Renewed Observations
Mac is trying to watch Babylon 5, and so far, he is not getting it. Granted, he is still wading in season one. I remember the effects and acting being bad when I first watched this season, but throw it on a 60 inch tv, and it is 60 times as bad as I remember. I’m also picking up on bad make-up jobs — Galaxy Quest style. And things that maybe shouldn’t have been said.
I think Mac’s main problem is that he is not paying attention. For example, he has no idea that there was an Earth-Minbari War, even though just about every season one episode talks about it and it says in the intro to every episode “10 years after the Earth-Minbari War.”
I won’t tell him what it is about because I think he should just watch and figure it out. He wants cliff notes so he doesn’t have to pay attention. So I gave him this synopsis: It is about war.
Anyhow, he is working his way through season one, and he decided that Wild Turkey has helped his understanding of the series.
I think the big question is: Why is Babylon 5 Season 1 so bad?
A lot of people have suggested that I watch Babylon 5 because it is such a good sci-fi series, yet most all seem to also add that “it may be kind of painful to get all the way through season 1″. Obviously the acting leaves a lot to be desired, the special effects are absolutely horrid, and the character development is feeling very forced. So far most of the episodes seem self-contained, although Melissa has informed me of the broad story arch that spans the entire series. I am about eight episodes into season 1 right now and I am really hoping for a big improvement in season 2.
Oh yeah Season 1 is bad. Very bad, but back in my day it was all we had except for that Deep Space 9, and that series’ first season sucked too. We’re talking pre-Farscape here. Get offa my lawn!
I never liked any of the Star Trek spinoffs and thats really why I had never watched Babylon 5 before anyway, I thought it was the next Star Trek series after Deep Space 9.
This will sound elitist and snobbish and at the same time like I’m pandering an anti-intellectual ethic, but think of it like reading those old dusty books by dead white dudes. In my opinion, they sucked. Yes, I’m talking Shakespeare, Milton, Joyce, Faulkner. But once you get them under your belt, modern lit is so much more rich and deep. As “bad” as Babylon V might be, it definitely gives one a better, and more satisfying, respect for more recent work.
It’s bad, because it was 1994. This is the same time when Beverly Hills Cop III came out. And Highlander III: The Final Dimension. And Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale. And Timecop. And Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla.
On top of that, they were doing big screen type special effects, on a small screen budget. The PowerPC 601 had just come out, and this was to herald in the era of “super computers” on the desktop.
Now, such much more powerful computers are ubiquitous, and as a consequence, you’ve become jaded. Remember the computer games that were out then? The “cutting edge” ones? 1994 was the year that Bungie released Marathon. Remember your recent experience playing it?
Yeah.
That’s why season 1 was so bad.