"Babylon 5"

(Yes, i endured the entire five seasons, plus five telemovies. Mostly, it became a quest to be amused by which guest actors and genre stalwarts signed on. Dwight schulz, melissa gilbert, harlan ellison, john schuck, vaughn armstrong, bernie casey, gerrit graham, june lockhart, marjorie monaghan, david mccallum, david warner, brad dourif, erick avari, majel barrett, robert englund, tony todd, michael york, michael ansara, jeffrey combs, robin curtis, judson scott, paul williams, paul winfield, bryan cranston, adrienne barbeau, eric pierpoint, theodore bikel, bruce mcgill, danica mckellar, carel struycken, ian abercrombie, richard moll, and the winners - penn and teller! Plus a surreal nod to West Wing fans, who must see the entrance that comes at the 40-45 minute mark of "River of Souls")
1994-1998
-created by j. michael straczynski
A critique of late-era STAR TREK is that it got away from the social relevance of the classic, to become average, copycat sci fi fare. If you'd like to know how unfair that is, sit through B5, which is the living, breathing actualization of that critique. Zero inventiveness. No edge. Dialogue often unrecognizable as humyn speech (partial blame goes to straczynski's non-improvisation manifesto...one aspect of actor improvisation is making speech more naturalistic, a touch that was sorely needed here). B5 shows you all these alien cultures, and instead of diving into a meaty exploration of cultural relativity and moral ambiguity, those are glossed over in the service of some "heroic humyn" tale, full of pedestrian conceits and dime-store romanticizations. Is that a bit unfair? Maybe. Who knows...had three of their leads been more compelling/natural/relateable, the whole affair might have been watchable. Even with its flaws, i confess that i started to feel sentimental when the last few episodes arrived. The actors, for the most part, gave it their best. So i dedicate the rest of this review to them - you showed up, poured out your hearts...and occasionally did quality work on better sci fi shows.
ACTOR - # of episodes
mira furlan (CYCLOPS, LOST) - 110
She played humyn/alien hybrid delenn with sensitivity and class. She should give workshops on how to do bad dialogue convincingly.
peter jurasik (TRON, HILL STREET BLUES) - 110
With perhaps the greatest acting challenge of the show, making londo sympathetic, he acquitted himself well.
andreas katsulas (THE FUGITIVE, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION) - 110
NEXT GEN's irrepressible tomalak rendered unflinching service under eight pounds of prosthetic, and as g'kar always hit the right acting values.
richard biggs (ANY DAY NOW, STRONG MEDICINE) - 110
The affable dr. franklin came off flat...did the lines fail him (yes), or did he fail the lines (maybe)?
bill mumy (LOST IN SPACE, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE) - 110
Ah, poor bill mumy! He never failed to make leneer believable. For a taste of what he could do with real dialogue, see DS9's "The Siege of AR-558".
stephen furst (ANIMAL HOUSE, ST. ELSEWHERE) - 110
Go stephen, go! Playing the "young" vir while over forty! He was placed in more unactable moments than anyone else, but daniel day lewis couldn't have done better. Well, maybe a little.
jerry doyle (CAPTAIN SIMIAN & SPACE MONKEYS, B5: THE GATHERING) - 110
A good actor makes bad dialogue better. Garibaldi might have made his worse.
claudia christian (A GNOME NAMED GNORM, STARHYKE) - 89
As ivanova, she became one of the few characters you kind of cared about. Her departure, sad.
bruce boxleitner (TRON, SCARECROW AND MRS. KING) - 88
And here he is, our hero sheridan! Or perhaps just a cardboard cutout, i can never tell.
jeff conaway (GREASE, TAXI) - 74
Ahh, poor jeff. Not even security chief...just assistant?! At this point in his career, didn't he rate a shot at a captain's chair? He couldn't have done worse than what they had. Am i being overly sentimental?
patricia tallman (ARMY OF DARKNESS, BABYLON 5: THIRDSPACE) - 47
As lyta, she rose (or descended) to the level of her dialogue.
jason carter (GEORGIA, BEVERLY HILLS 90210) - 45
As ranger marcus, he injected as much panache as you could ask.
andrea thompson (NYPD BLUE, 24) - 44
Before she left, telepath talia was the one character you'd started to care about. Doyle, this show ain't big enough for the both of us! Boy, did the fans get the fuzzy end of that lollipop.
michael o'hare (C.H.U.D., BABYLON 5: THE GATHERING) - 25
What seemed like a soulless studio decision to replace the first-season commander with someone "sexier", turned out to be a heartbreaking tale of mental illness.
tracy scoggins (LOIS & CLARK, HIGHLANDER) - 21
She did yeomanlike work as captain lochley, a final-season replacement for ivanova.
walter koenig (STAR TREK, STAR TREK I-VII) -13
As megalomaniacal telepath bester, he was okay. He even had a genuinely good episode in his last appearance.