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

[John Crichton]

Oh, man. If I had to wait the entire summer between season 3 and 4, I would be posting from prison right now, having gone out and killed someone.

Yeah, 6 months sucks. And it wasn't even between seasons, it was the middle of season 4. That was also the same hiatus that we found out that there would be no season 5. Crushing, to say the least.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Yeah, 6 months sucks. And it wasn't even between seasons, it was the middle of season 4. That was also the same hiatus that we found out that there would be no season 5. Crushing, to say the least.

Thankfully, that particular "crush" went away pretty quick, thanks to TNT. (Who, while I will never forgive them for scuttling Crusade before it started, still get credit for allowing B5 a final season.)

But yeah, that break in the middle of S4... *shudder*

 

[John Crichton]

Thankfully, that particular "crush" went away pretty quick, thanks to TNT. (Who, while I will never forgive them for scuttling Crusade before it started, still get credit for allowing B5 a final season.)

But yeah, that break in the middle of S4... *shudder*

Ya know, this topic is such an interesting dichotomy. The times were are speaking of were very dark and distressing for science fiction TV.

And now, I'm smack in the middle of Star Wars euphoria and I get to come home and watch B5 which never fails to entertain and actually makes me think. A mini-Golden Age if I ever saw one. I never thought I'd recover from Farscape and Firefly getting cancelled within such close proximity to each other. And the cherry on top is that just as this Star Wars buzz wears off the Firefly movie will be out. That will probably be about the time I polish off B5 (assuming I don't do what I did with Buffy and watch an entire season over the course of a weekend - which may happen if I hit a dead weekend over the summer).

 

[Mouseferatu]

(assuming I don't do what I did with Buffy and watch an entire season over the course of a weekend - which may happen if I hit a dead weekend over the summer).

Heh. I'm right there with you.

I've borrowed seasons 1-7 of Stargate from a friend of mine. I've watched seasons 1-5 in about three weeks.

The advantage of working from home.

 

[Orius]

I really like being able to watch these eps a chunk at a time. Having to wait for new eps week after week must have been torture, especially after a particularity juicy plot point was introduced. My retention isn't great either so having seen the eps so close together really helps to piece together the story bits that I normally would have missed.

You have no idea.

PTEN had a really wacky schedule. They'd air like 4 or 5 fresh episodes of B5, then the next 3 or 4 months would be all repeats. Some of those seasons seemed to stretch on with no end in sight, yet each season only had something like 22 episodes each. And there was no normal summer break either. After about 5 months or so of repeats, they'd air like the final 3 episodes of one season, and then go right into the next season for about 3 or 4 episodes before yet another long stretch of repeats. So there really was no summer cliffhangers like TV normally has. It was weird.

 

[Orius]

Yeah, 6 months sucks. And it wasn't even between seasons, it was the middle of season 4. That was also the same hiatus that we found out that there would be no season 5. Crushing, to say the least.

Yeah, but that sounds like the usual case when TV shows get put oin hiatus shortly before cancellation. B5 was different, it just seemed they'd air something like 2 repeats for every fresh episode.

 

[Plane Sailing]

You have no idea.

PTEN had a really wacky schedule.

I'm in the UK, and once they started airing a season we would get the whole season. Somehow we always started a season way after the US, but got the final four episodes way before the US (I was active in the B5 forum on Compuserve in those days. Heady times, being able to communicate with the writer of your favourite show!)

Cheers

 

[LightPhoenix]

Yeah, but that sounds like the usual case when TV shows get put oin hiatus shortly before cancellation. B5 was different, it just seemed they'd air something like 2 repeats for every fresh episode.

Actually, that was SFC's normal schedule. They deliberately avoided showing new stuff during sweeps months, so their programs would draw better numbers. That's why, for instance, there would be a gap from November to March, episodes from March to early May, and then a hiatus until June or August.

 

[John Crichton]

Tell us when you get to the last episode of season 2. I really want to talk about that one!

Just finished Season 2. Gah-yikes.

Within the span of 25 minutes it all came crashing down. Stupid pilot and his dern curiosity. Not that I blame him.

I should have seen the Earth/Centauri alliance coming from a mile away but for some reason I didn't. Totally blindsided me. When the Centauri warcruiser opened up on the station and the Narn crusier all I could do was spudder, "No, no, no, no. Somebody do something." Over and over.

And poor G'Kar. He looked so defeated those last few episodes.

The Kosh/Vorlon reveal in the last few eps was nuts. I really liked the interrogator. I also liked how the assassination attempt forced Kosh's hand. It was well done and given just the right amount of time to boil before showing the audience what the big deal was.

In short, I loved it. It left me satisfied while still keeping me begging for more.

I have Season 3 coming in the mail this week. It can't get here fast enough.

Note: Title of thread updated.

 

[John Crichton]

Actually, that was SFC's normal schedule. They deliberately avoided showing new stuff during sweeps months, so their programs would draw better numbers. That's why, for instance, there would be a gap from November to March, episodes from March to early May, and then a hiatus until June or August.

That's not entirely true. You are right about SFC avoiding sweeps like the plague but Seasons 2 & 3 of Farscape both started up in late winter/early spring with the season finales happening about 2 months before. Season 4 had its own twisted time-table.

*bleh*