadful, though I think JMS realised his mistake. I wonder, if there had been a second season, whether Franke would have come back. He could still have scored Crusade in a different style – his style kept changing throughout B5, just compare season one's music to season five's.

As for the TV movies, I like them all, even some parts of River of Souls (I think I'm in a minority in that I enjoyed Martin Sheen's performance – it's a little odd, but you can see he's trying to get into the part and do something different).

 

[GeoKuutio]

Crusade is a mix. Sometimes I watch it and think it's decent, other times I watch it and think it's not so great.

I actually enjoy the atmosphere of the Crusade a lot. It had a completely different vibe than B5. Not to mention highly likable characters and crew members which I grew fond of quite quickly. Sure some the episodes were quite sub-par quality wise, but sill Crusade worked well. Even for people who weren't so fond of B5.

 

[Triple F]

I didn't realise that. The CGI person did a really great job. Hat's off to them.

Yup,
http://www.b5scrolls.com/#Screen1_18_5

 

[Looney]

John Copeland summed it up pretty well. How it is difficult to make lightning strike twice, and how jms hadn’t had anything like the same amount of time to work out the Crusade story. . . I know it’s something I can harp on about, but a tv show is also a lot more than simply the vision of one man – it’s visual story telling - and by the time you got to Crusade a lot of creative types who had been involved with developing the show were no longer around.

Yes it is interesting to look at the history of the show as it pertains to the chronology versus the team making it.

Crusade had potential but it felt largely mailed in with regard to the writing, acting and especially the visual FX – the music was a pretty big mis-step as well. If I remember right even jms said something to the effect that returning to the ‘verse was an error with hindsight, and the choice of music was not a good one.

A question I wonder is did he ever have to put more effort into the overall arc for CRUSADE before it was dead in the water? What I mean is that we often discuss getting an ending for CRUSADE in some other form, ie a Comic or Radio Drama or whatever. So did JMS ever take the time to sit down and right out the rest of the story? Or did he at least know how he wanted the story to end? Or did the cancellation mean the end of the process of finishing the story?

If JMS said "returning to the 'verse" was an error then he is in error. What he probably should have said was returning to the 'verse without having the time to be better prepared was and error.

And I definitely feel the music was a misstep. I think it is fine as music, but I just don't think it fits the show.

Lost Tales was better (yet another not so subtle link with Tolkien), but that was largely down to the CG lead being a fan of the show and even though he wasn’t asked to, he introduced the new updated ship designs – and did a LOT of unpaid overtime to make things look as good as they could (the addition of the Warlock was his idea as well). . . That kind of commitment (severely lacking with LoTR) was almost like having some of the old original team back onboard . . and it resulted in some impressive visuals.

Yes it did.