(re)watch Babylon 5

[waxingjaney]

I finally picked up the DVDs for all 5 seasons, plus the two primary movies. Haven't seen any of it in 20 years. Anyone want to watch it with me? I was thinking watch 1-3 episodes a week, then post up comments and discussion.

[Werel]

I might be down for an episode or two per week. Never managed to make myself watch past the pilot, but it's been described as close to Deep Space 9 (space opera political intrigue character drama, right?) so I bet I'd enjoy it.

[bomaye]

I might have the bandwidth to spare for 1-2 per week. I've also never seen it

[waxingjaney]

Yaaaaaay!  Leaving aside the plagiarism accusations, DS9 and B5 did start off in thematically similar ways.

I had some free time, so I decided to kick things off with Episode 0: The Gathering.

Spoiler:

[Enail]

Never seen it, always thought I should, so I'll give it a go, but I don't think I'll be able to manage more than one episode a week. Are we going to do a schedule like a book club, or just people get to it when they get to it like usually happens with the series threads?

[waxingjaney]

Whenever we get to it. I'd be watching mostly towards the end of a given week.

[eselle28]

Oooh, I deeply enjoyed Babylon 5. Let me poke around my media resources and see if I have access to it.

[Hirundo Bos]

The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.

[bomaye]

S1-E0 - Gathering (oshiii I didn't realize it was more like a movie than an episode)

Spoiler:

[waxingjaney]

Spoiler:

[Hirundo Bos]

Spoiler:

[bomaye]

S1E1

Spoiler:

I liked this episode quite a bit more than I did the movie. Probably because of the better pacing, 40 mins to tell an episodic story is a nice number

[waxingjaney]

Babylon 5 S1E1: Midnight on the Firing Line

Spoiler:

[waxingjaney]

[quote="bomaye"]S1E1

Spoiler:

[Werel]

Didn’t watch episode 0/the movie. Is it required, or can I just keep going with the show?

s1e1:

[bomaye]

-So far: still keep thinking “I wish I were watching DS9,”

Careful. A lot of people forget that the first season of DS9 was terrible, and a good chunk of the second too

[Werel]

That's true. Sooooo waxingjaney, can you vouch that this thing reaches greater heights later on?

Edit: wait, let's not forget that the pilot of Deep Space 9 is absolutely one of the greatest sci fi episodes ever. "You exist here" is tough to top.

[waxingjaney]

The pilot movie isn't absolutely essential, but it will be referenced in later episodes.

Babylon 5 fell under the Warner Brothers umbrella, so apparently they were able to secure a brief clip.

It did take few episodes for the show to find its voice, but there is some good stuff on the way. The earlier episodes in season 1 are largely character development.

Spoiler:

[KMR]

My boyfriend and I were watching Babylon 5 a little while back and got partway into season 4. But we were watching it at a rate of about 1-2 episodes per week (via Netflix DVDs) and while it was fine at first, I eventually found it harder to stay engaged with it at that rate. If I could binge-watch the show instead, I'd happily give it a re-watch and finish, but so far all the subscription services I have access to don't have it available for streaming (without buying it).

[waxingjaney]

I think binge watching has spoiled people. Everything had to be watched 1-2 episodes at a time, with months-long breaks between stints. Babylon 5 is plot-heavy, but we did have the Lurker's Guide. Enjoy this flashback to the mid-90s internet (but watch out for plot spoilers):
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/

[bomaye]

I can do either, and it's easier to do B5 this way because of my bandwidth and there's a bunch of people doing it. But if I'm just watching a show myself, or the person I'm watching something with starts dragging a bit, I do start getting a bit antsy because my natural inclination is go like 100 MPH until I'm either fried or just short of fried and then stop for a bit

[KMR]

I think binge watching has spoiled people.

I don't disagree, but I have found that the ability to binge-watch some shows has greatly increased my appreciation of them. For instance, I used to be more of a TNG fan than a DS9 fan back when the series were still airing, because TNG is pretty episodic, so it was easy to watch that way. It wasn't until I had a chance to watch DS9 again in college, from beginning to end and at a much faster rate, that it became hands-down my favorite Trek series and remains so to this day. I just remember watching it and thinking, "Holy crap, this is even better than I remember it!" There may have been other factors involved there too, but I think being able to watch it over a short time period and really see all the connections behind the overarching plot had a big impact.

[Enail]

S1E1:

[Hirundo Bos]

That's true. Sooooo waxingjaney, can you vouch that this thing reaches greater heights later on?

I can only speak for myself, but while I enjoyed the show from the beginning, the epsiodes that really got 16-year-old-Hirundo hooked occured mid S1. On later viewings, and with more critical eyes, I'd say that seasons 1 and 2 are uneven, with some great stuff and some pretty bad. Towards the end of season 2 the bad ones become better, the good ones more frequent, and it remains that way throughout season 4. I would definitely recommend people to give it a chance, and I'm looking forward to rewatching myself. (I haven't quite got started yet, but I know the episodes more or less by heart, so I'll be alle to follow this thread in any case.)

[Enail]

S1E2:

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