But in purple--I'm stunning!

[icepixie]

Two more episodes of B5 today. Thoughts:

So apparently a telepathic mindscan requires jazz hands and interpretive dance? And a description of telepath sex requires some kind of ambiguous Eastern European accent? (Oh dear lord, that scene with Talia and Sinclair. Between those two actors and the awful, awful greenscreen effects, it was a screaming vortex of suck.)*

I'm starting to really enjoy G'Kar. He was cool in "Mind War," but he had already won me over at the beginning of "Parliament of Dreams." Gilbert and Sullivan apparently have counterparts on Narn: "So many fishies left in the sea, so many fishies--but no one for meeeee." And then he tells his dinner to stay put. (The Narn are really Klingons in disguise, aren't they? Seriously.) Na'Toth strikes me as an excellent addition as well. She and Ivanova should get together and just snark on people for a few hours.

I remembered Bester as being supremely creepy from my first attempt at this show, and he did not disappoint this time. Eeeek. Who would've ever thought Pavel "nuclear wessels" Chekov could grow up to be an evil and terrifying telepath?

* Watching this show after watching an episode of BSG really, really doesn't do B5 any favors. I know it was made in the mid 90s and that the best episodes are yet to come, but man. The things they could've done in 2009.

Comments

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to watch the whole thing from the beginning for ages. I don't have first or fifth season, though, and the files I've managed to find all run too fast. :/

G'Kar rocks my world. Always has, always will. :)

[icepixie]

Season one and two are on Hulu in full. Go, watch!

I would watch a sitcom devoted entirely to G'Kar and Londo. It would be awesome.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I would watch a sitcom devoted entirely to G'Kar and Londo. It would be awesome.

They are the most fabulous combination of comic genius and tragedy. I like the other characters, but they really are the heart of the show for me in many ways. And Vir is such an underappreciated voice, too. He looks like comic relief, but on many occasions, he's so much more important and serious, and I think a lot of people missed that the first time around, or at least for a while.

I have to say, watching B5 now and wishing for better effects is sort of like doing the same for Classic Who. It's just not a fair comparison at all.

[icepixie]

I like the other characters, but they really are the heart of the show for me in many ways.

I feel like they and Delenn are the most important, maybe? Perhaps because they're ambassadors. But Ivanova will always be the heart for me. The broken, battered, bleeding heart. Girl cannot catch a break, can she? *hugs Susan gently* *gets Garibaldi to hug her too* *g*

I think Vir and Londo work well against each other, especially in "War Prayer," which I watched this morning. I think all the ambassadors and attaches are shaping up to have interesting interactions with each other.

I have to say, watching B5 now and wishing for better effects is sort of like doing the same for Classic Who. It's just not a fair comparison at all.

Yeah, the effects I can live with--although it hurts knowing that DS9 was made the same year and looked sooooo much better because of a higher budget--but it's the blatant stage-style blocking and filming that bother me, because I know it was intentional. The way the actors stand like they're acting to an audience, and that there are only like two camera angles ever, makes it look like a made-for-TV Sci-Fi Channel movie, and that is not something anything with the obvious good storytelling behind it that this has should be compared to.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

the blatant stage-style blocking and filming

I've gotta be honest with you: I have no idea what you're talking about. I've seen many plays on and off B'way and been in several myself, and this show looks like a TV show to me. I've never ever had a problem with how it looked. And neither has anyone else I've ever come across (I had several friends who'd already been up on it when I started catching up in reruns). So...sounds like a personal problem to me. ;)

[icepixie]

It's hard to explain in words, but look at an episode of, say, BSG, and then one of B5. The camera angles are lot more sophisticated--and there are more of them--on the former than the latter. BSG, you're also getting lots of stuff going on in the background; in the latest episode, for instance (I'll be vague so as not to spoil you if you haven't seen it yet), there's a shot of Kara at the bar, looking at her from sort of in front and a foot or so below her face, but also taking in the guest star in the top righthand corner and some extras in the top left. It switches focal lengths to alternately focus on her and the guest star as they converse, and pans back and forth sometimes between Kara and a mirror set up to her left, reflecting her face. It also has the tiniest bit of shake all the time--I'm guessing it was filmed with a stedicam. B5, the camera seems to plop itself down at a medium length from a couple of people against a boring background, and pan back and forth between them occasionally, always keeping at least one person's head and shoulders in the frame. Probably this is in part a result of budgetary differences, so I guess I can't complain too much, but it is noticible. (Especially against the times when they do good shots!)

