The Sci-Fi channel will begin showing it in wide screen. I watched the first season and got bored.
Did it get better, is it worth taping?
Well I actually missed the first season but I have to say it’s one of the best sci-fi shows around. The fact that it was one large story rather than a series of one off storylines was excellent and the writing was superb. Season 4 had me on the edge of my seat.
Great stuff.
I gotta agree with dpr. it is one of the best and the story was great
Yeah, season 1 was pretty weak, mainly due to the character of the Captain - a dull part played by an inadequite actor. He was rightfully replaced at the beginning of season 2.
My advice - watch the last few episodes of the first season (to learn the basics of the story arc)and the stick with it. From the middle of the second season till the end of the fourth, it’s the best thing ever filmed for television.
IMHO, of course.
The thing to remember (and the thing that kept a lot of new viewers from picking the show up) is that it’s all one long story arc - even the lame stuff from the first season gets picked back up and incorporated into the overall story. And, yes, it does get MUCH better than the first season - excellent storytelling. Enjoy.
When I started watching Babylon 5, it was near the beginning of the second season (well, already in re-runs, but they were showing the second season at the time). Once I started watching, I didn’t miss an episode until I had seen all of them. I’d rank the quality of the seasons, from best to worst, as 4, 3, 2, 5, 1. The first season isn’t that great, but seasons three and four are really good.
A warning, though: Watching Babylon 5 will make you hate Star Trek.
I dunno about hating Star Trek, but it did make me wonder about Chekhov’s trustworthiness…
Babylon 5 was a pretty sucky show, IMHO. I started watching it, it sucked, so I decided that watching it was a waste of my time.
Yes, definitely worth taping. As Kilt says, get the first season too–it all builds on itself. The fifth season is the worst in my opinion–mainly because there were serious questions about whether the show would have a fifth season, so they wrapped the big stuff up in the fourth season.
I agree with Max as well–Babylon 5makes Star Trekseem so namby-pamby that it’s hard to take seriously.
I recall getting hooked on seasons 3 & 4. Unfortunately, I never saw season 5 
…but that’s what I get for living where there’s no TV. Anyhoo, I can’t speak for the other seasons, but three and four were quite well done, interesting, and captivating. I think the problem a lot of people had was following a plot that was advanced bit by bit through most of the episodes.
Just as an aside, my friends and I would spoof the overly melodramatic way the show was promo’d by our UPN affiliate, making up our own “On the next episode of BABYLON 5…” Eventually, all the dramatic events we imagined for our spoof promo actually occurred during the series. Wierd, but it made for very entertaining TV.
Not having seen season five is more of a reason for celebration than gloom. Season five sucked mongoose ass.
Season one DOES move slowly, in the same way that the first few chapters of “The Lord of the Rings” move sort of slowly, but the backstory they give makes the rest of the series a lot more entertaining to watch.
I’d say more but I am unable to hold a linear train of thought today.
Haven’t seen season 5 (I don’t think it’s made its way down under yet) but I’m hardly waiting anxiously after what I’ve read of it. But the rest was amazing. Here’s hoping they do more intense shows with well-defined story arcs and themes.
The first season is the weakest on first viewing (it’s much better once you’ve seen the entire show). The idea of a complete story arc was audacious, and was done brilliantly.
But it does start slowly, partly because they wanted to early episodes to stand alone a bit more (though they all have elements of the main arc).
By the end of the first season, the arc was developing. The only problem was that it was cut short due to fears the show would be cancelled after season 4. Thus things got rushed a bit, and Stracynzki had to come up with a new arc for the 5th season that wasn’t as strong.
Of course, it was more fun to watch the show in the beginning, where you could speculate on every scene and line of dialog to wonder what they meant. The great thing about the show was its foreshadowing, and how a tossed-away line in episode 1 turned out to have real meaning. (If you’re watching the two-hour premiere after seeing the entire series, pay attention to what Kosh says to Sinclair).
My wife and I loved Babylon 5 and watched it from the beginning up until Fox stopped carrying it. Bad move on their part. Then we had to move and get cable to start picking it up again. Fortunately TNT re-aired all the episodes so we were able to pick up where we left off and see the last season.
BTW, anyone ever watch the spin-off called “Crusade”. I thought it had a good plot to follow, but it never seemed to get anywhere. What are you opinions?
Also for anyone who’s interested check out the following link for all the B5 info you may want, (WARNING spoilers!)
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/lurker.html
True. This is exactly what happened to me, and I didn’t even get into the show like Mr. Grey did. I could see by watching a few episodes that the quality of the acting and stories was much higher.
Season 5 did suck, though. I blame them not bringing back Ivanova due to a “communication breakdown.” When one of his main characters had to be replaced and re-written, I think Straczinski crumbled.
Also, I highly recommend Babylon Park, for those of you who haven’t seen it. It’s a spoof of Babylon 5 and South Park. http://www.babylonpark.com
Episode 000 is the best one, but cast members (Lyta, Kosh, etc.) liked it so much they contributed their voices to later ones.
Babylon five is re-running on sci-fi? Why was I not informerd? Damn nation!
I must say, though, it is the best sci-fi series of all time. The fact that the creator had the entire story written before anything else is amazing. It’s more like a VERY lng movies, or mini-series. But much better.
In response to the OP: run, don’t walk, to the store to buy videos and start taping. I love Babylon 5.
Regarding season five: the point was to wrap the thing up. If you’re expecting the level of intensity of the previous seasons, you’re looking for the wrong thing and you’ll be disappointed. While I agree that parts of season five were a bit weaker than previous seasons, keep in mind that Stracynzki was intentionally winding down.
Babylon 5 is great. Somewhat better than Deep Space 9, the best of the Star Treks. taped almost the entire series and edited out the commercials. missed one episode. sorry, i don’t understand what was wrong with the 1st season. less excitement but interesting detail.
Dal Timgar
The first episode - not the pilot movie, the first regular episode - aired on Space today.
It’s AMAZING how many things from seasons 4 and 5 are foreshadowed. The forshadowing of Londo’s ultimate fate, particularly struck me - although, of course, Londo misunderstood, significantly.
As to hating Star Trek, the only thing about ST B5 made me hate is the uniforms. Especially as of Season…3, I think, when the main characters get the Minbari designed uniforms.
When Vir gave that little “good-bye” wave to Mr. Morden. 