Considering that wasn't suppose to happen until mid season 5 anyways (from my understanding). I find it difficult to assign blame for seasons 5 weakness, and when viewing things in context... its not so bad.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by croxis [/i]
[B]Considering that wasn't suppose to happen until mid season 5 anyways (from my understanding). I find it difficult to assign blame for seasons 5 weakness, and when viewing things in context... its not so bad. [/B][/QUOTE]
In all honesty, it doesn't matter how it was planned. What matters is how it turned out. Good intentions alone aren't enough.
The point is, it still happened. He did all that stuff at the end of S4. The buildup was fantastic, but perhaps it should have ended there.
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
While it ending there would have saved us the pain of Byron and Lockley, we would have missed the excellent Londo/G'Kar parts.
I always liked Sinclair better then Sheridan, don't know why, maybe memorys of youth or something. The 5th season could have done better but I am just armchair quarterbacking.
Well, the Wikipedia states that : "When a series is unexpectedly renewed at the last minute after production is concluded, forcing an awkward continuation of the premise (e.g., Babylon 5's creator J. Michael Straczynski feared he would not be able to complete his five year story arc due to the impending dissolution of its parent, Prime Time Entertainment Network, and the uncertainties of the television syndication market, which led to many storylines being resolved prematurely at the end of season 4; when the series was picked up for a fifth season by cable network TNT, Straczynski relaunched production by withholding the series finale and extending the resolution of the remaining story arcs)."
And since everything on Wikipedia is the truth, I guess theres no need to argue.. :p
I think everyone's a little hard on season 5. I think fans compare it to just how amazing season 3 and 4 were, and it sure is hard to follow up to that. I think it was good still, but it also had some really good ones I think, such as The Fall of Centauri Prime, which really got me down when I first saw it, though I knew that it had to turn out that way.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Biggles [/i]
[B]While it ending there would have saved us the pain of Byron and Lockley, we would have missed the excellent Londo/G'Kar parts.
[/B][/QUOTE]
Exactly my feelings as well. The way that relationship turned out made it all worth it for me.
Even the most wonderful television series will have some problems. Did B5 really "jump the shark" ? I don't think so. No cutsey babies or a reversal of the basic principles that the show was built on. Did I like Byron ? Do I like to have a brick hit my head ? No, but I too loved the Londo and G'Kar contributions in that last season.
I like parts of Byron, like his more peaceful approach to resisting the Psi Corps, but when I watch one of the episodes with him, it's just like "Man, why do you have to be so annoying?" Robin Atkin Downes seems to be a pretty cool guy from what I know though.
The finale for season 5 (sleeping in Light) was originally intended to be the finale of season 4 as it completed the story, but when he knew it was being picked up for a fifth season he quickly wrote the ending of season 4 (million year stuff).
It’s the reason why Ivonova only appears in the last episode of season 5, i.e it was really season 4 – so yeah, season 5 was rushed and did feel a bit empty after 4.
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
Well, that's not the best way to put it. SiL was intended to be the end of the series, and was originally expected to air at the end of the 5th season. However, when nearing the end of season 4, jms didn't know if B5 would be renewed for the planned 5th season (because of issues with the network that was airing it, among other things). So he put much of the story planned for season 5 into season 4 and filmed SiL. When the news came through that WB had renewed B5 for the 5th season, [i]The Deconstruction of Falling Stars[/i] was filmed, more story for season 5 to fill the empty space was hurriedly planned, and SiL was held back.
Yeah, that as well. Lol, either way it was meant to be the end of the story, originally after 5 years, then 4, then 5 again.
One thing though, for many people season 4 was the best season, and one of the main reasons for that was the intensity of the story lines, and that mainly came about due to the 4th and 5th years basically being merged into the one, I wonder what elements where missed out because of the uncertainty, reading about the released scripts/notes, there was obviously a lot of changes ranging from fine tuning to major changes throughout the 5 year arc.
Comments
I firmly believe that B5 jumped when it had to conjure up a story for S5. While we got some gems, the majority of it was very, very weak.
If Sheridan and his fleet retaking earth isn't setting up an unsurpassable peak...I don't know what is.
Jake
[B]Considering that wasn't suppose to happen until mid season 5 anyways (from my understanding). I find it difficult to assign blame for seasons 5 weakness, and when viewing things in context... its not so bad. [/B][/QUOTE]
In all honesty, it doesn't matter how it was planned. What matters is how it turned out. Good intentions alone aren't enough.
The point is, it still happened. He did all that stuff at the end of S4. The buildup was fantastic, but perhaps it should have ended there.
[url]http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Jump_the_shark[/url]
Well, the Wikipedia states that : "When a series is unexpectedly renewed at the last minute after production is concluded, forcing an awkward continuation of the premise (e.g., Babylon 5's creator J. Michael Straczynski feared he would not be able to complete his five year story arc due to the impending dissolution of its parent, Prime Time Entertainment Network, and the uncertainties of the television syndication market, which led to many storylines being resolved prematurely at the end of season 4; when the series was picked up for a fifth season by cable network TNT, Straczynski relaunched production by withholding the series finale and extending the resolution of the remaining story arcs)."
And since everything on Wikipedia is the truth, I guess theres no need to argue.. :p
[B]While it ending there would have saved us the pain of Byron and Lockley, we would have missed the excellent Londo/G'Kar parts.
[/B][/QUOTE]
Exactly my feelings as well. The way that relationship turned out made it all worth it for me.
Even sitting through the space hippie.
It’s the reason why Ivonova only appears in the last episode of season 5, i.e it was really season 4 – so yeah, season 5 was rushed and did feel a bit empty after 4.
One thing though, for many people season 4 was the best season, and one of the main reasons for that was the intensity of the story lines, and that mainly came about due to the 4th and 5th years basically being merged into the one, I wonder what elements where missed out because of the uncertainty, reading about the released scripts/notes, there was obviously a lot of changes ranging from fine tuning to major changes throughout the 5 year arc.