Babylon 5 reminiscence

DutchLlama · Post by **DutchLlama** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 11:50 pm 0

Any people who fondly remember Babylon 5? It was such a great series.

The reason why I posted this thread was because I just found out that Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar) had died last year when Googling around (I always find out these things years later).

That's the second actor from the series who died, after Richard Biggs (whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the annual membership meeting of The Flying Dutch, the Dutch Star Trek fan club; they didn't have the money to get famous Trek actors but somehow they got Richard Biggs), who died in 2002.

I loved the characterizations, the long story arcs and the awesome space scenes.

Battlestar Galactica reminded me quite a bit of it, although it went a bit sour in the third season.

The Captain · Post by **The Captain** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:07 am 0

I loved Babylon 5, too, although I lost track of it a bit later on. Had no idea that Katsulas and Biggs were no longer with us - I'm rather upset about that, they were good men.

Saw a couple of episodes of the Crusade spin-off and that looked promising, but nought seemed to come of it.

Isn't there a new DVD-only film coming out or something?

Gah, I'm out of touch. All I can hear is the rats in the walls.

amanset · Post by **amanset** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:27 am 0

Once the Shadow War thing ended I felt it really lost its way. I've tried more than once but it just doesn't hold my interest. When does it start to get interesting again after that? I've heard that I may be able to find episodes on the internets and hence could give it another go.

Bog · Post by **Bog** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:28 am 0

Third actor. Tim Choate, who played Zathras, died while riding his motorbike a while back, too.

I loved that series. It showed there was so much more to weekly sci-fi than Star Trek's over-idealised (then, over-grimmed) futuretopia. Characters in the Babelverse had bad days and hangovers, but unlike contemporary sci-fi (lookin' at you, Galactica!) there was much more to the characters than just their flaws. Their flaws and weaknesses gave them things to battle, to conquer, to be better than.

To do the right thing, when they didn't want to. To be scared, and do it anyway. To want to be selfish - but to give despite that. To be full of rage, and hate, and fury - and to be merciful anyway.

Or occasionally to get it terribly, horribly wrong. And then to have to live with that. Or die with that.

amanset · Post by **amanset** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:30 am 0

The Captain wrote: Isn't there a new DVD-only film coming out or something?

A trailer was released for it a week or so ago.

http://babylon5.warnerbros.com/

DutchLlama · Post by **DutchLlama** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:04 am 0

Bog wrote:Third actor. Tim Choate, who played Zathras, died while riding his motorbike a while back, too.

That's sad to hear. Sad that these actors died, part of the show dies with them.

Bog wrote:I loved that series. It showed there was so much more to weekly sci-fi than Star Trek's over-idealised (then, over-grimmed) futuretopia. Characters in the Babelverse had bad days and hangovers, but unlike contemporary sci-fi (lookin' at you, Galactica!) there was much more to the characters than just their flaws. Their flaws and weaknesses gave them things to battle, to conquer, to be better than.

To do the right thing, when they didn't want to. To be scared, and do it anyway. To want to be selfish - but to give despite that. To be full of rage, and hate, and fury - and to be merciful anyway.

Or occasionally to get it terribly, horribly wrong. And then to have to live with that. Or die with that.

Yes exactly. Especially the character transformations of Londo, G'Kar and Garibaldi were a joy to witness. They were the most interesting characters in the entire show.

Bog · Post by **Bog** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:15 am 0

*nods*

Exactly so, exactly. And Ivanova's sentiment in the closing of Season 5 - "Sometimes, it feels like there's no-one left to play with anymore".

Babylon 5 has an awful lot to give to anyone who'll listen to it. On an awful lot of levels. It arrived at the defining moment when I finally cut loose and went into the World on my own two feet, spine straight, eyes ahead and on my own. It's a brilliant piece of telly, and vastly important to me for many personal reasons.

It's not easy telly, and it has a very rough patch in season 4, bits of season 5. It's not perfect, it's got it's own internal flaws, and the crap surrounding it's production shows sharply in seasons 4 and 5. And yet, if you're going to watch it, you should watch all of it - because, like G'Kar, like Londo, like Mike Garibaldi, it rises over it's failures in the end, and I challenge anyone who's watched it all not to shed human tears over the final episode. Unless you haven't cried already watching it, in which case you're dead inside, all the way through. Not even Doc Franklin and the Life-Giver could do anything for you then.

Matrixxx · Post by **Matrixxx** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:11 am 0

I just bought the whole series box set ... man I love this show

Great shame about Richard, Andreas and Tim. I've had the good fortune to meet Richard, Bruce, JMS and Claudia - wonderful people. Crusade, for me didn't add much to the arc, a missed opportunuity really, but Legend of the Rangers really had promise - a shame it never really got beyond the pilot; JMJ's been fighting an awful battle with Warners who seem to just want the thing dead and buried.

If theres any justice in the world, the B5 universe will see more stories, plot arc's, ships, stations and crews long before it's death day... I'd LOVE a whole series, like Space above & Beyond, but based during the minbari war. It would be great to see whats beyond the rim, and there's still the telepath war and the posibility of doing a series based during the first shadow war.

There's just so much scope to go at it's incredible.

Long live Babylon 5.

SilverBrumby · Post by **SilverBrumby** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:48 am 0

I bought the box set when someone here pointed it out on Amazon after Christmas. I'm just about to start watching the last episode on the
train home tonight.

I'd seen parts of it before, but seeing everything, right through, has been a wild ride. I've never even considered doing that with any other tv series.
This grabbed me like a series of books normally does, constantly wanting to turn the page to see where it goes next.

Stuart B · Post by **Stuart B** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:32 am 0

I still remember watching the season 3 cliffhanger on Channel 4 on a pokey little telly in the kitchen..

"Jump. now!"

After the credits rolled I distinctly remember thinking a combination of "You can't do that!" and "Bloody hell, this is agoing to be a long summer..."

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:43 am 0

I always used to have mixed feelings about B5 - it could be brilliant or mind-numbingly dull and incredibly pretentious. There were though some superb episodes in the third series, probably my favourite being 'Messages from Earth' where a Shadow ship is found buried on Ganymede. Must watch that episode again and see if it still holds up.

Deckard · Post by **Deckard** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:59 am 0

Whenever anyone mentions B5 these days I always thinks of -

"Tim: [trying to get fired] Derek?
Derek: Yeah?
Tim: Babylon 5 is a big pile of shit!
Derek: [angrily] Get out!
Tim, Bilbo Bagshot: Yaaaaay! " - from Spaced of course

RageMatrix · Post by **RageMatrix** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:06 am 0

I loved it and watched the whole thing. As Bog said, its not always easy tv to watch and sometimes the script wasn't amazing, but taken overall, its probably the mostly ambitious piece of TV sci-fi that I've seen. Its just a pity the Shadow War was concluded so quickly, because that was great while it lasted. Even Season 5 had some great things going for it, although I could have done without the telepath thing.

Bog · Post by **Bog** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:32 am 0

Yeeaaaahh, with the end of the Shadow War, it's always a coin-toss whether I get a jingoistic head-rush or a face-covering cringe with the "Get the hell outta our Galaxy!" line.

F-ZeroOne · Post by **F-ZeroOne** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:34 am 0

Favourite B5 moment? G'Kar finds out the Centauri have shafted the Narn again, so he goes to pay Londo a "visit". B5 security goon tries to stop him and G'Kar basically walks through him without stopping.

This was a must-watch show for me at the time. Granted, it had its bad moments (I'd like to but can't really say "season 5" here because I didn't actually see much of that season...

), but overall, just wonderful.