So I started watching "Babylon 5" for the first time.

[FPAlpha]

Z'ha'dum was one of the first, if not the first season finale that dropped my jaw on the floor. I was mesmerized and really bloody worried for the characters. Hell, one of them actually jumped off a cliff so it wasn't just a mere cliffhanger. In all honesty I just stared at the screen after the end credits were long gone and wondered what the hell was that!

It was an amazing!

I remember the time when it aired here in Germany in the mid 90s. Spoilers were hard to come by given that the internet was in its infancy, SF magazines rarely got good scoop in advance and you basically had to watch everything unspoiled (Best of Both Worlds is another example of its day that was awesome because i had no chance of finding out how it would go and end.. my best friend and me were stunned when the first part ended).

So i was pumped to see the season finale and it blew my mind.. until at the last few minutes my parents barged in and started to talk about something really unimportant and blocked the view. It was all done by the time i had them quiet down and move out of the way so i missed the last few moments from the finale!

That summer was hell.. no way to see for myself what happened as naturally there was no repeat of the episode sometime that summer, there was no way to get the episode by filesharing or streaming (back then you were king with a 56K modem!) and message boards were only for true nerds and i hadn't progressed enough to be able to be in these circles.

 

[Tribble puncher]

I'm on the forth ep of season 4, I knew sheridan survived, but for some reason the first 3 eps seemed a little slow to me, I will prob have to go back and rewatch them, but I felt impatient at the Sheridan bits (maybe because I'm not ready to embrace my true destiny or something.) Perhaps I was anxious to get back the war, so far so good. one more season after this one.

 

[MacLeod]

Z'ha'dum was one of the first, if not the first season finale that dropped my jaw on the floor. I was mesmerized and really bloody worried for the characters. Hell, one of them actually jumped off a cliff so it wasn't just a mere cliffhanger. In all honesty I just stared at the screen after the end credits were long gone and wondered what the hell was that!

It was an amazing!

I remember the time when it aired here in Germany in the mid 90s. Spoilers were hard to come by given that the internet was in its infancy, SF magazines rarely got good scoop in advance and you basically had to watch everything unspoiled (Best of Both Worlds is another example of its day that was awesome because i had no chance of finding out how it would go and end.. my best friend and me were stunned when the first part ended).

So i was pumped to see the season finale and it blew my mind.. until at the last few minutes my parents barged in and started to talk about something really unimportant and blocked the view. It was all done by the time i had them quiet down and move out of the way so i missed the last few moments from the finale!

That summer was hell.. no way to see for myself what happened as naturally there was no repeat of the episode sometime that summer, there was no way to get the episode by filesharing or streaming (back then you were king with a 56K modem!) and message boards were only for true nerds and i hadn't progressed enough to be able to be in these circles.

Ah the days before DVR's, the age of dial-up.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Truly a dark age.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Wow, could some asshole reinvent the calendar using the invention of the internet or the invention broadband as year zero?

 

[shivkala]

I'm on the forth ep of season 4, I knew sheridan survived, but for some reason the first 3 eps seemed a little slow to me, I will prob have to go back and rewatch them, but I felt impatient at the Sheridan bits (maybe because I'm not ready to embrace my true destiny or something.) Perhaps I was anxious to get back the war, so far so good. one more season after this one.

I know people rave about Season 4, but it's never been my favorite. As you said, the beginning of the season is a bit slow. In true B5 fashion, it does set up a lot for later on. Something about how the crew is split up that doesn't connect with me. Susan doing her best as the commander was okay, Garibalid's arc seemed to drag on, though I did love seeing Zack get some deserved recognition. In fact, it was nice to give more of the spotlight to Zack and Marcus. Londo, G'Kar, and Vir's storyline in these episodes also seemed to drag. Lyta is hamstrung by being an attache to Kosh.

Franklin seemed to get over his addiction rather quickly and easily (aside from being knifed). In some ways, I got the sense JMS reached a point with each character where he was done with their character arc, but not with the character. For instance, we got a lot of characterization on Susan in season 1 with her father being sick, then dying, and her coming to grips with it. Then a little bit with the revelations about her mother. Past season 2, though, Susan's character is pretty much set. The same goes for Franklin, who went through his character arc in seasons 2-3. Bit of personal gripe though, your mileage may vary.

The opening for this season is certainly correct though, as this is the year everything changes. The old dynamic we saw in season 2-3 (I leave out season 1, because Sheridan wasn't there) is gone and characters have been changed due to events, making the nice character moments between everyone fewer, in my opinion. Though we do get some nice pairings of characters who haven't had much to do with each other later in the season.

I guess I spent most of the season waiting for the gang to get back together in the same way they had before "Z'ha'Dum," and it never being the same again.

 

[Reverend]

Z'ha'dum was one of the first, if not the first season finale that dropped my jaw on the floor. I was mesmerized and really bloody worried for the characters. Hell, one of them actually jumped off a cliff so it wasn't just a mere cliffhanger. In all honesty I just stared at the screen after the end credits were long gone and wondered what the hell was that!

It was an amazing!

