Babylon 5

[TheSontaran]

It's been years since I've dived into my Babylon 5 collection, so I decided it was high time. There may be spoilers in this as I remember a bit of what happens later on.

Just watching the first movie "The Gathering" and the beginning of season one has been great. I expected it to be dated, but it actually didn't age that badly.

Some things I've noticed so far:

I forgot about the cast changes between The Gathering movie and the first episode of the first season. The change of doctor and first officer are particularly of note (what would the show have been without Ivanova?). Sinclair's girlfriend also changes, interestingly enough. I thought maybe it was the same character just recast, but the names of the characters are different so...I guess the commander is keeping his relationship options open, eh?

Londo mentions his dream of how he will die while struggling with G'kar. All things considered with how they both end up later on, that's some pretty spot-on foreshadowing. Speaking of Londo, his assistant Vir is a great character as well. You have to admire the actor's ability to always look kind but nervous at the same time.

I was surprised about the spacecraft effects. They put a lot of detail into it, such as the burned ships the raiders leave behind, etc. From what I understand they went with pure CGI rather than any models? Either way it's not bad.

I look forward to the coming wars. I'm glad I remember so little of it, it'll make it that much more interesting.

[master of read]

i didn't know for the reason for changing sinclair out for sheridan behind the scenes until i saw SFdebris' review of "war without end".

poor guy.

[TheSontaran]

i didn't know for the reason for changing sinclair out for sheridan behind the scenes until i saw SFdebris' review of "war without end".

poor guy.

Wait, what happened? I thought it was an in-story reason?

[Basara]

Wait, what happened? I thought it was an in-story reason?

Michael O'Hare was suffering from mental illness (he'd have paranoid hallucinations), which got worse as the first season filmed. J. Michael Stracynski offered to move filming back after season 1 to accommodate Michael's treatment, but Michael felt it was best to leave for the good of the show. JMS kept the illness a secret to protect Michael's career (making it seem like he'd always intended to have Sheridan replace Sincliar at the start of season 2). Upon Michael's death, JMS revealed that Michael expressed a desire to let the fans know the real reason why he left the show to raise awareness for those suffering from mental illness.

[Jon Clark]

Michael O'Hare was suffering from mental illness (he'd have paranoid hallucinations), which got worse as the first season filmed. J. Michael Stracynski offered to move filming back after season 1 to accommodate Michael's treatment, but Michael felt it was best to leave for the good of the show. JMS kept the illness a secret to protect Michael's career (making it seem like he'd always intended to have Sheridan replace Sincliar at the start of season 2). Upon Michael's death, JMS revealed that Michael expressed a desire to let the fans know the real reason why he left the show to raise awareness for those suffering from mental illness.

How does that tie into Sinclair's destiny as shown in the series? Did JMS always intend Sinclair to vanish at some point or did JMS rearrange things and if O'Hare had remained in the role Sinclair would have become the same sort of character Sheridan becam by the end? I'm being vague so as not to ruin Sinclair's ultimate fate for anyone reading the thread.

[harashkupo]

It's been years since I've dived into my Babylon 5 collection, so I decided it was high time. There may be spoilers in this as I remember a bit of what happens later on.

Just watching the first movie "The Gathering" and the beginning of season one has been great. I expected it to be dated, but it actually didn't age that badly.

Some things I've noticed so far:

I forgot about the cast changes between The Gathering movie and the first episode of the first season. The change of doctor and first officer are particularly of note (what would the show have been without Ivanova?). Sinclair's girlfriend also changes, interestingly enough. I thought maybe it was the same character just recast, but the names of the characters are different so...I guess the commander is keeping his relationship options open, eh?

Londo mentions his dream of how he will die while struggling with G'kar. All things considered with how they both end up later on, that's some pretty spot-on foreshadowing. Speaking of Londo, his assistant Vir is a great character as well. You have to admire the actor's ability to always look kind but nervous at the same time.

I was surprised about the spacecraft effects. They put a lot of detail into it, such as the burned ships the raiders leave behind, etc. From what I understand they went with pure CGI rather than any models? Either way it's not bad.

I look forward to the coming wars. I'm glad I remember so little of it, it'll make it that much more interesting.

Once a year I go back and re-watch my B5 collection. This and Farscape are my absolute favorite scifi shows. I won't lie though, I skip a lot of the first season cuz it's not my favorite.

