10 Incredible Things About Babylon 5
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- Опубліковано 14 лют 2021
- In the annals of science fiction TV, there is a short list of series that always get mentioned: Star Trek, The X-Files, and of course, The Twilight Zone.
But there is one series that ran for five years in the late 1990s that is deserving of an honoured place on that list. It is frequently forgotten because, until recently, no major streaming venue carried the series. But now that it is being seen by a new generation of science fiction fans, it will hopefully receive the renewed appreciation it deserves.
So let’s talk about 10 Incredible Things About Babylon 5.
This list was scripted by the amazing @ckvanderkaay you can find him and more of his work over on the Twitter!
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Babylon 5, the show that dared to make the aliens technology different from each other unlike so many other scifi shows.
Yes, a tech hierarchy makes for more storytelling possibilities. After watching hundreds of hours of Star trek and dozens of hours of Star Wars, I still can't tell who has better technology in those genres. I feel like Star Trek in particular sells the Federation short vs the Klingons and such.
@@davidbowles7281 the thing is
Q even says
The reason the tech never improves in star trek
Between the humans ,klingons and romunlans
Because all they do is compare themsleves to each other
@@ralphpal That makes absolutely no sense. Feds should have way more tech than Klingons. Feds have many species to draw knowledge from, Klingons have impractical swords.
One of my favourite things about B5 was that it felt like an ancient, lived in galaxy. In Star Trek most of the races always seemed to be at a similar level of technological development, but in B5 you had young, old and ancient races. The Minbari were space faring 1000 years before humans and almost wiped us out in the Earth-Minbari war, and the Vorlons and Shadows were so old they were the literal 'angels' and 'demons' from other races myths and religions.
I would really recommend you the universe of Mass Effect, which is basically the spiritual successor of B5. Even though it is a game, and not TV.
It feels like an organic, living universe with a history, even more than B5. Even its recent, written, and well documented history spans over 2-3000 years. It features space station which was originally built 50k years ago, then abandoned, repopulated, rebuilt and extended many times. It has a planet with no written history, no life, but signs of large scale orbital bombardment a million year ago, with no idea what happened there exactly. Another planet which is used as a junkyard for thousands of years, and now covered with wrecked spaceships, many with unknown origins from unknown extinct species. One planet has a huge canyon (visible from space), which turns out to be from a mass accelerator weapon firing at “something”, 37millions years ago.
It really feels like there is a galaxy wide economy going on, with private companies, colonies, politics, criminals, fortune seekers and so on. And a history which fades into the distant past. A lots of things are going there even before humanity arrives, where we just appear as a sidenote in the grand scheme of things.
@@juzoli Totally agree, ME is to video games what B5 was to tv shows... same details to species differenciation and technological gaps. Sad the ending of ME3 was so lazy.
@@CyrilGazengel agreed. It really deserved better. :-/
There are so many of episodes about the Prime Directive, and civilizations with different tech levels in Star Trek, so many
@@CGCommando82 There are token primitives appearing in the series, but essentially except the borg all major powers were basically on the same tech level.
The Romulans, the Klingons, the freaking Dominion, the Cardassians (even if for them we were told they were behind) and the Ferengi. There was no feeling that the Romulans being an offshoot of the ancient Vulcans were in any way higher developed than the basically barbarians that the Klingons were. How in hell did the Klingons reach the same general tech level as the Federation?
Regarding the CGI, not only was it groundbreaking, it was done entirely with a series of 24 Commodore Amiga desktop computers instead of using a supercomputer.
It is also like 8k resolution. Nothing better intill Farscape.
They also found that it would still take too long, but with the majority of scenes being in space, they set '0' to black and cut their render time in half.
it was great back then. But if you compare the CGI scenes with modeled scenes now CGI always looks worse than it did a few years ago. Models from the 90th, if made good, are even to this day better looking
J Michael Straczynski said that he came up with the entire story arch of Babylon 5 in "one moment of perfect clarity". He then spend several months fleshing out all of the details. It was and will always be one of my Favorite shows.
Arc, not arch.
Thank you all for the kind words about B5. I was an animator/effects artist/supervisor and got to blow up space ships on the show (and other things) for seasons 4 and 5. It was some of the most fun I had in my life.
The effects were ahead of their time, and well paced scenes
Best SciFi show ever, thank you.
One of the best TV shows ever. You don't even have to mention it's sci-fi.
Mollari was amazing! All the actors, as a matter of fact. Just the dang best. Started re watching recently and WOW, AMAZING actors!
@@cheeseburgerinparadise7124 Yeah, the evolution of G'Kar's and Mollari's relationship is amazing. As well as the incredibly well told story arcs of both Earth and the Shadows running through seasons 1-4.
Londo and G'kar's scene together, just after Londo becomes emperor is one of the most powerful character moments I've seen in any movie or TV show, because it was so completely earned.
@@forger42 Not just their relationship, but their individual arcs, Londo from an almost comic/buffoon to vicious warmonger, G'Kar from vengeful warrior to religious philosopher.
