Babylon 5

Hmm...no thread? I never did dip into it fully outside of a few episodes but I gather the flame still burns for it in various corners. I gotta admire J. Michael Straczynski for being crazed/obsessed/professional enough to pull off a five season series where he actually wrote most of the damn thing.

Anyway, starting this because Straczynski posted yesterday that Michael O'Hare, who played Sinclair in the first season and a couple of episodes thereafter, passed on the other day of a heart attack.

starting this now for the first time......from insistence of one of my best friends, who has a character named after him on this show (a walk-on, but still)

Huh is this STILL the only thread for the show? Weird. And two out of three posts are me talking about a cast member who has died!

pic.twitter.com/uVlatjUocZ

— Mira Furlan (@FurlanMira) January 22, 2021

just started watching this in earnest due to the pleading of one of my best friends. he claims that there was a discussion for what to name the jumpgates on the old B5 message boards, and he suggested "Quantium 40" and that Joe P used it and thus, named the waiter in ep 6 after him ("David will be your waiter").

I know season 1 is supposed to be the huge weak link and yet I still find myself drawn in by the performances and developing characters even when I can tell the episode is "bad guy of the week". I did find the episode "Believers" to be really stupid only to be blindsided by that ending.

I'm really just excited to get into the main thrust of the series and sadly Im only on ep 12 and apparently have a lot more standalone, unremarkable eps to get through. people have suggested just watching essential eps and honestly....I can't do it. my brain hates incompletion.

but anyway this is fun shit....

well fantastic just got to the ep where Londo cheats at poker with one of his six dicks

hahha nice.

I hear this new HBO streaming has restored the shitty quality of the DVDs (theres a long story behind why that was).

S1 can feel dinky and doesnt get into the meat of the story but it has some great standalone eps - Deathwalker, Soul Hunters and of course it has Babylon Squared which is a v important "foreshadowing" ep so do pay attention!

yeah I'm watching this under the tutelage of the aforementioned David upthread, so he keeps telling me things to look out for without spoiling anything.

really trying to power through so I can get to S2 and finally get into the real thrust.

Deathwalker was a good one. my buddy told me Babylon Squared is a key one so I'm excited.

it's weird, he said I might have a hard time getting into it but it's very much my style. I know it's not really near the heights it's supposed to get to, but even the 'baddie of the week' eps are entertaining enough and getting to know the characters is enough to keep me entertaining.

just feels like an appetizer so far but looking forward to the rest of the ride.

Also, is this really the only thread? I feel certain Ive talked Bab5 on ILX in the past.

No boom today. Boom tomorrow. Always boom tomorrow.

There was probably some talk in more general threads, but this is the only dedicated one I think. I do think that in the same way Netflix apparently caused DS9 to really gain a massive latter day fanbase the HBO Max deal -- over time -- could cause the same to happen with B5. (I can pretty much see a lot of younger Expanse fans hooking into this at some point -- possibly.)

(That said, the other 90s series that I've started to see gain a real after-the-fact appreciation? Farscape.)

Have HBO Max uploaded all 5 seasons or is it being dripped out?

(just wondering if I can get better copies than the shitty DVDs I have lol)

all 5 are out.

lol I just watched the "no boom today" episode minutes ago.

THE COMING OF SHADOWS

omFG

can't remember the last ep of a tv show that affected me that way.

still have sooooo far to go but damn.

Ah yes, Mr Morden's nasty machinations. The Centauri/Narn standoffs are a great part of the plot. Londo and G'Kar both develop nicely as characters as the show goes on.

The ep just before that one with Londo's 3 wives was hilarious iirc. So much catty scenery chewing.

"Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"

FUCK! FUCK!!!!!!

i am all in on this now

That part is one of my fave moments.

But oh boy, you're in for more treats!

my buddy who has been begging me to watch this for years put it on simultaneously with me, he was so excited that I was watching it.

I definitely couldn't have watched this ep prior to Inauguration Day. eerie anxiety over the fascistic Clark regime

The scene where Delenn (Mira Furlan) snaps the Grey Council staff in two had to be shot several times because, try as she might, Mira couldn't break it. The staff finally had to be sawed partially in half by a stage hand.

I have seen the blooper reel of this, its fckn hilarious.

ok i gotta see these famed bloopers, my friend keeps telling me about them too.

Yeah that whole earth alliance corruption/fascism stuff has even more weight now than it did at the time, thats for sure.

xpost theyre on youtube! not great quality though.

Halfway into the first season, starting to get into this. At first I was having a hard time not comparing it unfavorably to DS9 (which will forever be the space TV GOAT).

it starts so slowly, i'm glad my friend warned me about that.

