Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by late (A) on November 05, 2005 at 16:27:30

In Reply to: Just FYI, B5 has a number of religous themes." - Yes, I know, and they're handled cleverly, without forced allegory. posted by Audiophilander on November 5, 2005 at 11:37:25:

Hi,
not all shows have to be 'Star Trekky'. If you watch it again, you may come to see that the characters all use religion as a tool. The Ceylon bitchos trying to brainwahs the scientist guy, Gaius Balthar (or some name like that). Starbuck uses it for wish fulfillment. mostly hoping to stay alive.

The bread crumbs (the arrow, the hologram showing the way to Earth), were all thought up by humans for exactly this purpose, to guide after time had erased the information.

What you describe as slow pace is neccesary in an epic. It is integral to what makes it good. If you become familiar with the series, you will see that almost everything has a reason for being there. Having the dvd really helps here. Removing the commercials, and watching the eposodes at your own pace... really changes the feeling of slowness.

Not that I saw it as slowness. This is not a series where they tidy things up at the end of every episode. It is a big hairy mess.
I agree about Olmos. What I have learned since TNG is that you need a great actor to anchor a show. I don't know why that is exactly, but it certainly appears to be true most of the time. B5 is an exception, but there I think the ensemble cast and plot keep things humming along.

I have set Tivo to grab those two scifi shows, thanks for mentioning them.

One last thought. BG has a plot of the same type as Terminator. That is, an intelligent machine race arise and tries to wipe out humanity.
The writers aren't trying to make them look godly, they are just trying to make them manipulative and dangerous. There are apparent inconsistencies ard weirdnesses about the Ceylons. But in later episodes they clear up a couple of them, and hint that they will resolve others. They can't resolve them all, but very little scifif does.

Oh, The B5 Lurkers Guide has been around for years. Remember the petition to resurrect the series?