Babylon 5

[Llama231]

Has anyone watched this slightly old sci-fi series?
It is pretty good, I have just finished a little after the shadow war, which i have been told is were the good stuff ends.
Is it worth continuing? I have heard that it gets worse.

[ArlEammon]

It does, but its always good.

Londo Mollari's performance in the end is great.

[charl]

It's still worth watching absolutely. If my memory is correct there's still a lot of nice stuff left after the Shadow War. The show doesn't get worse until the end of the last season, but it never really gets bed.

[Philistine]

My understanding is that the first season was by far the worst of the lot; if you make it through that then you can take heart, because it never gets that bad again.

But I never could get through the first season.

[Llama231]

I practically skipped half of the first season.

[Roland St. Jude]

Slightly old! :smallfrown:

Yes, it's worth watching all the way through. The first season suffers a bit from the same thing all shows have at first, the need for exposition and the struggle to find its groove. The end of the series suffers from some flow issues, mostly due to the false cancellation issue (things were accelerated in case it ended after season 4, but then it got renewed for season five, so things had to get stretched back out.)

It's among the best tv sci-fi ever. You might as well watch it all and judge for yourself.

[factotum]

But I never could get through the first season.

Just watch "The Coming of Shadows" and then skip straight to season 2--that's when the arc plot really gets going; most of season 1 are standalone episodes introducing the characters and the station.

[Dragon555]

Wonderful, wonderful show. I would say that the first season suffers because it was new, as previously mentioned. However, the fifth season didn't work out so well (IMO, at least) because we lose a main character AND because I seem to recall that it was rushed.

It feels like I've watched B5 my entire life... which I think is almost accurate. *goes to check*

Edit: Yup, close to my entire life. And I still love it. ^_^

[Winterwind]

In my humble opinion, the best sci-far series there is period. By far. Like, light-years far.

The first season is rather episodic and not exactly representative of the style adopted later on - feels, at times, a bit less like Babylon 5 and more like Star Trek set on Babylon 5 - but it handily beats Star Trek at its own game, and still sets up a wonderful scenery, characters and kicks off the first important storylines.

Season two through four are, as I said, in my humble opinion the best science fiction material television has to offer, and while many people seem to dislike the fifth season, I still love it. I figure the fifth season is less liked because the main conflicts set up during the first two seasons are resolved in season three and four, and season five is more like a season-long epilogue, but it does provide some sense of closure that really further elevates the series as a whole.

[Athaniar]

Agreed, best sci-fi series ever, and the only one (that I know of) that has a solid story through all episodes (except for one). The movies are good, too. Just wish they had made a series out of Legend of the Rangers instead of Crusade, 'cause Crusade... I didn't like Crusade. Also, guess who else is a Babylon 5 fan? (http://www.giantitp.com/FAQ.html#faq16)

[warty goblin]

In my humble opinion, the best sci-far series there is period. By far. Like, light-years far.

The first season is rather episodic and not exactly representative of the style adopted later on - feels, at times, a bit less like Babylon 5 and more like Star Trek set on Babylon 5 - but it handily beats Star Trek at its own game, and still sets up a wonderful scenery, characters and kicks off the first important storylines.

Season two through four are, as I said, in my humble opinion the best science fiction material television has to offer, and while many people seem to dislike the fifth season, I still love it. I figure the fifth season is less liked because the main conflicts set up during the first two seasons are resolved in season three and four, and season five is more like a season-long epilogue, but it does provide some sense of closure that really further elevates the series as a whole.

This pretty much covers it all right here. I honestly don't mind the first season anymore, since having watched the entire show twice (give or take an episode or two) I understand how it all ties together. After the kinetic pace of Season 4, the slower pace of Season 5 feels almost nice. Plus "Sleeping in Light" has got to be the best last episode of anything, ever.

Also, space battles. This is how all space battles should look from this day forward. Really, once I saw Starfuries, I found it impossible to be impressed by X-Wings or Vipers, and ships getting cut in half by Shadow beams is so much more badass then, well, just about anything else. Also how many other shows have fully featured freeware flight sims (http://ifh.babylonfive.ru/) with Newtonian physics made about them?

[Grail]

I watched all of B5 and loved it, but not so the 5th season. All the plots were handidly wrapped up by end of S4, and S5 was IMO, just extension for the sake of it. Sure, it's still B5, so it's got that going for it, but I never bought S5.

At first I thought that B5 was just another Star Trek show, and I dislike Star Trek quite a bit. When I was roleplaying one night with a bunch of friends, they all stopped to watch it, so I had little option but to watch it as well. It took all the preconceived ideas I had of the show and turned them on their head (namely, that like Star Trek it was going to be sugar-coated rubbish), and then I became a major fan.

The acting in the show, other than a few unfortnates, is excellent and the casting is superb (again other than a few unfortunates).

The best scenes for me were always ones between Londo and G'Kar. The episode where they were trapped in the lift after the terrorist attack still has me in stitches.

"Help, can anybody hear me?"
"I hear you!"

:smallsmile:

[Talya]

It's among the best tv sci-fi ever. You might as well watch it all and judge for yourself.

This.

Now I'll expound --

Babylon 5 has some terrible acting (with the notable exceptions of Peter Jurassic and Andreas Katsulas - RIP - who are stellar throughout), and cheap special effects. It also suffered from budgetary problems and issues with actor retention that caused them to do stupid stuff with some of the best characters on the show.

None of that manages to diminish that J.M. Straczynski managed to write the best peice of serial sci-fi story arc to ever hit the small screen, ever. JMS planned a 5 year story arc (which he mostly finished in 4 seasons because he thought the show was going to get cancelled, which is why season 5 is not that great), and it is nothing short of incredible.

[factotum]

Babylon 5 has some terrible acting (with the notable exceptions of Peter Jurassic and Andreas Katsulas - RIP - who are stellar throughout), and cheap special effects.

Actually, the SFX were rather expensive. Explosions looked really naff in the first season because they were trying to render them using particle effects at a time when those didn't work so well--when they switched to using actual footage of flames from season 2 (or was it 3?) onwards they started looking a lot better. And I would defy anyone to say that the huge space battle in "Severed Dreams" (season 3) was cheap FX!

Oh, and when I said "The Coming of Shadows" earlier, I messed up--that's a second season episode. The arc plot episode from season 1 was "Signs and Portents".

[Talya]

Actually, the SFX were rather expensive. Explosions looked really naff in the first season because they were trying to render them using particle effects at a time when those didn't work so well--when they switched to using actual footage of flames from season 2 (or was it 3?) onwards they started looking a lot better. And I would defy anyone to say that the huge space battle in "Severed Dreams" (season 3) was cheap FX!




I'm not referring to "cheap" as in "inexpensive." I'm referring to "cheap" as in "shoddy looking and lousy." B5 made heavy use of CGI prior to CGI really being able to handle what they were trying to do. It didn't look much different than playing Descent Freespace on a computer. I mean, they made the effects primarily with Commodore Amigas, at least initially.

[Yulian]

Just piling on. B5 is one of the best, long-running sci-fi shows out there. Yes, Season 1 is finding its feet and yes, Season 5 was made after they found out they weren't being cancelled after all, but the story arcs running through the show are well worth watching. There's a decided lack of McGuffin Devices, easy answers, and simplistic "us versus the enemy" storytelling. Characters tend to be complex and to evolve and grow over time. G'Kar's character arc is one of the best in modern televised science fiction.

Go. Watch it.

- Yulian