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Babylon 5 (1994 - 1998)
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Zackuth
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Joined: 31 Jul 2015
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Location: Arkansas

PostPosted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 10:11 pm    Post subject: Babylon 5 (1994 - 1998) Reply with quote

I watched this during its run and thought it was the best show I'd ever watched. I thought it was better than any Star Trek series. It was smartly written, had wonderful actors and actresses, and very good characters. What I liked the best about the series was the characters changed as events happened and grew as life happened to them. I'm going to have to dig the series out and watch it again.
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Custer
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 9:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Definitely a great show... and some of the tie-in novels, particularly the ones set after the end of the show's run, were excellent.

Personally, I don't collect/follow magazines about tv shows... but I made an exception for B5! And while I have the dvd sets, I can't bring myself to throw away the VHS copies...


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Pow
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Joined: 27 Sep 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Currently reading Marc Cushman's "These Are The Voyages..." books. # books, each one covers one of the seasons of Star Trek(TOS).

It was quite a nightmare regarding getting good scripts for the show. Roddenberry did massive amounts of re-writes on the scripts submitted by various writers.

Conflicts between Gene & his story editors and writers.
Lots of politics, stress, pressures, even some nervous breakdowns along the way.

So it amazes me, astounds me, how JMS was able to write 99% of Babylon 5 & not keel over dead in the process.
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One aspect that appealed to me right away was the depiction of the Starfuries' flight. They looked like they were actually maneuvering weightless in a vacuum rather than flying in an atmosphere under gravity.
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Zackuth
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Joined: 31 Jul 2015
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 9:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

orzel-w wrote:
One aspect that appealed to me right away was the depiction of the Starfuries' flight. They looked like they were actually maneuvering weightless in a vacuum rather than flying in an atmosphere under gravity.

I think the creative consultant, Harlan Ellison, deserves the credit for that. Ellison had that position for the entire series.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Agreed, that was a wonderful way to show that they weren't just copying Star Wars by making the fighters "fly" like conventional aircraft.

And the designs of the ships were excellent.

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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was at a con, where one of the Foundation people was the guest. About the Starfury, he said that they knew it couldn't work. With those large engines out on the end of the pylons, it just wouldn't be able to maneuver, there was just too much mass, too far out. For it to really work, the engines would have to be as close to the center of gravity as possible. But the Starfury just looked too good with the engines out there. It was a case of what looked good, over what was actually practical.

Using the spin of the station to launch the fighters was a great visual idea, although they realized that the Starfuries would have used a lot of fuel correcting for the momentum.

JMS wrote most of the show, but he wasn't very good at writing humor. The only good joke was the interstellar court, where the great grandson of an Earth abductee was suing the great grandson of the Alien abductor. The Alien when questioned, communicated with drawings of crop circles!

One thing I will always admire JMS for was covering for Michael O'Hare. He took a lot of heat for MO'H leaving, but kept Mr. O'Hare's secret. Following MO'H's death, he released the story at Mr. O'Hare's request.

One thing I am sorry about B5 is that Harlan Ellison never got to write the episode where Robert Culp appears as Trent from "Demon With A Glass Hand".

David.
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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 4:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Currently reading Marc Cushman's "These Are The Voyages..."books. # books,each one covers one of the seasons of Star Trek(TOS).

It was quite a nightmare regarding getting good scripts for the show.Roddenberry did massive amounts of re-writes on the scripts submitted by various writers.

Conflicts between Gene & his story editors,writers.
Lots of politics,stress,pressures,even some nervous breakdowns along the way.

So it amazes me,astounds me,how JMS was able to write 99% of Babylon 5 & not keel over dead in the process.

Simple.

The pilot film was aired on February 22, 1993 and the series premiered on January 26, 1994. That gave him almost a year to do the season's writing because TNT expressed interest right from the get-go.

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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Butch, that did give JMS ample time to write a year's worth of scripts. However,I'd never refer to it as "simple."

And then there's his writing each season's script as the series is running.

An incredible feat any way you slice it.

And one we will not see by anyone else for a long, long time.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 12:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My understanding regarding JMS doing a sequel on Babylon 5 of Harlan Ellison's Outer Limits episode "Demon With A Glass Hand"is that its a joke.

JMS & Harlan are good friends.
At a convention that both were in attendance,JMS told the audience(or someone at any rate)that he wanted to do this sequel & call it "Demon On The Run."
Knowing that Ellison loathes doing sequels of any of his works or likes seeing it done by others,JMS knew he's get a rise out of Harlan.

JMS said that as he was talking about this episode for B5 he could see Harlan's jaw drop & face go into total shock.
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Custer
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



Wow, I never knew why Michael O'Hare left - Wikipedia has just told me:

Quote:
As Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski describes it, during the filming of the first season of Babylon 5, O'Hare began having paranoid delusions. Halfway through filming, his hallucinations worsened. It became increasingly difficult for O'Hare to continue work, his behavior was becoming increasingly erratic and he was often at odds with his colleagues. O'Hare sought treatment for his mental illness, but feared that, as the main character of Babylon 5, taking an extended medical leave of absence would destroy the show just as it was getting off the ground.

Straczynski offered to suspend the show for several months to accommodate O'Hare's treatment for his mental health; however O'Hare refused to put so many other people's jobs at risk. Straczynski agreed to keep his condition secret to protect O'Hare's career. O'Hare agreed to complete the first season but would be written out of the second season so that he could seek treatment. He reappeared in a cameo appearance early in season two and returned in season three for the double episode "War Without End", which closed his character's story arc. He made no further appearances on Babylon 5.
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Brigz
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Joined: 25 Oct 2015
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 12:08 pm    Post subject: Re: Babylon 5 Reply with quote

Zackuth wrote:
I watched this during its run and thought it was the best show I'd ever watched. I thought it was better than any Star Trek series. It was smartly written, had wonderful actors and actresses, and very good characters. What I liked the best about the series was the characters changed as events happened and grew as life happened to them. I'm going to have to dig the series out and watch it again.

If you haven't already, check out this companion to the series.

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 2:35 pm    Post subject: Re: Babylon 5 Reply with quote

Brigz wrote:
If you haven't already, check out this companion to the series.]/quote]
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/

That's a nice looking site. Maybe it will turn around my less-than-enthusiastic feelings for this popular show. Worth a try, right?

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Jun 16, 2018 12:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
My understanding regarding JMS doing a sequel on Babylon 5 of Harlan Ellison's Outer Limits episode "Demon With A Glass Hand"is that its a joke.

JMS & Harlan are good friends.

At a convention that both were in attendance,JMS told the audience(or someone at any rate)that he wanted to do this sequel & call it "Demon On The Run."

Knowing that Ellison loathes doing sequels of any of his works or likes seeing it done by others,JMS knew he's get a rise out of Harlan.

JMS said that as he was talking about this episode for B5 he could see Harlan's jaw drop & face go into total shock.

H.E. was also the science fiction consultant for B5. I don't about what JMS said, in the article I read H.E. was the one to mention that he wanted to do a Trent episode. He even said that Robert Culp was willing to do the episode, this is before he took sick. He and Robert Culp tried to get studios interested in doing a DWAGH movie back in the eighties, he even wrote a script for the movie.

David.
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Randy
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 25, 2015 10:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

During Babylon 5's original run, I felt that this was by far the very best sci-fi television series that I had ever seen. It still remains near the top of my list even today!
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