Starting off its second season with a three-part story was a daring choice for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but was it necessary? “The Siege” says, kinda? Later, in “Invasive Procedures”, Dax sits around in her own episode (again.) Plus! A controversial statement about Babylon 5.
Jonas Kyratzes
-Man, it’s weird. I’ll never understand this radical divergence of opinions about Babylon 5. It’s like the show you guys have seen is from a parallel universe. The show I know is smart, funny, philosophical, melancholic but hopeful, still profoundly relevant politically… anything but the kitschy 90s trash you seem to have watched. Even when its early CGI is crude or the low budget shows through, I find it succeeds as adult storytelling in ways that very few shows do.
This radically different reaction to its style seems to really be a thing, a pattern I’ve observed many times. Some people think it’s the best-written show they know, others think the writing is abominable. Some people think the acting is stellar, others think it’s on the level of a bad soap opera.
If it was a work of interactive fiction, it would win the Golden Banana of Discord. Maybe it’s like coriander, and there’s a gene that makes it taste awful to some people.
Eric Brasure
-I don’t know. I actually don’t think that Babylon 5 is AS bad as I say it is on the podcast–some of this is hyperbole for an entertaining show. 🙂 But regardless, I don’t think it’s a solid example of 90s genre television–something like Stargate: SG1 is more consistent, and something like Buffy is more transcendent. I admire what they were able to accomplish with everything stacked against them more than I like it.
If nothing else, Babylon 5 is a textbook example of why one person shouldn’t get a sole writing credit on almost three long seasons of television.
But maybe Richard and I will have to do that Babylon 5 podcast that we’ve been threatening…