Babylon Five

[CBGLuthier]

Just so this group does not look like ST and SW all the time. :-)


Favorite moments from B5.


The last 5 minutes of Z'ha'dum. As moving as drama can ever be, let alone SF.

The ending of And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place. With its excellent cutting between the gang singing gospel and the brutal but deserved death of Lord Refa.

The look on Ivanova's face when the newly humanized Delenn tells her she has been getting these funny cramps.

Morden. One of the greatest villain/lackeys in history.

[Love Bug]

1. Love, love, love B5!

My goal is to own all of the episodes on DVD! I taped them all off TV, but blech, the quality sucks.

Morden-- great villain. Bester -- even greater villain. Morden was controlled by the Shadows, Bester was not, so what's his excuse?

I think what appeals to me most about B5 is the way the stories were constructed to fit together, due mostly to the fact JMS wrote most of them.

Do you know if there has been any recent news about new stories set in the B5 universe?

[CBGLuthier]

2. There was a rumor

There was a rumor of a movie, even JMS was teasing with clues, but nothing more in the past few months.

I always thought that he tested the waters with Crusade, in case TNT screwed him, and was holding back a better story. But I would love to see some resolution to that show.

I don't know, to me Morden was more of a villain. Unless he truly believed the Shadows he was just acting out of fear for his own life.

Bester may have been a bastard, but he was dedicated to the corps. At least he believed in something beyond just self-preservation.

But that is what made it such a great show. The characters were seldom 2 dimensional and we can debate about their true natures.

The arc nature of the show was brilliant. It truly was a five year novel with a beginning, middle and end.


I got the first season on DVD. But money is tighter nowadays so have not yet indulged in the rest. May try to pick them up second hand.

[Gore1FL]

17. the latest estimate is 2005

They had a bit of a slowdown after Richard Biggs died this summer.

[Khephra]

22. Yep. B5:TMoS

JMS still hasn't said what "TMoS" stands for yet.

Here's some old news about what he's been up to:

"Pending contractual negotiations and formal pickup by the networks involved, I've been offered two different series, so we'll see which goes first. They could both be very cool to work on, but one of them could be insanely successful. I should know more about this situation in late October. (Neither is Trek-related, just to nip any potential rumors in the bud.)

Starting sometime in October, in an unrelated project, our friends in Britain can expect to see me hanging about on-and-off in the general vicinity of London. Just, y'know, workin', doin' stuff. . . .

Oh, and in the next week or so I should be turning in the next-to-final draft of the TMoS screenplay."

http://sfcrusade.com/News/B5_News.html

[Kellanved]

3. yeah

I have the first four seasons on DVD (for some reason far cheaper than stateside). It ahs some very good writing, although JMS obviously had no qualms taking elements from many other Books/Movies. Especially 1984 is quoted a tad too often.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

4. Severed Dreams

The most chilling, exciting, and heartbreaking episode in the entire saga, followed closely by Z'ha'dum.

JMS reached his peak with that episode, and I'll watch it again and again.

Babylon 5 is my favorite science fiction series, probably my favorite series of all time. Expect me A LOT in B5 discussions. :)

[Technowitch]

5. My fave show ever, for sure

As for scenes... it's so hard to pick among my favorites.

However, I think I'd have to go with Delenn, rising each morning before dawn, to watch the sunrise... because that's the last thing she and John did together before he had to leave.

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

6. quite possibly the best television I've ever seen.

"Listen to the music, not the song."
- Kosh

[classics]

7. Amen.

No television show has ever come close to the majesty of B5.

I have shivers just thinking of poor Londo.

[Love Bug]

14. Abso-fuckin-lutely!

And thats coming from a Star Trek fan since day one. B5 definately outrules them all.

Great Kosh, quote, BTW. That's another thing aboutB5--lots of quotable moments. Who can say that about any other SF series?

