How did you get started watching B5

[Tiamat126]

Ok this may have been a topic of conversation in the past. But I was curious as to how people got interested in this series. A few people posted in another thread I started about being new and the stories were interesting.

So how did you become interested in B5?

Tiamat126

[nova]

Alrighty, well...

To start off, I was 14. B5 was in it's first rerun run on TNT. I had been coming home from school everyday and watching Lois and Clark (note: I HATED Tracy Scoggins' character in that show so store that info away for later), which was on immediately before B5. One day I decided not to change the channel when B5 came on. I believe the first episode I watched was 'Points of Departure' of the second season. Seemed pretty cool so I watched it the next day as well. After a while, it was for B5 that I was rushing home. Because it was on 5 days a week, it was easy to get caught up and that's exactly what I did. I got all the way through to the end of season 4... although I missed the first half of 'Rising Star' which was NOT A GOOD THING for an Ivanova fan (I missed it again the next time it aired too! grrr). So the day I came home to be greeted with 'Midnight on the Firing Line' to say I was shocked was putting it mildly... what's with the make up? Lt Commander? Whoa... what's with Delenn? And who the heck is THIS GUY? And THEN Season 5 aired and I got to see Tracy Scoggins in Claudia's place (remember what I said earlier? poor gal, nothing against her as a person or an actress...). After a couple episodes, I gave up on the fifth season, only coming back at the very end simply because it was the very end. It was only about a year ago that I actually sat down and forced myself to watch all of that season.

The show, to me, is like literature on screen. And the more times you see it, the more new things you notice. As I have rewatched it again at again as I've gotten older, I've seen it slightly differently. It's probably the most well written sci fi show in existence.

[NotSoWize]

I've always been a big fan of SF books, but never really watched much SF television. Then I married a woman who happened to be a major league Star Trek fan and I started watching ST:TNG and ST: DS9. A few seasons into DS9 I was channel flipping and caught a show on the SCI-FI Channel where they were talking about what was the best SF show on television today and B5 was the unanimous choice. Considering that I really liked DS9, which they ranked second to B5, I figured I should give B5 a shot. The first episode I ever watched was probably toward the end of season three and featured a major space battle with the Shadows in all their glory. Needless to say, I was hooked and managed to mostly figure out what the heck was going on despite joining the series so far along.

[Tiamat126]

Here is a little of what I posted in the New to the community thread. This is how I got started watching B5.

My brother and I worked at the same place for a while and he had mentioned that a new space show was comming out. Now the store closed at 5:00 Pm and the show started at 5 at the time. So since I had the keys to the store I stayed a little longer. As we watched the first episode did not really grab me and I quickly lost interest. Now mind you I have never watched the Gathering to understand a little of what was going on.

As the series kept on developping charachters ( something that JMS does an awesome job at). I was watching something else. A client of mine was in the store one day a year after the initial season and asked if I had been watching this cool show called Babylon 5. Now Babylon 5 never ment anything for me as I had not liked the initial episode I had watched and never watched it again.

So I found myself tunning into the set and watching B5. I made the direct connection to something I had watched a year ago when I saw G'Kar on the screen. I rememeber that G'Kar was a character I disliked right from the start of the series. Who knew that he would become one of my altime favorite characters of the show. ( Once again thanks JMS for the wonderful script writing) As I watched Captain Sheridan and the rest of the crew interact and the visual effect I got hook. I got really interesed and followed it all the way through to TNT. Now that was a late start here in Canada 11:30 PM on Tuesday nights.

How obsesed was I with the series you may ask... I remember a particular Tuesday I went for a first date with this gorgious girl I met while working in a bar... (Well I cut the date short so I could get home , set up my Video cassette and record the episode without commercials. LOL)

Needless to say the girl and I never had a date after that... LMAO Oh well you need to know where your priorities are and mine were with B5

And that is how I got hooked on B5

((On a side note I lost interest rather fast Season 1 as I had not let the character development take place. I just remember seeing G'Kar for the first time and I said thats it I am out.))

So G'Kars character lead me to not watch Season 1 of Babylon 5

Tiamat

[Bloodshot]

Growing up, I was always into sci-fi (Doctor Who mainly, and some ST:TNG) and comic books (Valiant Comics... anyone?? Bueller??)

Flash forward to 2003, and a buddy of mine is telling me about some great storylines on Amazing Spider-Man put out by some yayhoo called JMS. He also loans me the trade paperback for Midnight Nation, which I devour in one sitting. On the back of the trade, I notice that JMS is the creator of Babylon 5. 'Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffttttt!' I think, 'That show with the terrrible special effects and has that guy with the funny hair? Seriously??'

