Well. Dark Matter and Killjoys renewed. Defiance...

[IrisaLover]

And as far as Nolan goes, the loss of the 20 was the straw that broke the camel's back.

There is no evidence of any camel or any prior straws. A few episodes in the first two seasons establish that he had gotten quite callous about being responsible for the deaths of others. Remember the episode where he shot the Castithan kid, and later it turned out that the kid was armed only with a paintball gun? And even after that info is brought to light, Nolan insisted that he made the right call?

You know, I used to have a hard time understanding why star Wars fans raised such a stink about the whole "Han/Greedo shooting first" thing. Now I'm starting to get it.

The most disappointing thing I experienced was Babylon 5 airing during the same period as DS9.
While it had it's weak points, B5 was head and shoulders better show than DS9.
I still cannot make it through the entire DS9 library. It bores me to death.

Pfft. The first two seasons of B5 were boring crap. The first 2 seasons of DS9 weren't great, but they at least had Garak. Then there was that drama with the network, which forced JMS to take all the good stuff that he had planned for season 5 and cram it into season 4, so when the show ended up not being canceled after all, season 5 was left running on fumes.

DS9 had as many GREAT seasons as B5 had TOTAL seasons, and B5 only had 2 great seasons. DS9 also affords you the opportunity to skip all the episodes focusing on Bajoran religion or Sisko family soap opera nonsense, whereas there's not really a way to correct for B5's structural issues.

[Wurm]

There is no evidence of any camel or any prior straws.

Huh? It is Nolan we are talking about, one of the defiant few and called butcher and no man for good reason. You don't get those nicknames without losing men.

*edit*

Nolan has more camels than Saudi Arabia...

http://defiance.wikia.com/wiki/Joshua_Nolan

[Midnight]

There is no evidence of any camel or any prior straws. A few episodes in the first two seasons establish that he had gotten quite callous about being responsible for the deaths of others. Remember the episode where he shot the Castithan kid, and later it turned out that the kid was armed only with a paintball gun? And even after that info is brought to light, Nolan insisted that he made the right call?

You know, I used to have a hard time understanding why star Wars fans raised such a stink about the whole "Han/Greedo shooting first" thing. Now I'm starting to get it.



Pfft. The first two seasons of B5 were boring crap. The first 2 seasons of DS9 weren't great, but they at least had Garak. Then there was that drama with the network, which forced JMS to take all the good stuff that he had planned for season 5 and cram it into season 4, so when the show ended up not being canceled after all, season 5 was left running on fumes.

DS9 had as many GREAT seasons as B5 had TOTAL seasons, and B5 only had 2 great seasons. DS9 also affords you the opportunity to skip all the episodes focusing on Bajoran religion or Sisko family soap opera nonsense, whereas there's not really a way to correct for B5's structural issues.

First two seasons? The first season, like it is with many shows, was a little slow as it sets up the universe the characters live in. The second through fourth season of B5 were as good as any other tv I have ever seen before or since. Then season 5 was more of an epilogue than anything else. B5 at its best is some of the best TV ever written, DS9 at its best wasn't even the best Star Trek ever written.

[Tex_Arcana]

First two seasons? The first season, like it is with many shows, was a little slow as it sets up the universe the characters live in. The second through fourth season of B5 were as good as any other tv I have ever seen before or since. Then season 5 was more of an epilogue than anything else. B5 at its best is some of the best TV ever written, DS9 at its best wasn't even the best Star Trek ever written.

This is the God's truth. And even season one has some good story arc links that cannot be ignored in the greater B5 picture.
The primary reason we got robbed of more B5 is that it was airing against DS:9.
And due to the Star Trek juggernaught being what it was and is: B5 got treated as second class. Even though it was a very good alternative to the yawn-fest that was DS:9.
Eg. Remove the Sisko and Bejoran religion aspects from DS:9 and you have a show that would barely have 5 seasons itself. As well as a plotline that would castrated because Bejoran religion is a central foundation stone of all that happens in the story.

[Tex_Arcana]

I keep checking the news feeds, and with some of my Browncoat friends in Toronto: No word yet on the future of the show; but I remain hopeful.

[Tanqueray]

I keep checking the news feeds, and with some of my Browncoat friends in Toronto: No word yet on the future of the show; but I remain hopeful.

Thanks for the update, I was wondering, saved me a google search

[Ryu Soba JP]

Mia Kirshner (who I remember from "The Crow: City of Angels).

Who could forget this? She was so hot in this film.
Crazy to think she's like 40 now.

[Tex_Arcana]

Who could forget this? She was so hot in this film.
Crazy to think she's like 40 now.

And she also played an Elemental Fey in Lost Girl.
The Toronto cross-polination of casts is fun to follow: Zoie Palmer (the Android in Dark Matter) plays Bo's Doctor-Girlfriend on Lost Girl as well.

[IrisaLover]

Huh? It is Nolan we are talking about, one of the defiant few and called butcher and no man for good reason. You don't get those nicknames without losing men.

Exactly. And he gave no shats whatsoever about any of that.

First two seasons? The first season, like it is with many shows, was a little slow as it sets up the universe the characters live in. The second through fourth season of B5 were as good as any other tv I have ever seen before or since.

Nah, the second season was just more of what we got in the first. And even seasons 3 and 4, as totally effing awesome as they are, aren't quite as awesome as the first season of Andromeda or the first two seasons of BSG.