No other sci-fi TV series evokes a passion in me than B5. Roughly every 5 years I take out the full box and rewatch the episodes. I'm pleased that this time I can watch it in the remastered 1080 version. 2021 had a good start.
I've got to pick that box series up. About a third of my DVD's are toast from chronic overuse.
where do you get that remastered 1080 version? Amazon? I want one
@@MrCooperscoopers It's available on Amazon Prime, iTunes and HBO Max. No physical copy (yet). It's a shame that when this version was remastered it was only applied to the film footage and not the CGI effects. It would've been a relatively easy task to re-render the scenes to a higher resolution to match the AI's results and then merge the frames together. All of the original render files are available at B5Scrolls and with today's CPU power it should've been a no brainer. Tom Smith has been demonstrating this on his channel. Here's a sample of his: ua-cam.com/video/24AJP0693mc/v-deo.html
Interestingly there is a Reddit project where fans are planning to redo the whole series properly upscaled - www.reddit.com/r/babylon5/comments/g4unx4/the_babylon_5_complete_series_4k_hdr_60fps_ai/
A sample of the work that started it off is here: www.reddit.com/r/babylon5/comments/flecv5/i_upscaled_a_scene_from_midnight_on_the_firing/
@@TheSnowwraith Many thanks. I already got it. B5 is one of my favorites along with Stargate SG-1.
"Dedicated to all the people who predicted that the Babylon Project would fail in its mission. Faith manages." I will always remember this Quote at the end of one of the episodes that was a jab at TV Guide
They really did a good job of how the mission would be sabotaged and the political complexities on the station.
The ending of B5 made me tear up and chuckle. The chuckling was that at the beginning of the series there was the talk of the station getting destroyed by one thing or another. I remember an episode Garibaldi (I think) mentioned the odds of the station's destruction in New Las Vegas. In the end, what happened? The station was decommissioned and destroyed.
@@chenlee9835 Yeah, but I think the odds were about it being successful or not, and it was.
@@chenlee9835 And the worker who actually pulls the switch to turn the power off is JMS himself!
B5 had some of the best writing and acting ever, in a series that many disregard due to older effects-- folks are missing out. G'kar's speech about freedom in the Council after the fall of Narn is one of the best moments for me in any show or movie ever. RIP Andreas Katsulas.
His lecture about the search for god still gives me chills. It's the depth of the discourse in the show that makes it what it is. From G'Kar's speeches, to Delens wisdom, to Londo's insults there's just so much depth there that it's staggering.
True that. I'm rewatching right now and between Andreas Katsulas and Mira Furlan (and Richard Biggs and Michael O'Hare and Jerry Doyle) I'm just so sad at certain points. But their scenes ("We will be free," and "Star stuff," and "being free means we sacrifice ourselves"), are so so beautifully portrayed. Unforgettable. And RIP to them all.
@@sk1ppman Those were the three best actors in the show, hands down.
Many modern shows are affects only, with a story fit for a child. And B5 accurately modeled space combat far better than most other shows....ever. they actually lowered the quality later on.
@@icecold9511 The only modern show that comes close to Bab5 is The Expanse.
Some of the things I like about B5. People have pockets, people go to the bathroom, people spend and worry about money. In other words its a Real World.
This was unmatched in TV series before another great scifi pioneer, the remade Battlestar Galactica.
Those those were so much ahead of their time in story telling and realism. Later shows like GoT and Vikings owe a lot to B5 and BSG for showing that's it's possible to make such well-written series that is not just a collection of detached episodes of random encounters.
@@4Leka
Ever watch the original B5? I have to be honest. Its not very good.
@@stevenwiederholt7000 B5 hasn't aged well but did you mean the original BSG?
It was ridiculously cheesy and campy, and not in a good way. The new BSG is in a different league.
@@4Leka
Yes I meant the original. Very 1970's.
OTOH it did open the door for other Sci-Fi shows.
Ever check out the You Tube Channel DUST?
God I love that show. And I will honestly admit that I could barely see the screen through the tears when Sheridan vanished in the flash of light and B5 itself was destroyed. So many awesome storylines. So many awesome performances. An accessible awesome creator as I was a follower on the Usenet newsgroup and conversed with him on occasion. Proud owner of every DVD released of the series, even with the awful butchering of season one's widescreen conversion. And very very glad to see that the show is available again to new generations in a restored form. The B5 universe will hopefully continue to grow someday as more people discover it again.
As for the loss of so many of its cast too young: "Toast. To absent friends, in memory... still bright." - Sheridan
Agreed! Sleeping in Light along with so many other episodes was truly powerful. Let's not forget the musical score that accompanied our favorite characters in the final episode - especially when B5 is blowing up. Such a moving scene...like witnessing the loss of an old, faithful friend.
The internet newsgroup, and the website, The Lurkers Guide to Babylon 5, were awesome back then, as were their communities. I’ll never forget that I couldn’t watch Severed Dreams as it first aired, and my VCR glitched out and didn’t record it, but thankfully when I mentioned this online, a member of the B5 community online express shipped me a VHS tape containing the episode, so I was able to watch it a couple days late.