I had the great pleasure of meeting Richard Biggs last March at a convention-- I bought one of his B5 working scripts, which he signed. He gave a great talk and was a really cool guy. I can't tell you how shocked I was when I heard he died in May. It just goes to show you never know...

[Chovexani]

8. Ivanova is God.

Ivanova is always right! :)

[Deja Q]

9. Sinclair rules! (the actor was fired because they wanted a 'name' as the

lead character.)

So Bruce Reptilicon Boxleitner became Sheridan. I haven't seen enough of Sheridan, but Sinclair as a character was top notch.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

10. O'Hare was fired?

I did not know that.
I had heard it was because he wanted to go back to the theater.
Huh.
And since you haven't seen much of Sheridan yet, I'll say nothing else.

[CBGLuthier]

12. One of the official explanations

Was that Sinclair (Michael O'hare) became too much of a problem solver. I too suspect it may have been done to get more star power.

But anyway, the way he managed to resolve the Sinclair storyline made the whole thing work out.


And Sheridan was a great character.

I would hope someday that JMS would reveal just how the original story would have gone. He made som many adjustments and changes along the way it would be interesting to know the original plan.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

13. There are a few hints as to how things would have gone...

at the Lurker's Guide. JMS goes into detail about the pilot episode with the eventual betrayal of Laurel Takashima (as the Psi-Corp plant) and I believe he menttions other characters' original fates, and how he changed them.

But I do believe JMS said that originally Sinclair's final fate never changed, but it would have happened near the end of Season Five if Sinclair had stayed in command of Babylon 5.

I have to agree about Sheridan, though. It's quite something to see how his character changes in the course of four years.

[Gore1FL]

18. I heard a few rumors

1> Sinclair (well the actor) had a dirinking issue.

2> The cast (or many of them) hated working with him.

I don;t know what the real story is.

[Robeson]

11. I loved B5 too...

...coming from a Trek background, I was skeptical at first. But I have to admit, I became addicted. I really miss this show. Oh, well, as a Trekkie knows...All Good Things...

[Book Lover]

15. "Why should I do as you say?"

"Because I have asked you; because your sense of duty to our people should override any personal ambition; and because I have poisoned your drink."

There was a lot of cheese in B5, I'm the first to admit it, and JMS was getting tired after the first several dozen shows in a row that he wrote, but the above exchange, which never fails to get a grim laugh from me, is my favorite set of lines.

[YankeyMCC]

16. Was that a Lando quote...

He was the most fasinating character for me. To watch his depth grow and watch him swing from generic ambitious amabassador to evil due then to see him deal with what he wrought.

B5 was a lot like the original Trek in that some of the acting and plots were a bit wooden or shallow but the overall effect and the more often than not excellent character development moments was excellent.

[BigMcLargehuge]

19. loved it

never could bring myself to watch the final episode though, and the last season was a stinker.

[Caution]

20. Best SciFi television series. Period.

[DavidDvorkin]

21. Bingo

You've got it, Caution.

[Khephra]

23. Crusade coming to DVD on Dec 7th

The best source for news from JMS

JMS News (and Archives)
http://www.jmsnews.com/

[robbedvoter]

24. The ISN "news report" episodeon B 5 was especially poignant

I think the thought was about germany in the 30's but man, I could hear Judy dandruff's sarcasm through the story....

[DavidDvorkin]

25. Filming begins!

http://comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7515

[Salviati]

26. What do you want?

and Vir's answer to that...

:hi:

[Caution]

27. Favorite Episodes

War Without End Parts I and II

I usually hate time travel stuff (and IMHO the time travel overuse is what has really messed up the Star Trek franchise) but these two episodes nailed it.

So many questions were answered in that episode and so many new questions came up. Just great quality SF.

[Taxloss]

28. Great show! Loved it.

I loved it when the fact that their was an over-arching plot began to emerge - when you first see the Shadows, when the evidence that a coup is approaching on Earth begins to mount - it's that plot-building that renders it a true classic.