Dang kids. Back in the day, we had to carefully search the TV listings to find the show. In syndication, at least where I was, the show kept hopping from channel to channel, and the broadcast day/time sometimes varied weekly. None of this namby-pamby whole season on a dvd with bonus tracks for us. We often had to walk 40 miles barefoot through the snow just to see an episode. Uphill both ways. And we were glad to do it. :dubious:
Wow. Just finished the end of season 2*. Wow.
*Is it sad that I’ve seen four episodes today? Oh, well, time for season 3…
“What kind of dope would toss a perfectly good Earth bear into space?” 
*** Ponder
Growing on you, I see. 
If this is sad, then so am I. We would knock out a DVD in one night easy.
And season 3 is even better than 2. Enjoy.
Yep. Season 3 is the peak of the story arc. Incredible TV, even if it’s not “hard” sf.
Season 4 is good. Not terrific, like the last half of Season 2 and the whole of Season 3, but good.
Season 5…let’s not talk about right now. Just enjoy Season 3 at the moment.
Yeah hazard to navigation and pilot review boards , still i would never have seen that one coming, jms is an evil bastage
Declan
Actually if anything i envy you and pity you at the same time. A lot of the fun of that show was that it was one of the first television shows, that was interactive with the internet. Between usenet and aol, as well as a number of other internet venues, jms held court and dropped hints, teasers, explanations and such, while at the same time everybody and his brother were doin the same thing.
A current example of this can be found in any one of the battlestar galactica threads. Imagine the agony when the show went into hiatus and we had to wait months for the new season, and then the limeys get to watch the season before we did, if memory serves.
So you ten years later, get that rush right away like i did when i watched battlestars first two seasons in two nights, but you miss
Posting from an iphone can get annoying
Anyways to finish what i was saying, you missed the social aspect of the show. Either posting on the message boards
or grabbing a group of people and heading down to the bar and having a bewildered bartenter switch the satelite channel after a bunch of scifi nerds invade the place.
Thats why i pity you but that much lol
In that vein, the Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5 has the JMS usenet stuff by episode, along with the synopsis and analysis.
I dunno. It was a good episode to be sure, but it just didn’t hit me that hard. I’ll take the two-part TNG episode “Chain of Command” over that one. (“There are four lights!”)
In all seriousness I would recommend anyone watching B5 to stop at the end of series 4 and leave it there. S5 was terrible, because the plot arc that JMS had been following was rushed into being complete by S4 as they thought the program would be killed then and they didn’t have a lot left for S5. I’ve tried to watch S5 twice and it’s just bad, the worst elements of B5 with none of the good bits - I got bored about 5 episodes in and just gave up.
Well, one MUST watch “Sleeping in Light”
Brian
It’s worth noting that “Sleeping in the Light” (the season 5 finale and series finale), was actually filmed so that it could serve as the season 4 finale in the event the series wasn’t picked up for a fifth season. Then when the show was picked up for season 5, they filmed a new Season 4 finale (“The Deconstruction of Falling Stars”) and saved “Sleeping in the Light” to be the true ending.
So, you don’t have to watch the rest of season 5 to watch the finale. That said, I’d watch it all the way through . . . then watch the spin-off Crusade to convince you that Season 5 wasn’t so bad. 
Yes–while Season 5 is tragically inferior to the brilliance that preceded it, the finale redeems the whole thing. Of course, I’m just an old softy who cries if someone steps on a bug, so naturally it pushes my buttons.
Zooty-zoot-zoot!
Space Island One. Hard SF goodness.
Not true. Most of season 5 was always in the arc and would’ve happened anyway. According to the user ratings over at the Lurker’s Guide, season 5 was on average as well-liked as season 2 (8.41 vs. 8.41), although the variance was slightly higher (1.25 vs. 1.51). Season 5 is also essential viewing if you care about Londo.
That’s what I did. We burned through the DVDs so hard and fast and got so wrapped up in the story that by the time we finished season 4, we really didn’t have the motivation to continue to 5 anyway. And season 4 just seemed like such an awesome conclusion to the story that whatever was in season 5 just felt like it would be totally superfluous. (I read some episode summaries after the fact, and I think I’m right in that.)
As others have already said upthread… To finish out season 4, you do need to see “Sleeping in Light”, the series finale. It’s too bad you spoiled yourself by reading the summary first, but I think it’s still worth seeing.
One thing about watching B5 on DVD in a rush is you miss out on the anticipation. Having to wait a week to see the conclusion of a cliffhanger… That was part of the experience. Mid-S3, when we finally see Sinclair become Valen in “War Without End” and in S4, “We are here to place President Clark under arrest!”,I think the fact that we had to wait just as much time out in RL as fictional time had passed on the show added to its impact. YMMV.
And for those who don’t care about spoilers, you can catch yourself up on all of B5 in 3 minutes: Five Years by Tom Smith. That song was written before Crusade aired. These days, when Smith performs that song, he changes the last line: “Joe, I’ve seen Crusade, and you’re gonna be sorry!”
*** Ponder
The obvious reference to “1984” in that episode kind of spoiled it for me. I thought “Passing Through Gethsemane” was much better.
You guys are killing me with all the spoiler boxes I can’t read yet.
I like to think that the delights of anticipation are outweighed by the rush of immersing myself in multiple episodes in a row. I actually don’t watch any broadcast TV anymore - my desire to find out what happens is enough to drive me crazy if I can’t find out. Same thing with books, at that, I won’t start a series that isn’t finished. The Wheel of Time taught me that much.