Ahhh the good ol USENET group. Fond memories of those discussions.
I'm stil not sure who is responsible for THE LURKER'S GUIDE, BUT IT IS STILL UP AND OPERATING AFTER nearly 30 years
My mum by mistake switched off the vcr during Shadow Dancing when I was at the local Trek con- my friend from that con then drove 5 hours that night to give me their copy of the ep. That was the glorious Fandom as I remember it. Good, happy days!!! Faith Manages.
Thanks for making this video. If there ever was a series I wish I could forget so I could experience it again, it's this one.
The first time watching the whole series, you love the storytelling.
The first re-watch, you notice that seeds are being planted in season 1 that don't come to fruition until season 4 or 5, and the anticipation heightens the joy.
The second re-watch, you start to realize that the seeds you saw in the first re-watch were just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more. So. Many. More.
Honestly, as much as I would love to watch it new again, it's the first and second re-watches that hit you the hardest.
I'll second that.
Everything about this show was epic: the story, the characters, the space battles are all top notch and they are what makes this series stand up to anything that has come along since.
Fun fact about the CGI animation: When the show was broadcast starting in the early nineties, high definition was just a pipe dream and we were limited to just 480i resolution on TV. That "i" stands for interlaced. Each frame of picture was comprised of 240 alternating lines. USUALLY, those lines would be of the same image...BUT the animators realized they could take advantage of the format and rendered at 60 FIELDS per second. This meant that the animation looked INCREDIBLY fluid and detailed during the original broadcast on our old CRT sets...but it also meant that when it came to DVD, the rendering method did NOT translate well and resulted in the blurry mess we got previous to the new remasters...even there, it's not the same look and feel as what we originally got. The best solution would be to completely re-render the scenes, but unfortunately, the data files weren't saved and were lost almost completely.
Additional fun fact: Because the original data was lost, when JMS went to create "The Lost Tales", he didn't have some of the starship models he needed. He turned to the fan community online and the fans helped him with fan created, show accurate models, which he then used in the movie.
A minor glimmer of hope there. It turns out chunks of the files are available because people that worked on the show kept their own copies so in effect we have backups of at least some of the data files. I doubt anybody has enough to just rerender the show exactly with zero work but I'd almost bet that they have almost all the ship models and would just have to recreate the scenes and render them. The bigger challenge would be the shots with compositing.
thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/07/babylon-5-fan-re-renders-shots-in-hd.html
And that explains why it looked so crap when I downloaded season one a few years back! I used to marvel at how amazing the cgi was on my old 17” Samsung when it originally broadcast in the 90’s...
There's some things they could do. Putting it through a frame buffer and a line doubler would really help. It would take some time though.
On google search for
Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales - DVD - Atmosphere VFX
It is a really good post from the person who recreated Babylon 5 for The Lost Tales and has some very nice renders of the model.
Have the box set and can agree on the CGI dvd quality. According to what I have read online the original live action footage was shot on 35mm film in a 16:9 aspect ratio to future proof the series (would do 4k wide screen no problem). The makers knew that wide screen was the future so shot it in that format. The CGI was rendered in the 4:3 format, Warner who financed it in the 90's didn't want to pay the extra $30k per episode to have the CGI done in 16:9 (more screen space) as no one at that time had a wide screen TV. Jump forward 30 yrs the live action scenes are still fine due to the film used but the CGI and mixed scenes have to be stretched and cropped to fit the widescreen aspect ratio, so looks poor. The ironic thing is the animators passed the files regarding the CGI to Warner so it could be re rendered in the 16:9 format. What did Warner do? Lose them..
Correction: Franke's music *was* recorded with an orchestra - Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra
I think you missed out on an interesting fact about it.
Deep Space Nine wouldn't've happened had Micheal not pitched B5 to Paramount. And even her rip-off was great!
There is no evidence that the creators of DS9 had seen the pitch JMS gave to Paramount execs. The Babylon 5 proposal may have given the execs the push they needed to give the green light to DS9 though.
@@brownro214 Can you explain the Leetas then?
@@ShatteredGlassUnicron And that they both have a character called Dukat, both series are set on space stations in the styx that become pivotal to the fate of the galaxy and each is commanded by a figure who trancends humanity to become a mythical being. I don't think it's coincidence that, just when B5 was wiping the floor with DS9 in the TV ratings of the time (i.e. season 3 of both series), the latter suddenly gets upgraded with a previously-unhinted-at load of weapons, Worf parachutes in and the series starts to get a ton of space battles. Then - for the last season - we get (for the first time in Star Trek history) a 14-episode story arc to create some semblance of a finale and Sisko (like Sheridan before him) disappears into the ether. Don't get me wrong - Star Trek DS9 really benefited from the improvements but that's an awful lot of 'coincidence' for a Star Trek series that had - hitherto - always followed a proven formula.