Days later, I'm discussing the comics with another friend, and make an offhand remark about Babylon 5. Turns out, this friend is a huge fan, plus, he has been picking up the DVD sets. He offered to loan me Season 1, and I thought 'Why not.' If JMS could crank out something like Midnight Nation, maybe there might be more to Babylon 5 then I thought.

My journey through Season One began with mild amusement (Soul Hunter, Infection) to increasing interest (Sky Full of Stars, Signs and Portents) to full on addiction (Babylon Squared, Chrysalis).

The same day I finished Chrysalis, I went out and bought Season Two and Three. So there ya are...

[RMcD]

The first three seasons of B5 aired in a decent, primetime slot in the UK and the episodes got repeated at other times when they first ran (I was 15 in 1994, and susceptible to sci-fi in general because I read a lot of it when I was a kid). Between the first run and the repeats I ended up catching enough of the first season in the school holidays to piece together what was happening, though I wasn't watching all that religiously. I don't think I saw much of the second season, but I did catch the Long Twilight Struggle and Fall of Night, and by S3 I was making a point of watching or taping the episodes on a weekly basis.

Then Babylon 5 briefly hit the mainstream, and was something a lot of us talked about in school (even the cool kids that had seen it seemed to be into it). I bought the VHS volume 9 with A Voice in the Wilderness and Babylon Squared (in the UK the whole series was released on VHS), and began collecting the other volumes. I got both my younger brothers into it (especially the B5 Collectible Card Game, which is surprisingly good). Since then I've moved on to many other series, and my interest in B5 now generally rises and falls in direct proportion to the likelihood of imminent new B5 releases. Hence I am posting a lot at the moment..

[FredScuttle]

I was there at the dawn of B5.........sorry - someone was going to use that at one point or another.......

Back in 92-93 I was getting TV Guide every week - scouring the listings for new show info, tidbits etc. ( my my my - the pre-interwebz days... )

I saw the listing for a new Sci-Fi made for TV movie called Babylon 5. So.....one Tuesday or Thursday night I beleive I tuned in and watched it.

To be fair - I remember not being 'thrilled' or 'wow'ed' - just impressed and interested in seeing more.

Flash forward almost a year later when the series started and I'd almost forgot about the show. I was onboard from S1 Ep1 Midnight on the Firing Line.

Through the HORRIFIC scheduling changes on Channel 20 in Detroit I only managed to miss 3-4 eps through the end of Season 4. I started video taping them back in early season 2 when the OMGWTF Captain change happened. By then I was DEEPLY enthralled and logging onto The Lurkers Guide from my crap AOL account almost daily........

Those were the days.......

[Radhil]

I vaguely remember turning B5 on sometime in the early 90s, promptly saying "What the hell is this Star Trek wannabe crap?" *click*

I grew up later. Much later.

I'm pretty sure I even saw one of the TNT movies they'd been promoting the hell out of and being impressed but it never connected with anything in my head. Probably Thirdspace.

At any rate, it was during the SciFi daily reruns period that I picked up on what I'd been missing. Even missing quite a lot of eps I saw it as a lot better than what I'd imagined - I think the first one I really watched was "And the Sky Full of Stars", might have had something to do with it. Of course then I missed it for a month or three and came in somewhere in late S4, and was all confused. Stuck with it though, and luckily missed enough of the truly key stuff (SiL) for when they next restarted the reruns. By then, I got it. Watched more, got it a lot.

[Truth66]

Wow I see a lot of late viewers of the series. I can definitely say that I was watching it from day one. The reason being is that I came across an article in a Sci Fi magazine about this new series called Babylon 5. I believe it was Starlog magazine and when ever I get my basement organized again I'll dig up that issue. I remember that the article had early artwork promoting the various characters and mentioned that the station was "armed to the teeth". I was intrigued about this novel for television concept and also I was getting tired of Trek and looking for something new and exciting. Wow I wasn't disappointed.
Unfortunately I was unable to see the origninal Pilot when it first aired being here in Canada, but did catch Midnight on the firing line when it debuted on PTEN over at my moms place. I remember giving her a call when I saw it listed in the TV guide and inviting my self over because I didn't have that channel, but she did.
I've been a fan of the series ever since. I'm very much looking forward to The Lost Tales and still crossing my fingers for a Motion Picture to be made.

