Chuck does B5 (Signs and Portents)

[Zor]

http://blip.tv/file/4678882

Not to give anything away, but the stinger is one of the most memerable moments in the series.

Zor

[jollyreaper]

Such a great show. Good, snarky review, too.

[Thanas]

Hmmm. I kinda expected a bit more - I think this review is plagued by the same things that plagued the Dalek review - mainly that the turning points are just recapped, not shown as clips. This review felt more like a recap than a review, to be honest.

[Bright]

Hmmm. I kinda expected a bit more - I think this review is plagued by the same things that plagued the Dalek review - mainly that the turning points are just recapped, not shown as clips. This review felt more like a recap than a review, to be honest.

I think the laying out of B5 characters and elements for viewers unfamiliar with the series held it back somewhat.

But I did find his thoughts about Michael O'Hare interesting.

[Vympel]

Yeah this was very much a recap more than a review.

[OmegaChief]

Perhaps once he's introduced the show and setting to people he might start to get more in depth, I put it down to breaking in a new series, firt reviews will be a little rough until he gets into his groove like with trek.

[18-Till-I-Die]

I'm actually enjoying his B5 reviews. Though yeah his style kind of goes better with the, to be frank, rather myopic world of Star Trek where there aren't many twists and turns (or any at all to be honest). That being said I must thank him for rekindling my deep enjoyment of B5, inspiring me to spend a few hours watching all of the "shadow war" must see episodes a while ago after he did that first B5 review.

I had forgotten how good Babylon 5 was, I had gotten used to the modern crop of sci-fi and had forgotten how sprawling and 'lived in' the B5 universe felt. Even though it only took place on one ship, or station or whatever, it was frankly so much more impressive than much that's on now...especially, ironically, the special effects and CGI which somehow actually looks better than what I've seen on TV in years. And now I feel old.

So at the very least, SFdebris has helped re-teach me to enjoy an exceptional series. It's literally frightening how much better B5 is than some recent attempts at the genre.

[jollyreaper]

What I loved about B5 is that it was the first big space scifi show that wasn't trek and was also good. There were some quickly canceled shows that never quite took hold but in terms of impact there was trek and then there was B5.

It came at just the right time. I'd given up on trek due to all the dissatisying technobabble and reset button lack of consequences. B5's continuing plot was revolutionary for televised scifi. Even for all the warts and blemishes they were out in front blazing new territory. You could tell this because trek started aping their storylines.

The disappointing thing is I'd hoped trek might rise to the challenge and go back to being good. Nope. We got voyager and it went downhill from there.

[Bright]

By the way, the review of "Chrysalis" is now up.

http://sfdebris.blip.tv/file/4688173/

A big improvement, I'd say. The sex jokes were very amusing. However, I find it a little worrying that he's going "off the rails" to cover extra material by just the third episode. Perhaps there's another reason for it, but it does kind of seem to show how difficult it is to review individual episodes of B5 in a vacuum.

[OmegaChief]

That's the unfortunate downside to reviewing B5, there's genreally very few episodes that are standalone so you kind have to go through them all.

It may have been a better idea to review B5 in half/quater season chunks in retrospect, though those would be very long reviews, on par with his film ones.

Eh like I said, he'll find his groove after a while.

[Skylon]

The "Chrysalis" review was much better than the "Signs and Portents" one. To avoid exposition it may be easier to review them all, sequentially, but from Chuck's POV I could see why that may not be too much fun. As stated, it is easier to review the few stand alone episodes. His "Passing Through Gethsemane" review was pretty good, as that had not too much arc significance (Lyta's return to B5 was the only real arc thread in it).

[Big Orange]

Sfdebris' review of "The Unearthly Child" (a good story) was more interesting than his review for "Dalek".

Mr. Morden gloating while being surrounded by the scary Shadows after the spate of sudden catastrophes, with no chance of final five minute solutions, is what got me really hooked by Babylon 5.

I don't think the Narn are really reptile lizard men at all, like Star Trek's Xindi Reptiles, they're supposedly similar to Earth marsupials or like Star Trek's therapsida-esque Cardassians.

[Todeswind]

I always found b5's lack of pseudo-scientific explanations to be in it's favor. Any time science was involved as a plot device the power of "science" was always subordinate to the progression of the plot ark of both the episode and the season.

[Swindle1984]

Sfdebris' review of "The Unearthly Child" (a good story) was more interesting than his review for "Dalek".

Mr. Morden gloating while being surrounded by the scary Shadows after the spate of sudden catastrophes, with no chance of final five minute solutions, is what got me really hooked by Babylon 5.

I don't think the Narn are really reptile lizard men at all, like Star Trek's Xindi Reptiles, they're supposedly similar to Earth marsupials or like Star Trek's therapsida-esque Cardassians.

G'kar once offered money to mate with a human telepath to reintroduce the gene for telepathy into Narns. This would, at first glance, seem to indicate that Narns and humans are somehow genetically compatible, but considering G'kar's sexual adventures with other species and the fact that (realistically) there are no alien hybrids in the series, I'm pretty sure it was just an attempt at getting laid.

And yes, Narns are some sort of marsupial, with a pouch. G'kar makes multiple references to "pouchlings", including his own childhood.

[Skylon]

Mr. Morden gloating while being surrounded by the scary Shadows after the spate of sudden catastrophes, with no chance of final five minute solutions, is what got me really hooked by Babylon 5.

Likewise. Season 1 was a mixed bag quality wise. I was ready to quit on B5 multiple times, but the arc episodes like "And the Sky Full of Stars", "Signs and Portents" and "Babylon Squared" kept pulling me back. "Chrysalis" cemented for me that unless season 2 blew chunks I HAD to see where this series was going, and was in it for the duration.