Stargate SG-1 or Babylon 5 (1 Viewer)

[Qui-Gon John]

Not to mention some great acting, especially Andreas Katsulas, Peter Jurasik and Stephen Furst.

 

[BobSchneider]

I for one, have never watched a single episode of either Stargate show (I've simply never been attracted to it, specifically because the military uniforms they are constantly shown wearing in cast pictures made me think the franchise was heavy-handed on the military stuff)

huh? wth? have you ever watch sg-1? obviously not. The military aspects of the show for first 8 seasons (what I call the jack years) are of secondary importance to the show.Yes the stargate is control by the USAF but richard dean anderson's jack oneil is polar opposite of the stiff jack webb serious jack oneil of the movie. Jackson a civilian plays a hugh role , Sam is a air force officer, but science is her first love and would leave the air force if ever got in the way of sciencitfic studies, etc.... . The show more how a loyal group of great friends surving the daily struggles again a ever changing cast of increasing cunning and evil villains , please give the show a few viewings before giving a blind review like that.

 

[whisperintherain]

I was not giving a review of it, just saying that I'd never seen a single episode ( which for some reason did not seem clear to you although I think I did express myself clearly) and stating why I had been reluctant to watch it. Now, there are many shows I'm into, but this one just doesn't attract me. You'll notice if you re-read my previous post carefully that I didn't say anything negative about the show itself (I know better than judging a book by its cover).

QuiGonJohn, I couldn't agree more about the three B5 actors you singled out as the best. As for the female side, I was never disappointed by either Claudia Christian or Mira Furlan.

 

[BobSchneider]

LOL what do you think two thrids of the b5 crew were wearing? bell hop uniforms? The ppg's that everyones wearing on there hips, ppg's that even on stun left second and thrid degree burns? B5 loaded with military references wall to wall and there even a secret police force the PSI corp. lol Ive got to laugh . So is that because SG-1 is a twenty/twenty first century military sic fic motif that you object to? Seriously Ive had some lib demo friends that refuse to watch SG-1 and SG atlantis because the feel there tacitly supporting the iraq war and bush administration by watching any show that casts the current day military in even remotely positive light (even if it sci fic) but at the same time are hugh B5 fans, eventhough military motif is wall to wall in B5? Really Im curious. Or maybe just apples and oranges debate, Sg-1 and B5 both sci fic show with a heavy military motif as a back drop, but by no means defines the shows, personally I like both apples and oranges , so I can enjoy both SG-1 and B5 on there own merits. That just my 2 cents

 

[Will_B]

If we're airing baseless complaints, then I'll add my reluctance to watch Stargate SG-1 is because the episodes I've seen, they're always visiting the same forest planet, which I guess is the planet Vancouver. It seems like they just write episodes in which they can include a conveniently located forest.

But I'm sure there's more to the show than that. Just on casual viewing it looks cheap as heck.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Best Buy has all seasons of Babylon 5 on sale this week for $19.99 each.

 

[BrandonJF]

I don't even know if it's the acting as much as the direction/writing. The people I found most distracting were Claudia Christian, Richard Biggs, and Jeff Conaway.

As someone else mentioned, Andreas Katsulas and Peter Jurasik totally elevated that show for me. I liked Jerry Doyle quite alot, too.

 

[joshEH]

One more thing to consider when making your decision:

Babylon 5 was designed right from the start as a true novel-for-television...that is, with a specific ending to the story and a final scene known by series creator J. Michael Straczynski before he ever shot frame one of the B5 pilot.

Stargate, as much as I enjoy it, suffers from "X-Files Syndrome"...that is, no particular endpoint or real conclusion in mind, but rather season after season of conceived-in-the-moment storytelling. Hey, I'm not knocking it -- it's worked for the new Galactica and the various Star Trek series for years now, but be aware that this is a factor, and that SG-1 went on for 10 seasons. Which is indeed a time- and wallet-strain.

Again, both shows are good (great, in the case of B5), but B5 has the advantage in this comparison due to its finite nature -- the series creator *designed* the show to end after five years, and planted "self-destruct" mechanisms into the deals the series stars signed, to that effect. It's probably the closest thing to an honest-to-goodness literarily-structured science fiction novel that you're going to find on television.

 

[BobSchneider]

Really? B5 was completely shot on a sound stage in San fernardo valley ca that was converted warehouse which now is torndown because it was CHEAP! B5 had ZERO location shooting and there was heavy use of first generation tv green screen shots to save money on set changes, and its first gen cheesy green screen and cgi fighter/space shots that distract many people away from B5. Atleast sg-1 gives the fan a occasional break form the sound stage and green screen/cgi with location shots. Rememeber for the time B5 was most CHEAPLY produce Sci Fic show and because it was a fairly cheap show to produce thats why Ted Turner finally green lighted the fifth season. Also sadly in my book paramount intergraded some of b5's production techiques into their star trek tv shows making them more sound stage bound and in my mind less visually enjoyable.

 

[Katherine_K]

I wouldn't go so far as to blame Babylon 5 for that, Star Trek was always very heavily sound stage bound. The actors talk about that a fair bit in retrospective interviews.

 

[Will_B]

I wasn't comparing them. But I am not surprised to hear that Babylon 5 was not actually shot in space.

 

[Sam Favate]

I can appreciate that someone may only have enough time to add one show to their schedule - I certainly have that problem when folks tell me "you have to watch [fill in the blank]!"

But I dislike these threads that knock one show in favor of another. I'll paraphrase Gene Roddenberry, who, when asked about the "competition" between Star Trek and Space: 1999 said "I think the fans are lucky because they get to watch two shows."