[Jan]

I missed 'The Gathering', never heard about B5 until I read an interview quote of JMS's in TVGuide about the 'novel for television' concept which intrigued me as I've always been much more a reader than TV watcher. Still, I'd tried a few other SF shows in the previous season or so and had them get cancelled so I didn't want to get interested in another.

I watched a few episodes but could take it or leave it until my then-husband mentioned to me that if I cared at all about the characters I should catch the repeat of that week's episode. I'm not sure which it was but I think it might have been 'Signs and Portents'. He was right, suddenly I was really interested and caught the episodes faithfully. I'd only been a Capital F Fan of two shows in my life at that point-Trek TOS and Dark Shadows (a gothic soap opera). From then on Babylon 5 was at the top of the list.

Then in late 1996 I got computerized and found an AOL Babylon 5 site where JMS posted and answered questions. And the Lurker's Guide. And Ebay where sometimes scripts showed up. From there a minor obsession was born (Yes, minor!! ).

Jan

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I missed 'The Gathering', never heard about B5 until I read an interview quote of JMS's in TVGuide about the 'novel for television' concept which intrigued me as I've always been much more a reader than TV watcher. Still, I'd tried a few other SF shows in the previous season or so and had them get cancelled so I didn't want to get interested in another.

I watched a few episodes but could take it or leave it until my then-husband mentioned to me that if I cared at all about the characters I should catch the repeat of that week's episode. I'm not sure which it was but I think it might have been 'Signs and Portents'. He was right, suddenly I was really interested and caught the episodes faithfully. I'd only been a Capital F Fan of two shows in my life at that point-Trek TOS and Dark Shadows (a gothic soap opera). From then on Babylon 5 was at the top of the list.

Then in late 1996 I got computerized and found an AOL Babylon 5 site where JMS posted and answered questions. And the Lurker's Guide. And Ebay where sometimes scripts showed up. From there a minor obsession was born (Yes, minor!! ).

Jan

Jan..my real question to you is..what was your obsession pre-b5? that's a tremendous hole lol.

[Jan]

Jan..my real question to you is..what was your obsession pre-b5? that's a tremendous hole lol.

I dunno....nothing so focused. My husband? Might explain why I don't have him anymore. I read a lot more before I got computerized, that's for sure.

Jan

[KoshN]

Back in 1996, Rocco, a friend of mine from work (Engineeing Dept. of Beaver Valley Power Station Units 1 & 2, nuclear, pressurized water reactors), knew I was fed-up with DS9 and Voyager, and told me about Babylon 5, and how I might like it. He lent me a few recorded-off-the-air VHS SLP tapes (very poor quality) of a few random Season 1 episodes, recorded in no particular order. I watched them and liked the show, although from this random smattering of episodes, it was hard to get a good feel for the overall story. After watching the tapes, I sought out B5 on TV (then on WPGH-53, Pittsburgh, UHF) in muddy Mono sound. At the time, WPGH was broadcasting in Mono. Anyway, the first episode, I saw live was "Shadow Dancing" and I was hooked (hard).

When B5 went to TNT, I timer recorded every episode in VHS-SP on Hi-Grade tape. Finally, I had it in STEREO! The picture was also more saturated than the WPGH picture. I bought all the Laserdiscs and DVDs as soon as they came out, including the B5 movies and Crusade.

B5 is my all-time favorite TV show. I have and have read Del B5 novels 1 thru 9, the three Del Rey trilogies (The Passing of the Techno-mages, twice), the novelizations, and the six short stories.

When Crusade aired on TNT, I made absolutely sure I recorded it (no easy feat on TNT during pro-basketball madness. <Ptui!!!> ). Initially, I wasn't totally thrilled with Crusade, but over time, those episodes, characters, actors and 99% of the music grew on me. It's an absolute crime what TNT-Atlanta did to Crusade, JMS, and the cast and crew, and I curse TNT-Atlanta for that. Haven't watched TNT since. As Londo would say, they can go to Hell!

Right now, I couldn't care less is there's any new Trek, ever again. The only Trek shows that I can stand to watch are TOS and TNG. As for TNT, if a sinkhole swallowed up that network, it'd probably be for the benefit of mankind.

[moreorless]

There was so little good sci fi around on UK TV in 1993(TNG, X-Files and Quantum Leap) that I caught it pretty much from the start although it wasnt until around Signs and Potents that I made sure I watched all of every episode.

[DeMonk]

2 years ago a colleague of mine lent me the season 1 box.
After a couple of episodes I was hooked and I bought the lot.
I never knew of its existence before that. It was never shown on Flemish TV. They haven't a clue what good SF is.