Babylon 5 and Me

(Yes, I know the above picture is HUGE and takes a very long time to load, but it's just so gosh darned PRETTY, ya know?)

Okay, everybody, here is where I explain what Babylon 5 is--or my take on it, anyway, and what exactly made me a fan. As if anyone cares. But hey, I'm doing it anyway.
I assume that if you have already come this far into this page, you must have at least a SLIGHT idea of what Babylon 5 is. But I'll do a quick summary here, just in case. Babylon 5, in REAL life, is a science-fantasy show (yes, you heard me, science-FANTASY, not fiction, and I'll explain that in a bit) that first went on the air with it's pilot episode, "The Gathering", in 1993. It was a 2-hour movie with several different characters that were never seen again in the main show, and that's all I can tell you, 'cos I've never seen it. The first normal episode was "Midnight on the Firing Line", which you can see a review of on this site. The show has now been going for almost five years and has only 5 new episodes left before it is over. It has also had three T.V. movies made off of it and there is a new series planned for 1999.
"Okay, so you became a fan when it was almost OVER?!", you're thinking. Yep. I'm funny that way. I have a way of loving things months or years or decades AFTER they were popular, and having to make a fandom out of tiny leftover scraps. At least B5 is still going, kinda...What made me a fan? Well, everyone had been telling me I SHOULD watch it for YEARS, but I just never had the time. I actually first got my interest sparked while looking up something ELSE on the Internet just a couple of months ago, and found some funny B5 quotes. I got curious, looked up some other websites, figured out who the characters were...and then one day, sat down and WATCHED an episode. I've been watching the weekday reruns on TNT ever since. I came in at the beginning of the third season, which means that I saw the 3rd and 4th seasons BEFORE I saw the 1st and 2nd, and therefore I am coming at the show from a rather odd perspective.
Babylon 5...is different. Why? Well, first of all, it was PLANNED out from the beginning as a five-year-long televsion NOVEL. That means that from DAY ONE the ENDING was already set! This, in my opinion, is both good and bad. Good because it gives the show a definite continuity and plot that most other shows lack (except Deep Space Nine), and bad because it's limiting. I mean, when you already KNOW how it's going to end, and you know it is GOING to end that way NO MATTER WHAT, it kinda limits your options, don't ya think?
It is also different because the creator/writer is also the producer and has final say on everything AND controls almost everything. I'm talking of course about J. Michael Straczynski, or "JMS" as most fans call him. (I call him Straczynski, just to be perverse.)
As for the show itself...well...it has good parts and bad parts. The good stuff, in my opinion, is the alien cultures, the funny lines, the deep, well-developed characters, the continuity, maybe the occasional space battle, and ANYTHING with the Centauri. I also just love politicking and conniving in general. The Centauri are best at that but the Minbari can get pretty interesting sometimes too.
The parts I DON'T like are the mystical and magical bits. I have only neutral, null-feelings for the Vorlons. I HATED the Soul Hunter--both the episode and the person--and I hope we NEVER see one of those again. Draal irritates the hell out of me. First Ones, souls switching between different species' bodies, The Great Machine, HUH?! And Lorien made me want to throw up. But as long as they're not going all metaphysical hoo-ha on you, Babylon 5 is a very good show.
Even more unusual is the fact that I am ALSO a TREKKER! It seems to me that most B5 fans HATE Star Trek. The only exceptions are the ones who liked Trek first and THEN became "5-ers". I have seen so many B5 fans TRASH Star Trek, it's scary. I don't know WHY they can't just get along...but then, that's part of our Star Trek training, too. The idea that people can get along with each other. B5 is much darker and full of REAL predjudice. Some say that makes it more realistic, I say it makes it more depressing. I often find myself wishing they had a Federation, and that "Earthforce" was called something closer to "Starfleet" insted, and would accept alien officers. I mean, it just seems so cold and grey when you have all the races strictly seperated into their own little governments and their own little sectors...
However, B5 DOES have some great plots, great continuity, wonderful characters and acting (especially from Peter Jurasik, who plays Londo) and a lot of very funny parts, so I like it anyway. It's not the best show on Earth, but it IS quite good, and I am, indeed, a fan.
(Babylon 5 is on at 6 p.m. Eastern time, on TNT, in case you're curious)