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Nutso wrote:

Will someone please check the player? It keeps skipping!

We spent the day with Tom Savini, the legendary horror special effects master and makeup artist. He gives us a personal behind-the-scenes tour of his school the TOM SAVINI’S SPECIAL MAKEUP EFFECTS PROGRAM, and then takes us deep into his home to see his personal collection of HORROR MOVIE memorabilia and to share stories.

This is a sad song?!

Denholm Reynholm making a rare TV appearance.

She's got chops!

One of the minor things I didn't like about the Big Bang Theory was Sheldon's disdain for Babylon 5. We all have our likes and dislikes, sure, but I recall he once said he didn't like it because "It fails as drama, science fiction and is hopelessly derivative."

But honestly, whilst B5 had its failings that is really as far as one could get from an objective opinion. In drama terms the show was streets ahead of most Star Trek (which Sheldon loves). As science fiction it was more rooted in science than most sci-fi is. And derivative? How? It went out of its way to be as unlike Trek as it could be. It was one of the pioneers of the "ongoing story arc," at least in sci-fi, and influenced most sci-fi that came after it in that respect. Nobody was doing season-long arcs, let alone multi-season arcs, until Babylon 5 did it.

I mean, if he'd said the production values were low, or that the CGI effects didn't match quality model work, he'd have a point. But then Babylon 5 was pioneering CGI for TV sci-fi at the time. You can also point to the acting, where the main cast were generally pretty good but outside that... well they got the actors they could afford. (Most B5 problems came down to budget, one way or another.)

I get that it's amusing for sci-fi fan Sheldon to have one series he hates. But why not pick an actual bad show? I nominate Sliders. It was awful, yet it somehow managed to keep getting new seasons regardless - five in all, just like Babylon 5. Honestly, having him hating on B5 just comes across like a writer who didn't know sci-fi well picked one out of a hat and made a bad choice.