Day 5 - How I Got into Babylon 5

[alexcat]

Instead of writing an essay about B5, I decided to talk about how I got into B5 and what it means to me.

It had to have been sometime around 1999, I think. I was fairly new to the internet. Hubby resisted us getting it for a long time. We had dialup and one phone line, too. Some of you younger people may not even know what that was like.

My internet bestie was constantly sending me VHS videos of stuff she liked. She sent me season 1 of Babylon 5 home recorded video along with photocopies of Season by Season Guides. Here is the first one. SciFi (as it was then) was showing a new episode at 7 pm every night. We dove in.

Nothing was ever the same. Having a television show with an actual story arc was an amazing thing.

I started hunting B5 stuff on the internet and found a group at the old chat platform at Delphi. A guy named Make Helba had a B5 group there and I joined and helped him run it. We had lots of fun talking endlessly about B5. I was just getting into fanfiction writing in those days and I wrote a lot of stuff. Most of it is still on my hard drives.

Then 2 more things happened.

I got Crusade from Ebay. It was wasn’t on VHS or DVDs yet and there was no other way to see it. I paid something like 80 dollars for homemade VHS tapes but they were pristine. I watched them over and over and fell so in love with that short little show. I still hate that we didn’t get any more of it. I adored Max Eilerson! He was so funny.

I joined Livejournal and this was back in the day when you had to get a code to join it. I found Ruuger there with her B5 stuff and when she decided that she wanted to hand off some of her groups, I took them. I have been doing Universe Today for at least ten years and B5 Revisited for at least that long. I think we have been through 2-3 rewatches there. There is also B5 Love Month and I have a small little group at Facebook and I post links to my updates and our rewatches at Tumblr and Pillowfort.

The odd thing is I never get tired of the show. I rewatch it and still see things I missed. I still love Sinclair and Sheridan, I still wish there were more of it. There are always new fans coming into the fold and seldom does anyone ever leave completely once they get into it.

Babylon 5 has everything: romance, mystery and intrigue, surprise, character development, tragedy, and comedy. Yes, it’s a space opera but so what?

As Citizen G’kar said: I believe that when we leave a place a part of it goes with us and part of us remains. Go anywhere in these halls, when it is quiet and just listen. After a while you will hear the echoes of all of our conversations, every thought and word we've exchanged. Long after we are gone, our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit that the part of me that going will very much miss the part of you that is staying.

This is Babylon 5!

How did you all get into it? I’d love to know!



As a bonus, I found some quizzes here: https://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/television/babylon_5_universe/babylon_5_universe_alphabetical.html

Comments

[badly_knitted]

I have been a fan of SF since early childhood, I cut my teeth on Star Trek and Doctor Who, so as I grew up I tried out every new SF show that came along. Most of them I enjoyed, although some were better than others.

Naturally, when Babylon 5 came to British TV I settled in for the first episode, and I rememember being blown away. The settings, the make-up, the characters, the storylines... Everything about it screamed quality, and as much as I still loved Star Trek, for me B5 was head and shoulders above anything I'd seen before.

I wa so involved that once when I had to have surgery, I slipped out of my hospital bed in the middle of the night, and hunkered down in front of the TV in the little rec room near the ward. Reception was lousy and I had to be right up close to hear, but I wasn't about to miss an episode! Then I snuck back to bed afterwards to try and get some sleep before my operation.

I bought some of te videos, and got all the DVDs as soon as they came out. I've re-watched them so many times I know some of the dialogue by heart.

My favourite characters are usually the alien ambassadors and their aides, but all the characters are so wonderfully portrayed. I love to hate both Bester and Morden though ;)

[alexcat]

I'm so old that I saw Star Trek;s original run! But B5 really blew me away!

[badly_knitted]

Same here, it came to TV in the UK in the mid 60s and I watched it then. I was obsessed with Spock.

So I was all grown up when I first saw B5. It's a love affair that continues.

[firecat]

Another original-run-of-Trek watcher who was obsessed with Spock!

[badly_knitted]

*High five* Spock was awesome, and I remain a huge fan.

[alexcat]

I was obsessed with Chekov _ was about 7 and he so cute and little!

[badly_knitted]

Chekov is adorable, he was my second favourite. I felt a sort of kinship with Spock because I have a pointed ear. I decided that must mean I was a quarter Vulcan, lol! I guess I must have been around seven at the time too.

[cynthia1960]

I got into B5 its second season. I hung out on the Usenet newsgroups and a mailing list that focused on Marcus Cole (also Ivanova and Neroon). I have 5 minutes of B5 infamy because I got Claudia Christian to sign my Ivanova is God T-shirt with me in it when she was at a local con. Back then, I thought I was straight, ha! I was queer as hell and didn't admit it.

[firecat]

A friend gave me the first several episodes on VHS. I watched them, got hooked, and then I made my partner watch it, and he got hooked too. It was one of the first shows we both loved. I believe this all happened the summer between season 1 and 2. Then somewhere in there we found the Usenet group. So we were watching live, first on PTEN and then on TNT—I got Dish for that single purpose. And the Brits were getting some episodes before the US did, so we were receiving VHS tapes from our Brit friends and having large B5 watch parties when the tapes arrived.

I remember it simultaneously as "I got hooked by the fourth episode" and "I got hooked by 'And the Sky Full of Stars,'" which is the 8th episode, so I don't know how it really happened.

I love that there's still active fandom for B5.

[alexcat]

I love that there's still active fandom for B5. Me too! There are LOTS of new watchers out there.

[independence1776]

My best friend in college loved it and the public library next to the college had the DVDs. It took a bit of time, but we watched a season a week together and I fell in love. It feels like a novel to me, just one that isn't a print book.

[shipperslist]

I don't remember when or where I first saw B5. No idea. I think I saw it on DVD... but I have the four seasons now (not five because ew, five wasn't good), and am enjoying the hell out of the rewatch.

[alexcat]

I don't like the Byron story line in 5 but I do like the others.

[justanorthernlight]

I got into B5 when I was a freshman in college around 2010/2011 when it was on Netflix for a brief period of time. I'd seen references to it in sci fi cirlces, and seen a couple of SF Debris episode reviews. I almost gave up on it towards the end of season one but them actually going through with killing off the president in Chrysalis sold me on it.