Babylon 5: Season 1

[Brian G Turner]

I was forewarned that Season 1 was slow and a bit boring...

However, I think this can only be held true in comparison with Season 3, which obviously has upped the pace of major plotlines.

Season 1 begains sharp and crisp - characters such as Londo and G'Kar are already well developed and sparring from the off.

Sinclair works well as the understanding and humane commander, who has his limits that he won't let anyone push on.

The increasing way in which information relating to future plotlines is already worked in.

There was a fear that a lot of the episodes would simply be meandering space stories, but generally they remained tied in together nicely. There were few to cringe at.

"Signs and Portents" is possibly the most satisfy of the main run - it opens the door on all that yet will be, and if I'd have seen that episode instead of the one before it, I may well have been hooked early on.

Of course, there was also the final episode, which sprinted it's way to the close with major revelations - Quadrant 37 and the assassination plot against President Santiago. Great stuff!

Overall, I really enjoyed Season 1, and it was a great shame that I never got to see it when it was first aired - following the build-up over the seaons must have been something.

 

[Paradox 99]

Overall, I really enjoyed Season 1, and it was a great shame that I never got to see it when it was first aired - following the build-up over the seaons must have been something.

It certainly was. I remember following this show right from the pilot release on video before it was show on TV.
I loved season 1 (well all of them actually - even season 5 which let it down slightly).

I think my favourite episodes were Signs & Portents, Crysalis (right with you there Brian), Believers (well thought out), Babylon squared, Soul Hunter and DeathWalker - heck the whole season was great!

I think my favourite season was the third though - by that time I was of the opinion that B5 was the best Sci-Fi stuff invented. Also, the link to Lord of the Rings became staggeringly obvious by that time.

 

[Brys]

I was pretty sceptical of it at the beginning - the first few episodes made it look like an average Star Trek clone which cared more about having people wearing stupid costumes than having decent plots, but from about half way on it started getting pretty good. A few episodes in it showed that it could be very intelligent and mature and more than very simple entertainment - the first one was Believers, which was very well done when it could have ended up being a lot simpler, and Chrysalis was a very good ending for the season.

Season 1's the only Babylon 5 I've seen, and so far it seems to be a pretty good SF series, but not spectacular. Now admittedly I had seen Firefly just beforehand - it didn't stand much of a chance. But the writing was occasionally very good, but on the whole pretty average, and some of the characters felt well developed, but not that special. What irritated me at the beginning of the series in particular was how almost every episode seemed to fit to the formula of - antagonist comes aboard B5 and decides to destroy station, the rest of the episode is about Sinclair, Ivanova and Garibaldi stopping this, with some minor subplot about the aliens. The ones that kept furthest away from this were the most interesting on the whole.

 

[Brian G Turner]

If Series 1 is all you've seen, then I can only hope you can hold up to watching Season 2 and then Season 3 as well.

There is a lot of "Here's a short story of generic fare to take us through the episode" coming up a lot at first - but there's always the laying of foundations of subplots, that by Season 3 have become the main story. Season 1 sets up the platform that they'll work from.

 

[Brys]

I enjoyed Season 1 - I just didn't think it was any kind of masterpiece. I have the Season 2 boxset as well and I'm going to start watching that soon. There were some genuinely good episodes in Season 1, and quite a few good ideas even in the not-so-well executed episodes - if it keeps improving, it could be very good.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Agreed Season 1 isn't a masterpiece - will wait to hear your impressions of Season 2.

 

[stirdgit]

I agree with I,Brian completely. There are a lot of clues offered in season one that don't flesh out until later on in the series.
Byr, after watching season 2 and 3, go back to season 1 and see if you have a different impression.
I watched the entire series, in order, three times and each time I caught little clues and signs that I had missed before.

 

[Thadlerian]

I was pretty sceptical of it at the beginning - the first few episodes made it look like an average Star Trek clone which cared more about having people wearing stupid costumes than having decent plots, but from about half way on it started getting pretty good. A few episodes in it showed that it could be very intelligent and mature and more than very simple entertainment - the first one was Believers, which was very well done when it could have ended up being a lot simpler, and Chrysalis was a very good ending for the season.

You know, I've felt pretty much the same as you. I even have your starting point: I started d/l'ing B5 after seeing Firefly. I haven't finished season 1 yet, but soon will. At first it felt rather silly: People in alien costumes fooling around in stereotypical ways, and some hilariously badly rendered space battles, but then I saw Believers too. A complex problem, excellently handled.

Now I'm more or less hooked as well. The characters are simply loveable, much more so than those in Battlestar Galactica, which they've just started broadcasting over here.

What irritated me at the beginning of the series in particular was how almost every episode seemed to fit to the formula of - antagonist comes aboard B5 and decides to destroy station, the rest of the episode is about Sinclair, Ivanova and Garibaldi stopping this, with some minor subplot about the aliens.

Yeah, I dislike this as well, and I believe it can be put even more simply: Conflict always comes from the outside. Someone who doesn't fit in arrives and starts messing up.

By the way, does the 3D rendering improve with the later seasons?

 

[Brys]

In Season 1, it doesn't really - the Shadows aren't badly done, but really the effects are pretty terrible throughout the season by today's standards. I've started watching Season 2 now, and they're a little better and the space battles are at least watchable, but they're still pretty poor compared to most SF shows today. Now I can ignore them though if there's a decent plot though, which there usually is.

 

[Eoghann]

I remember being reasonably impressed with season 1 when I initially saw it. But largerly that was due to the little hints of a larger story. A lot of the stand alone episodes were pretty average sci-fi stuff. Not bad, but nothing special.

I think it was about half way through season one that Babylon 5 turned into my favorite sci-fi show.

 

[greenman]

In Season 1, it doesn't really - the Shadows aren't badly done, but really the effects are pretty terrible throughout the season by today's standards. I've started watching Season 2 now, and they're a little better and the space battles are at least watchable, but they're still pretty poor compared to most SF shows today. Now I can ignore them though if there's a decent plot though, which there usually is.

Season 1 was really the only one where I felt the FX hurt the story as a whole, the later seasons have dated a little in that reguard but were IMHO good enough to achieve their purpose. Theres more to a good action scene than the quality of the FX aswell, dramatic well planned shots with a good score trump superior CG for me. I'd take ROTJ's space battle over anything we saw in the Starwars Prequal films or the Nebula scenes from Wrath of Khan over any of the modern Startrek films.