watching B5 for the first time and it seems good

[rhoenix]

Not bad. I never really paid attention to it before, but when I asked a friend to recommend to me a good scifi series that had good plot intrigue, and some good political aspects.

I'm now into the second season (thanks to hulu), and so far, pretty impressed.

[Stark]

wait till king arthur shows up

yep

[General Zod]

wait till king arthur shows up

yep

He could always skip that episode.

[Stark]

na uh

that's why b5 is such a pain in the ass

all the stupid shit episodes still have important scenes in them

hmm

maybe i shoudl rip my disks and create the 'NO STUPID SHIT' edit

[Darth Raptor]

I forget, was that really King Arthur or just some delusional guy?

[rhoenix]

na uh

that's why b5 is such a pain in the ass

all the stupid shit episodes still have important scenes in them

hmm

maybe i shoudl rip my disks and create the 'NO STUPID SHIT' edit

Worked for Jefferson and the bible.

But anyway, so far I haven't seen more than tiny stupidities. I'm not going to hold my breath now though.



Does King Arthur pilot a starfighter called the Sword or something?

[Stark]

nah he's just a JMS being dumb thing, it's interesting in broad strokes but is eye-rolling because of how they do it

s2 and s3 has so many cool plot points wedged in between embarrassingly terrible main plot elements

[Aaron]

I forget, was that really King Arthur or just some delusional guy?

Delusional, it's entertaining though if you've ever seen Logan's Run.

[Gandalf]

I found Jack the Ripper even more annoying than King Arthur.

[Aaron]

I found Jack the Ripper even more annoying than King Arthur.

I don't remember that one.

[Stark]

TORTURE YOU TO MAKE SURE YOU CAN LEAD THE WAR AGAINST SHADOWS

this makes sense somehow

[Gandalf]

I found Jack the Ripper even more annoying than King Arthur.

I don't remember that one.

Spoiler

The Vorlons apparently have Jack on a retainer so he can test Delenn's readiness to play messiah.

[Aaron]

OK, yeah I remember now. Maybe I'll fire up the DVD's and see if I think B5 is as awesome now as it was when I was 15.

[Gandalf]

I spent a lot of time looking at the TV with a baffled expression on my face.

What the hell is so good about the Rangers? They have magical extending sticks. That's seemingly it.

[Stark]

Magic brooches made from the tears of virgins, don't forget that.

The good of B5 is great... but it's constantly interwined with completely bollocks horseshit.

[Aaron]

I spent a lot of time looking at the TV with a baffled expression on my face.

What the hell is so good about the Rangers? They have magical extending sticks. That's seemingly it.

Legend of the Rangers will answer all your questions.

I dunno man, maybe it's cause their a multi-race force and the Mimbari caste BS doesn't affect them? *shrug*

[Civil War Man]

Legend of the Rangers will answer all your questions.

I'm sure having their weapons system controlled by someone floating around pretending to be a Dragonball Z character is very important.

[Anguirus]

Lots of aspects of the Rangers are stupid, (particularly their oh-so-subtle way of marching around in public places in full uniform before anyone is supposed to know they exist) but it's not as if they completely trade in PPGs for those staves. They certainly also shoot people.

[rhoenix]

nah he's just a JMS being dumb thing, it's interesting in broad strokes but is eye-rolling because of how they do it

s2 and s3 has so many cool plot points wedged in between embarrassingly terrible main plot elements

Oh, whatevs. Trek series didn't even have overarcing plots, let alone long-term character development. I can live with randomly stupid plotlines and 32-bit graphics if the series doesn't furiously wank to itself.

[Nephtys]

Remember that episode of B5 where they realize their station is missing a whole FLOOR? Yeah.

I love it when highly environmentally controlled government/diplomatic/military facilities in space develop large unregulated slums.

[Stofsk]

Remember that episode of B5 where they realize their station is missing a whole FLOOR? Yeah.

I think that episode wins the "Worst B5 Episode" award, permanently.

I love it when highly environmentally controlled government/diplomatic/military facilities in space develop large unregulated slums.

I don't have a problem with this considering that B5 is more or less a city in space. Spoiler

If anything, I find it annoying that B5 was somehow NOT a space colony, because in the final episode it was destroyed because JMS needed it to die due to his stupid idea that it would be destroyed, just not in the way most people would have assumed i.e. in battle, like what was implied in the season 1 episode "Signs and Portents". "Hazard to navigation" my ass.

The idea that the station can comfortably fit 250K people onboard, and that somehow B5 wouldn't be considered a space colony, is moronic. To defend his idea, JMS likened the destruction of B5 to a 'routine' building demolition in a city. Which is in no way analogous to B5's size and role - it's five miles across for fuck's sake. Whatever problems there are with the idea of having unregulated slums onboard such a place pale in comparison to other, bigger problems in the show like the above. Showing homeless people on a space station was an interesting idea anyway. Remember that at the time, B5 was competing with Star Trek TNG and DS9, with its utopian undertones and "Humanity is perfect in ever way, forever". Having an alternative look on humanity in a couple centuries from now was refreshing.

[Manus Celer Dei]

I was watching the first season of B5 again recently and I was surprised when I noticed Spoiler

Londo talking about his vision actually meant something. It was about halfway through his speech about how the Centauri are so awesome they know when they're going to die that I realised that what he's talking about actually happens in In The Beginning (I think, or was it just in one of the weird time-travel episodes?).

[Samuel]

I think that episode wins the "Worst B5 Episode" award, permanently.

Which one was it? I think I skipped over it.

I don't have a problem with this considering that B5 is more or less a city in space.

Except it has a controlled economy in housing. Why would they let the population excede the amount of room they have for people? The only way that the slums could exist is if they don't control immigration or they simply don't care- they want an excess amount of people in order to depress wages.

[tim31]

Wait, wait. Space: Above and Beyond didn't make it to a second season, and they never did a King Arthur episode?

Maybe they should have.

[Uraniun235]

The reason given for the slums is not a lack of housing, it's that people came to B5 to find work (which, itself, seems odd; it either highlights incredible stupidity in not having lined up a job beforehand, or incredible desperation in the conditions back home), failed, and didn't have the money to get back home.

Which one was it? I think I skipped over it.

I think it's called "Gray 13 Is Missing", which strikes me as even more ludicrous as the Gray section was supposedly for basically the station plumbing and utilities - so it's not like an undeveloped section (like the slums were supposed to be) got ignored and turned into slums, it's literally as if a whole sector of presumably vital station facilities got lost. But then that sort of fits JMS' theme of bureaucratic incompetence.