this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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Should I Give Babylon 5 Another Chance? (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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As a Sci-Fi fan I've been a huge fan of shows like Battlestar Galactica, The Expanse, Terminator: TSCC, Star Trek, etc. I keep hearing Babylon 5 is awesome.

I was too young at the time to watch the series when it was on. But then as an older teen/ young adult I decided to give it a try. Everything was so cringe it was hard to get through 3 episodes. IMO the whole vibe was "safe..." maybe even a bit corny--not the intense, exciting, politically-tense space opera that I was told it was.

So maybe the beginning episodes are just world-building? What do other people think?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Yes, 100%. It is by far my favorite show.

The first season is rough to get through, especially the first half. But the payoff is 100% worth it.

It's funny that one show can have some of the absolute worst acting and dialog in TV history, while also having some of the absolute best acting and dialog in TV history.

Even if everything else sucked (and it does NOT), the show would be worth watching just for the character development and story arc of Londo and G'Kar. Hell, just the burning elevator scene is worth watching the whole show for. 😁

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

Londo: "Help! Can anybody hear me?!"

G'kar: (quietly) "I can hear you."

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I feel like people who don't like the show totally miss what's going on with it. It's not realistic. It's a bunch of people in alien makeup on a completely impractical space station. Some of the acting is corny. Some of the plots are corny. Some of the dialog would be better in the moment if random fans had edited it. But it's the overall impact that counts.

It's the visceral reaction to londo and g'Kar, and the way it keeps changing and rearranging. It's how I still get fucked up thinking about Marcus, or the gropos or brother edward. It's how i've watched the show time after time but i've only been able to watch sleeping in the light twice because it's just too much. Would that scene with John and delenn be so gut wrenchingly painful without the corny acting, and all the heavy handed b plots, and dopey 1990's future tech that pounds into your head that they're people just like we are? I don't think it would.