• Dear forum visitor,

    It looks as though you have not registered for a forum account, or are not signed in. In order to participate in current discussions or create new threads, you will need to register for a forum account by clicking on the link below.

    Click here to register for a forum account!

    If you already have a forum account, you can simply click on the 'Log in' button at the top right of your forum screen.

    Your Elvenar Team

Favorite Old and/or Underappreciated Shows

The Unbeliever

Well-Known Member
After being disgusted for so long about there being pretty much nothing but SJW-filled garbage on TV/film nowadays, I've recently dusted off my Babylon 5 dvd collection, and man oh man, does it ever bring back the childhood feelies!:)

What a show! Sure, it's shoe-string budget means it doesn't look as good as the other sci-fi series on during that same time, (namely DS9 + Voyager, SG1, and to a lesser extent, Space: Above & Beyond & Earth Final Conflict, etc...), and the effects don't quite hold up, though the space battles are still far and away the BEST to ever be put to screen...
The story though? Nothing today could ever even begin to hold a candle to the writing, world building, nuance & acting of B5. (Londo & G'kar especially so - pretty much every scene they have together is just pure art!)

THIS is what good story telling is.
THIS is what happens when a creator is allowed to freely 'do his thing' sans studio BS and/or injecting real world garbage into everything.
THIS is the gold standard of what entertainment is all about.

Having just blasted through season 1 again, and now 8 episodes into season 2, I can't help but feel saddened about the recent news that they want to re-boot this amazing work of true art...
Great Maker I hope they don't. Part of B5's problem even during it's original run was that too many dumb people couldn't understand it, and just wrote it off instead... but if you have even a basic understanding of history & Greek/Roman mythology, it's just such a bloody brilliant show that was sadly, just too far ahead of its time. Hell, it's still the only sci-fi show/film to really understand 3D battles in space! (Star Wars 'kinda' did, but B5 is still far and away the best 'space battles with actual tactics' ever put to screen.;))
I shudder to think how Hollywierd is going to absolutely ruin this masterpiece nowadays. :(
 

Myne

Oh Wise One
After being disgusted for so long about there being pretty much nothing but SJW-filled garbage on TV/film nowadays, I've recently dusted off my Babylon 5 dvd collection, and man oh man, does it ever bring back the childhood feelies!:)

What a show! Sure, it's shoe-string budget means it doesn't look as good as the other sci-fi series on during that same time, (namely DS9 + Voyager, SG1, and to a lesser extent, Space: Above & Beyond & Earth Final Conflict, etc...), and the effects don't quite hold up, though the space battles are still far and away the BEST to ever be put to screen...
The story though? Nothing today could ever even begin to hold a candle to the writing, world building, nuance & acting of B5. (Londo & G'kar especially so - pretty much every scene they have together is just pure art!)

THIS is what good story telling is.
THIS is what happens when a creator is allowed to freely 'do his thing' sans studio BS and/or injecting real world garbage into everything.
THIS is the gold standard of what entertainment is all about.

Having just blasted through season 1 again, and now 8 episodes into season 2, I can't help but feel saddened about the recent news that they want to re-boot this amazing work of true art...
Great Maker I hope they don't. Part of B5's problem even during it's original run was that too many dumb people couldn't understand it, and just wrote it off instead... but if you have even a basic understanding of history & Greek/Roman mythology, it's just such a bloody brilliant show that was sadly, just too far ahead of its time. Hell, it's still the only sci-fi show/film to really understand 3D battles in space! (Star Wars 'kinda' did, but B5 is still far and away the best 'space battles with actual tactics' ever put to screen.;))
I shudder to think how Hollywierd is going to absolutely ruin this masterpiece nowadays. :(

I, too, hope they don't do a remake. All remakes I have seen attempted are invariably garbage.
 

The Unbeliever

Well-Known Member
...or the 're-boot' gets a decent start, like 2007's 'new' Star Trek w/Pine, Quinto, Urban and the rest, but then invariably jumps the shark and goes strait to the trash bin in the very next film. >.<

Oh well, at least (for now?), my beloved 40k universe is safe from getting absolutely destroyed by stupid Hollywood?!
*looks about nervously*
 

Grid Gypsy

Well-Known Member
I'm cautiously optimistic about the reboot currently in the pipes, but only because Straczynski himself will be in charge of it. He's serving as both writer and showrunner, and has never had qualms about telling his higher ups to kiss his asteroid.
 

