68
You ever have a friend who's media tastes didn't mesh at all with their politics at all?
(hexbear.net)
I met a trans lesbian socialist who does a lot of pro-Palestine organizing recently.
She also really likes Rick and Morty.
Babylon 5 is one of the greatest TV shows ever made. It's a shame that it started right when computer special effects were first getting off the ground, because the visuals have NOT aged well, which makes it hard to introduce it to new people. The fact that it had a single coherent story with MAJOR twists foreshadowed in the first five minutes of the first episode is incredible, though. Great writing.
Oddly enough I think that the older B5 gets, the more forgivable the aged CGI is, because it's more and more obviously "of its time".
Another thing I really enjoy about it is how it gave actors a chance to break out of typecasting, both regulars and guests. JMS gave very good actors who never really got the break they deserved in more mainstream projects the opportunity to show what they could really do.
I haven't watched Babylon 5 (yet), but I had a similar experience with the old Dune miniseries. Yeah, the costuming's kind of silly at times, and the CGI environments look like a Command & Conquer cutscene (or just the actual Dune strategy game made by the C&C devs)... and that's a good thing! I genuinely find it kind of endearing, and to me the series was quite beautiful, honestly way more than the Villeneuve movies which just... didn't really do anything for me.
It's like puppetry, most puppets are obviously not meant to be photo-realistic representations of humans (or other creatures), and any sort of movements are going to look quite stilted in comparison to a real human with muscles, but that's part of the charm. It's its own separate artstyle, with its own vibe. Realism and high fidelity are themselves artistic choices, and going for unrealism and low fidelity is a perfectly valid choice as well (although of course, in those old TV series, it wasn't quite a choice so much as the technical limitations of the time - but some of the most beautiful art comes about due to limitations)
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
A shame? I love the oldschool effects hehe
I think they're charming too, but I've had a few people bounce off the show in the first episode or two because of them. The practical effects of (say) the original Star Trek aged better than very early CGI.