10 Years Ago... Season 1 of Babylon 5

[RCmodeler]

10 Years! Ugh... I feel old. 11 years ago I watched "The Gathering" pilot movie and I thought, "Wow awesome Commodore Amiga computer graphics dude!" (I was 20 at the time...I cared more about technology than story.)

And 10 years ago I was watching the first season of Babylon 5. I thought, "Ehhh... okay show but not as good as Star Trek. And what's the deal with the 'hole' in Sheridan's mind??? I'm getting bored. Just tell us already!"

And then I quit watching around June.

I went off to Penn State.

Totally forgot about Babylon 5.

Until November when I stumbled upon the World Wide Web (1994 remember...WWW was a brand-new technology), and discovered the Lurker's Guide, and read the words "novel for TV". I became an instant slave to the series, and I've loved it ever since.

Best damn series ever.



CRAZY IDEA:
I will watch one episode of Babylon 5... each week... following the original airing schedule. It will be like reliving the joy like I did in the past. (And the pain of having to wait a whole summer to resolve cliffhangers!)

Yep crazy idea, but I have nothing better to do.

See you in 2009.

;-)

[Kevin]

::laughs:: I don't have the personal self-discipline to relive those 5 years of waiting and such all over again... twas bad enough the first time.

Though on an amusing note, I'm often told that I'm a very patient person, and that I never seem to be in a complete rush for much of anything. Which isn't entierly true... I get excited about things, but I'm perfectly content to waiting for quite a long time for some things. Dosen't bother me too much.

I attribute that completely to Babylon 5

[RCmodeler]

Yeah. Bad idea! I don't have enough patience to live through an entire summer between Chrysalis cliffhanger and the Season 2 premiere!

Although watching B5 in "real time" gives you a sense of how much time actually passes for the characters. If you watch the series straight through, it seems trivial.... but if you stretch the story across 5 years it feels EPIC... and you realize what a struggle it was for the characters.

And for us loyal viewers.

.

Looking back, I have bittersweet memories of B5. GREAT episodes... intertwined with the pain of college exams/homework... long, long, long waits between new episodes... watching the show at wild hours like 1 a.m. Sunday evening... plus not knowing "Will the show be renewed?????"

Yep, I was there for the First Age of Babylon 5. I was there during the first original airings.

It was a wild ride.

[Ranger1]

Re: 10 Years Ago... Season 1 of Babylon 5

Originally posted by RCmodeler
And what's the deal with the 'hole' in Sheridan's mind??? I'm getting bored. Just tell us already!

You mean Sinclair's mind

[RCmodeler]

I'll have to talk to Delenn about this. Find out why "Sinclair" was replaced with "Sheridan". There's a hole in my mind, and I WILL find out who's responsible!

(hold for drama)

(fade to black)

[Ranger1]

Oh and btw
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABYLON 5 whooowhooooo

[Capt.Montoya]

Funny you mention the Amiga... that's how I first heard of B5, I was doing some computer animation (at a very basic amateur level) with Amigas at school...

I rented The Gathering (labeled simply as "Babylon 5") just to see the animations. They were simply outstanding... some looked quite real, wiu\th the advances in computer graphics they may not look like much today but at the time... WOW! (damn marketing mistakes for killing such an amazing graphics computer).

I found the story interesting and promising but didn't get to watch B5 for years...

The story of why is for another time.

It wasn't until the middle of Season 3 that I started watching (but not in time to see War Without End), it was in full motion and it dragged me in, inevitably and much to my enjoyment, and knowing it was a "novel for TV' also made it compelling.
The Lurker's guide helped a lot on being up to speed and understand what was going on.

I only went through the pains of "renewal or not" for Season 5.
And I got cable TV because of B5...
I then got to watch it complete on TNT... I was even more amazed at the epic breadth of the story.
Then I also watched it in full on SciFi.
With each new viewing finding deeper understanding and gaining greater respect for just how well written and meshed the story was.
I'll buy the DVDs one day (can't at the moment), and watch it again and maybe a few years, or just months, later once more. And I'm not one to watch TV programs again.
But Babylon 5 is simply great and amazing.

[MALCOLM XERXESÖ]

THE LURKERÆS GUIDE TO BABYLON 5Ö

RC,

Unlike you, I was hooked immediately on BABYLON 5Ö when the pilot telefilm was broadcast, & *knew* that it would become an ongoing series.
More importantly, I *needed* it to become an ongoing series!

Being able to view several episodes in a single day does not ôtrivialiseö the programme for me; rather, it gives me a better sense of the charactersÆ subjective experience of the passage of Time.
I felt that I paid my dues during Seasons 1 & 2 of the original broadcasts, when I had to chase the series all over the schedule, from network to network.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

CAPT. MONTOYA,

I find myself impressed by the SFX in the pilot telefilm to this day, as it was the first time that I became aware of them beyond the context of clear visual storytelling: I literally felt my heart race whenever we were shown the stationÆs exterior, something which did not happen when I sat in the cinema watching STAR WARSÖ in 1977 (although I was very impressed by DARTH VADER, LORD OF THE SITHÖ!)

I was not aware that the series had been conceived as ôa novel for TVö; all I knew was that the programme had the tightest dramaturgy I had ever seen in episodic SF, something that I had always wanted from STAR TREKÖ.
(ôTemporal Cold Warö?!)

I only just *got* the title of THE LURKERÆS GUIDE TO BABYLON 5Ö, as I read your post!

[B5_Obsessed]

It should also be noted that JMS got the term "Lurker" from his longtime presence on the Internet. I believe someone on Usenet suggested it to him as the term became popular for those people who lurk in forums and chatrooms.

