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Is B5 a classic?

RMcD

Regular
This is a question I've been mulling over with regard to the likelihood of B5 ever being revived in any form. It's been several years now since any new B5 was produced, so it's becoming increasingly clear that what could be termed 'phase 1' or 'the original series' is pretty much over. From now on, any new B5 movie or spin-off will form a 'second wave'.

So what is the original B5s place in popular culture? Is it destined to be reduced to a forgettable footnote, to be stowed away in the same dark drawer as Space: Above and Beyond, or Dark Skies? Will it be remembered as no more a pale imitation of Trek?

Or will the story of the big blue space station and the evil black spiders, with its ever-changing cast and complex story arc, one day be regarded as the zenith of nineties televisual art? Will it be rediscovered by some hypothetical future generation, for whom B5 serves as the ambassador for all the other shows that were around at the time? Will it be taught in school? :confused:

On a slightly different note, is it, or any aspect of it, in any sense, a design classic? (It's visually very distinctive).

My take on this is that B5 does fall into this category. It blazed a trail for the enormous wave of sci-fi and fantasy shows that have come after, where next to none existed before. I think the terms 'spoiler' and 'story arc' were pretty much invented for B5 (though someone will correct me). JMS is proud of the fact that B5 was once named as a 'seminal' show. But how will it look in the long view?

(incidentally, it may be obvious that this post was written late at night, and is the product of some late-night insomniac ramblings and post-TMoS-stress-disorder :D)
 
The original series was over with "SiL", its planned end-point for the five-year arc. Anything after that is gravy - side stories, interesting detours off the main path.

Is it a classic?

Ask me in a hundred years. Nobody will know until then.

Regards,

Joe
 
Is it a classic?

Ask me in a hundred years. Nobody will know until then.

Did it take a hundred years for the original Star Trek to be deemed classic? Or the original Twilight Zone?
 
Did it take a hundred years for the original Star Trek to be deemed classic? Or the original Twilight Zone?

Sadly for B5, I think what it took in those cases were endless reruns, the limited range of channels, and the non-existence of VCRs. Now if only we could find a way to transmit B5 back through time to a sixties audience.. :)
 
Certainly I, and probably most people here, consider it a classic. Whether it will be generally acknowledged as such, only time will tell, but it won't take 100 years. About 10-20 should be enough. Now, if WB had enough sense to make it the first TV series to come out in HD format, that would help alot!
 
My guess is that the best we can hope for is that it will become analogous to the Prisoner in status: known mostly to genre fans only, respected by most of them and with a strong and passionate fan base.
 
Yes, B5's a classic. It'll stand the test of time.

Now, if WB had enough sense to make it the first TV series to come out in HD format, that would help alot!

Sorry. We lost the CGI files. We'd have to re-do it all.

"We" You're part of Warner Brothers?

No, THEY, Warner Brothers, lost the CGI files. ...and I'm still not convinced that THEY didn't throw 'em out on purpose, so they wouldn't be able to redo the CGI in 16:9. Look at all the time, effort and money they saved that way.
 
The original series was over with "SiL", its planned end-point for the five-year arc. Anything after that is gravy - side stories, interesting detours off the main path.

I agree with your first sentence, but I'm not sure about the second. I know that's what JMS tends to say whenever one of these projects goes belly-up (which is fair enough, as he's reinforcing the point that he's done exactly what he set out to do with B5, and never aimed to do more).

On the other hand, it doesn't seem a very constructive way to approach said projects.. In fact, isn't any potential spin-off of B5 inevitably going to disappoint almost by definition if it doesn't set out to tell a story of equal or greater merit to the original? I have a vision now of JMS pitching Crusade or LotR as 'gravy, a side story, an interesting detour off the main path' and getting laughed out of the office.. :) Surely B5 isn't the only big epic story that can be told in that universe?
 
I agree with your first sentence, but I'm not sure about the second. I know that's what JMS tends to say whenever one of these projects goes belly-up (which is fair enough, as he's reinforcing the point that he's done exactly what he set out to do with B5, and never aimed to do more).

I think it's more of an explanation of why he doesn't go out beating the bushes for somebody to make a movie or another series or whatever. Lots of people seem to think that's what he should be doing but he likes to do different things even though he still loves the B5 universe and doesn't mind playing there when the opportunity presents itself.

Jan
 
The original series was over with "SiL", its planned end-point for the five-year arc. Anything after that is gravy - side stories, interesting detours off the main path.

Is it a classic?

Ask me in a hundred years. Nobody will know until then.

Regards,

Joe

If anyone asks about it in 100 years, then it's a classic.
 
Ask me in a hundred years. Nobody will know until then.
If anyone asks about it in 100 years, then it's a classic.

Good point. At least Joe will be a medical sensation if that happens. :D

There might be people asking themselves wether the fanfiction found in the Wayback Machine are classics. My own feeling is that B5 will be considered a classic TV series mentioned in the same breath as Star Trek, Star Wars, 2001 and Flash Gordon. A long breath.
 
If anyone asks about it in 100 years, then it's a classic.

If anyone asks me about it in a hundred years, then I'll be a classic. ;)

At least Joe will be a medical sensation if that happens. :D

But probably not a medical sensation. I have a great aunt who, God willing, will turn 103 next month. What was the average life expectancy when she was born? Living to the mid-100s may not be terribly unsual for people born in the last 50 years or so, at least those born and raised in developed countries.

Regards,

Joe
 
jms mentioned some time ago (actually i think it was also mentioned on one of the dvd extras). That he was asked to speak at MIT where he was told that there were three nominal sci-fi shows in tv history - all represented a paradigm (sp?) shift.

1: The original Star Trek
2: The orginal Twilight Zone
3: Babylon 5

B5 is a classic - and time will prove so
 
I think the word you are looking for is ...

seminal: Highly influential in an original way; constituting or providing a basis for further development: a seminal idea in the creation of a new theory.

rather than

nominal: being so small or trivial as to be a mere token .

Of course, seminal also means: "Of, relating to, containing, or conveying semen or seed."

:D
 

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