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The Greatest Science Fiction Television Ever Produced Comes to HBO Max This Week
- Thread starter ManaByte
- Start date
ManaByte
Gold Member
Stargate is just Star Trek TNG without a ship. Babylon 5 is a special unicorn that will never happen again.
Lanrutcon
Member
Lies. O'Neil is a national treasure.
But you're right, Bab 5 was a lot more mature than the competition. It could happen again, but it would get saturated with identity politics and "grit"
SirTerry-T
Member
ManaByte
Gold Member
Battlestar's fell apart when they didn't really know where they were going and had to end it with the fourth season.
B5 had the entire five year story planned. Again, it'll never happen again.
Cockles & Whelks
Banned
Season 5 felt somewhat tacked on for me, like a story that didn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the narrative. ‘The Deconstruction of Falling Stars’ in season 4 felt like a series finale and was to behave that way as the show was facing cancellation. Luckily it was saved but told a lesser story than what we were used to at that point. It was still good but not as good. I wonder if it was cobbled together just to wring out another season to fulfil that 5 season promise.
Seasons 2-4 though? God tier sci-fi, still stands to this day as an incredible story - Amiga toaster CGI be damned.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
That's not Battlestar. lol. I've never seen Babylon 5 that I can remember. I think I always confused it with that other scfi show with all the muppets whose name is escaping me right now.
jufonuk
not tag worthy
Farscape
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
While we are talking scfi shows was Andromeda any good?
Furlong
Banned
I believe Deconstruction of Falling Stars was hastily produced after they learnt that the show had been renewed for season 5. The actual series finale, Sleeping in Light, had already been filmed.
Yeah that’s it, it was used as a replacement for ‘Sleeping in Light’ as the show was renewed on TNT. It works as a series finale but also feels somewhat out of place as the show continued.
If Warner Bros hadn’t messed them around I think the entire experience would have been even more epic than it already is. As it stands it has a few hiccups along the way but it is much more than the sum of its parts. It’s made even more impressive that Straczynski wrote very nearly every episode himself.
jufonuk
not tag worthy
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
B5 wins because of the Londo/G'Kar character arcs.
Great performances/dialogue and wonderful writing flips our initial perceptions seamlessly and convincingly over time. That it lies at the heart of the overarching Shadow War plotline, (although its again not immediately apparent how substantial their involvement) just drives home to me its the best of its type in all of genre TV.
Great performances/dialogue and wonderful writing flips our initial perceptions seamlessly and convincingly over time. That it lies at the heart of the overarching Shadow War plotline, (although its again not immediately apparent how substantial their involvement) just drives home to me its the best of its type in all of genre TV.
T8SC
Gold Member
It's a banana.
Tesseract
Banned
yes, it's still brilliant after all these years
season 1 is more procedural than the rest, cg is old but still looks decent in motion especially if you have an affinity for amiga
more than anything it's spectacularly written, wonderful ensemble with plenty character and worldbuilding on a shoestring budget
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Lupingosei
Banned
Stargate was always the proof that you can be a badass and a smartass at the same time.
Patrick S.
Banned
Yes, but she was like a 6.5/10Didn't Claudia Christian get all her clothes off for Playboy, after this finished...
Trogdor1123
Gold Member
B5 was utterly incredible. My favorite SciFi show.
Wish they had continued crusade and legend of the Rangers. After reading the storyline for them I would have loved them
Wish they had continued crusade and legend of the Rangers. After reading the storyline for them I would have loved them
ManaByte
Gold Member
Only The Gathering is really required (the pilot) but that'll likely be included as the first episode. But yes the movies are worth watching.
Thirdspace is after Episode 9 in Season 4.
Don't watch In The Beginning until after Season 4.
River of Souls is after Episode 17 in Season 5.
A Call to Arms is after the end of Season 5.
slade
Member
The movies aren't really needed and In the Beginning ruins a lot of the mystery around certain events. That one should be watched after Season 5.
