Babylon 5

[weasel]

Anyone know where I can find the first 5 episodes of series one?
Got the rest sky plused but missed the first five episodes and don't wanna have to buy the DVD. There must be some dodgy stream or netflicks etc that has it. Anyone any suggestions?

 

[Frunkstar]

drop me a PM for a link, just tried to PM you but got some weirdness going on about excluded member's?? :? never had that before

 

[poncho]

they made the graphics for that program using a commodore amiga!

 

[Snaketibe]

The sets were rickety, a lot of the acting (but not from the principals) dreadful, the special effects were weak (particularly in seasons 1 & 2), the Centauri hairstyles laugh-out-loud funny the first time you see them, the dialogue often poor, and the whole thing had budget of £3.50 and a crisp packet! And yet I really don't care about any of that. Babylon 5 is quite simply the best TV series ever made. Period. A truly astonishing work of sublime genius, by turns hilarious, brilliant, tragic, thrilling, suspenseful, terrifying, gut-wrenching and joyous. The story! It's simply brilliant.

Weasel, if you've never seen it before you are in for a real treat! Please, please stick with it. Like many shows, the first few episodes find the show finding its feet a little, but if you're not hooked by halfway through the first season, I'll be very surprised indeed! There has never been another show that rewards regular viewing so highly. This is one story, one man's vision (J. Michael Straczynski), told over 5 years; a novel made for television.

And if you do love it (and I think you will), don't forget the various films that accompany the main series ('The Gathering', 'In the Beginning', 'Thirdspace', 'A Call to Arms', 'River of Souls', 'The Legend of the Rangers' and 'The Lost Tales'), plus the spin-off series 'Crusade'.

I wish I was watching it all for the first time again! I feel quite envious.

And if Frunkstar's link gives you any problems (although I'm sure it won't), drop me a PM.

Enjoy! :-D

 

[weasel]

The sets were rickety, a lot of the acting (but not from the principals) dreadful, the special effects were weak (particularly in seasons 1 & 2), the Centauri hairstyles laugh-out-loud funny the first time you see them, the dialogue often poor, and the whole thing had budget of £3.50 and a crisp packet! And yet I really don't care about any of that. Babylon 5 is quite simply the best TV series ever made. Period. A truly astonishing work of sublime genius, by turns hilarious, brilliant, tragic, thrilling, suspenseful, terrifying, gut-wrenching and joyous. The story! It's simply brilliant.

Weasel, if you've never seen it before you are in for a real treat! Please, please stick with it. Like many shows, the first few episodes find the show finding its feet a little, but if you're not hooked by halfway through the first season, I'll be very surprised indeed! There has never been another show that rewards regular viewing so highly. This is one story, one man's vision (J. Michael Straczynski), told over 5 years; a novel made for television.

And if you do love it (and I think you will), don't forget the various films that accompany the main series ('The Gathering', 'In the Beginning', 'Thirdspace', 'A Call to Arms', 'River of Souls', 'The Legend of the Rangers' and 'The Lost Tales'), plus the spin-off series 'Crusade'.

I wish I was watching it all for the first time again! I feel quite envious.

And if Frunkstar's link gives you any problems (although I'm sure it won't), drop me a PM.

Enjoy! :-D

Oh I've seen it before and I agree, superb series. Best I've seen. I've just persuaded the missus to watch and missed the first few episodes on series link.

drop me a PM for a link, just tried to PM you but got some weirdness going on about excluded member's?? :? never had that before

PM coming (unless I have the smae problem you had).

 

[sith-smith]

Funnily enough, I've got my Mrs (Though not married yet :lol: ) hooked on Big Bang Theory and Spaced...both of which make reference to Babylon 5. Often in a negative way.

However because of this, My defence of the programme and the fact that the box set was on a shelf next to the tv, she now wants to start watching them! 8)

 

[Snaketibe]

Funnily enough, I've got my Mrs (Though not married yet :lol: ) hooked on Big Bang Theory and Spaced...both of which make reference to Babylon 5. Often in a negative way.

