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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

#251

Post by Izkata »

dizzy9 wrote: post #133

Excellent news. Babylon 5 is underappreciated, but it has mainly good episodes and several amazing ones.[0] However, if I can be cynical for a moment: The article title is misleading. Only a few episodes have been uploaded so far. At the current rate of one episode per week, it will take until March 2028 to conclude all five seasons. That's assuming they post every episode, and allow the episodes to remain up in the…

Fun fact: The S4 finale that rates merely "good" is actually a rapidly put together alternate finale when they got renewed for S5, using some of that season's budget. This was so they could delay the real series finale to S5 (originally filmed for S4, when they were unsure they'd get an S5).

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#252

Post by layer8 »

layer8 wrote: post #188
pupppet wrote: post #66

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

TNG, because it’s about the future, about science, rationality, open-mindedness and new perspectives, whereas B5 is really about the past (and present), about politics, recurrence and mysticism. It’s a bit like which do you prefer, science-fiction or fantasy? Much of B5 could have been done in a pure fantasy setting.

To expand on that: B5 is about ethics, and it has a primordial good and evil that are decidedly kept in the mystical realm. It has a supernatural concept of souls, it has messiah-like characters, it seems to believe in a notion of fate. TNG on the other hand is steeped in renaissance enlightenment, it has the spirit that there is no supernatural, and that everything is rationally explainable. It often tackles ethics as well, but I dare say that beyond that it explores a broader territory in philosophical topics than B5. TNG is more down-to-earth, B5 is more vibe-heavy.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#253

Post by jostylr »

chasil wrote: post #123
normie3000 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've linked to a 50+ minute video. Is it recommending naltrexone for alcoholism?

It is, after the well-known book by Roy Eskapa. https://www.amazon.com/Cure-Alcoholism-Willpower-Abstinence-...

There is also Katie Herzog's recent memoir/guidebook on it: https://www.amazon.com/Drink-Your-Way-Sober-Science-Based/dp...

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#254

Post by WorldMaker »

M95D wrote: post #101
WorldMaker wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There sadly isn't one. The 4:3 Blu-Ray remasters are about as good as it gets in visual quality, but there's a "cinematic" feel lost from the 16:9 DVDs, but the quality difference is noticeable and unfavorable. It's a bit of a dealer's choice at this point if you want "best available quality" or "best available widescreen." Babylon 5 was filmed at a weird moment where they were prescient about HD TV and the coming wi…

> The 4:3 Blu-Ray remasters are about as good as it gets in visual quality, but there's a "cinematic" feel lost from the 16:9 DVDs, but the quality difference is noticeable and unfavorable. I don't understand what you're trying to say here. What's wrong with the quality difference?

If I recall correctly, the DVDs are 480p. They were very early DVDs and tried to squeeze a bunch of episodes on each disk plus commentary on every episode.

The quality jump from 480p to 4K is a big one.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#255

Post by elsonrodriguez »

chasil wrote: post #114
alex-moon wrote: post #111

So I came to Babylon 5 late in life, when my partner's mother revealed she had the entire box set on DVD. My partner had recently introduced me to The Expanse, which, like many, I consider the greatest sci fi TV show of all time - she described B5 to me thus: "Babylon 5 walked so the Expanse could run." Suffice to say, my expectations were sky high. No other TV show has so greatly exceeded my expectations.

In Babylon 5, you actually meet and converse with the aliens. In the Expanse, you do not.

SPOILERS.

In B5 the only thing close to ineffable alien were the ones that went beyond the rim. Most of the day-to-day aliens were stand-ins for human nations and cultures.

The OPA and Mars were effectively the day-to-day aliens for the Expanse. The gate-builders were the ineffable aliens.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#256

Post by tsimionescu »

dingaling wrote: post #231
VilleSalonen wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blu-ray version is definitely not perfect but I wouldn't call it mangled. It is presented in 4:3 which might be an issue for some viewers but it is absolutely the best this show has ever looked: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Babylon-5-The-Complete-Series...

Have we just forgotten the DRM issues with Blu-Ray? I can't even watch them on Linux without relying on leaked keys. That's why legal unencrypted availability online is such a boon.

Why do you care about "legal"? Buy some version to have a legal and moral right to watch the show, and torrent a good version you can actually watch.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#257

Post by largbae »

TiredOfLife wrote: post #97
chasil wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Could you list more spoilers!?

The Vorlons are really a_____!

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#258

Post by Supermancho »

nikanj wrote: post #193
dizzy9 wrote: post #133

Excellent news. Babylon 5 is underappreciated, but it has mainly good episodes and several amazing ones.[0] However, if I can be cynical for a moment: The article title is misleading. Only a few episodes have been uploaded so far. At the current rate of one episode per week, it will take until March 2028 to conclude all five seasons. That's assuming they post every episode, and allow the episodes to remain up in the…

Babylon 5 has never been easy to watch which is a large factor in the underappreciation. Hard to appreciate something you can’t watch legally

Tubi stopped carrying all of B5 this month.

B5 has now appeared on Youtube.

Roku has all of B5 - with less commercials than the others

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#259

Post by autoexec »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #178
iso1631 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Blu-ray collection appears to be available for about $100. It saddens me that people aren't willing to pay a pittance in cash (about $1 an hour) for entertainment. They're willing to spend their time, but not their money. This isn't just buying a 100 episode box set, it applies to people complaining "I'd have to spend $10 on $streaming_service to watch that 5 hour miniseries, that's terrible" too.

I think the aversion to subscribing to a streaming service for a single series has more to do with the recurring nature of the subscription than it does the price. You have to remember to cancel it when you’re done, which is easy to forget with so many things bring for our attention these days. That $10 could easily multiply several times over if it slips your mind, at which point congratulations, you’ve paid a signi…

> I think the aversion to subscribing to a streaming service for a single series has more to do with the recurring nature of the subscription than it does the price.

I think it's about not necessarily getting what you pay for. Shows are constantly leaving streaming platforms which is a problem if you want to watch something specific as opposed to just being happy to pay to watch whatever they feel like letting you see this week. Then they'll also silently censor content or remove entire episodes so you can't be sure if you've even watched the entirety of whatever show you intended to see if they have it at all.

They also like to reorder shows and even renumber seasons which can result in confusion and spoilers. Netflix is horrible when it comes to this. One example is the The Great British Bake Off. For some reason they insist on reordering them so that it starts with whatever the newest series is and then plays them backwards which is a pretty big problem. At the start of one series they even recap all of the winners of previous series spoiling them all for everyone watching the show on netflix.

If you just want to watch "something" by all means pay a monthly fee for a streaming service. If you want to watch a specific show and you want it to be there for you the next you want to watch it you're better off getting physical media or doing a little research and getting everything off the high seas.

Re: Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube

#260

Post by varenc »

RupertSalt wrote: post #2

The hosting channel is called "Clipzone: Beyond Infinity" https://youtube.com/@czbeyondinfinity?si=Vhn1LH1TjJzxNyLZ "The Gathering" was uploaded on January 22. Currently available are episodes 1, 3, and 4, (Thursdays), and assorted five-minute clips. I could not find them bundled in a playlist here. The episodes are in broadcast order. "Midnight on the Firing Line", a missing episode, is listed as Episode 1 in Wikipe…

Is the poster, "ClipZone: Beyond Infinity" associated with Warner Brothers? It's not obvious to me it is, but it does seem to only post Warner Brothers content. Seems like it is an official WB channel that's been incognito until now.
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