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Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

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Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#351

Post by account42 »

conception wrote: post #57
tracker1 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just found the acting in the first season really, "soap opera" like. I'm not sure how to describe it better. It's still one of my all time favorite shows. I wish they'd do a corrected bluray release with even a bit more effort... when they did the upscaling for HD release on HBO Max, they messed up a couple episodes. Maybe AI upscale to 4k, with training data for newer ship models, actor photos, etc then reducing b…

Season one it was a traditional adventure of the week style show that was popular at the time and before. because having a multi season story arc was unheard of and still more or less is today so the first season was traditional TV and only when mildly successful did it have the ability to spread its wings. and it did so so well that it forced other shows like DS9 to also have seasonal story arcs.

Which is unfortunate as the writers can't seem to resist constantly making even bigger threats/drama with these longer story arcs messing up whole character arcs to just so they can shock the audience with big things happening. Limitations breed creativity and the limitation of having everything mostly go back to normal at the end of the episode is really underappreciated here.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#352

Post by account42 »

yrro wrote: post #107
MindSpunk wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first season is definitely the most conventional (for the time) and I think that reflects in some of JMS's statements saying the show was still getting onto its feet through the first season. Having the serialized story was very unfamiliar territory for Hollywood television back then, they were learning on their feet. If I recall correctly JMS wrote basically every episode after season 1, where as season 1 had a…

The "TKO" 'A' plot is silly but it has one of the most moving and memorable 'B' plots of the series!

Both were pretty meh IMO.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#353

Post by account42 »

Izkata wrote: post #305
fao_ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Season one it was a traditional adventure of the week style show that was popular at the time and before. because having a multi season story arc was unheard of and still more or less is today so the first season was traditional TV and only when mildly successful did it have the ability to spread its wings. and it did so so well that it forced other shows like DS9 to also have seasonal story arcs. Unfortunately inc…

> It had all the room it planned for and needed at the start. Almost. Come S4 they got concerned the show would be canceled before finishing the story, so they dropped all the secondary plots from S4 and S5 and compressed the main plots from S4 and S5 into just S4. Then they got renewed and quickly wrote a new S4 finale using S5 budget, postponed the series finale a year to S5, and reworked all the dropped secondary…

Can't say I agree - to me S4 felt quite rushed and seemed to be missing a lot more than just secondary plot developments. They go from "unstoppable enemy with the Vorlons being the only real hope" to "telepaths go brrr, also Vorlons are dicks now" in basically no time and then also jam in the battle for earth in the same season which felt really jarring. Then S5 feels like it's setting up the next big plot (the remaining shadow allies and specifically their hold over the centauri) only for that to end on a cliff hanger where nothing gets resolved even in the finale set in the far future.

It's really unfortunate that so many bad things happened to this show since it being still great overall despite them suggests it could have been one of a kind if things had gone better.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#354

Post by account42 »

Silhouette wrote: post #245
prmoustache wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we really need to upscale everything? I don't think image quality really is an important thing to enjoy old movies / series as long as the story is good.

If you watch the popular streaming services on a Linux PC then you'll be lucky to get more than 720p and some only seem to provide SD anyway - even for content from the HD era. This despite obviously having access to more detailed versions that they'll serve you for the same money if you watch on one of their preferred platforms. IME this becomes quite jarring if you're watching on a modern high-res screen - even som…

If you are watching in in a window / PIP then clearly you don't actually care that much about the looks since you are not even devoting your full attention to them.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#355

Post by account42 »

TiredOfLife wrote: post #99
tracker1 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just found the acting in the first season really, "soap opera" like. I'm not sure how to describe it better. It's still one of my all time favorite shows. I wish they'd do a corrected bluray release with even a bit more effort... when they did the upscaling for HD release on HBO Max, they messed up a couple episodes. Maybe AI upscale to 4k, with training data for newer ship models, actor photos, etc then reducing b…

> when they did the upscaling for HD release on HBO Max, they messed up a couple episodes. Those were not upscales.

