[QUOTE]Sure, the computer animations and sequences may look cheesy by [/QUOTE]
Heh, I thought Season 4 had some pretty fine special effects. I'd hardly call them cheesy - Ok, the resolution and texturing wasn't the best, but the Lighting and Path (Movements) are excellent. I always found Babylon 5's Visuals to be more entertaining than Deep Space Nine, for example - Even though during it's war, the special effects were pretty fine - They just didn't quite cut it for me. In B5 *EVERYTHING * does something. Ok - It was cheaper, and didn't look as good. But really, I never got any vibes from the Model Kits on Star Trek. Everything stayed on the same axis, and extra ships were simply Cut and Pasted - Even with all that budget. Not to mention the Phaser and other beam effects of the time didn't look much compared to some of Babylon 5's "Beam Effects". Some might think I sound crazy, but having seen all of both shows, it's something I just think is true. I don't know - I'm just getting a little tragic over Reviewers mentioning the special effects - They don't have the same quality, but it's all about function over form. ;)
HuntSmacker... thats exactly what drew me to B5 from the start, the amazing CGI. It blew the socks off anything Star Trek related! and it was like a breath of fresh air to see the ships in B5 behave to the laws of physics, really used to bug me seeing ships in Star Trek fly around like planes in a normal atmosphere.
I agree with some of the comments on the cgi... some of the cgi bits where the cast were in shot always looked a bit iffy... however the space combat was always superb! One can never fault that!!
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Falcon1 [/i]
[B]It blew the socks off anything Star Trek related! and it was like a breath of fresh air to see the ships in B5 behave to the laws of physics, really used to bug me seeing ships in Star Trek fly around like planes in a normal atmosphere. [/B][/QUOTE]
Also in ST crew is taking losses (and roof of command bridge is falling down) but there's no external traces of damage on ship.
Compare this to B5 where ships are sliced to pieces by beams and explosions that shred pieces from ships.
I wonder what B5's effects would look if they would have used same budget to produce B5 as ST.
I actually think the CGI in B5 ages very well, precisely because it is CGI. There is a certain animated feel the SFX shots, which allows them to age without looking out of date. Combine that with some excellent costuming, and you have a shows that is hard to pin to any paticular era of TV.
For example, go back and look at the early ST:TNG shows, you can already see the dated look of the SFX shots. Also look at the costumes which are begining to look seriously out of date (much like the ST:TMP).
FreeJack... oh boy some of the sfx stuff in TNG was terrible early on... I remember watching a clip where the Enterprise flew past a planet... it was like stock motion almost, the way it kinda shuddered along, really jittery. I find now looking back on the early seasons the sets look very dated in particular, and yes the costumes do too.
The only thing that makes me cringe on B5 is Sheridans hair cut in Season 3! Boy was that bad... hell I would have pushed him off that balcony myself if he hadn't jumped! :D
What draw me to B5 wasn't the special effects, because I started on Season 1 and those visuals were very much in the early days, with exceptions of episodes like Voice in the Wilderness, where some of the fight scenes "ain't bad'. Three things took me: It was Sci-fi. The story (and way it was filmed) plus the music - it was different ;)
I love the B5 effects in part because they're not photo-realistic; they look animated, but somehow without being cartoonish. It gives the show a certain surreal feeling, which seems somehow complemented by the sets and costuming (particularly the Centauri). The overall effect is unlike anything else I've seen on television.
Well, taking into an account other shows that use CGI - I'd say B5 beats most of them, even some of todays. Let's see... Space Above and Beyond.. Stargate SG-1 (first few seasons, even recent ones are still naff' - Except for some of the Gliders), Earth Final Conflict, Farscape. All those used CGI. Enterprise has some of the nicest CGI on TV I've seen - BUT, they don't seem to use it as well as B5. The ships are still mostly flying as if they were model kits.
Edit: Oh and the space ships in "Taken" looked crap.
I first came across B5 in 1995, saw it mentioned in a tv listing and thought hmm, interesting. To me it seem liked it was about a space station orbiting earth, and there were original 4 others. I saw a brief clip not long afterwards but couldn't watch it, was staying in digs at the time and the landladies son had control of the remote and mumbled something, 'Babylon 5... load of ****'. Shortly afterwards I caught about 20mins of Infection. I was intrigued by it, esp with the archaeology slant (I was then looking at studying archaeology at university). I wanted to watch more but had to go help my dad on the farm so missed the rest of it. It would be 2 years later before I got my first proper introduction to B5. BY this time I was at uni here in the UK and had become friends with a huge B5 fan who had alot of it on video. Ah those were the days! :) There was about 4 of us who were bigs fan and we'd crowd into one anothers room, load up with junk food and watch a few episodes. One of the guys was even called 'Kosh' as he used to mumble silly things alot ;) So I really didn't get into it properly until late in season 3, but it was enough to get me hooked!
I'd like to see that as well if anyone can do it :)
Grrr...I was debating whether to pre-order the boxset now or later on Amazon.co.uk and when I refreshed the page, the price had gone up by a fiver. It was £37 odd before and now it's nearly £42. Grrrr...
More haste, less...money?
