Apparently Babylon 5 can now be watched on YT. Would not call it free though, because YT.
Used to be the biggest fan of this series and it has been only a few years since I last watched it, but though others might enjoy this news.
This is amazing. Without spoiling anything, the major running plot is extremely relevant to current world events. It’s aged very well. It’s refreshingly free of “end of history” brainworms for an American sci-fi show made in the recent-post-USSR era. The CGI is a little cheesy but it’s not as bad as some people would claim. And I know for damn sure that hexbearians will love the S1 episode “By Any Means Necessary”. If the episodes are embeddable I think it would make for a fantastic hextube experience, the moral of the story is basically “shoot fascists on sight” which is a message that I think many reading this can get behind.
Trekkies are going to love a lot of the guest stars. Fans may have bickered, but the production crews and actors of TNG/DS9 and B5 were on very friendly terms, you’ll see a lot of familiar faces getting to play against type in fun ways.
Spoiler-free advice to new viewers:
Don’t google anything. Go in totally blind. This is not a “Lost” situation, plot questions do get answered in very satisfying ways.
Skip the opening credits for seasons 2, 3, and 4 until you’re about 4 episodes into each. I don’t know if the youtube versions have spoilery credits as I can’t watch at the moment, but most streaming platforms have the spoiler-credits. I’ll update this later when I can watch the youtube version and confirm.
The first season is a little uneven. I’d say it’s about on par with DS9 in that respect, it’s certainly nowhere as bad as TNG S1/S2 were. It soon finds its feet in S2 onwards. It took a little time for some of the characters to be fleshed out and for the showrunner/writer and actors to nail down the performances. There’s a tragic IRL reason for one famously wooden S1 performance, but that’s resolved by S2.
Great post!
Babylon 5 was such a huge deal for me when it first aired that I would decline invites to go out with friends and that one hour everybody had to fully leave me alone with it or I’d get super pissed, still lived at home at the time. It was the highlight of my week for years.
Latets rewatch when I got if by going “ARRRR”, and the story is still just as good. Won’t go into it anymore than this though so I don’t spoil it for anyone.
i think it would be a cool project to upgrade the cgi using whatever open source 3d software is available today
pretty sure i’ve seen some more detailed redesigns of some of the spacecraft, maybe even full 3d models of them. could probably be done in a game engine
apparently someone did 1 minute of footage back in 2021 just as a test to see how it would look
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Babylon 5, or at least season 1, can be watched truly for free on tankie tube. Me and another user have been watching it on blorp in the evenings sometimes, its really good show!
you’re a saint and scholar!
THANK YOU!!!
