Babylon 5 Rant

One of the most interesting new concepts for a television show was last year's smash, 24. The show depicted a chronological 24 hours of a group of people's lives, complete with a clock on the bottom right of the screen, and the need to catch viewers up on what "happened" during commerical breaks. The story has a beginning in the first episode followed through until an ending in the twenty-fourth. Of course, the show was not without faults, particularly the believability factor in second season being close to zero at times (you really expect me to believe that a nuclear explosion in the middle of nowhere, Arizona, is going to cause riots in EST locations like Atlanta, GA in the middle of the night?), but viewers have been drawn to the concept.

I would argue that 24 actually heralded two unique qualities that made it popular. The first was the "real-time" aspect in which the story was told. Ultimately, I found this to be more of a negative effect than a positive one (again, believability), but I don't even think that was the most important aspect of what made 24 popular. I would argue that the important aspect of 24 was that it told a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Even shows with continual storylines (Friends, Felicity, Dawson's Creek, etc.) don't have a beginning or an ending, they seem to be perpetually in the middle of the story.

So why have I spent two paragraphs talking about 24 when I've already stated (in the title to this entry) that this is a Babylon 5 rant? Because I think 24 fundamentally took its storytelling distinction--that it was to be telling a complete story, and carried it out poorly. The characters were more in line with romantic heroes (on steroids) than real people, the plot contained more holes than swiss cheese, and the story was obviously written improperly--the writers wrote "as they went", instead of thinking out the entire story in their heads and having the entire idea for the story before writing the first page (which is why it seems more like three concatinated stories rather than one overarching story).

Babylon 5, whose pilot (The Gathering) aired in 1993 and whose final episode (#110, Sleeping in Light) ran in 1998, was a show with a story conceived by one man, about people (used in the generic sense of sentient beings, human and alien), the decisions they make, and how those decisions affect them. It truly is a story about real, plausable people with real strengths, weaknesses, drives, desires, etc. who are put on an interplanetary diplomatic space station and do what diplomats with their character strengths and flaws would do. The result is a story that is wonderful to watch, a story that is majestic and grandiose and involves empires and kings and diplomats, but also a story that is down to earth and believable (there is never a point in B5 where you look at the screen and say, "riiiiiiight...") about people whom, as you watch them, you identify with them, because your strengths and weaknesses are being reflected back from the television screen at you.

I could go on about this, but I'm already at five paragraphs, and I don't particularly want to spend multiple entries talking about this. Suffice it to say that whether you watch TV or not, I reccomend setting aside the time to watch this show. I say this as a person who spends most of my time reading and writing and not in front of a television set. Watch it. It is worth the time spent. The story is every bit as good as the most celebrated fantasies, like The Lord of the Rings. The pilot and first two seasons are out on DVD (did I mention that B5 was the first television show to be shot widescreen?), and the third season will release on August 12. Pick these up and add them to your collection--they are immensely worth it. Also, I have added a link to The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 over on the links tab, a fan-run site which I find particularly intriguing.

Yep, no Biblical connection or deep reflection. Just my mindless rant about a secular subject I happen to care about.

Luke