Then season 5 was more of an epilogue than anything else. B5 at its best is some of the best TV ever written

I won't deny any of THAT

DS9 at its best wasn't even the best Star Trek ever written.

Bollocks. Star Trek started out way too preachy and idealistic (TOS/TAS/TNG). DS9 added some much-needed dirt, blood, and political intrigue, and was the only Trek show to have a single series-long story arc. Oh, and it had GARAK, the BEST CHARACTER IN ANY TREK EVER. Voyager had some great episodes ("Year of Hell" and "Equinox" being the centerpieces), but was extremely uneven and had the only episode of any Trek series bad enough to be officially removed from canon ("Threshold"). Enterprise was quite bold in its inception; a sort of low-tech Trek in which there was no Prime Directive for the captain to waste ten minutes delivering a speech about and every technology that had been taken for granted in previous Star Treks was treated as new, cool, untested, and sometimes scary. Even the words "Star Trek" were dropped from the title for the first two seasons to emphasize how different enterprise was from its predecessors. However, the showrunners clearly had no idea what they wanted to do with their brilliant concept, and it showed in the Nielsen ratings.

And she also played an Elemental Fey in Lost Girl.
The Toronto cross-polination of casts is fun to follow: Zoie Palmer (the Android in Dark Matter) plays Bo's Doctor-Girlfriend on Lost Girl as well.

Oh my god, you have NO IDEA! There's a group of actors who I frequently refer to as the "Vancouver Brat Pack" or "Canadian Brat Pack" because they keep showing up in the same TV shows together over and over.

The "Fargate" phenomenon, in which both Ben Browder and Claudia Black joined the cast of Stargate SG-1 after the cancellation of Farscape, is common knowledge.

Jake 2.0 and Battlestar Galactica have no less than FOUR actors in common: Grace Park played Boomer/Athena on BSG and Fran Yoshida on Jake 2.0; Keegan Connor Tracy played Dr. Diane Hughes on Jake 2.0 and one of Baltar's groupies in the latter seasons of BSG; Kandyse McClure played "Dee" on BSG and the girlfriend of some African prince on an episode of Jake 2.0; and the guy who played Baltar's lawyer on BSG had a prominent role in the Jake 2.0 episode "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot".

Now let's talk about Continuum, a show that is not only filmed in, but also takes place in, Vancouver. Lexa Doig has starred or co-starred in Jason X, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, V, AND Continuum, arguably making her Queen of the Nerds; Lisa Ryder co-starred with her in both Jason X and Andromeda. Roger Cross stars in Dark Matter and played Travis Verta on Continuum. Jennifer Spence played Betty Robertson on Continuum and Dr. Lisa Park on Stargate Universe. Tony Amendola, like Lexa Doig, has had prominent roles on both Continuum and Stargate SG-1. Richard Harmon, AKA Julian Randol on Continuum, and Luvia Petersen, AKA Jasmine Garza on Continuum, are also The 100 alumni. Ian Tracy, who plays Jason Sadler on Continuum, has been in an episode of The X-Files and 3 episodes of The 100. Tahmoh Penikett, the wannabe mayor of Vancouver in Continuum, played Helo on Battlestar Galactica and Paul Ballard on Dollhouse. Nicholas Lea and William B. Davis, most famous for playing Alex Krycek and the Cigarette-Smoking Man on The X-Files, play Agent Gardiner and an old Eric Sadler on Continuum.

Now here's where it gets weird. I've already mentioned Keegan Connor Tracy, Tony Amendola, and Nicholas Lea. What do they have in common? They all have major roles in Once Upon a Time. And who else is on Once Upon a Time? Robert Carlyle, who plays Rumplestiltskin on that show but might be more well-known to you as Nicholas Rush from the aforementioned Stargate Universe. Stargate Atlantis seems to be another nexus around which these actors aggregate; Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, and Jewel Staite, who play John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, and Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis, have or had roles of varying degrees of importance on Tru Calling, Dark Matter, and Firefly. Tru Calling and Dollhouse both star Eliza Dushku, and Morena Baccarin had major roles on both V and Firefly. If you think I haven't mentioned The 100 and Dollhouse enough times, fear not; they share an actress, Dichen Lachman.

I'm sorry, I've gone through all of that and still haven't mentioned Defiance! Let's fix that. As it turns out, Mia Kirshner isn't the only thing that Defiance and Lost Girl have in common. She shares that distinction with Linda Hamilton, Conrad Coates, Rob Archer, and Brittany Allen.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: Grace Park and Tricia Helfer, in addition to playing Cylons on BSG, co-starred in the cinematics for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. And guess what? The cinematics for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 star Jamie Chung, who plays Mulan in Once Upon a Time.

EDIT: Firefly also shared Summer Glau with Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, which the aforementioned Tony Amendola appeared in one episode of. Tony Amendola isn't the only actor that TSCC and Stargate SG-1 have in common; he shares that distinction with Craig Fairbrass.

[whit]

Oh my god, you have NO IDEA! There's a group of actors who I frequently refer to as the "Vancouver Brat Pack" or "Canadian Brat Pack" because they keep showing up in the same TV shows together over and over.

My favourite is Roger Cross, who you do mention in your post. He has been in a lot of sci-fi shows, many one-off parts, but also quite a few major parts.