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Originally posted by SchoolboysWink:
This could probably fit in the "Firefly Episodes" section, to, but here it is.

I recently started rewatching Babylon 5 season three, and I was struck by the huge differences between my two favorite shows. For one thing, B5's dialogue, while epic and cool, is stodgy by comparison to Firefly. I still love B5, but the vocal exchanges are more like listening to sci-fi Shakespeare than anything people would actually say to each other. The fact that I never even noticed it until after seeing Firefly points to a failing in the sci-fi genre in general that it took Joss Whedon to show me (and I doubt I'm alone) was even there.

More importantly, though, I was thinking about how the shows reflect the times in which they were produced.

Babylon 5 was a product of the 1990s. We were on the cusp of a new millenium, the economy was good, the Cold War was over. It seemed that humanity could overcome any threat. It seemed like maybe we had a hope of getting the hang of living with one another, so it was worth dreaming about other species and how we might interact with them. It was a time to dream of great heroes and epic deeds, of dark evils and noble, if costly, victories. JMS was always careful to show us the aftermath of the battles, the blood and tears, but even while he showed war's repugnance with one hand, he glorified the brave and noble sacrifices with the other.

Firefly is a show for a different time. The new millenium dawned, and it wasn't what the brochures said it would be. To borrow from the Simpsons "It's pretty much the same as the old millenium, except everybody is afraid all the time, and the stock market is much lower." It is no longer so easy to dream of a united Earth, we see our own daily struggles much more vividly now, with buildings falling and people dying faster than we care to try to keep up with. And much of the time, it feels like if you can get to the end of the day and still be flying, than that's all you can ask for. And it better be enough. Enter our Big Damn Heroes, a new kind of hero, a hero who's struggles are just to keep going and "look after me and mine." And the fighting is shown to be neither repugnant, nor glorious, but simply a grim necessity if you want to survive.

Those are my ramblings. Hoping somebody can come along and add to it, something I missed, or such like.

"When you can't do somethin' smart, do somethin' right!" -Jayne Cobb quotes Shepherd Book

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Originally posted by SchoolboysWink:
For one thing, B5's dialogue, while epic and cool, is stodgy by comparison to Firefly. I still love B5, but the vocal exchanges are more like listening to sci-fi Shakespeare than anything people would actually say to each other.

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More importantly, though, I was thinking about how the shows reflect the times in which they were produced.

Babylon 5 was a product of the 1990s.

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Originally posted by ImNotHere:

I think it had got to the stage where TV space opera was always done in this way - probably because of the dominance of Star Trek (the original was straight-down-the-line Shakespere-in-space, and casting a Shakesperian actor as captain in TNG didn't help).

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Sorry - have to disagree there - parts of the B5 story - especially the rise of fascism on Earth using the "alien threat" as a bogeyman - are horribly appropriate for the post-9/11 twenty first century.

The rest of B5 is hardly utopian: the mistakes of the 20th century are repeated (with unsubtle allegories) the main story is about how superpowers use emerging nations as proxies to fight their ideological battles without risking their own necks. The series ends with a war with the telepaths looming - and a glimpse into the future that shows earth sliding into fascism and destruction again before finally reaching "enlightenment".

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Originally posted by SchoolboysWink:
(Also, I believe at that last bit you are referring to The Deconstruction of Falling Stars, the last episode of Season 4. I love the episode, but I don't put too much stock in it; it was an episode JMS never knew he was going to have to write.

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Originally posted by capercaillie:

For Babylon5, the theme of season 5, Severed Dreams, and Voices of Authority have great music. I find myself humming the tunes over and over.

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Originally posted by PirateCat:
B-5 was good then Stargate and finally bang Firefly. But why do the dvds suck.

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