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Season 5 - Dull?

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garak0410

Member
Hello...

My wife and I are up past Phoenix Rising in Season 5 and with the exception of the few good Londo episodes, we are quite bored with Season 5 at this point. The telepaths story was just dull and we didn't care about any of the characters.

From what I've seen with the setup so far for the Centuari stories, we may be in for a good ride the rest of the season...but at this point, Season 5 is the weakest.

Did others have this feeling when they saw it up to Phoenix Rising?
 
garak0410 said:
Hello...

My wife and I are up past Phoenix Rising in Season 5 and with the exception of the few good Londo episodes, we are quite bored with Season 5 at this point. The telepaths story was just dull and we didn't care about any of the characters.

From what I've seen with the setup so far for the Centuari stories, we may be in for a good ride the rest of the season...but at this point, Season 5 is the weakest.

Did others have this feeling when they saw it up to Phoenix Rising?
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Shhhhhhhh!!!!! Don't mention Byron, some people are.... kind of twitchy about that!:devil:

I actually like some of the standalone Season 5 episodes like Learning Curve.

I certainly don't feel Season 1 was weak. I actually preferred Sinclair to Sheridan. It's not that I didn't like Sheridan, I just related more to Sinclair...but hey I kind of related to Kosh as well. Explan that!
 
garak0410 said:
Hello...

My wife and I are up past Phoenix Rising in Season 5 and with the exception of the few good Londo episodes, we are quite bored with Season 5 at this point. The telepaths story was just dull and we didn't care about any of the characters.

From what I've seen with the setup so far for the Centuari stories, we may be in for a good ride the rest of the season...but at this point, Season 5 is the weakest.

Did others have this feeling when they saw it up to Phoenix Rising?
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Yes, but this was because JMS was regrouping after the Claudia debacle. It only gets better from Day of the Dead through Sleeping in Light. You're through the bad part of Season 5. The remaining part of the season with its Centauri arc is excellent.

Personally, I find No Compromises through Phoenix Rising the weakest of the whole series, with the Centauri parts of that span to be the only redeeming features.
 
The first B5 ep I ever saw was a season 5 ep, and I fell in love with the show right away. Since I hadn't seen any of the action-filled eps of previous seasons I guess I didn't know any better. :LOL:
 
I didn't really like Byron and the plotlines involving him. Still, it was an interesting season, even if not quite as action-packed as 2-4.
 
Considering all that happened prior to season 5 getting the go ahead, though not great it still is not to bad. The first four episodes were good in my opinion. The Long Night of Londo Mollari being one of my top ten episodes during the five year run. And as others have stated before me after Byron is gone things do get better.
I do think that Day of the Dead could have been much better. It would have been great to see Kosh come back and they should have concentrated more On the Londo, Adira moments but they had to set up the whole Lennier story and trying to develop new characters. It was a slighty above average episode.Things really get moving around the last six episodes or there about and the ending as we all agree here is perfect. Even a friend of mine who is a big trekkie. ( I know that is a bad word ) has told me that no ending for any of the trek series comes close to what he saw in Sleeping in Light. I watch that episode once a year and it still brings me to tears. Heck the first time I watched it so many years ago. I cried all the way through and am not ashamed to say it.

thanks dennis
 
KoshN said:
Yes, but this was because JMS was regrouping after the Claudia debacle. It only gets better from Day of the Dead through Sleeping in Light. You're through the bad part of Season 5. The remaining part of the season with its Centauri arc is excellent.

Personally, I find No Compromises through Phoenix Rising the weakest of the whole series, with the Centauri parts of that span to be the only redeeming features.
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Quoted for truth. To my mind, 'The Long Night of Londo Mollari' is the only really outstanding episode in the first half of the series, but the main four eps (almost a four part story in the way 'Messages from Earth', 'Point of No Return' and 'Severed Dreams' run as a three-parter) of the Centauri arc - 'Darkness Ascending', 'And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder', 'Movements of Fire and Shadow' and 'The Fall of Centauri Prime' - are possibly the high-watermark and emotional climax of the whole series, for me.

The Season 4 (Shadow and Earth Civil) wars may have been the overall climax of the 5 year story, but like 'The Scouring of the Shire' in LOTR, the Season 5 denouement brings home the consequences and after-effects of all the previous years' events to characters we've grown to care about, in tragic fashion. I love it.

I'm sure you won't be disappointed, garak. :)
 
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they had to set up the whole Lennier story and trying to develop new characters
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I assume S5 was also used as a possible bridge for a potential sequel series. "Learning Curve" again emphasizes the rangers, which would have featured prominently in the sequel according to JMS's intent. The fall of Centauri Prime sets the stage for the Drakh war, the telepath crisis will lead to the telepath war. A new ensemble of people gathers on Babylon 5. It's all neatly set up for a new series after B5.
 
