/r/babylon5

Photograph via snooOG

Discussion of all things Babylon 5

Welcome to /r/Babylon5!

Babylon 5 is a sci-fi space opera that ran from 1994 to 1999. Pitched as "a five year story, a novel for television," Babylon 5 featured a serialized story before it was common for primetime television to do so.

The serialized nature of Babylon 5 means it is eminently spoilable. If you have not seen Babylon 5 but are interested, you may encounter spoilers here. You've been warned!

Watch Online

Babylon 5 is available on HBO Max.

It can also be purchased on iTunes, Google Play, and YouTube:

Subreddit rules

This subreddit is lightly moderated. That said, piracy and hate speech will not be tolerated. Posts and comments containing these things will be removed and repeat offenders will be banned.

Spoiler tags are not mandatory but are encouraged when the thread starter requests it. The spoiler syntax is:

>! Spoiler goes here

Flair

If you are watching the show for the first time, and want the rest of us to know, select one of the first five flairs options; these are the logos of all five Babylon stations.

Babylon Station will tell other users that you are watching Season 1 for the first time. Babylon 2 will tell us that you have not watched any further than season 2. And so forth with Seasons 3, 4, 5 (the yellow 5).

Seasoned fans of the show can dig in and display their bias with flair for their alien government or faction.

Other Resources

/r/Babylon5Gifs

It's like the Zocalo, but for gifs.

Wikipedia on Babylon 5

Wikipedia's article on Babylon 5 is very detailed.

The Lurkers Guide to Babylon 5

This is the definitive resource for Babylon 5. All episodes, all movies, commentary from the creator. It was updated in real time as Babylon 5 originally aired.

/u/mpierre's Guide to Babylon 5

A guide to Babylon 5 episodes, and their importance, by head moderator /u/mpierre.

JMSNews

News from J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5.

Denn'bok / Minbari Fighting Pike

Please note that a Comet will appear if, within one Earth-month, multiple users post revelations of the existence of this product.

/r/babylon5

35,243 Subscribers

128

First, one brief announcement.

I just wanted to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing whatsoever happened today in sector 83 by 9 by 12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm.

https://preview.redd.it/whfpef1bub4e1.jpg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2736a40cda3e69fa5c18d42788bef301e6470bff

14 Comments
2024/12/02
00:07 UTC

298

It’s official! For the next cycle, we are a Purple subreddit! All remaining Greens, please report to the nearest airlock. For…a chat.

42 Comments
2024/12/01
21:37 UTC

62

Shadow Dancing

Rewatching again - and now this episode hit right away: "And what are you? -Alive. Everything else is negotiable. " I think Steven's ark is the most important there, even the space battle is spectacular.

11 Comments
2024/12/01
18:25 UTC

16

Back on prime?

Saw some reports Babylon 5 is meant to be back on prime from 1st Dec, hope shows soon!

18 Comments
2024/12/01
17:42 UTC

112

Why do Babylon 5’s political debates and hearings work so well and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’s political intrigue fall flat?

Now, there has been some reevaluation of the prequels in recent years, and rightly so, but it still remains fairly agreed on that taken on their own without the context of Palpatine’s shenanigans the political debates and senate hearings for Phantom Menace don’t really hold up, boring C-Span affairs and such. Babylon 5, on the other hand, makes these scenes scintillating and interesting (or legitimately hilarious) every time they pop up in earlier seasons or later on when the intrigue returns again. I know why I personally like them better, but I’m curious if other people could confirm for me why these scenes work in Babylon 5 and not the Phantom Menace.

96 Comments
2024/12/01
17:27 UTC

3

Am I the only one who gets reminded by this picture of a character in Babylon 5?

https://preview.redd.it/lsm7nl2cw74e1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=1e19da5dcbf74d9ac9d699c86944f3d20968c0ca

No, it is not a certain person who represents his associates to find out what people want; it is Frank Zappa.

6 Comments
2024/12/01
10:53 UTC

29

Robert Englund in Grey 17

https://preview.redd.it/3yhrdn54f74e1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=e8501cfe705b85f62209edfc990f84dd2ef8ec4e

Also, one of the funny episodes with some references. That exactly Robert Englund played a cult leader who wanted to bring the perfect predator to life.

https://preview.redd.it/lqqqs9tlf74e1.png?width=695&format=png&auto=webp&s=8120678205c3ff2755b7fb87e413cd5e3008ec05

Look at his fingers...

8 Comments
2024/12/01
09:18 UTC

28

Norm Macdonald vs. the Shadows

5 Comments
2024/12/01
06:15 UTC

0

Does the acting ever get better? It's worse than 90's Star Trek by a large margin

I am halfway into Season 2 now (I know Season 1 is considered the low point of the show), but there's just something "off" about the acting and I mean this for virtually every character, besides maybe the ones playing the aliens.

Every person on this show has this weird "overacting" with their expressions, it's hard for me to describe, but it's stuff you would see on old 80's/90's soap operas. Like you see one character say something, and the other constantly moves their eyebrows up and down and makes these huge gaping expressions with their mouths or when they're smiling. There's also weird cuts with the camera when it shifts from person to person (as well as during the action/fight scenes), that feels awkward to me. Also when the blonde psychic woman is sensing something that frightens her/scares her reactions and acting is so poorly done.

