homepage Forums SimHQ Community Outer Space & Science Fiction Babylon 5.... YES it does get good!

I still disagree. I saw the first few episodes when the show first aired but didn’t stay with it. Later I watched after seeing In the Beginning and it didn’t spoil things at all, just got me interested to watch from the start to see what the teasers were all about. Other elements were much more prevalent as well.

Speaking of Walter Koenig, the irony is that the character of Bester is a million times more complex and interesting than Chekhov from Star Trek but Koenig will always primarily be known for his Chekhov role to most people.

Maybe best remembered for Chekov but his portrayal of Bester was brilliant

I've never read the books but I believe that there is more to his story in them.

Wiki article contains spoilers to the plot

It would have been a better spinoff than Legend of the Rangers. Or maybe they would have just half assed that too. Maybe it's best they didn't make anymore.

“Legend of the Rangers” had potential but unfortunately some of the actors used were terrible.

We're a few episodes into season 2 now, definitely improved over season 1.

Crusade was no gem either, although I’d like to see it again. Just makes me wonder WTF JMS was thinking with so much good material to use for another series in the universe. That movie a few years back was terrible too. Or whatever it was, a couple of short stories or something?

Glad to hear it! It keeps getting better and better.

I really like Crusade and it gave us the most excellent character of G a l e n the technomage.

“Lost Tales” is the movie from a few years ago that you mentioned and the fundamental problem is that JMS only got a paltry 2 million from Warner Brothers to make it. That’s really a super bare-bones budget and it really showed on-screen. By comparison, the two dvd movies for Stargate each had a budget of about 10 million.

Don't give up! Babylon is awesome.

With G a l e n being played by Peter Woodward the son of Edward Woodward, I did quite like his portrayal of the technomage and would have liked the Crusade series to continue.

Early on I liked Londo Mollari, but now (middle of season 3) he is turning into Hitler! Or maybe Napoleon is more appropriate. Anxious to see how things develop.

Also really like how the show, thus far, treats religion. They've touched on Judaism, Christianity, alien religions as well as atheism and have treated all equally. I'm impressed. Of course this was made 25 years ago.

The Londo and G’Kar arc is really good. The first season is a great baseline for their relationship as well as their people, a set up for major events.
You may remember something mentioned by Londo in the second episode of season 1 about them. The road they take and the circumstances are what makes the story. One of several great storylines.

I agree, I thought they did a good job with religion.

I started season 1 the other night. I’ve got the dvd’s, which upscale pretty well, but AmazonPrime streaming is so convenient, even if not as good looking. LOL

By far, Londo is my favorite character from Babylon 5. Not only was the actor (Peter Jurasik) perfectly cast for the role but the character arc written by JMS was absolutely brilliant.


The Londo/G'Kar duo is one of the best duos ever on any scifi show in my opinion.

G'Kar's awesome, too, but I love the multiple sides of Londo we got to see. But don't forget Vir!

Honestly Babylon has some of the most memorable characters in all of sci-fi.

That moon-faced assassin of joy!
IIRC Peter adlibbed most of the Vir insults. LOL

The show was shot in wide screen but broadcast in 4x3 format. The widescreen is interesting, and, I am suprised that the episodes have not been restored/cleaned up for disc release.

The first season is a bit rough but, like every other season it contains story seeds that don't show up intil later. B5 is very much like an onion with a gazillion layers. It is a very complex series.

P.S. Harlan Ellison, one of the creators and occasional character passed this year.

While the live was shot wide, unfortunately the cg was rendered at 4:3. There's been a lot of discussion about this on various fan sites about this... The problem is the cost of re-rendering the cg to match format.....

The CGI does not upscale well to the 200" screen I have, it is really quite jarring when a scene with a lot of CGI in it comes on,

200"?????

I bet that does look crap, it even looks crap on my measly 65" screen.