Babylon 5 viewing order
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^I'm sure then that you two can appreciate the *torture* of having to watch the series as it aired. Seven days was bad enough but the wait between seasons...I swear the only reason I watched Star Trek half the time was to take the edge off. 
BTW, the episode title should have been a bit of a give-away.
BTW, the episode title should have been a bit of a give-away.
Gotta watch for those innocuous sounding titles. They're a sign that JMS was sneaking up behind you with a 2x4 all set to go WHAM.
Jan
As a note, while I am not ready to post my capsule reviews, I have watched though "No Surrender, No retreat" before I had to get some Zzzzz. So you can discuss though that episode without it being spoilerish 
Racing Mars - First off, the song "Captain Jack" hit my head as soon as I heard the name. Marjorie Monaghan is a nice looking actress, and appears to be very tall. I like tall. The Keeper's are a nasty bit of work. Will have to rewatch it to see what clues where there before the big reveal. Garibaldi issues is well written, but it still upsets me where one of my fave characters is going to. The Pope is a women, and it was a funny joke to have the B5's as newlyweds.
Lines of Communication - Ok, the Drakh look stupid, so stupid I had to look it up and apparently without the distortion, it looked even more crappy so it was a last moment hail mary to save the Drakh from being the most stupid looking alien's on B5. Nice work Franklin, but she treats her exes like crap, FYI... And it setting up building blocks for problems with the Minbari and reconfirms that Delenn when impassioned, fear her wrath. That and I like the views of Mars, like that is semi-realistic and causes me to dream of exploring the red planet.
Conflicts of Interest - Once again, it is tough to see Garibaldi gone "bad", but its good to see his ex again. Good smart thinking on Geribaldi part. Didn't we hear "For the future" from Telepaths before somewhere in the series? Funny moments with Zathras. Wonder if we find out what that message he deleted was about....
Rumors, Bargains, and Lies - I didn't realize how much bricklaying of story the Minbari bits where laying down in quick efficient manner till later. While silly, I did enjoy how they get the non-aligned worlds to sign on. Lot of Lying going on...
Moments of Transition - This is a good bit of storytelling, and Neroon development has been done quite well. And the Grey Council is reformed, with a strong worker caste bent. This of course is a major episode and very good. Bester is up to more stuff.
And the Earth Civil war opens a major new chapter.
"No Surrender, No Retreat" - A fine episode and shows how even at the command level, its being fractured greatly. This is a high octane episode and spits you out going "Wozers"... This opens another major chapter in the series.
Lines of Communication - Ok, the Drakh look stupid, so stupid I had to look it up and apparently without the distortion, it looked even more crappy so it was a last moment hail mary to save the Drakh from being the most stupid looking alien's on B5. Nice work Franklin, but she treats her exes like crap, FYI... And it setting up building blocks for problems with the Minbari and reconfirms that Delenn when impassioned, fear her wrath. That and I like the views of Mars, like that is semi-realistic and causes me to dream of exploring the red planet.
Conflicts of Interest - Once again, it is tough to see Garibaldi gone "bad", but its good to see his ex again. Good smart thinking on Geribaldi part. Didn't we hear "For the future" from Telepaths before somewhere in the series? Funny moments with Zathras. Wonder if we find out what that message he deleted was about....
Rumors, Bargains, and Lies - I didn't realize how much bricklaying of story the Minbari bits where laying down in quick efficient manner till later. While silly, I did enjoy how they get the non-aligned worlds to sign on. Lot of Lying going on...
Moments of Transition - This is a good bit of storytelling, and Neroon development has been done quite well. And the Grey Council is reformed, with a strong worker caste bent. This of course is a major episode and very good. Bester is up to more stuff.
And the Earth Civil war opens a major new chapter.
"No Surrender, No Retreat" - A fine episode and shows how even at the command level, its being fractured greatly. This is a high octane episode and spits you out going "Wozers"... This opens another major chapter in the series.
The next time we see a Drakh it looks very different. Though this type appears again briefly too, so I think the in-universe explanation is the suggestion that "Drakh" is more a title encompassing multiple races that served the shadows.
Edit: Midwinter says the creature seen in this episode was an "emissary" for the Drakh. So I guess another explanation is that we haven't seen an actual Drakh yet.
^I'm sure then that you two can appreciate the *torture* of having to watch the series as it aired. Seven days was bad enough but the wait between seasons...I swear the only reason I watched Star Trek half the time was to take the edge off.
I guess I got lucky then. My local (now CW) station listed the first four years at Saturday mornings at 3:30am, but NEVER once aired it in all that time. For the first two years, I had my VCR set to auto-record it at that time and always got the last 30 minutes of a movie, and then some infomercial (remember THOSE??). It wasn't until TNT put season 5 on Wednesday nights at 7pm , and the first four airing Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm (THAT schedule didn't make sense either, but at least, the show was actually on) that I finally got to see it, and make my first set of tapes.
