What would have happened had Londo never suspected that it was Refa who poisoned Adira? (And he didn’t suspect Morden either, it was unanswered).

Edit: I realise it’s unlikely but I mean what would the consequences have been. He doesn’t strike the deal with G’Kar. Doesn’t go back to Morden etc. since Refa is still around Londo doesn’t get involved against Cartagia, etc.

Hey folks! Here are some more reactions from a B5 newbie. I’m sure none of this is particularly revelatory, but maybe some of you will get a kick out of my sparse notes. Those of you who have followed my posts, you’ll notice a WIDE gap in my coverage of episodes. . . I was simply too immobilized by my psychic ailments to take notes for several episodes in a row. I've thoroughly enjoyed all the episodes so far, and I regret not being more diligent in my note taking. Anyway, moving on:

13: SIGNS AND PORTENTS

Who are the raiders? I’m looking forward to learning more— their inclusion reminds me of Firefly, or rather, Firefly reminds me of this.

London and G’Kar can’t even wait for an elevator in peace! These two actors are GREAT together!

I once had a professor who said that anytime a character is asked, “What do you want,” by another character, it’s very biblical, because God (as a figure in the bible) often either asks what people want, and they either don’t know, or they’re not asked at all, when they know exactly what they want. The repetition of each character being asked this  reminded me of the way John speaks in John from Cincinnati, one of my favorite shows. And speaking of David Milch (creator of JFC, Deadwood, NYPD Blue), this whole show feels very Milch-inspired, and, since B5 started the same year as NYPD Blue, my position is that both shows are heavily informed by Hill Street Blues (the show Milch got his start on). Milch is my personal hero and his shows are my favorites, if anyone would like to discuss him/his work, it would be my absolute pleasure!

How do ships make jump points? I thought only jump gates worked, but a ship big enough can generate its own jump point? How does all this "jump tech" work exactly?

Huge that Sinclair was put in charge of the station by the Minbari, he must be a part of some sort of prophecy!

14: TKO

The declination of shiva is a big deal. Great sympathy for the rabbi— the shot lingered on him as he sat alone in the restaurant when most shows would cut away sooner, with details like this you can really feel JMS’ guiding hand.

This episode felt like two B-plots mashed together without an A-plot.

Boxer subplot was cliched, somewhat trite. Ivanova’s subplot was much more interesting, if also on the slow side.

Episodes without G’kar Londo and Delenn are noticeably less compelling. . .

15: GRAIL

William Sanderson!! Let alone his Bladerunner connection, he’s also E.B in the aforementioned Deadwood! What a treat to see him pop up, a great actor. 

His interactions with Jinxo were great, I immediately felt for Jinxo’s plight. 

Ahh! Kosh reveal! What a fake out! I totally believed it was Kosh at first. So cool.

A great episode, cool to see space court. 

Being a fan of Grail pop culture like The Last Crusade and the Fisher King, I loved the grail stuff.

Why did the feeder not mind wipe Aldous? The CGI on the squid was so neat, I thought it looked rad.

Aldous’ failure/Jinxos promise were very moving.

“It’s a hard thing to spend your life searching for something and never finding it”, agreed. . .

“Jinxos not the kind to keep promises”— enter Jinxo in Aldous’ robes. A truly great arc.

16: EYES

Mike building the bike with Lennier was touching. 

The Minbari seem so peaceful, I’m wondering why they would enter into war with Earth— was it Earth’s fault? Earth’s aggression? Wait, don't answer that. . .

EYES is a great idea: an internal affairs bureau. . . in space!

Sinclair says every line the same way and it’s exhausting haha

Galaxy Quest vibes from Lennier, I like him!

“If I knew who god was I’d thank her” great line from Garibaldi

G'kar has been missing for four episodes now! A true shame, I miss that lizard.

Ivanova's dream was great, creepy, and well designed.

A Bester mention!

. . . where is Talia? You’d think the station’s telepath would be included in all its affairs.

That being said, the telepath angle/plots have been soooo good/cool. Sorry that I don’t have something more insightful to say beyond “good/cool”. . .

Anyways, last thing I’ll say is that (for a list of personal reasons) bingeing this show has been a great comfort to me, "all alone in the night. . ."

Thanks for reading and for the continued support.

