Hee, not until you start collecting them all on DVD. At least you're liking the best of the series, IMO. As for Wesley, as others have stated, pretty much no one likes that character. He thankfully goes away in later seasons. Speaking of those, you will really love them. Stories are much better, characters are better rounded. As for the view of the future, I think it's a little TOO positive. Does not take into account a lot of the greed and selfishness and hate that has prevaded human history. Seems that was all wiped out in the Eugenics Wars and WW3.
Heehee, no kidding!! B5 ownz @all
Season 3 coming to DVD Aug 12 as well, can't wait to get my hands on it. Severed Dreams and related episodes blow away anything else I've seen on TV. LocutusX is right about the prewritten 5 year arc that B5 sticks to, which gave it the strong sense of story it had. Too bad the execs didn't let JMS tell it the way he really wanted.Of course I also think Farscape is great. Quite different characters, wonderful humour, extremely cute pop culture references. And, when it does get into its small story arcs, they tend to be quite good. Best season end cliff-hangers of any show I've seen. Oh, and the character of Scorpius is undeniably, IMO, the best, most well rounded, villian of any sci fi series.
-- Jack
you know, what did happen to Earth 2? it's the one where these ppl crashed on a planet with a little boy who has this sickness and became part alien or something right?
the last episode I remember watching was when they were time traveling or something to save the boy.
I've found the original series is really great too! There are a lot of references to the episodes in other movies and so it gets you interested in the series. For example, you've probably seen "The Cable Guy" with Jim Carrey. When they are at Medieval Times and he makes the analogy between the Star Trek episode where Spock and Jim must do battle and their [Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick] medieval battle. The music and some of the dialogue is the same. BTW, if you want to watch that episode, I believe its called "Amok Time."
Actually, DS9 is a rip-off of B5. The Paramount execs only decided to do a show about a space station AFTER jms tried to sell B5 to Paramount!
i.e. "Hey, that guy had a neat idea about a show taking place on a space station in neutral territory..."
Paramount got their show to market much quicker than jms because... duh... they're Paramount! The pilot of B5 ("The Gathering") was actually made and shown on TV at the *same time* as season 1 of DS9. Obviously being so low on resources and money, it took jms' company much longer to produce the pilot. And then he had to wait almost a year to get approval to start filming B5 season 1; which is why it only seemed to start coming on TV about a year after DS9.
Yes. And Kosh is God.
B5 is the only show I'd rate higher than 24 (season1) or The Shield (season2).
I hope jms someday returns to space-fiction, with the support of a company who'll guarantee his budget for as long as he needs it. I don't think that will ever happen though. There were 2 post-B5 spinoff attempts and they both failed. I get the feeling that most of the viewing public doesn't want to watch space-fi anymore.
I also heard Farscape was good. I was going to get into it through the reruns. Then I decided not to, since the show got cancelled and all the actors laid-off; so it's basically never coming back. And they weren't allowed to properly "finish it off", so what's the point? Same thing happened to "Firefly", that FOX show from last season.
It got cancelled before the show was over. That's what happens to 75% of sci-fi.
Case in point; Odyssey 5. Anyone watch that? It was pretty decent. Why does the viewing public hate sci-fi so?
If they actually watched it, it'd get good ratings and stay on the air.
I guess people are more interested in "marrying my gay dad to america" or "jamaican idol" or "survivor tanzania". </sarcasm>
Hee, that's nothing! DS9 was fairly original, up until 97, when they started ripping off B5 DIRECTLY. No, the Dominion War wasn't inspired by the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War, no. Heck, I think they were even stealing lines. (DS9: "... for peace, then a war may be our last hope." )
Plus, it makes fun pages like this
Ack!! You passed up a GREAT series! You still had 4 full seasons to see, and the first three are GREAT stuff! Just because it's dead does not mean that you should not see what they managed to get out. Not like there's much else good sci fi on TV nowadays.
-- Jack
Kitman's Law: Pure drivel tends to drive ordinary drivel off the TV screen.
It lasted a full first season, then was canned. Can't say I was too surprised. It was definetly was interesting, at least to start with. Frankly, the writing just died towards the end. When they ended up just staying in that one greenhouse(?) structure towards the end, the series just started spinning its wheels. Pity. Can't say I was all that sorry to see it go at that point, though.
As for the viewing public, I think it's several reasons.
1) They have NO imagination. People in general have almost never looked to the future. The sci fi boom of the 20th century is a pretty unique thing, I believe. For some strange reason, people just don't like to push the envelope on what might be.
2) Sci Fi has a bit of a stigma attached to it, thanx to its attendant geek population and pulp science fiction of the 50s and 60s.
3) As JMS, creator of B5 said, Star Trek, while proving that the public will accept a sci fi franchise, killed a LOT of shows as execs refused to touch anything that wasn't trek or trek like! B5 was written 5 years before he managed to sell it. And it was only the advent of affordable CGI that allowed him to do it at all.
4) Sci fi tends to cost more to make per show than other stuff. Thus, while the Treks get lots of needed $$$ lavished on them, as they're KNOWN money makers, other series have to struggle to make their stories fit the budget and vice versa. This can contribute to the whole precieved "cheese" factor. If you can't afford to show the viewers what you need to, you won't do as good.
5) The networks always, always, always pander to the Lowest Common Denominator(TM). Nowdays, anything that isn't an instant hit is dumped for the next cookie-cutter knock-off. They want a return on investment quick, or it's gone. It's all a money issue now, not content.