The Unbeliever

Well-Known Member
I'm cautiously optimistic about the reboot currently in the pipes, but only because Straczynski himself will be in charge of it. He's serving as both writer and showrunner, and has never had qualms about telling his higher ups to kiss his asteroid.
At this point, I'm kinda just crossing my fingers that it gets stuck in development purgatory for at least 4-5 years, and maybe by then, we'll have the woke twitidiot rage-mobs beaten back under their miserable little bridges?! ;)
I mean, look at what Amazon is doing with the LotR series: 'Elf sexy-times & racially diverse Hobbits', because Pete Jackson's '01 - '03 trilogy was apparently too full of toxic masculinity & super-duper racist!?

Mind, a HUGE part of what made B5 so incredible, wasn't just JMS's writing & story telling brilliance, but that he also had a cast of actors who could put their egos aside, and fell 100% into line with his "no one changes a script" philosophy.
The actors could play a scene/script however the hell they wanted to, but by god, you did NOT try to rif on the spot or ad-lib anything!

I don't think there's too many of those types left anymore.
 

Grid Gypsy

Well-Known Member
At this point, I'm kinda just crossing my fingers that it gets stuck in development purgatory for at least 4-5 years, and maybe by then, we'll have the woke twitidiot rage-mobs beaten back under their miserable little bridges?! ;)
I mean, look at what Amazon is doing with the LotR series: 'Elf sexy-times & racially diverse Hobbits', because Pete Jackson's '01 - '03 trilogy was apparently too full of toxic masculinity & super-duper racist!?

Mind, a HUGE part of what made B5 so incredible, wasn't just JMS's writing & story telling brilliance, but that he also had a cast of actors who could put their egos aside, and fell 100% into line with his "no one changes a script" philosophy.
The actors could play a scene/script however the hell they wanted to, but by god, you did NOT try to rif on the spot or ad-lib anything!

I don't think there's too many of those types left anymore.

Keep in mind though that the no changes rule also encompassed the network. The only time JMS made an exception was when PTEN was being shut down, and he felt that he needed to condense the 4th and 5th seasons for the fans. As writer, showrunner & head of the production company, I don't see him letting this series going off the rails the way some do. The man is also an old hand at handling twitter mobs and wields a mean ban hammer. The new Bab5 will be safe no matter when it's made as long as he has a say in the matter, and I wouldn't doubt that that's being cooked into the contracts.

On the other hand, JMS regularly covered subjects like racial divide, religion and civil war in Bab5. The show was one of the first to depict a same-sex relationship, and originally Delenn was supposed to have switched genders during her transformation, which was why she had a more angular profile in the pilot. The only reason that didn't happen was because the technology they had planned on using to lower Mira Furlan's voice didn't mesh well with her Croatian accent. JMS has always been ahead of his time on the subject of acceptance, and was in fact one of the creators and producers for Sense8. In other words, no one is going to have to campaign to make his production more diverse, he does that all by himself.

And as for the original cast, I'm just really sad that only Bruce Boxleitner, Peter Jurasik, Claudia Christian and Bill Mumy are left, but I'm still hoping for at least cameos by those.
 
Last edited:

Sir Squirrel

Artist EXTRAORDINAIRE and Buddy Fan Club member
Sense8 was a great series! One of the best I have watched in a long time. I will have to watch some Babylon 5 again, been a long long time. lol
 

Grid Gypsy

Well-Known Member
Sense8 was a great series! One of the best I have watched in a long time. I will have to watch some Babylon 5 again, been a long long time. lol

Loved Sense8! Now there was an underappreciated show if there ever was one. The same can be said for Timeless, Travelers and Forever. Unfortunately, smart scifi just doesn't get the attention it should.
 

The Unbeliever

Well-Known Member
Keep in mind though that the no changes rule also encompassed the network. The only time JMS made an exception was when PTEN was being shut down, and he felt that he needed to condense the 4th and 5th seasons for the fans. As writer, showrunner & head of the production company, I don't see him letting this series going off the rails the way some do. The man is also an old hand at handling twitter mobs and wields a mean ban hammer. The new Bab5 will be safe no matter when it's made as long as he has a say in the matter, and I wouldn't doubt that that's being cooked into the contracts.

On the other hand, JMS regularly covered subjects like racial divide, religion and civil war in Bab5. The show was one of the first to depict a same-sex relationship, and originally Delenn was supposed to have switched genders during her transformation, which was why she had a more angular profile in the pilot. The only reason that didn't happen was because the technology they had planned on using to lower Mira Furlan's voice didn't mesh well with her Croatian accent. JMS has always been ahead of his time on the subject of acceptance, and was in fact one of the creators and producers for Sense8. In other words, no one is going to have to campaign to make his production more diverse, he does that all by himself.
It's not so much JMS I doubt. It's the studios who ultimately control everything.

