Haven’t watched Babylon 5 since it was first on, 20 years ago. I’m 6:18 into episode 1 and Michael O’Hare has already shown with just looks six more emotions than Boxleitner has in his whole career. And I’ve been reminded that Ivanova is indeed God (see thread title). Note that I have no problem with spoilers, even though I can remember little of what I saw two decades ago so it’s all sorta new to me. People bothered by spoilers might want to avoid this thread and just Netflix the damn thing.
B5 has some great stuff in it, but binge watching it really reveals how weak the writing is. JMS has a go-to list of about a half dozen stock phrases that get used in every episode, for example. And about 80% of them have a pointless fight scene exactly four minutes in.
Sweet, Babylon 5 is back on Netflix? I watched it on TV when it first aired and was two thirds of the way through rewatching it on Netflix when they stopped carrying it.
I don’t actually know if it is, having acquired Season 1 by other means. I know it isn’t on Hulu Plus, raising the question of why I’m paying for it.
What is Babylon 5?
A sci-fi show from the 90’s. Ran for five seasons, plus a few made-for-T.V. movies and a spin-off series that didn’t last very long.
It’s diplomacy sci-fi. I used that term used on purpose to piss off Harlan Ellison, who hates it when people say “sci-fi,” or did at one time, and was one of B5’s creators. But it’s easy to piss off Harlan Ellison.
A dream given form… It’s a port of call - home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night.
It can be a dangerous place, but it’s our last best hope for peace.
And it was better than ST: Voyager and grimier than Deep Space Nine.
Sometimes, I idly wonder if any other show where 80% of the main cast are diplomats could possibly get greenlighted by the networks.
Anyplace where you can eat fried tubeworm can’t be all bad.
Looks like it’s currently discs only, no streaming.
Not only that, but when I watched it last year on Netflix, a disc from Season 4 with some very crucial episodes was missing (showed “long wait” in my queue) - I had to go to Amazon and pay to stream them. :mad:
Or spoo. Everyone loves spoo. It tastes like meat jello.
Skeletor doesn’t, and he doesn’t even know what spoo is. (The answer to which may be the funniest thing JMS has ever written.)
(spoilers in link)
dp
I’d forgotten about that bit of writing. It’s positively Douglas-Adams-esque. 
Eh, the one example we know of spoo being eaten by humans has both of them much preferring baloney.
The first season is definitely the weakest. Some of the guest stars are hams that chew up the scenery with their theatrics. The second season is a major step up, and the third season is the greatest. The fourth season was completed in a rush, because JMS had planned a 5-year story arc and the series was facing cancellation. The fifth season continued some subplots from the previous season, but some major cast members had left and B5’s glory days were clearly behind them.
B5 had some truly marvelous characters and storylines, and there are scenes that are so deep and profound, they stay in your psyche forever.
Par exemplar…
[spoiler]One episode has Captain Sinclair bewildered on what to do to represent Earth for an upcoming event observing each world’s religions. He attends each alien race’s ceremonies, but can’t think of an appropriate Earth religious ceremony to enact.
At the end, he brings the ambassadors to a line of Earth people, each wearing different religious garb. “This is so-and-so. He is a Catholic priest. This is so-and-so. He is an Orthodox Rabbi. This is so-and-so. He is a Buddhist Monk.” The camera travels down a seemingly endless line of religious representatives as Sinclair continues to make introductions.
To me, it exemplifies the diversity of the human race. Each alien race is typically one chief culture that has little variation. Imagine how these aliens reacted to seeing up close how fractured human society is, but still capable of banding together to work miracles.
[/spoiler]