I don't contest the "Babylon 5 is best", but I gotta contest the reasoning. The planned out story is nothing like the story we actually got.
Delenn was supposed to run away with Sinclair's baby in season 2 to return her races' souls, the shadows were supposed to be a red herring distracting from the fact that the Minbari were set to reopen their war with humanity after getting their souls back, leading to season 4 ending with Babylon 5 being destroyed by them. It was kinda a mess and ran headfirst into a number of casting problems and what we got was better.
What actually carried that show was its characters. Every main character, of which it suffered a definite surplus, was just appallingly well written and well played, at least until season 5. The plot was held together by individual characters doing exactly what they thought was best, discovering and overcoming their own weaknesses, in a way that was just fantastic. The quality of the characters, in fact, let them avoid the Star Trekesque [technobabble problem] [token aliens are different subplot] [technobabble solution] format more often than not.
It's one of those cases where what made it excellent sci-fi was exactly what a mundane show needs too.
Delenn was supposed to run away with Sinclair's baby in season 2 to return her races' souls, the shadows were supposed to be a red herring distracting from the fact that the Minbari were set to reopen their war with humanity after getting their souls back, leading to season 4 ending with Babylon 5 being destroyed by them. It was kinda a mess and ran headfirst into a number of casting problems and what we got was better.
Hadn't heard that version (was that from the notes that JMS published a few years back?) - although it was obvious that the plot had major changes (e.g. B5 destroyed and B4 was "stolen" and moved forward in time to replace it) but I think if you look at most stand-alone films and novels you'll find that the plot goes through huge changes during development - Star Wars IV (before it became a franchise) is a case in point. The point was that B5 had a plan from the start whereas most TV shows pretty obviously make it up season-by-season with the possibility of - if the cancellation notice arrives in time - finding the one-armed man in the final episode.
Actually, I think "making it up as you go along" was appropriate for the X-files, since it was all about paranoid conspiracy theories, which in "reality" are continually retconned to fit inconvenient facts and the public mood...
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday January 24 2017, @07:39PM
I don't contest the "Babylon 5 is best", but I gotta contest the reasoning. The planned out story is nothing like the story we actually got.
Delenn was supposed to run away with Sinclair's baby in season 2 to return her races' souls, the shadows were supposed to be a red herring distracting from the fact that the Minbari were set to reopen their war with humanity after getting their souls back, leading to season 4 ending with Babylon 5 being destroyed by them. It was kinda a mess and ran headfirst into a number of casting problems and what we got was better.
What actually carried that show was its characters. Every main character, of which it suffered a definite surplus, was just appallingly well written and well played, at least until season 5. The plot was held together by individual characters doing exactly what they thought was best, discovering and overcoming their own weaknesses, in a way that was just fantastic. The quality of the characters, in fact, let them avoid the Star Trekesque [technobabble problem] [token aliens are different subplot] [technobabble solution] format more often than not.
It's one of those cases where what made it excellent sci-fi was exactly what a mundane show needs too.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Wednesday January 25 2017, @12:12PM
Delenn was supposed to run away with Sinclair's baby in season 2 to return her races' souls, the shadows were supposed to be a red herring distracting from the fact that the Minbari were set to reopen their war with humanity after getting their souls back, leading to season 4 ending with Babylon 5 being destroyed by them. It was kinda a mess and ran headfirst into a number of casting problems and what we got was better.
Hadn't heard that version (was that from the notes that JMS published a few years back?) - although it was obvious that the plot had major changes (e.g. B5 destroyed and B4 was "stolen" and moved forward in time to replace it) but I think if you look at most stand-alone films and novels you'll find that the plot goes through huge changes during development - Star Wars IV (before it became a franchise) is a case in point. The point was that B5 had a plan from the start whereas most TV shows pretty obviously make it up season-by-season with the possibility of - if the cancellation notice arrives in time - finding the one-armed man in the final episode.
Actually, I think "making it up as you go along" was appropriate for the X-files, since it was all about paranoid conspiracy theories, which in "reality" are continually retconned to fit inconvenient facts and the public mood...