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I mean, the remastered Trek TOS with the CGI Enterprise was done with the best of intentions, but really I'd rather watch the originals.
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Nov 1, 2016 13:13
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I just wish that the DVDs et al weren't in widescreen. The pan and scan space scenes I can take, but when it cuts from a nice clean shot inside Babylon 5 to a pan and scan blurry effects shot with the actors in it, its just ugly as hell. No need to really keep it in widescreen anyway, given the fact that all of the actors are always tightly grouped to fit within 4:3 anyway.
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Nov 1, 2016 13:49
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You know they had to make the agonizing decision between courting the people who wanted properly framed two- and three-shots where you can't see film grain the size of baseballs, and placating the people who had just bought super-expensive HDTVs and would flood them with letters about how I PAID FOR WIDESCREEN, I DIDN'T PAY FOR NO GOL DANG BLACK BARS ON THE SIDES OF THE SCREEN
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Nov 1, 2016 14:47
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Data Graham posted:First episode of S5, when the message comes in that's all "Good morning Mr. President, you are a dead man", I wanted him to just, like, take a sip of coffee and go "Next message" I like it.
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Nov 1, 2016 16:31
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Data Graham posted:You know they had to make the agonizing decision between courting the people who wanted properly framed two- and three-shots where you can't see film grain the size of baseballs, and placating the people who had just bought super-expensive HDTVs and would flood them with letters about how I PAID FOR WIDESCREEN, I DIDN'T PAY FOR NO GOL DANG BLACK BARS ON THE SIDES OF THE SCREEN These are the same people who spend a thousand dollars on a new couch and then never take the plastic off. I think I remember hearing the same complaints about the TNG remaster. The messaging was probably better there though, most people probably understood pretty quickly why it was kept in 4:3.
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Nov 1, 2016 16:44
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Data Graham posted:It'll be tough for the show to regain its momentum, especially with Ivanova gone. Looking forward to seeing how successful it is. The fifth season definitely has its rough spots (you'll learn to cringe every time you hear the name "Byron," and unfortunately Tracy Scoggins never really fits in or gets comfortable) but it also has some of the flat-out very best episodes of the entire series.
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Nov 1, 2016 17:03
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A lot of the trouble with the telepath colony is that they're a cult and act like a cult, and cults are very distressing and confusing to be outside of
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Nov 1, 2016 18:32
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I generally view the fifth season as the epilogue of the show, especially in the later episodes where the main cast slowly moves away from Babylon 5, one by one. It really works well that way, I think.
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Nov 1, 2016 21:10
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Baron von der Loon posted:I generally view the fifth season as the epilogue of the show, especially in the later episodes where the main cast slowly moves away from Babylon 5, one by one. It really works well that way, I think. That's pretty accurate. The Shadow War was a big part of the show, but the plan was never that as soon as the war was over, so was the show. The war had consequences which rippled out long past the end of the fighting, and including those consequences was just as important as the big fighty bits.
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Nov 1, 2016 22:55
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MrL_JaKiri posted:A lot of the trouble with the telepath colony is that they're a cult and act like a cult, and cults are very distressing and confusing to be outside of I think the biggest problem the dissonance between the way they are the presented and they way they actually act. Basically, they come across as terrible incompetent, but I don't get the feeling that was intentional.
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Nov 2, 2016 04:02
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Data Graham posted:It'll be tough for the show to regain its momentum, especially with Ivanova gone. Looking forward to seeing how successful it is. For what it's worth, I went years without watching S5 before this thread convinced me to do it like a month ago. The first half was pretty rough and I kept losing interest, but the back half is great. I don't think you're going to be terribly disappointed.
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Nov 2, 2016 04:16
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I've owned the various season box sets for at least half a decade and I still haven't seen Season 5.
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Nov 2, 2016 04:24
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One question, why's Lyta wearing a Psi Corps badge in S5E03?
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Nov 2, 2016 04:23
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Despite the Telepath plot being pretty rough, everything that deals with the aftermath of the Earth Civil War and the Centauri is absolutely fantastic and arguably better than the Shadow War. It is so rare that a story actually has its heroes deal with the political fallout of their actions and the way Babylon 5 handles it is nothing short of amazing.
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Nov 2, 2016 04:28
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MrL_JaKiri posted:A lot of the trouble with the telepath colony is that they're a cult and act like a cult, and cults are very distressing and confusing to be outside of Nah, it's Byron. I still can't believe he went on to be one of the best voice actors ever.
