"Sleeping in Light" - Ten years ago

[Jan]

Hard to believe, isn't it? It was on November 25, 1998 that "Sleeping in Light" aired and the Babylon 5 saga was completed and the lights turned out by a rather familiar looking maintenance guy.

Ten years is a chunk out of anybody's life. And yet there are still B5 communities like the moderated newsgroup and the JMSnews forums (which began 5 years *after* the show ended!) and B5TV and others.

I've seen many shows that had sites try to stay alive after the end of new episodes and most of them go dead or deteriorate into flamefests or spamfarms after a short period. JMS' assertion that B5 attracts great fans continues to be true. B5 fans form communities.

Thanks to DVDs and rental sites and online availability the show continues to attract new fans. Long may it continue.

Jan

[Morden]

Well said, Jan!

[glindros]

It changed the future and it changed us.

Five cheers for Babylon 5. Hip Hip Hip Hip Hurray!

The fandom associated with B5 continues to be more friendly and inclusive than any other group I've been associated with.

[Jan]

So...lets get some use out of this thread, shall we? Post whatever you like about the show. What has it meant to you? What's your favorite episode? Season? Opening sequence? How did you discover B5?

Aside from being the best show I've ever experienced, I'm super grateful to have had the opportunities to help out here on JMSnews and also to be part of the Scripts Team. As JMS always says, do what moves you to passion and things will work out.

Jan

[glindros]

Babylon 5 opened my eyes to science fiction universes not ruled by double nacelled ships.
It showed me that reset buttons diminish rather than enhance.
It gave me characters with whom I shared traits, ambitions and desires.
It showed me people who fail as well as succeed.
It taught me to not give up, and to stand by your principals.
It showed me that life goes on, even after the big mistakes happen.
It introduced me, through it's fandom, to many amazing and great people.

It also broke my wallet..... script books, quote gear, collectibles, conventions...

Thank you B5 and jms.

[Ranger 6 and 7/8]

Well, B5 came at a transition in my life. I had just graduated in 1993, and the pilot movie came on that summer just prior to my first full-time job. Then fortunately for me, the local affiliate started airing it @ 100 am which is when I was getting in from work. I never missed an ep and turned my dad onto it. Which was something as he is a die hard original Trek fan. The storytelling JMS gave us really appealed to me because i have always enjoyed a universe that gave us some type of continuity to it. The emotional development of the characters was something that was missing in the other scifi series of the era (Though it quickly became apparent they wanted to copy B5's feel). During the course of the show, i met my wife. We were seriously into our relationship as the show was drawing to a close.She wasn't with me for the series finale, but the emotional content was such that i made a special trip to her house that week (we lived 300 miles apart) and had her sit and watch it with me.
Before this, she put up with my devotion to B5, chalking it up as a quirk she would have to tolerate if she loved me as much as i loved her. 2 hours later, she looked at me with tears streaming and told me it was the most beautiful story she had ever seen.
The look in her eyes that night removed any doubt that our love was fleeting. When you can share a passion that you felt was only yours with someone you truly deeply love, and they show it hits them the same way, you just have to keep that moment alive.
To this day, when we want to really express our feelings to each other, one of us will always say "you are the brightest star in my sky." To which the other replies immediately "you are my sun, my moon, and my sky".
That is how B5 hit me, and now i am watching it with my son who is already showing signs of loving it.

[thegavel]

It changed the future and it changed us.

Five cheers for Babylon 5. Hip Hip Hip Hip Hurray!


The fandom associated with B5 continues to be more friendly and inclusive than any other group I've been associated with.

I AGREE.

"Hurray Hurray Hurray Hurray Hurray".

And we're still here!!!

It changed the future (of sci-fi) and
it changed us (for the BETTER).

On my Grand parents grave are the words..
"Until we meet again", I've left instructions for mine
to read the same with the addition of
"where no shadows fall".
Thanks to everyone here,
You guys/gals have made B5 a bigger & better part of my life.
CHEERS
GAVIN.

[Morden]

Agreeing of course with all that has been said above, I would add that I thank B5 and it's story-telling becauce it opened the eyes of the makers and the viewers regarding ongoing story-arcs and therefore (together with "Twin peaks" and "X-Files", on a minor note) made all these current high quality shows possible. BSG, Lost, The Shield, The Wire, Rome, even Prison Break and 24, they owe to Babylon 5 that it succesfully established working with the heavy story-arc format.

[circularREASON]

Well I suppose B5 means a lot of differnt things to a lot of different people doesn't it. I always remember seeing it for the first time on UK Channel 4. I was just gobsmacked to be honest that something so different to ST could be so damn good. The first episode I caught was Midnight - so I suppose it must have been when C4 started showing B5.

It kinda drew me into a place where I could belong. A place in which people mattered. The stories were of mistakes and terrible loss. Acts of heroism and selfishness went hand in hand over the 5 years as everything changed in one way or another. The stories resonated with me in a way which nothing had before, and through that I was hooked. Every week B5 was on meant being sat in front of the TV waiting for the next exciting chapter. Even when the episodes were naff (oh grey 17 is missing) it still left enough of an impression on you to watch the next one, and the next.....

SIL : Basically I made the wife and lad leave the room, packed in the tissues, and cryed like a baby. I suppose because we had watched these people grow, just as we grew over the 5 years it was almost like losing someone who was incredibly close. A friend or loved one. But the ending was not sad, it brought with it the hope and promise that even when things seem bad, there can always and must always be hope that things change and eventually things do work out - even for people like us.