However because of this, My defence of the programme and the fact that the box set was on a shelf next to the tv, she now wants to start watching them! 8)

Let us know what she thinks of it

Several years ago, I decided to rewatch the series for about the third or fourth time, and I convinced a sceptical friend to watch it with me. He was only mildly interested at first, but by about 6 episodes in, he was completely hooked and it became a regular weekly event for him to come round and watch a couple of episodes. It was really great to watch the series again through his eyes, and to see the shock, amusement and joy on his face as the story took its twists and turns... Damn, I really need to watch it again myself now! :lol:

 

[sith-smith]

Let us know what she thinks of it

Well we finally got round to watching episode one.

I'd forgotten how bad the visual effects, music and to some extent acting, were.

However I still love the series and despite the fact that she was shocked at the poor CGI, my girlfriend didn't think it was too bad. Good enough to want to watch another. It certainly does get better as the series progress.

However what was depressing was discovering that a surprisingly large number of the key regular cast have all died and none of whom were particularly old!

 

[Snaketibe]

Let us know what she thinks of it

Well we finally got round to watching episode one.

I'd forgotten how bad the visual effects, music and to some extent acting, were.

However I still love the series and despite the fact that she was shocked at the poor CGI, my girlfriend didn't think it was too bad. Good enough to want to watch another. It certainly does get better as the series progress.

However what was depressing was discovering that a surprisingly large number of the key regular cast have all died and none of whom were particularly old!

It sounds like it's 'so far, so good' then if your girlfriend is happy to watch more. I imagine she will be very pleasantly surprised at just how good it gets

As for the tragic loss of so many cast members, yes it is very shocking indeed: Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Jerry Doyle, Stephen Furst, Michael O'Hare, Jeff Conaway, Tim Choate, Robin Sachs, plus less surprisingly, many of the older supporting actors such as Turhan Bey, W Morgan Sheppard, Rance Howard, etc.

The strike rate, for want of a better term, amongst the principal cast though is appalling! I'm not superstitious in the slightest, but I can understand why people who are, seem to think there is a curse on Babylon 5.

 

[weasel]

Yeah, the number of the cast who are now dead is scary.

 

[sith-smith]

And none of them were particularly old. Ranges from 40's to early 60's :shock:

 

[weasel]

Yeap.
Though some aren't that surprising. Andreas Katsulas was apparently a massive smoker. He loved nothing more than smoking, we're talking whatever the next step up from chain smoking is. So not surprising he passed away young.
Jerry Doyle had drink and possibly prescription meds problems for many years. Michael O'Hare had a psychological breakdown during the first series, hence he was all but written out for a year or two. He was having paranoid delusions. Watching series one back you can see how it would not help with his mental state.
I think Richard Biggs got something quite rare and nasty. The sort of unfortunate one in a million thing.

 

[Snaketibe]

Yeap.
Though some aren't that surprising. Andreas Katsulas was apparently a massive smoker. He loved nothing more than smoking, we're talking whatever the next step up from chain smoking is. So not surprising he passed away young.
Jerry Doyle had drink and possibly prescription meds problems for many years. Michael O'Hare had a psychological breakdown during the first series, hence he was all but written out for a year or two. He was having paranoid delusions. Watching series one back you can see how it would not help with his mental state.
I think Richard Biggs got something quite rare and nasty. The sort of unfortunate one in a million thing.

Poor Richard Biggs died from complications following an aortic dissection. It is indeed a (thankfully) rare condition where the aorta ruptures inside the body, and depending on the severity of the tear, you can bleed out very rapidly indeed.

 

[weasel]

Not nice.

I'll stick with going in my sleep aged 97 surrounded by my 6 playmate wife-lets thanks! 8)

 

[sith-smith]

Well we watched episode 1, then I discovered the pilot disc!

We watched that and she enjoyed. Enough to want to watch ep1 again and continue from there.

It was slightly ruined by me saying 'he's dead' every few minutes!

 

[Snaketibe]

I do enjoy 'The Gathering', but because G'Kar and especially Delenn's make-ups changed so drastically between that pilot and episode 1 (not to mention most of the rest of the supporting human cast changing too), on those few occasions when I have been asked(!), I actually recommend that people watching B5 for the first time start with episode 1, get about half-way through the series, and then go back and watch the pilot. That's the way I first watched the show (admittedly because I was unaware of the pilot's existence at the time, but even so...) and I found the make-up and personnel changes less jarring that way, as I was already invested in the show proper.

However, if your girlfriend was happy to re-watch episode 1 after seeing The Gathering, you can't be doing too much wrong!