The others aren't really needed. Even The Gathering isn't needed because it came out a year before the show and by episode 1 they'd changed around some of the characters. The other films can be treated like filler..... unless you want to watch Crusade. Watch A Call to Arms before you begin that show because that was its Pilot.
As for the show, I hold out hope that one day, during my lifetime, somebody comes into WB, decides to do a remake of the show. We get to see Straczynski's original 5 year version and they actually adapt some of the events like the Psy War and Drakh War that happened after the show ended.
The others aren't really needed. Even The Gathering isn't needed because it came out a year before the show and by episode 1 they'd changed around some of the characters. The other films can be treated like filler..... unless you want to watch Crusade. Watch A Call to Arms before you begin that show because that was its Pilot.
As for the show, I hold out hope that one day, during my lifetime, somebody comes into WB, decides to do a remake of the show. We get to see Straczynski's original 5 year version and they actually adapt some of the events like the Psy War and Drakh War that happened after the show ended.
Manstructiclops
Banned
Used to stay up until the early hours of the morning to watch B5 on channel 4. Fist of the north star and then this immediately after. Who ever put that programming together was a legend.
DeafTourette
Perpetually Offended
Crusade was good... I liked that. Babylon 5 2qs ahead if it's time
Trogdor1123
Gold Member
Another amazing show, both are great.
There is supposedly a b5 sequel or remake being seriously looked at. I've heard to focuses more closely on Ivanova. Of course, this has been said since the show ended ..
Trogdor1123
Gold Member
Third Space was awesome, it hinted at some really neat stuff. Could have made a series of its own off that.
While I do love The Expanse there is something about it that just keeps it from greatness. Which strange because it’s by far one of the best shows on tv at the moment.
eot
Banned
Babylon 5 is all about that gradual, long term and subtle build up and pay-off, whereas BSG is better at edge-of-your-seat tension and release. The arcs of G'Kar and Londo are ultimately more satisfying than anything in BSG, but the planned nature of the show is sometimes over stated.
A lot of it was because of the production realities of the show, actors being written out for various reasons, them thinking S4 would be the final season etc. Personally I never found the stuff post shadow-war as interesting, especially when Garibaldi becomes an asshole (which is of course explained, but it was frustrating to watch). Never liked Marcus either.
Overall it's extremely memorable though, and I keep trying to recommend it to people. It's so ambitious and largely succeeds, reaching higher highs than Star Trek ever did.
Nothing comes of the recording of Talia Winters' brain for example, even though there's an extremely obvious way they could've used that.
A lot of it was because of the production realities of the show, actors being written out for various reasons, them thinking S4 would be the final season etc. Personally I never found the stuff post shadow-war as interesting, especially when Garibaldi becomes an asshole (which is of course explained, but it was frustrating to watch). Never liked Marcus either.
Overall it's extremely memorable though, and I keep trying to recommend it to people. It's so ambitious and largely succeeds, reaching higher highs than Star Trek ever did.
Ballthyrm
Member
Nostalgia, and the show isn't done yet so they can still fuck it up (GoT style).
Babylon 5 is over and has built devoted fans long after the show stopped airing.
I don’t know if that’s it, I remember loving Babylon 5 at the time and that is where my appreciation for it came from.
The Expanse just teeters on the edge of greatness but never really dedicates itself to the leap. We had two and a half excellent seasons and then it kinda went off the rails with the latter half of season 3 and all of season 4. It has an overarching story but doesn’t really know where to go with it and if the next season is going to be it’s last then surely nothing is going to get resolved. But it’s still a hell of a ride that I’m locked in for till the end.
xellos2099alpha
Member
Is this bettere than the dvd copy that i got?
xellos2099alpha
Member
LOGH is not sci-fi... it is a god damn good space political drama.If you are talking live action maybe it's top 3. (Londo and G’Kar are brilliant , probably the best sci fi duo btw.)
But if you are talking best sci fi ever, there is a bunch of anime I would put above.
Like these three.
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