What? In this economy? 
Especially when the last four Babylon stations have fallen down, blown up, or disappeared? Why would they invest in top of the line components when they half expect the whole place to pupate and fly away as a giant space butterfly within the year?
*King of Swamp Castle: When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that’s what you’re going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England. *
I don’t see how the plotlines were particularly juvenile. I mean, it was all politics. Short of fraking all over the place, how much more adult can you get?
Really? Where is this coming from? JMS specifically wrote the show to be an adult SF series. The seasons long arcs were actually pretty novel for an SF show up to that point, and he did what he could to avoid the network adding kid-friendly elements.
For example, he had a very specific “no cute kids or robots” rule to specifically rule out pandering to a youth market. Beyond that, there was, quite frankly, quite a bit of violence and major character death/injury for a mid-90s TV show. It’s pretty tame compared to shows today, but there were several episodes that pushed the boundaries of what the 90s Broadcast Standards and Practices would allow.
It may have also appealed to kids, but it was NEVER written or designed to do so.
The shows couldn’t have too dark a tone or they’d never be allowed to air at all (at least in the 90s as opposed to today). But that’s not the same as being written with the kids in mind.
Plus, it had explicit sex scenes.
Next time, my way.
I’m amused to have known what that was going to be before I clicked on it.
Me too, and I haven’t seen the show in years.
I miss that show.
data point:
I’m 50 years old, I own season 4 box set. I watch it about once a year, and really enjoy it.
and An Gardai’ is really smart.
Heck, it even has one plot with two male characters pretending to be on their honeymoon trip. And a couple of people get pushed out of airlocks sans spacesuit - that’s Not Nice 
But yes, people do tend to overlook in hindsight that this was not a mid-00’s HBO/MTV/SyFy project, but 1990s broadcast TV, and even further than that, downmarket broadcast TV, for much of its run virtually direct-to-syndication, as PTEN never became a real network but more of a supplementary content provider for Fox and the early WB/UPN.
So, I just found out that Netflix ends their live streaming for B5 on July 1st. I’ll be able to finish Season 2 by then, after that I’ll have to get it on disc and I’m not sure I’m willing to do that…it ties up my queue for getting anything else. Sucks…right when i was getting into it, too. 
You need to put aside everything else and finish Season 4 at least. Season 3 is where everything kicks into high gear and is some of the best genre TV ever made.
Buy a television goddamnit!
Yeah and there was Londo’s genitals too IIRC.
It still strikes me in retrospect as quite juvenile in a lot of ways, even if that wasn’t his intention. I’ll actually have to sit down and take notes the next time it’s on in order to give specific examples of what I’m talking about.
never!
I’m gonna chip in with samclem and buy you one, just to spite you.
Okokokok, you’ve got me. I just finished Season 2 and have already put Season 3 on my queue. I’ll watch a movie before that, then Season 3, then a movie, then Season 4, and maybe then you all can tell me which episodes to watch in S5. But I don’t want to stop now.
I didn’t find it juvenile and immature at all, btw. There are certainly childish moments but many adults act childish at times. But most of the series deals with very adult issues - B5 standing on the edge of a knife, trying to do the right thing and remain loyal to Earth at the same time. Sheridan and the others are playing a dangerous game, and I don’t think that’s childish at all. Even when they do show children they are dealing with very adult issues…take for example the Pac-Mara child who succumbs to the plague, along with 4000 of his people. He must have watched many of them dying, perhaps his own mother, or perhaps she watched her child die, after her husband/mate succumbed. And Delenn and Linnear watched it all and their hearts broke.
The episode where the Centauri finally take over the Narn homeworld had me in tears. Andrea Katsulas is amazing, and when Vir tries to apologize and G’Kar cuts his hand and calls out “Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. How do you apologize to them?” for each drop of blood, I am sorry, but that was *not *childish.
It may be poorly acted at times, but that mainly seems to be reserved for the extras, and even that is getting less as time goes on, and I am so glad you all convinced me to keep going, and that I came back to it.
Delenn’s and Sheridan’s relationship grows slowly, like a flower, not rushed and very believable. And I was actually quite upset for Garibaldi & Ivanova when Talia Winters was discovered to be a sleeper agent.
In short, all I hope, and I hope you guys can hint to me without spoilers, is that I won’t be disappointed. Everyone is saying Season 5 sucks, does that mean the resolution to all this is going to go downhill? Am I going to be all upset and lacking a proper conclusion? I will keep watching no matter what but I’d like to be prepared if that’s the case.