Comments | hradzka: on the subject of learning from what's gone before

hradzka

on the subject of learning from what's gone before

Feb 21, 2012 18:46

A friend came over the other night and we watched a few episodes of BABYLON 5. She'd seen later episodes, but had missed the earlier ones. I was a HUGE junkie for B5 back in the day, and so we watched four episodes from the first season over the course of the evening. (For the record: "Midnight on the Firing Line," "Parliament of Dreams," "And ( Read more... )

Comments 4

kerithwyn February 21 2012, 18:44:13 UTC

*deep breath* Okay, so--I am entirely irrational about my fandom of choice these days, so take that as a given. But when I talk about Fringe, trying to turn incoherent squee into an actual rec, a lot of times I invoke a comparison to B5.

(I was both a B5 and a DS9 girl. Is that possible? *g* But B5 was on a whole 'nother level, I agree.)

Fringe, to me, reaches that same level of foreshadowing and ongoing plot. Every case--every one!--ties into the overarching story. And minor details even from the first season's MotW episodes keep having relevance into the fourth season.

It does for me what Lost and Alias before that intrinsically didn't. Great characters, yeah, but as you say, tap-dancing from plot point to plot point without a firm eye on the overall structure. Fringe is the X-Files if the latter had ever decided what its real motivator was: black oil! aliens! bees! -- I lost track. Everything on Fringe ties into the main story. EVERYTHING. And into the fourth season, it all hangs together the way none of those other shows did, ( ... )

hradzka February 21 2012, 18:59:39 UTC

Everybody talks about FRINGE. I will have to give it a look one of these days. (Work overseas, mostly fall far behind on TV.)

burger_eater February 21 2012, 19:53:58 UTC

I don't want to go into my opinions about B5 again (spoiler! not to my taste) but I will say this: According to internet factoid of unimpeachable veracity, the average life expectancy of a Hollywood producer is something like 57 years.

It's a really hard life.

ext_1072856 February 28 2012, 16:32:42 UTC

The important thing I would ask is does the show still stand up in the present day. I tried to re-watch BUFFY not to long back and it was painful. Yet old Doctor Who episodes like Genisis of the Daleks did and do stand up.

I would also add The SHIELD/ROME and the TUDORS to your list of the Wire of shows with long term stories etc.