B5 & Lensmen

[joethebow]

Hi guys, I'm new to this site but I'm a great fan of B5. It's not on TV right now and I'm reduced to watching SG1 but I know which show I'd rather watch.

Anyway, I'm an old boy and in my youth I was a great fan of E E 'Doc' Smith's Lensman series and I always regreted that no one ever made a TV series or Films of the series, apart from an awful anime movie.

That was untill I watched B5 and there were so many similarities that I feel JMS must have based B5, in part at least, on Lensman.

In both there were 2 ancient races, good and evil, Humans played a pivotal roll. Rangers are simmilar to lensmen, It goes on and on.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to take anything away from B5 I just wondered if anyone else had read Lensmen and had made the connection?

[Arcadia]

Welcome to SF-Fandom, Joethebow!

I never read lensmen. You have an interesting theory about B5 and lensmen.

[joethebow]

If you havn't read Lensman you're missing a real treat. Doc wasn't a great writer by any means and his language left a lot to be desired but the story, well, it was a galactic space opera with huge intergalactic battles, a timeline, and interesting characters you'll never come across elsewhere, except perhaps B5.

You can download the books from the Gnutella network, they're well worth reading.

[Arcadia]

Thanks for the tip !

[inked]

EE "Doc" Smith's works are excellent! I read them in the 1960's and have continually kept them in my personal library (replacing them now 3 times due to moves and water damage, etc). The Science Fiction Book Club has anthology editions available for THE LENSMEN series and the SKYLARK series.
For sheer joy of reading science fiction, I highly recommend them! I last re-read them about 2 years ago!

In my adolescence when I first read them, I wrote a fan letter to EE Smith. He had died but I received a lovely surprise in a handwritten response from his widow. I had suggested in my letter that a movie or series would be an excellent idea. That idea had been considered but was not active, if I recall the letter correctly now 35 years later. Of course, at that time, special FX were not what they are today.

The japanese anime were very disappointing to me when I saw them. I think in the proper director's hands and with a sufficient budget for CGI, a very excellent and entertaining and profitable movie franchise is possible. Anyone heard any news in this regard?

[Arcadia]

I placed a copy of this thread in the General Authors Forum to see if others who may not check the B5 forum would be interested in the discussion.

[Suebacca]

I have n't read any of the Lensmen series, but you're selling it very well...will see what I can find!