Isn’t it the same size as the current iPhone?
I’m a fan, too! You’re right about the puppets…Jim Henson if I remember? That would make them Muppets! That show got dark- it’s hard to think of Rigel or Pilot as cousins to Kermit and Ms. Piggy.
That was an awkward time in TV: before CGI but after screen resolution had improved enough to expose less-than-perfect special effects.
3 Likes
I’m very slowly watching Babylon 5, the CGI was pretty basic for even back then I think. Put it on an OLED and… well, you watch it for the story. It’s a weird one for me as I was always told it was really great but never watched it yet. I’ve spends the past couple decades avoiding spoilers.
2 Likes
It was state of the art CGI around the time of the pilot episode (1993). In contrast, Star Trek: The Next Generation used miniatures, models, and painted backgrounds for the most part. The original Pentium I was the CPU of the day.
For comparison, see Steven King’s The Langoliers from 1995:
3 Likes
All that computing power, and it’s hand drawn animation that’s most memorable to me from that era.
I liked it for the excellent storytelling and the technically competent animation, really…cough cough.
5 Likes
After Jim Henson died in 1990 his firm struggled to keep its status/credibility. I think they accepted any work they could get…
1 Like
I believe they threw money at the pilot which didn’t translate to funding for the series, at least for the episodes I have so far seen. I could be wrong.
B5 struggled with funding and poor quality acting from start to finish. You shall see. The series improved as it went on and as the major plot arc was revealed, but there were always pretty serious flaws. It came along in the post-network syndicated era (along with ST:TNG, Hercules, Xena, etc). These were a stepping stone between lowest-common-denominator network TV (1950s to 1970s) and the streaming era.
One routine method for limiting budgets with TV or movies is to focus on people/dialogue. Compare old Dr. Who to old Star Trek to Star Wars.
1 Like
I agree that Farscape wasn’t state of the art for CGI (although it was definitely state of the art in the use of large puppets) but it looks a little worse than it should because they either lost or destroyed the original 35mm elements and had to use the 625 line PAL videotape as the source for blu rays and streaming.
1 Like
I remember being forced to watch B5 by my girlfriend at the time (who became my wife) and thinking it was OK, but once I was past season 1 and I realized that there was a multi-season story arc slowly unfolding, it blew my mind. Such a shame it was hampered by lack of funding because the grand ideas are all there.
The other show that she raved about was Deep Space Nine, which I probably enjoyed a little more than B5 to begin with, but I fell in love with both of them (and my girlfriend of course). Like B5, the DS9 writers were given the freedom to write huge story arcs.
I haven’t watched either show since they aired because I’m terrified of discovering that they aren’t as good as my warm memories of them. For instance, I’ve tried rewatching both Dr Who and Blakes Seven from the 70s, 2 favorites of my childhood, and they’re both awful, thanks to their deep discount budgets.
1 Like
IMO the Best trek series
3 Likes
Season one is OK. It sets the stage. The last half of season two through all but the last season is amazing, especially the Shadow War part.
Babylon 5 is still one of my favorites.
4 Likes
BTW, I just finished Utopia on Amazon Prime. I really liked it, but I think there was one huge flaw in the writing, which you had to ignore to enjoy it.
Spoiler in the following section:
The “heroes” became much too friendly with Jessica, who murdered one of their friends. There were a couple of episodes where they only hung around because she pointed a gun at them, but then that was all forgotten. I was able to ignore this, and enjoy the rest of the amazing plot, but I could see this irritating others.
1 Like
I think the thing about science fiction and fantasy is that if the story is really good, our imagination and suspension of disbelief can make up for or negate these flaws. At least, it used to. Nowadays we are spoiled with Avenger and Transformers level special effects where story takes a back seat to visuals. In that regard, the old stuff doesn’t pass muster. Kind of sad, imo.
Taken in context of its Era, I think B5 and Farscape were still pretty well done.
3 Likes
She’s not bad; she’s just drawn that way.
4 Likes
A very high percentage of film/TV sci-fi from the 1950s to the present follows from the novel Star Maker – Olaf Stapledon (1937). It not only sketched numerous sci-fi plots, but also incorporated philosophy and religion. This is in print, so imagination is key.
Drawing from the link, Arthur C. Clarke said Star Maker was “probably the most powerful work of imagination ever written.”
Sigh, yes.
I greatly prefer old, hokey special effects over many comic book movies of the Marvel era. From X-Men (2000) to Iron Man 2 (2010) the formula was fresh enough – mainly as effects and editing driven. However I think even the producers were sick of it by the time Logan (2017) was released, with its aging and realism themes.
As with music, every obvious sci-fi idea has been released twice and satirized as well. We are in an interpretive, nostalgic era now.
6 Likes
Back when I was in college, I took a Sci Fi class taught by Phil Klass, AKA William Tenn. Star Maker was one of the seminal works that we studied.
5 Likes
Imma get this on Kindle. Cheap. Ive read a ton of what many would consider top of the heap SciFi but oddly never came across this one.
4 Likes
My copy is on Kindle – I paid $0.99.
2 Likes
Have you read Stapledon’s ‘First and Last Men’? Just as ambitious as the wonderful ‘Star Maker’…
3 Likes