Hello everyone. I heard these two shows are very similar but also that both are good in their own way. Which do you guys suggest I watch first?
I have been enjoying older sci fi series lately like Voyager and Andromeda and suddenly remember the rivalry between these two series.
Start with B5, it’s a sci-fantasy, but a more grounded one. DS9 is a good Star Trek series.
I already started DS9 and it is indeed nice. It was on netflix which we had sub with so easier to access. While B5 is not haha
DS9 is peak Trek. Babylon 5 is also excellent. Watch both.
Yes am binge watching ds9 now. it is good. but the age is showing. I wish netflix would have remastered it the way some in youtube showed how it would look in an AI remaster haha
Watching these old shows. It kind of shows me how modern shows have traded good stories for good visuals. Hence I sometimes wonder how awesome these old shows would be under modern visuals.
Hold your aging comments until you see Babylon 5, heh.
haha yes. I watched an episode of babylon and it looks so old haha. The creator is planning a reboot like battlestar galactica had. Hope he succeeds. We need good stories. Nowadays shows seems to concentrate more on visuals.
Star Trek DS9 has Quark’s Bar while Babylon 5 has Zócalo…
DS9 has Cardassia while Babylon 5 has Centauri Prime…
DS9 has Qo’noS while Babylon 5 has Narn Prime…
DS9 has Bajor while Babylon 5 has Minbar…
DS9 has the Changeling Homeworld while Babylon 5 has the Vorlon Homeworld…
DS9 has the Wormhole while Babylon 5 has Z’ha’dum…
DS9 has the Klingons while Babylon 5 has the Narn…
DS9 has the Cardassians while Babylon 5 has the Centauri…
DS9 has the Bajorans while Babylon 5 has the Minbari…
DS9 has the Pah Wraiths while Babylon 5 has the Shadows…
DS9 has the Changelings while Babylon 5 has the Vorlons…
DS9 has the Prophets while Babylon 5 has Lorien…
The only difference between DS9 and Babylon 5 is the addition of the Ferengi whose semi-supreme Capitalist point of view adds quite a bit of philosophy to the Universe.
The Ferengi show the views of Capitalism including how it is more successful when Dogma is thrown out the window for the sake of self interest as shown by it throwing out the restrictions on Women doing business. Ferengi self interest when applied to War gets the War resolved faster.
They’re similar in that they’re sci-fi shows set around a space station fighting a war, beyond that they’re completely different.
Bab5 < DS9, but only slightly. They are both fantastic! If you’re a Trek fan then DS9 will probably win out. If you’re impartial… well DS9 might still win. But I will always love Bab5 more. Its story is just overall amazing BUT you have to get through the 1st Season which is kind of weak. However it does alot to set up the universe so you really need to watch it because the end is payed off huge. I think that’s one of the things that really hooked me, the overarching story that’s more than just random standalone episodes.
Oh. Also Walter Koenig is in Bab5… so yeah.
I haven’t seen DS9, but Babylon 5 is a solid show if you give it a chance. It might be a little slow and looks like Star Trek clone at first, but it holds its ground in the long run. Even after watching The Expanse and BSG, B5 is still my favourite.
I was always fascinated with ODO the shape shifting police officer on DS9. I would imagine most cops would have liked the ability to be a table lamp in A mafia bosses Italian restaurant and hear all the jobs going down first hand.
They really could have explored his character in more detail although I admit I was disappointed with his home planet being a giant blob of beings.
I was picturing more the Chuck Jones planet x ( where the dodo still lives ) with strange objects and Salvador Daly melting watches and other weird stuff , to shape shift in to,
B5 is currently streaming on Tubi.
Definitely check it out if you’ve never seen it before.
Fun fact. B5 was probably the first Sci Fi series to use full CGI. They did them on Amiga computers feeding video toaster render farms. Dates yes but quite impressive for the time.
Ugh! This is like asking me to choose which of my children I love the most
Don’t lie, you know there’s always a favorite.
DS9 is the superior show in my opinion. B5 however does hold a special place in my heart and at times gets a little crazy.
Both.
An interesting history behind this is that the B5 creator (“JMS”) shopped around his idea for a show on a space station and pitched it to Paramount who passed.
He later was able to get it picked up by someone else and put into production. Meanwhile, Paramount then goes on to make DS9. They were accused of ripping off B5.
Anyways, both are good. DS9 isn’t too good at first but gets immensely better, the stories, FX, acting, like the prelude to the Dominion War is about when. The downside is it’s all “Star Trek”-universe so you know what to expect.
B5 didn’t have a huge budget backing it, but was the first to film entirely in HD (the remaster still doesn’t look as good as it did on TV back in the day, I still have a VHS player and tapes). B5 was also the first show to use full-on CGI for ships and stuff. This allowed them to do a lot more, whereas DS9 was still using “models”, which they changed over to CGI later.
B5 got better with each season, great story-telling, huge twists, better/more FX, it became utterly epic in scope. B5 at first seemed to be the “issue/villain of the week” but about half-way through Season 1, when you get the episode “Signs and Portents” is when it starts to show its cards it’s something waaaay bigger than that, and has arcing stories and all. The B5 made for TV(cable) movies were good too but don’t watch them until you complete at least the first 4 seasons and Season 5 show/finale (Season 5 is optional except for the finale which was originally the Season 4/show finale).
Yup.
Here is another fun-fact. The actress who plays Ivanova in Bablyon 5 (Claudia Christian) also does the voice of Xal’atath in The War Within.
She’s also been Lady Liadrin for years.