The Babylon 5 thread

[Zen Badger]

Babylon 5 and Farscape are probably two of the best Sci-fi series EVER!!!

We have the DVD's of both and watch them on a regular basis.

The best being that B5 was a complete story from the beginning.

Many,many elements of LOTR in there.

[jonb]

Now I thought this film of my boyhood was just crude national stereotyping, but that's you that is smiley.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvQGkz17GIU

[DeistPaladin]

Agreed.They did the usual American thing: Take fair-to-good idea then beat it to death with a stick.

Successful US TV series often go on at least one season too long.Greedy bastards. I wouldn't mind if they included some graphic and inventive alien sex.

In this case, the problem was that the author thought he was only getting 4 seasons, which was why season 4 was so fast paced. He was packing the Shadow-Vorlon war and the Earth Civil War, originally intended as seasons 4 and 5, into the last season because he thought that was all he was going to get.

Then his contract was renewed. He had a whole season to fill and he'd already used up everything he'd originally intended for it.

My understanding is he then went, "um, wtf do I do now? How about hippy telepaths?" and much of the season turned out to be half-baked crap.

At least that's the back story I heard. Not sure if it's true but it would explain a lot.

[Ben Davis]

I love B5! Being a hard sci-fi fan and a sometimes critic of Straczynski's comic works, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of his work on B5.

Fave episode: Deconstruction of Falling Stars (S4, E22). Future-histories do it for me.

[KichigaiNeko]

As Zen has stated... we have the whole series. (Lost tales we are still to get) BUT the more I watch the more I understand humans and their panchance for politics, manipulation and outright lies to get what they want.

Stella performances from ....

Regular cast
Mary Kay Adams as Na'Toth (Season 2)
Julie Caitlin Brown as Na'Toth (Season 1 regular, Season 5 guest)
Richard Biggs as Dr. Stephen Franklin
Bruce Boxleitner as John Sheridan (Seasons 2–5)
Jason Carter as Marcus Cole (Seasons 3–4)
Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova (Seasons 1–4)
Jeff Conaway as Zack Allan (Season 2 recurring, Seasons 3–5 regular)
Jerry Doyle as Michael Garibaldi
Mira Furlan as Delenn
Stephen Furst as Vir Cotto
Peter Jurasik as Londo Mollari
Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar
Bill Mumy as Lennier
Michael O'Hare as Jeffrey Sinclair (Pilot–Season 1 regular, Seasons 2–3 recurring)
Robert Rusler as Warren Keffer (Season 2)
Tracy Scoggins as Elizabeth Lochley (Season 5)
Patricia Tallman as Lyta Alexander (Pilot, Seasons 2–3 recurring, Seasons 4–5 regular)
Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters (Seasons 1–2)

ALL are totally believable and mature as the story goes through it's five year arc. Well done to J. Michael Straczynski, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5 has a very good description of the series and it's intentions as far as I can perceive them.

[Kayenneh]

So, two questions I have wondered about.

1. When Susan gave up her uniform and stated "I think I loved Talia", did she mean that as a friend or were they romantically involved?

2. Earthforce = America, Centauri = Russia, Narn = Middle East, but what do the Minbari represent?

[Annik]

1. There is some speculation about that. I honestly think Susan loved her as a friend, despite her PsyCorp status, which is why it was a big deal. Would be kind of cool if it was romantic, but I don't think so.

2. Maybe Japan?

[Kayenneh]

1. There is some speculation about that. I honestly think Susan loved her as a friend, despite her PsyCorp status, which is why it was a big deal. Would be kind of cool if it was romantic, but I don't think so.

2. Maybe Japan?

Yeah, I think so too.

I heard one speculation that they would represent Scandinavians, but once I stared to think about their behaviour and especially their proficiency in martial arts, I thought that maybe they're Asian.

[DeistPaladin]

So, two questions I have wondered about.

1. When Susan gave up her uniform and stated "I think I loved Talia", did she mean that as a friend or were they romantically involved?

It was pretty obvious to me they were more than just friends but the relationship was handled very discretely. It was still the 90s after all.

"I think I loved Talia" would hardly be a great confession if they were just friends. That was, after all, the context. They each had to reveal some kind of secret. The friendship itself was no secret.

The moment where Talia broke Susan's heart was played out as if they were more than just friends.

It seemed Susan was bisexual, as she later lamented not "boffing" Marcus while he was still alive. Then again, I'm sure Strazinsky was looking forward to a future where we we're no longer obsessed with body parts.

IMHO, I think we're all degrees of bisexual and for many of us, a close enough emotional connection will make gender negotiable, but that's just my perspective as a mostly-heterosexual-bisexual.

2. Earthforce = America, Centauri = Russia, Narn = Middle East, but what do the Minbari represent?

The Far East, I should think. At least that was my impression.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

When Susan gave up her uniform and stated "I think I loved Talia", did she mean that as a friend or were they romantically involved?

Doh. I simply assumed a more mature attitude towards sexuality,so naturally that the love was romantic.

quote:Whoa! Yeah! FH1: Do you really think they had sex then? Claudia: Yeah, we were a little too old for sleep-overs. FH1: Are you glad you didn't have to do a screen kiss for the part? Claudia: I wouldn't have minded. Andrea Thompson (who plays Talia) is a beautiful woman, and we were er.... friendly. (??!!)

http://www.sadgeezer.com/SadBOARD-Scienc...lovers.htm

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Tangent: Colin 'Smiley' Petersen went on to be drummer with the Bee Gees.

Colin Petersen (born 24 March 1946, Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia) is a former child actor and rock drummer. He played as a member of the Bee Gees on their first five albums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Petersen


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From age 8-11 I lived in Kapunda. (pop 5000) about 50 miles north of Adelaide and hated it. Thought it was the dark side of the moon. Went back recently for a look,it seemed far worse than I remembered..