Be seeing you :)

Does anybody in the UK know where I can stream the episodes (legitimately). I can't see it listed under any of the normal services other than Amazon Prime where you hae to purchase the individual series

i watched it sparsely as reruns as a kid, and was vaguely aware that it was cool

then years ago, watched all the dvds and fell in love

since then, its always been my go to answer as favorite show, but really that started to be more a rote answer than a definitive statement, more of a i remember how much i liked it, vs how good each episode was (and of course, the various unforgettable scenes, 'he was a good man', 'JUMP', 'what would you do alone in the dark', 'did you think we had forgotten about you'... i could go on and on)

now, after having rewatched TNG and DS9, i figured i'd rewatch b5 - and holy shit, its SO GOOD. i vaguely remembered season 1 being 'less' good, but that may have just been s1 of ANY sci-fi show bias and lack of sheridan - because its actually fantastic

plus, knowing whats coming, seeing how the narn are initially portrayed, whats going on in the background with earth, so much is hinted at that i can now appreciate on a fuller level since i'm not a kid

and the character interactions, JMS and the writing team are geniuses, it may be cliche to use the phrase that they "become" real people, but its so true in this case. i love trek, but a single scene of gkar/londo has more life to it than a whole season of tng

i was inspired to come and post this praise when in s1ep12, by any means necessary, the scene just happened when gkar is trying to track down some item needed for a religious ceremony, and finds out londo bought the only one on the station - JUST to fuck with him - i was dying

Hello everyone! I'm back again, here with some more thoughts as I work my way through the first season of this great show! I go to sleep thinking about it. . . I toss and turn in the mornings half-awake with half-formed dreams of a faraway Babylon station. . .

Episode 4: INFECTION:

First off, the living tech reminded me so much of David Cronenberg's films (favorites of mine) and I can't help but wonder whether or not JMS is a fan.

Garibaldis personal problems are hinted at, and he really does remind me of just a guy you'd see on the street or at a bar— I was a bit perplexed by his casting at first, but he has settled into my affection quite nicely.

No Londo or G’kar or Delenn!  They'd want to know what's going on! Of course I understand their absence, only 43 minutes per episode, and budgetary restraints and all that.

Ancient space Nazis wielding living machines to further their eugenics agenda? Wild stuff, if a bit on the nose. And David Maccallam! I knew I recognized him from something (The Great Escape!) and I thought he did a great job.

Over on the Lurker's Guide, JMS said he thought it was one of the worst of the season! I somewhat understand, but I still thought it was a solid episode.

The suit towards its final completion reminded me of villains on the Power Rangers and that gave me a good chuckle. Fun episode overall!

5: PARLIAMENT OF DREAMS

Great to see the various religious celebrations, and what a wonderful ending with Sinclair introducing his crew to a seemingly endless line of religious Earth representatives.

Londo getting wasted at his celebration was both funny and sad. His horniness and loneliness know no bounds! “Everyone is cute, even me. . .” and then passing out. In Centauri culture, am I to understand that getting wasted is the way to achieve one's "total sense of self" (or however Vir puts it)? An interesting cultural method, to be sure.

Paranoid G’Kar was great. Na'Toth has been a great addition as well. The Narn in general are a lot of fun.

6: MIND WAR

Walter Koenig! Great to see him in a non-Chekov roll, at first I thought he'd be distracting, but he fit into the universe quite well.

Another great episode! I've been very curious about the Psi Corps and of telepath culture in general. Great to see, and I'm eager to learn/see more.

There was a shot of purple skies/cosmos, and I thought it was rendered quite beautifully. This show is not without its visual splendor, despite its aged effects. At the time I'm sure the effects were quite revelatory, and I've come to appreciate them.

Loved the description of the telepath lifestyle: "It's like always hearing voices in the room next door" or something like that.

A very important question: What the hell is a vibe shower?? Haha

Another Cronenberg reference? Scanning?

“He could squeeze your arteries shut” was terrifying. I'd read a whole comic book or read a whole novel about these telepathic cops and rogues.

Great to see G’kar unexpectedly save Catherine (if I'm remembering her name), working together and so on, reminded me of Star Trek in the best way.

Sinclair punching Bester was unexpected but I shouldn't find it suprising, he always seems to want to be in on the action, get his hands dirty etc. What fall out could there be by assaulting a Psi Cop, I wonder?

Ironheart dissolving into space was beautiful!

G’kar’s ant analogy was wonderful. “They walk near Sigma 957, and they must walk there alone”

Alright that's all for now, thanks for reading and for the continued encouragement!

