Kosh knows I do - I subscribed to the video series from Columbia House (I’m now into season 2).
Just curious what other sci-fi fans are out there. For the record, I’m also a huge Star Trek fan, and I watch Earth: Final Conflict as well.
Esprix
Ask the Gay Guy! (or, if you prefer the Jesusfied version, Asketh the damn Priest Guy!)
I was a regular watcher of B5. They always had great, sweeping story lines and great characters. What happened to the sequal series?
I’ve watched E:FC a few times but I can’t figure out what everyones ‘agenda’ is.
Gee, I don’t think any of us expected him to say that.
What happened to the sequel series “Crusade?”
The “Night Gallery” syndrome.
NBC wanted Rod Serling to host their anthology series mainly for the name. He had no creative control over the material, and the stories he personally submitted were often rewritten.
Same with JMS and “Crusade.” The bigwigs apparently wanted JMS’s name attached to it, but not his “guiding force.”
Me me me me! waves hand wildly
I watched that show avidly before it was ever popular, back when I got it on satellite from UBB at 4am. I watched it when I got off work (bartending) in the wee hours of the morning.
A friend of mine is in props and worked on set for the first epsisode. I was soooo jealous! But I did talk him out of to his copy of the script.
B5 kicks galactic butt!
The Turtle Moves
I also think “Crusades” got low ratings. Personally, I never felt it had the same panache “B5” did (although the first officer was a hottie!). Cool ship, tho.
“Earth: Final Conflict” has the same kind of storyline feel that “B5” had - if you walked into the middle of it, you’d only get half the story. Unfortunately, Majel Barrett has said that their 3rd season will move away from arc storylines and more towards one-shot episodic themes, which disappoints me greatly (and cost them at least one writer).
Very, very few series would I consider buying every episode of, and “Babylon 5” is the first, as I said. I will also consider “E:FC” when it becomes available. For as much as I love the Star Trek universe, I just couldn’t see getting all the episodes on film, but I have been thinking about getting some of the better episodes (and I do have all the movies).
Oh, and for the record, the only other series I’d consider buying every episode of is “Family Guy.” 
Esprix
Ask the Gay Guy! (or, if you prefer the Jesusfied version, Asketh the damn Priest Guy!)
I’ve got almost every episode of B5 on tape. 
You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.
Last episode of B5 I watched was the one where they did several vignettes set farther and farther into the future. I understood that the creator intended there to be a five year arc and that was the end of the arc. The station stopped carrying it and that was the end. I never had much interest when I realized it was revived with additional episodes.
E:FC I watched for a few episodes after Liam was born. It was a big mistake to kill off the cop and the Irish…what did they call the implanted people? Protectors? The alt-universe plot was it for me. Too bad; I thought the original who-do-you-trust premise was brilliant.
I would rate the 5 seasons as follows:
1 c+
2 b-
3 a
4 a-
5 c-
I absolutely loved Bab 5. It was a great series. Too bad we dont get to see it anymore…
“Bones, help that man!” – “Damnit Jim, I’m a doctor not a doc…I’ll get right on it.”
I didn’t follow it religiously but I do remember an interrogation episode that was one of the best thing I’ve seen on t.v.
yojimbo: Ah yes. The episode with Sebastian, AKA Jack.
My favorite was when Sheridan went to Zha Ha Dum(sp) and blew that mother straight to hell.
You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.
I’m a science fiction fan, but can’t say that I care for B5 at all. My dad likes it, but he watches virtually every SF show out there.
I found the biggest problem to be that most of the actors just blew.
Of course, Sturgeon would say that that’s true for 90% of the shows out there in any genre.
Bucky
I like B5 a lot, though I was never a regular viewer. I have a ton of episodes that I’ve taped and not managed to find time to watch yet (once I get sucked in, I’m a goner for hours on end). What impresses me about the show is:
How open and friendly some of the actors are in real life-- having seen several of them at conventions, I can vouch for the fact that they are remarkably down to earth and accessible.
How well done the show was as a whole-- the final episode (no spoilers here for those of you who haven’t seen it) made me cry, even though I’d missed considerable chunks of the five year run.
