Your first memorable Babylon 5 episode

[I, Brian]

I heard people talking about Babylon 5 and managed to snag a couple of episodes over seasons 1 & 2, but they never really caught my attention.

Then I got in with a crowd who insisted that I watched some more - by this time it was Season 3.

I watched "Severed Dreams" - when Earthforce sends a fleet against Babylon 5.

Wow. Was I hooked.

I love space battles, and Severed Dreams totally caught my attention - as this is when the whole Babylon 5 universe was literally hotting up I went out for more.

When Season 3 finished I managed to borrow some of Season 2 on video, then Season 4 came along and I watched it in a room full of people.

If it looked like I might miss an episode, I would rush as fast as I could to see it - I won't say that you can drive from Manchester to Hull in 60 minutes instead of 90 to not miss an episode.

Anyway, which was the Babylon 5 episode that first caught you up in the series, and how did you follow it after?

[Paradox 99]

I pretty much followed it from the beginning, but the first episode I watched which made me think, 'hmm, this is really going to be good' was SoulHunter.
That was ep2 from season 1 I think. So I was hooked quite early on.

It wasn't until the end of the season when I saw Chrysalis, that I finally decided it was my favourite sci-fi show. And at the time, I though nothing could beat the old Outer Limits or STNG.

[Winters_Sorrow]

Well, luckily I caught it pretty much from the very beginning and managed to follow it mostly all the way through - although the beeb played merry hell with series 5, changing episodes, times & dates at will.
I also grew to hate Wimbledon as B5 was always sacrificed if a match overran on centre court.

Back to the subject at hand, the first episode which got me hooked was "Soul Hunter", which I thought was just a fabulous story & even then I was hooked by the characters and actors who portrayed them.

"Infection" made sure I always tuned in after that

Looking back, B5 relied very heavily on "big name" guest stars in the early days (Martin Sheen for Soul Hunter & David McCallum for Infection) to draw the punters in.
Sensible I suppose, but I'm glad by series 2 the main cast were the only reason to watch.

[Cyril]

Yes, Soul hunter was a great episode. At the begining, I missed quite half of the episodes of the first season when I discovered B5 because I wasn't hooked... until I saw the episode The Coming of Shadows. After this, I ceased to be an occasional viewer of the show and became a fan

[Mad Cow Bomber]

I'm not sure it was one specific episode... not one that I can recall, at least. I'd heard about the series on and off, but what little I'd seen on TV seemed corny and silly.

Well, I got into watching series on DVD while I was in college, and decided to give B5 another shot; this time from the beginning. So I borrowed Season One from a friend's dad, and sat down and watched it. The writing, acting, and special effects were (from a 2005 perspective) awful, for the most part, but I could tell it had potential. Londo and G'Kar, who proved to be my favorite characters, both just seemed laughable. But I could tell the story had potential, and the end of Season One, with the assassination of the president and Garibaldi's getting shot, really hooked me. After that, it just went downhill.

[ast]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

I heard people talking about Babylon 5 and managed to snag a couple of episodes over seasons 1 & 2, but they never really caught my attention.

Then I got in with a crowd who insisted that I watched some more - by this time it was Season 3.

I watched "Severed Dreams" - when Earthforce sends a fleet against Babylon 5.

Wow. Was I hooked.

I love space battles, and Severed Dreams totally caught my attention - as this is when the whole Babylon 5 universe was literally hotting up I went out for more.

When Season 3 finished I managed to borrow some of Season 2 on video, then Season 4 came along and I watched it in a room full of people.

If it looked like I might miss an episode, I would rush as fast as I could to see it - I won't say that you can drive from Manchester to Hull in 60 minutes instead of 90 to not miss an episode.

Anyway, which was the Babylon 5 episode that first caught you up in the series, and how did you follow it after?

I had read about the pilot in a magazine (can't remember which one now) and when it was released on video, I found it in my local Blockbuster and watched it. That was me hooked.

I also agree Severed Dreams was an amazing episode. Lots of action. And if WB had followed through with season 5, and the story arcs had followed to plan, then it would have been an amazing 2 and a half seasons. Season 4 felt rushed and season 5 didn't quite feel right by contrast. Just my opinion mind

[Mariel]

Originally Posted by ast

Season 4 felt rushed and season 5 didn't quite feel right by contrast. Just my opinion mind

Season 4 was rushed. JMS thought that he wasn't going to be able to do a 5th season so he put both shadow and Earth war in the 4th season. It was supposed to be 2 seperate seasons.
As for what hooked me, probably the movie "In the Beginning". It's not very good compared to the series but it was enough to get me to watch.

