Kevin's Watch

I am tempted to buy the series, but could someone tell me why it is so good?

Convince me too while you're at it.

Trusting Cail on this one, I decided to check out the first season. I'll give you guys the skeptic's opinion in about a week.

I've never seen a full episode, so I can't help.

I'll take a stab at this, if you guys are interested in a newbie's opinion.

I've heard lots of people call this the "best sci-fi show of all time" and while I think that may be pushing it, it is pretty darn good. From a historical perspective, this is the first show that I was aware of that had a definte storyline, and real character arcs; in other words, it was written to function essentially as a TV novel. I think the success of B5 was a direct precursor to shows like 24 and Lost where it became obvious that TV audiences can follow multiple storylines at once, and over multiple esisodes or even seasons. Also this was the first show that used so much CG on a regular basis, proving that something like this could be done on a TV schedule.

None of this would matter if the story was crap, of course, and this is IMO the strongest part of the show. The overall 5 year story is really good, and the majority of the individual episodes are pretty good as well. The show is primarily a character driven drama, so one of the major points is that all of the actions taken by the characters are real, and as such, have consequences. There's no "resest" button where every episode starts from the same place. If something traumatic happens to a character they're generally not acting "normal" next episode, if ever again. I really liked the themes that are explored as well. The writer(s) are always really good about taking various issues seriously (such as government abuse of power, the military response to questionable orders, any number of religous beliefs, and how we all deal with our personal failings.. or not... effectively) and always presents multiple, well thought out, respectful viewpoints. I also think the acting is very strong, the actors that play G'Kar and Londo especially.

Now admittedly, they were learning as they went here, so parts of the first season are a little weak in some areas. The CG, while groundbreaking at the time, looks a little weak now, but it's 15 years later. And, things didn't always proceed according to the original plan. Actors left, the network made different demands etc. all of which affected the overall plot of the story to greater or lesser extent. But I think they adjusted pretty well.

A word about buying this. The first actual episode is the 2 hour pilot called "The Gathering" that is in the "B5 Movie collection", not in the first seasnon collection. The best way to watch is by starting here, but I wouldn't advise buying the movie collection without seeing the show first. The other movies in the collection are independant, and shouldn't be seen until seeing all 5 seasons of the show proper. If you can rent "Gathering" seperate, do so. Otherwise, start with season one, and you'll sort of catch up as you go.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, newb - but alas, Season 1 is on long wait from Blockbuster online.

I defer to Sin, he's the expert, and he's seen the series more recently than I.

Season one is uneven, but the mythos it creates is fascinating. The show isn't afraid to get dirty. There's a ton of ambiguity, and characters actually change during the course of the series.

There are times that the show got a bit heavy-handed and/or silly, but overall it stayed fanatically loyal to the meat of the story.

I've heard that the acting is crap. Haven't seen it myself, so I can't verify.

That's a fair criticism of some of the first season.

Yeah, there are parts of the first season that are... rough, to put it politely. But I think, for someone who hasn't seen the show, if you find yourself enjoying half of the first season (or even half-enjoying it) it's worth it to keep going, as it really does get much better.

Both the 3rd and 4th seasons are simply outstanding. I'd say they're the best sci-fi on TV ever, and that's including BSG. If you don't watch the 1st season, 3&4 lose a lot of their impact.

agree with pretty much all this.
Season 1 is very uneven, script, acting, etc.. but they lay the ground work.
Season 2 starts to roll and by seasons 3 and 4 ... wow, some really great stuff!...
As a die-hard SNG fan, I must say that Babylon 5 in its best is better than SNG in its best.

Ya all convinced me! I bought the four seasons and downloaded them from iTunes ... I have season 1 on my iPod Touch now!!

Now to buy the Babylon 5 movies!!

BTW, I agree with MR. "The Gathering" really sets the stage for the series well, and I'd suggest watching it first. Episode-for-episode, I don't think there's anything from SNG, DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise that can touch even the weaker episodes of season 3&4 of B5, and I think the overall story arc simply annihilates anything that the Trek universe has to offer.

And I like the Trek universe.

WOW. Strong recommendations there.

The crucial thing to keep in mind is that its a 5-year arc. Without watching it all, you're getting an incomplete picture.

Great series! The only complaint I can make is that the damn dvds are so expensive!

Ooh. . . a side note: the therapist at my old job was a dead ringer for Vir Cotto--so every time I saw him I wanted to ask him where Londo was. . .

I just picked up the season one boxset at very cheap price. After watching the first episode (not the movie), I can say that this series looks like it has great potential. I love the political element and the aliens are rather good.

I'm very keen to watch the rest of the series, now.

Edit: by the way, did anyone here spot Edward James Olmos in the episode? he's in it alright.

If you liked the first episode, you're really going to like it once it gets going. Have fun!

It's a good thing you bought it. The Narn were just about to kill a puppy if you didn't.