I didnt mind series 4, but series 5 was a big let down for me. The entire focus and point of the show seemed to change. Gone was the whole "reforming the commonwealth & saving the universe from the maggog" and instead we got something very different, stuck in 1 solar system doing god knows what for practically no reason.
The reason couldn't have been more practical: Season 5 did what it could do under very difficult circumstances. By the end of season 4 Fireworks had to file for bankrupcy, so SciFi channel put in the cash to enable a fifth season. But the money was a hell of a lot tighter than it was before - and it never had been really abundant to begin with. SciFi only brought in a fraction of what was lost from the Fireworks-debacle, and by that time Tribune was feeling the financial pressure, too.
So they took the show out of space (where it is always effects- and thus cost-intensive) and put it on a planet, with most of it shot on one cheap set. It's a simple, aleady tried method to control cost. And with all due respect for other people's opinions: they managed to come up with a plan and a general arc that worked somehow both for the season as such as well as in terms of resolving the loose ends from previous seasons (btw: restoring the Commonwealth was a done thing by the end of season 2 - and the "reform" completed by the end of season 4). Too bad the concept was better than the execution.
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philbrowna
16 years ago
I wasnt aware of the money troubles. Makes sense now what they did, still think it was done badly though. it jsut wasnt the same show that I had enjoyed up to that point. It was kind of like taking the Enterprise away from Kirk and sticking him and the crew onto a planet. Its just not right!
I just console myself with the earlier seasons isntead
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renee0521
16 years ago
Something else the producers had to deal with was Lexa Doig's pregnancy. She could still do the computer screen image and the hologram image(with help from a body double)but not the avatar,so they brought in Brandy Ledford as Doyle,who was,in essence,Rommie,until Lexa was able to return,which she did about 4 episodes from the end. Anyway,my biggest problem was with the episode in which she made her return(the title escapes me at the moment). I didn't like that they had Rommie turn on Dylan like she did. I know it was because of the Vedran technology Doyle mistakenly used to rebuild her. However,I can't help but wonder if it really was accidential on Doyle's part. I guess what disappointed me most was how Dylan reacted after Doyle put Rommie's core memories back into her-he seemed more concerned about Doyle than Rommie. I supposed what I am saying is that I expected an emotional reunion between Dylan & Rommie and it didn't happened-and I don't think I'm the only one.
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roman8
16 years ago
With all due respect for every shipper heart out there: Dylan never really seemed all that interested in Rommie on an emotional level.
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renee0521
16 years ago
I think that in the first couple of seasons,he did have feelings for her,but he knew that,because of military protocol,he could never act on them. That probably explains why he & Trance developed such a close relationship later on.
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roman8
16 years ago
Well, like I said: maybe it's just me, but what I saw in the first half of season 1 was Rommie having feelings for him she couldn't quite get the hang of it - and him not responding. And then she got over him - and he was remarkably composed upon finding out she had fallen in love with Gabriel. (In fact, he even seemed almost happy for her, albeit a bit amazed.)
And I also saw during seasons 1,5 and 5 some sort of father/daughter-relation between Dylan and Trance, and for the rest of the seasons a relationship between them that I couldn't make much sense of. Not that Trance in herself ever made much sense, either way.
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