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Nov 2, 2016 05:05
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Data Graham posted:One question, why's Lyta wearing a Psi Corps badge in S5E03? After the Vorlons left, no one was paying her salary, and because she was a rogue telepath, legitimate companies wouldn't hire her - insurance reasons, you understand. In comes Bester to make her an offer. He'll take her off of the rogue list, she has to wear the badge and gloves, which will let her get legitimate work, but in exchange, after she dies, the Psi Corps gets her body (to try and study and figure out how she was enhanced). (The death must be from natural causes only, or else the contract is null and void.) She didn't want to sign the deal and tried to work for Garibaldi's PI firm, but Edgars insisted that Garibaldi fire Lyta or else he was fired. So Lyta had to take the deal. Girl's gotta eat.
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Nov 2, 2016 05:49
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e X posted:Despite the Telepath plot being pretty rough, everything that deals with the aftermath of the Earth Civil War and the Centauri is absolutely fantastic and arguably better than the Shadow War. It is so rare that a story actually has its heroes deal with the political fallout of their actions and the way Babylon 5 handles it is nothing short of amazing. One of my favorite Sheridan moments is from Season 5. It's his completely ballistic "YOU WANT A WAR?! WELL, YOU'VE GOT A WAR!!" speech.
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Nov 2, 2016 06:03
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Making my way through Season 2 and it's just so drat good. I remembered the broad strokes of the plot, but it had been so long I had forgotten all the details, and there were also a lot of episodes I missed when the show originally aired. Londo and G'Kar really come into their own in this season - especially G'Kar, who was a cartoon character in Season 1. I just made it through the episode in which the war begins and it was just gut-wrenching.
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Nov 2, 2016 09:06
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:After the Vorlons left, no one was paying her salary, and because she was a rogue telepath, legitimate companies wouldn't hire her - insurance reasons, you understand. In comes Bester to make her an offer. He'll take her off of the rogue list, she has to wear the badge and gloves, which will let her get legitimate work, but in exchange, after she dies, the Psi Corps gets her body (to try and study and figure out how she was enhanced). (The death must be from natural causes only, or else the contract is null and void.) She didn't want to sign the deal and tried to work for Garibaldi's PI firm, but Edgars insisted that Garibaldi fire Lyta or else he was fired. So Lyta had to take the deal. Girl's gotta eat. Oh yeah, I'd forgot about that bit. It's easy to lose track of little passing details like that even if they're pretty important at the time. Must be why this show is so rewatchable.
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Nov 2, 2016 11:44
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Deakul posted:Nah, it's Byron. Robin Atkin Downes was the perfect casting, which also means he was the worst
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Nov 2, 2016 12:48
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Baron von der Loon posted:I generally view the fifth season as the epilogue of the show, especially in the later episodes where the main cast slowly moves away from Babylon 5, one by one. It really works well that way, I think. Yeah, and that's why I think Babylon 5 has one of the strongest endings out there. At the end, you feel as if an important part in history comes to a close and another one is about to begin. Most other shows simply end their story, plotlines wrapped up. They don't offer a feeling of what comes after, not until the show gets picked up 20 years later for a new run.
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Nov 2, 2016 13:07
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Batham posted:Yeah, and that's why I think Babylon 5 has one of the strongest endings out there. At the end, you feel as if an important part in history comes to a close and another one is about to begin. Sleeping in Light might be the best finale in TV history.
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Nov 2, 2016 14:02
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What's everybody's opinion on "A View from the Gallery"? I knew I remembered everyone talking a lot about it at the time, either because they really liked it or really hated it; I can't remember.  Personally I thought it started out almost unbearable, with its tongue so far up its cheek it could taste its eyeballs, all "What does this thing do? I dunno, just wave it around, I guess we really are just extras who don't actually have lines beyond rutabaga watermelon rutabaga, huh". And having the guys just happen to cross paths with all the cast regulars during their rounds struck me as pretty unbelievable, as did the stumbly writing of their repartee. But it unexpectedly got a lot better for me once they met the telepaths and Bo did his cockpit-projection thing, which elevated it to another kind of stratum.
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Nov 2, 2016 14:10
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Party Plane Jones posted:I've owned the various season box sets for at least half a decade and I still haven't seen Season 5. This is bad and you are bad. Watch season 5 it's good.
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Nov 2, 2016 14:11
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Milky Moor posted:Sleeping in Light might be the best finale in TV history. A stone cold fact.