I was a little disappointed that Crusade disappeared so quickly, but a B5 superfan friend of mine also told the JMS Had No Control story, so I can see why it died…
Gamera is really neat, he is full of turtle meat, we’ve been eating Gam-er-aaaa…
Icerigger, don’t you think you rated the last season a little… high?
Seriously, I missed a few of the last season’s episodes. I wish they were the telepath ones, but no such luck. They were toward the end, but not the last two or three. Did they ever explain what happened on Centauri prime? The last I remember, the fleet was just showing up there. Did they explain why it was still burning some 15 years later, when Londo finally dies?
It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.
I have a dog named Valen. 'Nuff said?
Loved the series. Interviewed Mira Furlan and the great maker himself (JMS) a few years back. Great people, all. JMS is hilarious, and a really down to earth (!) guy. Furlan is softspoken, but driven, not unlike Delenn.
As for the series itself, I’ll agree it seemed to have its ups and downs, but I always found it refreshing to have a sci-fi series that wasn’t all clean-cut and bright (a la Star Trek) and that had characters with more than one dimension (Think Londo, for example…)
Aaaaaaaaaanyway… I’m low on sleep, so I’ll shut up right here and keep reading the thread.
**Esprix **, if you weren’t playing for the other team, I’d date ya.
E.
“Black holes were created when God divided by 0” ~Wally
yojimbo might be thinking instead of intersections in real time from season four. Sorry; just trying to be difficult
As for me, I think Babylon 5 is one of the most amazing projects ever done. I didn’t have cable when it switched over for season 5 (and I’m missing season 5 now that it’s in reruns since I don’t get TNT on campus cable). But I was obsessed with it once upon a time.
my favorite episode is The Long Night.
“I try never to get involved in my own life; too much trouble.” --Michael Garibaldi
Mayor of Snerdville, the home of Mortimer Snerd
“I’m just too much for human existence – I should be animated.”
–Wayne Knight
Otto wrote:
JMS had a five-year arc in mind. During season 4, it was unclear that they would be picked up for a 5th season, so he filmed the last episode that would wrap it all up (well, sentimentally, at least) during season 4, and some of the writing in season 4 reflects the fact that he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to extend those storylines into season 5. Then the word came - season 5 was a go, but on TNT, not PTEN. So season 5 was choppy not only because it was a different network, but because he’d rushed a few story lines in season 4. The last episode he filmed, however, he didn’t change -he just aired it at the end. (And it make me weep like a baby, twice.)
Yup. And Taelons are also referred to as “The Companions.”
ZenBeam wrote:
Rumor has it the next B5 project will be dealing with the Telepath War, either as a TNT TV movie or a feature film. But seeing how well Crusade went, it’s tenuous at best. The series has gone out of its way not to say much about the War, in both the series and the book series, except to say that it happened. If you’d like to find out what happened to Alfred Bester, there was a Psy Corps book trilogy that was, IMHO, incredible - it started off with how Psy Corps began, then how Bester became in charge, then it skips over the War and tells you Bester’s final fate.
Also another book trilogy, the first one being “The Long Night of Centauri Prime,” which I just finished. It explains Londo and his keeper, how Vir rises to power, and how Centauri rises and falls… again!
Elenfair wrote:
{blush!} Thank you, but I think there are several other women who have spoken for me before you, alas. Still, I could cheat on 'em…
Esprix
Ask the Gay Guy! (or, if you prefer the Jesusfied version, Asketh the damn Priest Guy!)
Well duh.
For the record, I once received a junkmail letter addressed to the “Vorlon Ambassador” at my address. (I had previously filled in Vorlon Ambassador on one of those forms asking for my “title”.)
With that in mind, I have to say one Earth-shatteringly important thing: The title theme music for Crusade sucked on toast. Play the opening title to an episode of Crusade back-to-back with the opening title to a 3rd-season episode of Babylon 5, and you’ll see that I mean.
Jeez, I just started watching it a few months ago (7am Saturdays, TNT) and I’ve only been seeing the end of season 4, now into season 5. If season 5 is that bad, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the series is like. Season 5 is still better than most shows on TV today.
The show has been picked up by the SciFi channel. Starting September 25, they will start showing B5 every week night at 7pm. Get your blank tapes ready.