New Tower Design, coincidence?

[PMvanova]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, busy with other boards, life, the universe and everything.
I just saw the winning design for the new WTC. If you haven't seen it, it's on the main AOL news page right now. Call me a bit left of center and a Minbari at heart, but compare that image with the shots of Minbar from B5. The towers are very crystalline in design, and looks like they came straight from Minbar!
I for one am thrilled at the design. It's futuristic and yet very elegant from the ground up. Did anyone else see the resemblance?

 

[Lyta]

Well, I couldn't find it on AOL so here is the news story from Yahoo!.

 

[KoshN]

<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by PMvanova: </font color>
I just saw the winning design for the new WTC. ... Call me a bit left of center and a Minbari at heart, but compare that image with the shots of Minbar from B5. The towers are very crystalline in design, and looks like they came straight from Minbar!

Yes, Minbari design was my first thought when I saw the picture in the paper this morning.

The funny thing is that, inside, there will probably be a lot of "gray, windowless boxes."

(Dulann-bert)

 

[Fas]

looks great, and yes it does remind me of Minbar. Anyways i always thought they would rebuild the twins again, only taller. But i like this more.

 

[Cerberus]

Yes, I noticed it also. I also noticed how Fox news now has opened up a War room not unlike how Babylon 5 opened up a War room right before the Shadow war. I love B5, I drive my girlfriend nuts with all the references out there right now. Did anybody read the TV Guide article about how to fix Star Trek Enterprise? To me, being biased, I felt like TV Guide was rehashing Babylon 5 with the recommendations they gave on how to fix Enterprise. So I had Linette read it when she finished she said that sounds like Babylon 5 to me. Here is just a bit of what TV Guide said Enterprise needs:

· Real peril, chilling powerful, wholly original threat that can be vanquished in an hour.

· Make it more real…let the crew make grave mistakes. Have dangling emotional thread that weave through the lives of otherwise bland characters

· Let the Captain be heroic

· Less babble on the bridge, transport us to realms unimagined with its ideas.

· Put us on the edge of our seats. You should not be able to figure out the general direction and ending of any given episode by the first 12 minutes. Try some longer, unpredictable story arcs. Cliffhanger, big and small, give the series purpose and a punch.

These points are taken and summarized from TV Guide, hope I didn’t break any copy write laws. Like I said I am biased towards Babylon 5, but it sounds like the stuff (writing) that made Babylon 5 great is what TV Guide is telling Trek to do. What do you all think? You can go to TV guide Trek help to offer your ideas on fixing Trek.

Thanks,
Cerberus

 

[PMvanova]

Re: TV Guide recommendations

I try in vain not to be smug about belonging to our corner of the B5 universe.
If it weren't for the vagaries of corporate television, and 'blue suits and bankers' trying to pick mainstream shows, B5 would have been top of the ratings for at least three seasons.
Babylon 5 is now the benchmark that all other sf shows must measure against. For writing, production quality, visual effects (cost and quality), and acting.
I have tried to watch other shows, and they all seem so hackneyed, shallow, and sometimes downright bad.
Trek will always be Trek. There's no way around it, they have their Roddenberry Bible of Writing, which is followed religiously on a regular basis. Doesn't matter if the format is 40 years out of date, and the rules of the network must be followed. Last time I looked at Voyager, I practically gagged. It was so formulaic, PC, and predictable, I vowed never to watch another episode again. Of any Trek. That was about the same time as season 4 of B5. I haven't watched a Trek movie since Generations.
Revel in the knowlege that all sf shows in the future will have a new horizon to reach for. And we know what that horizon looks like.
By the way...'let the captain be heroic'?? I haven't watched Enterprise so I can't imagine that they haven't let him do stuff.
But remember, Trek is hampered by network rules. Poor things, they are still tied up by apron strings around their...ahem....never mind.
The quote from Ulysses fits B5 fans more so than ever.

Though we are not now of that strength
Which in old days moved Earth and Heaven;
That which we are, we are
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

 

[B5_Obsessed]

Re: WTC

That's great! The Libeskind design was me favorite from the start. We also commented on this site that it looked very Minbari about six months ago when the various designs were first revealed.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Re: WTC

Yes, we did talk about this design looking like something from Minbar when it was first revealed, months ago. Just after the selection was announced, I called a good friend who is a B5 fan too, and my first words were "They went with the Minbari option to replace the WTC!" A pleasant suprise!

 

[kin_of_zathras]

Re: TV Guide recommendations

PMvanova, I couldn't have put it better.

 

[KoshFan]

Re: TV Guide recommendations

Y'know, I didn't like that design at first, but now that I see the Minbari "influence" I think I'm more charitably inclined.

B5 is a huge standard -- primarily for SF, but I think many of the basic points make it easily extensible to other ares of drama or writing.