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Etadanik · 11-14-2006, 04:23 AM

On a whim, I went back and re-watched Babylon 5.

And you know what? I wept. Not because whats his face died, but because I knew, deep down inside, that there will probably never be a space opera so grand, so unadulteratedly and geekishly true to the genre's lavish style, as Babylon 5.

I mean, for the sake of all that is holy in geekdoom, you can't get more grand than the last episode of Season 4 where (*SPOILER*) the entire future history of mankind is revealed, culminating in our ascension into star godhood complete with uber organic ships (*END SPOILER*). Now that's vision - at a level that borders on hubris, true, but then that's what space opera is all about. Hubris - in all its tantalizing details.

The high point of the series, for me as for many others, is the build up to and the acting out of the Vorlon vs. Shadow war. And let me tell you, watching the final battle between the Vorlons and the Shadow is like orgasming to the sound of one hand clapping. It's ridiculous and yet ecstatic at the same time, because on one hand the CG is dated but on the other they're so damn sincere about everything that you can't help but be taken up with it all. It's like entering a world film makers nowadays dare not tread, lest the cost of CG blow up in their face - and that's a shame, because I could care less about photorealistic $20 million dollar CG animation that lasts all of two minutes. What I care about is genuine passion, unashamedly displayed, because that shit is contagious.

I'll be fair - I've always been a space opera fan. The whole genre fascinates me, and I've seen my fair share of shows that others would've dropped, simply on the principle that it's Ships in Space. But through all my days, I've never seen another Babylon 5. Star Wars had the spark, but it pissed it all away by focusing too much on Lucas's emo characters and not enough on the clash of civilizations. BSG and Firefly are the same, though the characters are much better. Deep Space Nine (and other Star Trek shows, though they were not meant to be space operas) had the clash and the seriousness, but spent too much time intellectualizing and not enough time building up the epic - and so ended up a pale shadow of B5. Farscape was too "far out"/parodic, and let's not even bring in shows like Andromeda.

So my question is - was Babylon 5 really the last true space opera? Would we never again see the grand, lavish galatic war immortalized in games such as MOO 2 and Homeland (another two of those "last true space opera" types, albeit in a different genre)? Will there really never again be a storyline as ambitious as that of Babylon 5 - that creates not only a galaxy, but dares to charter the very history of mankind in the culmination of its destiny?

Has the space opera genre drawn its final, labored breath? To end, like this, not with a bang but with a whisper?

11-14-2006, 04:23 AM	#1 (permalink)
Etadanik Banned Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,643 +0 Internets	Babylon 5: the Last True Space Opera? On a whim, I went back and re-watched Babylon 5. And you know what? I wept. Not because whats his face died, but because I knew, deep down inside, that there will probably never be a space opera so grand, so unadulteratedly and geekishly true to the genre's lavish style, as Babylon 5. I mean, for the sake of all that is holy in geekdoom, you can't get more grand than the last episode of Season 4 where (SPOILER) the entire future history of mankind is revealed, culminating in our ascension into star godhood complete with uber organic ships (END SPOILER). Now that's vision - at a level that borders on hubris, true, but then that's what space opera is all about. Hubris - in all its tantalizing details. The high point of the series, for me as for many others, is the build up to and the acting out of the Vorlon vs. Shadow war. And let me tell you, watching the final battle between the Vorlons and the Shadow is like orgasming to the sound of one hand clapping. It's ridiculous and yet ecstatic at the same time, because on one hand the CG is dated but on the other they're so damn sincere about everything that you can't help but be taken up with it all. It's like entering a world film makers nowadays dare not tread, lest the cost of CG blow up in their face - and that's a shame, because I could care less about photorealistic $20 million dollar CG animation that lasts all of two minutes. What I care about is genuine passion, unashamedly displayed, because that shit is contagious. I'll be fair - I've always been a space opera fan. The whole genre fascinates me, and I've seen my fair share of shows that others would've dropped, simply on the principle that it's Ships in Space. But through all my days, I've never seen another Babylon 5. Star Wars had the spark, but it pissed it all away by focusing too much on Lucas's emo characters and not enough on the clash of civilizations. BSG and Firefly are the same, though the characters are much better. Deep Space Nine (and other Star Trek shows, though they were not meant to be space operas) had the clash and the seriousness, but spent too much time intellectualizing and not enough time building up the epic - and so ended up a pale shadow of B5. Farscape was too "far out"/parodic, and let's not even bring in shows like Andromeda. So my question is - was Babylon 5 really the last true space opera? Would we never again see the grand, lavish galatic war immortalized in games such as MOO 2 and Homeland (another two of those "last true space opera" types, albeit in a different genre)? Will there really never again be a storyline as ambitious as that of Babylon 5 - that creates not only a galaxy, but dares to charter the very history of mankind in the culmination of its destiny? Has the space opera genre drawn its final, labored breath? To end, like this, not with a bang but with a whisper?