Guess this is the best place to put my thoughts down. Though I watched Babylon 5 off and on during its first run I had never seen a great deal of Season 1. So, I finally sat down and worked my way through it. During the B5 vs. DS9 war I was DS9 all the way, though I still remember being impressed a lot with Seasons 3-5 of B5. I also liked Crusade and loved In the Beginning.
After finishing Season 1, I think my estimation of it is higher than it was when I saw bits and pieces of it in the '90s. I like Sinclair more than I did then, and thanks to the other threads I got my question answered about why Michael O' Hare left the series. Very sad.
On DVD, the cinematography holds up for the most part, but the special effects aren't super great, but I chalk it up as being something that makes this show its own thing. I liked the B5 uniforms though costuming overall was iffy. I'm also not super impressed with the alien makeup across the board. However, I have always been impressed with the Narn and I also have no problem with the Minbari and Centauri, so with them being the major alien races it's not too big a deal. I also think the Drazi makeup was well done. I also wasn't a big fan of the starship design, but once again, the kind of techno-organic feel to many of the starships make them stand out.
I do like how the show explored religion, politics, and even labor disputes. I liked how JMS dealt with Earth religions more than what we see in Trek, which is almost nonexistent. I think the B5 vision of future humanity felt more realistic than what we got with Roddenberry-Berman 24th century Trek. Also, I hadn't realized that the dark overtones that would manifest in later seasons were there in the first season.
Though that the tense to antagonistic relationship between Sinclair, Garibaldi, and to a lesser extent Ivanova when it came to dealing with Earth made me wonder why they would've been put in charge of Babylon 5. It was explained with Sinclair, though I can't see someone with as sketchy a past as Garibaldi being given that job (I guess Sinclair really put his foot down there), and while Ivanova seems more acceptable, her vocal contempt for the Psi Corps seems like that would've disqualified her. I also had questions about why Earth was in charge of the station when it was something the major races all had a role in. I mean, Earth law was, if not 100% predominant, very much followed. It seems like this should've been a mixed crew, but that would've made it too similar to DS9 I suppose. Absent that, I think the series needed an Earth ambassador. Another thread mentioned BSG's Roslin and Adama, but I also think of Stargate: Atlantis's Dr. Weir and Shepherd. The set up for why Starfleet was in charge of DS9 made more sense to me.
In the first season JMS seemed to keep returning to the theme of legacy and also had a focus on ancient, super races. I know that he will build on the ancient races thing later on, but here he's planting the seeds.
All in all, a good start. There were some episodes I liked a lot more than others. Some seemed unnecessary, though I imagine some of those also had seeds planted in them. The character work was strong and JMS did a good job of fleshing out the main cast, or giving them personalities or quirks, something to make them memorable.
Anyone else have that happen?
