Star Trek - The Beyonder

Azrayne

Irenicus did nothing wrong
2,161
787
DS9 was just Babylon 5 done half as well.
I tried to get into Babylon 5. I gave it a decent shot, but it just felt so outdated and generic. DS9 retained it's watchability a hell of a lot more for some reason, Babylon 5 felt like it was a decade older than it was and seriously underbudget. Does it start feeling less cheesy/outdated/underfunded in later seasons or something?

Probably the biggest thing that I remember bugging me about DS9 (other than the alternate universe shit and it being unable to decide where it stands on the spectrum of hard scifi - soft sci fi - fantasy*) is that the Ferengi ear props had no fucking earholes. Surely they could have made fake ears that actually led into the actors real earholes?

*Can probably blame Moore for that, given the last season of his BSG.
 

spronk

FPS noob
23,873
29,154
b5 is really good in season 2 & 3, you can more or less skip season 1 and the last two seasons and get the DS9 dominion war space opera edition of B5, go back and rewatch s1 and 4-5 of B5 after if you want. There is a lot of subtle buildup in season 1 but you need to see season 2 and 3 to appreciate/catch it.

same with Farscape, season 1 is not that good but just watch episode 1 and just skip any episode that you find boring in the first 5 minutes, I forget when exactly it gets good but by the last season if you like galaxy wide massive empires at war its pretty awesome
 

iannis

Musty Nester
31,351
17,660
I've never been able to watch the whole thing. Individual episodes I like. I like the actors. I like the look of it. I don't really have any shit to toss at it.

Just something about it doesn't really click. I've never felt like sitting down and watching two in a row.

That show is sort of perfect for the once-a-week format. But without the TV gods telling me what it is that I should watch today... I just forget when it comes to farscape.
 

Phazael

Confirmed Beta Shitlord, Fat Bastard
<Gold Donor>
15,060
32,902
B5 basically had a similar issue as DS9, in that the supporting actors were better than the main characters, though much more pronounced. Londo, Jakar, and Garabaldi (and later Bester) were worlds better than any of the primary characters and any episodes involving them were so superior to the others that the show became unwatchable at times. JMS was also in open warfare with the studio after a while, which did not help. Pretty much what was said about seeing Seasons 2-3 and skipping the rest applies, though some of the late season Garabaldi/Bester stuff was really good. IT just lacked the polish and character dialog of DS9 in most cases.

Farscape was simply awesome, but it started slow. Chriton is exactly what every human would be like thrust into that situation and when Scorpious joined the show, it just took off and became crazy good. Really, this is a show that just got better every year but was a victim of Sci Fi channel wanting to just save money and run shitty megasharnado vs t-rex earthquake type movies instead of real programs. Lexx got axed for the same reason, but the writers on that show were spent anyhow.
 

Siliconemelons

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
12,774
19,506
B5 basically had a similar issue as DS9, in that the supporting actors were better than the main characters, though much more pronounced. Londo, Jakar, and Garabaldi (and later Bester) were worlds better than any of the primary characters and any episodes involving them were so superior to the others that the show became unwatchable at times. JMS was also in open warfare with the studio after a while, which did not help. Pretty much what was said about seeing Seasons 2-3 and skipping the rest applies, though some of the late season Garabaldi/Bester stuff was really good. IT just lacked the polish and character dialog of DS9 in most cases.

Farscape was simply awesome, but it started slow. Chriton is exactly what every human would be like thrust into that situation and when Scorpious joined the show, it just took off and became crazy good. Really, this is a show that just got better every year but was a victim of Sci Fi channel wanting to just save money and run shitty megasharnado vs t-rex earthquake type movies instead of real programs. Lexx got axed for the same reason, but the writers on that show were spent anyhow.
Farscape was awesome and the characters where awesome.

