These are the same class of fans that are now trying to resurrect that steaming pile Enterprise. You will always have a fan base that will willingly take any shit you shovel at it as long as it has the brand name on it. And yes, I am most indeed entitled to my opinion.
I disagree strongly. The fans are not a mere handful of insanely devoted fanboys but rather a broad fan base, most of them demonstrably more literate and intelligent than Ent's fanwhore, that disagree in part or all with your assesment. And there's the simple matter that B-5 had far more critical and commericial success, and even with the last season, is about the closest thing one can have to objective proof when disucssing subjective quality.
You're entitled to your opinion, but that doesn't make it by any means universal.
It's a major disappointment that a man that can write some of the best sci fi I have ever seen can also put out some of the most vile shit since TNG Season 1.
I would certainly disagree with that assesment but it's all a matter of arguing opinions. And that would be pointless.
If the majority of Fivers don't agree with me I can live with that. But don't fool yourself into thinking that any of those horrific movies is anywhere near the level of a Coming of Shadows, Zha'ha'dum, Into the Fire, Interludes and Examinations, Shadow Dancing, etc.
And don't fool yourself into thinking that every Fiver reviles them so badly as you do. To judge from the sales of both the movies and the initial movie offering there are a great many of them that did indeed enjoy the movies. They've done every bit as well as the series and have on re-runs, done fantastic numbers.
So you're saying there was no such political games being played in Seasons 1-4 of B5? I find that extremely hard to believe, especially with a project that hasn't proven itself as B5 had not in those early seasons.
Studio politics were there but we can objectively state that there were more effects immediately before and going into Season 5. P-ten the syndication consortium had generally just bought the show and not worried over much, the ratings were fantastic. And Warner Brothers was hands off.
As for Season 5, it was renewed well after the usual date. Which meant finishing Season 4 early. It also meant scrambling to find a new network, it also meant readapting the arc. Both processes which took up precious time from purely writing. A process further complicated by the loss of a major character for the next arc.
Could Season 5 have been better? Yes it could, I've said as much before and still do now. With the exception of the Centuari Arc I would say most is subpar and some episodes were barely watchable. But is that all JMS's fault? Not entirely. He's a writer and a good one but drop that much crap in some one's lap and you won't get gold.
And TNT, well the infamous memo and their moronic insistance on last minute changes did in Crusade pure and simple.
Sure some failures were his own fault. River of Souls was just bad and to his credit he's acknowledged it.
Legend of the Ranger did well and was pretty good. It suffered from the hand of Sci-fi and their rather schiophrenic approach to it. Worse could be said of BS:G, and has, but when given a better chance with a better Sci-fi management and it's done well. I actually don't find the Gun Pod sequence so bad, it shows the religious nuttery of a warrior-cult that hasn't fought a war in a millenia.
For the Shadow-Lite arguement, I've long ago come to the conclusion that its critics were both more right and more wrong than they realize.
If you want proof he's still got it, watch the first three seasons of Jeremiah.
I will always accept that suits have a way of fucking with a product but I refuse to lay sole blame on them when the same political system that he chaffed under existed when he was writing stellar stuff as opposed to some of the shit that's gone out with the B5 label.
Except we can point to major political difficulties which weren't there in those Seasons.
I have the weight of evidence on my side that his writing has taken a precipitous drop since B5. The movies and everything post B5 has never even come close to what we saw in seasons 1-4. Is it fair to hold him to that standard? Well, its the standard he himself set and I'm not even looking for as good, I'm just looking for good period and River of Souls and LOTR is not even playing in the same stadium as what he was able to produce beforehand.
I won't argue your subjective opinions. I'll only point out that there are serious reasons for the drop and that most fans disagree with you on the movies.
And if you want proof he can run a quality TV show, look at what he did when he got the reins again with Jeremiah.