I heard that there was a rip-off of the B5 TV movie (3rd space) and used for Star Trek Voyager (scorpion part1 and 2) all of them are my favorites!
@@ShatteredGlassUnicron And Dukhat.
Before I watch this, I’d just like to say ONLY TEN!?
Woah! Did not know that JMS showed up in Thor!
That's a cool tidbit.
The man wrote a bunch of Thor comics.
@@JnEricsonx He wrote the film! He's credited for it!
@@JnEricsonx And Spider-Man.
@@TheJosep70 That's true. I loved that run with, I forget his name, the guy who tried to protect Peter from the "avatar of animal" vampire, who asked Peter about the source of his power, etc. It's been a while.
@@JnEricsonx Yes, Ezekiel and Morlun. But I think he retconned the character too much with the Spider totem thing, just my opinion.
don't forget the great actors and actresses..witch we never forget..and the numerous awards it has won..
I'm 37 and Babylon 5 was my fucking jam as a kid. I went to '96 Vorcon, got a few cool pictures and signatures, met all the amazing cast members. It was great. I was also around the AOL chat rooms they had for Babylon 5 in the mid-1990s and eventually started playing around with Lightwave 3D to make 3D art of Babylon 5 fighting Trek and Star Wars ships on an art website called SpaceBattles.com. Good times ...
Heavens, the dialogue on that show. I love that it wasn't just confined to one or two snarkers (despite Garibaldi doing his best to get them all :) ) but that EVERYONE on that show had memorable and/or insightful lines. And I've never had a villain I love to hate more than Bester.
I think having the loveable "Chekov" as a villain was masterful :)
Even silly things like, "Woo hoo?" and Delenn's hair and cramps.
"And what about you Vir? What do you want?"
"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations that some favours come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this. Can you arrange that for me Mr Morden?"
@@ishoottheyscore8970 At one time I thought Vir's finger wave was the Centauri version of the finger, since they have six "attributes," but then he did the same wave when Sheridan and Delenn left the station. Though maybe a was right the first time, and the wave to Sheridan and Delenn was a continuity error, LOL.
The Shadow vessels have no equal in sci-fi and there's something visceral about them. Nobody can see them and not shiver and want to run away.
nearly 30 years later and that scream as one goes past still sends shivers up my spine
What is truly scary avout them is that you need to immobilize them and focus fire on them with bullshit level weapons to destroy them, at no point a weak weapon destroys one, wich always reminds you of just how powerful they are and remain trought the show
I had the shadow rebirth scream as my notification tone on my phone for a couple of years.
Freaked out some but those who knew what it was hunkered down when they heard it. Certainly an intimidating sound.
My phone had B5 sounds all through it still. I had to change that one. Still gives me the chills
Such a good series... I was able to introduce my late partner to it and we watched it through more than once before her death last year. It was a great thing to bond over.
So sorry for your loss. Glad you had a great series like this to bond over
@@forger42 Thank you
Babylon 5 got me through an incredibly tough period of my life Dave, so I understand and sympathise for your loss and wish you all the best for the future... I hope to meet you one day in the third age of man...
@@planetdisco4821 Thanks...I appreciate it.
I was one of those who used the usenet newsgroups! It was GREAT! I actually talked with JMS twice and got responses! Even AFTER he worked 10-12 hours on the set and another 2-5 writing, he would still take time out of his day for his fans. Simply amazing!
Got to meet him back in 2010. I'm pretty sure my heart rate went up by about 20.
That's really awesome. It's an incredibly unique thing to have such a personal angle into the creation of a show. It's like a modern day AMA except far before it's time. Twitch chat before there was twitch chat although i'd dare assume that there might have been fewer voices to shout over haha. - Kr
He also had a topic on G.E.'s GEnie network. Definitely good reading!
Same here. It was dare I say so "alien" for a series creator to interact directly with the fans.
Thank God I'm a data squirrel... I saved the newsgroup posts on one of my old PCs.
JOhn.. I know the feeling JMS started a very funny trolling/snarky exchange WITH ME PERSONALLY on twitter.. That was a very good week.
I watched it on TV here in Australia. I ditched DS9 after watching a few episodes of B5. Then, while in hospital, I was bought the first season. After being discharged and recuperating. I got the rest of the seasons and binge-watched the whole series :) Sadly, so many of the actors have gone "exploring beyond the Rim" :(
I'm rewatching Babylon 5, I loved it when it first ran but haven't watched it since. Season I is better than I remember. Sinclair is so underrated, especially knowing Michael O'Hare had schizophrenia at the time.
I am always caught in the G'kar/Mollari interactions. Just the best acting, dialogue EVER!
@@cheeseburgerinparadise7124 especially the elevator scene which was written to be serious, but the actors performed it with some humor & JMS loved it that way
I don't really like O'Hare's portrayal of Sinclair. I feel like he's over acting, probably because he was mostly a stage actor. It's sad he had to deal with his mental issues, but B5 is much better off with him being replaced by Sheridan.
