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Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

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Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#81

Post by Sharlin »

eafkuor wrote: post #74
jefc1111 wrote: post #6

If you decide to watch Babylon 5 for the first time, I suggest giving it a chance to get under your skin. There is quite a lot to get in the way of that such as mediocre acting, cringey humour, low budget fx (all particularly prominent in season 1). But the pay off in seasons 3 and 4 is huge if you take the time to let affection grow for the characters. Babylon 5 was my first 'favourite series' that 'changed my life'…

> But the pay off in seasons 3 and 4 Having to suffer through two mediocre seasons is a dealbreaker in 2026 to be honest.

Season 2 is good to great, not mediocre. It’s just that S3 and S4 are even better. Season 1 you can skip most of the fillers if you’re in a hurry. There’s a plenty of curated S1 episode lists on the internet that tell you which episodes you don’t want to miss. It’s much better this way than the usual "first season excellent, second season okay, the rest are crud and only exist to make money".

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#82

Post by rhdunn »

eafkuor wrote: post #74
jefc1111 wrote: post #6

If you decide to watch Babylon 5 for the first time, I suggest giving it a chance to get under your skin. There is quite a lot to get in the way of that such as mediocre acting, cringey humour, low budget fx (all particularly prominent in season 1). But the pay off in seasons 3 and 4 is huge if you take the time to let affection grow for the characters. Babylon 5 was my first 'favourite series' that 'changed my life'…

> But the pay off in seasons 3 and 4 Having to suffer through two mediocre seasons is a dealbreaker in 2026 to be honest.

There are several stand-out episodes in season 1 and 2, as well as several stand-out scenes; plus the second half of season 2 is not mediocre. You also miss out on character and world-building that happens in those episodes that help contextualize a lot of the later seasons.

Plus, many reactors now have liked season 1 a lot better than when it initially aired.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#84

Post by marginalia_nu »

pupppet wrote: post #66

For those who have watched both Babylon 5 and Star Trek TNG- which did you like better?

It's a hard comparison. They are both very good, in wildly different ways.

B5 is much more character driven and more of a slow burn that sets up a big payoff in the later seasons that has permanent world-changing impact. It was really ahead of its time, closer to something like Game of Thrones than anything else at the time.

TNG feels more static, even the "big events" don't really change the world all that much in the next episode, except Tasha Yar being written out of the show in season 1 causing Worf's head to shrink in season 2 or something I guess. It's a mystery-of-the-week show, you know what you're gonna get and you know it's good. No complaints, but also nothing mind blowing.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#85

Post by rhdunn »

DonHopkins wrote: post #70
PepperdineG wrote: post #18

“Sooner or later everyone comes to Babylon 5."

No one ever listens to Zathras. "Quite mad," they say. It is good that Zathras does not mind. Has even grown to like it. Oh, yes.

Cannot say. Saying, I would know. Do not know, so cannot say.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#86

Post by Sharlin »

account42 wrote: post #9
jefc1111 wrote: post #6

If you decide to watch Babylon 5 for the first time, I suggest giving it a chance to get under your skin. There is quite a lot to get in the way of that such as mediocre acting, cringey humour, low budget fx (all particularly prominent in season 1). But the pay off in seasons 3 and 4 is huge if you take the time to let affection grow for the characters. Babylon 5 was my first 'favourite series' that 'changed my life'…

Is that disclaimer really needed? As someone who watched the series the first time last year, the acting and humor seem fine for TV honestly. The CGI dated of course but not offensive either. If anything I found the later seasons more disappointing than 1 and 2 as smaller scale stories are replaced with moving the big plot forward, which still feels rushed somehow.

When I re-watched B5 a few years ago, I wad surprised by the amount of humor and small pieces of situational comedy. It’s really missing from most 2000s TV dramas, everything became really serious after 9/11. If there’s humor in a 00s or even 10s "self-respecting" drama series, it’s usually dry, dark, and/or ironic.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#87

Post by chasil »

tomkarho wrote: post #30

Those who come to this magnificent piece of Sci-Fi for the first time, a word of advice: Pay attention. There are things set in motion in season 1 that are resolved multiple seasons later and there's a lot of foreshadowing (pun very much intended) both subtle and overt. Oh and, enjoy the ride. It's a good one.

The primary thing to know is that the actor who played Sinclair in season one, Michael O'Hare, suffered from mental illness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Hare

His treatments were only partially successful. He reappeared in a cameo appearance early in season two ("The Coming of Shadows") and returned in season three for a two-part episode ("War Without End") which closed his character's story arc. At that time, Straczynski promised O'Hare to keep his condition secret "to my grave". O'Hare told him to instead "keep the secret to my grave", arguing that fans deserved to eventually learn the real reason for his departure, and that his experience could raise awareness and understanding for people with mental illness. He made no further appearances on Babylon 5 but continued to support the show and appeared at conventions and signing events until his retirement from public appearances in 2000.

On September 28, 2012, Straczynski posted that O'Hare had had a heart attack in New York City five days earlier and had remained in a coma until his death that day.[48] Eight months later, Straczynski revealed the circumstances of O'Hare's departure from Babylon 5 at a presentation about the series at the Phoenix Comicon.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#89

Post by Sharlin »

g-b-r wrote: post #22
jefc1111 wrote: post #6

If you decide to watch Babylon 5 for the first time, I suggest giving it a chance to get under your skin. There is quite a lot to get in the way of that such as mediocre acting, cringey humour, low budget fx (all particularly prominent in season 1). But the pay off in seasons 3 and 4 is huge if you take the time to let affection grow for the characters. Babylon 5 was my first 'favourite series' that 'changed my life'…

Low budget? I seem to remember it was lauded (but made on Amigas, if I'm not mistaken) I sure loved it, at least on my crappy 21" tv

It was lauded for being made on Amigas. The Season 1 CGI really is rather rough compared to TNG, never mind DS9. But it improved considerably in S2.

Still, there are things like the starfield visible from C&C’s observation window never rotating because it was apparently too expensive to greenscreen it (presumably an actual physical rotating backdrop was also not feasible for whatever reason). On the other hand, I think B5 was the first TV series to use greenscreening to create large interior spaces like ship hangars.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#90

Post by chasil »

chasil wrote: post #87
tomkarho wrote: post #30

Those who come to this magnificent piece of Sci-Fi for the first time, a word of advice: Pay attention. There are things set in motion in season 1 that are resolved multiple seasons later and there's a lot of foreshadowing (pun very much intended) both subtle and overt. Oh and, enjoy the ride. It's a good one.

The primary thing to know is that the actor who played Sinclair in season one, Michael O'Hare, suffered from mental illness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Hare His treatments were only partially successful. He reappeared in a cameo appearance early in season two ("The Coming of Shadows") and returned in season three for a two-part episode ("War Without End") which closed his character's story arc. At that…

Claudia Christian, who played Susan Ivanova, is also well known for her documentary on alcohol addiction.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=crYU4xT1aRI

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