What's sad is that with this mentality, some of the best TV ever made could never have been aired today! Monty Python was roasted by critics its first season and stuggled in the ratings. Now, it's just about the most well known comedy phenomenon in the world. Law & Order had more advertisers pull out during its first season than any show before or since. Now, it's going on 14 seasons, has several Emmy awards under its belt, and has 2 successful spinoffs. Babylon 5 only made it to air because the birth of CGI finally made it affordable to do the needed FX work.
As for Reality TV... gawd, I can't explain that. 70% of the human race is flippin' nuts, that's the best I can say. (The other 25% just don't get TV
)-- Jack
Yes. The Shadows FCKNG PWNED. (did I spell that right?)
I wish they had been a part of the show until the very end.
Note: I haven't watched S05 yet, just S01-S04 - so don't say anything if they happen to return in S05.
About sci-fi.... One sci-fi show that's still on is Andromeda. Hercules in space.
But, I have this sneaky suspicion WHY it's still on the air - see, I can't imagine its ratings being particularly stellar.
My hypothesis is that since it's a Canadian show, and there's a little flag of Canada shown at the end, is that its subsidized to some extent by the Canadian government. That would make sense, they are always trying to promote "Canadian culture", although I am not sure how a sci-fi with american actors counts as "Canadian culture"...
I bet that if it's made by a canadian company it qualifies under some "free money for canadian companies who make TV shows to sell to americans" scheme. I'm sure that's been done before. Anyways, thats a bit scary. The cdn govt keeping the last real "space-fi" show alive. <shudder>
(I don't watch it, but Lexa Doig is hot...)
But, I have this sneaky suspicion WHY it's still on the air - see, I can't imagine its ratings being particularly stellar.
My hypothesis is that since it's a Canadian show, and there's a little flag of Canada shown at the end, is that its subsidized to some extent by the Canadian government. That would make sense, they are always trying to promote "Canadian culture", although I am not sure how a sci-fi with american actors counts as "Canadian culture"...
I bet that if it's made by a canadian company it qualifies under some "free money for canadian companies who make TV shows to sell to americans" scheme. I'm sure that's been done before. Anyways, thats a bit scary. The cdn govt keeping the last real "space-fi" show alive. <shudder>
(I don't watch it, but Lexa Doig is hot...)
I disagree that Trek is a guaranteed money-maker. Haven't all the post-TNG series' been struggling for ratings? And hasn't Enterprise been REALLY struggling for ratings? I mean, like, REALLY REALLY struggling. Almost-to-the-extent-of- being-cancelled-struggling.
Not that it would be a bad thing. I'd be almost glad to see it go; "almost" because that would also have the side effect of guaranteeing no new sci-fi shows for a while. Executives would be like, "why should we spend money on your sci-fi? Enterprise just flopped, no-one wants sci-fi!".
*Chuckles* Cool, never noticed that. Thought it was a pure US deal. It's certainly one of the better things on, though I'm not really sure when the plot is going. They ended season 3 on a really DUMB note.
I know the Canadian gov. backed Earth: Final Conflict before it went off last May. That was actually a pretty decent series! Had fairly tight arcs for each season, with stuff from earlier on coming back. They're also backing Starhunter, another active sci fi show. I've caught that one from time to time. Can't say very much positive about it.
-- Jack
*Chuckles* Cool, never noticed that. Thought it was a pure US deal. It's certainly one of the better things on, though I'm not really sure when the plot is going. They ended season 3 on a really DUMB note.
I know the Canadian gov. backed Earth: Final Conflict before it went off last May. That was actually a pretty decent series! Had fairly tight arcs for each season, with stuff from earlier on coming back. They're also backing Starhunter, another active sci fi show. I've caught that one from time to time. Can't say very much positive about it.
-- Jack[/quote]
Negative on Starhunter. It was backed by either the Australian or French governments. Although it's possible the Quebeccers had a hand it it too.
Hmm...
Originally posted by: NoReMoRsE
As is Laura Bertram
And she's Canadian
Nah, Lexa is much better looking. And Ready or Not sucked.
Yeah, but it still manages to outdo almost all other sci fi shows in ratings. It still has the largest, most rabid following. Probably the most convincing factor for saying it's a money maker is that Paramount has sold the syndication rights to pretty much every station and its affiliate. Two broadcasters in my area show it, and I know like four on cable do it. TNG, DS9, and Voy got the backing to last 7 seasons each. ANY show lasting 7 seasons is extraordinary. The fact that all three are still on the air in syndication all over the place means that Paramount is raking it in pretty good. It's not like they're paying for those ones any more.
Yeah, I do agree that Enterprise is going down. Frankly, I blame the writing. The setting is quite neat, and the potential for doing stuff that'd tie in with the original series was high, as was exploring the origins of the federation. Alas, they couldn't seem to break the mold set by TNG and its kind, so we saw a LOT of the same stuff over and over.
*Glares, goes checks* Okay, seems you're right. Though it's a UK/French production produced by Danforth Studios, a Toronto firm. Shooting for season 1 was out in New Brunswick.
So I was close
I guess this is the only thing socialist governments are good for; funding sci-fi shows!
And BTW I think the ratings for B5 (S02+) exceeded any of DS9/VOY/ENT ...
And BTW I think the ratings for B5 (S02+) exceeded any of DS9/VOY/ENT ...
I love star trek, i have all the original series and the next generation on DVD, i am going to get DS9 soon too.
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