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Mephistopheles
Filthy Animal
Post #37962
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Posted: Sun 2007-02-25 09:08
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| Politics: Technocratic Syndicalist |
Country: United States |
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| Babylon 5 |
Post Rating: 0.0/4 (0 votes cast) |
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A show set within approximately 200-300 years, Babylon 5 is a highly complex story with many arcs, ranging from totalitarianism to anarchy. The show is, quite honestly, one of the gems of science fiction.
http://worldsofjms.com/b5/reviews/b5bible.htm
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=10593
Being an actual planned series (meaning, there were many arcs and run-ons), the quality gradually improves. The first season is... quite honestly, newbish. With the arrival of Bruce Boxleitner (I probably misspelled his name) in season two, the show really starts packing the heat.
The story goes like this. In the beginning, there were the First Ones, the original races of the galaxy. There were two primary ones, the Vorlons, and the Shadows. The Vorlons believed in authoritarianism, and would always ask the same question: who are you? The Shadows believed that chaos, being a tool of change through war and evolution, and would always ask a different question: what do you want? These two questions define the philosophy of Babylon 5 being balanced between chaos and order, between personal definition and personal desire.
Eventually, the First Ones passed beyond the galaxy, but the Vorlons and the Shadows stayed behind to watch over the subsequent races. Eventually, the Vorlons decided their way of nurturing the Second Ones, through authoritarianism and order, was better than starting conflicts, as the Shadows would do, and the war between them started. The Shadows were decimated and hid in secret places, pulling the strings from afar if they could.
Eventually, new races emerged, primarily the Minbari, a warlike, religious, and honorable race; the Centauri which really remind me of the decadent French of the 18-19th centuries with the choice of clothing and governmental system of absolute monarchy; the Narn, a broken people recently freed from Centauri occupation, and the Humans.
The rest of the show details the final Shadow War, and the subsequent rise of the Interstellar Alliance. Throughout the show, very awesome story lines emerge, such as the takeover of Earth by fascist elements and the subsequent turning of Earth into a totalitarian dictatorship, as well as some neat concepts concerning telepathy and the Psi Corps (an organization designed to control the telepaths).
I hope this review was helpful; it was rather on-the-spot and I'm quite literally falling asleep.
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psikeyhackr
Inner Party Member
Post #38145
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Posted: Thu 2007-03-01 06:36
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| Politics: Friggin Wacko! |
Country: United States |
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| Oh, yeah! |
Post Rating: 0.0/4 (0 votes cast) |
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| Quote: |
| The first season is... quite honestly, newbish. With the arrival of Bruce Boxleitner (I probably misspelled his name) in season two, the show really starts packing the heat. |
I have seen a number of instances of people putting down the first season of B5. Frankly I don't get it. The pilot, The Gathering, looked like they were adjusting to the new series, but overall I think the first season was as good as the rest. It didn't have the excitement and battles but it had a lot of details about the 23rd century interstellar culture. I thought Soul Hunter, Deathwalker and By Any Means Necessary were great episodes.
I guess it's about what you are looking for. Do you read sci-fi?
psik
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Mephistopheles
Filthy Animal
Post #38146
Joined: 09 Aug 2005
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Posted: Thu 2007-03-01 08:08
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| Politics: Technocratic Syndicalist |
Country: United States |
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| Re: Oh, yeah! |
Post Rating: 0.0/4 (0 votes cast) |
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| psikeyhackr wrote: |
| I have seen a number of instances of people putting down the first season of B5. Frankly I don't get it. |
Well, it's basically the way it's acted. Midnight on the Firing Line was horrible. Horrible in acting, and horrible in plot line, in my opinion. The rest of season one gradually became better, and by season 2, the acting was fine.
| psikeyhackr wrote: |
The pilot, The Gathering, looked like they were adjusting to the new series, but overall I think the first season was as good as the rest. It didn't have the excitement and battles but it had a lot of details about the 23rd century interstellar culture. I thought Soul Hunter, Deathwalker and By Any Means Necessary were great episodes.
I guess it's about what you are looking for. Do you read sci-fi?
psik |
I'm not necessarily calling season one of Babylon 5 bad, I'm saying it was pretty poor in acting. The acting seemed so fake.
I don't read science fiction besides having read Foundation by Asimov, Dune by Herbert, and other classics, especially dystopian science fiction, like, arguably, the Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Dick, Solaris by Lem, We by Zamyatin, and others. What would you recommend?
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One Of The Few
Minister of Truth
Post #38157
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Posted: Thu 2007-03-01 12:42
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| Politics: Just plain NUTS! |
Country: Scotland |
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Post Rating: 0.0/4 (0 votes cast) |
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I have absolutely no idea why this series has never interested me. It's the kind of intelligent sci-fi that should get be excited, but for whatever reason (silly foreheads perhaps?) I've never quite managed to take an interest in Babylon 5.
Then again, by the time I heard about Babylon 5, I already had very high standards for sci-fi.
OOTF's sci-fi recommended reading: "Consider Phleabus" by Iain M. Banks (action-packed left wing science fiction); "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin; "Stranger In A Strange Land" by Heinlen; "We Can Build You" by Dick; "The Chrysalids" by John Wyndham (along with "The Midwich Cuckoos", it's his best).
