Sunday, 25 May 2014

The end of one series, the beginning of another

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We finally closed the book (metaphorically speaking) on the Babylon 5 TV series tonight - about 5 minutes ago in fact - with the final episode of season 5, 'Sleeping In Light'. (For those who don't know or remember, it was actually filmed as season 4's finale, as at the time it wasn't clear whether there'd be a season 5 - which is why it alone of season 5 has Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova in it.). I vividly remember watching it with friends when Channel 4 first aired it.

It's still a superb and fitting finale to one of the two best TV SciFi series ever, right down to that final cameo appearance (and Chris Franke's superb score over the final credits).

And from there, we move on to the other of the two (as well as the Babylon 5 TV movies, and Crusade next time it gets repeated, of course).

Joss Weedon's "Firefly".

I adore this show: it's vastly different from Babylon 5 in some ways, although like Babylon 5 it sports some of the great classic TV quotes, and of course it suffers from that remarkably irritating fact that Fox, damn them, killed it after 13 episodes. So we'll never know... perhaps some of its brilliance lies in the fact it didn't have time to stagnate. It also spawned a movie (Serenity), several excellent comics and a board game...

One of the reasons for watching it next is that we can't play the board game, which I've had since Xmas, until we do. Not because the game doesn't make sense without the series, but the game spoilers the series, and we'd like to play it with James.

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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous25 May 2014 at 22:14

    It's a remarkably good boardgame. Particularly with the latest expansion. I have several blog posts on the subject.

    But really, when you've decided you don't need a space station any more, the last thing you do is blow it up. That just makes it a bigger hazard to navigation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike Whitaker25 May 2014 at 22:16

      Heh. Fair comment. Although given some of the tech on display in the show, one assumes that they could then do a fairly thorough debris sweep.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous25 May 2014 at 22:21

      Yeah, but you've also got the tech to push it gently into a star... or dump it into hyperspace never to be seen again... or mine it for useful materials.

      Still, this is not r.a.s.tv.b5.

      Delete
  2. Vladdd30925 May 2014 at 22:43

    Ah, Babylon 5, a fantastic four seasons of sci-fi goodness, I'll never even consider there was a fifth series!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Don M26 May 2014 at 00:13

    I have to agree with your assessment concerning sci-fi entertainment wise it goes Bab5 and Firefly in that order. As for war games application
    it has to go Bab5 and Space Above And Beyond....)

    ReplyDelete
  4. A J26 May 2014 at 01:40

    Babylon 5, Firefly - both quality SF that speaks to intelligent viewers. Sadly missed.

    ReplyDelete

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