Rewatching Babylon 5

[Brian G Turner]

Am rewatching Babylon 5 - tried a few episodes in Season 1, which while good, I was just too impatient for the Shadow War story line to appear, so jumped to watching Season 2.

As soon as I did, just got sucked in straight away and we're now on Season 3. Have got my eldest begrudgingly into watching it, which is nice.

Only a few episodes away from Severed Dreams, the episode that finally sold me into watching B5, and my favourite in general.

 

[Rodders]

Nice. I need to get around to a rematch myself soon. (I must confess that I'm hoping that WB give this the blue ray treatment and digitally wash it up a little.)

Keep us posted on your thoughts as you go through the series.

 

[Brian G Turner]

It is still *damn* good.

The worse part about rewatching, really, is that in some scenes which are heavy on the CGI backgrounds, the DVD picture loses resolution, so everything looks a little less defined.

However, season 2 was excellent, season 3 was excellent, and season 4 is - so far - better than I remember it.

In fact, part of the joy in rewatching is sometimes knowing how a piece of scene fits in later, will be referred to - or getting excited as you realise you remember something of how something is resolved.

 

[GWakeling]

I really need to start Babylon 5 again. I watched it on and off when I was a kid, but I've never taken the time to watch from start to finish. Have a couple of the movies on DVD as well, so might pull them off the shelf.

I know the CGI can be pretty weak, but the story, from what I remember, was awesome. I wonder if HMV has cheap copies.....

 

[Brian G Turner]

If you're feeling very patient, start at season 1. Otherwise, just jump to the start of season 2.

The movies I've watched I found pretty poor - the spark died at the end of season 4.

 

[GWakeling]

I can be quite patient....and I like to start at the beginning.

As an aside, though HMV.com was available yesterday, it's gone now. I thought they might be leaving it up to try and make some cash to pay shareholders etc, but seems not. Have to find my cheap Babylon 5 DVDs somewhere else!

 

[Rodders]

Yeah, Season one took some getting used to but once it starts rolling there are some great and important episodes. (Babylon Squared and Signs and Portents come to mind.) I also didn't think that season five was as bad as people think. Sure, it's not as strong as the others, but again, there were some great episodes. The movies were all pretty poor IMO.

 

[VALEN]

I really enjoyed third space, as a stand along B5 film, I thought it was really strong..

 

[Brian G Turner]

We stopped watching as soon as the Shadow War was resolved via Lorien, the Vorlons, and Shadows. Always felt like a good place to stop.

While the Earth arc remains unresolved, I just find how matters continue for Londo a little depressingly, and the death of Marcus as well. Always felt like the "Scouring of the Shire" did at the end of Lord of the Rings.

But very much enjoyed it, and so did our eldest, which was good. And no one is left feeling hungry for more.

 

[manephelien]

I think you're selling your eldest short by not letting him/her see the whole thing. You should watch it all at least once, preferably twice, because of all the hints of things to come later.

I rewatched the whole show last year, and the only episode I skipped was Intersections in Real Time and the torture scenes early in the following episode. Torture is unpleasant, and the entire episode was mainly a closed-room ep they could shoot with no expensive CGI. It doesn't advance the story much, if at all...

 

[Watcher07]

I rewatch Babylon 5 once a year over a period of 3 to 5 months & usually in chronological order not the release order.

I start with "In the Beginning", then "The Gathering". After that the series from season 1 to season 5, usually I watch 2 episodes a day but I keep "Sleeping in Light" to watch it alone.

After the series, I begin the spin-off TV movies: Thirdspace, The River of Souls, A Call to Arms and The Legend of the Rangers. Then I start with "Crusade" & finally "The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark".

Some of the TV movies weren’t good but I enjoyed "The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark" from the fantastic intro to the two stories included.

I hope JMS will have a chance to bring B5 back to TV or as a theatrical movie.

 

[Rodders]

I'd be happy if they started releasing tie in novels.

I really thing WB squandered this show. You don't see it at all on the TV schedule.

 

[VALEN]

With TV being a little poor on the SciFi front at the moment, thought I'd start at the beginning, re-watching b5 on DVD for the first time...

I've got to season 4 and noticed that the last disc is a duplicate from the previous disc (2 disc number 4's). Has anyone else come across this and what would you recommend I do to get hold of this missing disc (last 2 episodes of S4). I can not return to the retailer as I've had them for quite a while now.

 

[chopper]

I'd be happy if they started releasing tie in novels.

I really thing WB squandered this show. You don't see it at all on the TV schedule.

there *were* tie-in novels, about 20 in total i think. probably 2nd hand only now...

 

[Rodders]

Yeah, I have seen those.

 

[sozme]

I think I am going to start watching this show. I never have, but I've heard its a major inspiration for a lot of the stories I really like.

 

[Dr Zoidberg]

It's well worth it even now. It may seem a little iffy at first but really picks up from the second series and there are a lot of little references to future events from the beginning.

 

[sozme]

It's well worth it even now. It may seem a little iffy at first but really picks up from the second series and there are a lot of little references to future events from the beginning.

Sounds good, I was actually quite impressed to learn that the original writer wrote something like 96% of the total episodes. Seems like he really wanted creative control in where the story went. Surprised I haven't seen stuff from him since...?

 

[Brian G Turner]

He wrote the first Thor film.

 

[Dr Zoidberg]

His other tv show was Jeremiah, which I also really rate. Since then he's written for a few films and also been working on a lot of comics.