Sometimes you wonder:



The May 30th issue of TV Guide had a feature on cult shows and at number 13 is Babylon 5 described as "This space opera has it all: sinister aliens, space chicks and funny-named villains like the Narn and Vorlons." Did anybody at TV Guide actually watch the show? This is one of the great works of art about forgiveness and sacrifice, about tragedy, about moral decisions, and they boil it down to the status of a SNL sketch. There are some sinister aliens but also some kind aliens and sinister humans and no "space chicks" by usual TV SF standards (ie a noticable lack of metal bikinis and chokingly tight uniforms). Besides, the Narn and Vorlons aren't villains, not even particularly in a conventional sense but more specifically because B5 lives up to Renoir's dictum that everybody has their reasons. That's one reason the show will probably never get its full due: big chunks of it look like standard Good vs. Evil showdowns but turn out to be, well, not quite that and an even tougher sell is that you can't come in during the middle because the actual process, the changes, are mostly the point of the show.