I don't know, I've watched Star Trek all my life and even in the worst episodes of Trek, the main cast still gave good performances.

11 Comments
2024/12/01
05:39 UTC

144

The Battle of...

I was visiting Raleigh, NC today and was completely unaware that Sector 100 by 17 by 3 was here. You learn something new everyday.

8 Comments
2024/11/30
23:49 UTC

17

Well-deserved Starfury love, baby!

3 Comments
2024/11/30
22:45 UTC

415

Thanksgiving Leftovers

41 Comments
2024/11/30
17:39 UTC

69

This was absolutely hilarious

16 Comments
2024/11/30
16:26 UTC

133

Did Valen bring an instruction manual for Babylon 4?

So Valen, a Minbari not born of Minbar, and some weird alien Zathras just show up with a free space station being escorted by Vorlons.

The Minbari were losing the Shadow war so maybe they don't ask where these two stole a space station from.

How did the Minbari know how to operate a stolen space station? Did they wonder what language everything is written in? Did Valen bring an instruction manual in Minbari for them to read? Or were the Minbari in the past so much more advanced than Earth's technology at the time of B4 that the Minbari just knew how everything worked?

77 Comments
2024/11/30
14:46 UTC

81

Something I noticed while watching the episode season 2 episode 15

Watching Babylon 5 for the first time and I really loved this episode. Great piece of world building and super creative

15 Comments
2024/11/30
13:12 UTC

0

Are the Shadows based on Sauron?

It's only just occurred to me that the Shadows might be based on Sauron from The Lord of the rings. Ancient dormant evil, there have been wars in the past and they have retreated back to Zha'Daum (Mordor). Agents out doing their work for them. It takes an alliance of races to fight them back.

If that's the case are the Vorlon's based on the Elves perhaps?

36 Comments
2024/11/30
11:53 UTC

5

If there was a Babylon 5 remake…

…what would you like to see done differently? Personally, I would love if the show had the budget to properly show the interior of the station. B5 is such an interesting idea, a fully realized O’Neil cylinder. However, the budget never allowed them to show what such a station should look like. For instance, I always found it weird that the ambassadors not only had no staff, but conducted official business in the living room of their quarters. Even the station commander lacked a secretary. For reference, most countries have fairly extensive missions to the United Nations. Related to this, we spend very little time in the “garden”. The garden is where you would expect most people to spend their free time. I get that B5 lacked the budget to show such things and that the VFX were not up to the task. However, I would hope that a new show would be in a better position to show such things. The game Mass Effect completely copies the concept, but gives you a better picture of what a UN on a space station might really look like.

40 Comments
2024/11/30
11:36 UTC

32

The Cast - Whom would you meet in person, if you could?

https://preview.redd.it/w7gppsc29z3e1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=7e7d7bfe1f3e00b8f817b15f7ff8aadf85341088

One of the sad things about Babylon 5 is the number of people who have already passed away. Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs should be included in this picture. Compare this to Star Trek TNG, where - to my knowledge - everyone from the main cast still lives.

Imagine meeting some of them in person; whom would you choose? And whom would you add from the already deceased ones?

42 Comments
2024/11/30
05:52 UTC

0

The time has finally come! Are we a Green sub, or a Purple sub?

13 Comments
2024/11/29
19:56 UTC

55

Technomages

One group I would have loved to learn more about were the Techno-mages.

https://preview.redd.it/cgm03ocxvu3e1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=e604d8394ed3af2c7d56f38f2a5c369a8da0e398

It seems that they - although powerful - simply did not want to get involved in the shadow war. One viewer might think that even if these powerful people are wary of the shadows, how powerful must they be?

I really would love to see a spin-off of Babylon 5 with more presence of the techno mages.

26 Comments
2024/11/29
15:08 UTC

112

Victorian Vorlon

15 Comments
2024/11/29
13:26 UTC

10

Victorian Vorlon

1 Comment
2024/11/29
13:25 UTC

40

One of my favorite episodes - A Late Delivery from Avalon

I loved the idea that suddenly someone could come to Babylon 5 and introduce himself as Arthur Pendragon, and I also loved how the story evolved.

https://preview.redd.it/5n1k6tw0ht3e1.jpg?width=185&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a08bd06d1858a6eb2f1a34ae0d0ce5121eace874

My favorite moment was when a fight loomed and "Arthur" got unexpected assistance.

20 Comments
2024/11/29
10:23 UTC

11

Sleeping in Light does not have its own Wikipedia article

To my surprise Sleeping in Light does not have its own Wikipedia article.

Should this be rectified.

9 Comments
2024/11/29
05:14 UTC

9

Saw This Post Someone Made (Context: There Was a Purple Enterprise)

1 Comment
2024/11/29
02:34 UTC

11

Unpopular opinion

Unpopular though my opinion may be, I really think The Legend of the Rangers is the best B5 movie; I enjoyed it far more than any of the others! I can understand why some don’t like it as a standalone movie, but viewed as a series pilot, it’s great! I would have loved to have seen that series, and wish they’d made it. Ah well.

29 Comments
2024/11/29
02:02 UTC

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