Babylon 5 (1993)

Watchseries; Best TV show ever made, I used to watch it as a child on TV and was mesmerized, how ever back then I missed some episodes and as such didn't always know what is going on since all the episodes are connected. So a few weeks back I thought to myself. Is this show really as good as I remembered it to be? So I bought the whole thing on DVD (remastered Widescreen edition) and was very surprised that it is in fact MUCH better than I remembered, many of the subtleties of the character and story development I could only sense as a child but not fully comprehend. And watching it again I was amazed at the depth of this great story and how you could relate to many of the situations occurring here and the terrible suspense of the story how it caught you and made you feel and bleed for the heroes. And the whole ambitious yet humble scope of this epic tale. Nothing to say of the great score of the series how the intro and credits music always perfectly captured the mood of the whole season. I can only highly recommend this great series. And as for the visuals, one gets used to them quickly and they are satisfying despite their age and the giant leap in technology. If you like a great story and characters with depth which you can feel for WATCH IT and ENJOY!!!

Best TV show ever made, I used to watch it as a child on TV and was mesmerized, how ever back then I missed some episodes and as such didn't always know what is going on since all the episodes are connected. So a few weeks back I thought to myself. Is this show really as good as I remembered it to be? So I bought the whole thing on DVD (remastered Widescreen edition) and was very surprised that it is in fact MUCH better than I remembered, many of the subtleties of the character and story development I could only sense as a child but not fully comprehend. And watching it again I was amazed at the depth of this great story and how you could relate to many of the situations occurring here and the terrible suspense of the story how it caught you and made you feel and bleed for the heroes. And the whole ambitious yet humble scope of this epic tale. Nothing to say of the great score of the series how the intro and credits music always perfectly captured the mood of the whole season. I can only highly recommend this great series. And as for the visuals, one gets used to them quickly and they are satisfying despite their age and the giant leap in technology. If you like a great story and characters with depth which you can feel for WATCH IT and ENJOY!!!

Babylon 5 watchseries. Intro: Bablyon 5 belongs in the greatest sci-fi shows of history, in fact I will go so far that it is the greatest show ever written for television in history. This show is not for everyone however. If you search for discrepancies, focus on the antiquated CGI (an example of one of the first shows to ever use CGI on a regular basis for TV by the way), and miss the lack of Hollywood's "perfect person" actor who is little more than the same actor in every film/series, then you will probably not like the series. The series uses a brilliant script and "hidden, so called B-quality" actors and creates a TV art masterpiece. The trials and successes the characters face occur today and will continue till the day the sun goes supernova. The characters become like real people in your life for the 43 minutes you are watching the show, as if you are on the station with them. Sure, I like other characters/actors better than others (and there were a couple of characters I did not care for), but I am not going to let a few actors that I don't care for destroy the greater message/mission of the series and I hope you don't either.

Series Structure: The purpose of the series was to tell a story. Plain and simple. The series is so complex however it is like reading a classic novel. I have watched the series through at least ten times and in every episode I see something new or make a new literary connection (foreshadowing, irony, parallels...etc). The structure is 5 seasons that are linked by a greater overarching story. Season 1 is called "Signs and Portents," season 2: "The Coming of Shadows," season 3: "Point of No Return," season 4: "No Surrender, No Retreat," and lastly season 5: "The Wheel of Fire." Each season builds upon each one and can reach back to a previous one unveiling hidden meanings or explaining confusing/vague dialogue. The series is also very unique for television in that situations are not resolved by the end of the episode. What!?!? That is crazy!? I really love Star Trek, but that universe really knows how to end things on the Federation Captain's agenda. Most of TV is like this with a few exceptions (Lost,BSG...etc). B5 was a breath of fresh, exhilarating air with its sudden plot twists, unexpected turns, and that problems rarely went away at the end of any episode. Just like life problems linger, or if they are stamped out quickly, those problems have an inconvenient way of pouncing on you when you least need them. The series is also a breath of fresh air because there are actual consequences for the protagonists that plague them for the rest of the series. Again for good measure, 'what'!?!? Rarely in TV do we see protagonists do something that could have potential adverse consequences and then suffer those horrible consequences even in the name of justice and morality. The villains in the series are very well portrayed in my opinion (especially the character 'Bester'). They are like the villains in real life. They are corrupt, smart, systematic, efficient, unrelenting, hide their weaknesses well, and are awesome at using people, especially the good guys, to advance their evil schemes. The malfunctioning, imperfect technology and the state/portrayal of humanity is very believable, at least for me, in 2258 which can add to the potential realism of the series.

Series Philosophy/Metaphysics: Yes, this series is that deep. There are lots of messages and lessons to be gathered from this series, but there are several

1. The story It is probably the biggest, most complex story that was put on film so far - well over 60 hours of good TV. This had been tried never before and makes shows like Lost or Battlestar Galactica successful today.

2. It is non boring Besides elements of Season 4 being built up as early as Season 1, even in small details, the storyline has a lot of interesting twists, that makes you yearn for more and stay interested even over the course of five years. But nowadays you don't have to. You can get the box set and have yourself been swallowed up in a matter of weeks.

