Babylon 5 on DVD [NO SPOILERS for Season 5, please]

[John Crichton]

Hmm, I'll keep it all in mind.

I'm glad I waited this long to watch the show. Gives me something to enjoy while scifi TV is in hibernation.

 

[Seravin]

The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 was the definitive site for all things B5 when it was airing:
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/.

The episode write-ups were fantastic - the maintainers would correlate every reference in each episode and post JMS's replies to usenet questions that dealt with that episode.

 

[Plane Sailing]

There are actually a bunch of sites I'd like to read on the topic of Sinclair, including one that showed what the show would/could have been with him as the central character for all 5 seasons. Just google it to see what I mean. The reason I didn't read the site was the massive spoiler warning they gave at the start. Kudos to them for that.

Ah, just found it again: http://www.webcs.com/b5/neverwas.html

Thanks for that link, I'd not seen it before but it was very interesting. While I may not agree with all of his analysis I think his reading of the Sinclair possibilities is very sound. Although I like Sheriden and his role, I never liked him as much as Sinclair, and I had always wished that B5 had been able to keep Sinclair as its central figure throughout the series. It would have been great, and in several respects (as mentioned there) a much more natural development in the series.

Cheers

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Thanks for that link, I'd not seen it before but it was very interesting. While I may not agree with all of his analysis I think his reading of the Sinclair possibilities is very sound. Although I like Sheriden and his role, I never liked him as much as Sinclair, and I had always wished that B5 had been able to keep Sinclair as its central figure throughout the series. It would have been great, and in several respects (as mentioned there) a much more natural development in the series.

Cheers

Yes, I liked Sinclair, too. I don´t know if it´s the character or the actor that actually makes me prefer Sinclair to Sheridan, but I definitely prefered him.

 

[John Crichton]

I just watched the ep where Sinclair gives Garibaldi the message about him and the Rangers. I almost let out a little girly squeal when he popped up on the monitor. I am starting to warm a bit more to Sheridan. He ain't a bad character by any stretch.

With the show being so good I'm surprised JMS hasn't gotten another series off the ground since. I know he's been busy doing comics but this is some very good stuff. It will be interesting to compare it to DS9. I plan on watching the full run after I finish the 5 seasons of B5.

 

[Staffan]

With the show being so good I'm surprised JMS hasn't gotten another series off the ground since.

He did make two seasons of Jeremiah before he quit on account of "creative differences" (read: his bosses tried telling him what to do with the show, and he refused).

 

[wingsandsword]

I just watched the ep where Sinclair gives Garibaldi the message about him and the Rangers. I almost let out a little girly squeal when he popped up on the monitor. I am starting to warm a bit more to Sheridan. He ain't a bad character by any stretch.

With the show being so good I'm surprised JMS hasn't gotten another series off the ground since. I know he's been busy doing comics but this is some very good stuff. It will be interesting to compare it to DS9. I plan on watching the full run after I finish the 5 seasons of B5.

Yes, Sheridan really comes into his own later. In fact, many fans prefer him to Sinclair.

I think JMS is a little burned out on doing work for TV, especially after the debacle that was Crusade. TNT funded a spin-off series set a few years after the main B5 series, and JMS had a clear plot and tone in mind, but TNT kept wanting to "dumb it down" and add more fistfights (including completely gratiuitous bar fights added for no apparent reason), skin, and get rid of all that annoying talking and thinking. They also pulled a "Firefly" and aired the episodes way out of intended order, and the whole experience left him a little drained. The "Creative Differences" over Jeremiah was probably the last straw. He's probably had too many run-ins with network executives over the years to easily go back to a television format .

Crusades main legacy was that it was a brief glimpse into what happened after the main body of the B5 story, and some scripts that were written but the show was cancelled right before which explained the eventual fate of Bester and where the Technomages got their powers.

 

[Staffan]

He's probably had too many run-ins with network executives over the years to easily go back to a television format.

I wouldn't say that. He occasionally drops a line on Usenet or wherever (I'm on a mailing list where I receive copies of stuff he posts here and there) where he says he's working on getting new series done. They just haven't panned out much.

 

[Endur]

Some of JMS's problems are his own fault, not the fault of network executives.

Instead of thinking that he can routinely churn out fantastic shows, he should have stuck with Babylon 5 and turned out season 6+ of B5.

Yes, people would eventually have tired of it. But he could have had several more successful years on TV.

In the final analysis, JMS is the one that killed Crusade. He sold the Network execs on a great product "B5 season 4", then persuaded them that Crusade Season 1 would be a good successor to B5 season 5.

B5 Season 5 was a drop in quality from B5 season 4. Crusade Season 1 was an even bigger drop in quality from B5 Season 5. The Network execs reacted when they realized a bait and switch had occurred and dropped Crusade.

 

[Viking Bastard]

It was JMS that dropped Crusade, not TNT. Creative differances.

Some of JMS's problems *are* his own fault. He's not the most diplomatic man
around. He has trouble with everyone he works for. Every network, every comic
book publisher, every studio, every time.

He's a stubbourn arse. He's just such a goddamn talented stubbourn arse.