Babylon 5: Season 5

[Rodders]

Apologies if there is already a thread on this, but i couldn't find it.

Well, I finally finished watching it this morning. Although a lot of people don't rate this series, I must say that I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. There were quite a few little gems that we seem to have overlooked, (Night of the Dead, The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari, Wheel of Fire and of course, Sleeping in Light). These episodes are right up there with the best of the series. As for the rest of the series, I'd say that the overall quality was easily as good, if not better, than most of ST: Voyager. Yes, it's not as good as the other seasons, but what story arcs were there left to work with? Not a lot.

I finished this with a huge feeling of melancholy. The series dealt a lot with new beginnings and so a lot of the main cast moved on and left B5. Sleeping in Light made me realise. That's it, no more B5. Just the TV Movies, Crusade and the Lost Tales to watch now.

I've always wondered by WB never saw fit to continue with this Universe. It apparently cost just $60 Million for all 110 across five seasons and the four TV movies. It must have made money as WB commissioned the Lost Tales. Why are they so reluctant to either commit to another series or a feature film?

 

[reiver33]

B5 also spawned a range of spaceship models and WB yanked the right to produce them as well. The company concerned (Agent of Fortune?) said they ran up against a blank wall; it was a background earner for WB and required zero effort on their part.

The feeling was that WB didn't want fans 'clinging' to a product not in active production - as if they could be forced to switch their interest to something more current.

 

[Constantine Opal]

Well, I'm completely out of the B5 loop! I've never even heard of the Lost Tales. I have the B5 box set which contains all 5 series, Crusade and all the movies, so Lost Tales is a new one on me. I'm off to google to see if I can get old of it.

Regarding Series 5, I'm afraid it left me a little cold and I didn't think it was anywhere near as good as the first four, but maybe that was mostly to do with a new bunch of characters trying to find their way. I wish Marcus had been in it longer as I really liked the relationship between him and Susan Ivanova and it just seemed to get cut off all too quickly... ah well.

Unless a bored billionnaire with a hankering for B5 stumps up the money for more, that's probably our lot!

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Well I think a lot of the actors moved on to other jobs (or like Andreas Katsulas & Richard Biggs, sadly passed away) and although the TV movies are good and Crusade has some good moments and characters, The Lost Tales didn't get a great reception when it came out.

Basically there is still scope for other stories in the B5 universe (the Earth-Dilgar war could be an interesting prequel) but it depends whether or not JMS wants to get involved in that, or as an alternative, whether or not fans would be happy with someone else coming into the world created by JMS and carrying it on.

 

[Rodders]

Well, I'm completely out of the B5 loop! I've never even heard of the Lost Tales. I have the B5 box set which contains all 5 series, Crusade and all the movies, so Lost Tales is a new one on me. I'm off to google to see if I can get old of it.

Hello Constantine. I just wondered if you managed to get hold of this and whether you liked it or not.

 

[ebusinesstutor]

It was an amazing series. I watched it originally when it came out. My wife hadn't seen it so we borrowed the seasons one at a time from our friend Kevin.

When a season would end on a cliffhanger, she would grab me and say "Call Kevin!" So she could see the next one...

 

[Rodders]

I've noticed that B5 did seem to have a higher number of female fans. (Perhaps due to the Sheriden and Delenn love story?) It was quite refreshing.

 

[Shadow Trooper]

I've noticed that B5 did seem to have a higher number of female fans. (Perhaps due to the Sheriden and Delenn love story?) It was quite refreshing.

You're right there Rodders, I enjoyed the action in the series', but the wife watched because of the excellent storylines and the relationships between the characters (well, so did I, but this was the main draw for her).

Along with the Delenn/Sheridan story she had soft spots for Vir Cotto and Lennier, but really loved the G'kar storyline.

I remember when the Narn Homeworld was liberated and G'Kar was asking the other Narns to show restraint. Then one asks what would he know of suffering and the pain that has been endured? Of course we the viewer had followed everything G'Kar had been through. All G'Kar could do was laugh in anguish and disbelief at the situation. It's one of the few times I've heard my wife swear because of a TV programme

 

[Vladd67]

Anyone notice a Woody Allen influence in Stephen Furst's portrayal of Vir?

 

[zorcarepublic]

B5 also spawned a range of spaceship models and WB yanked the right to produce them as well. The company concerned (Agent of Fortune?) said they ran up against a blank wall; it was a background earner for WB and required zero effort on their part.

The feeling was that WB didn't want fans 'clinging' to a product not in active production - as if they could be forced to switch their interest to something more current.

The company was called Agents of Gaming, who produced Babylon 5 Wars as well as several other games. I got into the game a year or so after they closed, but got quite a good collection of the books and some others are floating around the internet.

As to the real topic, I think most of the animosity generated towards season 5 is because of He Who Must Not Be Named, the teep who led the rogue colony. The amount of vitriol directed at that story thread is astonishing...

 

[Odie]

I love this series. My husband bought me the boxed sets of all the seasons a few years ago and I still watch them. I love the dynamics between the characters, yes; but for me the real pull was the conflict that occurred on so many different levels (between characters, governments, races, etc).

B5 was exceptionally written; it's definitely rare to come across a series such as this.

 

[Rodders]

Absolutely Odie and welcome to the Chrons.

 

[AdamCollings]

I just finished re-watching season 5 on DVD. It was great to see it all in one go, in fact, I've just watched 3,4 and 5 over the last month.

It's true that season 5 didn't have quite the epic grandeur of 3 and 4 but it was still good. I'm glad JMS had the chance to finish it off.

I haven't seen the lost tales yet, and despite its poor performance I'd love to see it.

What I'd really like to see is a movie about the telepath war.

 

[Rodders]

There are so many stories left to tell. That's why it's so annoying that WB won't commit to B5.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Well, I'm completely out of the B5 loop! I've never even heard of the Lost Tales.

I wouldn't bother. Honestly. I was/am a great B5 fan have all 5 seasons and Crusade and all the movies. Lost Tales was a major major disappointment.

 

[Rodders]

Disappointing, yes. But that's not to say that it wasn't enjoyable.

 

[meleager]

Anyone notice a Woody Allen influence in Stephen Furst's portrayal of Vir?

Now when you mentioned it, YES! And it's pretty strong. If you close your eyes and manage to forget who's speaking, you can actually hear Woody Allen alright ..

 

[BAYLOR]

It wasn't the best season of the show but it was still pretty good.

 

[TØny Hine]

I really enjoyed reminiscing, reading this thread. I saw the series on the TV when it first came out. A few years ago I brought the box set and watched it again, now I'm thinking of digging out the box set and watching it once more!

 

[Major Eazy]

Apologies if there is already a thread on this, but i couldn't find it.

I've always wondered by WB never saw fit to continue with this Universe. It apparently cost just $60 Million for all 110 across five seasons and the four TV movies. It must have made money as WB commissioned the Lost Tales. Why are they so reluctant to either commit to another series or a feature film?

My understanding from various sources is that JMS created and wrote the idea for Babylon 5 as a story arch that should last 5 seasons.