Babylon 5 finally available for online streaming (watch it free!)

Syfy Wire ^ | April 13, 2017 | Carol Pinchefsky

[Paul R.]

I can’t ever get beyond the first few episodes. It seems boring as hell.

I originally thought so too. But then I watched "All Alone In The Night" (2nd Season) and "Confessions and Lamentations" (super dreary title) which latter revealed a spirituality and bravery in "Delenn" that I found utterly compelling:

(The Markabs [aliens] are dying of a plague, and are going into voluntary isolation.)

Delenn: They are afraid. We wish to do what little we can.

Sheridan: - We? -

Delenn: Lennier has asked to accompany me.

Sheridan: - Delenn, I cannot allow this-- -

Delenn: I understand the risk, captain. If the disease is limited only to the Markab, we should do all we can. But if it's not, then we must give comfort because very soon, we will require it ourselves.

Sheridan: You will be exposing yourself to massive contamination! If I let you into that isolation zone -- I can't let you out again.

Delenn: I know.

Sheridan (hesitates): All right. - I'll tell security to let you through.

Delenn: - Thank you.

Sheridan, who knows about sending people to their death, fears he is about to do so again, and can't look at Delenn... (I think this is the moment he truly falls in love with her.)

Delenn: Don't look away, Captain. All life is transitory. A dream. We all come together in the same place at the end of time. If I don't see you again here, I will see you in a little while, in the place where no shadows fall.

(Sheridan is momentarily at a loss for words.)

Great acting, and, the orchestral background to this scene is spot on as well. This scene gives me shivers every time I watch it. It also, in some ways, led me to find my wife, but that's a long story...

If you want action "And Now For a Moment" is not bad.

G'Kar, on Freedom:

No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power tyrants and dictators cannot stand. The Centauri learned that lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, WE. WILL. BE. FREE.

OTOH, if your focus is just seeing things blow up, B5 is not for you.

[Paul R.]

Paul Williams, as Taq, the aide to Ambassador Correlilmurzon, is great at the end of that piece...

“Heheheheh....”

[M1903A1]

It works for the character...it gives a certain Versailles/dissolute-17th-Century-royal-court air to Londo.

[GreenLanternCorps]

Thanks

[kearnyirish2]

I tried watching it but like many of the Star Trek spin-offs it was just too much PC nonsense. Some people can see past it; it is hard to do so when the depictions are so far off from the truth you face every day in the workplace.

[tbw2]

Babylon 5’s Psi Corps – the Horrifying Implications https://hubpages.com/literature/Babylon-5s-Psi-Corps-the-Horrifying-Implications

[DiogenesLamp]

I will give it a try. I remember being urged to watch Babylon V repeatedly by folks at my first job out of college, but I was never able to get into it. Maybe time will have made it more easy to get into.

It was incredibly slow to get started. Back in the 1990s, there was very little other science fiction available, so I ended up sticking with it because I had no other choices for science fiction at the time.

First season, pretty boring. Second season, getting interesting. Third season, this show is really good!

As the article mentioned, the plot arc was long and this was completely different from anything I had previously seen. Star Trek was a series of mostly unconnected episodes. In Babylon five, there was always foreshadowing of what was going to happen in the future, and there was always references to past events in whatever was the latest episode at the time. There are intrigues with intrigues, plots within plots, and stories within stories.

It is a saga. It is a tale you cannot get in just one or even a few episodes, and you have to watch quite a bit of it before you even start to see the pattern.

Great series. I bought the entire set, and my kids and I have been watching one episode per week since sometime last year. We are now just into season three. We watched "A day in the strife" (season 3, episode 3) last night.

[DiogenesLamp]

I can’t ever get beyond the first few episodes. It seems boring as hell.

It is. A show about diplomats arguing diplomacy on a space station? Who thought anyone would want to see that crap?

Fortunately for me, in the 1990s, we didn't have any other sci-fi choices, so I kept watching it. Glad I did. It got much better in season 2, and became outstanding by season 3.

Don't skip season 1, even though it's boring. There are pieces you need to know to appreciate what happens in later seasons.

[moonhawk]

Different strokes, I guess. Wife and I liked it a lot.

She hasn’t ever watched B5—Wish I could get her to.

[VeniVidiVici]

Thanks. I’ll give it another shot. The girlfriend and I have already watched all the other Star Trek’s and Stargates :)

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

For those who didn’t see it, this DVD extra from “Dawn of the Dead” ( 2004 ) stars Richard Biggs ( B5’s Dr. Stephen Franklin ) as a newscaster during the zombie apocalypse. Except for one small part it’s awesome. Bruce Boxleitner ( B5’s Captain John Sheridan ) even has a small voice over part in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly7Laj8Yp6w

Many people post that while watching it, people just walking into the room ask if it’s for real.

[Sybeck1]

Contract ended April 4th. It’s gone