ALT.SF4M

  B5 Virgin and loving it.

   • Thomas C. Wilson, Jr.
     08/01/1998 00:00:000 UTC

     I never watched B5 regularly until the current TNT fest. I don't know

     exactly why but I guess Real Life (tm) kept me fron noticing until it

     was well underway. When I did tune in, I just couldn't grok - most

     episodes seemed to have 10 continuing plot threads of 5 minutes each -

     kewl if you have been following the script, totally dense if you've just

     jumped in. Watching from the beginning has let me start at the shallow

     end of the pool.

     I've enjoyed the revival enough to make a point of time shift taping the

     episodes so I can really watch them after the kids are in bed. They do

     like B5 but it interferes with Rugrats at 7:30 and I have to be a bit

     careful to screen for naughty bits (like 65% of scenes with Londo :-)

     and/or violence inappropriate for 8 and 5 year olds.

     Sean and I both think the computer graphics animations are really neat -

     good enough for suspension of disbelief without sucking all the

     resources out of the plotline. The worst thing in the world is watching

     SF when they spend megabucks on FX and $4.95 on the screenplay (Best

     example from 97 - "Something has survived - unfortunately it wasn't the

     entertainment value"). I'm also interested in what hardware was used to

     generate the CGA - they are really excellent particularly considering

     the technology available 4 or 5 years ago when the first episodes were

     produced.

     As for the B5 pilot being "bad", compare it with the first few episodes

     of ST:TNG - they are actually painful to watch. Jonathan Frakes' eye

     shadow alone - Rocky Horror meets Starfleet. EEEEEEWWWWWW! It also

     reminds us why one of the first big Usenet newsgroups was

     alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die.

     Tom

     --

     Thomas C. Wilson / Ocean Instrument Lab / Marine Sciences

     State University of New York / Stony Brook NY 11794-5000 USA

     Tel: 516-632-8706/FAX: 516-632-8820/T******n@N***********.******b.edu

     "Opinions expressed are not necessarily, etc. etc...."

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       • Thomas C. Wilson, Jr.
         09/01/1998 00:00:000 UTC

         Forumite wrote:

         > Using "Virgin" ihn te subject line may get you unexpected
         emailings considering

         > what else gets posted ;-)

         > Jerry Katz

         ...but they won't be from anyone who was in the Forum from 1978 to
         1983.

         Ahhh-henh!

         Tom

         P.S. Anyone else here ever hear of a "Langdon diagram"?

         --

         Thomas C. Wilson / Ocean Instrument Lab / Marine Sciences

         State University of New York / Stony Brook NY 11794-5000 USA

         Tel: 516-632-8706/FAX:
         516-632-8820/T******n@N***********.******b.edu

         "Opinions expressed are not necessarily, etc. etc...."

         To reply, remove NOSPAM from email address

         (this is done to foil automatic bulk email address extractors)

       • f*******e@***.com
         08/01/1998 00:00:000 UTC

         Using "Virgin" ihn te subject line may get you unexpected emailings
         considering

         what else gets posted ;-)

         Jerry Katz

       • b********r@p*******e.com
         09/01/1998 00:00:000 UTC

         "Thomas C. Wilson, Jr." wrote:

         >Sean and I both think the computer graphics animations are really
         neat -

         >good enough for suspension of disbelief without sucking all the

         >resources out of the plotline. The worst thing in the world is
         watching

         >SF when they spend megabucks on FX and $4.95 on the screenplay
         (Best

         >example from 97 - "Something has survived - unfortunately it wasn't
         the

         >entertainment value"). I'm also interested in what hardware was
         used to

         >generate the CGA - they are really excellent particularly
         considering

         >the technology available 4 or 5 years ago when the first episodes
         were

         >produced.

         Originally, they were using Amigas and a Video Toaster, but now

         they've switched over to pc's (still using the Video Toaster
         AFAICT).

         BTW, J. Michael Straczynski is going to be our "Special Guest" at

         BucCONeer...

         Perrianne Lurie

         BucCONeer, the 56-th World Science Fiction Convention

         August 5-9, 1998, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

         P.O. Box 314, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701

         b********r@b********.********n.org

         http://www.bucconeer.worldcon.org

         Personal E-mail: b********r@p*******e.com