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JD-sama
Minister of Truth
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Posted: Thu 2007-03-01 14:13
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| Politics: Communist |
Country: United Kingdom |
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Post Rating: 0.0/4 (0 votes cast) |
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| One Of The Few wrote: |
I have absolutely no idea why this series has never interested me. It's the kind of intelligent sci-fi that should get be excited, but for whatever reason (silly foreheads perhaps?) I've never quite managed to take an interest in Babylon 5.
Then again, by the time I heard about Babylon 5, I already had very high standards for sci-fi.
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I think the problem with babylon 5 was, despite having good aspects which reach the very pinnacle of, as you put it, "intelligent sci-fi" babylon 5 is peppered with episodes which somewhat miss the drive and plotworthyness(new word) that is so necessitous in maintaining appeal. Furthermore the focus and shadowing for the war ultimately leave other, in particular post-war, threads a little empty.
I'm a big babylon 5 fan so don't misinterpret me but the story could have been completed rather more succinctly. I was rather disappointed when crusade got axed though.
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"I wanted to know the world that was outside of the well.
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I wanted to know the world that was outside of the well.
So I climbed up numerous of times despite falling down over and over again.
But then I realized it.
The higher and higher I climb, the pain increases when I fall down again.
When my interest in the world outside of the well began to equal the amount of pain,
That was when I finally realized the meaning of the story to Der Froschkönig."
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One Of The Few
Minister of Truth
Post #38170
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Posted: Thu 2007-03-01 14:30
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| Politics: Just plain NUTS! |
Country: Scotland |
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Post Rating: 0.0/4 (0 votes cast) |
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| JD-sama wrote: |
plotworthyness(new word) |
I like the use of the "y"; there just isn't enough "y-love" in this world.
| JD wrote: |
that is so necessitous in maintaining appeal. Furthermore the focus and shadowing for the war ultimately leave other, in particular post-war, threads a little empty.
I'm a big babylon 5 fan so don't misinterpret me but the story could have been completed rather more succinctly. I was rather disappointed when crusade got axed though. |
Plus, you know, those stupid foreheads. When are we going to get more aliens like the Tholians, and less aliens that are humans with silly make-up?
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psikeyhackr
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Post #38532
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Posted: Tue 2007-03-06 21:12
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| Politics: Friggin Wacko! |
Country: United States |
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Post Rating: 0.0/4 (0 votes cast) |
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| Mephistopheles wrote: |
Well, it's basically the way it's acted. Midnight on the Firing Line was horrible. Horrible in acting, and horrible in plot line, in my opinion.
I'm not necessarily calling season one of Babylon 5 bad, I'm saying it was pretty poor in acting. The acting seemed so fake.
I don't read science fiction besides having read Foundation by Asimov, Dune by Herbert, and other classics, especially dystopian science fiction, like, arguably, the Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Dick, Solaris by Lem, We by Zamyatin, and others. What would you recommend? |
| One Of The Few wrote: |
Then again, by the time I heard about Babylon 5, I already had very high standards for sci-fi.
OOTF's sci-fi recommended reading: "Consider Phleabus" by Iain M. Banks (action-packed left wing science fiction); "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin; "Stranger In A Strange Land" by Heinlen; "We Can Build You" by Dick; "The Chrysalids" by John Wyndham (along with "The Midwich Cuckoos", it's his best). |
| JD-sama wrote: |
I think the problem with babylon 5 was, despite having good aspects which reach the very pinnacle of, as you put it, "intelligent sci-fi" babylon 5 is peppered with episodes which somewhat miss the drive and plotworthyness(new word) that is so necessitous in maintaining appeal. Furthermore the focus and shadowing for the war ultimately leave other, in particular post-war, threads a little empty.
I'm a big babylon 5 fan so don't misinterpret me but the story could have been completed rather more succinctly. I was rather disappointed when crusade got axed though. |
Yes, Midnight On the Firing Line is one of the less impressive episodes but I think it is important to the series in explaining the relationship between the Narn and the Centauri and initiatingting the evolving association between Londo and G'Kar. Oddly that seems about as important to the whole B5 story as the Shadow War.
Sci-fi movies and TV have so many factors that don't apply to literature that I think I have different standards for evaluating them than most people. I am much more focused on the story than how well the actors deliver it, the acting has to be rather bad for me to even pay attention to it. I could enjoy some Dr. Who's just for the storyline and some were performed so bad they were hilariously enjoyable just for that. LOL
I got hooked on sci-fi at 9 so it became an educational medium for me and I tend to expect that from it. Mack Reynolds is about the worst SF writer that I still enjoy for the ideas about the effect of technology on culture. I have read most of the books mentioned and I confess that I am surprised the Dune got made into movies so many times. The mini-series was very good but the movie with Patrick Stuart wasn't so hot. I think the fact the a good Dune movie would have to be very long was a factor in that.
As a recommendation I put The Space Merchants very high on the list.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants
For movies, you have to see The Abyss *Special Edition* don't bother with the regular movie version.
http://www.scifimoviepage.com/abysspec.html
More Books:
http://booksliterature.com/showthread.php?t=1527
psik
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