Babylon 5 - 20 Years Later

[Stark]

I dimly remember some goth chick making me watch some technomage themed B5 movie about glass balls and possibly souls and a guy who looked like Charlie Sheen. All I remember about it was that it was horrid. Those movies really should have let everyone know that that guy who made B5 had no fucking idea.

HOLY SHIT GUYS



Connor was right. This was it. Fifteen years later and the horror stays with me.

[Havok]

I meant sacrifice of angels
they made B5 movies? Oh dear.

[Stark]

P sure they made like five, dude. Gotta milk that cow, squirt squirt.

[Connor MacLeod]

Some of them were okay and I still like them, and I actually liked the idea of Technomages but like most things it never went anywhere (except for some short stories that fuelled alot of SB fiver fan wank with ZERO POINT ENERGY and SPELLS OF DESTRUCTION and shit.)

It never was the ideas in B5 I had the problem with, it was the execution which was always so hit and miss.


And they made more than five. There were the lost episodes too, I believe. That was the last gasp, but I was so burned out on B5 I never watched it.


And some spinoff novels (which I read) and a bunch of wargames and RPGs that I think never went anywhere.

[Vendetta]

I dimly remember some goth chick making me watch some technomage themed B5 movie about glass balls and possibly souls and a guy who looked like Charlie Sheen. All I remember about it was that it was horrid. Those movies really should have let everyone know that that guy who made B5 had no fucking idea.

HOLY SHIT GUYS



Connor was right. This was it. Fifteen years later and the horror stays with me.

Possibly still not as terrible as legend of the rangers though, or Space Battleship Straczynski Crusade.

[Thanas]

Well, there is one great B5 movie which everybody should see. "In the beginning" and it is basically a wet dream space opera. Probably one of the finest products B5 has ever put out.

[Themightytom]

Well, there is one great B5 movie which everybody should see. "In the beginning" and it is basically a wet dream space opera. Probably one of the finest products B5 has ever put out.

Yeah but it's also extremely derivative of the series. Without spoiling details, it's kind of just a summary of what is revealed seasons 1-3. it was really well done, i agree, but I think that Lost tales was really well done it's...the plots were silly. The first one especially so, being practically recycled from the episode where the GROPO is posessed.

A Call To Arms was entertaining enough, but seemed contrived as to the manner in which it treated cameos. Legend of the Rangers was WORSE, the plot was recycled, the production was absurd, the CGI design of the Valen was facepalm, they completely redid it for Lost tales (Which in my opinion redeemed the movie in and of itself) the only thing worth commenting on in Legend of the Rangers was that it was the last sighting of G'Kar.

River of Souls was stupid, for every possible reason imaginable, it would have been a terrible episode... but I liked Third Space. That's a good follow up come to think of it, Albertg on fanfiction.net has written like a million pages of fanfiction sucking the life out of that idea, I would like to see it explored with some skill, and better set into the framework of the story of the ISA.

I don't think JMS can let go of the original 5 year run though, all of the work he has done since then has been very derivative of it. He might have stumbled across a mixture of talent and ideas at the right moment and be unable to reproduce it.

[jollyreaper]

It is kind of funny how all the same ingredients can be there and yet fail. Network meddling can complicate things, of course, but there's only so much blame you can toss their way.

The pilot was bad. Seasons 1 to 4 were great. Even with the shock of getting 5 are the arc had been done, I think a better storyline could have still been developed. Crusade had trouble with TNT. In the Beginning was well-done and enjoyable but kind of redundant of things we either directly saw in the show or could easily imply. The other movies, eh.

Much of it feels like unforced errors, things that shouldn't have gone wrong.

The problem with deadlines is you have to ship, no matter is what you did was any good or not.

Funny thing, even when mistakes were made, much of the episode was good. I didn't like Sebastian being the Ripper due to Trek having already done it but aside from that one point, what a solid episode. Even TKO had a decent B plot. I don't think there was anything redeemable about Grey 17 is Missing.

[Bedlam]

It is kind of funny how all the same ingredients can be there and yet fail. Network meddling can complicate things, of course, but there's only so much blame you can toss their way.

The pilot was bad. Seasons 1 to 4 were great. Even with the shock of getting 5 are the arc had been done, I think a better storyline could have still been developed. Crusade had trouble with TNT. In the Beginning was well-done and enjoyable but kind of redundant of things we either directly saw in the show or could easily imply. The other movies, eh.

Much of it feels like unforced errors, things that shouldn't have gone wrong.

The problem with deadlines is you have to ship, no matter is what you did was any good or not.

Funny thing, even when mistakes were made, much of the episode was good. I didn't like Sebastian being the Ripper due to Trek having already done it but aside from that one point, what a solid episode. Even TKO had a decent B plot. I don't think there was anything redeemable about Grey 17 is Missing.

Marcus standing up to Naroon (sp?) was rather cool "We live for the one, We would die for the one!"

[Crown]

Hm. If Claudia Christian hadn't left the series, maybe the Byron arc would have at least been tolerable, with her interactions giving the viewers a reason to actually give a shit. Was she the one who was originally supposed to fall for Byron, or was that always Lyta's plotline?

Ivanova. I've always been iffy on this because I hated Byron so damn much, I didn't want to think of Ivanova connected in any way to him. But, maybe it would have been okay.

Fucking hell, I've managed to repress my feelings of out and out hatred for Byron for so long I've forgotten about them. I was 16 when this show was on in 'my world' and it was on the same time as S:AAB. I liked S:AAB better, since I found 'God Mode' Sheridan to be a real dick.

So wanted Lyta to mind fuck the prick by the end of it.

Still a great show though.

[Crown]

There were B5 movies that were worse than Thirdspace. What was the one with the Soul Hunters again? That was so forgettable.

I don't know, I forget.

Seriously tough, I don't know why you're hating on Sheridan. I mean the character is pretty hateable sure, but the acting is a hundred times better than the wooden plank who was Sinclair...

[Skylon]

In the Beginning was well-done and enjoyable but kind of redundant of things we either directly saw in the show or could easily imply. The other movies, eh.

It always seemed to me, "In the Beginning" was designed to "info-dump" for any new viewers B5's move to TNT might generate (it was the first B5 thing the channel aired). It did that job, and did it entertainingly in my book.

If I had to rank the B5 TV/direct to dvd movies I'd call it like this:
1) In the Beginning
2) A Call to Arms
3) River of Souls
4) Thirdspace
5) The Gathering (I fucking hate the pilot...I can barely watch the thing, and besides nerd points, I think you can jump right into the series with "Midnight on the Firing Line")
6) Lost Tales
7) Legend of the Rangers

I'd say only the first two are good in any sense.

[Darksider]

I liked the plot of A call to arms, but the music for it and crusade was just awful.

[jollyreaper]

Wow, I forgot that scene was in that episode! Yeah, I can't remember how to spell his name either but I loved his arc. So many of the side characters were good. Lord Refa was so well-done. His ending was just perfect. The mad emperor had that mix of charm and insanity that was convincing, not hammy.