B5 (off topic!)

[Sven N. Thommesen]

Glen recently wrote:

>You Babylon 5 fans confuse me.  You all seem to be relatively
>intelligent and yet you claim that B5 is a good show.... With
>Transylvanian-like/too-much-mousse-usin' life from Alpha Centauri,
>silly gargantuan wormhole stabilization devices, and Bruce Boxlitener
>(or however you spell it), I just can't understand why you'd like the
>show so much...  But, then, I guess with the wasteland that is TV,
>it's not hard to outstrip everything else that's on.
>
>glen
>p.s. If anybody doesn't recognize that previous paragraph as 
>intentionally provocative, then let me assure you that it is. [grin]
>

So, was I supposed to get provoked? Into doing what? Having seen just
recently to what depths a flame war can stoop (on the RedHat list), I
surely don't want to take the bait. I'm tempted to use that old parlor
trick, often used when one runs out of arguments: Well, if you do 
understand it, I don't have to explain it to you, and if you don't, 
I can't .. ;-)

But, to take the bait just a teeny bit, I find B5 to be a more satisfying
show than most else out there in the 'vast wasteland'. With a 5-year
story arc, they have had the time to develop their characters in some 
depth, and -- horrors-- their characters actually develop and change as
we go along! True romantic fiction that takes itself seriously is a rare
thing in deed these days. It's not Shakespeare or Hugo, perhaps, but 
something in the same ballpark at least. Much better at this point than 
Star Trek, which seems to be slowly dying for lack of ideas (even the
actors seem bored with what they are doing!) 

Hope this satisfied you, Glen ... :-)

-Sven