I had only ever seen a few episodes of Babylon 5 before, and never thought much of it. I thought the CG space battles were pretty and the sets were fun to look at, but that was about it. Over the years I have heard people rant and rave about how amazing and cool B5 is, how there’s this gargantuan five-year arc and how it is the only truly serialized sci-fi show, but I always remained farily indifferent about it. So when last week I saw the DVDs for the first two seasons on sale, I bought them and decided to try and watch it from the beginning. I figured if I didn’t like it after a few episodes, I’d just sell them on eBay. There’s a huge market for this stuff.
I was amazed. Blown away. Babylon 5 is simply epic in proportion and brilliant storytelling. The CGI space stuff is out of this world. When I realized that the show was done entirely with early-to-mid 90’s CG technology and no models or matte compositing at all, I was enthralled. I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday watching the first two entire seasons in between re-reading A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four. When I noticed the dapper but nefarious Englishman in Comes the Inquisitor I thought some wires had been crossed in my fatigued brain and Mr. Holmes himself was about to show up on the space station.
Anyhoo, I now wait with great anticipation for the rest of the episodes to be released on DVD. Having no knowledge of the rest of the story, I request that you reveal no spoilers here. And if you haven’t seen Babylon 5 yet, go do it. Now.
No spoilers revealed, but I would personally suggest you save your money and not buy the 5th season when (or if) it comes out. The “five-year arc” really wraps up at the end of season 4 (mostly because they weren’t sure there would be a season 5 until after season 4 was completed), and season 5 really just spun its wheels a lot.
Even though there were a few things I complained about with Babylon 5, they were just minor flaws in a great show. If you liked the first two seasons that much, I think the ending of Season 3 (if I remember right) will “blow you away” (as the kids say).
That show had more good, solid 1950’s style science fiction than anything else I’ve seen on tv. I didn’t get into it until about the third season, then had to catch up with reruns. (In part this was because the network didn’t know how to promote the show, and the early promos made it look like a stupid “monster of the week” show.)
I have to concur with that sentiment. Season 5 was a major disappointment. The frist 4 are gold though- it really was a 4 year arc. The follow-up series were very bad though- avoid them. The movies were pretty good though. I envy you-- you have some great shows ahead of you.
There were some good episodes in Season 5. Let’s not write them off. Sure, the story in season four should have stretched out over five, but it didn’t. Londo’s story is worth following, as is Lennier’s.
And the CG got better throughout the series. Season 5 had some great battles.
I owe my career to the inspiration of watching B5 and wanting to learn those skills.
If you haven’t seen the pilot yet, go out and get that. It’s a decent movie on its own, and ties in very well with the rest of the series.
Also, if you think the first two seasons are good now, go back and watch them again once you’ve seen through season four. You’ll be amazed at how tight the arc is, and what JMS managed to foreshadow way back when.
Think of Season 5 as an epilogue in a universe you’ve grown to love. The best stuff is in 3 and 4, but by the time that’s done, you won’t want to pass up the final year.
Also look for In The Beginning/The Gathering on DVD. It’s the first B5 movie, and the first B5 episode, packaged together. ITB is the best B5 movie out there.
And the brief spinoff Crusade was pretty good, even if JMS was being smothered by the powers that be at TNT. Also it has my favorite line from any science fiction series (from when they go explore uncharted space and find that they have no problem communicating with the new aliens): “Either these guys have been to Earth before, or there is one hell of a busy English teacher going around this part of space.”
A lot of the stuff in season 5 would’ve been there even if there hadn’t been any question as to whether it would happen. JMS said that if season 4 hadn’t been rushed, Intersections in Real Time would’ve been the finale. I don’t think he would’ve stretched out the rest of the war to fill the entire next year.
It’s too bad JMS was forced to wrap up the Shadow War almost a year ahead of schedule because TNT wouldn’t commit to a fifth season. Sleeping in Light was actually filed during Season 4, which is why Ivanova is in there and Lockley isn’t.
P.S. At the end of the episode Sleeping in Light, look for the maintenance technician who shuts down the power to Babylon 5 before leaving the station: that guy is JMS.
