Babylon 5: The Movies

I'll be reviewing both the series as a whole and the packaging, separately.PACKAGING: The series was originally released in cardboard booklets with super-glued plastic DVD holders. My dad owns this set, and it's really quite terrible.The series was later released in large DVD cases about half as wide, but the brittle plastic doesn't hold up. Out of all 6 boxes, all that I received were broken internally, and only one was useable. Luckily, I store my DVDs in carrier cases and use the cases as decorations, and none had any external damage.So it's up to you, whether you want the big carboard set that falls apart or the plastic set that falls apart, but I believe unless otherwise stated, you'll be getting the newer all-plastic cases.The cover art is wonderful, as you can see. The only thing that bothers me is that some characters are featured on the covers more prominently than others. For example, Londo is on nearly every single one, yet Garibaldi and Ivanova each appear once. Another disappointing thing is that this set doesn't include The Lost Tales, Legend of the Rangers, or Crusade, but oh well.REVIEW OF THE SERIES:Though I was born halfway through this show's original run, thanks to my dad purchasing it on VHS and making me watch it growing up, it's somewhere in my top three favorite shows. If you're reading this, you're probably familiar with it. If not, well...The story is great. There are minor details, lines in season one that have repercussions all the way until season four. The special effects are terrible nowadays, and you can easily tell what was shot on film and what was shot digitally, especially in earlier seasons, so when you see the screen get slightly pixelated, you know someone's gonna pull out a laser gun or use space magic or something. I imagine this wasn't too apparent on TVs of the time, but if watching this on an HDTV, it's painfully obvious. The CGI gets significantly better over time, though, as does the film quality. And the story.Side note: Some say the series is a ripoff of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but though DS9 was released a few months prior, Babylon 5 started production first. But, there are plenty of die-hard Star Trek fans that love Babylon 5 as well. The two series are not at all in competition, especially now, 20-some years later.The following is a spoiler-free review of each season and movie, in chronological order.In the Beginning: Prequel movie, which starts near the end of the series, and may spoil a few minor things, but figuring out how those things come to be may be fun. Best viewed either at the beginning of the series, or after Season Four.The Gathering: Pilot movie. A rather bad reflection of the series. Characters are undeveloped and aliens' makeup (Such as main characters Londo, G'Kar, and Delenn) looks both cheesy and completely different from how they look in the rest of the series. A murder mystery, packed with sci-fi action and politics.Season One: Almost unanimously considered the worst season, the dialogue is cheesy, as is the makeup, and characters disappear at the end of the season. The main purpose of Season One was to introduce the titular space station's mission, with various political and religious issues among different alien races. (One episode features a boy dying of a condition a simple surgery can fix, though surgery of any kind is against his parents' religion.) Though each episode is independent, some hints are sprinkled in there of the coming seasons.Season Two: The next two and a half seasons blur together, but this season features a new captain, John Sheridan, a hero from a past war with one of the alien races. This causes some tension, but these issues are irrelevant in the coming danger everyone senses.Season Three: The series really picks up steam in the third season, with an all-out war between nearly every alien race in the galaxy, even the nearly-omnipotent Vorlons and Shadows. In the process, the Earth and Centauri governments are infested with corruption. subtle dialogue hints from Season One start coming into play. Two old characters return, and another falls.Season Four: Originally, this season was supposed to be two, but the series' contract expired and the two seasons had to be condensed into one (And it was later renewed for a fifth season, which didn't work out too well. More on that later.) The Shadow War seemingly ends halfway through, but the threat remains. Major characters are put in serious jeaopardy on several occasions. Between the two major story arcs is a movie, Thirdspace. More on that later. After this, the cast takes the fight to Earth to rid its government of corruption. The last episode features a look at the consequences of the series up to a million years later. I recommend watching this episode just before the Season 5 finale.Thirdspace: Inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft, this movie puts a horror twist on Babylon 5. A lot of major characters are not featured, but aren't necessarily needed. Not one of the series' high-points in my opinion, but worth watching, regardless.Season 5: The plans for the series' fifth season were, as previously mentioned, condensed to fit into Season 4, so this season seems a bit superfluous. Though it doesn't live up to seasons 3 and 4, it's definitely worth watching, even without a few fan-favorite characters. STOP and do NOT watch the last episode of this season. You have a bit to go yet.The River of Souls: This movie features a race from Season One coming back to haunt Babylon 5, figuratively and literally.NOT INCLUDED: Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight: Failed pilot episode to a spinoff series. Poorly received, but worth watching.A Call to Arms: Pilot episode to spinoff series Crusade, featuring a new cast trying to find a solution to a major problem left behind by the Shadows, threatening everyone on Earth and potentially the rest of the galaxy.NOT INCLUDED: Crusade: This series, as mentioned, follows A Call to Arms. Definitely worth buying, though the episode order is a bit jumbled.NOT INCLUDED: The Lost Tales: This two-part movie made several years after the series' end is basically just two more standalone episodes for Season 5, with a higher budget and better CGI.THEN watch the Season 4 finale. Though it chronologically takes place at the end, it would be a terrible finale. Season 5's finale ends the series perfectly.Season 5 finale: NOT INCLUDED: Box of tissues. Seriously. You need one. Or maybe three. By far the best series finale I have ever seen. That's all I'll say.IN CONCLUSION: If you want an underrated, deeply philosophical sci-fi series full of realistic characters and issues and of course packed with epic space, gun, and fist fights, this is the series for you. It's well worth the price.

