Who are you? What do you want?

Okay, here's the thing.  This post is important to me.  I've spent more time trying to figure out how to best present it than I have with any other blog post.  But I've come up with nothing so far, so I'm just going to be as straightforward as possible.  

Babylon 5 is a damn good show and you should watch it.  

For those of you who have never heard of it, it's a science fiction show from the mid-nineties about a space station which acts as an intergalactic United Nations in the middle of the 23rd century.  WAIT, DON'T STOP READING YET.  I know that for most of you, this probably sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry.  But it's not.  Babylon 5 is a truly epic story.  It is about love, war, telepaths, betrayal, redemption, and many other things that I want to say but can't because it would ruin the show for you.  Best of all, the story was written as a television novel, or five-year miniseries.  The creator, J. Michael Straczynski, had been planning the story for years.  Every apparent loose end and unanswered question created in the first season is resolved and woven back into the story by the end.  In other words, this is a show for those of you who loved Lost or Battlestar Galactica but felt let down by the finales or the general sense that the creators had been making it up as they went along (Note: I love BSG AND the most of the finale, but it was slightly disappointing that the creators had clearly not planned some things out in advance).  

Now, the show isn’t perfect.  I’ll be the first to admit that.  The acting is sometimes questionable and the first season is not that gripping.  The fifth season was also weakened by the un-cancellation of the show.  But don’t let that turn you away.  The first season may be slow, but it is critical to setting up the rest of the series.  The sometimes shoddy acting is compensated for by the lead actors.  And the story is worth all of it.  Seasons 3 and 4 in particular kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time in a way that nothing else ever has.  The finale, which I had high expectations for, didn’t disappoint me.  I sobbed for the last twenty minutes or so at the understated beauty of it.  I can’t remember crying that much for any other work of fiction in my life.  And the character development in the show is subtle but powerful – some of the best I’ve ever seen. 

Like I said, the show has its flaws.  Don’t go in expecting greatness - you will be sorely disappointed.  Let yourself get immersed in the world and then slowly, over time, the greatness will become apparent.  The story unfolds gracefully, the characters evolve, and the ending is beautiful.  

The show in its entirety can be viewed legally at http://www.slashcontrol.com/free-tv-shows/babylon-5.  Alternatively, the first two seasons are available on Hulu.  I find Hulu slightly less frustrating.

If this post has not convinced you to watch Babylon 5, you should think about viewing the write-up about the show at http://aria.dreamwidth.org/82959.html.  Though I love what she has written, I would actually recommend not reading it except as a last resort.  There are some minor spoilers there which I would rather keep new viewers pure of.  You might also notice that my post title and her entry title are almost the same.  That’s because if you want to write about Babylon 5, that’s pretty much the best title there is. 

Now the only thing left for me to do is decide whether to re-watch it now or later.