B5 [was Re: IAVRs]

Glenn M Wilson wrote [on B5]:
> Okay, I let my distaste for TV cut me out too soon.

Well, if you don't like TV generally, you may find that B5 isn't to your
taste. Unlike the usual Star Trek fodder it's carried
along by an Big Epic Plot, but at five seasons of twenty-something
episodes of forty-something minutes each there's an awful lot of
really bad, repetitive filler that an Epic Film Trilogy like Star Wars doesn't
need to be padded with. It's television and that's what television is... the
same familiar thing each week, done on a low budget with the same cast and
sets.

I think I lost count of the number of episodes which were hung on
the unexpected appearance on B5 of someone's ex-lover, who turns
out to be someone important, or a Big Committee of Grumbling Aliens had to be
convinced to do something and one of the Heroic Space Americans made an
impassioned (patronising) speech to convince them. Often the characters tried
to sacrifice themselves selflessly, but events intervene to save them...
couldn't see that coming, could we?

Still, it wasn't all repetitive plot elements, cheap effects, bad acting and
expositive dialogue. I enjoyed much of it, but I can't help thinking that the
Big Epic Plot would have been almost incomprehensible if you hadn't seen it
from season one. Other than
the Big Epic Plot I'd say "Londo" and "Vir", the Tragi-comic
Euro-aliens, pretty much carried the show. The supreme moment of
B5 is a throwaway scene when they spontaneously sing a snatch of "Centauri
Opera".

If you're going to give it a go, I'd think you'd have to adopt a mindset where
you can enjoy the awfulness of the low points as much as you enjoy the high
points. A case in point would be the acting disaster known as Claudia
Christian... she's like a road accident, you know it's going to be terrible
but can't take your eyes off her. Ironically, her inability to project her
character makes her the fan's favourite... all her subordinates had to act as
if they were terrified of her, when she plainly couldn't scare
a three-year-old, so there's this weird dominance-submission thing
going on there. That, the uniforms, the lingerie, the whiff of bisexuality...

> David Brewer wrote:
[...]
> I think I lost count of the number of episodes which were hung on

You must not count that high, then, David.  ;-)

> who turns

And there were a couple who turned out to be not-so-important.  ;-)

> Still, it wasn't all repetitive plot elements, cheap effects, bad

I dunno. I intro'd my girlfriend to the series. We touched on a few episodes
of season 1, almost skipped season 2, and ran
full-boar season 3 through half of season 4 before she moved away.
SHe understood what was happening pretty well (and she's no SF fan, either;
really doesn't like Star Trek).

For some, yeah, they may need to see it all from day 1. Others could skip a
number of episodes without missing a beat.

Mk

[quoted original message omitted]

> >there's this weird dominance-submission thing

Man, how do I score an invite...:)

JS