Babylon 5

[DavidmeetHal]

I just started watching this for the very first time, I'm on episode 3 of the first season, seems to be ok so far.

[wispsong]

I just started watching this for the very first time, I'm on episode 3 of the first season, seems to be ok so far.

I like the series and have watched it several times. Season 1 is ok but it really starts getting interesting in season 2. But some key points are started in season 1 so you can't just skip it.

[WeirdJedi]

I once reviewed Babylon 5. While I won't go into the details here, I can at least summarize some things. There was a feud on whether Paramount stole the idea from him - Babylon 5 had a budget of $800,000 per episode while Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had double that for $1,600,000 each episode. Straczynski wrote 92 of the 110 episodes of Babylon 5 with the rule that scripts were written 6 episodes in advance. "The Gathering" was their original movie pitch. "Thirdspace" fits somewhere in episodes 8 and 9 of season 4. Make it a double feature and watch "In the Beginning" movie at the same time or at the end of Season 4 as it is a prequel and spoils everything.

Remember that it is a space opera. Every time you think the show will finally get a happy ending, another thing will make things worse. There are a lot of great "prophecies" and quotes. For example: "My shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance." They like to change the cast around. It was revealed 19 years later that the actor playing the captain in the first season had schizophrenia. Season 2 is where things get really interesting in the story and things get a bit loose around Season 4. The final season gets really weird as the crew tries to wrap things up before they close. I still don't regret watching it to the end for moments like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCj-Rnd5SsA

[cdq1958]

Like most space opera/sci-fi opera of those years, the writing has periods of greatness and mediocrity. I had the whole thing on DVD at one time, including the movies (same with Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and the earlier Star Trek movies). It isn't easy or simple, in my opinion, to get that genre to work over many years of production; if you want to avoid other cultural issues. I will say, though, taken as a whole, Babylon 5 and Stargate SG-1 were good.