re: Sci-fi space operas... Babylon 5, DS9, etc

quote:

---

1. B5
2. DS9

---

These would be my top two as well, oddly enough. I thought I was one of the few who actually liked Babylon 5 better than any Star Trek. I also thought Deep Space 9 was slightly better than TNG.

I'm going to get around to watching Battlestar Galactica at some point.

Firefly-The best without a doubt, best writing, best acting, casting etc. one half a season was the worst decision in TV history. But then it was a bit on the brainy side for the average reality TV audience.

Loved SG1 and Atlantis. Star Trek: Next Gen was a good series too.

I hated Babylon 5. I tried watching it several months ago and good lord, the acting was Plan 9 bad.

I have always been a huge fan of DS9. Garrick was a very interesting character.

BSG is greatness until the ending.

STNG will always hold a place in my heart because up to that point I had no idea they would ever even think of making a new tv show.

In comparison to the abomination that was SGU, Voyager has grown on me somewhat. The main problem with Voyager was Janeway & Chakotay. Both were plain boring as hell.

Enterprise suffered from the overuse of the reset button and time travel. That nonsense tends to piss me off unless done perfectly. I did however think the series was finally gaining traction when it was canceled.

I enjoyed most of the episodes from the first two SG incarnations. It pisses me off to no end that they canceled SGA for the horrific SGU.

1.DS9 & BSG
2.STNG
3.SG1

STNG is almost up there with BSG and DS9. Heck from week to week or episode to episode, any of the 3 could be my favorite.

I do think STNG had a far superior finale. Love when the cloaked Enterprise decloaks and annihilates the Klingons.

/geek

quote:

---

2. DS9

---

One of the things I liked about DS9 was seeing that New Orleans was still alive and kicking in the 24th century.

Hell Star Trek even had a "New Orleans" class starship.
:NOLA:

quote:

---

One show that always gets overlooked in this genre is Farscape.

---

Of the old school space opera shows (which I loved growing up), I would say that it is the best with maybe the exception of original Star Trek. Season 1 is hit or miss but the tail end of season 2 and season 3 are as good as the genre gets.

That said, the OP list isn't bad with the exception of Farscape and the fact that Moore BSG and Firefly don't really belong on the list. Those latter two shows were so good and so completely deconstructed the genre that they pretty thoroughly obliterated what came before. Seriously, BSG is the Watchmen of space opera.

I am trying to re-watch all of Farscape (that I seriously loved before BSG) and it is just rough going and if it wasn't for the Bank Job and Eat Me arc coming up in seasons 2 and 3 I am pretty sure I would have quit by now. I can't even imagine trying to make it through DS9 (which I also loved when I was younger) or SG (which I didn't).

quote:

---

I hated Babylon 5. I tried watching it several months ago and good lord, the acting was Plan 9 bad.

---

Season 1 starts slow. Seasons 2-4 are fantastic. Give it another shot, you won't regret it, especially if you're into SciFi

quote:

---

In comparison to the abomination that was SGU, Voyager has grown on me somewhat. The main problem with Voyager was Janeway & Chakotay. Both were plain boring as hell.

---

Yeah, my main problem with Voyager is that I hated Janeway so much I couldn't watch. And what a bitch for not taking Q's proposal

quote:

---

I was searching for a series to start watching on netflix and saw Farscape.

---

I will warn you that the first season isn't that great as it is all pretty by the numbers space opera. I had started watching the show in the second season so I didn't realize that Scorpius (easily the show's best villain) is not even introduced till like episode 19 or so and Jack does not meet Crichton until episode 16 (basically the catalyst for the plot of the rest of the series).

I will say that most of the stand-alone episodes in season 1 do eventually pay off in a fun way down the line but the show took a pretty long time to figure out that it was best at big, epic multi-episode arcs and tends to be pretty dull with crisis of the week story lines (unless they go for the comedy, i.e. T'ralltixx in Crackers Don't Matter is full of win).

Just try and get to the second half of season 2. Given the shows that you like, I think you will really enjoy it the rest of the way from there.

Loved Babylon 5 and it was really my first addiction in this genre. As others have said, the first season is kind of slow, but when the shadows are introduced it really takes off.



*******SPOILER (sort of)**********





I still remember Delenn's (French chick in LOST btw) line when some Earth ships were coming to take control of B5 from Sheridan and she jumps in-between them and the station in a Minbari ship: "Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."

quote:

---

Did Todd attempt to get the part?

---

That is my understanding.

Despite the poor acting B5's overall story arc was compelling. The proxy war between ancient races with all of the tie-ins to our own mythology was very well done. Londo was a haunting figure, (even though his fate was richly deserved.) It should've definitely ended after the S4 finale though.
One show I haven't seen mentioned is Andromeda. The plot had so much potential; dystopian future after the fall of an Intergalactic Commonwealth triggered by the conflict between the Nietscheans, (genetically engineered super-Nazis), and the Magog, (genetically engineered demons). Then early in the second season they just abandoned the story arc they had prepared and it became completely unwatchable.