(ASIDE: In The Next Generation, Picard originally didn't like children. Eventually, he learned to tolerate them. This is not only the kind of insignificant change the producers of Star Trek allowed; it was indicative of ST's cowardly writing. Picard couldn't have learned to hate kids even more, because ST characters weren't allowed to grow darker. Apparently, the producers felt a dislike of kids was a flaw that had to be "corrected".)
*NO, SERIOUSLY: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*
Consequences
In Babylon 5, Commander Sheridan was killed and then resurrected. It felt like a bit of a ST cheat, but there was a price for Sheridan's resurrection: he was given only twenty extra years to live. This greatly impacted on the very last episode of the series, "Sleeping in Light", which jumped ahead twenty years to the day Sheridan realized the bill was due. The result was B5's most moving episode.
Compare that to the Star Trek episode "Galileo Seven". Kirk had to choose (this is a simplified summary) between saving Spock and McCoy or abandoning them in order to deliver medical supplies. It was a tough decision, choosing between his best friends and a large number of strangers. But Kirk made the decision he had to: he abandoned the search for his friends to save the plague-ridden planet. So far, so good...except Spock and McCoy ended up saving themselves. Kirk didn't have to suffer any consequences from his decision.
It was a foregone conclusion that Star Trek would be full of cheats, cop-outs, and cowardly writing even before the first episode ever aired. Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator, wanted no major conflicts among the regular crew (the minor bickering between Spock and McCoy hardly counts). Everybody was supposed to get along in order to reflect Roddenberry's hopeful, upbeat view of the future. It's a nice sentiment, but it restricted the writers from the most important conflicts: those between characters you know and care about. Instead, writers had to come up with a lot of external threats, including a number of dreary "ship in danger" stories. In the end, it took Babylon 5's quality to make me realize that Gene Roddenberry wasn't one to let a good storyline get in the way of his Message.
But like most arguments of this nature, it's all moot. If shows like Voyager and rip-offs like Deep Space Five Nine can't kill off Star Trek, nothing can. The franchise has become as tenacious as anarchists: destroy one cell and another pops up somewhere else.
Shameless self-promotion: Martian War Machine
Article comments
1 - visualsimplicity
I loved Babylon 5, although I don't and never really watched any of the Star Trek stuff, but didn't Deep Space Nine have permanent consequences? (but you did site that as a rip off) Anyway, I thought the best part of B5 was the Shadow Wars. I was deeply disappointed when the networks left the B5 writers in limbo and as a consequence, forced the writers to end the Shadow Wars. I thought the aftermath of the Shadow Wars was a bit anticlimatic and lost most of my interest in the series. A shame really.
2 - dal_timgar
I consider your criticism reasonably accurate but unfair.
I started reading science fiction novels in 1961 so I always knew Star Trek wasn't great sci-fi, but it was television, in the 60's. To some extent all later Treks are trapped by that heritage. Babylon 5 had a blank slate to start with and the Star Trek legacy to learn from.
What I find striking is the similarities between Deep Space 9, the best of the Treks, and Babylon 5. Quasi-religious and military power games based around a space station.
Dal Timgar
3 - Phillip Winn
DS9 did definitely aim for the B5 audience, and somewhat succeeded. But B5 was simply wonderful. Too bad about the fear of never having a fifth season and what that did to seasons 4 and 5.
4 - Jesse Bryant
(I know you made this post a long time ago but...) I totally agree with you, and they did finally find a way for people to get sick of Star Trek...Star Trek: Enterprise
but while (in my opinion) every star trek show got better as it aged another year, Babylon 5 had it's best area in Seasons 3 and especially 4
jesse
5 - ertl
Spoilers
It was a shame that b5 got SO sped up in season 4. The Shadow War ended with a bang but it could have been a WAY BIGGER bang. A few more episodes about the planetkillers (instead of the 10 seconds total) and the entire agenda of the vorlons and more about the suffering of people when the vorlons blew up entire planets. It felt like the shadow war just began in the end of season 3 and it was ended in just 6 episodes with only one episode devoted to a sapce battle. I wanted MORE!! But it wasn't JMS's fault. Otherwise, if the pacing was kept as it was in the first 3 seasons, it would've been the best scifi show of all time hands down, right now, Ds9 still has areas of more merit because b5 was sped up.
6 - Uri
B5 is so much better than ST!
7 - JIm
Star trek ended, i i was reveilved that they stoped shooting episodes. B5 ended and i cryed. t was like loosing a friend. This is not to say that i was entertained by Star trek, but too me its like comparing a comic book to a work of lititure like the lord of the rings. Both are designed to entertain, but on completely differant levels.