cygnus_09
This is by far and away, the single best ever written sifi ever written. It's almost impossible to state just how well each of the characters were written. Each character evolved throughout the series. I hated Londo and G'Kar in the first season. But by the end of season 4, they were two of my favorites. The ISN episodes which moved the series forward so much. The absolute darkness of Emperor Cartaga. The political underhanded scheming of Londo. Poking fun at someone else's expense like when Sheridan was making fun of Ivanova for having dreams about showing up to work naked. The list is endless. So many intricacies throughout this whole show. You never knew if the show would end on a bad note, or a good one. Or even when things seem great, something comes up and smacks you in the head just to put you back in your karmatic misery again. Nothing lets up.
The very few bad acting/scenes I can think of off the top of my head, are: During the first major battle with the Shadows, there is a scene where it is just music, and you watch the characters talk silently, while directing the battle. This scene works beautifully in this episode. But they tried to replicate it in a later episode, that had nowhere near the same effect. Another scene, is where Delenn is running down the ramp on the bridge of the White Star. She is clearly wearing a 3" lift kit on her feet, and there is a very hollow wooden clomp clomp clomp sound as she descends the ramp. The Minbari are thousands of years more advanced than Humans are, and would obviously have better construction than that. But those are really the only two sort of screw-ups that I can think of. Brilliant show, brilliantly written, and brilliantly acted. 10 years ago, I was against JMS re-doing this show for a few reasons. Most especially, the characters wouldn't be of the same caliber as the original ones. And knowing Hollywood, they would have B5 totally screwed up through their SJW social policies. But today, I wouldn't mind a rehash of it, if it could be kept true to what B5 is, without any SJW interference. I think it's time to binge watch this again...
Engelberth
This is the easiest review I've ever made) Actually ..and yes it is a spoiler sorry... To make a review about one of my best loved TV show it is just to recite the manifest of G'Kar..something of UN stuff..the message of the United Nations) OK I must elaborate. spoilers beware) Michael Straczynski created the world)) something like United Nations in space) The fairy tale where in the end peace was a great victory ))However... like the style of the many of the Polish authors ... The peace was gained not without very terrible sacrifices and yet.. not without goodness and humanity in all)) So.. here goes) "The Universe speaks in many languages but only one voice. A language which is not Narn or Human or Centauri or Gaim or Minbari. It speaks in the language of hope.It speaks in the language of trust. It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion. It is the language of the heart and of the language of the soul; but always it is the same voice; it is the voice of our ancestors speaking through us, and the voice of our inheritors waiting to be born; it is the small still voice that says: "We are one." No matter the blood, no matter the skin, no matter the world, no matter the star. We are one. No matter the pain, no matter the darkness, no matter the loss, no matter the fear. We are one. Here, gathered together in common cause we agree to recognize this singular truth and this singular rule: that we must be kind to one another.Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us, and each voice lost diminishes us. We are the voice of the universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light the way to a better future. We are one."
bryangl
I thoroughly enjoyed B5 when it first appeared on DVD, and more recently, viewing it has become almost an annual event. There is always more to discover, or pleasures to be relived.This series must be viewed in its entirety, including the pilot movie-length episode (watch this first - essential). Conceived, in advance, as a 5-year arc, things occur, even in the pilot, that don't reach fulfillment until, for example, season four. Of course, as with many series, the first year, although good, doesn't really represent the quality that develops.I think I can honestly say that never have I seen, not only the story unfold and develop with such complexity over this arc, but also the characters grow, develop and change as circumstances around them change. The story is as much character-driven as anything else, and this succeeds due to a standard of acting that is frequently brilliant. Yes, some episodes flail about a bit, but to skip them can mean missing some event that becomes significant later, perhaps a couple of seasons later. And these weak episodes are few.This strength in the acting allows the development of characters with great depth and individuality. The long story arc is able to explore many 'human' issues, from personal morality and strength of character, to alcohol and drug dependence (not a spoiler as I don't say who or when), and from such individual issues to societal ones of war, racial 'cleansing' and the like. Sadly, the mature and insightful acting of Michael O'Hare (Sinclair) is almost lost very early due to health issues, and in his place, Bruce Boxleitner enters the second season underwhelmingly, but strengthens with time. (I don't think this is a spoiler as cast listings reveal this).Alien characters are not just thrown into the story as 'aliens from somewhere' with nothing to justify their behaviours. The nature of the planet they come from, its climate, their civilization, its history, all explain the quirks and qualities of each race. Some, not overly important to the story arc, have little background, but all important characters have a detailed background that provides the actor with meat on which to base and develop the character. And there is plenty of acting, including characters that make a one-episode appearance, which would stand well with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the U.K.I could go on for pages, but comments from others cover it all.I must add that the only weak point is visually, the sets. BUT, it must be remembered that the series was made when viewers mainly used relatively small screens so a high level of detail was not so important - and as budget was always very tight this was a reasonable area for restraint. Make-up is probably the best ever seen on TV, and this was the first TV series to use CGI for all visual effects. Those effects still hold there own even though they don't compare with what we see today.Despite some people thinking the CGI was done with Commodore 64's(!) in fact they used 24 Amiga 2000s, 16 of which were dedicated rendering engines. They had 32 megabytes of RAM, a Fusion-40 accelerator and the Toaster. The Amigas were connected via a Novell network and sent data to a 12 gigabyte 486 PC file server. They later upgraded to Pentium and Alpha-based systems. (Info from Compute! magazine). The results were amazing and didn't attempt to achieve, for example, the total scene creation we frequently see today. Nor did they use miniatures and models, which Star Trek still used. In other words, the creators didn't try to over-reach and fall flat on their faces.To judge the visuals, as do some, by comparing with modern CGI is ridiculous and juvenile. A vast history of great movies and TV series would be lost if they were viewed with such a trivial and unrealistic outlook. The important qualities are the story-lines, the writing, the acting, editing, lighting, the scoring, and these aspects are usually the best to be found. (The scoring was involved and complex, no computer-created orchestras like today - nor 'a synthesiser' as one denigrator claims - and is impressive, although perhaps now a bit dated. The Beatles aren't rejected because they didn't use synthesisers or techno rhythms; Beethoven isn't rejected because his music doesn't use the resources of, say, John Williams.No TV program, no movie, book, piece of music, or any other type of artistic endeavour will appeal to everyone. Babylon 5 requires intelligent viewing. A short attention span, a need to have everything resolved at the end of each episode, these will not give the viewer any real rewards. It's not high art, but it demands a viewer with perception. It's involving, it's dramatic, it's romantic, it's fun, it's sad, and it can be 'mind-blowing'.This remains one of the best science fiction, or drama, series ever produced and it will never lose that status. (Oh ... and I, also, am a Star Trek fan.)
