Rewatching Babylon 5

[Christopher A. Gray]

I believe seasons 2, 3 and 4 of B5 are better than any of the Star Trek series, including TOS, which was the former high-bar for me.

 

[Rodders]

Agreed. They are quite something.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Yes, I too must start to re-watch it, there are some 1st class episodes all the way through, including the weaker 5th series.
Of the films I've seen "Thirdspace" is by far the best, the rest are no great shakes.
But even it's worst parts are better then some of the tripe that's been churned out lately!

 

[Rodders]

I didn't think much of any of the movies outside of "in the beginning".

 

[joyUnbounded]

It's a brilliant series that is just a pleasure to watch. I must confess I am relieved to find that I am not the only one that bypasses Season One.

I love this show. And really enjoy watching Londo and G'Kar throughout the series. Just separately and together they are two of the most compelling and interesting characters I have ever seen in any TV series.

It was one of the first shows I ever saw that seemed to have somewhere to go from the early series, a grand story arc. Many of the stand alone episodes are, I think, some of the weakest. The war, the civil war and the development of the major characters are all great. Episodes like Grey 13, though they have touches of brilliance, are just weak.

But again, as mentioned earlier, season 5 really does lose it. The fight went out of the series I think.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Ahh, so many happy hours spent watching this show in the 90s. Still in awe of the Shadow ships...best spaceship design ever, IMHO. And at its best, possibly THE best science fiction show ever. Just wonderful!

 

[Aun Doorback]

Count me in Cat's cradle, I have the entire VHS (Video in old money) collection stored in my garage now, gathering rust and broken snail shells - But what a great story back in the day. Loved it then, not sure if I could go back now though, in case it ruined my memories.

 

[GWakeling]

I'm watching these through at the moment as I got TiVo just before Christmas and have a LOT of SF shows recording. I'm up to middle of S2 at the moment and really enjoying it. I know the graphics are a little outdated, but as far as the story goes, it's pretty epic.

I can't believe I've waited so long to get involved with B5 again!

 

[Ransonwrites]

Many of the stand alone episodes are, I think, some of the weakest. The war, the civil war and the development of the major characters are all great. Episodes like Grey 13, though they have touches of brilliance, are just weak.

But again, as mentioned earlier, season 5 really does lose it. The fight went out of the series I think.

But again, as mentioned earlier, season 5 really does lose it. The fight went out of the series I think.

Yes, there were howlers amongst the stand-alone episodes. Perhaps some of these might be considered a symptom of having one writer do the lion's share of the work. His head was in too many places at once.

Having said that, the episode that I'm thinking of as a particular failure is S2:The Long Dark which was written by Scott Frost and which even the presence of Dwight Schultz on the cast could not rescue. It starts off well but from the beginning is clearly derivative of a number of sci fi alien horror movies, and before we're halfway through it's possible to spot several orphaned scenes that were probably filmed out of sequence, and thus were already in the can when a script change was made that made them difficult to incorporate.

I wonder if this was also exacerbated by the low budget and, ironically, the extremely efficient and cost-effective filming routine that the crew had developed that made it prohibitive in terms of time and money to go back and film pickups to correct these errors.

One other annoying episode I can think of is the brilliantly titled S3:Sic Transit Vir. This one was written by Straczynski so there are no excuses! The episode is good but for one huge howler: we never discover what Vir (a philosophical pacifist) did when faced with the offer to murder a Narn, a prisoner who was gifted to him by his psychotic bride-to-be. There is a pretty strong implication that he may have come to harm at her hands if he had failed to oblige her by killing the Narn, but the scene ends with a cut straight to a rather anodyne scene between him and Londo in which Vir makes no mention of this awful predicament.

This was a criminal oversight in terms of character development as it left me wondering about Vir for the rest of the season. I can only conclude that this was another orphan scene that couldn't be fixed within the time and budget available.

But these examples aside, I'd rate B5 over any show I've seen since

 

[Westie]

Spoilers.



One aspect of B5 that I remember so vividly, was the slow and yet gripping build up to the season finale and the overall conspiracy. For me, season 5 was pretty much an 80s feel series with a new issue every week to overcome, but the other seasons were brilliant in keeping their suspense building until by the time that you got to the war with Earth and then the Shadows & Vorlons, you were already so engrossed in it that you needed to watch.

It will always be my favourite.

 

[Gramm838]

Peter Jurasik as Londo was outstanding throughout, particularly in the latter episodes when he reaped what he had sown.

There was also a good scene in one episode with Garibaldi and Sinclair when they set off in a ship to visit somewhere, and having set off they had nothing else to do, so had a conversation about which leg they put in their trousers first, when getting dressed...you can't imagine Picard having that conversation with Ryker

 

[markpud]

I've just started re-watching B5 again, going in strict order starting from the pilot (which I'd never seen before) and now into S1. There's a great podcast where they're re-watching so I'm keeping pace with them. Check out http://b5audioguide.com if you're interested in accompaniment through one of the best series ever!

There are definitely some clunkers in S1 but it also sets up the groundwork for what's to come so I'd recommend going all-in for maximum pleasure!

 

[reiver33]

I still have difficulty watching Sleeping In Light - the sense of loss chimed with a period in my life.

(Oh, and I still think President Clark was framed!)

 

[psikeyhackr]

I believe seasons 2, 3 and 4 of B5 are better than any of the Star Trek series, including TOS, which was the former high-bar for me.

Yeah, it gave Star Trek something to pull itself up on to produce Deep Space Nine.

psik

 

[BAYLOR]

It would be nice if they had this show on the Syfy channel.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I bought the Box Set.
Pay TV is a rip off.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Rewatching it again - this time with the whole family.

Loving all the references in Episode 1 that will become meaningful later on.