Excellent synopsis Brent! Now if you can do Season 2 of TWIN PEAKS we’ll be all set.

Wade From Florida

An excellent summary of the first season. I watched the show each day on TNT and I had no problems with the first season (people say it can be slow).
I do agree that the 2nd season is when they find another gear building from the stories from the first.

Thanks for this, Brent.

Babylon 5 is my #1 all-time favorite show, sci-fi or otherwise, but primarily because of the middle three seasons (plus the end of season 5). Season 1 isn’t as easy to endure. It’s got some redeeming quality and is a necessary evil to setting up the series, but the computer graphics, writing, acting, costumes, hair, make-up, and even the lighting are all sub-par to the other four seasons. Anyone who finds it off-putting, just needs to trust that the show makes a great leap in overall quality in season 2.

This is a great summary of season 1, Brent, especially for those who may want or need to skip it.

For those that want to skim through season 1 but not skip it altogether, it might still be a good idea to watch the following key episodes for the sake of better understanding the B5 universe & overall story arc:
– Mind War
– And the Sky Full of Stars
– Signs and Portents
– A Voice in the Wilderness – Parts 1 & 2
– Babylon Squared
– Chrysalis

Oddly, despite the importance of these episodes, they’re not all my favorites (especially Voice in the Wilderness which JMS, the show’s creator, wrote sick with a high fever and doesn’t remember writing). On a personal level, I’m very partial to Deathwalker & The Quality of Mercy.

Most people will probably tell you to skip TKO and Grail (JMS included), but Grail’s concept has some redeeming quality even if the execution is poor, and there’s a great Ivanova subplot in TKO well worth seeing even if you fast-forward through the A-plot. Soul Hunter and Believers are two of my *least* favorite episodes of the whole series. If you want to know what a Soul Hunter is, skip the episode and just read an episode summary online.

I put together a cherry picked list for someone new to the show a few years ago, it was quite surprising how easy it was but this summary of the first season is masterful both in what it tells you and presentation,
Seriously impressed:)

I was talking about B5 last night, I’ve been trying to convince a friend of mine that it’s the type of story he’d enjoy but he’s struggled with the first few episodes of season 1 – I’ll point him at the video and suggest he watch the last couple of season 1 episodes and dive straight intp season 2.