--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "sparaig" <sparaig@> wrote: > > > > More mono-dimensional stuff from B5: > > > > aliens so alien that they refuse to be seen without an environmental > suit, and when they > > ARE forced to reveal themselves, they mentally control the > perceptions of every creature in > > the vicinity so that no two species can agree on what they saw, all > done in such a way that > > none of them realize it was one of their fellow ambassadors they > were looking at. > > > > That same alien ambassador, named Kosh (later replaced by another > ambassador also > > named Kosh--"we are all named 'Kosh'") whose automatic translation > device struggles with > > translating 10 seconds of its alien speech that sounds like a > heavenly choir and finally says > > "yes..." > > > > The background of the series, touched on in the first episode and > slowly revealed over the > > first 3 years of the series, includes a mystery that isn't resolved > until the time travel > > episode: > > > > why would an alien race, thousands of years in advance of us, whose > most popular leader > > was killed by our people accidentally, chase us on a war of > extermination to the very edge > > of Earth's atmosphere, and, as wave after wave of Earth ships was > sent against the alien > > foe merely to gain a few more seconds (if that) of launch time for > refugee ships fleeing the > > ultimate destruction of Earth, did said alien race suddenly > SURRENDER to us and become > > our stanchest ally? The full depth of the mystery takes 3 years to > reveal, and the answer > > isn't given until the full mystery is revealed. > > > > Alien races so advanced that their ships are living creatures build > to have a symbiotic > > relationship with the race. A chess match between two such races > that spans many > > millions of years of history, using entire species as pawns and yet > the players turn out to > > be even more limited than the species they manipulate. > > > > Yeah. a one-dimenstiona, pretentious story, to be sure. > > > > Like I said, anyone who can't appreciate B-5 has the attention span > of a flea. > > And I suggested, it's a series for techno geeks > and guys who haven't left the house in years and > only vaguely imagine what it's like to have a > relationship with another human being. Firefly > is for humans. >
IE, Firefly, for all its merits, is easy for someone who doesn't enjoy intellectual challenges and puzzles to follow, while B5 requires you to recall at least the gist of a repeated phrase from three seasons ago: "There is a hole in your mind..." The person that that this was said to doesn't get the answer to why some alien is saying that to him in the pilot episode until he disappears from the series and reappears 2 years later for a two-part episode to resolve his "hole"--the 24-hours that is missing from his memory. Coincidentally that same 24-hours during which the aliens decided not to blow up Earth. Just who is he? He's the "closed circle." He's also the star of the first season and yet Strazinski is willing to let him go at the end of the first season in order to create a mystery that isn't solved for another 30 episodes. > > This is fun. It's like the arguments at a Trekkie > convention. :-) > > You are free to like Babylon 5. I am free to > consider it beneath even you. So there you are... > Bet you think that all anime is beneath you as well... BTW, my 20-year-old son, who was just hired as a TV writer for a new Canadian TV show, choked when he heard what you said about B5. I trust his writing skills and intuition over yours any day.