Everything with CGI or other visual effects is upscaled from SD.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#356

Post by account42 »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #325
tomkarho wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of. What is an interesting topic of debate is that B5 aired at the same time with Deep Space 9 (pilots were released a month apart). DS9 switched out the "adventure of the week" formula from Star Trek for a long form storytelling and it is fought over to this day if one copied from another. B5 is known for the fact JMS had a full five year arch planned from the start (due to O'Hare's unfortunate state of mind he…

For some reason, I didn't watch DS9 at the time, though I've watched all the other Treks and am a big fan - must have been shown at the wrong time for me or something. However, DS9 only had the dominion arc in the last three seasons, so I'm definitely in the B5 was first camp. What I find fascinating is that JMS wrote in all kinds of escape hatches for if major characters left and of course, there's the time travelli…

> It seems like a common factor of having a static space stations that lends itself well to story arcs. The other Treks were based on exploration, so they make sense to reset each episode as they travel to a new region.

I think it's more a industry trends thing - Voyager also had longer story arcs as did many other sci-fi series released after B5.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#357

Post by account42 »

impossiblefork wrote: post #47
stuxnet79 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a DS9 fan myself I felt like B5 was the better show. DS9 had greater variance throughout its run, the standout episodes were phenomenal but also lots of weak episodes & filler. If there was tighter editorial control over the episodes & at least 30% of them got cut then it could be a contender.

For me, the appeal of DS9 was that certain episodes In the Pale Moonlight etc. are a bit like a play, very self-contained even if they are in a certain setting. Babylon 5 is kind of the opposite, no plays, just parts of a long arc. I think both have their appeal, but it's easier to timebox the enjoyment of a play. It's also easier to discuss, or think about.

I think it also leads to more interesting stories if writers are constrained by having the characters end up mostly where they started rather than being able to cheaply generate interest with one spectacular world change after the other.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#358

Post by account42 »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #158
stuxnet79 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a DS9 fan myself I felt like B5 was the better show. DS9 had greater variance throughout its run, the standout episodes were phenomenal but also lots of weak episodes & filler. If there was tighter editorial control over the episodes & at least 30% of them got cut then it could be a contender.

I watched all of TNG, Voyager and DS9. To me DS9 will always be behind the other ST series. I felt like it was a bit too much of the social stuff, maybe because it plays mostly on a station instead of an exploration vessel, but I guess that is exactly what people like about it. The characters and their development and so on. I liked the Garak character for example, but disliked Zisko being some chosen one for the wor…

I'm with you there, it tends much more towards space fantasy than the other trek shows.

PS: Did you forget TOS in your lists or leave it out intentionally? IMO it focuses on doing one mostly self contained short story per episode even better than TNG.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#359

Post by account42 »

Izkata wrote: post #306
pimeys wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We recently watched all the 80's and 90's Star Trek for the first time. So it's really interesting to compare the series' from the modern perspective. TNG is a classic, with the classic crew and after the first hiccups is some of the best scifi of all time. Absolutely great actors and amazing writing. DS9 is the weird one. I do really enjoy the trajectory of many of its characters: Sisko, Odo, Bashir, Dax (one of my…

Something I've said about Voyager for years*: It has some of the best and some of the worst Star Trek episodes. Very little consistency there. I think that's probably why a lot of people don't like it, the bad outweighs the good for them. * Before some recent entries at least. Yikes.

People just don't know how to appreciate great plots like having people travel faster than the rules of the fictional universe allow and then turn into lizards and mate.

And no, I'm not sorry for reminding anyone that this episode exists.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#360

Post by account42 »

Izkata wrote: post #307
le-mark wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should try the stargate series next if you haven’t. They supplanted Star Trek in my pantheon. There are also some time travel series more recently that are also quite enjoyable; Travelers and Continuum.

Stargate SG-1: Absolutely. Stargate Atlantis: Maybe better than average. On rewatch it's tended to feel bland somehow. Began with SG-1 S8 and ran concurrently with some crossovers (Atlantis premiere happens immediately after SG-1 S8 premiere and contains minor spoilers for it). Stargate Universe: Nope. Had potential it very much did not live up to. Set years after the first two ended. Stargate Infinity (cartoon): No…

I don't think even SG-1 is even remotely comparable. Not necessarily worse than the trek series but a fundamentally different kind of show.
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