It was really too bad B5 got so massively screwed over by the studio & networks at the time, as the 4th & 5th seasons as initially planned would have been S1-3 'GoT on steroids' quality! (season 3 was just pure insanity it's so scary good... only thing I can binge-watch harder is '24', and that's more to do with the specific format & heart pounding intensity vs. overall story quality!)
I seem to recall the plan being that we would have spent about the first half of S4 watching Ivonova trying (and basically pretty much failing) to hold the alliance together while Sheridan was MIA... then a longer, more drawn out build-up to the final battle between the 'bickering parents'. ;)
Also a far more satisfying ending to that conflict, vs. the kinda flat, "it's over - now get out!" ending we did get.

Then S5 would have been entirely focused on the Earth civil war, with the B5 side getting a few nasty surprises vs. just kinda curbstomping their way through damn near all of Earthforce.
Would have been great to see Sheridan especially wrestling more with himself and perhaps even beginning to doubt his chosen path... alas, we got screwed over thanks to the big-wigs at the time treating B5 like a throw-away tax write-off, and then giving them a 'minute to midnight' last second renewal. >.<


And as for the original cast, I'm just really sad that only Bruce Boxleitner, Peter Jurasik, Claudia Christian and Bill Mumy are left, but I'm still hoping for at least cameos by those.
Very true, and sadly losing Mira Furlan early this past was a shock. :(

Still, it's amazing to realize that of the few remaining, you could just throw some hair dye, trade the specs for contacts, and you'd be forgiven for wondering if Boxleitner has even aged at all!lol.
I'm not sure who's the real vampire - Cruise or Boxleitner... or both?!:eek::oops::eek:

...and yes, Sheridan was & is always my fav character.
Gotta respect a man who believes there's no problem in the entire universe that can't be solved through the healthy application of multiple thermonuclear explosive devices.;)
 

Huor

Guest
Foyle's War, Torchwood, and Torchwood Miracle Day. Really enjoyed those.
 

Grid Gypsy

Well-Known Member

Gorram it, how did I forget Firefly??? I only have the complete series, and a Serenity sticker on the back of my car. :D

If what happened to Babylon 5 was criminal, then what Fox did to Firefly is absolute heresy of the highest order!

Amen to that, and pass the ammunition.


Still, it's amazing to realize that of the few remaining, you could just throw some hair dye, trade the specs for contacts, and you'd be forgiven for wondering if Boxleitner has even aged at all!lol.
I'm not sure who's the real vampire - Cruise or Boxleitner... or both?!:eek::oops::eek:

Nah, Boxleitner isn't a vampire, just a simulation from the Grid. ;)
 

Myne

Oh Wise One
Sense8 was a great series! One of the best I have watched in a long time. I will have to watch some Babylon 5 again, been a long long time. lol
If what happened to Babylon 5 was criminal, then what Fox did to Firefly is absolute heresy of the highest order!
Foyle's War, Torchwood, and Torchwood Miracle Day. Really enjoyed those.

Agreed. Really enjoyed Torchwood. I also used to love Quantum Leap.
 

Iyapo1

Well-Known Member
Gorram it, how did I forget Firefly??? I only have the complete series, and a Serenity sticker on the back of my car. :D
I bought the Movie and the Season and lent it to my mother....who never gave it back. I bought them again and lent it to my sister...who never gave it back. Needless to say no one ever got to borrow my third set and when they tried I just broke out Vera.
 

Nerwa

Well-Known Member
Farscape.

I have fond memories of 80s mystery/adventure stuff, too. Magnum, P.I., Hart to Hart, Matt Houston, Remington Steele. Tales of the Gold Monkey was *deeply* underappreciated. That's the one I'd like to see brought back, if I had to pick.
 

BrinDarby

Well-Known Member
@Iyapo1 ,
its possible I've miss'd a movie, but uhhhh
plz no spoilers, but I never saw a do-able way
for re-unification to work.... I'm also dissapointed
anything StarTrek is pay only.... thats not the StarTrek way.
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
Gorram it, how did I forget Firefly??? I only have the complete series, and a Serenity sticker on the back of my car. :D
I am pleased to add that my Canadian fellows have reported that Edmonton did indeed rename their City Hall the Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion for a whole weekend. The power of the masses (and Canadians).
 
Top