Babylon 5 on DVD [NO SPOILERS for Season 5, please]

[John Crichton]

I'd say more, but it would involve events in the 4th season, and I don't know how far into it the original poster has gone.

I just finished the first ep where Sheridan is being tortured/interrogated.

Once the Yankee game is over I'll probably polish off Season 4.

 

[TwistedBishop]

I just finished the first ep where Sheridan is being tortured/interrogated.

That's where Season 4 was supposed to end. Would have been a terrific cliffhanger.

 

[John Crichton]

That's where Season 4 was supposed to end. Would have been a terrific cliffhanger.

I can see why. It's fantastic stuff.

Actually, I've seen this episode before. It was the only episode of the show I ever watched while it was on the air. I believe I was sick that day in bed and couldn't find anything else to watch. Loved the ep but never tried to get into the show because I knew there was a plot in there that I wouldn't understand unless I got to see it from the start.

DVD made that possible.

 

[John Crichton]

Okay, now I'm done with Season 4. Thread title updated.

They really crammed alot into that season. I know that the story was supposed to spread out into 2 seasons so it did seem a bit rushed. Kinda like watching Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars where they stuffed 22 eps into 4 hours, but not as bad.

Overall - Great stuff. I just finished and there are too many cool moments running through my head. Watched the last 6 eps consecutively which really gave it a cinematic feel. I'm thinking about starting up a thread just on the finale (covering a million years!?!?!).

I'm not trying to figure out which season I liked the most out of 3 & 4. Season 5 is coming in later this week/early next.

 

[KenM]

There was a bunch of stuff that was suposted to go into season 5 that got pushed into season 4. The reason for this was JMS did not find out intil the very last possible moment if there was going to be a season 5, so he had to wrap up most of the major plot threads in season 4.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I remember the shock at seeing the earthforce 'special' ships with a bit of 'oh no', plus Ivanovas fatal injury, and Marcus' response and how that all panned out.

I remember the chill at President Clarkes 'scorched earth' message and the sense of desperation, as well as the strange effect of earth forces now fighting alongside minbari in an assault on earth.

I didn't enjoy the Garibaldi arc much at the time, although I was OK with how it turned out at the end.

I really enjoyed every scene with Lyta Alexander.

I also really enjoyed the final scene of season 4, I thought it worked well and to me that is always the 'true' end of the series (even though I know it isn't really).

BTW, what did you think of the resolution of the shadow war? I was a little disappointed that it turned out to be simply law vs chaos with the vorlons and shadows as opposing philosophies. When first introduced it had looked as though the Shadows were an earlier order than the Vorlons, with a more mysterious and sinister agenda. In the end it turned out that they were no worse than the alien race that Ivanova had diplomatic relations with (and had to seal the agreement by having 'sex'). I don't remember which episode that was in, but those aliens had pretty much the same 'evolution to the nth degree' philosophy.

Your take on Season 5 will be interesting

Cheers

 

[Orius]

I just finished the first ep where Sheridan is being tortured/interrogated.

Oh, well then you're waaay ahead of where I thought you might be.

Once the Yankee game is over I'll probably polish off Season 4.

Yankees? Arrg, B5 is the reason I hate the Yankees in the first place.

Back when the show was on the air around here, the local Fox affiliate aired the show in syndication. Unfortunately, near the end of Season 3, Fox was broadcasting the World Series playoffs or something around the same time. This goes back to the wonky airing schedule I mentiioned earlier. In any case, one of the playoff games was on earlier in the evening before B5 game on. The game went into extra innings (something like 12 innings or so), and ran over the alloted time. So instead of preempting B5 by 40 minutes, they joined the episode already in progress (and made sure to air all the commercial first). This episode was the one where Sheridan takes his fleet and kicks the Shadows' ass right before going off to Z'ha'dum. Needless to say I was quite pissed. Damn Yankees. Though I suppose the management at the local TV station were more to blame; the workers probably wanted to go home for the night rather than sticking around another 40 minutes.

I'm certainly glad they didn't pull that crap for the next episode.

 

[Orius]

BTW, what did you think of the resolution of the shadow war? I was a little disappointed that it turned out to be simply law vs chaos with the vorlons and shadows as opposing philosophies. When first introduced it had looked as though the Shadows were an earlier order than the Vorlons, with a more mysterious and sinister agenda. In the end it turned out that they were no worse than the alien race that Ivanova had diplomatic relations with (and had to seal the agreement by having 'sex').

Actually, it didn't bother me that much. What's interesting though, is that while the Vorlons are lawful, they're bigger liars than the Shadows. Think about it. They don't appear in their true form, but rather they appear how the want the younger races to percieve them. And they lie about the whole purpose of the Shadows and Vorlons too. The two of them are supposed to be guiding the development of the younger races, yet the Vorlons don't even bother to mention that fact. They spin some story about the Shadows being an ancient enemy the keeps trying to conquer the galaxy.

What I wonder is exactly what the Shadows were really up to. They're helping Earth and the Centauri out in the series, but they're far from benevolent. I can't believe they simply wouldn't give their aid to the various younger races without some price attached (of course, the Centauri do pay a fairly terrible price for taking the help of the Shadows and then later stabbing them in the back). I have my own thoughts about this.

There are other younger races who've sided with the Shadows in the past, in particular the Drakh. However, they don't interact with the rest of the galaxy (except possibly as living components to Shadow ships), until after the Shadows leave. I got the impression that the Drakh were sort of opposites of the Minbari — where the Minbari long ago sided with the Vorlons, the Drakh obviously seem to have sided with the Shadows but with one important exception. The Vorlons let Minbari society develop on its own, where the Drakh seem to have been utterly dominated by the Shadows. Is that what the Shadows' ultimate price for Earth and the Centauri could have been? Some sort of enslavement?

And that other race was called the Lumati.

 

[LightPhoenix]

While there are a number of issues I have with the fifth season (which I won't mention until JC has finished it, because of spoilers), I also think it contains a number of great storylines and character development. In particular, G'Kar and Londo continue to shine. Zack, Lyta, Lennier, Vir, and Garibaldi all get some great development. I wonder how much of this would have taken place in the non-rushed season five, as a good deal of it only works post-Shadow War.

Also, I'm a much bigger fan of Objects at Rest than Sleeping In Light, as far as endings go. In fact, I pretty much choose to ignore the last fifteen minutes of SIL with regards to B5 canon.