@@forger42 I'm kinda with you. I liked him as Sinclair, but Boxleitner as Sheridan was a definite upgrade.
Where are you watching it at? I'd love to restart that adventure again.
11: Londo 12: G'Kar
Thank - you . Living in Calgary, Alberta then; I was vocally active when this series ( RD Tv first ) was canceled locally again and again .
So strange to hear Meriadoc Brandybuck talking about Babylon 5.
he never watched it ffs commander susan who 6 52
@@sidlad8298 i cracked up at the pronunciation :) mind you, there were a number of times in the series when it was pronounced the same way and she corrected them.
I still consider this the best scifi show ever. Other underrated ones are Farscape & Andromeda. That was a period of time, about a decade of great creativity.
And now we have The Expanse. I'd put that show up there in the same conversation.
The fifth season of Andromeda was crap
I knew most of this already, but I am really happy for the recap in one video to make modern day people that don't want to watch Babylon 5 for some reason get interested in such a wonderful show.
B5 is awesome. Love your 10 standout choices 😎
I once heard it called “the most British SF show that the USA ever made” because of it’s style and concentration on characters (probably because UK shows always had to do that due to not having the budgets for big visual effects).
I think Blake's 7 was a big influence on JMS.
People call the CGI "crappy", but the most important thing to me was that objects in Space _moved_ exhibiting proper Newtonian physics, and they were _lit_ realistically (bright highlight & deep dark shadow).
P.S.: Thanks for using my favorite Starfury "flip" maneuver at 1:29!
Oh, and it's funny how you pronounced Ivanova's name the same wrong way as that ISN lady.
"Oh, and it's funny how you pronounced Ivanova's name the same wrong way as that ISN lady." He pronounced it wrong because he was reading a script written by someone else about a show he's never seen.
It wasn't crappy in its day and still holds up pretty well
Why, she's obviously some kind of nova :D
@@rjs69 A key point is that the show wasn't about the effects, the effects were in support of the story, and the story not only has aged well, but it is actually more relevant today. It's scary to watch "The Illusion of Truth" and think about today's "alternative facts."
Thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that way. No Trek, model or CGI, at any time looked as good as B5, even before movement comes into play.
And agreed: that flip with the correct thrusters firing is a definite highlight.
About the CGI, you should have covered that the first ones were done on Amiga computers using the Video Toaster. This allowed them to do the CGI at very reduced cost and rivaled what the top of the line systems could do.
It was stunning. One reason that I did not watch DS9 is it looked very bad in comparison.
According to the extras the battle for the station with Earth they were making it up to show time.
You can see a mistake when they put the wrong name on a ship being destroyed
@@jagsdomain203 They were constantly pushing the envelope for what could be done on that front at that time for a weekly show.
@@ExcelsiorsDomain its amazing what they did. It was not just the battle but you felt everytime someone got hit.
The music built every space seen.
If everything was as great nothing would be.
I thought the same but turns out only the pilot was done on Amiga, for the rest they used Pentiums.
To me, the Earth Alliance Omega-class destroyers are still some of the best looking ships (aesthetically and conceptually) in all sci-fi. I'm not sure you could have pulled them off in a TV show too well without the CGI.
B5 literally saved my life... one of the greatest shows ever made.
I remember that Straczynski once said in an interview, that he was heavily inspired by J.R.R. Tolkiens 'Lord Of The Rings' and that he wanted to create something similar in space. The epic atmosphere that humans as a young race play only one part in a mythical conflict that goes on for uncountable millenia. The rangers of B5 are obviously inspired by the rangers of LOTR, which would make the Minbari similar to the elves. Zahadum equals Mordor with its ancient shadows lurking from a time long forgotten and their return disbelieved by many at first. There're so many similiarities that it would fill hours of youtube videos too, I think. Yet B5 is so unique even today. I love it!
I was fortunate to watch it on TV back in secondary School to poly (senior high) and i can say it was great...
I am beyond delighted that we're getting a new animated movie this year, Babylon 5: The Road Home. Even after all these years and even with other sci-fi franchises overshadowing it, the Babylon 5 love still endures.
Although most will disagree, for me & others Babylon 5 was and so far is the greatest Sci Fi TV series of all time, 😎
Until I watched The Expanse it was, but the now the Expanse is my joint favourite.
@@ThePepperamiWideboy I've heard good things about The Expanse, now I just have to wait until Amazon make me a 'free month' offer, 😉😎
It's no surprise really. The fact that Straczynski wrote so many of the episodes is probably the key factor here. DS9, BSG, The Expanse are all pretty good at some things, but none have been able to reach those heights for me.
@@agent7796 Somehow I missed that. I have Prime, so will have to check it out.
@@stevenbrooks9838 B5 is not on Prime UK unfortunately, 😟
I for one will go out of my way to say this. The relationship between G'Kar and Londo make the par the most remembered "couple's" in all of TV history. Close second being would be Bert and Ernie.
