Babylon 5: What's your favorite episode?

[Spence]

12 minutes ago, Ternaugh said:

 

I'm assuming that this post was supposed to be in the Stargate: SG1 thread, and not the B5 thread (which only had 5 seasons).

 

I hate using my phone for forums..

 

[Matt the Bruins]

"Into the Fire" was really the dramatic climax of the series, and pretty hard to argue against. But I also have a great deal of fondness for "Z'ha'dum" and "Deathwalker."

[Ragitsu]

Episode? I don't know. Characters? Franklin and Cole. I could watch a spin-off series with these two gentlemen going off on their own adventures.

 

 

 

[Bazza]

 

[Ternaugh]

3 minutes ago, Bazza said:

 

 

The few times that I've attempted to watch Big Bang Theory, I've had the feeling that it's the Popular Kids from high school writing a comedy on what they think Nerds are like.

[Pariah]

Sheldon was never right about anything important in the whole series, so this opinion doesn't surprise me at all.

[Ragitsu]

 

I forgot that Michael York made an appearance on B5.

[Bazza]

45 minutes ago, Ternaugh said:

 

The few times that I've attempted to watch Big Bang Theory, I've had the feeling that it's the Popular Kids from high school writing a comedy on what they think Nerds are like.

 

That basically is the premise of the show. Penny being the non-nerd is the POV character for the mainstream audience to see Geek culture through. 

[GestaltBennie]

The Caming of Shadows.

[Michael Hopcroft]

"Passing Through Gethsemane" has little to do with the overall storyarc, but I found its story of a man trying to repent for sins he doesn't even remember, and of a punishment that seems merciful but is in reality anything but, quite compelling. {Plus the idea of a holy order bent on studying the religious impulse in all its myriad forms across the galaxy has a considerable appeal as story fodder.

[greypaladin_01]

It is probably easier to pick the episodes that I DIDN'T like.... I still watch the whole series from start to finish every few years or so.    But "Illusion of Truth" was just bad to me.   I understand why for plot reasons it was done, but felt like all the characters turned their brains off for it.

B5 had me sucked in from the pilot film.   I had taped it off TV and watched it over and over until a year or so later when the actual series started.   Easily one of the best Sci-Fi Epics of all time.    I feel it's strength is the ongoing story, but that was so unusual to the tv-watchers of the era that it suffers getting new converts.  They were too used to one-and-done type shows.   But to this day I have yet to find someone that gives it a real chance that didn't get totally sucked into it.

[DShomshak]

I can't even begin to nominate a best episode, there were so many points of excellence. B5 had its grand story arcs, but also strong stand-alone eps. (Or they seemed to stand alone, until you later saw how they fit into a larger chain of events.) Screen-filling space battles, but also concentrated stories of just a few characters interacting, such as the aforementioned "Comes the Inquisitor."

 

One of the few aspects I found misconceived was showrunner J. Michael Straczinski's repeated attempts to include Orations. Most of them had me rolling my eyes. Perhaps that is a defect of modern American culture, or me personally, that we lack a taste for Great Thoughts Grandly Expressed. I think JMS was much better at epigrams and pithy rejoinders.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

On 9/25/2020 at 5:22 PM, Ragitsu said:

I watched the first episode and never returned. I do not understand the appeal of watching despicable protagonists.

 

There with you. Thank you.

 

[DShomshak]

On 9/25/2020 at 2:22 PM, Ragitsu said:

 

I watched the first episode and never returned. I do not understand the appeal of watching despicable protagonists.

 

 

Then you were wiser than I. I stuck with it for 5 seasons, until I realized I wanted the army of zombies to win. Disappointed to hear from others that they didn't.

 

I could rant at greater length what was wrong with Game of Thrones, and why I lasted that long. I'll just say... A gilded turn is still a turd.

 

Dean Shomshak

[L. Marcus]

But possibly also an object d'art.

[Greywind]

George needs to finish writing the series.

[Pariah]

But Joffrey is still dead, right?

 

That's all that matters.

[death tribble]

On 9/25/2020 at 10:22 PM, Ragitsu said:

I watched the first episode and never returned. I do not understand the appeal of watching despicable protagonists.

 

23 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

There with you. Thank you.

But

but

You never said I was a problem before........

[Matt the Bruins]

3 hours ago, DShomshak said:

I could rant at greater length what was wrong with Game of Thrones, and why I lasted that long. I'll just say... A gilded turn is still a turd.

 

I lucked out in that I didn't have HBO for the early seasons, so I never got involved in watching it. And then when I tuned in once on the hotel room's dime while on vacation I thought "this must be that medieval fantasy show my friends are always raving about. Oh look, a wedding!"

[Lord Liaden]

Just to bridge the gap in topics , B5 had plenty of its own GOT moments: Shadows instead of White Walkers; Draal and the Great Machine rather than the Three-Eyed Raven; Rangers in place of Night's Watch; a mad Emperor (Cartagia) for a mad King; White Stars standing in for dragons; intrigue, conspiracy, assassination; and so on. All quite mythic and Shakespearean, despite being set in future space.

[death tribble]

It did have some nice spaceship designs.

Several members of the cast mentioned what it was like getting caught between Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas as Mollari and G'Kar respectively when they went up against each other. This was in a good way. 

[Old Man]

5 hours ago, Greywind said:

George needs to finish writing the series.

 

No he doesn't.  I know I couldn't care less, and I say this as someone who started reading in 1996 and had to wait 23 years to see how the story ends.  The first three books were great, now I'm done.

 

 

On 9/25/2020 at 11:22 AM, Ragitsu said:

 

I watched the first episode and never returned. I do not understand the appeal of watching despicable protagonists.

 

See, you made the classic mistake of thinking that there were any protagonists.

On 9/24/2020 at 1:42 PM, Thia Halmades said:

Hey.

 

Professor Grognard.

 

You heard of “streaming services?”

 

(this post meant in purely good humor and honest jest, as I have the highest respect for Cancer, something I believe he is aware).

 

The only streaming service that has the entire series is Google Play for $30/season.  Find a DVD box set.

 

[Lord Liaden]

21 minutes ago, death tribble said:

It did have some nice spaceship designs.

 

 

I had it pointed out to me that the design of the B5 spaceships reflected the age of the race that created them, in their resemblance to certain Terrestial organisms and when they evolved relative to each other. For example, the ships of the Shadows, oldest of the First Ones, were evocative of echinoderms like starfish and sea urchins; the Vorlons, of cephalopods such as squid and octopus; and of fish in the case of the Minbari.

[Pariah]

49 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

Just to bridge the gap in topics , B5 had plenty of its own GOT moments: Shadows instead of White Walkers; Draal and the Great Machine rather than the Three-Eyed Raven; Rangers in place of Night's Watch; a mad Emperor (Cartagia) for a mad King; White Stars standing in for dragons; intrigue, conspiracy, assassination; and so on. All quite mythic and Shakespearean, despite being set in future space.

 

Both series owe a great deal of their structure to Lord of the Rings, so this is hardly surprising. I mean, JMS even calls his wandering band of do-gooders the Rangers.

[Bazza]

2 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

Both series owe a great deal of their structure to Lord of the Rings, so this is hardly surprising. I mean, JMS even calls his wandering band of do-gooders the Rangers.

 

GRRM cites Tolkien as an influence. Song of Ice & Fire is as much a commentary on LotR.