I gonna check into Babylon 5 but need chronology

[Prometheus 1]

Back in September of '06 I watched the first few episodes and was a little confused so I stopped watching. But after hearing more about it I've decided to check into the show again. Unfortunately I have no idea what to start with, the movies? or the first season? Does anyone know how to watch the series and movies and crusade and the lost tales in order? Thanks

[Dumper]

Here is a list including the movies in order.

Pilot Movies

Babylon 5: In the Beginning
The Gathering
Season One ("Signs and Portents")

Midnight on the Firing Line
Soul Hunter
Born to the Purple
Infection
The Parliament of Dreams
Mind War
The War Prayer
And The Sky Full Of Stars
Deathwalker
Believers
Survivors
By Any Means Necessary
Signs and Portents
Grail
Eyes
A Voice in the Wilderness part 1
A Voice in the Wilderness part 2
Babylon Squared
The Quality of Mercy
TKO
Legacies
Chrysalis
Season Two ("The Coming Of Shadows")

Points of Departure
Revelations
The Geometry of Shadows
A Distant Star
The Long Dark
A Spider in the Web
A Race Through Dark Places
Soul Mates
The Coming of Shadows
GROPOS
All Alone in the Night
Acts of Sacrifice
Hunter, Prey
There All the Honor Lies
And Now For a Word
Knives
In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum
Confessions and Lamentations
Divided Loyalties
The Long, Twilight Struggle
Comes the Inquisitor
The Fall of Night
Season Three ("Point of No Return")

Matters of Honor
Convictions
A Day in the Strife
Passing Through Gethsemane
Voices of Authority (this was originally meant to air before "Passing Through Gethsemane," but since the events of this episode tie into the beginning of "Dust to Dust," and aren't mentioned at all in "Gethsemane," the initial airing order is actually an improvement)
Dust to Dust
Exogenesis
Messages from Earth
Point of No Return
Severed Dreams
Ceremonies of Light and Dark
A Late Delivery From Avalon
Sic Transit Vir
Ship of Tears
Interludes and Examinations
Walkabout
War Without End, Part One
War Without End, Part Two
Grey 17 Is Missing
And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place
Shadow Dancing
Z'ha'dum
Season Four ("No Surrender, No Retreat")

The Hour of the Wolf
Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?
The Summoning
Falling Toward Apotheosis
The Long Night
Into the Fire
Epiphanies
The Illusion of Truth
Thirdspace
Atonement
Racing Mars
Lines of Communication
Conflicts of Interest
Rumors, Bargains and Lies
Moments of Transition
No Surrender, No Retreat
The Exercise of Vital Powers
The Face of the Enemy
Intersections in Real Time
Between the Darkness and the Light
Endgame
Rising Star
The Deconstruction of Falling Stars
Season Five

No Compromises
The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
The Paragon of Animals
A View from the Gallery
Learning Curve
Strange Relations
Secrets of the Soul
In the Kingdom of the Blind
A Tragedy of Telepaths
Phoenix Rising
The Ragged Edge
Day of the Dead
The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father
Meditations on the Abyss
Darkness Ascending
And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder
Movements of Fire and Shadow
The Fall of Centauri Prime
Wheel of Fire
Objects in Motion
Objects at Rest
River of Souls
The Legend of the Rangers
Sleeping in Light
Spinoffs

A Call to Arms
Crusade - This ordering, which JMS specified, ignores the uniform change in favor of maintaining continuity of storyline.
Racing the Night
The Needs of Earth
The Memory of War
The Long Road
Visitors from Down the Street
The Well of Forever
Each Night I Dream of Home
Patterns of the Soul
The Path of Sorrows
Ruling from the Tomb
The Rules of the Game
War Zone
Appearances and Other Deceits
Voices in the Dark


Here is the link for more info.

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countr...er/eplist.html

[Prometheus 1]

Thank you. Now I can start watching

[Xicer]

I would highly advise against watching "In the Beginning" first because it requires that you know much of the major plot points of seasons 1-4. If you watch "In the Beginning" before starting the series, much of the mystery of the first few seasons will be ruined. Anyway, this is what I personally think is the best order (movies are in blue):

"The Gathering"
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
*Season 4 up through "The Illusion of Truth"
"Thirdspace"
The rest of Season 4
"In the Beginning"
**Season 5 up through "Objects at Rest"
"The River of Souls"
"Legend of the Rangers"
"A Call to Arms"
***Crusade (The Complete Series)
****"The Lost Tales"
*****Season 5 Finale "Sleeping in Light"

*The consistency gets a little confusing here, because at the beginning of Atonement we see Zack getting his new uniform but in "Thirdspace" he already has it. But I think you can live with a slight uniform inconsistency.
**The episode "Day of the Dead" on the S5 DVD boxed set is put as episode 5x08, however it was intended to be put after "Pheonix Rising" as 5x11.
***The viewing order is really wacky with this one. TNT screwed up the order when it was being aired. JMS set up what he thinks is the best viewing order (Click here) but there are still inconsistencies. There is no perfect order since there will always be inconsistencies, so just choose whichever one you like.
****Only one part of this collection has been made so far, more will hopefully be made over the next few years.
*****While this episode is the S5 finale, it takes place 20 years after "Objects at Rest" and really is chronologically the last thing you should watch.