To those of you who may never have read the books, the Lensman saga, written by E E Doc Smith back in the 30s-40s, is one of the primary inspirations behind B5. JMS is a huge fan of Doc Smith's sprawling space opera epic, and he pinched more than little bit of ideas from the grandmaster. Vorlons = Arisians, Shadows = Eddore. Rangers = non-Lensed Galactic Patrol members. If you've lived your life thus far without reading the Lensman saga by E E Smith, you're missing out on the LoTR of pulp sci fi. If it's a sci fi trope, there's a good chance it originated with Doc Smith's stories. You owe it to yourself to read them. Galactic Patrol, Gray Lensman, Second-Stage Lensman, and finally Children of the Lens. Triplanetary and First Lensman are prequels written after the main saga, sort of like how Lucas made the prequels after the OT.
Babylon 5 is still my favorite show, and had such a large impacton me. I shared it recently with my wife who now loves it and look forward to sharing the story with my kids.
Nice to see B5 getting love!
There were alot more stars that appeared on the show than the few mentioned. Here are a few more with sizeable screen credits (I'm sure I missed some)
Harlan Ellison, the sci-fi author, Bryan Cranston, Paul Winfield, Dwight Schultz, Aubrey Morris, Jr. , John Schuck, John Fleck, June Lockhart, Majel Barrett, Penn Jillette, Teller, Melissa Gilbert, David McCallum, Ron Canada, Clive Revill, Roy Dotrice, Paul Williams, Eric Pierpoint, Bruce McGill, Jessica Walter, Richard Moll, Scott Adams (Dilbert author), Jane Carr, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. ....
Someone else mentioned Michael York in another comment. The list could go on.
It's just as good on a recent rewatch as it was originally. Great chacaters, world building and actors. Also thanks for using one of my tweets ;)
Good video. Babylon 5 deserves more recognition.
If it was released today it would be called a modern political allegory. The fact that it was made in the 90s was incredible.
Trump's final months reminded me of President Clark's plight.
The political allegory was just as relevant then as it is now, only then it was a warning. As the shadow of the Ministry of Truth and Nightwatch descend on the USA for real, it’s obvious that nobody is coming to save us.
I've just seen a reaction channel (Mild Fuzz TV) review Confessions and Lamentations and that episode has stood up incredibly well
@@mdsf01 Yes, a stolen election and a President who left office peacefully. Brainwashed much?
Wonderful, agree 100 percent, a fine tribute to an out of this world series,thanks.
As a (former) stage hand with some film/television experience, the one that blows me away is, of 770 days of filming, there were NO weekend shoot days, and they only had 28 days of significant overtime. This wasn't a budget thing - JMS just designed the production that way. They never went over budget. Firefly was canceled because Whedon was doubling or tripling his budget on every episode. Over on DS9, Terry Farrell had 18-20 hour days almost every day, in part thanks to her make-up, which was basically hand done every day.
In terms of known horror film actors, Tony Todd was a captain in the pilot film for Crusade, A Call To Arms. He's known for being Candyman and also for being a recurring character in the Final Destination films.
Also two Star Trek characters: Worf's brother Kurn, and the adult iteration of Jake Sisko
@@willmfrank oh of course, I was just mentioning the horror films as that was the section I felt he could have been mentioned in.
How the Hell did I not recognize Strazynski in Thor? Wow!
And I have loved this show since it first hit the airwaves...
I have it all on DVD...
Plus the movies and follow-on series attempts...
"Crusades" had promise but no support from the network and the "Rangers" were just off...
Incredible show. I miss it. Storytelling is not done anymore. I like all other fans looked forward to each new adventure.
A Scottish accent saying the word Babylon is just a pleasure to my ears
Good ears Mr. Macguffin.
Sounds like a sober Drinker.
Thank you for this. This is wonderful, informative, and beautifully researched.
Thank you for taking the time to watch!
Here is fun fact number 11. The CGI for the first three or four seasons was created on off the shelf retail computers. These computers were upgraded with a hardware card in a software package. This hardware and software combination allowed the layering of special effects called genlock. What computer was this? What hardware software combination was the add-on solution? The commodore Amiga with the video toaster card and software.
That is cool!
By season 4 we were all PC. Still off the shelf computers running Win NT. It was edited on Avid.
Many young people’s only knowledge of this series is that Sheldon Cooper hates it.
Sheldon Cooper and by extension Chuck Lorrie is an ass. The Big Bang Theory comes across more as making fun of the caricatures rather than a story about characters.
@@sk1ppman Explanation is that The Big Bang Theory prays on nerd culture and not celebrates it. While it tries to show opposite. It is show made by school bullies about nerds. Not show made by nerds for nerds.
Who's Sheldon Cooper and why is it relevant?
Sheldon Cooper can kiss my pouch.
@@modisp That's a good point. I enjoyed it for a while, but something about it turned me off eventually. Something Kayle Cuoco said or did I think. Then I was reminded (which you should never do) that these are just actors, not characters.
Good video, AMAZING SHOW. Any chance you will cover "Space: Above and Beyond?" Another classic that does not get the credit it deserves.
