/r/babylon5
Discussion of all things Babylon 5
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!
Babylon 5 is available on HBO Max.
It can also be purchased on iTunes, Google Play, and YouTube:
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
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.
It's like the Zocalo, but for gifs.
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.
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
I did a quick search in the community for both the episode and the gaff but didn’t find anything. I was doing a rewatch and noticed that when Franklin and Garibaldi find Dr. Everett Jacob’s, Garibaldi tells the stooge guard to “love nice and slow”. At the same time Franklin first sees Dr.Jacobs he says “Jerry” as if to get the attention of Garibaldi - but calls the actor - not the character.
I was wondering if this gaff is common knowledge and if there are any other exams where the actors address each other by their actual names instead of character names?
The renewal uniforms. I love them. I have always loved them.
IMO, they are an improvement on the Earthforce uniforms. I always hated the undershirt.
Should've given the teeps the Markab world. Two problems solved at once.
Granted they might need to find another gate but it's not his problem how long it takes them to get there...
I broke out my tapes and we watched a few season 2 episodes. He’d forgotten how good the show was, and my wife was mildly interested. The friend left afterward and that, I thought, was that.
The next day, I came home from work to find my wife still in her pajamas and sitting in front of the tv with all my B5 tapes scattered around her, and a mid Season- episode playing.
She didn’t even look up as she said one thing to me, “I hate you.”
So let's be honest here. Babylon 5's writers did just as bad a job at worldbuilding the Interstellar Alliance (ISA) as Star Trek did with the Federation and Star Wars did with the New Republic. And technically speaking if it hadn't been for its plot armor an organization like this wouldn't have lasted as long as the worlds oldest democracies (USA and the UK) after Sheridan and Delenn left office. I will give you 3 reasons why.
Now in fairness JMS was probably rushed on the worldbuilding of the ISA. But the fact remains that if it hadn't been for its plot armor the ISA would have eventually collapsed if it didn't make the necessary reforms.
I love everything about this episode.
Sheridan's secession speech is like Legate Demar's rebellion speech. RESIST!
Delenn chrysalis'd some stones.
This was a heavy, sad but momentous episode. All the feels as one might say.
All I know is - I'd stand behind Delenn anytime.
I just finished this episode. It really hits you with the punch early, you know what's going to happen. You know nobody's going to make it out. But it's not any less sad to see when the end scene comes on and everyone is dead.
I have to say it's a testament to the actors and the writers with the characters being as likable as they are to only appear in one episode. I especially liked the bigger Marine, whose name I forget. Seemed like he was a funny guy trying to hide a lot of pain.
Franklin's father, well played. I kept trying to place the actor the entire time. I remembered it once I'd finished the episode, it's Captain Terrell from Wrath of Khan. So it was good to see him again and in a similar role.
I really like the dynamic between Franklin and his father, they left it in a very sweet place which is not where I expected it to go. So that was nice to see a father and son reconcile and beyond that be on better terms at the end of a story instead of using a falling out to drive the narrative. Which is where I figured it was going.
I'm wondering if we're going to see the outcome of the battle in the next episode, but I'm guessing we're not going to. Because Strzinski seems to like to build the tension between these climactic moments. So I'm assuming we're going to hear about it through the grapevine small talk or something later on.
The effects for the battle itself weren't great, and I wonder what strazzinski could do with an increased budget and today's leaps forward in technology. I think he could really sell his vision of the future and of Babylon 5 in a much more realistic way if it was made today.
All in all, I really enjoyed it, it's a good War story, but it's also so much more than that. It's a story about people, the dynamics we have with each other, and how we act socially. I'll say this the writers have a great grasp on sociology of characters and sort of the psychology of how we play with each other. I think that's what really makes it believable. So marks to them.
But greatness is never appreciated in youth. Called pride in midlife, dismissed in old age, and reconsidered in death. Because we cannot tolerate greatness in our midst. We do all we can to destroy it. - Lady Morella
Geez, man. So eerily relevant today.
So the first commander of Babylon 5 re-forged Mimbari society, defeated the Shadows, began the migration of Souls between two species, and his (new) name is venerated for at least a thousand years.
The second commander of Babylon 5 drove the first ones out of the galaxy starting the Third Age of Mankind, saved Earth from facism, was the first President of the Interstellar Alliance, and *his* name will be venerated until Earths sun goes Nova.
Now you are Lochley on your first day.……
I got pretty far into this series before noticing how ears on the Minbari are different from those of the humans. There are no ear canals.
My husband has been recently elected the president of the Interstellar Alliance after the end of the Earth Civil War. His original replacement for his old job (commanding officer of an Earth space station) couldn't take the job for personal reasons, so he had to hire someone else, another Earth captain called Elizabeth.
Now, she's the right person for the job, I won't argue that. But I just found out that she and my husband were married for three months some time ago. He didn't even tell me, I only found out because of an offhand comment she made. We've just gotten married ourselves. I just think he should've trusted me. AITA?
There is a scene, where Sheridan is in grave danger and decides to jump (no, not that one, the first instance) where he is saved by one of the embassadors. Everyone around sees some kind of luminous being. Except for Londo. Why does he not see anything? Did the being decide not to show itself to him? Have the luminous beings never been to Centauri Prime? Was Londo excluded by choice? Was he too deep in the shadows?
I have just the final episode left, and i have seen this fantastic series many, many times. One of the things that really astonish me every time, are the really realisic portrayals.
They feels like really real beings, which i do not always feel with other series. JMS did not cast perfect actors and actresses. He cast the people perfect for the roles they had to embody.
I can't find a real flaw or misstep by the ppl portraying them. The flaws seen on screen, are the flaws in the characters they become.
Alsouch respect for all the artists behind the makeup, prostetics and costumes and and and...
I have the utmost respect for all the ppl behind the series for making such a fantastic and believable epic story for us.
I went to the lurker's guide and found it seems to be erroring out on a few pages like clicking the Episodes tab from here (http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/master/eplist.html) at the top: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/episodes.php
I'm hoping this a transitory glitch, but I'm hoping the site maintainer is here and might see this. It would be really depressing if it went offline, since Lurker's Guide has been a mainstay of the Internet and B5 since the original broadcast run.
I'm also wondering if there's an easily accessible mirror should we need it.
There is very little about Babylon 5 that I don't love, but this scene always sent shivers down my spine every single time I watch it.
It is funny how this show still causes me to react in such a way, no matter how many times I watch it.
This episode scares me. This lady from nightwatch is disturbing.
Just got to this episode on my rewatch, and was reminded how I thought it was inspired by the Canticle. Has JMS ever spoken too it?
I am thrilled being able to watch the series on Blu-ray, yet I am really struggling each time I attempt to get a disk out of the holder.
I have the new package of the entire series. Is there a secret to how to easily get the disks loose from its plastic holder?
I am afraid I will break a disk trying to extract it. They pop back in place easily enough.
Any thoughts?
I’ve been listening to Babylon 5 for the first time in an episode per episode watch along style but I’ve also got Grey 17 on my list to watch, which is in a similar format
Anyone got any preferences?
I watch all my DVDs and blu-rays on my PS4. Never had any issues. I bought a copy of Lost Tales on sale, and it wouldn’t play at all. It was only $5, so I ordered another one. That one didn’t play either. Exact same issue. Both copies came from Amazon. Since this has never happened to me before with any other discs, I’m wondering if there was some issue with the Lost Tales DVD production run? Has anyone else encountered this?