25 Years Ago Today...

[Looney]

It is now 25 years since "The Gathering" started airing in the US. The Feb 22 date is the Monday of the week it aired. Most stations aired it over the weekend. I think there were only a few stations that aired it on Monday night Feb 22nd.

The Satellite feed did go out on Feb 20/21. I arranged a gathering of my own at a local Pizza Hut. We hooked up to their TV and showed the videotape that a friend had recorded off the satellite feed. We had a group of around 30 or so people to watch it. We would later on watch episodes in a local sports bar on one of their big screen TVs.

WOW! I don't think I watched one episode of the original run with anyone else. Always alone in a dark room.... I REALLY wish I had a group to watch it with back then. I was forever telling people about it and trying to explain, but nobody got it.

[sftv]

25th Anniversary of The Gathering

It is now 25 years since "The Gathering" started airing in the US. The Feb 22 date is the Monday of the week it aired. Most stations aired it over the weekend. I think there were only a few stations that aired it on Monday night Feb 22nd.

The Satellite feed did go out on Feb 20/21. I arranged a gathering of my own at a local Pizza Hut. We hooked up to their TV and showed the videotape that a friend had recorded off the satellite feed. We had a group of around 30 or so people to watch it. We would later on watch episodes in a local sports bar on one of their big screen TVs.

[Looney]

You know what is amazing about that is that even back then people were mean on the internet. Now people actually make a living from getting on the internet and being mean.

I define that as people who make money off of "mean" blogs full of lies and their own hateful opinions that they try to sell as facts.

People who are "mean" because they come up with ways to scam people through the internet.

And then there are people who are "mean" because they just want attention.

And maybe worst of all is people who are being "mean" because it makes them feel good.

And we all know that this list could go on and on....

[B5-Stefan]

Because it's about a JMS tweet, it could be at "General Discussions".
But it's specifically about the Babylon5 24th jubilee.
So I revived this thread.
The Original tweeter focused on the series for 24th birthday. He overlooked, that Babylon 5 is one year older ("The Gathering"). But never mind.

Kaarlo Moran:

@straczynski Happy 24 years! #Babylon5

Captain Rhubarb:

Along with rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5, it was the first time I remember any show runner actively interacting with the online fan community.

(Link to )The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/

J. Michael Straczynski answered:

Yeah, I was the first one to do it consistently...everybody at Warners was shocked..."how can you go online, those people are mean" one of them literally said. Well, if you're gonna treat fans in a patronizing fashion, sure. Coming from the ranks of fandom, it just made sense.

Those were the days ...
Stefan

--
Lyssa Deradi : "Did they live happily every after?"
[ItB]

[B5-Stefan]

Yes, agree on all points!

Some of the cast (for me) are stronger than others, but that may just be the way they are written as opposed to the acting.

For instance, Claudia Christian has done better work elsewhere, but it's probably the 'schoolboy humour' stuff that never gelled for me with Ivanova, and it always comes off as a bit forced. But that's probably just me not enjoying JMS slightly 'silly' sense of humour. I've made the comparison before, but watch her in 'Freaks & Geeks' and it's night and day! Her acting there is very naturalistic and she pulls off comedy effortlessly. In B5 it never worked for me.

I know "Boom shaka laka." [Acts of Sacrifice]
But overall I disagree about the Ivanova performance.
Think of the Ivanova-Talia encounters and much more "severe" stuff, where she was really GOD.

I did continue on to watch up to Intersections in real time (what an episode! Probably one of my favourites), so had a good time re-watching this run of very strong episodes.

My Warehouse 13 rerun is over and I promised myself to then launch the Babylon 5 rerun.
But sigh, there are yet unseen DVDs on the shelf. And because a B5 rerun is long-lasting, I decided to view first "North and South" which did lay a really veeeery long time on the shelf.
(And which I'm now viewing the very first time on DVD

B5-Stefan

--
"Please ring, if an answer is required"
"Please knock, if an answer is not required"
[Winnie the Pooh, Chapter 4]

[Ubik]

Stefan,

Yes, agree on all points!

Some of the cast (for me) are stronger than others, but that may just be the way they are written as opposed to the acting.

For instance, Claudia Christian has done better work elsewhere, but it's probably the 'schoolboy humour' stuff that never gelled for me with Ivanova, and it always comes off as a bit forced. But that's probably just me not enjoying JMS slightly 'silly' sense of humour. I've made the comparison before, but watch her in 'Freaks & Geeks' and it's night and day! Her acting there is very naturalistic and she pulls off comedy effortlessly. In B5 it never worked for me.