And now my son is an avid fan. Watched all the episodes, and movies. He will always treasure it as well which fills me with immense pride.

So all in all (now i can stop rambling) Thanks Joe.

It was one hell of a ride.

[*Starstuff*]

Many of you have already expressed - in much better words than I could - why this show is so special. I agree that the way the stories were told, the way the characters grew was something I had not seen before on TV and it got me hooked. This was a _real_ universe, with _real_ people who struggled through the ups and downs of life just like anyone of us. And they failed. This made me feel better when I failed at things that I wanted to achieve.

When SIL in aired originally, I had just started my year as an exchange student in the US, I had been there for about 4 months and was so overwhelmed that watching Tv shows was not really on my mind. I had caught the occasional episode at home, but my parents didn't let me watch it all the time.

So, last year I got into B5 in earnest. I had just left my partner of seven years whom I had wanted to marry (sometimes, things just don't work out), I was writing my final thesis for college, I had to find an apartment of my own (leaving behind most of my adult life when I moved out), and then I lost four friends in rapid succession (accidents and health issues). I think this is more than any person can handle without going insane and so I withdrew for a while and watched B5. I bought the DVD sets and went through one episode after another, sometimes as much as five or six episodes a day. And I re-watched it when I didn't have the money for the next box. In early spring this year I had watched all episodes _except_ SIL. I had spoiled myself while surfing on the net, I knew roughly what to expect and I was a little afraid of it. After all, these characters had grown on me in a time when I needed an escape my from my own world so desperately and losing them was scaring me. A friend convinced me in the end to watch it, mainly because I was attending a convention that features Bruce and Peter. So I watched it, the night before. And sheesh, I cried. I must have used up a complete box of kleenex.

But the wonderful thing was - as much as it hurt, it also gave me hope and showed me that there is always something to look forward to, something that will pick you up again. I think I should have watched this episode a lot sooner, it would have helped me a lot to deal with things.

So, to end this long entry - B5 and SIL in particular helped through a very rough time in my life and I still fall back on things that have been said or mentioned in the show when I need guidance or advice.

Thanks Joe, and thanks to all the people like you Jan who helped/are helping to keep the spirit of the show alive by doing such a wonderful job, either on the script team, this forum or whatever.

And thanks to all of you guys out there who post here. It's really, really nice to talk to you and share ideas with you.

[WorkerCaste]

First and foremost I would say that B5 changed my expectations of dramatic television. That has really been both a blessing and a curse. It represented a level of story telling that I hadn't seen on TV before and left me measuring new arrivals by that yardstick. It's been great to see that storytelling like that has become more prevelant. Maybe not as tightly integrated in most cases, but still a positive trend.

The other thing that B5 always brings to mind for me is a sense of friendships and community. The first, and most obvious, is that while it was on we watched as a group with a number of fans we knew and that group became more closely knit over time. We are all still good friends today. Also, this is the only online discussion board I read and participate in. I'm appreciative of the good group of people here who came together because this work of fiction.

Thanks, all.

Steve

[Garibaldi's Hair]

Hmmm ... interesting.



On the most basic level, it is the only multi-season TV show that I can rewatch and rewatch and never tire of it. Sure, I skip a few episodes here and there these days (mainly the standalones) but fundamentally I can enjoy this story in much the same way that Christopher Lee re-reads the Lord of the Rings trilogy every year.

The only other TV stuff I re-watch is short, sharp comedy stuff like Blackadder, Futurama, Hitchchiker's Guide, Police Squad etc.

Everything else that I love about the show feeds into that re-watchability factor.

I love that the characters have very real and (occasionally) serious personal flaws and problems.

I love that the episodes mostly stand alone and yet there is this rich and complex tapestry of a larger story building up behind it.

I love that I cared who lived and who died and worried about the impact of those deaths on other characters (since they would have an effect).

I love that it reminded me (in all the good ways) of my first TVSF love, Blakes Seven.

I love that even 10 years on from the final episode, I can come to a board like this and find stuff that other fans have seen in episodes that I never even noticed/thought about even after all that re-watching.

But ... most of all, I hate that I always watch new TVSF and compare it to those traits in B5. Unfortunately, most of it has fallen far short of it, which is why I still hang out in places like this!

Here's to the next 10 years.

[Greg Bryant]

I still have Ivanova's final narration taped to my bulletin board. My favorite part is "It taught us that we had to create the future, or others would do it for us."

After the past ten years, I think more than ever that we need to learn from what Joe wrote there.

[Jan]

I still have Ivanova's final narration taped to my bulletin board. My favorite part is "It taught us that we had to create the future, or others would do it for us."

After the past ten years, I think more than ever that we need to learn from what Joe wrote there.

I couldn't agree more. What so many people don't seem to understand is that there's pretty much always *something* you as an individual can to about situations, even if it's something small.

Jan

[babylonlurker]

I couldn't agree more. What so many people don't seem to understand is that there's pretty much always *something* you as an individual can to about situations, even if it's something small.

Jan

Yes, it its something I have been saying for many years, so could not agree more. Even if you change yourself or something near you just a little bit , *you have changed the universe* (in however small a way that is).

Yeah, time flies (faster and faster)