In article <40C24C464D6FD21189090000C0F06ACF46A0BD@>, White C <C.White@> wrote:
IF I'M GOING TO BE A FANATICAL SCIFI FOLLOWER, I NEED SOME STUFF TO
FOLLOW!
Try Babylon 5. It's quality TV, and being repeated from the beginning.
Oh please, we have people slating Voyager and Sliders and then someone
suggests B5. I'm sorry but B5 is not in the same ball park when it comes to
decent sc-fi (ST:NG,DS9,Voyager,X-Files to name but a few). Even sliders is
better.
Wow! That really shows how opinions differ. As a seriously addicted *reader*
of science fiction and fantasy, I find that there is often a lack of deep
characterisation and plot in film and TV. That is an inevitable consequence
to the time-scale of the two media. A good film will have as much story as a
short story. A novel made into a film will be cut to pieces or
incomprehensible- like Dune for example.
Babylon 5 is something which as a houshold without a TV, Simon, Richard and
myself did not encounter straight away. We used to watch films on a monitor,
and occasional TV which was recorded by friends, who would bring us
something to watch.
We heard many of our friends get more and more enthusiastic about B5 and
eventually they *insisted* we start watching it. By then it was into its 3rd
season (of 26 episodes, I think). We were told that we needed to watch it
from the beginning, although it started slowly. If you look at TV, you have
many programs- like Star Trek- where you have a small, complete story per
episode. Babylon 5 is not like this. Instead, there is a grand story arc,
which takes the whole 5 seasons to unfold. During this, the characters have
the opportunity to develop, in a much deeper way than they can when each
broadcast must stand alone. The plot can- and does -thicken, but slowly :-)
to my great pleasure, we did indeed find time to watch Babylon 5 from the
beginning. Including New year's day 1997 when Simon, Richard, Mike, Sue
Matt and myself sat down in front of Sue's TV and watched 13 hours of
BABYLON 5 whilst one of those rare viewing figure monitor boxes took in
this, and vastly affected the viewing figures for B5!
Thus, the desire which often comes over me to keep on turning the page was
hooked by the story of B5 unfolding before me. Babylon 5 has been compared
with Lord of the Rings, which is something JMS does not feel able to accept.
Tolkien was a great author, with an understanding of language and legends
which produced the stunning quality of his writings. I feel the comparism is
however fair, in that the way that JMS has developed the story arc which
makes it an epic of the visual medium. It is quite different from its peers.
It takes the time to interweave themes of good and evil, great conflicts,
personal sacrifice, suffering and nobility.
It is of course science fiction, rather than fantasy, being set on a space
station, with alien races, rather than on Middle earth, with elves, hobitts
etc ecetera.
What is the point in showing B5 from the bloody beginning. Thats just
insane. There is better stuff out there they could show like American Gothic
that was excellent and it would not take so long to show the series either.
I can understand that the *time* involved in watching so much material might
put people off, and also us ranting and raving as to how brilliant B5 is can
also turn people away :-(
Unfortunately, you *cannot* just watch an episode or two to see if you like
it, and it does start slowly. That is inevitable because of its nature. If
you truely love proper written fiction, or great sagas, I would certainly
recommend it.
It is a visual medium, and therefore I would hope it could introduce the
same pleasure I get from reading for some of those who do not want to read.
If you do not have the patience and pleasure in reading a thick novel
perhaps it is not for you- but I know people who do not have my patience
with the written word who have loved it. I know all too well that my love of
reading is unusual: hesring Harlan Ellison speaking at the Babylon 5
convention shocked me in realising how much that is true: 4% of the
population read at all, and of those, they read on average 2 books a year.
I can see there may be people who genuinely feel it is rubbish in comparism
with the easily picked up and put down programs. It is not a great surprise
to me if not everyone loves Babylon 5- just don't dismiss it because of its
slow start. If my word inspire you to watch it, I am glad, as I would regret
someone missing it who loves fiction as I do.
...
See you later after I have been flamed.
I hope not: just telling you how I feel in case you- or others- are missing
a brilliant story through lack of patience.
Jenny Gould
---
jenny@
"Share and Enjoy"
-Marketing Division, Sirius Cybernetics Corporation
"Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity. It
eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation."
-- Johnny Hart
(The above opinions do not represent a policy statement for or on behalf of
One Chip Solutions).