I did continue on to watch up to Intersections in real time (what an episode! Probably one of my favourites), so had a good time re-watching this run of very strong episodes.

[B5-Stefan]

But yes, we're still here! Still discussing and still emjoying one of the best SF shows to ever grace television.

Yeah!
And the JMS quote goes further: "But the show will still be on the air."
He's right!


There were other SF shows: not bad, quite good or really good.
But imho B5 was and is the very best SF show ever.

First:
JMS master plan for the 5y arc. The novellesque narration never seen before.
The so intelligent and often funny dialogues.
The inner logic of the whole story - standing till the end.

But that's not all.

Second:
The tremendous actors which almost all where cast to the point.
They almost all represented perfectly their roles.

Third:
The score sound - the music by Christopher Franke.
Is Babylon5 thinkable whithout his music?

Fourth:
The famous CGI - so good for the 90s.

Fifth:
the wardrobe and the makeup, the scenery, the vivid (except Lost Tales) B5 interiors and much more.

BABYLON5 is a comprehensive artwork.

scnr
B5-Stefan


--
Delenn: "If the universe puts a mystery in front of us as a gift,
politeness requires that we at least try and solve it."
[Atonement]

[Ubik]

25 years. I remember Joe's post made some time ago during the run of the series saying he didn't think anyone would be talking about the show in 15 years time.

Glad he was wrong

Yes, it's really endured. I was just watching a few S4 episodes today for fun.

Moments of Transition and No Surrender, No Retreat.

Especially enjoyed No Surrender, No Retreat, some amazing scenes between Londo and G'Kar. I sometimes wonder if my love of B5 is based a lot in nostalgia and 'rose tinted specs', but it's peppered with so much strong stuff, that makes me remember why I loved it so much. I think Londo and G'Kar are central to that.

But yes, we're still here! Still discussing and still emjoying one of the best SF shows to ever grace television.

[alpha128]

25 years. I remember Joe's post made some time ago during the run of the series saying he didn't think anyone would be talking about the show in 15 years time.

Glad he was wrong

Yeah, in his comments on "Atonement" JMS wrote:

...in 15 years, nobody's gonna be hauling these messages around.

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/075.html#JS

And 25 years later, the Lurker's Guide is still up, and here I am posting this on the J. Michael Straczynski Message Archive.

[b5historyman]

25 years. I remember Joe's post made some time ago during the run of the series saying he didn't think anyone would be talking about the show in 15 years time.

Glad he was wrong

[Jan]

Actually, one of my biggest B5 regrets was not being involved in the Usenet discussions with JMS back in the day.

I discovered JMS' interacting with the fans on the AOL boards about...oh, maybe 10 minutes after I fired up my first computer in mid-1996. That feeling of staring at your computer for five minutes the first time JMS answered your question is hard to describe. It wasn't like you didn't know he was a real person but it was both disconcerting and Very Cool to know that the Great Maker actually answered *your* question.

[FieryFENIX67]

That is great. Wish I could make that claim. Especially would have liked to get in on the early internet, merchandise, and Fan Club stuff. All that on top of seeing every minute from the beginning would have been so awesome.

Actually, one of my biggest B5 regrets was not being involved in the Usenet discussions with JMS back in the day. Even though I loved B5 from the start my internet activities at the time were almost exclusively Trek related.

[Looney]

That is great. Wish I could make that claim. Especially would have liked to get in on the early internet, merchandise, and Fan Club stuff. All that on top of seeing every minute from the beginning would have been so awesome.

[FieryFENIX67]

Back in 1986 I discovered a SoCal public radio Sci-fi show, the first episode of which was Harlan Ellison's first as permanent host after the shows creator passed. Anyway, after Ellison left he was replaced with a revolving cast of hosts including the pair of JMS and Larry DiTillio (sp?).

I was listening the night (probably sometime in 1991) when JMS came on the air and announced that he'd been approved to make a science fiction TV pilot called Babylon 5!

All I specifically remember now is that JMS repeatedly mentioned wanting to do a Hill Street Blues in space. By which he meant more realistic characters with a continuing storyline.

So, I guess you can say I was there "in the beginning".

[Jan]

If I am wrong please say so, but my guess is that the earliest any of us knew was when promos for The Gathering started to air on TV.

I didn't even know until a week or so before 'Midnight On the Firing Line' was due. If I hadn't read a quote of JMS' in the TV Guide about the 'novel for television', I probably wouldn't have ever given it a chance because I was tired of shows I'd started to like getting cancelled out from under me.