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SINCLAIR IS VALEN??!!!!!!

The other Redds have been watching this and I have been intrigued. I can’t really watch Star Trek other than The Original Series, but this has good a cheesier, looser, more interesting vibe that I kind of like. And yeah, they had to tell me it wasn’t Star Trek.

Did Harlan Ellison write some of these?

And D. C. Fontana.

ive just started watching this. the effects are charmingly terrible. im watching TNG also at the moment and the contrast, in that respect, is pretty stark

the effects were REALLY bad in S1 of BAb 5. apparently done on Amiga computers.

although they're not a patch on 21st century FX, the difference between like S1 and S3 is quite stark. S1 almost feels like community theater in a way.

so if I watch TNG, is it like Babylon 5 where it starts really slowly?

yeah the effects look like a video game so amiga wouldn't surprise me.

TNG starts fairly slowly but i wouldn't say it's too bad. im not far enough into babylon 5 to compare (only a couple of eps)

I'm on Grey 17 is Missing. if you'd have told me Robert Englund would have a cameo on this show, I'd say it sounds awesome, but it very much...isn't. lol.

Watching episode with gift shop. Guy from Taxi just showed up.

Is this your friend Dave, Neanderthal?

ah, JMS is the guy who says he is going to finish The Last Dangerous Visions.

Xpost nope. Diff Dave!

I want access to that HE bible that is mentioned!

just watched "Z'Ha'Dum". dear God, what an intense episode. and Sheridan is just that much more epic.

Yes, we were just watching that. I was doing something else at the same time, want to watch again.

watched the first episode tonight and, no doubt unfairly, have zero interest in continuing

First episode or the movie-length pilot?

episode

It bears repeating but this is a show that rewards patience, most of S1 feels hinky and is unfairly compared to later/better financed scifi effects wise.

oh, i'm sure! a one-ep trial is hardly a fair sampling, but i think it's just not for me

Only one human captain...

This is definitely a sci-fi GOAT moment, but I also love how it sits in big and small arcs - the first time that we see that Babylon 5 might survive as an independent entity but also within the episode there's the first big capital ships spacefight, followed by the arrival of reinforcements for the Clark government (but just one, so they could theoretically fight them off with B5 and the remaining resistance capital ship), followed by the "there's four jumpgates opening on us" so that even though the previous scene with Delenn was "get your shit, we're going to Babylon 5", I was still "oh shit oh fuck what the hell is happening now".

lol I just went to recheck the scene on Youtube, and the thing that happens IMMEDIATELY before the Earth reinforcements arrive is the twinky bridge officer declaring "It's a good thing this stopped when it did, we couldn't take much more" - let it never be said that JMS was subtle about making sure you were in the right frame for this stuff.

memo to self - hidden text only covers one paragraph!

onto Season 5. can't believe how quickly I've gotten here.

Susan's near-death scene and her breakdown when Marcus gave his life was really affecting. I love Ivanova so much....and it was a well-timed piece of vulnerability that her character rarely is allowed to have because of her tough outer shell.

also I've always loved fictional news broadcasts, so the ISN stuff is always engaging.

Went back to Season One to see what I was missing. Episode 2, "Soul Hunter" is pretty enjoyable halfway through.

Ha, onto the next episode and Mary Woronov just showed up.

Also want to comment on Ivanovna weird slight accent in the beginning.

Great Maker!

Haha yea I noticed that too. She let in a faint one, then I guess said "fuck it" after a few eps

Yup.

Need to go to sleep but duly noting that David McCallum just showed up.

I'm in Season 5 now. a bit of a letdown after the Shadow/Vorlon war ended and Clark got removed, but I love these characters so much that I kind of don't care what arc is left. but i should be done in 4 or 5 days

Missing Ivanova. circumstances of why she couldn't do 5 were unfortunate.

Aargh. The sidebar shows what is behind the hide text.

mehhh, sorry about that. :( fortunately it doesn't reveal TOO much.

No, it wasn't too bad a reveal. More annoyed at MacZing tbh.

the guest spots are the best thing about this show for me. some really good ones!

I think Brad Dourif was my favorite. really poignant episode. Bryan Cranston was more LOL considering what he's done since.

oh and Michael Beck!

biggest lols though were when Ken Jenkins (DR KElso from Scrubs) showed up

Season 2 finale was something

Its taken over 5 years but I finally got the bf into this show, we've just hit the Delenn "be somewhere else" speech and he gets it now.

As for me this is like my... 4th rewatch at least? Since first watching it on VHS in the late 90s!

