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Should I Give Babylon 5 Another Chance? (self.sciencefiction)

submitted 1 year ago by PlanetOfOrd to c/sciencefiction

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As a Sci-Fi fan I've been a huge fan of shows like Battlestar Galactica, The Expanse, Terminator: TSCC, Star Trek, etc. I keep hearing Babylon 5 is awesome.

I was too young at the time to watch the series when it was on. But then as an older teen/ young adult I decided to give it a try. Everything was so cringe it was hard to get through 3 episodes. IMO the whole vibe was "safe..." maybe even a bit corny--not the intense, exciting, politically-tense space opera that I was told it was.

So maybe the beginning episodes are just world-building? What do other people think?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't discount world-building and character development. There's a scene in the penultimate episode of the series that seems simple, just two characters on a bare set, talking. Yet it hits so hard, because you know and care for them deeply after 5 seasons, you know their struggles, and you know what it means to them.

Though, not every show speaks to every person. I'd say stick it out until episode 8, "And the Sky Full of Stars," and then stop if you're not feeling it.

Also, remember that this show came out long before the streaming era. We couldn't binge it, we got one episode per week. That left plenty of time in between to absorb the story and speculate about what was yet to come. There are a lot of levels, mysteries, and philosophical implications in there that might benefit from a slower watch.

[–] PlanetOfOrd 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh, yeah, for sure. And no, worries, I'm not discounting world building. I realize that most shows these days have a world building phase where not a lot happens. But in the end the world building should lead to something exciting. I tried to turn my mom onto the Expanse (one of my all-time favorite shows) but she said she gave it a go but couldn't get interested. 😅

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Certainly, I just phrased it that way as a lead-in to saying that B5 does definitely get to excitement, and is better for all the buildup. I watched it when it first came out, so at the time we had ST:TNG wrapping up, and only B5 and ST:DS9 as sci-fi on TV. That is to say, we were patient with both shows, because there wasn't much else (good) to choose from.

Nowadays, there are more sci-fi shows than I can keep track of, so even though B5 is my all-time favorite, I recognize that it may not be as good (too slow?) for first-time viewers as newer shows which benefit from a couple of decades of improvement in TV production.

(The Expanse is definitely in my queue. Just need the time to get to it!)