15/06/2013
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Babylon 5… Has it been twenty years???
(I was going to post this thought at WordPress but until they shut off the lights here, I’m going to post here. I’ll just “pulse” there)
The early to mid 1990′s had some decent Sci-Fi shows on the air. Stargate SG1 on Showtime with The Outer Limits, Farscape, The Invisible Man, Time Trax, Good Versus Evil and a pilot of an idea called Babylon 5. Okay, this was the early days of what now call the Internet. The early days of what is now called Computer Generated Images. J. Michael Straczynski had an idea to tell a story over five years. Go to Wikipedia for the full story. The post there can tell you the story behind it better.
No, this post is going to be how I stumbled on this show. I was working at my new job at Sidari’s Italian Foods and I started getting back to reading comic books. I was at a local comic book store when I met some people who shared some of the same hobbies/interests. We started hanging out on the weekends. Me being the only one working nights, Saturdays or Sundays was the only time we could do this. Someone was taping Babylon 5 and said we should start watching it. Watching from the pilot to get caught up was a form group watching. (Throw in Nintendo 64 and it’s awesome game called Golden Eye and that’s a WHOLE different story for another time…) From there, I got introduced to Anime and other shows. I liked Babylon 5 and some of it’s spin-off movies. In The Beginning, A Call To Arms and The Lost Tales are my favorites. I could go into a long nerd based diatribe about how season five of Babylon 5 sucked and instead of sticking with the five year story arc, it could have gone on for at least two more years, then go to TV movies, but no. That’s just my opinion and a Sci-Fi nerd. And I could go on how Stargate SG1 should have ended at eight seasons and so on. The fan boy could fill blogs worth on subjects like this. But it was an era where instead of instant interaction, you watched shows in groups and talked to each other face to face.
As with life, the fellowship broke up. People got married, new jobs leading to moves to other states, and one has died. It happens. But for a brief period of time, doing things like this was a group thing. Getting together and interacting in the real world instead of looking down at a smart phone. I miss that. But at least it happened and I’m glad it happened.
And that era had some damned fine Sci-Fi shows. No, I never got into Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Angel. But Firefly ended too soon. As did Space: Above And Beyond, The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr, Sea Quest DSV to name a few.
And Sci-Fi got me to come here. A friend of mine whom I met through a fanzine she put together landed here and thought I might try my hand here writing and just hang out. She’s since became the writer/editor she wanted and I’m in touch with her via Facebook. I was gone for a number of years. Eh, nothing worth writing about. A series of dumb ass mistakes but I came back full time to now the mess that may face us here on Xanga.
A meandering post yeah. But a lot can happen in twenty years. What were you doing twenty years ago? Not going to think about the future. Let it happen when it does. Going to hang out here and where ever Xanga lands up.
On a few side bars:
The Mulberry bush/tree has opened it bounty on the driveway this year. The picture doesn’t do it justice as to the carpet of berries on the ground. Yeah, I think this the last year for this tree.
As the Summer starts up, vacations start at work. Which means I’ll be bouncing around on my job for the next three months.
A host of new shows are on. King and Maxwell I’ve watched. It was so-so. The final season of Burn Notice is just awesome so far.
Dad wants a pellet gun to deal with a pesky ground hog before it decimates his Tomato plants.
Need to borrow his camera on my Saturday walks. Lots of rabbits and assorted critters when I walk along the power lines. The camera on the smart phone just won’t cut it.
Going to call it a night. Tomorrow is Fathers Day and if Ma Nature cooperates, a round of miniature golf with lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. Back to the usual work grind.
CIAO
Comments (5)
Has it really been twenty years already?! Man, that makes me feel old
I liked the SG series when Richard Dean Anderson was on it, although I didn’t watch it until it was in syndication. I loved Briscoe County Jr. for the first season. John Astin was SO funny as that mad inventor. Then they got all into that “orb” plot and I lost interest. I liked Dark Angel. It, too, got going in a bad direction in the second season, but with Jessica Alba, Jensen Ackles, and Michael Weatherly in their youth, it was loaded with beauty even in dystopian Seattle.
I can’t decide if the SyFi channel is a good thing or not. They have certainly given us some good programming with Eureka, Warehouse 13, Haven and others. However, most of their original movies I’ve tried to watch have been pretty stupid. And Ghost Hunters and all those kind of shows just irk me.
I hope you share some photos here. Yes, it’s hard to believe how recent 20 years feels. Enjoy your Father’s Day.
Yeah it really has been 20 years. I was just a teenager back then but I got into most of the shows you mentioned. Was never a big babylon 5 fan but if I remember I was off watching others like earth 2, sg1 (i agree they lost something without R.D. Anderson), Firefly (Browncoats FTW) rocked (Defiance reminds me of firefly a bit). Also always been a big Star Trek fan all series though kirk was always better then picard. Most of the shows you mention in the last year or so I hunted down to add to my scifi collection. Its been a wonderful trip down memory lane watching them all again. It was the golden years of scifi I think and nothing since sets that same glory days tone. Cheers my fellow oldie, those where the days when monsters were backed by believable science and membari(typo) were real men(hehe human)
Of all the things that I was going to comment on in this post, the one thing that stuck out was the fact that your dad wants a pellet gun. LOL. He sounds so much like my mom. She wanted a gun to “control” the squirrels that invade her pecan trees. Now, granted, she has always been a good shot, but when my brother wanted to get her one for her 90th birthday, I put my foot down (He said…”don’t worry, it’s just a small gun”). We got her some humane traps instead. Animal control picks them up and the neighbors’ windows are safe.