Sometimes Londo in full scream sounds like Moe Howard or something.

I'm just perusing the guest stars... had completely forgotten Danica Mckellar was in season 1. And yeah Cranston too ha.

Believe what you will, until experience changes your mind.

What do you want?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp9NIZo-OZM

Harlan does the voice of the annoying/sassy AI when they reboot the systems.

Which episode (Season One?) reveals why the Minbari surrendered?

Never mind, figured it out.

Morden looks like Joe Levy.

David Warner is a the main guest on “Grail.”

Aldous Gajic

The Seeker

Honored Seeker

This is a pretty good episode

I'm jumping around the first three seasons like Babylon 4 and just recognized the second person I've encountered in real life in the show, Cousin Brucie.

Dang, that was great.

That two part episode I mean.

John Schuck as Draal after the first season.

Majel Barrett as a Centauri Lady.

Yeah the second actor playing Draal is great, quite hammy but I like it.

We just got to the whole z'ha'dum story and denouemont, other half was like "is he dead? He cant be dead right?" and I'm all "you'll see!". Its fun waiting for him to react to stuff I know is coming. I cant wait til he sees Mordens head on a pike haha.

BTW have I ever said how much I adore Marcus because its true.

If I look at MacZing and that is the last post it will show me the hidden text so I am making this post from my phone as a precaution. I assume you are talking about the Season Three finale, which I have not seen yet.

Yes, and a S4 bit too, so be cautious

Thats an unfortunate bug

Given the Z’ha’dum is the home planet of the you-know-what and Sheridan has been aching to go there to avenge you-know-who and being warned not to I guess it is a pretty big deal when he gets there.

Given that

indeedly do.

Let me test if I am correct about this bug
Here be Shadows!

Okay. And another test
Valen was here

The other way one will see the spoilers by accident is as a search result for text that is inside the h tags.

One more for the road
Hey Londo, Londo Italiano.

Finally watching the pilot

Missing Ivanova. Don’t like Delenn’s plastic surgery.

Sinclair and G’Kar are fine.

JMS seems to have a thing for redheads, like Michael Powell before him.

There is a hole in your mind

Delenn in the pilot is a symptom of the initial approach JMS had for her story arc which was she'd transform from male to female rather than Minbari to partially human. But they couldnt get a convincing male voice out of her (I think?). And also that initial prosthetic makeup looked really daft.

O rly?

Makes a lot of sense thanks.

So I feel like the pilot I watched was the original version without the enhancements he made later

Jumping back around the timeline. One character I don't care for is Refa.

My name is Vir Cotto, diplomatic attache to ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic!

Wondering if that is supposed to sound like Elmer Fudd?

Green must fight Purple. Purple must fight Green.

I don't know what I think of the Sheridan Delenn romance.

Its fairly pivotal to the overall plot!

I see. Haven’t gotten that far yet, except for some flash-forwards.

Q: WHAT IS THE SHADOWS' FAVORITE METAL SUBGENRE?

A: Z'Ha'Dum metal

Heh

And Neanderthal is back from the singularity, apparently.

Finished this. Loved it tho Season 5 is disjointed.

Finale tho...;_;

Minbari not born of Minbari

Just started back up watching.

I hope nobody minds my saying this, but John Schuck reminds me of Dr. Morbius in this.

I do like his turn in this as the runner of the Great Machine. Chews the scenery but its grand.

Yes, that is what I was referring to. Draal. Who was originally played by the guy who later played Brother Theo.

They are in Jupiter’s atmosphere now.

"Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"

FUCK! FUCK!!!!!!

Watching S3 E15 right now. So keyed up.

BB is pretty good at the scenery chewing, have to say.

Man, that was an amazing episode, have to say. Can only imagine it keeps ratcheting up. Sinclair is coming back next episode!

oh fuck, that's where you are??!!! maaaaaaan. that was a good run.

My brain exploded. I actually fast-forwarded/did a time jump and already watched the next two-parter before Easter, since the big reveal had already been spoiled for me in a few places and I wanted to see how it worked.

Entil’Zha!

Zathras knew you would come

Love the way Zathras is intentionally set up to steal the show.

Also find it charming that Trayce makes B5 reference on other threads on ILX.

I err.. do?

Search the word “Minbari.”

I'm on _Grey 17 is Missing_. if you'd have told me Robert Englund would have a cameo on this show, I'd say it sounds awesome, but it very much...isn't. lol.

I really didn't like that episode, but really especially hated Englund, which didn't seem possible. but supposedly Straczynski wrote it while he was really sick with a fever?

