I watched all of TNG and fair bit of DS9 and Voyager before B5. I think watching those helped me appreciate B5 more. It was the first time I had ever watched anything and there was actually consequences for everything. Everything that happened mattered and when it was over it felt complete.

But I still enjoy the Trek shows, and upon getting deeper than I originally saw DS9 I definitely thought it was pretty outstanding... for a Trek show. I would never rank it in my top 10 favourite shows. It does some things better than B5 (notably, it is far less white and utilizes the cast better) but in terms of story, theme and complexity I prefer B5.

I love Avatar but I don't agree with Mark about it being the same thing. It's just nowhere near as complex a story and afaik wasn't planned out on the same level. But it is AMAZING and well worth watching immediately.

Unfortunately it looks like it's not streaming anywhere online. I often see the complete series DVD set for sale for like $20-25 dollars which is not a bad deal at least. Hopefully it'll pop back up somewhere soon.

That's more or less what I meant. I mean she'd be the lead in season one since it would be awkward to plan something like switching out leads but keeping one of them around in the second season.

There's a pretty big segment of the fandom that hates season 5 (and hates Lochley.)

Babylon 5 has often been described by fans as a novel for television to separate it from other shows with serialization.

Did it feel like to you that there was something unique in Babylon 5's storytelling or does it just feel like another show with early serialization similar to what we see today?

In the AU where I get put in charge of a B5 remake, I'd combine Ivanova and Sheridan (I'd keep Sinclair as a separate character, just in a diminished role, keep Ivanova as the lead.)

So puts it in the ballpark of TNG and Enterprise but below DS9 and basically HALF as much as Voyager.

I was definitely stunned by how bad it was. I always focused on how much I loved the female characters as well, not noticing how little time they spent together (and like, a lot of those passes seemed pretty fleeting as it was.)

Yeah, after all these years it still surprises me that JMS turned down more B5, even if it meant doing stuff like this that felt like stage plays. Granted, Lost Tales was kind of received with a "meh" from the fans. I guess JMS just had loftier goals.

The Lost Tales was the last of the Babylon 5 spinoffs. There would never be another.

This was an attempt at creating a straight to video anthology series. Each episode would focus on a different character and would take place at different points of time. Believe it or not, this did well enough for WB to be interested in a follow up but JMS declined since they had initially promised a bigger budget if the first one did well but ultimately didn't follow through. And it should be obvious that this thing was already shot with a very small budget. The cast is sparse, sets are sparse and even the CGI is less than normal.

If I recall, the CGI in this was actually controversial at the time. It looks beautiful in HD now but at the time it was seen as not being good enough to live up to B5's legacy. I thought the CGI was fine then and I think it's fine now.

Lochley's half of this is controversial but personally it's my favourite half. I don't think you have to assume he was literally possessed by the devil/a demon. My theory is that it was some alien the Vorlons abandoned on Earth (for whatever reason) and over millennial it eventually came to believe it was the devil, seeing as the story matched.

I have issues with Sheridan's half of the story. Part of it feels like something we've seen before. Plus the stuff with the reporter feels very off-tone, even more harsh than in the past. It's nice seeing Galen one last time but idk. It doesn't entirely work for me.

And that's that. This is the last piece of Babylon 5 involving the original cast that will ever exist. And the last piece of any sort of Babylon 5 for the foreseeable future, until WB gets new execs who decide this is a property they could reboot and make money off of, some distant day from now.

Rating: 8.5

I'd like to assume JMS had SOMETHING in mind for her. Too bad he pretty much declines to answer those sorts of questions anymore since it's one I'd love to know. It would be weird if he put in her in the main credits with the intention of giving her less than a handful of episodes per season.