It was great at the time, but feels very dated now. The digital effects of the first season are so bad I literally had to squint to reduce the agony when I re-watched this show recently! The pacing is also slow at times, and there's often this pretty annoying militaristic sentimentality to it. But even so, this show is well worth watching! The character development and acting is second to none (at lest in sci-fi), especially when it comes to the two secondary characters that together more or less carry this whole thing: Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik) and G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas). It's worth watching Babylon 5 just to see those two performances, they're that good! The strangest thing about Babylon 5, is there is a big plot build up over the first four seasons. This plot is then perfectly finished by the end of season 4, with no loose endings. So why did they even make a fifth season? It is mostly pointless and dull, just as all the B5 movies. I recommend watching the first four seasons, and skipping everything else from this franchise.… Expand

Greatest TV series ever made I cant say any bad things about it the storylines and character development were superb. The series may be finished but the characters will live on in our memories for ever.

Babylon 5 was ambitious from the start, but the first season does suffer from its dated special effects and slow overall development. It does an effective job at introducing, defining, and developing all the main characters, but also is hit or miss when it comes to the attempted humor and action scenes. On the plus side, there are great episodes involving moral, political, and other topical issues. In the long run, all of the issues with the first season paid off by having excellent characters to deal with the later seasons' conflicts. It's a slow build, but tons of foreshadowing was done that is relevant later in the series. Pay special attention to great episodes such as "Babylon Squared" which come towards the end of the season. The first season may not be fantastic, but should be paid attention to in order to get the most out of the later seasons. So while Babylon 5 here is not even close to being as good as it would become, it's worth watching. Overall score: 7/10… Expand

Ahhh, Babylon 5. This show was just sadly before its time - and could have benefited greatly from modern HD video, and computer graphics. This season is pretty slow as far as the Bab5 seasons go - with the exception of the pilot episode being exceptional. The musical chairs played with the cast in the first season is also slightly off-putting, but the characters stay constant from there on out.
Try to get past the horrendous vector-based computer graphics of the early 1990's, and you will find a show that is surprisingly good.
This show has easily the best writing out of any Sci-Fi show ever, including STNG.
The depth of the politics in this show will stagger you, as will the final revelation of the series - it literally stunned me when it culminated in season 5 (maybe 6?).
2 people of particular note are the alien characters of G'Kar, and Londo Mollari - the interaction between these two characters is very deep, as Londo's race is responsible for the destruction of G'Kar's race's world, and the enslavement of his people. They are now on even footing on Babylon5, and their relationship is heavily developed throughout the show.
You owe it to yourself to watch this show.… Expand