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Falcon1 [/i]
[B]
The only thing that makes me cringe on B5 is Sheridans hair cut in Season 3! Boy was that bad... hell I would have pushed him off that balcony myself if he hadn't jumped! :D [/B][/QUOTE]
Lol! Ah no it wasn't that bad!! I find it worse in season 5! I only mentioned earlier when watching "Paragon of animals"along with that awful beard that it has kinda got red/brown tints in it! Ewwww :eek: Think his hairdresser lost it abit!
HuntSmacker - God don't remind me of "Taken" All that hype! The girl was the best actress. But nothing special about the show itself. Think they advertised it for like 2wks!
Love the CGI effects in B5. And I agree for a tv series they were great as well as the sequence battles.
Characters and their relationships towards each other and how they grew and changed, all this in space and in the future. Just can't beat it. :)
Comments
Heh, I thought Season 4 had some pretty fine special effects. I'd hardly call them cheesy - Ok, the resolution and texturing wasn't the best, but the Lighting and Path (Movements) are excellent. I always found Babylon 5's Visuals to be more entertaining than Deep Space Nine, for example - Even though during it's war, the special effects were pretty fine - They just didn't quite cut it for me. In B5 *EVERYTHING * does something. Ok - It was cheaper, and didn't look as good. But really, I never got any vibes from the Model Kits on Star Trek. Everything stayed on the same axis, and extra ships were simply Cut and Pasted - Even with all that budget. Not to mention the Phaser and other beam effects of the time didn't look much compared to some of Babylon 5's "Beam Effects". Some might think I sound crazy, but having seen all of both shows, it's something I just think is true. I don't know - I'm just getting a little tragic over Reviewers mentioning the special effects - They don't have the same quality, but it's all about function over form. ;)
I agree with some of the comments on the cgi... some of the cgi bits where the cast were in shot always looked a bit iffy... however the space combat was always superb! One can never fault that!!
[B]It blew the socks off anything Star Trek related! and it was like a breath of fresh air to see the ships in B5 behave to the laws of physics, really used to bug me seeing ships in Star Trek fly around like planes in a normal atmosphere. [/B][/QUOTE]
Also in ST crew is taking losses (and roof of command bridge is falling down) but there's no external traces of damage on ship.
Compare this to B5 where ships are sliced to pieces by beams and explosions that shred pieces from ships.
I wonder what B5's effects would look if they would have used same budget to produce B5 as ST.
For example, go back and look at the early ST:TNG shows, you can already see the dated look of the SFX shots. Also look at the costumes which are begining to look seriously out of date (much like the ST:TMP).
Jake
The only thing that makes me cringe on B5 is Sheridans hair cut in Season 3! Boy was that bad... hell I would have pushed him off that balcony myself if he hadn't jumped! :D
What draw me to B5 wasn't the special effects, because I started on Season 1 and those visuals were very much in the early days, with exceptions of episodes like Voice in the Wilderness, where some of the fight scenes "ain't bad'. Three things took me: It was Sci-fi. The story (and way it was filmed) plus the music - it was different ;)
Edit: Oh and the space ships in "Taken" looked crap.
[B]...it was like stock motion almost, the way it kinda shuddered along, really jittery. [/B][/QUOTE]
I think you mean "stop motion".
I first came across B5 in 1995, saw it mentioned in a tv listing and thought hmm, interesting. To me it seem liked it was about a space station orbiting earth, and there were original 4 others. I saw a brief clip not long afterwards but couldn't watch it, was staying in digs at the time and the landladies son had control of the remote and mumbled something, 'Babylon 5... load of ****'. Shortly afterwards I caught about 20mins of Infection. I was intrigued by it, esp with the archaeology slant (I was then looking at studying archaeology at university). I wanted to watch more but had to go help my dad on the farm so missed the rest of it. It would be 2 years later before I got my first proper introduction to B5. BY this time I was at uni here in the UK and had become friends with a huge B5 fan who had alot of it on video. Ah those were the days! :) There was about 4 of us who were bigs fan and we'd crowd into one anothers room, load up with junk food and watch a few episodes. One of the guys was even called 'Kosh' as he used to mumble silly things alot ;) So I really didn't get into it properly until late in season 3, but it was enough to get me hooked!
i life in Germany and i have one Question. Can everyone post a screenshot of the mainmenü from the Season 4 box?
thanks
ranger_one
Grrr...I was debating whether to pre-order the boxset now or later on Amazon.co.uk and when I refreshed the page, the price had gone up by a fiver. It was £37 odd before and now it's nearly £42. Grrrr...
More haste, less...money?
[B]
The only thing that makes me cringe on B5 is Sheridans hair cut in Season 3! Boy was that bad... hell I would have pushed him off that balcony myself if he hadn't jumped! :D [/B][/QUOTE]
Lol! Ah no it wasn't that bad!! I find it worse in season 5! I only mentioned earlier when watching "Paragon of animals"along with that awful beard that it has kinda got red/brown tints in it! Ewwww :eek: Think his hairdresser lost it abit!
HuntSmacker - God don't remind me of "Taken" All that hype! The girl was the best actress. But nothing special about the show itself. Think they advertised it for like 2wks!
Love the CGI effects in B5. And I agree for a tv series they were great as well as the sequence battles.
Characters and their relationships towards each other and how they grew and changed, all this in space and in the future. Just can't beat it. :)