Babylon 5

"Well," its fans say, "the first season sucks. And the last season sucks. And the acting is pretty bad. And the dialogue is kinda clunky. And the special effects are a joke.

"But you need to watch it; it's so good!"

o_O

Um, yeah. I'll get right on that.

Seriously, you people. How can you undersell a show this much and then be surprised when your friends are lukewarm about joining you in fandom?

So here's the truth, folks, from someone who just finished Season Four: Babylon 5 is some of the best scifi ever made, with real emotion, real heart, and an actual unfolding plotline. For all its flaws, it stands up to Star Trek:The Next Generation and makes that show look shallow.

Season One does not suck, though the acting does. Season One suffers only as compared with the second through fourth seasons. If anyone tries to persuade you that you can skip it, ignore them. Though the story arc is only touched on in some of the Season One episodes, those hints will vastly deepen your appreciation of the levels of intrigue and planning going on in the plot arc.

The special effects, which were state of the art at the time, are not up to the quality of today, but they are used effectively and I appreciate the recognition of zero-g physics - ships easily rotate 180 degrees to fire behind themselves, while inertia carries them along their original trajectory. Crews experience increased g-forces only when they are powering against their own mass. Bab5 rotates to create gravity, and so do the crewed sections of the battleships.

The story arc is what really shines. JMS created this show to have a run of five years. That meant that he did not have to create stasis. We see more of this kind of TV making these days, but rather than layering more and more mysteries and never actually solving anything, Bab5 regularly finishes big arcs. Because it has somewhere else to go.

But.

Decisions made in Season One have ramifications all the way in Season Four (probably Five as well; I haven't watched it). People change and grow, and learn. And remember. Alliances broken are not casually remade; interpersonal conflicts are not always resolved comfortably before the credits roll. Sometimes it's downright painful to watch what favorite characters are going through, and keep going through.

In other words, it's very human.

I was a skeptic. It looked like stilted acting and rubber masks, the one time I caught an episode out of sequence. I did not come willingly to Bab5.

But now I endorse it wholeheartedly.

Yesterday we had a marathon run through the second half of Season Four. I simply could not stand not to know what was going to happen.

It's good. See it.

And now to seek some B5 advice

I've hedged a bit in my praise-heaping; I have not actually finished the show, only the first four seasons.

Now, I've heard that season 5 is excrutiating, but Ferrett sort of hedged a bit last night when talking about it: "The last episode is a must-see. And there are some other good ones. And...."

He sighed, perplexed. "I dunno. Maybe you should ask LJ."

And so here I am, asking you who are B5 fans whether I should push my way through to the end, or run away while I can.

[Poll #807893]

Tomorrow begins the newest chapter

Tomorrow, I am officially back from vacation. Tomorrow, I get back to my life.

Now, those of you who have been paying attention will remark that I've been back from Europe for a week, and was back to work last week.

And to you I say, "How do you know so much about me?! Have you been following me around?!!! I'll get a restraining order if I have to!!!"

...ahem...

Seriously, though, last week honestly didn't count. I was sick, Ferrett was gone, things were not back to normal.

Tomorrow begins "normal," and figuring out what that means. For four years, having too much to do has been the dominant theme of my life, accomplishing that "too much" the source of my triumph.

Now, I have time to do all those things I said, "if only I had time...."

But there is really no driving force, nothing to shape my days outside of getting ready for, going to, and returning from work. Falling into a pattern of doing that and not much else would be easy - evenings in front of the TV, computer on my lap, attention divided between two mindless activities, would be easy to allow to stretch out endlessly.

I do not want that to happen.

I want to work out. To work on my garden. To keep learning and growing. To stretch my wings spiritually. To give back to my community. To spend quality time with my friends. To create with my hands, and with my mind.

That's a lot to pack into a day. So much that the choosing can be overwhelming, the choices paralyzing.

So tomorrow morning I will get up early. I will determine whether it is a biking day or an exercising at home day. I will eat breakfast and do yoga, either after a workout or before a bike ride, depending on the weather.

And I will begin planning, organizing, creating a shape for the things I want to accomplish. So I don't fritter away the evenings, anxiously incapable of settling on an activity because it means that other activities are ignored. I can easily be paralyzed by choice, unless I find a way of making it effectively.

I will not live the life unexamined.