I have been wanting this show in a nice collection for over twenty years, and this set did not disappoint. It is better than described by the seller. Not only does it have all five (5) Seasons of the show spread across six discs each (total of 30 discs), it also has the Movie Collection (5 made-for-TV flicks). In addition, it also has Crusade which was the short-lived B5 sequel show that last for 13-episodes, and a collector's box which holds all of the DVD cases. It is more than I was expecting and it's great.Each Season DVD set has great artwork on the packaging and the individual DVDS themselves. The cases are sturdy, not cheap plastic that feels brittle. The DVDs aren't loose in the packaging, so they don't rattle around inside like some other collections I have. The DVDs themselves also have unique artwork on the face of each, which is a great touch, and helps to distinguish one from another very easily. Each DVD also has a booklet containing a brief foreword by J. Michael Straczyinski that tells a little bit about the motivation of each season, as well as the season itself. The bonus materials on the sixth disc of each set are great too, with some fun supplemental material, interactive menus and a hidden "Easter Egg" on all but the 5th season's bonus content. I miss Easter Eggs; they don't do those with Blu-Rays.The Movie Collection is also very nice, if a little less impressive than the individual seasons. The packaging is sturdy, the discs are held in place well, and the artwork is nice, if not as elaborate as the Seasons. While each disc has a different movie, each disc's main menu is identical with only minor cosmetic differences. For example, the Babylon 5 logo is the same on each main menu, and each film has the same menu layout and graphics, but each has the individual movie's titles superimposed on the logo. Likewise for the images shown on each of the menus. Not a bad thing, just more simple in design than the series proper DVDs. It does not include the movies "Babylon 5: The Legend of The Rangers" or "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales." Those can be found elsewhere, and it would've been nice to have everything in one big collection, but it's not the end of the world."Crusade: The Complete Series" set was a total surprise! I didn't see it anywhere in the description of this item, and it was even a suggested purchase in addition to this set. I almost ordered it separately, but now I'm glad I didn't. Crusade has it's own unique slip box, and instead of a plastic case with multiple multi-sided flip trays, it is a heavy-duty paper box that unfolds. If you have the Alien Quadrilogy set that was released in the U.S. it is exactly like that set. It's very nice, great graphics, has ladder notes for each disc and some minor bonus materials. It's a good series and a nice unexpected bonus, especially for B5 fans like me.Finally, there's the collectible box that everything fits inside. This was also unexpected, as I did not notice it in the description of this item. It a solid paper-goods box with great artwork on the outside. Either side tells what it contains and has pictures of all 5 seasons of the show and the movie collection. The back of the box has some great artwork depicting some of the ships of B5 "flying" in front of the Jump Gate in space, and the top of the box has a picture of the Babylon 5 Station in profile, along with the B5 logo. The DVDs fit inside of the box perfectly, and it's a great way to keep them together and organized.The seller of this item also shipped it to me relatively quickly. It was ordered on Jan. 31st and I received it on Feb. 10th via USPS, aka "snail mail," so it made pretty good time. It was shipped well, packaged nicely, and everything was perfect and undamaged upon opening it up. I would order from them again.I am EXTREMELY excited to finally have this collection, and am very happy with this set. It's even better than I had hoped and I can't wait to watch everything again for the first time. This is a fantastic set for any Babylon 5 fan to add to their collection, and a great set to have for anyone that's just discovering this wonderful series for the first time, as it has everything you would want, save for the two aforementioned made-for-TV/DVD movies. I LOVE this set, and highly recommend it. Thanks!