I just finished rewatching it on DVD (except for "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars"), and it might be my favorite season of sci-fi. It's B5's best season by far, ironically in part because of JMS being forced to rap up everything in four years instead of the planned five. This lead to their being almost no stand-alone episodes, which sometimes came off as filler in the previous seasons. The only drawback was that the shadow war definitely felt like it ended too quickly. Laurien was also a little too deus ex machina, as others have said. But man, the rest of the season was so fucking good that I feel bad complaining. The earth and Garibaldi stories in particular always make me want to have long marathons. I forgot how satisfying "Rising Star" would've been as the last regular episode in the series.
B5 season 4
- Thread starter Captain Worf
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"Rising Star" is very satisfying. In many ways, more satisfying than the conclusion to season five for me.
I still like season three more, though, even with the handful of stinkers it produced. I laud the absence of misfiring standalones, but season four still feels rushed, both with the end of the Shadow War (poorly executed, in my opinion, but that's another can of worms) and the Minbari civil war. I understand why such things happened at the pace they did, but I can still lament...
I still like season three more, though, even with the handful of stinkers it produced. I laud the absence of misfiring standalones, but season four still feels rushed, both with the end of the Shadow War (poorly executed, in my opinion, but that's another can of worms) and the Minbari civil war. I understand why such things happened at the pace they did, but I can still lament...
Althought my most favorite episodes are in Season 3 (Severed Dreams, War Without End, Zhadum), Season 4 was definitely the best season of babylon 5. It felt like I was watching one continuous season-long movie.
I agree that the Shadow War did end too quickly. But the hilight for me was the re-taking back of Earth and the defeat of Clarke's forces. They did that very nicely. Best Arc of Babylon 5.
I agree that the Shadow War did end too quickly. But the hilight for me was the re-taking back of Earth and the defeat of Clarke's forces. They did that very nicely. Best Arc of Babylon 5.
I thought the Shadow war was nicely timed. After the events of Z'Ha'Dum things were clearly spiraling towards a precipice, and six episodes in seemed to fit nicely.
Endgame was due to take place around episode 4 or 5 of season five, so JMS didn't actually lose that much.
Really wished we had seen the Babylon 4 episode though. At least it appeared in comic form.
Endgame was due to take place around episode 4 or 5 of season five, so JMS didn't actually lose that much.
Really wished we had seen the Babylon 4 episode though. At least it appeared in comic form.
That's what it would be if they used the episode before ("Face of the Enemy"?). "Intersections" would leave him definitely alive, albeit still in the hands of enemy forces.
I'm finishing up season 4 right now and I can't say that I love it. I enjoy the show in general still, but I think I actually enjoyed previous seasons more. Season four does seem rushed to me, and I miss the standalone eps. I've heard Season Five is worse, but we'll see!
Exactly. Season 3's peaks were just stupendously awesome, but the stuff in between was inconsistent. I also thought Franklin's walkabout was handled poorly.
Their are a couple of minor things that bugged me about season four. I don't consider these flaws as much as nitpicks. I find it highly unlikely that Sherridon and Franklin would've been so opposed to the idea of using the device from "The Quality of Mercy", especially after it saved Garibaldi earlier in the series. You'd think, after all that's happened, that Sherridon would want Ivanova to have a chance to live. Yeah, I understand Franklin considers the device too dangerous, but still... The first time I watched the series, I don't think I realized how much Claudia's absence hurt season 5. Her leaving B5 was even dumber than Denise's leaving TNG. Also, the Russian president came off as an annoying bitchbag, although that was probably the intent.
Season 5 is anything but rushed. That's one of the things that gets complaints; after so much is tied up in S4, it take time to build up momentum again, much as S1 & S2 did. It's got some of the best stand-alones of the series, though, imo.
My nitpick about using the alien healing device is completely different: it simply shouldn't have worked to heal her broken bones and physically broken body. Why would a transfer of life energy work that way? It shouldn't...or if it did, not so instantaneously.
I didn't think Ivanova's absence hurt at all, but then I wasn't much of a fan. I was annoyed at Claudia's actions, though, so I was much more receptive to Lochley than a lot of fans were. Sometimes I think that the dynamic of the teep conflict if she'd have stayed would have been pretty interesting, though.
Loved President Luchenko a lot and, as a total dunce when it comes to military & politics, I appreciated the exposition on why Sheridan had to be gotten rid of.
Jan
One thing that bugs me about the Earth Civil War is that after Severed Dreams, there was never any chance of them losing. I suppose "Between the Darkness and the Light" is the closest they came. That arc should have been written with the battles being a little less one-sided.
Ah yes... Season 4 was great.
"Endgame" is definitely one of my most favorite B5 episodes ever - Just epic!
"Endgame" is definitely one of my most favorite B5 episodes ever - Just epic!
Understandable. However, it was not long after that point where Sheridan's forces received the aid of advanced technology in the form of the White Star fleet. There were also Clark's elite forces based up on Shadow tech, which as Ivanova put it "fought like hell". That implies things weren't so easy.
"In Valen's Name" was planned as a fourth season episode? I didn't know that. Or was it something else with B4 that would've been showed had JMS knew that there was going to be a fifth season?
I enjoyed almost all of B5, but I did enjoy season 4 more than 5, mostly because I watched it after the show had ended its run on TV, so I knew that 5 was going to be the end. That and the Ivanova character was one of my favorites and I really missed her in season 5. Season 4 does have my favorite B5 episode, which is Intersections in Real Time. I felt that Intersections was a magnificently written episode, I think that JMS delved into some really dark subject matter that other writers might have been afraid to dive into, or maybe couldn't have written as well. I think that JMS wrote Sheridan's character very well in that episode. I think he balanced reality with fiction very well in regards to Sheridan and his will to resist the torture that he was enduring at the hands of Clark's forces.
There's an awful lot to that story, on both sides.
For my part, I thought Claudia's departure did affect the show negatively, as it changed the continuity of the cast in a very abrupt way. Especially when viewing "Sleeping In Light". However, Lochley grew on me to the point where I didn't miss Claudiavanova quite so much.
Season 5 isn't that bad. I agree that it might seem tame compared to season 4 which resolved lot of storylines. But I usually just imagine season 5 to be the season-long epilogue of the series - similar to the shire ending part of LOTR. It's the aftermath of the Shadow/Clarke War and at least we get to see how the newly formed alliance holds up against early challenges. Plus the last bunch of episodes, particularly Sleeping in Light, are a great conclusion and farewell to the entire series.
Season five tends to be stronger than most give it credit for, with some good standalone and several nicely done arc-based episodes. The problem is primarily just how awkwardly the entire Byron and the Teeps plot went. It produced such a negative effect that it overshadows much of the rest whic is very good, imho.
Interesting. I'm also curious about the supposed Babylon 4 episode. A while ago I tried to read through the comments on every episode on the lurker's guide, but I lost interest. Maybe I'll do it someday.
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