So, it has been brought to my attention that people think that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the best Star Trek series, if not best science fiction series, to ever exist, and while I continually hear this, even from my own Trek friends, I would have to disagree, at least in part.

Before you accuse me of missing something, I have seen every episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5, and despite my history both with The Next Generation and Babylon 5, I will endeavor to be as fair as possible.

I will agree that Deep Space Nine had some of the best characterizations of the crew in any Star Trek series. I enjoyed the Dominion War immensely, and the Defiant brought lots of childish giggling to this Star Trek fan, but I don't think it was better than Babylon 5.

Don't throw stones at me please! I know it is a bit difficult for fans of Star Trek to understand where I am coming from but Deep Space Nine didn't get good until they got the Defiant. Before that it was so heavily laden with religious undertones, I felt like I was drowning in it.

While Deep Space Nine came out a year before Babylon 5, interestingly enough the stories paralleled each other quite closely.

Space station based, science fiction show, where the Captain is "special", the station is home to many different races, there is a war, and the captain is given a cool ship. Pretty darn similar when you boil it down to its roots, yet there are enough differences to set one apart from the other.

Captains

Sisko - Benjamin Sisko wasn't even a Captain when he was given his assignment to run Deep Space Nine. He quickly became the Emissary of the Prophets for the Bajorans, despite being at odds with this religious position, he later embraces it. He is a strong character, with a fighting spirit, something that slowly gets replaced with more of a commanding attitude, so much so that they bring in Worf to be the new "fighting spirit" for the show.

Don't get me wrong, Sisko kicked some serious alien butt in the show, but he wasn't ever able to become a really deep character I could get into. He kept getting too caught up in family, religion, and duty. They had to send Worf out to do some fighting that Sisko could have done earlier in the show.

Sinclair / Sheridan - First there was Jeffrey Sinclair, he was an interesting guy, but he was really wasn't aggressive enough, and he kind of got on my nerves. In the second season, a new Captain, John Sheridan, came to the station, and he go things done. He stopped the Shadow war, overthrew his own government, and became the President of the Interstellar Alliance.

One of my favourite things about Sheridan is that he never sent other people to do what he could do. He'd leave one of his crew to handle things at the station and go and destroy some alien ships himself. Heck, the guy died, and was brought back to life to continue fighting.

Winner: Babylon 5

Crew

Deep Space Nine - There are four people that I enjoyed in Deep Space Nine's crew, and two of them are from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The four people I really liked include Miles O'Brien, Worf, Julian Bashir and Odo. Honestly, the only reason Odo is so cool is because of his ability to shape shift. His crush on Kira, and the episodes where he can't change his form made me yawn excessively.

Kira Nerys, the second in command, is an annoying woman that thinks she is tough, yet acts like a little girl every time a decent looking dignitary comes on board. Jadzia Dax was an interesting character who they never should have killed off, but if I had to endure one more episode about the multiple personalities her symbiont holds, I would have gone crazy. Don't get me started on the comic relief of Quark.

Babylon 5 - We definitely have some colourful characters on Babylon 5, and while I wouldn't say they are better than their counterparts on Deep Space Nine, they are definitely different. In Michael Garibaldi, we have an alcoholic security chief who gets shot in the back by his own security officer, who then gets his brain modified by a psychic organization to become hyper-paranoid. Garibaldi eventually becomes the CEO of a huge company on Mars.

Then there is a drug addict Doctor, Stephen Franklin, that gets so strung out he decides to quit cold turkey until he learns who he is. The guy gets beat up, nearly dies and sees himself.

Then there is the commander, who is bi-sexual, and eventually gets so injured that she is terminal. The guy that loves her comes and gives up his own life for her by hooking himself up to a machine that transfers life energy.

I don't think anyone from the main crew isn't messed up.

Winner: Star Trek

Station

Deep Space Nine - A Cardassian built station originally known as Terok Nor. Originally used as a tool of oppression, DS9 becomes a trade hub, and defensive outpost due to its proximity to a stable wormhole. The station is said to be able to support 7,000 inhabitants.