I think the next couple of videos are X-File and Twin Peaks mate. BUT, we're totally happy to look into this!
I'm still mad about that cliffhanger 25 years later
I'll think a bottle of scotch to that one. I just hope my maker isn't some geek in a lab coat
@@NaatClark Yes, it was unfortunate. It was on TV (german localization) around here for a while and didn't even make it through that one season. I think it was on pretty late in the night. Some really great episodes. It was like an anti-war sci-fi show with horror elements.
I love how many people comment on how good this series is (which it IS, undoubtedly) by comparing it to others. It doesn’t need that. It stands on its own merits. Comparisons invalidate the point.
I hope the younger generations get the chance to find out and love this marvellous gem.
It's available on HBO Max, although for some reason they don't have the TV movies except for the pilot.
UA-cam asked me how it's doing today. I told it very good. I gotta say, GIA has been on point with the recommendations.
Wow. I had no idea JMS was involved in Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. I was seriously thinking about that show yesterday randomly.
Nice video. It's always fun to see someone exploring what must be the best science fiction property of the 90's.
B5 was brilliant: a perfect amalgamation of philosophy, psychology, sociology, poli-sci and damn good writing! Excellent acting and character development...You could watch each episode over and over and plumb new depths of meaning each time. A masterpiece in any gendre...
I don't get people's criticism of the CGI. yeah sure it's not hyper-realistic, but still miles ahead of Star Trek in terms of Spacebattles and the stuff we get to see actually makes some sense. Animated stuff doesnt look real either, yet it's still very enjoyable. Long story short, the CGI is fine and actually has a ton of incredible designs.
Found this really interesting! Thanks, guys! 🌼
one of my favourite shows of all time, gets regular rewatches and gets better with each viewing!
Great job here!! Fantastic series!!
The series 5 final was original filmed in season 4 to give closure in case the last season wasn't picked up.
The 11th incredible thing about "Babylon 5," which should actually have been the #1 point of all this, is the phenomenal cast of the show. I know some of the cast is mentioned throughout this video, like Bill Mumy, Patricia Tallman, and Michael O'Hare, but that's just skimming the surface. Writing is one thing, and JMS did an absolutely fantastic job with the entire story. But it would be nothing without the cast. Especially Peter Jurasik as Londo and especially the late, great Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar. "B5" is the story of "the last, best hope for peace," and that entire concept was embodied in the storyline of Londo and G'Kar. Absolutely incredible, all of them. I wish Andreas and all who have passed beyond the rim with him (Richard Biggs, Mira Furlan, Jerry Doyle, Stephen Furst, etc.) were still with us. I will never, ever tire of this show. It is the best sci-fi show I've ever seen, bar none.
Hi
I enjoyed your video, but you missed
A little thing.
JMS's first movie screenplay credit was Changling, the Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie movie that was nominated for 8 Baftas & 3 Oscars.
That's pretty impressive for a first attempt.
Also: Not ONE word of the script was changed.
That's unheard of.
Babylon 5 is one of the most Science'y SciFi shows out there. Not only Star Furies was picked up by NASA, but the gravity on the station makes sense, it also shows some of the ides of Tsiolkovskiy regarding cosmic evolution (Deconstruction of fallen stars), even the concept of Hyperspace is possible according to string theory.
An underrated hidden gem of a show. Loved it back in the 90s. Great characters and actors who portrayed them. Unfortunately in the 20 plus years since it finished.about 7 or 8 actors who played major parts have passed away.
The most recent of these being Mira Furlan, who went beyond the rim on january 20th this year
I love both Star Trek and B5, however, I so wish they were able to keep model miniatures throughout the shows. I know CG is cheaper, more convinient, and has come fairly close to real models in recent years, but nothing beats well done physical shots. It says a lot that the Refit Enterprise from TMP and the Ent-E from First Contact hold up better than almost anything else.
Pure CGI effects tend to age way, way worse too. I don't mind B5's effects looking dated though. Seeing them always brings me back to how amazing they were at the time.
Greatest show of all time.
Season. 5 is something we don't like to talk about!
The music was amazing. The music makes the show as well. Franky was an amazing composer
Season 5 wasn't that bad
@@darkleome5409 maybe it wasn't but compared to what came before it was just Boing.
Like the ST prequels Just boring.
@@darkleome5409 Season 5 is kinda removed from the rest of the series, since both the main story arcs are resolved in season four. Perhaps if they had explored the whole telepath war-thing more, it would have been more interesting?
Day of the Dead was a great episode in season 5! And the final episode...
@@ZlothZloth the only one that stuck with me was the 2 cleaners watching a battle.
But I had no real connection with them.
Dont get me wrong season 1-4 is like ot ST amazing.
Season 5 is like the prequils Boring t I be but ok with othets.
my Favorite space show ever!!!!!!
Thank you for doing this
Love your breakdown! I didn't know all of these and it's fun to learn more about it. I look forward to more content from your channel.
