And Teddy Bears
Declan
As well as getting aquainted with the most powerful actor in christondom , Zathras.
Declan
It does get better - early season 1 has some really really horrible episodes. At the time, they were trying out new writers, establishing the show, etc.
I would not recommend skipping season 1 entirely. The continuity and overall story are the main part of the show, and while S1 has a lot of episodes that aren’t arc-centric, there’s stuff that really builds the universe. If you end up liking the show from season 2 on, you’ll regret having missed out on a lot of the plot points in background of skipping season 1.
For it what’s worth, the show should really be viewed in context. It was pioneering in areas that are a lot more developed. It was the first attempt at really adult sci-fi, the first series that I’m aware of that essentially tried to be a 120 hour novel rather than a collection of episodes (while a lot more shows are serialized and have continuity, are there any that are preplanned as a story from the beginning?), first series to use CGI for special effects, and probably other stuff. It premiered in… 91? Think around the same time as the end of the ST:TNG era.
A lot of the writing and dialog is clunky, though. Kind of theatrical, melodramatic. Once you kind of accept it, you can begin to enjoy it a bit - things that are a bit cheesy can be okay and not wince-worthy. But then again, I mostly watched the show when I was younger, so my expectations and tastes were different.
It was really an innovator, especially if you compare it to other sci-fi shows. It’s sort of the anti-star trek. Plots are developed and solved by traditional dramatic means, not some completely unsatisfying dues ex machina solutions of the star trek shows. There’s almost no technobabble in B5, and it’s never used to solve anything.
For example, I particularly enjoyed a few of the early episodes trying to play with your expectations and cliches, like
The episode about a massive plague outbreak among an alien species that was covered up because they associated it with sinfulness and a punishment from God, and no one wanted to admit to outsiders to having a problem with it. The show is set up so that the doctor is searching for a cure, and, in star trek style, he discovers it, ready to save the day! And then discovers that he’s too late - an entire civilization was essentially destroyed, because of their pride and arrogance. A very anti-star trek deus ex machina ending.
While some resolutions may not be to your liking, the show never tries to cheat the viewer with that kind of stuff.
It’s unrefined in a lot of ways, but as I said, comparatively looks better when TV, and especially sci fi tv, was a lot less mature.
I forgot to add that season 1 itself gets better as it goes along. Not great, but it doesn’t have the absolutely horrible episodes like “infection” and “TKO” early on.
Really? You liked Zathras? I found his performance pretty one-note. Now Zathras, there was a performer!
The extremely silly character who enters into incomprehensible negotiations with Kosh reminds me of the pitchman from the old Zima ads. It wasn’t the same guy, was it?
What do zoo zink? 
Actually, I don’t think it was.
God. Every scene in the bar, particularly with a song playing, has that feel to it.
My favorite Space 90’s moment came when a friend (also a fan of the show) was watching it and she realized that she had the same towel rack in her bathroom as the one on the show.
I must have really bad timing then. Seriously, it’s happened the last 5 or 6 times I’ve tried to watch it. I never have the good luck to hop in when all the presumably awesome Dominion stuff is happening. 
Who told you that? It reads about the same throughout, IMO. I liked it from the beginning, but if you have read a third or half of the first book and couldn’t make it, then you’d never make it through the trilogy.
-FrL-
Well, here I was all set to take the advice of some posters and slog through the rest of season one, but my resolve dissolved after the episode we watched last night. I immediately stuck the disc into the Netflix envelope and sealed it, then cancelled the rest of season one. We’ll try a disc of season two, but I need to see something else in the meantime.
If anyone is curious (I’m not going to spoiler box this because anyone reading the thread this far has already seen it or should be warned), the episode concerned the child of some aliens whose religion forbade life-saving surgery on the kid because only food animals are cut open. Openings in the skin make your spirit leak out or something. Guess a paper cut on their world gets you excommunicated. So the doctor says screw it, the life of this child trumps your religion and does the surgery anyway, saving the kid’s life. Afterwards, in a shocking move I predicted 5 minutes into the episode, the parents kill their newly healed kid who must be inhabited by a demon.
A bad, cliched episode ripped from the headlines, sure. But the way it was presented, it appears the doctor should have ignored everything he believed and respected the alien religion, letting the child die a long, painful death. it was the hubris of the doctor that was wrong, see. I so wanted Dr. House to come in, verbally bitch-slap the parents before calling child services on them, save the kid’s life, and say tough titty to all the irrational idiots on B-5, including the commander, who I notice did not arrest the parents after they killed thier own kid ON HIS WATCH!!! This tells me way more than I want to know about the agenda of the writer.
Yikes. I’ll give season 2 a chance, but then it’s on to BG. Probably not Firefly, because we didn’t like Serenity (Yeah, yeah, I know. Burn the Heretics We are also two of the few people in the world who really liked BTVS - the Movie and never cared for the TV show.)
Eh, you won’t get any trouble from me. I, for one, have had enough of Joss Whedon’s cute character moments.
I liked Firefly, but didn’t like Serenity – it felt like ~2 hrs. of fanservice and random resolution of plotlines mixed with random character death. The moments that made Firefly good were few and far between in the movie. The series was undeservedly canceled, based on its quality; future movies are deservedly stillborn, based on Serenity’s quality. The movie is passable if I need a sci-fi fix; Firefly was much better than that.
“Firefly” is actually quite different from Serenity; the latter is your basic space opera actioneer with minimal character development; it’s already assumed that you know the characters and their backstory. “Firefly” on the other hand, is all about developing the characters and avoiding (and sometimes lampooning) the space opera genre. It’s not perfect, and it may not be your cup of tea, but the things you complain about with “Babylon 5” are done much differently and better in “Firefly”. Just sayin’.
Or you can just rent the James Cameron ouevre and watch a master of great cinematic science fiction at work. (Well, except for the cop-out ending of The Abyss.)
Stranger
If I rent the James Cameron ouevre, can I skip Titanic? Or at least turn the sound off?
You can skip anything after Terminator 2, and even that gets crushingly dull after awhile. For the love of pete, skip Titanic. *Aliens * is fantastic, though.
If I were you, I’d try Firefly. It’s quite a bit different than Serenity. And significantly better. There’s also only half a season to go through, so it’s not as big a commitment as getting into a multi-year show.
Firefly has better character development, more humor, and just plain excellent writing.
I was actually only thinking of the science fiction movies of his. (I like True Lies, too, but then I see a lot of layers below the standard Schwarzenegger action movie fare.) The only bits of Titanic you need to see (if at all) are Kate Winslet, topless, and the amazing F/X of the R.M.S. Titanic actually sinking. I’d also recommend turning of The Abyss right after Bud sends the final message to Lindsay (“Dont cry baby. Knew this was one way ticket, but you know I had to come. Love you wife.”) which makes it an amazing movie with a poignant ending, instead of an amazing movie with a irredeemably stupid ending.
Stranger
For what it’s worth, that’s one of the stupider Star Trek-ian moral-dilemma-of-the-week episodes. I really don’t remember too awful many of those, but you do occasionally get them in most sci-fi shows.
Except that in Star Trek they would have saved the kid.
And the aliens would have realized they were wrong to want the child to die. :rolleyes:
You said you’re skipping to season 2, but I would say at the very least, watch the last disc of season 1, since events in the last couple episodes are needed to know for the first episodes of season 2 (a pretty big cliffhanger occurs.) PLus Babylon Squared is the best episode of Season 1 and NEEDED to get full enjoyment out of events in Season 3, if you make it that far.