Be seeing you :)

In my opinion this would be a interesting take. We could see finally how advanced Centauri tech is and how the Minbari would do fighting in two fronts.

I ask as I had considering getting it, but as it’s 100$, I don’t know if it’s worth it as I don’t know if it comes with official subtitles for those who have a hard time hearing certain words.

I’ve watched twice now and always lose momentum on S2, any advice?

I have a stack (well, 23) of the original B5 Script books, the complete 15 Volume set, plus 8 additional ones... Is there anyone interested in buying them?

Let me know... thanks, Eric

https://preview.redd.it/xq7enl8cbyuc1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=271f8ec3d591b6d14a69881143fb73dd57ad7d71

I came across a complete set of cards for Wheel of Fire season. Anyone know where i might be able to trade them?

Like, he’s fucking awesome to watch in full on Team Rocket mode, but it’s also REALLY REALLY WEIRD to see him act so cartoonishly evil and scheming to upend interplanetary relations and be framed as a legitimate threat to the Centauri.

Hey everybody! Let's do this!!

First up, just want to thank those of you who have encouraged me to post my thoughts as I go through this wonderful show for the first time!

Secondly: Man, before I started this program, during my initial, cursory Google search, I was almost convinced not to watch the show at all, because so many fans declared the first season to be "very bad". I can't figure out WHAT they're talking about (despite some aged visual effects and some broad acting choices [both of which I enjoyed and had no problem with])— every episode has a highlight, and each one adds something vital to the characterization of this great ensemble. Absolutely loving it so far.

Alright here we go: Episode 2: The Soul Hunter:

Overall, really, really enjoyed this episode. Love that 3 card monty still exists in such an advanced society, it shows how culture has lived on and how folks are still susceptible to scamming one another/being scammed (a thematic connection here to everybody's suspicion/distrust of each other [distrust that necessitates telepathic business meetings/ambassadorial negotiations, for instance]).

I was shocked when the 3 card monty dealer got shanked, you'd never see that in Star Wars/Trek! And then we're given insight to funereal protocols on the station: it was deemed by the scam artist's family that it's too expensive to transport the body to his home world (heartbreaking), and so Ivanova speaks a few solemn worlds as they commit the body to space via a "Viking funeral", very moving and interesting to see a low level, minor character be given this sort of send off, it really added to the station's culture.

The Soul Hunter was creepy and great, and I love how everyone in the ensemble is mysterious, everyone seems to have a dense history of which I'm only just scratching the surface.

Londo’s admission to Garibaldi about his ancestor (great-grandfather or grandfather) committing wartime atrocities: he could be lying! And if he's telling the truth, what a moving admission to Garibaldi it is! They're so annoyed by one another yet they know they're linked and need each other for the station's security.

The insect alien the soul hunter visits is fantastic, hope we see more of it. My favorite alien design so far, the animatronics are terrific.

Garibaldi is growing on me, (still hate the name, for some reason), however I'm less compelled by Sinclair, who hasn't emoted much and is the character with the least amount of intrigue (so far!). I'm sure as the show continues I'll grow very fond of him.

A nice stylistic choice: Delenn looking straight into camera as she holds a soul at the end. Beautiful.

Episode 3: Born to the Purple:

Okay, first off let me say that the show's depiction of alcohol consumption and sexuality is refreshing for any tv show, let alone science fiction. It reminded me of NYPD Blue. To be candid (and I hope this isn't inappropriate or T.M.I. . .): I'm a thirty year old alcoholic in recovery, and this show's depiction of booze already has shadows of over-indulgence and loneliness (problem drinking, as those in A.A would say), unless I'm just projecting, which is possible. . . One spoiler I'm aware of (unfortunately, however it's only heightened my interest, for obvious reasons) is that Garibaldi has a substance abuse problem (unless I read this wrong somewhere. . . forgive me if I have). What a compelling addition to an already compelling universe— that, unlike Star Trek (to my knowledge, no shade intended. . .), we still have issues surrounding drugs and alcohol. Heck, I believe The Gathering opened with Sinclair intercepting a "dust" smuggler. It's this theme (perhaps above all, selfishly) that I'm the most curious about, and it's totally fine if the show doesn't get into it in great detail, any slight insight into the issue and its characterization is still quite impressive to me, and meaningful due to my own disease.

