Babylon 5 is one of the more underrated TV sci-fi shows of all time. The CGI and such is super old, and the acting comes across a bit hacky, but it’s well worth checking out. It delved into deeper issues (which today are sadly relevant) long before others that are similarly well-known for that (like Star Trek Deep Space Nine), and went deeper still.
Like poverty, inequality, misunderstandings, religion, politics, specifically fascism, and so on.
This meme is purely about the similarities in the names - but the show itself is worthy of having been included alongside of Star Wars.
Fun Fact: DS9 was a ripoff of Babylon 5. Literally and directly. JMS pitched Babylon 5 to Paramount, who rejected it, so he went and pitched it to TNN about the time Paramount started up a new Star Trek show about a space station nominally run by humans from Earth that’s involved in conflict and diplomatic intrigue with a wormhole nearby.
As much as I like B5 and JMS, DS9 was already in preproduction with the suspicious similarities already in place when he pitched the show. Paramount asking him during the pitch if he’d be interested in making it a Trek show was almost certainly an attempt to poach him for DS9, since they saw how similar the core concepts were. Paramount actually got very hands-off with DS9, and I suspect it was to ensure they didn’t let the pitch influence the show and open them up to a lawsuit.
Also, JMS didn’t go to TNT after Paramount, he went to PTEN. PTEN was terribly run and B5 was literally their only show by the time production started on season 4, with PTEN folding during production. TNT picked up the show for season 5, then ordered a sequel show that they immediately got buyer’s remorse on and fucked with so they could cancel it within the terms of the contract.
Babylon 5 is one of the more underrated TV sci-fi shows of all time. The CGI and such is super old, and the acting comes across a bit hacky, but it’s well worth checking out. It delved into deeper issues (which today are sadly relevant) long before others that are similarly well-known for that (like Star Trek Deep Space Nine), and went deeper still.
Like poverty, inequality, misunderstandings, religion, politics, specifically fascism, and so on.
This meme is purely about the similarities in the names - but the show itself is worthy of having been included alongside of Star Wars.
Fun Fact: DS9 was a ripoff of Babylon 5. Literally and directly. JMS pitched Babylon 5 to Paramount, who rejected it, so he went and pitched it to TNN about the time Paramount started up a new Star Trek show about a space station nominally run by humans from Earth that’s involved in conflict and diplomatic intrigue with a wormhole nearby.
As much as I like B5 and JMS, DS9 was already in preproduction with the suspicious similarities already in place when he pitched the show. Paramount asking him during the pitch if he’d be interested in making it a Trek show was almost certainly an attempt to poach him for DS9, since they saw how similar the core concepts were. Paramount actually got very hands-off with DS9, and I suspect it was to ensure they didn’t let the pitch influence the show and open them up to a lawsuit.
Also, JMS didn’t go to TNT after Paramount, he went to PTEN. PTEN was terribly run and B5 was literally their only show by the time production started on season 4, with PTEN folding during production. TNT picked up the show for season 5, then ordered a sequel show that they immediately got buyer’s remorse on and fucked with so they could cancel it within the terms of the contract.