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Nov 2, 2016 14:11
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Data Graham posted:What's everybody's opinion on "A View from the Gallery"? I thought it was kind of corny, and in terms of the POV shift gimmick episodes it ranked near the bottom for me. But it's been a while since I've seen it.
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Nov 2, 2016 14:25
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Data Graham posted:What's everybody's opinion on "A View from the Gallery"? Corny but felt like an episode that B5 was entitled too at that point. The stuff I think is more odd about it is the alien race who shows up, attacks B5 and boards it with lots of soldiers, but are never mentioned again and, I don't think, even given a name.
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Nov 2, 2016 14:36
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Milky Moor posted:The stuff I think is more odd about it is the alien race who shows up, attacks B5 and boards it with lots of soldiers, but are never mentioned again and, I don't think, even given a name. They occasionally threw in episodes like that though. Most of the time the show's dealing with relatively known space but once in a while JMS liked a little unknowable aliens from the deep stuff. Like the berserker.
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Nov 2, 2016 14:38
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I'm pretty sure that's one of the episodes that was written primarily by Harlan Ellison (JMS has the main writer credit like basically every other episode, but it was apparently mostly Ellison), which is another reason it's basically standalone like that. He had a bunch of episodes scripted and ready to go that never got made, including one that was a sequel to an Outer Limits episode he had made like 40 years previously. As well as one I would have liked to see, which was B5 from the POV of the criminal underground and the lower-class citizens in Down Below. Only two of his episodes ever made it to the screen, both in Season 5.
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Nov 2, 2016 18:14
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hope and vaseline posted:Isn't it weird how the one race that has legit prophets are the Centauri, who weren't visited by the Vorlons? I'm rather glad of it - not everything has to tie back into one single origin.
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Nov 2, 2016 18:24
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Wait, when was that ever stated? The Centauri have telepath, doesn't that mean they were definitely visited by the Vorlons just like any other race?
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Nov 2, 2016 18:26
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Season 2 finale, when Kosh is force out of his encounter suit, every race sees an angel of some kind according to their religion except for the Centauri, implying that all those races had been genetically tampered with by the Vorlons to respond "favorably" to them. The Centauri having telepaths and prophets seems like they occured naturally instead of being seeded by the Vorlons.
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Nov 2, 2016 18:34
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That was more of an individual comment on Londo
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Nov 2, 2016 18:38
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There's definitely multiple readings you can take from that scene. There's the big meta statement on Centauri especially with the time-loop foreknowledge the Vorlons would have that the Centauri would essentially be the first beachhead for the Shadow offensive. It could be a personal comment with Londo, with his lack of spiritual belief, or perhaps his connection with Morden has rendered him some protection from Kosh's projections. Or maybe Londo is just plain damned.
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Nov 2, 2016 18:49
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This is my new favorite face from the show: I feel like it was ad-libbed too, somehow; like, that's the kind of face you'd make in a "modern" show, something where you're going for something a lot closer to naturalistic human expression than the stage-acting kind of tradition B5 started with. In fact it kinda feels like a number of things lately are ad-libbed, like G'Kar to Delenn: "I don't know why I'm thanking you for that, but there it is." Fwiw, I'm not really minding the telepath cult so far, though their singing Go Tell It On the Mountain at the end with all those candles was a bit much
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Nov 3, 2016 14:08
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hope and vaseline posted:especially with the time-loop foreknowledge the Vorlons would have Uh, did I miss something fairly important about Babylon 5? Oh, Valen I suppose. But I never really thought of him working for the Vorlons outside of doing Babylon 4
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Nov 3, 2016 15:29
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Day of the Dead: Boy if they're going to just make all the episodes in this season into wacky goofs, I don't know what Lollin' at Laurel & Hardy style vaudeville antics coming back around to being the dominant form of comedy. It's up there with Data learning grandma puns from Joe Piscopo. Did Penn & Teller have a hand in writing this, or was it all just sort of handed to them? I can't imagine they wouldn't have wanted to write their own bits, but they also seemed rather out of their element.
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Nov 4, 2016 17:24
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They didn't do any writing as far as I know, JMS just thought it'd be a good idea to hire a duo to play the duo. I really liked that their humor wasn't funny since humor is so culturally linked, jokes from the future probably wouldn't work for us.
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Nov 4, 2016 17:31
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Well, and since it was called out in-universe so much with half the cast not getting what was so funny about it (or being downright put off by it). And then gradually coming around on it, like Londo
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Nov 4, 2016 17:47
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Deakul posted:Nah, it's Byron.
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Nov 4, 2016 19:30
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