B5, as I stated in its thread- is about Lando and G'Kar its their story- the humans and membari are just the pretty box that is holds them- most people wont get past the pretty box and its goodness to open it- rewatch B5 with the perspective of Lando and Gkar as the main characters and pay attention to them as the source and everything else flashing around is just distractor... it was purposeful that they where ALWAYS the last 2 names during the intro year after year.... the reflection in the window of Lando watching the mass drivers fire down on Naarn is something that should be in every film schools classroom.

The crazy Centauri emperor = Joffery in GoT fyi :)
 
B5 basically had a similar issue as DS9, in that the supporting actors were better than the main characters, though much more pronounced. Londo, Jakar, and Garabaldi (and later Bester) were worlds better than any of the primary characters and any episodes involving them were so superior to the others that the show became unwatchable at times. JMS was also in open warfare with the studio after a while, which did not help. Pretty much what was said about seeing Seasons 2-3 and skipping the rest applies, though some of the late season Garabaldi/Bester stuff was really good. IT just lacked the polish and character dialog of DS9 in most cases.

Farscape was simply awesome, but it started slow. Chriton is exactly what every human would be like thrust into that situation and when Scorpious joined the show, it just took off and became crazy good. Really, this is a show that just got better every year but was a victim of Sci Fi channel wanting to just save money and run shitty megasharnado vs t-rex earthquake type movies instead of real programs. Lexx got axed for the same reason, but the writers on that show were spent anyhow.
B5 was pretty much all about the ongoing storylines rather than characters and I disagree about skipping all of S1 - at least watch episodes 13, 20 and 22 as they are heavily foreshadowing the later seasons and are rather necessary for understanding later conflicts, especially Ep 20 sets up the whole time travel two parter in S3 very nicely in a way that would have been impossible if JMS wouldn't have planned the whole B5 story arc before shooting a single episode

and S4 is also a good watch, fast paced and action packed despite JMS having to trim the arc of 2 seasons into one because noone knew if B5 ended up being canceled at the end of S4 or not
 

Malakriss

Golden Baronet of the Realm
12,881
12,269
They don't write character interactions like they used to. Even during the middle of the Dominion War in the final season they still had side character focused episodes and dialogue like this:

Nog: I can get you that stabilizer, chief.
O'Brien: In three days?
Nog: Leave everything to me.
O'Brien: Alright. But don't do anything I wouldn't do.
Nog: Chief, I can't operate under those kinds of restrictions.
O'Brien: At least promise me you won't do anything to get us court marshaled.
Nog: (gives a Ferengi smile) I'll try.
O'Brien: Nog!
Nog: Just kidding, Chief. Hah hah.
 

Jait

Molten Core Raider
5,035
5,317
The whole series is decent, but I never really watch the made for TV movies. They seemed silly.
They are except for the prequel one (In the Beginning?). That's pretty fucking good. Perfect to watch before Season 1. Londo tells two kids the Earth-Mimbari war story just before he frees Sheridan and Delenn and him an G'Kar kill each other. So it's literally a prequel and a sequel.
 

Siliconemelons

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
12,774
19,506
They are except for the prequel one (In the Beginning?). That's pretty fucking good. Perfect to watch before Season 1. Londo tells two kids the Earth-Mimbari war story just before he frees Sheridan and Delenn and him an G'Kar kill each other. So it's literally a prequel and a sequel.
And again, the entire series really is that story- think of it from that perspective and keeping Lando and G'Kar centeral- it makes it better- atleast makes a 2nd or 3rd watch through better/different.
 

Phazael

Confirmed Beta Shitlord, Fat Bastard
<Gold Donor>
15,060
32,902
The irony is that JMS originally planned on killing those guys off after season one and having that female Narn and Viir take over those roles, but the two characters were by far the most popular aspect of the show so he decided to run with it. The fact that those guys were the best actors on the show helped it a lot, too.
 

Siliconemelons

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
12,774
19,506
Viir was good and became a strong character, the female Narn never was able to get established really- you could tell they both where meant to eventually replace their respective main counterparts- and from the outline linked they didn't get offed they just left B5 for extended / permanent times rather than the trip here or there