Whenever I try to get across why the show is awesome in the shortest amount of time I show people 3 clips: first is the clip of the human suing one of the traditional "grey" aliens for the alleged abduction of his human ancestor on Earth several hundred years ago to get across the out-there story telling an humor. Second is really any of the Narn vs Shadow fleet battles to show the amazing tense action sequences, and last is the scene with Vir and G'kar on the elevator to showcase the powerful emotion's the show can evoke. Stargate, Deep Space 9, and Babylon 5 are truly fantastic one of a kind shows that will never come again...
Elevators, now I'm reimagining G'Kar reminding Londo of the penalty for the death of any Centauri caused by any Narn... Which I think included the perpetrators own family... But he can get away with it by doing absolutely nothing, lol...
B5 was a once in a lifetime experience.
Easily one of my top 3 sci fi franchises. This show had heart and the story was beautifully told.
When I was a Network and Unix admin for UC Riverside in the 90's I had a dual channel ISDN circuit (fast 144 kbps LOL) direct from my home to the University. I was on the newsgroups and remember the posts from Straczynski. My older brother had an editing studio and I convinced him to get the Video Toaster.. Ahh, those were the days.
Conceptual consultant: Harlan Ellison. Need a say more?
Also the author that inspired the terminator!
Always loved this series, nice facts on it thank you
B5 one of my all time favorite sci-fi shows (even if I couldn't stand Commander Shinclare in s1) The character development was so great and fare reaching. It was also fun to sit seasons later sometime and FINALLY being able to put together the parts of what had happened before.. season 1 episode 20 "Babylon Squared" being revealed in season 3's two parter War with out end (16 and 17) it's really made you think about every little thing and how it might tie in later.
B5 was a amazingly good show. It was ahead of it's time. Thanks for sharing your video.
I really loved this show.
The new HBO Max edition is glorious. It gives B5 the visual impact it always deserved. I was a fan from the beginning, and now I can say to DS9, nice try ...
Pretty good video, I'll sub and see what comes next.
B5 always felt like a visual novel to me. Each Episode... well they were each chapter in said visual novel. They flowed and coalesced perfectly to me. I know others disagree, but I'm not a super critical 'fan'.
I love Babylon 5 I just rebinged it, well hence me looking it up on UA-cam. Its so sad that it`s not more well known . My brother and I always watched it on German tv as kids. It was amazng now to binge it and hear everyone`s real accents. You can`t imagine my face when Molari started to talk :). Too bad so many of the main cast are dead :(
It's nice to see a fresh video like this, I'm a season in to a rewatch and hilariously started my Babblecom 5 playlist here just before HBOMax picked it up out of the blue and enhanced it to boot! It's a great summary just 2 little things watch a video for how Ivanova is pronounced and as I only found out recently you pronounce Christopher Franke as Frank-ee I've been getting it wrong for decades!
I will forever be haunted that we pronounced Ivanova wrong! Thanks for the kind words and apologies for the butcher, that's on us.
Great series, and now the whole series is on HBO Max . Can't wait for the reboot
Nice! I'm always here for videos that give credit to Babylon 5. I picked up on it just as the final season aired. Watched it all the summer before and fell in love. It's remastered on HBO Max, which it really needed because the dvd box set has messed up aspect ratios and it looks terrible there.
Nice, you had a few facts in there I didn’t know about AND you reminded me that it’s on HBOMax now!
best sci fi series ever
I loved this show so much. Easily favorite science fiction ever. I used to ho back and watch it once every few years. Always made me feel grounded.
This is the only scify tv series that i watched 4 times, and i plan to rewatch a couple of times with my children. Stargate i watched fro fun 3 times. But Babylon 5, i watch because it's brilliant !
The actors, the acting, the scriping, the arch of the story. Better than Star Trek. The story line foreshadowed our current situation with a potential dictator about to Allie with foreign rdictitirial regimes to forge vast global chains of dictatorships
Amen!
The villains who remained scary, imposing and powerful trought the show even after their "defeat"?
The only Star Trek show that comes close it Deep Space 9 -- Oh, wait; they stole the idea from Babylon 5.
Always maintain the difference between the 2 universes is primarily the utopian vision of humanity in Star Trek contrasted starkly with the humans of B5, who were characterized as actual people with human flaws that in Star Trek were generally reserved for the alien cultures, like Ferengi greed for example.
I was a huge Star Trek fan, but I can't imagine going back and watching the whole series beginning to end like I just did with Bab 5.
I'm watching it for the first time on hbo max. Beautiful HD☺
Great top 10 list. While JMS is awesome and a really good man, credit needs to go to the staff and producers for getting so many big names to star in this "little sci fi" show. Stephen Furst, who played Flounder in "Animal House", Andreas Katsulas, who starred in "Next of Kin" with Patrick Swayze, at least 2 Star Trek series and "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford, Bruce Boxleitner and his wife at the time Melissa Gilbert. All big name actors at the time that took a chance on this show. Even the supporting cast are all well known actors of sci fi.