Yeah. That subplot is terrible, and the main plot is barely tolerable.

JMS kind of disowned it, I see

Z minus 7 days

The Z is for Z’Ha’Dum

Dang.

I was studying this image. Is it one of his household gods?

Started watching another show featuring Shadows that I am enjoying.

Well Neanderthal and James Redd, your work this year with a watch has proven strangely well timed

https://gizmodo.com/babylon-5-is-getting-rebooted-with-j-michael-straczyn-1847752907

rebooty

https://www.vulture.com/2021/09/babylon-5-reboot-in-development-at-the-cw-by-straczynski.html

Wau

Minbari not born of Minbari

More info

https://gizmodo.com/j-michael-straczynski-explains-why-babylon-5-had-to-be-1847759308

rebabylon 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORB_3eCbVEI

Feel like I keep posting the same things on this thread, like I am in some sort of…I can’t think of a word for it.

If you go to Z’Ha’Dum, you will DIY

i appreciate it. it reminds me of that warm ride I took many months ago.

and i think of the moment where I realized what "A Minbari not born of Minbari" meant.

Keep singing the word “Z’Ha’Dum” to this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ee1eQ6Rbnk
Your mission, Neanderthal, should you decide to accept it, is to flesh that out and post a recording.

I still haven’t watched much of S4.

Stealth Minbari Anthem #OneThread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpTENCWWQ74

Can't link directly to post, but right now it is at the top of the feed here:
https://www.facebook.com/MovingImageMuseum/

By the time you get this message, I will be at Z’ha’dum

Minbari also have a phrase: what is past…is also sometimes the future.

"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this."

btw one of my best friends years ago named his firstborn after Mira Furlan

HI DERE!

Amazing

Not something I expected!

BABYLON 5 ANIMATED MOVIE coming from Warner Bros. Animation & WB Home Entertainment! Classic B5: raucous, heartfelt, nonstop, a ton of fun through time and space & a love letter to the fans. Movie title, release date and other details coming one week from today. #B5AnimatedMovie pic.twitter.com/5ylImI65mm

— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) May 3, 2023

And just to be clear, this brand new original animated movie is already finished and in the can. So it's 100% real, happening, and coming out very soon.

— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) May 3, 2023

Oh wow although hoping "love letter to the fans" doesn't just equate to loads of fan service

More detail

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/babylon-5-the-road-home-voice-cast-unveiled-1235483312/

stoked

Trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z54XNJivHOs

So ready

watching The Fugitive (1993) for the first time since being a teen...fucking G'Kar is the one armed man!

he just killed the janitor from Scrubs

Whoa

That's what Janitor gets for sitting the Narn delegation next to the Vree tbf

watching The Fugitive (1993) for the first time since being a teen...fucking G'Kar is the one armed man!

Oh hey

ATTENTION #BABYLON5 FANS! YOU WANTED IT, YOU ASKED FOR IT, AND IT'S FINALLY HAPPENED! To celebrate B5's 30th Anniversary, the Complete Babylon 5 series will be released ON BLU-RAY December 5, '23. Pre-orders can be placed STARTING TODAY via the retailer of your choice. Huzzah! pic.twitter.com/9OfI05I0fa

— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) July 18, 2023

eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy fuck yea

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS
can't wait for withering Londo sarcasm in HD

It arguably is the same remaster for Max, but given how that kind of stuff disappears these days, all the better to have a physical option.

that was my feeling too. nothing stays streaming forever.

I watched Babylon 5 as a teenager, but only the first season... I really liked Michael O'Hare's Jeffrey Sinclair and was bummed he just kinda disappeared, my interest waned quickly.

I learned today from wikipedia that O'Hare was amicably taken off the show because he was suffering from paranoid delusions, which effectively ended his acting career, and persisted until his death. The story (as posted on his wiki) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Hare is pretty moving.

(How did I arrive at this? I was watching "Sewers Of Gold" (The Great Riviera Bank Robbery) last night, which starred Ian McShane (that guy from Sexy Beast and John Wick), and was reading his bio, and saw that he'd appeared in a Babylon 5 movie alongside... Martin Sheen? and I was like "there are Babylon 5 movies with these people in them?" and that's what got me eventually to Michael O'Hare's page)

> Ian McShane (that guy from Sexy Beast and John Wick),

lol

(he will always be Lovejoy first and foremost)

I was making light of my limited knowledge of his work haha

Was just discussing a few minutes ago how much I liked this show but still needed to finish Season 4.

Right now it is only streaming on Tubi and The Roku Channel afaik.

Londo has six penises and he used one of them to cheat at cards, this still haunts me