I remember the time when it aired here in Germany in the mid 90s. Spoilers were hard to come by given that the internet was in its infancy, SF magazines rarely got good scoop in advance and you basically had to watch everything unspoiled (Best of Both Worlds is another example of its day that was awesome because i had no chance of finding out how it would go and end.. my best friend and me were stunned when the first part ended).

So i was pumped to see the season finale and it blew my mind.. until at the last few minutes my parents barged in and started to talk about something really unimportant and blocked the view. It was all done by the time i had them quiet down and move out of the way so i missed the last few moments from the finale!

That summer was hell.. no way to see for myself what happened as naturally there was no repeat of the episode sometime that summer, there was no way to get the episode by filesharing or streaming (back then you were king with a 56K modem!) and message boards were only for true nerds and i hadn't progressed enough to be able to be in these circles.

Ah the days before DVR's, the age of dial-up.

Didn't stop me recording all of seasons 3 - 5 on video tape!

 

[Guy Gardener]

Me too!

It's like I watched severed dreams 12 times in the first week, that I decided to keep it, and then wondered if I should keep the next week as well, which seemed kind of like an obviously good idea. However the odd thing was that the week before Severed Dreams was already on that tape at the rear end, so I was disjoint rewtaching the middle of season three slightly out of order for years to come unless I could be bothered to fast forward and rewind around what I had at hand.

 

[MacLeod]

Yes I do recorded B5 on to VHS, except I did S1-5.

 

[Guy Gardener]

There was a victorious point in most of our youths when we finally realized that we could afford both Blank VHS tapes and Beer.

 

[Gov Kodos]

There was a victorious point in most of our youths when we finally realized that we could afford both Blank VHS tapes and Beer.

What about making your own beer thus having money for more tapes and chilli? That beer making equipment was the best Christmas present ever.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I bought a large tin of lager sediment from the supermarket for $10 bucks in the mid nineties.

Thought I could mix it up in used coke bottles.

Instructions on the back however said that I needed to next buy a 40 dollar drum to brew in before I got to the bottling stage a month further down my timeline.

Fuck that.

How do you explain to a girl, that you have to stop kissing her and go home because a new episode of Babylon 5 is starting in an hour?

In retrospect I should have kept kissing the girl.

But that's only because I didn't know dvd box sets were going to be invented 5 years later.

 

[Forbin]

Let's see, I started taping B5 on Betamax, then when it was rerun (on SciFi?) I taped the whole series on VHS. Then Columbia started selling the series on VHS in season sets so I stared buying it (they released it in a ridiculous order - S1, S5, S2, S4, then never released S3 because DVD came out). And then I bought the DVD box sets.

I put those nice expensive VHS season sets in the basement and they got flooded during a hurricane. :/

 

[Hound of UIster]

DVD is the way to go.

 

[Tribble puncher]

Just finished the Ep. "into the fire." so that's it huh? the shadow war is over. (and it turns out both sides were just afraid to quit doing their jobs because they were terrified of being alone.) Narn is free again, though the planet is now a dung hole. But I saw a small spark of redemption in Londo, He is an extremely interesting character. This show takes alot of risks, that frankly, shows like Trek never even dreamed of. I'm guessing now the arc will shift to Prez. Clark. ONWARD!

 

[MacLeod]

And of course Vir got what he wanted. But that's it the end of the Shadow War which basically came down to

"You've been bad parents, we are throwing you out of the house."

 

[Guy Gardener]

Remember season 2's in the Shadow of Za'Ha'dum?

Morden "What do you want?"

Vir: "I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I would gaze up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this. (Vir holds up his right hand and waggles his fingers at Morden) Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?

 

[shivkala]

Just finished the Ep. "into the fire." so that's it huh? the shadow war is over. (and it turns out both sides were just afraid to quit doing their jobs because they were terrified of being alone.) Narn is free again, though the planet is now a dung hole. But I saw a small spark of redemption in Londo, He is an extremely interesting character. This show takes alot of risks, that frankly, shows like Trek never even dreamed of. I'm guessing now the arc will shift to Prez. Clark. ONWARD!

You have to love the way they kicked them out though: "Now get the Hell out of our galaxy! Both of you!"

 

[Guy Gardener]

But it was nice that they still needed/loved their Grampa despite everything else that had gone on.

Besides, remember what old Delenn in the future said about the war back in season 3...

John. "From what Londo said I get the impression that we won the war but not completely."

Delenn. "The war is never completely won. There are always new battles to be fought against the darkness. Only the names change."

John. "But we-- We achieved everything we set out to achieve."

Delenn. "We created something that will endure for a thousand years. But the price, John the terrible, terrible price."

Fuck Star Trek.

 

[Forbin]

But it was nice that they still needed/loved their Grampa despite everything else that had gone on.

Besides, remember what old Delenn in the future said about the war back in season 3...

John. "From what Londo said I get the impression that we won the war but not completely."

Delenn. "The war is never completely won. There are always new battles to be fought against the darkness. Only the names change."

John. "But we-- We achieved everything we set out to achieve."

Delenn. "We created something that will endure for a thousand years. But the price, John the terrible, terrible price."

Fuck Star Trek.

I dunno, I'd put that scene up against Janeway and B'Nanna hopping up and down like schoolgirls yelling "Warp particles! WARP particles!" any day.