3. The casting Casting was done very thoroughly, obviously; as every character had been designed in detail long time before casting, including all changes and developments, actors could be found that filled these roles perfectly. And they were. For example, Richard Biggs was the most ethic and believable TV doctor I have ever seen.

4. The acting The characters Londo Mollari and G'Kar seem to be the most popular, they are also filled by outstanding actors, but all the others, including guest roles were no less than great. Stephen Furst is a brilliant comedian and Bruce Boxleitner is just a joy to watch, he is so 100% in every scene.

5. The music Only two words: Christopher Franke. The score of B5 has the magnitude and the quality of a movie score and adds to the scope of the show greatly. Look out for a Special on Season 4 Box set called "No Surrender, No Retreat Suite". First watch Season 4. Then listen to the suite WITHOUT the pictures. And at last, enjoy the music with the pictures. You will conclude that the music itself captures all emotions of Season 4, the combination with the pictures just makes it a masterpiece.

6. The special effects Babylon 5 was a "poor show" as JMS put it. They had nowhere near the budget of a Star Trek series. But still its scope was intended to be big, with space battles unseen on TV to this point. Although most of the ground shots did not work, as a lot of virtual sets, the space scenes reached a remarkable level of perfection by the end of the series, and the battles were big indeed, with very interesting angles and camera movements only doable by cgi. Another aspect that B5 pioneered in.

7. The character development SciFi is not stupid. It is not about blowing up spaceships with laser guns either. Well, sometimes it is. But not B5. It is a character driven show with most interesting development to each character. They all developed, but still were truthful to themselves. Time is taken to explore each single character in detail and entertaining it is.

8. The humor There was Stephen Furst of course, who literally can turn any line into an enjoyable piece of comedy, but there were other actors with great comedic skills as well, Claudia Christian, Bruce Boxleitner, Patricia Tallman, Peter Jurasik to name a few. Although the story line was very exciting, the element of humor was never forgotten; this made Star Trek TOS successful and it definitely did not hurt B5.

9. The philosophy J. Michael Straczynski has said that his intention was never to make a moral or philosophical statement, but just to tell a story. But as the story involves a lot of these elements, at least it makes you think. And, although being a declared atheist, JMS handles things like religion or prophesy extremely respectfully and he gave the best summary of the essence of Christianity in the episode "Passing Through Getsemane" I have ever heard, equally brilliant

I just finished watched the 1st year on DVD. What a treat to see this series again, in a version mastered properly for the widescreen with surround sound to boot. I remember enough from the series to know that the 1st season was both unique and uneven in more ways than the other 4 years, and yet it lets out all the plot threads that play out over the ensuing years. I, for one, liked M. O'hare and it was too bad he couldn't have had a recurring role in subsequent seasons. Even so, this is a great series, possibly the best ever Sci Fi TV series that I've ever seen. Great CGI work that was employed for the 1st time ever, multiple engaging plots, good acting, writing, etc... it goes on and on. My only regret is that no one's figured out a good way to resurrect the B5 fictional world. I'd love to see another good series like this. If you haven't seen it lately, watch it again to remember how good it was. If you've never seen it then you don't know what you're missing.

The early to mid-90's was very average in my opinion for science fiction shows. Babylon 5 was a breath of fresh air.

Unlike some sci-fi shows, Babylon 5 was an ongoing epic. What happened in one episode impacted on another episode and so on. It was set on Babylon 5 (a space station)where five solar systems who have been at war try to make peace. The representatives of these races are all based on Babylon 5 trying to create lasting peace (not unlike the real life League of Nations/United Nations).

As I said, what happened in one episode impacted on another. There was no jetting off to planets, creating a mess and then jetting off again. There was action, political intrigue and plenty of excitement which made this show stand out in 1994.

J. Michael Straczynski did a great job with Babylon 5. It's actually a very good allegory of life on Earth in the 20th century. There have been two major wars this century. The League of Nations was set up following World War 1 but they soon became defunct and the United Nations were set up following World War 2 to try and bring peace to the world. Of course it's hard to find peace with so many different governments pulling in different directions. That is why I liked Babylon 5. It was realistic; there were no quick solutions for peace and there were setbacks along the way just like we have in real life.

I strongly urge anyone who hasn't seen Babylon 5 to check it out.

Even though the final season was rather slow, and glossed over a lot of plot lines that probably would have been more interesting, it was still better than most science fiction, and any on television other than the earlier seasons. Other than the final season and scattered weak episodes, the series is the best television science fiction, and near the best dramatic television, and competes with the best movie science fiction.

The action in the series is mostly about the Shadow war, but the real key is the intrigue between the characters, and the personal growth of the characters. Londo is one of the best dramatic characters in any series. He starts as an ambitious schemer who drinks too much, but develops a conscience as he learns the consequences of his ambitions, and finally ends up as a tragic character who reached even beyond his early ambitions, but at a cost that he regrets deeply.

Maybe some day there will be a better science fiction series. But for now this is the level of story-telling television science fiction should try to reach.