I'm half considering skipping season 5 except for Sleeping In Light. I couldn't get all the way through it last time. It's almost as bad as Browder SG1 and equally ansillary.
Babylon 5 first time watching - specific viewing order?
- Thread starter Riverside2233
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But G'Kar and Londo! Yeah, the first half is a padded-out slow-burn that probably could've used even more season one/two-style standalones, but the second half goes like a train on fire.
The second part was probably where JMS intended things to be
while the first half was the making it up on the run cos JMS had to wrap the Shadow War up early when it looked like there would be no S5)
^More or less.
My understanding is that the Shadow War wound up about where it was supposed to, but "Intersections in Real Time" was intended to be the season finale. That'd give you three or four extra episodes to play out the Earth Civil War a little more in season 4 (not to mention smoothing out G'Kar and Londo's thawing, where they go straight from barely being able to stand being in the same room in "No Surrender," to conspiring together in "Between the Darkness," and making sex jokes in "Rising Star," because that might've been the last chance to set up how they'd be "old friends" in "War Without End"), and then a few episodes more of Civil War stuff in the beginning of season five, and sliding straight into the telepath refugee arc starting around episode five or six and being able to carry that straight through the Centauri storylines without all the stalling (there's literally an episode that ends with "we're going to stall a bit to give us a two or three more episodes before ending the Byron story because we have too much time to fill").
You should also check out SeaQuest DSV. It came out the same year as B5 and DS9. It was another great sci-fi series.
It was great for like 2 years. When The name changed it might have made the show worse.
nah it was great for the first year then
destroyed the ship
That is one of the few series I DID watch as a kid growing up. I remember it fondly. Once I get through some of these maiden voyages I want to go back through some like that and see how they resonate as an adult.
I forgot to mention that I had gone through Farscape and Sliders in my recent sci-fi binges too.
How did you like Farscape? I just did a rewatch myself and actually saw the mini series for the first time since it originally aired.
I really don't understand the logic behind skipping Season 5, but that may be because I actually like the story that JMS tells in it.
Watching something like that for the first time in 2016 I obviously had to go in with some massive suspension of disbelief on effects, etc. -- but I LOVED FARSCAPE.
I think the blend of the practical effects and intense character arcs made it such a unique show. While the "lost astronaut" concept was certainly not new, the imagination that went into the different alien races and the set designs were so great for what that cast and crew had in a budget. I was impressed.
I don't think any other show had or will ever have "that look" to it, and the Ben Browder / Claudia Black combo just worked on every level. While I loved the O'Neill / Carter SG-1 dynamic, I think Farscape invested fans in its character arcs quicker and with much less time to do it. I think it was massively under appreciated at the time, but most sci-fi series are.
I'm mid way through S1 - watching "Signs and Portents" now - and it strikes me as a little odd how so many of these actors are on the main title card and do not appear in nearly every episode so far.
You wouldn't see that today - actors getting "credit only" but still being considered main cast and missing almost a third of a season.
You wouldn't see that today - actors getting "credit only" but still being considered main cast and missing almost a third of a season.
Believe it also has something to do with SAG rules - you appear in a specific number of eps and you get listed as main cast but it can also do with the deal your manage gets for you (for example Diane Maldaur was listed as special guest appearance through S2 of TNG even though she appeared in enough eps to be main cast).
For those in B5 that were listed as main cast JMS has said there was never any guarantee for how much airtime they would come get
this came up with the departure of Claudia Christian at the end of the 4th season
There is only one relationship I ever shipped and it's John and Aeryn.
Plus Farscape led me into some fun distraction sci-fi like Warehouse 13, Defiance, and Eureka which all had some pretty clever moments.
Haha, forgot how blatantly this episode copied TOS The Changeling.
I recommend that you watch it in order if you're unfamiliar with its story, starting with "The Gathering".
Yeah. That's where I started. I decided to go with the Lurker's Guide order, which looks pretty close to the JMS list.
Just started "Grail." Man - William Sanderson is a long way's away from E.B. Farnum in Deadwood with Deuce. Great character actor.
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