h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

B5 is the best Sci-Fi series I have Seen. The last series wasn't as good as the rest but never mind. B5 makes Star Trek look shallow. But no one listens to Zathras

That's okay though, 'cause Zathras doesn't mind. He's even come to enjoy it.

I totally agree. I love that it has that X-files-esque quality of an overreaching plot controlled by others that you find yourselves playing within without all the info. The whole plot/subplot with the one who is, the one who was, and the one who will be was just awesome.

Also, I love the level of philosophical thought that enters into the show. If you want to let it, the show can really make you think about things.

Plus, it shows you people killing aliens!

well--yeah. It wouldn't be as much fun other-wise

I just want to add my support of your comments. Babylon 5 was the best piece of scifi writing on TV ever. The multi-layered stories, the arc story, the character flaws all made it to be believable. Unlike star trek which has such a fluffy view on the universe it makes me sick sometimes. I do like star trek but it just can't stand against Babylon 5 as a whole.

I just wish those morons in America who run the TV stations had a little of JMS' vision and they might have picked up Crusade to its end!!

No kidding!! I love that there are little problems, which can be solved in an episode or two, but there are also big overreaching problems that tie everything together. It's great that it's possible that if you miss an episode of bab5, you won't know what's going on next time!!

And the concept of Rangers is just awesome anyway...

The props people were a bit "iffy" in the first series, though - anyone remember the "soul sucker", made from a Tandy (US = Radio Shack) solder sucker inserted into a homebrew syphon tube, intertwined with a 1980s ropelight... Or the "Minbarie artefact" that was a commercially available salt cellar sitting by an upturned toast rack... And whatever happened to the rest of Delenn's chin from the pilot episode...? Why did Veer's surname change between series one and two? Picky, picky, picky...

I love B5... Definately the best Sci-Fi series... even though I do like Star Trek as well... B5 was more true to life... And the final episode was a real tear jerker... absolutely, stonking brilliant...

Oh, and the fact that the seat backs in all the Narn fighters are "Abdominisers", as advertised on late-night TV...

The thing that capped B5's supremacy is Newtonian motion (well that and the line "nuke 'em till they glow, then shoot them in the dark"). All the space craft (especially the starfuries) move as if they are in space, instead of startrek, which appears like all the ships move on the same plane, and move as if an aircraft in atmosphere.

Never forget the realism.... Life in Trek is so artificial, with everyone getting along with everyone else... it's not natural...

I do like Trek by the way, but B5 is in a league of its own, a very special series, that deserved much better treatment than it got in England...

On the realism front, notice that in episodes where they show a large, internal space on the station, such as the baseball field where Sheridan does his batting practice, that there is inevitably a huge, arched ceiling representing the outer hull above them. Fine, except that if the station is rotating to simulate gravity that means everyone is standing on the ceiling...

(btw, don't get me wrong - I really like B5 - I'm just a picky b@st@rd!)

I wasn't referring to the realism as in the props and computer graphics etc... I was referring to the interaction between the characters...

And don't worry, I don't mind you being a picky what-not... makes a refreshing change from Sherbet Dips...

Yes, but it is not truly a ceiling, from any point on it it would appear as the bottem of a valley, in the large open spaces the whole inside is built as a garden, or whatever, including the 'ceiling'. The only trouble may be a bit of queasiness from the centrifugal motion.

Well, Cres., the point I was making was that they invariably curve it in the wrong direction, so the outer hull would be above their heads instead of below their feet. It looks prettier that way, even though it's scientifically inept - the same kind of thing happens in Star Trek too... Does anybody remember the DS9 episode with the ancient Bajoran "light sail"? Sisko said the only design change he made was to install gravity plates because "zero G made him queasy"... So how come the original design clearly showed the crew sleeping in Hammocks? Or having to pull "down" on a series of chains to operate the ship? And... Since the ship had no inertial dampers, why weren't Ben and Jake instantly converted to a thin smear of "strawberry jam" on the back wall when the ship made the transition to lightspeed...?

Now THAT'S the sort of pedantry that doesn't even make it into the Star Trek "bloopers" books

Cooooo... that's sneaky that is... getting ST into a B5 discussion...

What do you mean, curved the wrong way? I am probably missing something obvious but I see it as, basically, like a giant hamster ball (here is hoping the gardens are in the spherical part of the station), so the outer hull is both curving above their heads AND below their feet.

Your sense of scale may be a little off there, Cres. - the areas I'm talking about are nowhere as big as the full width of the station... The baseball field, for example, has a flat "floor" and a curved "ceiling" - if the station is 5 miles long, then the two balls near the front must have a diameter of about half a mile (or more) each, and if you WERE standing on the inner face looking across to the other side you would have all the central tunnels and infrastructure in the way, and if the roof looked curved so would the floor... Assuming a flat platform for the baseball pitch, the roof above would be the curve of the central supporting structure, which is closest in the centre moving away cylindrically at the edges. I have various 3D models of the station, and given enough impetus I could produce examples...

Oh, and if you notice the beginning titles, C&C is very close to the "centre of spin", which means the gravity there should be significantly lower than at the spheres, leading to the interesting sight of Ivanova "moonwalking"...

I cannot remember the baseball one, but when Sheridan had to leap from the bomb on the train thingie, to be saved by Kosh, the background there seemed to be right, and it seemed the whole width of the station (though yet again no zero gee in the train). I agree with C&C though, and the stars outside didn't move as the station turned, but what can you do?
BCNU - Crescent

>I love that it has that X-files-esque quality of an overreaching plot

Can't say I agree that it is X-files-esque. X files seems to make its arc up as it goes along without any definite goal in mind. Babylon 5 had a preplanned story arc which would lead to an ending point after five seasons.

Zathras (nobody listens to me)