I recall seeing a one-page foldout in Starlog magazine back in 1992, that showed some texture maps of B5 as well as several partially rendered graphics of the spider-like breaching pod used by the Minbari assassin. I looked it over and said, "What the hell is this?" (A little more info please )

I came across other articles on the story including a TV Guide featureone that featured JMS and described the world he was bringing to the screen. JMS touted his androgynous Minbari and his more-alien aliens (aka, The Zoo). Well, not everything worked out as planned - Delenn became a she, and the aliens became distinctly humanoid, but at least the show never devolved into Michael Westmore's head bump of the week.

I saw the pilot, thought it was cheesy but with potential. This was a view I held of the show for much of Season 1 (I often warmly referred to it as "Cheez Trek"), but I love science fiction and stuck with it. Hell, I even watched Time Trax fairly often so you can see how desperate I was.

From the beginning, Babylon 5 always had a sense of purpose; a feeling that something was going to happen. And boy did it. By the time "And the Sky was Full of Stars" aired, I knew this show was going to keep getting better. I missed "Crysalis on the first run, which sucked, and then read in the dailies that Bruce Boxleitner was replacing O'Hare. Then I really wondered what the hell I'd missed. A similar thing happened when PTEN buried "Between the Darkness and the Light" and "Endgame" somewhere in the middle of the night. By the time I'd found the show at 3am, it was "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars". Once again, I said, "What the HELL did I MISS?"

Aside from those completely blameless lapses, I've been a steady watcher of B5 from Day 1.

I also agree about the show being more epic the first time around. There's a sense of having lived through this 5 year odyssey that is lost when you watch Season 4 in 2 days like I did.

[circularREASON]

Well I was fortunate to get hooked on B5 from the very beginning.

One day coming in from work flicking through the channels stumbling across Channel 4 - in the Uk.

Drawn in by an episode of a new sci-fi series - ''Midnight on the firing line'' - Of course after watching this I am glad to say that I was hooked.

I finally got my family and extended family into B5, and followed it - again on Channel 4 in the UK for the next 5 years ( extended season breaks not withstanding - but we did get ''Z'HA'DUM'' first. )

I was at ''Wolf359'' in Blackpool. Jumping on the ''B5 Express'' tram - I have never seen so many Minbari & Narns all in one place. And as for ''Glitter Kosh'' at the disco - Truly inspired sequin costume.

Wonderful Memories.

There isn't a lot more really to say.

Happy Birthday B5


ps...


Wasn't ''Sleeping in Light'' Wonderful.
A wonderful end to a wonderful series.

[MALCOLM XERXESÖ]

TIME TRAXÖ

Originally posted by B5_Obsessed
Hell, I even watched Time Trax fairly often so you can see how desperate I was.

*OOF!*

B5O, did you really find TIME TRAXÖ to be as bad as all that?

I rather liked the programme, although I thought & felt that the world-building potential of its pilot was dropped in favour of transtemporal police antics.

I would have liked to see more of how the world of DARIEN LAMBERT came to the point where he would rather go into the past, than deal with the fact that Caucasians have become the minority to Spanish-speakers who refer to him as a ôstupid blancoö.

*******************************

CR,

Many of my fondest childhood memories are of being taken to Blackpool by my adoptive parents, so I can only imagine the thrill you & others felt!

[NotKosh]

I caught the Gathering and recorded it. I then religiously watched and recorded every episode. I also sent in a few letters in support of renewal, because I was only 3 years old when people were doing it for Trek!

I also have a 3 inch stack of scripts purchased from thestation, and some of the promo stuff from the stillborne PC game.

Here's hoping we here something great from JMS really soon.

[MALCOLM XERXESÖ]

VOTING WITH YOUR REMOTE CONTROL

NOTKOSH,

Welcome to the domain!

I applaud your becoming involved in the fight for what you want as an audient.

[LytaaaarGh]

I jumped on during the original airings too! CH4 12pm on a sunday morning.... when you've only got 'Little House on the Prairie' to contend with, you know what wins!!!!

For some reason though (THx ch4) i missed the second series - probably due to some stupid airtime changes and only recaught the show as it began in season 3.
However
The immortal words of ivanova in the VO at the beginning stopped me dead in shock and disbelieving excitment.
The words 'It Failed'
were monumental to me, they told me that here was a series that changed, that didn't reset to zero at the end of each ep, that the story moved on in a linear format, that decisions had consequences that could never be taken back.

I turned the television off.

You may think that odd, but those 2 words told me that i had to watch the series from the beginning, in order and not miss any out. I was lucky enough that my local video shop was up to date with the video releases. So my mission began
I took my sci-fi skeptic flat mates along with me on the journey (simply cos they had no choice if they wanted to sit in the living room). They went from piss-taking to intrigued to awed
And better than that, when i finally ran up to the end of the videos - it turned out the 2 lovely videoshop owners had been following my journey on their computer screens and were avid fans themselves. They lent me all the rest of the series as they taped it off the tv. My very own B5 family :P

Thx and happy Bday B5

[MALCOLM XERXESÖ]

IVANOVAÆS VOICE-OVER INTRODUCTION

LYTAAAARGH,

I recall the first time I heard SUSAN say ôIt failedö, & the thrill which went from my scalp down to my coccyx.

You were fortunate to find yourself in the position to be able to rent the episodes, as nobody stocked them nearby where I was dwelling @ that time, & nobody I knew would watch the programme, so I was very much ôall alone in the nightö.