Watching from beginning to end I always find the evolution of the characters and their relationships make this a personal timeless classic.

[Basara]

How does that tie into Sinclair's destiny as shown in the series? Did JMS always intend Sinclair to vanish at some point or did JMS rearrange things and if O'Hare had remained in the role Sinclair would have become the same sort of character Sheridan becam by the end? I'm being vague so as not to ruin Sinclair's ultimate fate for anyone reading the thread.

I don't really know. I always figured the story turned out largely close to JMS's vision though. I think he always planned things to turn out the way they did for Sinclair and Sheridan, but Sheridan had to be brought in sooner than he expected due to Michael O'Hare's illness. Again, I don't know that for certain, but it does make sense.

[Carabas]

How does that tie into Sinclair's destiny as shown in the series? Did JMS always intend Sinclair to vanish at some point or did JMS rearrange things and if O'Hare had remained in the role Sinclair would have become the same sort of character Sheridan becam by the end? I'm being vague so as not to ruin Sinclair's ultimate fate for anyone reading the thread.

Sinclair was always going to be Valen. What changed is that originally he was supposed to go back in time at the end of season 5.

Sinclair was going to be taught by Kosh like Sheridan was, his love interest Caterine Sakai, space explorer, was going to be lost at Z'ha'dum, and so on...

[TheSontaran]

Michael O'Hare was suffering from mental illness (he'd have paranoid hallucinations), which got worse as the first season filmed. J. Michael Stracynski offered to move filming back after season 1 to accommodate Michael's treatment, but Michael felt it was best to leave for the good of the show. JMS kept the illness a secret to protect Michael's career (making it seem like he'd always intended to have Sheridan replace Sincliar at the start of season 2). Upon Michael's death, JMS revealed that Michael expressed a desire to let the fans know the real reason why he left the show to raise awareness for those suffering from mental illness.

Wow. That is so sad. I wish things had been better for him.

[TheSontaran]

Once a year I go back and re-watch my B5 collection. This and Farscape are my absolute favorite scifi shows. I won't lie though, I skip a lot of the first season cuz it's not my favorite.

Watching from beginning to end I always find the evolution of the characters and their relationships make this a personal timeless classic.

Confession: I've never seen Farscape.

[Carabas]

Confession: I've never seen Farscape.

Farscape and Babylon 5 are my #1 and #2 science fictions series (that have had least a full season of episodes), and it depends on my mood which one takes the top slot.

Farscape is in many ways the opposite of Babylon 5, more wildly chaotic and episodic than a neatly structured, planned out in advance story.

I do think that Farscape has aged better than Babylon 5 due to its better effects and much faster pacing.

And much like Babylon 5 most of the first season is at the same time kinda story-essential and a bit crap. Or at least not nearly as good as what will follow.

It's not unlike Buffy The Vampire Slayer in some ways: at the same time full of irreverent comedy and deadly serious.

And it has Claudia Black.

[TheSontaran]

Farscape and Babylon 5 are my #1 and #2 science fictions series (that have had least a full season of episodes), and it depends on my mood which one takes the top slot.

Farscape is in many ways the opposite of Babylon 5, more wildly chaotic and episodic than a neatly structured, planned out in advance story.

I do think that Farscape has aged better than Babylon 5 due to its better effects and much faster pacing.

And much like Babylon 5 most of the first season is at the same time kinda story-essential and a bit crap. Or at least not nearly as good as what will follow.

It's not unlike Buffy The Vampire Slayer in some ways: at the same time full of irreverent comedy and deadly serious.

And it has Claudia Black.

I'll have to give it a try sometime. I don't think the first season of B5 is that bad though, it had a lot of good moments too

[Carabas]

It's not that bad, but it's not that good either most of the time.

[Colonel Mortimer]

Been watching this show for the first time the last few months. I just finished War without End, the show is really great. We really need great sci-fi shows like this these days. I've found both this and DS9 as an adult in recent years and just absolutely love them, we need a return to smart sci-fi like we had in the 90s.

[TheSontaran]

Been watching this show for the first time the last few months. I just finished War without End, the show is really great. We really need great sci-fi shows like this these days. I've found both this and DS9 as an adult in recent years and just absolutely love them, we need a return to smart sci-fi like we had in the 90s.

Nice. Have you tried the other treks? I'm more a TNG fan but many loved voyager or the others.