Hello fellow B5 enthusiasts!!
I have read this forum for a long time, and have always enjoyed the thoughts and viewpoints of its participants, as well as valuing it for the continued information on developments within the B5 universe. As many of you have, I watched the series from the very beginning and have watched it several more times since. I have also read the books, particularly enjoying the three trilogies.
My biggest issue with B5 actually has nothing to do with B5 itself, it is the issue of constantly having to defend the series to all of my family, friends, etc...who are Star Trek and Star Wars fanatics, and for some reason, cannot appreciate the genius behind the B5 universe.
Don't get me wrong - I like ST and SW too, but B5 speaks to me on a completely different level, and one that - for me at least - is more realistic. The utopian vision of Roddenberry and crew whereby there is no longer any hunger, money, prejudice, etc...in the federation is a great ideal, but not one that I can realistically imagine. The original star trek was made when we were still in the cold war era, and most of the villians there represented that kind of thinking to me. The romulans and the klingons sat on their nukes on their side of the nuetral zones, and we sat on ours - so to speak. Yes - there was the occasional confrontation, but still - each side was well aware of what the other one could do, and would only push so far. Also - in the ST world, most everything was neatly wrapped up and solved in the one hour time slot each week which led to a lot of varied stories and topics, but - IMO - lacked story-line depth. Later incarnations of the series did attempt to address that, but certainly not on the level of a series-long story arc. Star Wars addressed some of these issues by not being invloved with Earth in any way. They had much more creative freedom for that very reason in my opinion. Because of the fact that there is no planet earth there, there is no specific time or frame of reference for comparison, so you can just judge the SW universe by the merits of its story, and that is - again in my opinion - an advantage. B5 - on the other hand, does include earth, and in fact earth plays a very central role. Even though it is set in the future, it is nice to see that JMS brought along the same everyday things that we deal with now in our own time, and by doing so - makes the experience seem more real. For example - there are no transporters on our ships. We use shuttles in and out of the station and from ship to ship - seems realistic. 'Down below' on the station shows that hunger, poverty, etc...are still things that we have not conquered. Money - credits - is still an issue, etc...I could go on and on, but you get my point.
The fact that B5 is a series long story, and has several sub-plots and mini-stories along the way - I would think these folks would appreciate the creativity and effort it had to take to pull that off, yet all I get is grief from them about watching it over and over. I really wish they could see what I see in B5. As many times as I have seen it, as many times as I have re-read the books, I am always amazed that each and every time - I see something I missed all the times before, and it is like discovering it all over again.
I have read this forum for a long time, and have always enjoyed the thoughts and viewpoints of its participants, as well as valuing it for the continued information on developments within the B5 universe. As many of you have, I watched the series from the very beginning and have watched it several more times since. I have also read the books, particularly enjoying the three trilogies.
My biggest issue with B5 actually has nothing to do with B5 itself, it is the issue of constantly having to defend the series to all of my family, friends, etc...who are Star Trek and Star Wars fanatics, and for some reason, cannot appreciate the genius behind the B5 universe.
Don't get me wrong - I like ST and SW too, but B5 speaks to me on a completely different level, and one that - for me at least - is more realistic. The utopian vision of Roddenberry and crew whereby there is no longer any hunger, money, prejudice, etc...in the federation is a great ideal, but not one that I can realistically imagine. The original star trek was made when we were still in the cold war era, and most of the villians there represented that kind of thinking to me. The romulans and the klingons sat on their nukes on their side of the nuetral zones, and we sat on ours - so to speak. Yes - there was the occasional confrontation, but still - each side was well aware of what the other one could do, and would only push so far. Also - in the ST world, most everything was neatly wrapped up and solved in the one hour time slot each week which led to a lot of varied stories and topics, but - IMO - lacked story-line depth. Later incarnations of the series did attempt to address that, but certainly not on the level of a series-long story arc. Star Wars addressed some of these issues by not being invloved with Earth in any way. They had much more creative freedom for that very reason in my opinion. Because of the fact that there is no planet earth there, there is no specific time or frame of reference for comparison, so you can just judge the SW universe by the merits of its story, and that is - again in my opinion - an advantage. B5 - on the other hand, does include earth, and in fact earth plays a very central role. Even though it is set in the future, it is nice to see that JMS brought along the same everyday things that we deal with now in our own time, and by doing so - makes the experience seem more real. For example - there are no transporters on our ships. We use shuttles in and out of the station and from ship to ship - seems realistic. 'Down below' on the station shows that hunger, poverty, etc...are still things that we have not conquered. Money - credits - is still an issue, etc...I could go on and on, but you get my point.
The fact that B5 is a series long story, and has several sub-plots and mini-stories along the way - I would think these folks would appreciate the creativity and effort it had to take to pull that off, yet all I get is grief from them about watching it over and over. I really wish they could see what I see in B5. As many times as I have seen it, as many times as I have re-read the books, I am always amazed that each and every time - I see something I missed all the times before, and it is like discovering it all over again.
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