I hope that helped.

[Night Marshal]

there are two versions of "the Gathering" the originals and the TNT one, if you get the movie collection you will get the better TNT version. After that there is a argument some b5 say watch "In the Beginning" another TNT movie first and you will understand what going on in season 1, but I believe that you should want season one first then watch "In the Beginning"

The other thing you can do is start with season 2 and skip season 1 for a bit, honestly season 1 is the slow part of the whole run of the show as suffers from two many writers trying to do to many things. Where Later seasons with JMS writing almost every script have a much more focused. I think you will find that start in season 2 you might be able to get into B5 better and after your into the show you can go back to season 1 and have better understanding and also a desire you watch it as well

[Darren]

I'd also strongly recommend NOT watching "In the Beginning" until you've gone through Season Four. That's when it first aired; it's an amazing film that is set before Season One, but it ties together all of the pieces of the mystery and assembles them into a single story.

A LOT of what B5 is about, at least for the first few years, is slowly teasing out what had come before.

[jds1982]

I suggest NOT watching Legend of the Rangers, it was awful and didn't really add anything to the B5 verse.

[Wordsmit2]

If you watch "In the Beginning" before starting the series, much of the mystery of the first few seasons will be ruined.

Not to mention it's silly to start with a top-quality movie then take a giant step backwards to the dawn of CGI and a series concept still in development. Start with the earliest work and make your way forward.

I advise "The Gathering", seasons 1-4, "In the Beginning", season 5, then the rest of the movies. --The way the audience saw it.

Also, Night Marshal is right, you *can* start with season 2 if you have no interest in "getting into" Babylon 5.

[Matt G]

If I were you, I wouldn't bother with getting into "In the Beginning" at all.

1. If you use it as a starter, well as people say, it'll blow all mysteries up to
S3.

2. You find out enough about the Earth-Minbari war throughout the series anyway.

Now personally, I first got into the show through a novel and S3 aired a couple of months later.

However I've you're doing this from the start, I'd go with:

The Gathering(Pilot)
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
A large chunk of S4
Thirdspace
Rest of S4
Most of S5(don't bother with Sleeping in Light)
A Call to Arms
Crusade
Lost Tales

[maneth]

Watch the episodes and movies in the order they originally aired and you can't go far wrong. I wouldn't miss any episodes or movies for a first watch, but if you find some of them weaker than others, you can skip them on any re-watches.

The thing with B5 is that you get hints of future events very early in the first season, that you'll only understand when watching it again when you know what happened. This is why B5 is a bit different from the episodic shows such as Stargate (there may be a long-term plotline but the events of each episode are more important), it may take a bit more work getting into it, but it's certainly worth it in the end.

However, once you get to Crusade, which to my mind is a crucial part of B5 mythology, you'll do better watching the episodes out of order. TNT intentionally sabotaged the show by showing episodes in a weird order.

Air Date Ep# Prod# Title
01/04/09 9 103 Racing the Night
01/04/10 11 101 The Needs of Earth
01/04/11 10 102 The Memory of War
01/04/12 2 107 The Long Road
01/04/16 12 104 Visitors from Down the Street
01/04/17 3 106 The Well of Forever
01/04/18 13 105 Each Night I Dream of Home
01/04/19 5 110 Patterns of the Soul
01/04/23 4 109 The Path of Sorrows
01/04/24 6 111 Ruling from the Tomb
01/04/25 7 112 The Rules of the Game
01/04/26 1 108 War Zone
01/04/30 8 113 Appearances and Other Deceits

See the ultimate B5 resource: Lurker's Guide

[Wordsmit2]

However, once you get to Crusade, which to my mind is a crucial part of B5 mythology, you'll do better watching the episodes out of order. TNT intentionally sabotaged the show by showing episodes in a weird order.

On the other hand, in the periodic Crusade discussions in the "Babylon 5?" thread here at Gateworld, people seem to find the sequence on the DVDs (TNT's sequence) more enjoyable than any other. Straczynski's sequence makes Gideon much more interesting, but you find other characters hard to take.

[Prometheus 1]

Thank you all. I can't wait to go out now and pick up the sets to start enjoying them.

[maneth]

On the other hand, in the periodic Crusade discussions in the "Babylon 5?" thread here at Gateworld, people seem to find the sequence on the DVDs (TNT's sequence) more enjoyable than any other. Straczynski's sequence makes Gideon much more interesting, but you find other characters hard to take.

I didn't really notice that much, apart from another uniform confusion, but I don't really care about the visuals in that sense enough to worry about some pesky uniform change. Gideon after all is the main character, much more so than Sinclair, Sheridan or Lochley.

[Wordsmit2]

but I don't really care about the visuals in that sense enough to worry about some pesky uniform change.

Yeah. I'm always a bit boggled by people's obsession with it. I can only think of one scene in which I notice a uniform, and the director probably meant us to, since it gives a nice clear view of insignia.

[Anubis69]

I've got a question then. For a first time viewer, what's the best? The order on the DVD, JMS' revised order or chronological?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusade...leted_episodes

After a little research, i'm leaning towards the chronological but... I'm a bit confised tbh. What do you folk think?