No, it was a Drakh and it is defiantly a species and not a title. The white bone face thing is actually a mask that's sort of grafted onto their actual faces. Basically the more common soldier types retain this look while the higher ranked ones show their true faces later.
Well the Drakh as shown where almost laughable.
Now Mars I really dig how they show it. a lot.
Now Mars I really dig how they show it. a lot.
Good
Had a friend make a odd recommendation to me, said that what he recommended was since I was planning on re-watching it, once I finish season 4, skip season 5, watch "in the beginning" and start over, and watch season 5 after your 2nd view of b5...Is that a crazy idea or something worth thinking about?
S5 starts rough, due to the pending cancellation and having to tie up S4 so rapidly, but, S5 does have some of the best episodes of the series. Some people, though, just do not like the themes of S5, even the later S5 themes. They believe the end of the Shadow War was the climax of the show, and anything that came afterwards was pointless and not enjoyable to them.
I don't know they feel this way, but, some do. I personally, would never reccomend skipping S5 and starting over again.
I don't know they feel this way, but, some do. I personally, would never reccomend skipping S5 and starting over again.
It took me a couple viewings to warm to Season 5. First time through it felt drawn out and setting things up spinoffs. But now I see it as the true conclusion to the B5 story that it is. It may not be as exciting as Seasons 3 or 4, but it's just as good if not better than Seasons 1 and 2.
Your friends order does not make a lot of sense to me, DH. Question: Do you plan to watch the other films besides "In the Beginning"? And how about the 13 episodes of the canceled spin-off series, "Crusade"?
My personal order for everything:
1. The Gathering
2. The whole series, seasons 1-5 including the last episode (some people hold off on it, but I don't see the point).
3. Films, Part 1: Thirdspace and River of Souls
4. Crusade: A Call to Arms (setup film) and the 13 episode series
5. Films, Part 2: Legend of the Rangers and The Lost Tales
6. This is a good time to read the canon novels if you can find them.
7. In the Beginning (brings the whole thing full circle, and usually starts my next round of viewings).
Your friends order does not make a lot of sense to me, DH. Question: Do you plan to watch the other films besides "In the Beginning"? And how about the 13 episodes of the canceled spin-off series, "Crusade"?
My personal order for everything:
1. The Gathering
2. The whole series, seasons 1-5 including the last episode (some people hold off on it, but I don't see the point).
3. Films, Part 1: Thirdspace and River of Souls
4. Crusade: A Call to Arms (setup film) and the 13 episode series
5. Films, Part 2: Legend of the Rangers and The Lost Tales
6. This is a good time to read the canon novels if you can find them.
7. In the Beginning (brings the whole thing full circle, and usually starts my next round of viewings).
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Personally, I enjoy re-watching more of the 1st, 2nd and early 3rd season episodes when the show wasn't so knee-deep into the B5 metastory. "Babylon 5" was such a great setting to tell stories of the "naked space station," but once the metastory took over the smaller, personal stories of those passing through seemed to vanish.
And while I love episodes such as "Severed Dreams" and "Z'ha'dum", my favorites tend to be the more stand-alone episodes such as "Passing Through Gethsemane" (my all-time favorite) and "Day of the Dead".
As I've said in other threads, I would like to see a more anthology-like approach should "Babylon 5" be revived for television. "The Lost Tales" had the right idea, but the execution was all wrong. Something like how in 60s drama, episodes would really be about the guest stars' story and how it effects the main characters (shows like "I Spy" and early TOS). Of course, we've seen a revival of this type of storytelling with shows like "CSI", "Law and Order", "JAG" and "NCIS."
I know "Babylon 5" brought the novel to television, but its metastory, much like other arc-based shows, doesn't hold up after repeated viewings.
And while I love episodes such as "Severed Dreams" and "Z'ha'dum", my favorites tend to be the more stand-alone episodes such as "Passing Through Gethsemane" (my all-time favorite) and "Day of the Dead".
As I've said in other threads, I would like to see a more anthology-like approach should "Babylon 5" be revived for television. "The Lost Tales" had the right idea, but the execution was all wrong. Something like how in 60s drama, episodes would really be about the guest stars' story and how it effects the main characters (shows like "I Spy" and early TOS). Of course, we've seen a revival of this type of storytelling with shows like "CSI", "Law and Order", "JAG" and "NCIS."
I know "Babylon 5" brought the novel to television, but its metastory, much like other arc-based shows, doesn't hold up after repeated viewings.
Good
Had a friend make a odd recommendation to me, said that what he recommended was since I was planning on re-watching it, once I finish season 4, skip season 5, watch "in the beginning" and start over, and watch season 5 after your 2nd view of b5...Is that a crazy idea or something worth thinking about?
To paraphrase what I said some ten or so pages back; keep it simple and just watch the damn show. Such suggestions and fussy little lists usually come with an agenda from the person recommending them to prejudice you for or against certain instalments.
As for your friend's idea, I'd say it'd add as much value to your viewing as standing on your head and working out the square roots of the first twenty prime numbers in reverse order. That is to say it'll be a colossal waste of time that isn't worth the headache.
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