Okay, thanks for tolerating that personal diatribe. . . moving on!:

G’kar’s spit take in the club upon seeing that a female Narn has found him in there was hilarious, he's probably my second favorite character behind Londo, so far. And let's talk about Londo! Huge episode for him! I got the impression that at moments he was almost letting himself be lied to by the Centauri dancer, falling for her as he does, and it highlighted how he's a lonely (slightly disgraced?) little alien with self-esteem issues. Can't wait to see how his character develops. I really felt for him— it pointed a finger toward people's desperate relationships with erotic dancers that exist in our present, as well as in their far future.

Question: I found it interesting that Sinclair, as the station's Commander, didn't just order the club owner to bring forth the dancers for interrogation, it's an interesting jurisdictional choice, and it left me wondering how come he'd go in disguise with Londo when he could probably exercise his power to gather information more easily.

Question 2: Why did Ivanova have to hide her transmissions to her ailing father? It was a nice moment when Garibaldi told her that he found out what she was doing while not outright saying it, but I was left a bit confused as to why she had to, like, encrypt her communications?

Alright, that's enough for now. Thanks so much for reading! I hope this all made sense and was somewhat interesting to anyone. If folks are still interested, I'll continue to post, despite my self-consciousness. What's the B5 equivalent to "Live long and Prosper"? I'd like to end these posts with some sort of cheerful salute to you guys :)

Hi y'all :) New viewer to B5 here -- I grew up on and love 90s/2000s-era sci-fi shows (Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek...DS9 is one of my all-time favorites, and *yes* I know B5 did it all first, lol) but B5 was always the hole in my mind my watched content, up until recently when I started making my way through the series via Tubi. I'm now about halfway through the first season and absolutely dying to talk about it, or at least share a little of my excitement and enjoyment. I've generally tried my best to stay blind to future story developments (I know Sinclair gets replaced at some point...and that's pretty much it, lol) so no spoilers please :)

• I love how fleshed out the world and the setting is, and how many details are seeded all over the place for the viewer to pick up -- callbacks and call-forwards, exposition conveyed mostly in a realistic and non-contrived fashion, all the various plot arcs and story threads weaving in and out... I can't help but make comparisons to DS9, for obvious reasons, but DS9 came with a lot of its world already baked in (from the broader Star Trek lore, and also the established background events sketched out in TNG), so it's really admirable that B5 accomplishes much the same while virtually starting from scratch.
• I also can't help but analyze it at least a little from within the context of its time -- in particular, the ongoing sub-plot regarding the stagnation of the Centauri Republic and the relatively new independence of the Narns kind of feels like a commentary on the recent (at the time) collapse of the USSR, the rise of newly-independent nations that were previously oppressed, and the ensuing conflicts and struggles to maintain peace in a new world. (I could very well be reading too much into this -- it might just be Londo's accent, LOL)
• Speaking of: Ivanova my beloved! Her references to the Russian mindset make me feel very seen.
• Pretty much all of the alien characters are great as well, and I love the way that each of the main diplomats and their assistants all play off each other (special shout-out to the dynamic between G'Kar and Na'Toth though, their interplay in "Parliament of Dreams" had me screaming). I also love basically any time Kosh shows up and says something cryptic, although clearly the show is now sowing the seeds for him and/or the Vorlons being kind of assholes (cf. blowing up Deathwalker's ship with no forewarning, or manipulating Talia to get a datacrystal of her memories -- what the fuck was that??? Nobody answer that, I'm just heated about it lol)
• Oh my god the shady Psi-Cops are a treat (Walter Koenig!). We love shadowy covert quasi-governmental organizations, folks. Also, one of my other all-time favorite shows is The Prisoner, so I just about shrieked when Bester gave the "be seeing you" salute out of nowhere, HAHA. Does the show go into further detail about how telepaths started popping up in the first place? Is it like an X-Men "they were always among us and recently came to the forefront" thing, or a Mass Effect "some kind of alien technology/disaster activated the dormant telepathy gene in humans", or what?
• Genuinely I think it's insane (compliment) that not only has nearly every episode been written by J. Michael Straczynski, but they've also all been like...*good*? Maybe it's because the majority of episodes have like, two or three running plots at the same time, so even if the A-plot of the episode doesn't quite hit, I usually enjoy the B- or C-plot anyways. And there's almost always at least a few zinger lines. And even when the writing is kind of ham-fisted and corny (looking at you "Infection", looking at you "Parliament of Dreams") it's still thoroughly enjoyable.
• And the one time an episode revolves around a single plot ("And the Sky Full of Stars", with Sinclair's abduction and mind probe) it's an absolute fucking heater??? I mean, from the start I loved/was obsessed with the concept of Sinclair having "a hole in your mind", and being touched by/manipulated by the Minbari in some mysterious unspecified way that APPARENTLY was good enough to end the freaking war! (My best guess: they peeked in his mind, realized that he was entirely serious about sacrificing himself to ram their ship and protect Earth, also realized that this drive is emblematic of humanity as a whole, cf. forming the Line, the Minbari had some kind of "ohhhh, maybe humans *are* people like us too" epiphany, and they're covering it up/hiding it for cryptic Minbari reasons, cf. Lennier's comment to Sinclair about his government covering up their involvement with Deathwalker.) And the scene with Delenn talking a delusional Sinclair down because she was one of the ones that BRAINWASHED HIM? And now he KNOWS? Ohhhhh my goddddd they were so crazy for doing this, it's incredible.
• Also, I fucking love how religion is such a prevalent recurring theme -- it's a huge part of any culture, but most sci-fi skims over it, so I love how much attention is given to both human religious practices and alien ones. (Again, the ending of "Parliament of Dreams" was corny as hell, but I absolutely loved it. I also loved Londo chucking a bread roll at Sinclair while yelling at him to enjoy himself. Peak show.)