The station had some retractable weaponry, which was used a few times, and really got my adrenaline pumping. It was well defended in that respect, as it took on multiple ships, destroying quite a few.

I was surprised that Starfleet in their infinite wisdom never replaced the aging Cardassian station, especially as the importance of the area it inhabited became more and more important. Many issues that the crew had were due to it being a Cardassian station.

Babylon 5 - Babylon 5 is the fifth in a line of space stations, measuring five miles long, the station was designed to be a neutral place for many races to meet up. The main bulk of the station is a rotating cylinder which is used to create gravity.

Like Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5 has many hidden weapons which are very impressive. Some short range turrets, longer firing pulse weapons, but no shields. This is an issue that bothers me a few times throughout the series, as the station receives a fair bit of damage from incoming fire. But watching it destroy ships, fighters, and all types of incoming projectiles is exciting.

Babylon 5 is much larger than Deep Space Nine and as such can house upwards of a quarter million people. Much more than an outpost, Babylon 5 is a multicultural metropolis.

Winner: Babylon 5

Ships

Defiant - Deep Space Nine got a really fun ship to play with. The story of the show was a bit stagnant not being able to explore, or leave the station in anything other than an underpowered runabout, but when the Defiant came the show really started to pick up steam. The Defiant is an overpowered, highly maneuverable little ship with huge amounts of fire power, great defenses and the ability to cloak.

The ship moves nice and fast, and is exciting to watch. It made me want to be in that ship, where as combat on the Enterprise is boring and basically two dimensional.

Whitestar - It is fast, small, and powerful. In pretty much every way, it is similar to the Defiant, except it can't cloak, doesn't have shields, and while interestingly styled, it sometimes looks like a weird plucked chicken.

One thing the Whitestar does that I haven't seen the Defiant do is use its inertia to fight from many angles. As it flies by an enemy ship, it turns and fires while still moving away. It is really interesting to see it maneuver like a fighter, rather than a heavy ship, though it makes me wonder if it has any aft weapons to defend itself.


I didn't pick the music...

Winner: Tie (Defiant could wipe out a dozen Whitestars, but the Whitestar is cooler.)

Conclusion

While there is so much more depth to the shows, technologies, and the universes they reside in, I have to admit that Babylon 5 really comes out a head in so many ways for me. Sure the technology might not always seem as advanced as Star Trek, but it feels so much better. The characters on Babylon 5 have real problems, and are easier to empathize with. Star Trek has this clean and polished feel to it, that Deep Space Nine slowly wore away at, but I don't think they went far enough, and the heavy religious undertones, while also in Babylon 5, weren't thrown in your face for you to ignore or digest.

As you can see, I am all about the technology, and the special effects and this is why some of you are going to be put off by me as a science fiction geek, but I promise you, I will work on exploring the stories and working on appreciating them, but for now, Babylon 5 is my winner.

I am a huge fan of superheroes. I love the Marvel universe, and the DC one does some good things too, but is it really science fiction related?

I love the television show Heroes, and would like to talk about it on this site, but I worry that while it appeals to a similar audience, it isn't real science fiction. Sci-fi has robots, aliens, space ships, laser beams, and other such things, right?

Well, what about the fact that shows like Heroes are being held in an alternate reality, where super powers exist. (No, I don't want to fight about the existence or non-existence of super powers in the real world that we live in.) So couldn't we put all superheroes under the category of alternate reality, and thus be included in the science fiction genre?

If you think superheroes would make a good addition to AltSciFi, please let me know, as I'd love to talk about Heroes, as well as some "who would win" reports. (Magneto is the best!)

So for over a year now I have been playing a game online. I haven't been consistent with playing it, but I have played it a fair bit, and have become a pretty high level character.

That game is EVE Online, a space based massively multiplayer online game. I won't say it is a role-playing game, but I suppose it would fall under that banner as well.

