From: michaelharper05@comcast.net   
      
   "Luigi Rosa"  wrote in message   
   news:eprt61$4ac$1@tdi.cu.mi.it...   
   > Mbruno said the following on 31/1/2007 22:50:   
   >   
   > > Nevertheless, many elements of the Babylon 5 universe bear a striking   
   > > similarity to Star Trek including the formation of an incipient   
   > > unified world government in the wake of a catastrophic World War in   
   > > the end of the 21st century and the creation of an interplanetary   
   > > federation of planets (the Interstellar Alliance),   
   >   
   > Those issues are shared by A LOT of written science fiction stories,   
   > beginning with the Lensmen saga by E. E. "Doc" Smith. Star Trek just   
   > followed the steps.   
      
   Exactly. Very little new has been done in televised/filmed sf. JMS was a big   
   fan of Doc Smith when he was growing up, and that influence is evident in   
   the epic style of B5.   
      
   The thing that always annoyed me about Trek was the Reset Button. End of the   
   episode, no matter what happened, it's all gotta be status quo at the star   
   of the next episode. Worf gets his back broken and has to go through radical   
   surgery? Not to worry, we'll pull something out of our ass and he'll be just   
   fine next week.   
      
   That bothered me. On B5, shit happened, people got killed, and they didn't   
   get back up. JMS killed off an entire alien race for a plot point. When   
   Keffer finally caught up with the Shadows, they turned on his 'Fury and   
   burned him out of the sky. You could see the flesh burning off his skull.   
   There was no way he was gonna be back next season. On Trek, unless you were   
   a redshirt supporting character, you always came back. If you were Jim Kirk,   
   you got laid every other episode.   
      
   B5 I could believe. Trek would sometimes have me throwing up my hands and   
   screaming "Gimme a break!"   
      
   And don't get me started on DS9. No matter how good the show turned out to   
   be, it was still Paramount's version of B5, rushed into production with the   
   serial numbers filed off.   
      
   Mike   
      
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