[zorcarepublic]

Well, I watched it the first time when I was young, and I forgot about it until the Internet came along.

So not really hooked by the episodes, per se, but by the Internet...

[Perpetual Man]

I started watching from the start, but was not that impressed and decided to stop. The next episode up was no.5 season one (I think) which was MIND WAR. I knew that it had Walter Koenig from Star Trek in it and thought it's be a laugh to see him without his Russian accent.

By the end of that episode I was hooked... watching every episode as broadcast except for (annoyingly) the second part of WAR WITHOUT END from Season 3 - which was broadcast while I was on holiday and while I was away there was a power cut that reset the video... so the episode never taped.

Fortunately someone heard me mention it in the local comic shop and loaned me, a complete stranger, the tape for which I am forever grateful.

Have them all now on DVD and just forced my partner to watch the lot. I'm pleased to say she fell in love with the series, and there were floods of tears by the last episode!

[stirdgit]

B5 is my all time favorite TV show. I was hooked from the beginning and I still am.

[greenman]

The first one I remember seeing was Infection, mainly because of the striking design of the bio weapon creature. It wasnt until the bigger episodes like "voice in the winderness" and "babylon squared" towards the end of the season that I really became hooked on it though. Looking back though alot of those early episodes seem much more interesting/important in retrospect when you consider they built up events latter on in the series.

Originally Posted by Mariel

Season 4 was rushed. JMS thought that he wasn't going to be able to do a 5th season so he put both shadow and Earth war in the 4th season. It was supposed to be 2 seperate seasons.
As for what hooked me, probably the movie "In the Beginning". It's not very good compared to the series but it was enough to get me to watch.

From what I'v read of JMS comments on the net at The Lurkers Guide season 4 wasnt actually compressed that much. If Season 5 had been confirmed by Warners the cliffhanger episode would have been "intersections in realtime"(Sheridan being interigated). That means they had to cut out 4 episodes worth of material which I'd guess was mostly in the form of stand alone stories which he claimed would make up 20% of that season beforehand but ended up hardly featuring at all. Season 5 was always intended to mostly cover events after the war but IMHO was the one that suffered from the changes as it ment the first half was less dramatic and had to be padded out.

[Vigilante]

I have to admit, it's been so long since I remember my first B5 episode, and with my heckic schedule, I caught random episodes when I could. But I still watched religiously. When I first heard that the seasons were coming out on dvd, I bought each new season Day 1. It was great watching episodes I never knew existed for the first time. Even though I saw many episodes before this, I will always remember seeing "Endgame," the episode where the telepaths alterated by the Shadows disable the Earth destoyers on Mars, and Sheridan's fleet attack's Earth. Mom knew better than to disturb me that hour, I can tell you. ;-)

[carrie221]

I have to admit that I never really watched the show while it was on but I caught a few episode late at night a few months ago that I really enjoyed. They dealt with telaphaths and were very interesting. I have read some fanfiction that I really enjoyed. I wish that the show would go into syndication so that I could watch it from the beginning.

[Mariel]

Originally Posted by greenman

From what I'v read of JMS comments on the net at The Lurkers Guide season 4 wasnt actually compressed that much. If Season 5 had been confirmed by Warners the cliffhanger episode would have been "intersections in realtime"(Sheridan being interigated). That means they had to cut out 4 episodes worth of material which I'd guess was mostly in the form of stand alone stories which he claimed would make up 20% of that season beforehand but ended up hardly featuring at all. Season 5 was always intended to mostly cover events after the war but IMHO was the one that suffered from the changes as it ment the first half was less dramatic and had to be padded out.

OOPS yeah um I knew that Now that you've said it, I remember hearing it on the comentary on one of the episodes of S4.

[greenman]

Originally Posted by Mariel

OOPS yeah um I knew that Now that you've said it, I remember hearing it on the comentary on one of the episodes of S4.

One of the things I liked about B5 was exactly that the stand alone episodes reduced in number as the series progressed(up to series 4 anyway). When your just starting out a story they fit in well and help add to the characters but when you get to the climax in alot of series they tend to feel like a bit of a distraction to me.