Overrated/Underrated Geek Media

[Autumnal]

Babylon 5 contains one of the best sf tv shows ever. Unfortunately to fully manifest it would require editing it to 3 old-fashioned seasons or 5 modern ones, and a bit of reshooting or cgi work. The broadcast result doesn’t match its ambitious plans. And darn I hate saying so.

 

[Ryujin]

Babylon 5 contains one of the best sf tv shows ever. Unfortunately to fully manifest it would require editing it to 3 old-fashioned seasons or 5 modern ones, and a bit of reshooting or cgi work. The broadcast result doesn’t match its ambitious plans. And darn I hate saying so.

I think that the reboot, that would give you that, is currently in Development Hell. Maybe someone could give it the TOS effects update treatment, to try and generate funds to do the reboot?

 

[soviet]

I love Babylon 5. The wobbly sets and other amateurish bits are part of its charm. The bits that work (which is most of it) are extraordinarily powerful, and they are so in part because of this lack of polish.

No reboot can ever work. The twists and turns are what make it special. You either rewrite all those things, in which case it's a different story altogether, or you reshoot them, in which case it's hollow.

Crusade they should do something with. I would love to one day get the full story of what was planned.

 

[soviet]

Babylon 5 Is the Greatest, Most Terrible SF Series - Reactor

 

[Ryujin]

I love Babylon 5. The wobbly sets and other amateurish bits are part of its charm. The bits that work (which is most of it) are extraordinarily powerful, and they are so in part because of this lack of polish.

No reboot can ever work. The twists and turns are what make it special. You either rewrite all those things, in which case it's a different story altogether, or you reshoot them, in which case it's hollow.

Crusade they should do something with. I would love to one day get the full story of what was planned.

A friend posted, on Instagram, that he's never watched "Crusade" and just bought the DVD. Makes me want to break out the boxed set (again) and give it a rewatch. Definitely a lost opportunity.

 

[Golden age Superhero]

Well here goes one that might get me in trouble.

Overrated: Dungeons and Dragons. So, yeah I started with D&D, I appreciated that it got me into the hobby but I never got the whole reference that people hold for it. Now, I'm not saying I didn't have lots of fun playing pretty much any edition of D&D but I still found the flaws and to me it's just an RPG just like any RPG and not some phenomenon.

And no, it can't do everything. No version of D&D is all things to all people. It can only do a few certain types of Fantasy and I am sorry to say, it is not the greatest RPG of all time.

 

[Clint_L]

Well here goes one that might get me in trouble.

Overrated: Dungeons and Dragons. So, yeah I started with D&D, I appreciated that it got me into the hobby but I never got the whole reference that people hold for it. Now, I'm not saying I didn't have lots of fun playing pretty much any edition of D&D but I still found the flaws and to me it's just an RPG just like any RPG and not some phenomenon.

And no, it can't do everything. No version of D&D is all things to all people. It can only do a few certain types of Fantasy and I am sorry to say, it is not the greatest RPG of all time.

I love it but can agree it’s overrated. I do think it’s the greatest RPG of all time for cultural impact alone. Obviously that’s as subjective as “greatest movie” or whatever, though D&D is unusual in having no real rivals in its genre.

 

[Retros_x]

I love it but can agree it’s overrated. I do think it’s the greatest RPG of all time for cultural impact alone. Obviously that’s as subjective as “greatest movie” or whatever, though D&D is unusual in having no real rivals in its genre.

I think its important to say that just because something is overrated you don't hate it and can even love it.

My overrated goes in a similar direction: Brandon Sanderson. I am currently reading through his whole Cosmere bibliography. I do enjoy it, sometimes even quite a lot, but I can't grasp how this author is treated like the new Tolkien. Its decent popcorn entertainment in book form, but nothing more tbh. And I have a big problem with his magic systems that feel more like technology than like magic.

To give some underrated fantasy epic novel series in contrast: The Wars of Light and War series by Jenny Wurts. Admittetly I've only read the first two books yet, but holy cow they are SO good. I actually couldn't believe how she is not very well known and digged a bit deeper into her story: Its quite sad. A mix of bad contracts with her publisher, misogyny and just bad luck led to her series not selling well, despites the ASOIAF dark/adult fantasy hype in the 2010s, which her books fully fit into. They are just so well written and give some actual food for thought, but that meaningful deep and complex prose comes with a slower reading speed. Much harder to digest than Sandersons writing, which is simple, but effective. She is also well connected with the community and an active member of r/fantasy.

 

[TiQuinn]

Well here goes one that might get me in trouble.

Overrated: Dungeons and Dragons. So, yeah I started with D&D, I appreciated that it got me into the hobby but I never got the whole reference that people hold for it. Now, I'm not saying I didn't have lots of fun playing pretty much any edition of D&D but I still found the flaws and to me it's just an RPG just like any RPG and not some phenomenon.

And no, it can't do everything. No version of D&D is all things to all people. It can only do a few certain types of Fantasy and I am sorry to say, it is not the greatest RPG of all time.

I have to agree. I mean, I love the game but simply playing other TTRPGs will make you realize it’s not the be-all end-all. The fact that it has such an outsized influence and market dominance versus other wonderful games that are also extremely fun points to it being overrated.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Overrated: expensive modern vfx.

Underrated: wobbly plywood sets.