This game is not World of Warcraft! And Eve actually breaks some of the normal conventions set by other MMO's. I could write about this game all day, but I will try to give you the bread and butter of what Eve Online is, and some of its better points.

Overview

Eve Online's appeal is simple. You have a space ship, you train skills to allow you to get better ships and better guns. There are so many different roles you can take in the grand scheme of things, and the more you train, the more avenues open up to you in directions you can take your character.

You can shoot other players, shoot computer controlled players, mine ore, mine ice, haul goods, manage corporations, trade items, support other ships, perform stealth recon, and dozens of other things. You can make your character as specialized or generalized as you see fit.

If you train to be a miner, and get bored with it, you can switch gears, put some time into becoming a fighter, or the other way around. It is totally freeform.

Another difference is the way that the universe is handled. Unlike World of Warcraft, where if your buddy is on one server, and you are on another, you will never meet up, Eve Online uses a cluster of servers that creates one universe. If we are in two different places, all we need to do is come to the same place, and we will meet up. No worrying about "which server" nonsense.

Training

Another area that Eve is different in is its training system. Training is real time. If you decide to train a skill, and it say it will take an hour, then in an hour it will be finished. If it says it will take four days, then it will take four days.

You don't have to be logged in for the skill to continue to train because even when you are offline doing other things, that skill is still running.

Some people really enjoy this, while others find it a hinderance. I think it works well for the game, though of course I hate to wait long periods of time to develop a new skill.

Unlike other games, where you can max out your level, and have to wait for another expansion pack, it would take you years to go through the whole skill tree for Eve.

This doesn't mean that the game is boring, or incredibly hard though, as with a few weeks of training, some tactics, and some friends, you could be enjoying some great combat, or mining some high priced ores with the best of them.

Of course if you want to speed up your training time, you can invest time into training learning skills, to make your character smarter, and if that doesn't give you enough of a boost, you can spend your hard earned in game ISK on implants which will further boost your abilities.

Ships

One of the more interesting things in Eve is that there are hundreds of ships, and you can't pilot them until you have the skills. It makes it interesting, and gives you a long list of goals. The first ship you get is a piece of junk, but quickly you can get to ships that are versatile and hold up in combat situations well.



And the scale changes of the ships is one of my favourite things. When you first start, your ship is not much bigger than the average human. It is like a small shuttle, with only a few weapon/mining placements. Then you get to cruisers, destroyers, battle cruisers, battleships, dreadnoughts, and eventually, Titans. With each class of ships being a magnitude of scale bigger than the last.

Corporations

Corporations are like guilds or groups. Some of the larger ones are Goonswarm, Red Alliance, Triumvirate, and many others. There are thousands of corporations. Some large, others small, and even some one man ones.

Corporations are just a built in system to allow groups of players to work together and organize themselves. Some are specialized, only doing transportation of goods for other corporations, while some are more general, trying to have some members that can do a little of everything.

Windows, Mac and Linux Clients

Another thing I love about Eve, and this is something fairly new is that they have released clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux, something I haven't really seen in any other top tier game.

I haven't tried the Mac and Linux clients, but I am very excited about the possibility. They made this a priority, and it is something I hope other game makers will do in the future.

Trinity

This December, a new update is being added to Eve. The developers have gone back and revamped all the models, from the jumpgates to move from one area to another, to the myriad of ships.

This will bring a graphical edge to the game, though I think it is already much prettier than any other massively multiplayer game.

Me?

If you want to talk to me, join me in mining, or need a hand getting into Eve, feel free to contact me. My in game name is Daray II, and I currently am part of the Ihatalo Heavy Industries corporation. Oddly enough the corporation is named after an area of space it no longer operates in. Go figure...

Cost

The game will cost you, but only the subscription. You don't have to go into a store and buy a boxed version of the game. You don't have to purchase any expansions, your monthly fee takes care of all of that. Currently, 30 days of game time costs $14.95 USD.