The blocking is less obvious than the photography, but there seems to be a feeling of "hit your carefully-measured mark and DON'T MOVE" in these early episodes. Possibly it's related to everyone being new to the characters, but having read things like this (scroll down to the two comments by "nevermore") make me think not.

JMS himself speaks here on the staginess of the dialogue, which I finally seem to be getting used to, thankfully. And I've always loved the alien costumes and makeup! Londo looks like some kind of cross between a Hessian soldier, a Russian noble, and the Bride of Frankenstein, and it's awesome. :)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

It's hard to explain in words, but look at an episode

Thanks, but no thanks. I enjoy the show now. I have no desire to stop being able to do that.

[caffey.livejournal.com]

Watching this show after watching an episode of BSG really, really doesn't do B5 any favors.

That's why I'm afraid to dig out the B5 DVD's. I used to watch B5 at least once a year because I was so in love with the storytelling. Even though season one is not the most brilliant season, it's necessary to understand the rest. And I do so love the rest.

Or I did until I found BSG. Just thinking about what B5 could have been like now is making my brain explode. Guess we'll just never know. *sigh*

[icepixie]

Oh maaaaannn. If they'd had the stories and alien makeup/costuming of B5, but everything else of BSG...dear lord, it would be awesome.

[caffey.livejournal.com]

It would be beyond awesome; it would be mind-blowing.

[wildtiger7.livejournal.com]

I didn't know seasons 1 and 2 were on Hulu, I'll have to go check it out. Though I think I'll skip most of season 1.

Both G'Kar and Londo improve throughout the series. I like them both.

[icepixie]

I've heard rumors that the rest of the seasons are on AOL Video, but I haven't been to check it out yet. And I know they're all on Netflix.

I adore both Londo and G'Kar already. Can't wait to see more of them.

[rensong.livejournal.com]

G'Kar gets even better as the series continues. He also gets a lot of the good lines.

[icepixie]

Yay G'Kar!

Defending my show

[pellmelody.livejournal.com]

Okay. Gotta defend my Babylon 5 because, without B5, there would be no BSG. And without Blake 7, there would have been no B5.

Story arc TV shows were not popular in the U.S. B5 was the first to start to gather interest. Until then, they never worked out. They were popular in the U.K. Blake 7 helped paved the way for these types of shows, esp. where sci-fi was involved. B5 is meant to be viewed as a kind of novel.

The cost of an episode on BSG is over $1 million. The cost of B5 ranged between $700,000 to 800,000. The whole series of 110 episode cost about $90 million to produce. And it was a non-union show, unlike BSG. In fact, because season 5 was nearly not made until TNT stepped in, all of the actors during season 5 took a pay cut and lost their residual rights.

Also, the advancements made by B5 in CGI made possible for the extensive CGI to be done on BSG and to do it cheaply. Until B5, that much detailed CGI hadn't been done on a sci-fi show.

Season 1 of B5 is slow. Season 2 picks up. Season 3 is intense and season 4 brings it ALL together. But everything you see in season 1 & 2 will come back around full circle and will be relevant and important.

To me, blocking or camera movement isn't nearly as important in B5 as it is in BSG. With regards to B5, the storyline is what is important. Personally, while BSG has been extraordinary, it still can't compare to the depth B5 went into or how much was accomplished on a little show with sparse budget, syndicated, & filmed in a small studio near an airport with mostly no named actors.

It's apples and oranges to me. I just know how much B5 changed my life...as silly as that sounds.

Re: Defending my show

[icepixie]

I got no beef with the storytelling or the effects--I know the budget was low and the technology was in its infancy. Although I haven't seen enough episodes to really get the impact of the epic storyline yet, I'm totally willing to believe it's as awesome as everyone says, because I've liked the ideas behind the early one-offs. From what I remember of my first time through some S3 eps, I can see the clues they're planting early on.

I'm merely snarking on some of the acting, some of the dialogue, and some of the photography/blocking, all of which I do find important to the experience of watching any show. My personal preferences in all of these things obviously don't line up with JMS's, at least at this point. Doesn't mean I can't mock them while enjoying the rest of the show. :)