I have the series on DVD but I’ve never seriously cracked it, only seen a few episodes. Was wondering what people here think, is it as good as the internet often says it is? I know it was an inspiration for one of my favorite franchises (Mass Effect) and The Orville had a cute reference to it by making its main actor the president of the Planetary Union, but that’s the extent of my B5 knowledge. So anyway, should I binge the series?
Yeah aside from the hard continuity issue where the main character’s actor in season one developed mental illness and had to quit - one of the most engaging sci fi universes
They really go into ideas that other shows skim over, like aliens having to breathe different atmospheres, being radically different lifeforms that need mysterious suits to interact with humans
The show is primarily a political drama, which is actually refreshing. It’s not all shootouts, it’s a lot of diplomacy. But not so incredibly serious that it’s tedious, Babylon 5 is often comical, with its outrageous alien characters
Basically a hidden gem, maybe on par with Andromeda or something. A unique b-list cult series. Has been a few years, might be time to watch it again for me
Damn that’s insulting, putting B5 and Andromeda on the same level. And I say that as someone who enjoyed the first 1.5 seasons of Andromeda.
The worst B5 episodes are vastly better than anything in the last three years of Andromeda.
The worst B5 episode is probably the technomagus one, and I was going to argue, but you are very right.
Andromeda is so much worse than B5.
Yeah it’s worse, but hey, they both made 5 seasons lmao
The first season can be hard to slog through due to the alternating wooden performance / theatre extreme facial expressions of the principal character.
I had really enjoyed the 90 minute pilot (with a different first officer) and was surprised how stiff he was when the first season.
While there’s a lot of important set up in the first season, if it’s too much of a barrier that you’re not watching B5 at all, better to skip ahead to season two.
Michael O’Hare was pretty healthy when they filmed the pilot, but got worse after, which is part of why season 1 was delayed; he took some time for treatment and JMS held off on filming until he was ready to come back. He took a turn while they were filming the season and it affected his acting. He came back for a guest appearance later on when he was feeling better and put in his best performance as the character. He retired shortly after, though.
Weirdly enough I was all aboard the season one captain, really loved the show right away. I was super disappointed that he didn’t make it back for season 2 - but eventually it was fine
Never saw Andromeda either, should try it out as well
I can’t recommend Andromeda.
I attempted unsuccessfully to slog alone through the first season. Our kids bailed after a few episodes.
The fact that it’s fans say the early seasons are the better ones gave me no incentive to persevere.
Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) got into some weird shit later in life, but it’s a great “lost in space” style show anyway. They cruise around in their lil space shippy solving mysteries or whatever. Nothing too original but fun
Yeah Kevin Sorbo is some Christian fundie now who does anti-atheist propaganda, lol