Sunday 1 December 2013

Babylon 5 - Babylon Squared. (1994)

How do I feel about Babylon 5?

Well, casting my mind back I can tell you I was too busy watching Star Trek Deep Space Nine to find the time to watch another show that seemed to be covering very similar ground.  And the bits I had seen seemed kind of, well; meh!  I also happened to be working in a comic book store at the time it was on British TV so I was also constantly hassled by fans of the show, nagging me into giving it another go because I would love it, apparently!  Well I didn't. I still haven't. And can't see as I ever will.

And what's really odd is that; meh! still remains my most succinct explanation as to why I feel such indifference to the programme.

Anyway it has spacesuits in it and one in particular that seems to look a lot like a 2001 spacesuit, and I do like those so I'll give it some blog space.
 
Quite nice isn't it.

They clearly thought so themselves because it pops up again in the 3rd season two-parter; War Without End. (1996)


If any Bab-fivers (Is that what you call yourselves?) out there want to let me know more about this suit and why it looks a lot like one of Kubrick's creations I would be very grateful for the knowledge share.


Steve

6 comments:

  1. The firm they rented the suit from had suits from "2010: Odyssey Two". See "JMS Speaks" on this page: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/020.html

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    1. Cheers for that link, Fred. You're a star even if JMS' answer is a bit; meh!
      Thank you, sir.

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  2. I was on board with the fivers at the time, don't remember much about the suit though. I had trouble with the lead cast on ds9, it seemed to me that they were a bit -- planky. I could cope Avery Brooks while he was a genial suede head but once he became Ming the Merciless, his limited range became an obvious handicap.

    B5 hasn't worn well though in comparison, although there are some great bits, Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas running rings everyone, even with a slightly hokey script. I gotta say ds9 comes out on top Meaney, Siddig, Alaimo, Shimerman, Fletcher they all came out with some tv magic but it always seemed to me they were battling with script editors who where trying to run the show into the ground.

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    1. I think with both, you probably have to sign up for the whole journey. I catch the odd DS9 every now and then and it doesn't re-spark the fires unfortunately, which is a shame but then who's got the time to sit through all of it again.

      Cheers for your thoughts, DSE

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  3. Babylon 5 ran right before Star Trek The Next Generation and then DS9 on the same channel here. So it was B5,STTNG and DS9 all in a row and sometimes Superforce before that. They had a rotation of Superforce , Team Knight Rider and TimeTrax. B5 had some great story arcs that DS9 started picking up on. That was a pretty cool place in my life all three shows all in a row,
    B5 was shot on a fairly low budget, in an area of Los Angeles you would never expect, industrial park right next to a surplus yard. The cast was great the scripts were pretty good to ok. I would equate it to most of Doctor Who up till the more modern versions. The regular run of B5 was good but the follow up Crusade wasn't as good and The Lost Tales was just bad.

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    1. That's a lot of sci-fi in one go. In that situation I would have bailed before DS9 came on... Which would by default have made me a Bab5 fan...maybe!
      Don't mind cheap production values, ideas are the important thing.
      Thanks for the memories SWGhostbuster, I find it quite interesting to hear these sorts of recollections.

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