When a very large space station is rotten with ambassadors, the mousse budget is astronomical and the surfaces are very smooth. But when Commander Sinclair defies orders to keep the peace, Londo is the only one who doesn’t believe his nephew’s hostage video. Why isn’t there more science fiction tv? What’s the steel-to-person ratio of Babylon 5? How does a Star Trek podcast stay cool as hell? It’s the episode that’s banking sick voice!
I’ve never seen an episode of Babylon 5. Is it worth getting into?
The first season is rough. That first season still has some gems in it, hints of a greater plot building in the background, and a strong season finale that brings that plot to the foreground. It also has a cheesy electric guitar sting, some questionable makeup, a lead actor that was secretly struggling with schizophrenia, and writers that weren’t really clear on the concept or where the show was going. The second season starts strong and the show just gets better from there until the season 4 finale. Season 5 is weak in the front half due to production issues, but strong in the back half, ending with a series finale that is, in my opinion, a strong contender for best sci-fi finale ever, competing with TNG’s “All Good Things…”
Despite the show’s rock-bottom budget resulting in some very cheap looking sets and costumes, the strong writing and acting carry the show, with Andreas Katsulas as G’Kar and Peter Jurasik as Londo being particular standouts. Seriously, this is a show where Mira Furlan is not guaranteed to be the episode’s highlight performance. The show had an entire five season plot sketched out in advance, then it was modified on the fly with “trapdoors” that showrunner J Michael Straczynski put in just in case real-world issues caused problems (such as the lead actor leaving the show due to the aforementioned schizophrenia) with the changes done so seamlessly that they feel like they were always planned. Except for the Season 5 problems, anyway.
As you can probably tell from the rest of my post, I highly recommend the show. As I said, season 1 is very hit-and-miss, but B5 is one of my favorite shows. It’s also still one of the only shows to actually have planned anything more than one season in advance, which was particularly impressive in that it was one of the first shows to have a pre-planned structure at all. If you decide to give it a try, do not start with season 1 episode 1. Instead, start with “The Gathering,” which was a made-for-TV pilot movie. Much of season 1 references events from the pilot, so it’s important to watch.
Just a small correction: it’s writer, not writers. Almost all (92 of 110 episodes) are written by series creator J. Michael Straczinski, which is one of things which makes the series unique, it’s a really a singular artistic vision of one guy.
True, but most of the episodes with guest writers were in season 1. The uneven tone of the season was part of why he took over full writing duties.
So I’m several years behind on the pod, but I’m dying to know what Ben and Adam thought of this.
From what I understand, they watched “Midnight On the Firing Line” rather than “The Gathering”, which is a good thing.