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I know there's some ::ahem:: spirited debate on this between Star Trek and Babylon 5 fans. Without intending to fuel that, this show forever ruined me for Trek. Next Generation was still running while Babylon 5 was, and every episode seemed to me like one more example of what was wrong with the former.

First off, it had some of the best acting going (Notably the chemistry between Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas). It did not assume that real-world issues had been magically left in the past; it didn't ignore religion or (relegate it to McGuffin/alien flavoring), and poverty and political corruption were still ever-present. Perhaps the single most quantifiable departure from Trek is that it has a continuing storyline, rather than basically standalone episodes connected in at most a short story arc.

Having a continuing continuing storyline rather than closed-ended episodes had several beneficial effects: First, character development was consistent and directly related to events in the script. Second, problems did not have to be neatly solved in an hour. Third (and this comes from the previous), they did not just use jury-rig some technological solution in the last ten minutes. Also, general continuity is nice; an important discovery that saves the day one episode is not conveniently forgotten the next time it might be useful.

The only thing keeping it from rating 10 stars is the "Notable Exceptions" category. Plot-wise, I was not terribly satisfied with the series ending. Acting-wise, I found both Bruce Boxleitner and Patricia Tallman to be a drag to an otherwise outstanding cast. Finally, a few episodes had some silly stuff that looked like it has just "sounded cool" to the episode's writer; the Techno-Mages, for example, seemed like something out of an SFRPG.

The beginning was a disappointment, and the story meandered a bit, but this wasn't too bad. The characters were well-acted and sympathetic, and weren't just vehicles for the actors (like Shark Tales). There were some good laughs. Interestingly, the best characters, in my opinion, were the humans -- in particular Mrs. Beady (voiced with hilarious subtlety by Maria Bamford), who was worth the price of rental all by herself.

The resemblance to The Lion King is largely superficial; in fact, it's arguably opposite, in that Otis is not a born leader, but chooses to live up to the role after leadership is forced upon him. There's no ring of royalty or anything more politically relevant than a barn full of animals almost unanimously electing him leader.

The coyotes are all teeth and menace, and *might* scare some younger kids, but the violence is beyond bloodless; a character supposedly lying horribly mauled doesn't have a mark on him.

There's a lot of Far-Side-esquire humor, and the animation suits it; it isn't super-realistic -- maybe a bit more so than "Wallace and Gromit" level -- and it doesn't matter. We are, after all, talking about "male cows" with udders; the suspension of disbelief asked for is minimal. (Incidentally, I got past the udders in about 15 minutes.)

On that note, this was, udders notwithstanding, decidedly male-centered. The female roles (except Mrs. Beady) are few and consist mainly of hens to be rescued, a cow to listen patiently to be pregnant and listen to male problems, and a best-friend cow to be abrasive and in-your face (which seems to be Wanda Sykes' specialty). Oh, and one female coyote, who gets scared by a mouse and screams.

Overall, pretty good. The kids will probably love it, and you'll probably get some good laughs as well. Expect no more and you'll not be disappointed.