Babylon 5: Previously unreleased concept art and interviews with 16 FX artists

[LoadWB]

There’s a not so long story attached to why season 1 was a bit different from the others. ; )

Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say, that came under the heading of off the record.  Can I recommend you take a shifty over this.  It’s the first of a two part review that you might find of interest, and explains one part of that story.

http://www.republibot.com/content/hidden-evolution-babylon-5

Thanks for this.

I recommend B5 to a lot of colleagues who are into sci-fi but missed out on its original airing as I did.  Personally, I have a habit of picking things up late and really liking them: "Babylon 5," "Stargate SG-1," "Battlestar Galactica," which I started watching in the fourth, eighth, and second seasons, respectively.  I never got to see earlier seasons of B5 until just recently when Hulu and then The WB had them online.  I really wish I had gotten to see the series in its entirety back in the 90s.  (I've recently been secretly watching for a chance to buy the DVD collection on the cheap.)

But, yeah, the first season was just harsh.  Differences between 90's and today's visual effects qualities notwithstanding, I imagine it would have not survived the first season these days.

But I'm glad it did.  And reading this article on the first season births in me deeper thoughts on the series as a whole.  I find it to be a treasure as it touches and excites me deeply.  Though I am slightly disappointed with the accelerated ending to the series and the giant leap forward in time.  And I have to say that I was rooting for Lando and hoped he would find a way to break free to save his people rather than sacrifice himself as the galactic face of evil.

[LoadWB]

Keep an eye on Best Buy. I managed to get the entire series at $20/season over a period of time by waiting for sales. Haven't seen it there recently, but it may still be around.

Roger that.  Thanks.  I'm keeping an eye out for B5 and ST:TNG everywhere.  Sam's Club had all but one seasons of B5 for $15 each and three movies together for the same, but I missed out due to end-of-year money blues.

[LoadWB]

I would like to have seen the Vorlon/Shadow War take all of Season 4, the Earth Civil War take all of Season 5, scrap just about everything done with the produced/aired version of Season 5, and had Season 6 deal with Londo's salvation.

I can dig this.  The story line ended rather abruptly for my liking.

[LoadWB]

Just posted today on /.

http://features.slashdot.org/story/13/04/09/1453238/interviews-ask-j-michael-straczynski-what-you-will

[LoadWB]

Why people who says first season is crap, like the 5th?. I liked the first season, and the rest, but 5 was crap from my point of view.

I liked the first season, it was just difficult to get through.  I can deal with the lengthy introduction to characters as almost absolutely necessary for a story this complex.  But even once most of that was done, the character development was awkward, the acting was pretty bad, and the make-up artistry was pretty sophomoric.

A lot of people who just want explosions and shyt would have, did, and still tune out.  I held on and was richly rewarded.  But, hey, I watched all of "Dune" and "Lawrence of Arabia."