New to Babylon 5

[Chekov's Phaser]

Such a wonderful show! You're in for a treat.

I started rewatching B5 late last week, and I'm currently on season 2. It has been awhile since I've watched the series, and it's still as awesome as ever. To the OP: the acting and the special effects, even though they do get better, can be bad at times, don't worry. Your patience will be rewarded.

As others have said, pay attention to the details. From the point you are at now, things have already been said that will eventually come to fruition years down the road. It's the benefit of having most of the series planned out. The Narn and G'Kar (my favorite character) come off as a little one dimensional, but again just watch as the characters evolve. As OmahaStar said above, everyone has their own character arc, and no one is the same at the end of the show. For some it means they better themselves, for others it plays out like a Shakespearean tragedy.

My girlfriend is watching them with me, and she has never seen the series. It's great to watch someone watch for the first time. Since I already know what will happen, it's fun to see their reactions to events.

 

[Candlelight]

You know...it might be an idea to let the new viewer make up their own mind. Just a thought. Not everything requires an unsolicited opinion.

Are you crazy? We MUST tell them how to watch!

Now, watch the pilot, then season's 5, 2, 4, 1 then 3. In that order.

Then pop the movies in and watch them sdrawkcab.

Then watch half an episode of Crusade each, followed by I Love Lucy.

Watch your appreciation grow...

 

[RandyS]

You know...it might be an idea to let the new viewer make up their own mind. Just a thought. Not everything requires an unsolicited opinion.

Jan

Yes, but then, the thread was started by somebody soliciting an opinion.

 

[Alex1939]

Episode 5:

I enjoyed the alien festival scenes. I liked how the "crazy hair people" got really drunk, it was pretty humorous. The scenes with the captain and his girl were mostly misses for me though.

I liked how this had to do with the Narn, it certainly made them interesting. The idea of a legal assassin society was fairly well done. The ambassador still seems sort of like a putz, but it peaked my interest.

I'm intrigued with the telepathic storyline from Earth and where that will lead.

Ep 6:

Cool, a telepathic story with Walter Koenig. Very interesting science fiction, I liked the idea of 1 in 10000 telepaths having telekinetic powers and half of them are crazy.

The first half of this story was stronger, but I enjoy the implications of this show. I do hope Koenig returns.




Question: Does the CGI improve a great deal from now to the end of the series?

I'm realizing I nearly hate the effects in this show. It's ok, because the stories have been interesting. But overall, it does take away. Almost the opposite of Enterprise's first two seasons as far as I view the shows. Enterprise = Great effects, bad stories (mostly). B5 = Good stories, bad effects. I do think both shows suffer from some bad dialogue.




B5 Season 1 has been a big improvement over "The Gathering" movie. I am going to follow the advice given here and watch all of the seasons before watching the other movies. So far, I've liked 5/7 of the episodes/movie I watched. I'm optimistic since most say seasons 2-4 are very good.

 

[Mr Light]

Ep5 is definitely a huge improvement; it's where they started making episodes having already seen how the first ones had turned out and people were finding their places. The CGI *definitely* gets better. It's very dodgy in the first season, but by the end of S1 there's some sweet space battles that look pretty cool. Season 2 looks even better. And Season 3 has some humongous gorgeous space battles. It definitely gets much better. The alien makeup improves drastically as well; by the start of Season 2 it's pretty good. I seem to recall G'Kar looking pretty rubber faced in The Gathering but he looks amazing by the start of S2.

 

[Harvey]

The CGI improves year to year, although it reaches its peak around season three.

I would advise against watching River of Souls, A Call to Arms, Legend of the Rangers, and Crusade before you watch Sleeping in Light. Thirdspace fits in season four, but is unnecesarry. In The Beginning fits between Objects at Rest and Sleeping in Light, but can just as easily be held of until later if you'd prefer.

 

[Lindley]

Question: Does the CGI improve a great deal from now to the end of the series?

The space shots do. Planetscapes look fairly dodgy all the way through.

EDIT: I've been trying to find something that demonstrates the improvement in CGI without much in the way of spoilers. There's a promo for In The Beginning which I think does the trick. Just ignore the cheesy announcer voice-over.

 

[Alex1939]

Episode 7: I realize I've been calling the commander "captain".. whoops. This episode was more of a clunker.. the episode that focuses on a human group that is xenophobic. I do like the setup that humanity is still very conflicted.

It's also become interesting that this show is very political and these ambassadors truly act as the hands of their species/government. I like that those in charge of B5 aren't afraid of using manipulation to reach an endgoal.



Thanks Lindley, I watched it on mute and yes the space scenes do look improved. Something else to look forward to!

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I'm on my first trip though Babylon 5, too. I just finished up the "War Without End" two-parter in season 3 and HOLY CRAP!

Spoiler: Babylon 5 season 3

Sinclair is Valen! Wazazazazwa? But then I look at it and it really comes full circle. Wow. What amazing planning.

This is honestly shaping up to be one of my favorite shows ever. I can't believe I waited this long to see it.

 

[Chekov's Phaser]

I'm on my first trip though Babylon 5, too. I just finished up the "War Without End" two-parter in season 3 and HOLY CRAP!

Spoiler: Babylon 5 season 3

Sinclair is Valen! Wazazazazwa? But then I look at it and it really comes full circle. Wow. What amazing planning.

This is honestly shaping up to be one of my favorite shows ever. I can't believe I waited this long to see it.

Spoiler: your spoiler

I'm not sure if that was entirely planned from the beginning. Jan or someone might have more information than that, but from what I heard, Sinclair was not supposed to leave originally. JMS came up with the "three 'the ones' '" plan afterwards. Even if that's true, it's one of the best "retcons" ever that actually makes a lot of sense!

 

[Jan]

I'm on my first trip though Babylon 5, too. I just finished up the "War Without End" two-parter in season 3 and HOLY CRAP!

Spoiler: Babylon 5 season 3

Sinclair is Valen! Wazazazazwa? But then I look at it and it really comes full circle. Wow. What amazing planning.

This is honestly shaping up to be one of my favorite shows ever. I can't believe I waited this long to see it.

Spoiler: your spoiler

I'm not sure if that was entirely planned from the beginning. Jan or someone might have more information than that, but from what I heard, Sinclair was not supposed to leave originally. JMS came up with the "three 'the ones' '" plan afterwards. Even if that's true, it's one of the best "retcons" ever that actually makes a lot of sense!

Spoiler: Sinclair

According to the 'original' outline that was published in Volume 15 of the script books, Sinclair was supposed to be in the entire series. My feeling is that when JMS was considering making the change is when he came up with the idea of Sinclair becoming Valen but I don't really have any basis for that other than his posting that he thought of something "really cool" that he could do by making the change.

Jan