Anybody into Sci-Fi TV? Babylon 5, Star Trek TNG, DS9, Voyager...etc.

79 responses total.

All of the above :-)

I miss The Prisoner

"We want inforamtion...information...INFORMATION!"

"Who are ya?!"

"The new number 2"

"Who is number one?"

"You are number six."

"I AM NOT A NUMBER< I AM A FREE MAN!"

Anybody seen the Converse floating around in the star wars movie?

BTW, did the Sci-Fi Channel pick up "Mystery Science Theater 3000?"

No, but I did see MST3K in the network listings.  Its on at 2:00 in the
morning... and I wish I could remember what network!  Check the TV guide that
comes in the A2 news.

 That would be channel 50. MST3K hour. No cable, you take what you can get.

all of the above ... but no cable ...

Can't watch B5.  Has all the wrong aliens.  I am too Star Trek-centric.

B5, saw one for the first time this week, not too bad.  Kinda goofy.

The Prisoner is still a big favorite.

I also miss the original Star Trek, which hasn't been on TV lately.

This item has been linked from Agora 60 to Sci-Fi 83.
Yes, folks, a whole conference to talk about this!
What a concept!

Sci-Fi TV is OK, but it hasn't much of anything to do with Science Fiction.

r#10 This far into the series it can be difficult to catch up on what all is
happeing. THere is so much history in the plot and characters now.

This response has been erased.

No, #4 is referring to Return of the Jedi, which had a
sneaker taking part in the big space battle at the end.
Seriously.

Re 14:  Not a new movie, but they're talking about rereleasing them soon with
modern special effects put in.
I hope they don't take the sneaker out.  I like it.  :)

<blinkblink>  Sneaker?  Now I'm going to have to watch that movie again.
;)

Deep Space Nine is going to make a time travel episode where they interact
with the original actors in the original series, all thru the power of
computer animation.

So is this their way of formally saying "we have no ideas left"?

exactly.

Dammit Jim, I'm a writer, not a miracle worker!

I was wondering what Natalie Cole was up to.  But has she been writing DS9
or Voyager episodes?  ;)

Well, technically, it might be fun to see Kirk and Cisco face off in a one
on one.  Oh, ther are also supposed to be tribbles involved in it.

Amen, Jan!  

   i would dearly love to see a "star trek" *anything* with william shatner
as kirk and adam west as the bad guy.

I would dearly love to see all the series which are limping along
on second-rate writing talent and third-rate premises die off.

The ONLY real SF on broadcast TV any more is Babylon 5.  Everything
in the Star Dreck milieu has degenerated to something between soap
opera and situation comedy set in space.  Ever notice how many
world-shaking discoveries and life-changing experiences there are
per season, and how they wind up being almost-but-not-quite completely
ignored ever after?  At least Babylon 5's characters are authentic
people (regardless of eye color, skin texture, or arms vs. tentacles).

        I agree, the writing for shows such as Star Trek Voyager is very week.
B5's writing is spectacluar and captivating. Even the filler shows are great.
The whole Shadow War thing with the past and future depending on each other
is just awsome.

Absolutely well done.

I liked St:TNG and still like to watch reruns -- sometimes even catch one I
haven't seen before.  I liked the first season of ST:DS9, but got bored after
that, although I may tune in some this next season to see how a couple of plot
lines go.  But B5 is the greatest!
,

Where is this B5 thing that everyone is talking about on?  I've never heard
of it.

Since you're local to Ann Arbor, it's on 8 PM Tuesdays on Channel 20
from Detroit, and they rebroadcast it at 1 AM Sunday morning.
(Or 1 AM Saturday night, for you folks who don't work midnights.  >8)

eskarina, if you enjoy good writing and drama, you have a treat coming.

To deacrify it (neat new word, eh?), "B5" is "Babylon 5", and it's been around
for a couple years or so.  

I'm actually starting to follow it.  Funny what not having cable does to you.
It's OK, but I still think it is a bit hokey.

The writing for Babylon 5 is anything but brilliant.  Hokey is decidedly the
word for it.  This is definately C-grade science fiction.  Of course, that
gives it a pretty high rank among the sludge that is generally found on
television.  The Star Trek universe is crippled by the idea that they have
to put all the characters back the way they were after each episode.  So they
characters suffer all sorts of trauma, and then, after 60 minutes, they are
just fine again.  This makes all the world-shaking drama seem insincere. 
Science fiction naturally takes on world-shaking themes, and resolving these
kind of stories in 60 minutes just doesn't work.  Babylon 5 is the first TV
science fiction show that has been willing to accept that science fiction
needs a broader canvas than "Three's Company" does.  But outside of that, I
think the Star Trek shows still have better writing, at least on good days.
When TNG or DS9 (forget Voyager - it's a mess) are at their best, they are
better than B5 ever is.  But in the Star Trek universe, the strong shows are
disconnected from weak shows.  When Babylon 5 delivers up a lame episode (as
it often does) at least the larger story is still being carried forward, and
as long as they don't do too many lame episodes in a row, fans don't mind.
This gives an illusion of better writing.  So B5 can limp along on what really
can't be counted anything better than hack writing, because it has a much more
forgiving format.

I also think B5 lacks any really good acting.  Star Trek isn't over-supplied
with it, but at least there are a few on each show (except Voyager).

I can't disagree with janc more, but apart from carping on
B5, I don't see any specifics to respond to.

I'll have to agrree with Mr. Henderson on that one.

Please try to forgive my extra "r" in "agree"

Janc, if you aren't watching "all" the episodes, then you ae not catching the
reason for the "filler" episodes.

Adn as a whole, the writing adn the characters on Babylon 5 far exceed the
quality of any Star Trek episode ever made.  (with a few exceptions)

Voyager has good acting and good characters.  The reason the show is lousy
is that the writing is poor, and the premise of being in the middle of nowhere
trying to get back to the central part of the Trek universe is dopey.

I think I can mostly agree with Jan's analysis of the fact that B5's writing
could be better.  DS9 had better writing in the first couple of seasons than
it had last year.  The average DS9 episode may be better written and acted
than the average B5 episode.  If I had to choose between B5 and DS9, I'd
probably pick B5 because I enjoy the "story arc."  

That said, I'm glad I don't have to choose between them and I try to watch
every DS9 and every B5 episode as soon as I can after they come out.

I'd have to agree that the big draw of B5 is the story arc.  It's like trying
to unravel a mystery to try to figure out where this tale is leading.  Some
of the acting is very good, some seems wooden.  I did *not* like the way
Sinclair was played.  

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss