SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Just into the first season, and I'm already surprised by the politics that didn't make an impression on me when the series first came out. Earth being made the center of the universe again...anti-alien sentiment. Really hits home in 2018.

1) The writing 2) The acting 3) The directing 4) The special effects 5) The writingDisgrace to good sci-fi shows in the past 50 years.

I thoroughly enjoyed B5 when it first appeared on DVD, and more recently, viewing it has become almost an annual event. There is always more to discover, or pleasures to be relived.This series must be viewed in its entirety, including the pilot movie-length episode (watch this first - essential). Conceived, in advance, as a 5-year arc, things occur, even in the pilot, that don't reach fulfillment until, for example, season four. Of course, as with many series, the first year, although good, doesn't really represent the quality that develops.I think I can honestly say that never have I seen, not only the story unfold and develop with such complexity over this arc, but also the characters grow, develop and change as circumstances around them change. The story is as much character-driven as anything else, and this succeeds due to a standard of acting that is frequently brilliant. Yes, some episodes flail about a bit, but to skip them can mean missing some event that becomes significant later, perhaps a couple of seasons later. And these weak episodes are few.This strength in the acting allows the development of characters with great depth and individuality. The long story arc is able to explore many 'human' issues, from personal morality and strength of character, to alcohol and drug dependence (not a spoiler as I don't say who or when), and from such individual issues to societal ones of war, racial 'cleansing' and the like. Sadly, the mature and insightful acting of Michael O'Hare (Sinclair) is almost lost very early due to health issues, and in his place, Bruce Boxleitner enters the second season underwhelmingly, but strengthens with time. (I don't think this is a spoiler as cast listings reveal this).Alien characters are not just thrown into the story as 'aliens from somewhere' with nothing to justify their behaviours. The nature of the planet they come from, its climate, their civilization, its history, all explain the quirks and qualities of each race. Some, not overly important to the story arc, have little background, but all important characters have a detailed background that provides the actor with meat on which to base and develop the character. And there is plenty of acting, including characters that make a one-episode appearance, which would stand well with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the U.K.I could go on for pages, but comments from others cover it all.I must add that the only weak point is visually, the sets. BUT, it must be remembered that the series was made when viewers mainly used relatively small screens so a high level of detail was not so important - and as budget was always very tight this was a reasonable area for restraint. Make-up is probably the best ever seen on TV, and this was the first TV series to use CGI for all visual effects. Those effects still hold there own even though they don't compare with what we see today.Despite some people thinking the CGI was done with Commodore 64's(!) in fact they used 24 Amiga 2000s, 16 of which were dedicated rendering engines. They had 32 megabytes of RAM, a Fusion-40 accelerator and the Toaster. The Amigas were connected via a Novell network and sent data to a 12 gigabyte 486 PC file server. They later upgraded to Pentium and Alpha-based systems. (Info from Compute! magazine). The results were amazing and didn't attempt to achieve, for example, the total scene creation we frequently see today. Nor did they use miniatures and models, which Star Trek still used. In other words, the creators didn't try to over-reach and fall flat on their faces.To judge the visuals, as do some, by comparing with modern CGI is ridiculous and juvenile. A vast history of great movies and TV series would be lost if they were viewed with such a trivial and unrealistic outlook. The important qualities are the story-lines, the writing, the acting, editing, lighting, the scoring, and these aspects are usually the best to be found. (The scoring was involved and complex, no computer-created orchestras like today - nor 'a synthesiser' as one denigrator claims - and is impressive, although perhaps now a bit dated. The Beatles aren't rejected because they didn't use synthesisers or techno rhythms; Beethoven isn't rejected because his music doesn't use the resources of, say, John Williams.No TV program, no movie, book, piece of music, or any other type of artistic endeavour will appeal to everyone. Babylon 5 requires intelligent viewing. A short attention span, a need to have everything resolved at the end of each episode, these will not give the viewer any real rewards. It's not high art, but it demands a viewer with perception. It's involving, it's dramatic, it's romantic, it's fun, it's sad, and it can be 'mind-blowing'.This remains one of the best science fiction, or drama, series ever produced and it will never lose that status. (Oh ... and I, also, am a Star Trek fan.)

I adore this series... Right now my 11 years old son is discovering it with me... Personnaly I am a trekker.. but Babylon 5 is of a superior quality in such a way... it is far more realistic of what society will be in the future. Even watching this in 2016 I think the sci-fi effects are awesome and the characters are quite complex. :) I wish this series had last 10 years at least. I had the chance to meet some actors, Mira Furlan (such a nice lady), Richard Biggs, such a charming and handsome man (the year before his passing) and Jason Carter (soooo funny and nice), Andreas Katsulas (sooo patient and sweet). RIP Jerry Doyle... you will be missed.