I consider this to be fairly reasonable, and if you do get to the point where you make a fair bit of the game's own currency, you can trade the in game currency for game time cards, allowing you to continue to play, without the need to play.

Want to know more? Just ask. There is so much content in Eve Online, I could write numerous posts about it, including details on how I am doing in the game.

I grew up on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I can tell you the whole plot synopsis of an episode after watching only ten or twenty seconds of the start of the show. I have continued to enjoy Star Trek since then, except my love for the universe has been sliding quickly towards a deep resentment. What are they doing to my favorite show?

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine didn't really impress me, but I have to give credit to the show for being one of the most character driven series' that Star Trek has ever created. Star Trek: Voyager brought back life to the brand, but after that, everything went wrong.

Nemesis

Star Trek: Nemesis is a movie I abhor. I wish it was never created. Don't get me wrong, the story was interesting, the special effects were amazing, but they took Captain Picard, and made him into a silly, two dimensional teenager. There was none of the confidence and thoughtful brooding that I have come to expect from the character. I was not impressed, and actually, the portrayal of many of the crew left me feeling like the writer didn't even watch any of the previous source material.

Enterprise

Then there is Enterprise. Not the ship, but the show. What kind of person goes backwards in a timeline? Yes, I know they did it in Star Wars, but it was a bad idea then too.

Enterprise was an attempt to get people that weren't interested in the Star Trek universe into a science fiction show. They even hid the fact that it was Star Trek for the first two or three seasons.

And talk about stealing content from the other franchises? I feel like nearly every episode of Enterprise after they dealt with the whole plot to destroy the universe was taken care of, was stolen from one of the previous shows. The whole thing was a horrible hack job, and they ruined the history that had been carefully built up.

Star Trek 11

All this leads me to the upcoming movie, Star Trek 11. The story, after Enterprise but before The Original Series is, in my mind, stupid, the actor selection, is strange, though in some ways appealing, but doesn't make up for the fact that it is going to be stupid.

My biggest issue with going back is that too many people that watched The Original Series are still alive. They remember the sights, and sounds of that show, and will find any re-make that includes updated special effects to be a horrible change.

All of us that didn't watch first Star Trek series, won't be impressed if they try to mimic the ridiculous sound effects and "technology" of the original Star Trek. So what audience will this new production really appeal to?

I really have low expectations for the movie, due out Christmas of 2008. I could be wrong, but there are many other things I'd rather see on big screen, then another stab at revamping the franchise, without any creativity.

As my introductory post here, I figured it would be fun to talk about my history with science fiction, and in particular, how it lost me a girlfriend.

I was in high school at the time, and Babylon 5, a show that I really enjoyed, was going through its first run. I was totally wrapped up in the show, and nothing else mattered. My girlfriend at the time was told that from seven o'clock at night until eight, I was occupied with watching a television show I enjoyed.

We had been dating for around three months, and this wasn't an issue until one day, she called at around six o'clock in the evening. With only an hour until Babylon 5 came on, I tried to kill off the conversation by listening, but not asking questions or really involving myself in what she was saying. I figured she would get the hint, and I would get off the phone in time to watch Babylon 5.

Unfortunately, as some women are, she was incredibly stubborn and a little needy. As the introductory credits for Babylon 5 rolled, I cut her off and told her I had to go. She then started to talk again, but at that point I wasn't really listening. I could tell she wasn't happy, but I was already watching Babylon 5.

For those of you that have seen the show, the story was right at the point before the Shadow War came to its culmination. I point that out because some of my friends believe that is the only way this story makes any real sense.

What my girlfriend at the time was saying as I went to hang up the phone was basically, "if the show is more important to you, then we are through." What my male brain heard her say was more along the lines of "just go watch your show."

Little did I know, our dating relationship was over.

Years later, we talk here and there, and sometimes laugh over how silly I was. Babylon 5 went on and the Shadow War didn't really end up being a very big war. I have since watched the show in re-runs and wonder, was it really worth it?