Babylon 5 is my all time favorite tv series, which is weird for most to hear that, since almost nobody knows of it, and those who do don’t like it much. If you don’t sit down to watch a couple of seasons, you will think it’s just another show taking place in space. Who needs that when we got Star Trek, right? The main reason of why I like it so much is because the overall plot was written before the production began. As someone who places more importance on the plot than anything else, I was thrilled with how everything was connected and was slowly evolving with each episode. This is something no other live action series has managed to do in this level.

And by level, I mean the number of characters it had and the scope of the story. We are talking about dozens of people from various civilizations and ideologies playing a game of politics and war that mold the shape of the galaxy over a hundred episodes. Many series have an on-going plot, but none of them planned this far ahead, or bothered to be that multi-layered. They usually have only a handful of characters and never bother to think what will happen in the next season. It always feels like they are making up shit as they go along, and why most of the twists are basically asspulls and retcons. Babylon 5 is the only exception. 

And it’s not like there weren’t any problems during production. Actors were constantly unavailable, there wasn’t enough time to prepare the sets, or there were not enough money. The writer was a genius in how he was ready for every single set back by preparing a backdoor, as he called it, for every event and cast member. No matter what was happening behind the scenes, the story could always continue without getting interrupted unnaturally. 

As for what exactly the show is about, it’s space opera at its finest. Heavy on politics, constant intrigue, and several different ideologies. For a story that is using huge red flags such as destiny and the bipolar concepts of law versus chaos, it did an amazing job at always showing positives and negatives in any action you take. The Shadows for example are supposed to be the Big Bads of the story, and yet I found myself agreeing with them. People really mature and improve though conflict, regardless of how painful it might be. Hear that Chibi?

You also get to see some of the most memorable and likable characters you can find in fiction. Londo Mollari and G’Kar in specific is the most brilliantly written tragic duo of all the stories I know of. Even better than Reinhart and Wenli. As much as I love Legend of the Galactic Heroes, it can be very dry in its black and white politics, while the two dimensional battles are not exactly the most thrilling thing ever. Babylon 5 does a much better job in fleshing out its setting, spends a lot of time in showing the everyday lives of ambassadors and generals, while having more three-dimensional battles, not limited by corridors of usable space. What I am basically saying is that it’s better than even the best anime of all times. 

And at the same time it’s very hard for the average viewer to give it a try. They see 110 episodes and run away. Or they watch the first episodes and they hate the dated CGI. Or they don’t mind the CGI but get instantly bored because it’s not about slaughter and sex every five minutes. It has a formula that doesn’t attract modern audiences who are into thrills and boobies 24/7. It has a slow build-up and it spends most of its duration on creating a powerful chemistry amongst the cast, instead of having a battle on almost every episode. So it’s definitely not something you can casually enjoy as a non-stop thrill-ride.

Also, despite my praises, it’s not a perfect show. The fourth season has super fast pacing which doesn’t let you get bored on one hand, but also runs over a lot of events without much build-up. The reason is, they were told the ratings were dropping fast and there is not going to be fifth season, so they crammed two seasons worth of plot in one. And once they did get the unexpected approval, they didn’t have a preplanned plot anymore, which made the fifth season very slow and mostly uneventful. Also, as much as they tried to make sequels and spin-offs after the main show was over, they had subpar writing and received horrible ratings which damaged a lot of its credibility as the best sci-fi series of all times.

Despite all these issues, the show never became unwatchable although it did overstay its welcome. It is full of great characters, epic fights, and well-written storylines. Refusing to watch it because it doesn’t have zombies or the CGI is dated are really stupid excuses. There is nothing else on its level and it should be everyone’s point of reference when it comes to quality sci-fi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3J5aDfr614