B5 and the mainstream

[Dr Maturin]

<<What is this internet of which you speak?>>

It's mark of the beast, man. Stay away from it.

[FuryPilot]

Originally posted by Capt.Montoya
...the city is Houston, BTW.

Lived there, done that.

Moved.

FP
(who loves Colorado)

[grumbler]

I would argue that B5 was not mainstream due to its very nature. It was a work of love by a very few people who had a vision of what SF should be - and a vision that, frankly, differed from the mainstream in several important areas. As a result of their refusal to compromise on what the show was to look like, it only came to life in a small and nearly-deserted theater out on the edge of "town."

It ever had strong backing and had a miniscule budget for what it was trying to do. Most of the budget limitations didn't show, and those that did were cleverly built into a kind of 'we want the sets to look cheap, because it is OUR signature look" mentality.

As we saw when people who really WERE experts in "mainstreaming" shows (aka the "TNT suits") got involved, the B5 universe and the mainstream were an exposive combination. The result was the cancellation of Crusade, strangled in its crib.

I don't particularly care that B5 is not "mainstream." This is actually pretty much because I don't care for the "mainstream" much, but also because I think I can see what would have happened if B5 had been a "mainstream hit." B5 did what it did, and had so little interference from the suits, simply because no one in management cared about it all that much. It paid for itself, week by week, but the suits all had bigger fish to fry and so B5 was allowed to be what it was through benign neglect. Had it been a megahit from Season 2 or 3, I doubt season 4 would have been made, because all the old "notes" issues would have been present as each WB exec with any power tryied to grab a piece of the glory, for "succcess has many fathers but failure is an orphan." Thank god B5 was allowed to be the bastard stepchild and succeed in every important area bar fame, because "you have a choice: fame or every virtue bar fame."

[Dr Maturin]

I agree with grumbler. One of the reasons I have always like SF is because I am a nonconformist and I like to be different. If everyone liked B5, I probably wouldn't.

Mainstream shcmainstream. The DVD sales kicked ass, so who cares whether or not it's mainstream?

[CRONAN]

Good thing jms isn't running for president.

[bakana]

I agree that for it's time, Trek was the best we had ever been given,

Disagree.
Both the Original (Rod Serling) Twilight Zone and Science Fiction Theater were better by a Large margin.
And both preceeded Trek.

[CRONAN]

Babylon 5 is the best damned thing we've ''been given'' in this or any other time frame period.

[circularREASON]

I like B5 cause it was definately NOT mainstream.

Remember mainstream at the time B5 was showing consisted of ''TREK''.

I dont know about you lot but I got a bit sick of 'Warp Speed' and the new 'posiwatthefuckulator' which absolutely no-one explained either what it was or how to use it. It was sloppy folks.

B5 was explained - it could happen - it was based on real science - ie the station rotating to create gravity - instead of the TREK method of ( I dont know really but it was all instantly forgotten ).

lets face it - B5 rocks.

Nothing else comes close.

[Dr Maturin]

<<instead of the TREK method of ( I dont know really but it was all instantly forgotten ).>>

Graviton emitters or something. What's funny is that discovering what gravity is (in this case a particle) would be a huge thing, and warp engines would pale in comparison to it.