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Okay folks, it's time for Rowan's Definitive Guide To Getting Into Babylon 5 Because Dear Lord The Early Stuff Can Be Rough
A lot of this is in my first main AVC review of the show, but the formatting wars have not been kind there: https://tv.avclub.com/babylon-5-midnight-on-the-firing-line-soul-hunter-1798173098
A lot of this is in my first main AVC review of the show, but the formatting wars have not been kind there: https://tv.avclub.com/babylon-5-midnight-on-the-firing-line-soul-hunter-1798173098
1. Skip "The Gathering" which is listed as S1E1 on HBO Max. This is the pilot movie that was done over a year before the original show. It had half the cast different, several retools, and perhaps most importantly, it's *really bad*
You can go back once you're in on the show -- in fact I recommend it -- but it's a horrible first impression and people don't forgive B5 for those the way they do, uh, certain other deep space franchises
2. Watch the first real episode, "Midnight on the Firing Line". The official premiere, this isn't the best episode by any means, but it's a good enough intro to the world that you can see your tolerance for early B5.
if you love it, this is exactly your shit, great, watch away!
If you're still skeptical, go onto the next episode, "Soul Hunter". This is sort of a conventional alien-of-the-week type thing and it's cheesy as heck
If you're still skeptical, go onto the next episode, "Soul Hunter". This is sort of a conventional alien-of-the-week type thing and it's cheesy as heck
If you've watched those two episodes and you're still pretty skeptical, then I recommend only watching the B or above grades I gave in my AVC reviews. These are:
if you hate the lead actor, and that happens, sadly, for a lot of complicated and messy reasons, then go ahead and skip to the start of Season 2.
3. Finally, if you're watching on HBO Max, they actually put Season 2 episodes in proper order! holy shit!
If not on HBO, however, then you want to watch S2E7 "A Race Through Dark Places" before "Soul Mates"
and S2E16 "Knives" before "In the Shadow of Z'ha'Dum"
If not on HBO, however, then you want to watch S2E7 "A Race Through Dark Places" before "Soul Mates"
and S2E16 "Knives" before "In the Shadow of Z'ha'Dum"
4. And one final note: TNT made a few TV movies for B5 across S5. These do not currently appear on HBO Max and, are by-and-large inessential. However, if you do want to watch them, I recommend doing so in release order:
5. I have had multiple people ask me if the HBO version is the proper aspect ratio and yes, they're 4:3. This means that the special FX are not ghastly like they were on the widescreen/DVD versions (for complicated annoying reasons)
Why is this all necessary? Because lots of people are like "I don't skip things, I only watch television like I was born in 2005" and just press play on B5 and guess what, three of the first five episodes are some of the worst things the show ever did, and they never go back
You're Not Special. Use A Skip List.