That might be most of my cogent thoughts, outside of miscellaneous bits like "holy shit, David McCallum!" or how I love that the B5 set, like every other set on a sci-fi show in the 90s, looks like a glorified laser tag arena. Or that I love seeing all the random alien species that pop in and out. (Especially the mantis guy, that is *such* a good puppet.) I'm really enjoying the hell out of this show so far, and from what I hear it only goes up from here, so I'm looking forward to it :)

Just wanted to share one of favourite scenes from the show, with what I consider to be peak Sheridan, specifically 2:05-2:12.

I hope it motivates some of you on what might otherwise be a typical Monday.

https://youtu.be/MXkIuVLnsFE

First off, I love the telepath angle— how they’re hired for business meetings, how they have to control themselves. G’Kar’s proposition to mate with Lyta was as disgusting as it was hilarious (compelling, too, that 90s sci fi TV would be so adult, overall I'm pleasantly surprised by the mature content).

The Kosh mystery intrigues me for sure and I love the look of the environment suit.

Londo and G’Kar are standouts so far, great performances (G'Kar's prosthetics are terrific, whereas Londo's hairline. . . that was distracting at first, but the performance transcends it!).

Sinclair and Delenn’s moments in the zen garden were also highlights. I'm looking forward to learning more of their backstory, their friendship seems deep— how could Sinclair transcend a justifiable distrust/dislike of the Minbari? Fascinating.

Question: there are five primary ambassadors, yes? Kosh, G'kar, Londo, Delenn, and the Earthers. However, I keep seeing many different aliens in the background, are their civilizations too small or far away to warrant ambassadors?

Seems like a great community here, I'm going to limit my activity to my own posts (and hopefully won't annoy anyone too much), for fear of spoilers. Thanks in advance for any insight!

A while ago I saw S 1-4, and my memory isn't the best. Is there a good recap for the show (preferably video, but text is okay)?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DrPe80sxlm4&si=jEs8nfe8K3IlV9qM

For some reason, I was thinking about this scene from "Deconstruction" today. And it popped up in my YT feed, unprompted.

Hey all, Does anyone know which version of The Gathering is currently on Tubi?

It seems so simple, but it’s just refreshing to see characters in sci fi say, “what’s up?” to each other. Several times to the Commander and Garibaldi their subordinates ask them: “what’s up?” It’s nice to see some common social parlance on a space station. You’d never catch a Star Trek character saying, “what’s up”, unless I’m mistaken.

It’s the little things!

After watching the opening 15 minutes of the pilot, I learned about The Gathering, so I’ve just begun that. Anything I should know going in? Other than the, let’s say, difficult footing of season 1…

Similar to that previous post: fill in the blank.

This used to be a semi-recurring topic on the old B5 newsgroups.

Was just watching on Amazon when this popped up in the end credits, and on first glance I read it as ‘Not the One’.

I want to host a 24hr Babylon5 marathon but just bingeing the first season seems like a missed opportunity- do you think there are 24-30 episodes that scratch the binge itch (without the last 3 episodes) and does more justice to the series as a whole?

Oh Lord God, Have Mercy!

• Antono Refa, 2260