RW7427 said:
The first B5 ep I ever saw was a season 5 ep, and I fell in love with the show right away. Since I hadn't seen any of the action-filled eps of previous seasons I guess I didn't know any better. :LOL:
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That begs the question, "Which Season 5 ep.?"
 
dencor said:
I do think that Day of the Dead could have been much better. It would have been great to see Kosh come back and they should have concentrated more On the Londo, Adira moments but they had to set up the whole Lennier story and trying to develop new characters. It was a slighty above average episode.
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Personally, the only part of Day of the Dead that I would have cut out was Rebo & Zooty. Neil Gaiman probably wanted humor to contrast with the poignant moments, but I've never cared for Penn & Teller (the act). That said, Rebo & Zooty weren't bad when they weren't doing their act, and the rest of the cast wasn't acting like they found them funny. The only part I found funny was Lochley's irritation at the fact that they were on every channel. Made me like Lochley a little better. ;)

I last watched "Day of the Dead" immediately after watching B5-TLT "Over Here" and was hit by how remarkably full "Day of the Dead" was. Compared to that, "Over Here" felt so very thin (lacking body or richness). "Day of the Dead" is as if the whole orchestra is playing, and "Over Here" is like a lone trumpet. The latter is not my kind of B5 story, but it's better than nothing.

When B5 is on the mark, as it is from "Day of the Dead" through Sleeping in Light", IMHO, no TV show or movie even comes close. That clip, showing Londo's descent, with that music followed by those chimes, knowing what we who have watched the whole show up to that point, know, ..... Wow, powerful stuff. I can still hear those chimes. That's a poignant, chilling moment.



dencor said:
...Sleeping in Light. I watch that episode once a year and it still brings me to tears.
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Same here.
 
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KoshN said:
Personally, the only part of Day of the Dead that I would have cut out was Rebo & Zooty. Neil Gaiman probably wanted humor to contrast with the poignant moments, but I've never cared for Penn & Teller (the act). That said, Rebo & Zooty weren't bad when they weren't doing their act, and the rest of the cast wasn't acting like they found them funny. The only part I found funny was Lochley's irritation at the fact that they were on every channel. Made me like Lochley a little better. ;)
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I think I read a Bruce Boxleitner interview somewhere, where he said that he didn't get on with one of the two comedians. I think he said somewhere along the lines of whoever it was rubbing the other people up the wrong way and generally being arrogant.

Could be wrong but stuff like that sticks in my head for a reason.
 
Galahad said:
I think I read a Bruce Boxleitner interview somewhere, where he said that he didn't get on with one of the two comedians. I think he said somewhere along the lines of whoever it was rubbing the other people up the wrong way and generally being arrogant.

Could be wrong but stuff like that sticks in my head for a reason.
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Probably the tall one.



KoshFan said:
Oh, goody, another "I hate Byron/I cry at SiL" thread...
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Oh <raspberries>! I didn't hate him. I found him irritating, like a bad case of Poison Ivy (the skin irritation it causes).
 
Galahad said:
I think I read a Bruce Boxleitner interview somewhere, where he said that he didn't get on with one of the two comedians. I think he said somewhere along the lines of whoever it was rubbing the other people up the wrong way and generally being arrogant.

Could be wrong but stuff like that sticks in my head for a reason.
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That would be the one that talks. I am guessing. I think GKE said he's rather known for being quite arrogant.

I actually like their act, a lot. But I didn't like their bit in the show. Why has no one mentioned that the writing was horrible for that part? And Teller doesn't play a Harpo-like character, he's completely different. So he wasn't even imitating himself.

It was badly written.
 
Arrogant does sound like Penn Gilette (The tall, gregarious one).

Teller (when not in character) is quite talkative, though. I've heard that he was a University Professor or something like that.

Penn and Teller did have a Showtime show called "Bullshit" in which they go around debunking various aspects of society (Bottled Water; Feng Shui, Sex, Death, etc.), absolutely hilarious show. For the most part, I like their act quite a bit. Although, they weren't that funny as Rebo + Zooty in the episode.
 
Yea, I heard Teller on a t.v. special talking about magic.

I heard that he decided, long ago, if he was going to work with Penn on stage, since Penn is so LOUD and talkative, he went totally silent. Sort of as a counter-balance or something.

Maybe that's why they are so good together. :)

But yea, bad writing is bad writing, that's all. On the episode it was "oh, how great to see them" and that was pretty much all that impressed me about their parts in the show.

Like it was written in by the ganitor overnight. ;)
 
I think the reason I raised the issue was that if the actors they are working with are having a hard time of it, theough no fault of their own, it's possible that some of the tension comes across to the audience and makes certain scenes less palletable.
 
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