B5 and the mainstream

[DGTWoodward]

Originally posted by circularREASON
for me it is all summed up in one line from the series.

''In Memory still bright'' Now when I put on the dvds my son asks me things about the stories and about the show - so in a sense someone else is Discovering B5 , and here I am re-living the experience all over again.

Faith Manages....

This is happening with us too. FIREBIRD and I have a 7yr old boy, Luke, and he enjoys B5. At this stage it is more along the lines of "I like that man with big hair" (Londo) or "That is a very pretty lady" (just about ANY female member of the cast). He has already met Julie Caitlin Brown in Milton Keynes earlier this month (along with Richard Kiel, Margot Kidder, Dirk Benedict, Paul Darrow and many others) and is looking forward to meeting Jason Carter in Feb next year. He can even hum the theme tune to Blake's 7! I am certain that these childhood images will stay with and influence him in later life - just as they did with me. Some of my earliest recreational memories are of watching things like WAR OF THE WORLDS, THIS ISLAND EARTH and FORBIDDEN PLANET on TV as a child. I have since grown up enjoying SF and fantasy/space fantasy films/tv/books into my adult life. As happened with my mother and me, so (I hope) it is happening with Luke and FIREBIRD and I.

[Dr Maturin]

<<Is it the complexity of the story?
The complexity of the characters?
The depth of the writing?
Is it prejudice against SF?
Are people reacting badly to the CGI?>>

Well, you can't even make it to any of these without first getting past the fourth option. To the average person, B5 is just another Star Trek show.

Some people think it's the same show! Here is just one example from a simple google search:

"The Trek factor

If you're not up on your Star Trek, you can forget about getting or keeping a geek dude. And I'm not just talking vintage-era Captain Kirk and Spock either. You've got to be up on your The Next Generation, your Deep Space Nine, your Babylon 5. Armed with your own knowledge of Federation policies, you can better gauge when and how to act."

http://www.completeevil.com/geek.html

[bakana]

There is also the strange but true fact that many TV Actors don't actually Watch very much TV.

At least half of the B5 actors I've seen at conventions have stated that, for various reasons, They didn't watch Babylon 5.

IOW, in Hollywierd, people are mostly familiar with the shows their own particular group of Friends are working on.
Or shows that their agent is trying to get Them on.

[circularREASON]

for me it is all summed up in one line from the series.

''In Memory still bright''

Those of us who love it 'REALLY' love it.

Myself I look back with fond memories about the series and the feeling it gave me at the time of a sense of wonder.

Now when I put on the dvds my son asks me things about the stories and about the show - so in a sense someone else is Discovering B5 , and here I am re-living the experience all over again.

With a potential B5 movie on the horizon I am sure even more people will discover B5.

Faith Manages....

[Ranger1]

Originally posted by Satai Delenn
That number is getting even smaller the more the years pass by and nothing new in the b5 universe peaks the publics interest in the show

I just think the opposite,all of us who saw B5 when it was aired still love it,or at least remember it,with these new B5 dvd's a lot of people are first opening up to this wonderful universe called Babylon 5.
I know few personally who didnt saw the show when it was aired,now that they had the chance to get it on dvd they are like "hey you know that show isn't bad".

[Satai Delenn]

Babylon 5 is now off the air and when it was on the air I think it was considered a cult show with a small following of fans .That number is getting even smaller the more the years pass by and nothing new in the b5 universe peaks the publics interest in the show.we will see more famous people like Shannon making comments like that.Sad really .

[CRONAN]

Well, its been over six years since any new episodes were made, so its not as high profile as current SF, and becomes less so with each passing day. It's rarely on tv nowadays. Also, its probably a distant memory to those who seldom/rarely watched the show while it was on, peripherally. That's not to say it hasn't made its mark, but only in certain circles, not the mainstream (I think).

Also, B5 is less known in foreign countries than it is in the US (the extent varies from country to country i believe, in many countries B5 has never even seen the light of day), and as old generations die out and newer generations come into being, its memory will fade from what one might percieve today as common knowledge.

Or something like that : _ /

[vacantlook]

Shannen Doherty

Oh, Miss Former Host of Scare Tactics should talk.

[go4zathras]

I saw an interview with Shannen Doherty in a magazine a year ago. They were asking her questions about a series she was doing and the subject of B5 and its fans came up. She
replied (paraphrasing a bit) "Babylon 5. . .I don't know that show. Does it have a big following and the fans are all nuts about it?"
It kind of bugged me that she had never heard of it. And it got me thinking. . .why can't B5 be one of those shows everyone is familiar with? What is preventing this from happening? Why do so many people react like Shannen did? (like Garibaldi said,
I think about these things!)
Is it the complexity of the story?
The complexity of the characters?
The depth of the writing?
Is it prejudice against SF?
Are people reacting badly to the CGI?
Might it even be (please don't flame me for saying this) the title? I don't mean to bash my precious but are there people out there for whom the title doesn't roll off the tongue like 'Star Trek' or 'South Park' does?
I would like to hear your theories. . .especially in regard to
what this might mean for the success level of TMoS.