Please Tell Me It Gets Better...

[BigR]

I blindly bought B5 season 1... umm, acting is terrible, and the corny cgi doesn't help. Just watched the first episode. Story was okay, but bad acting and cheesy effects killed the experience. Do any of these aspects get any better?

[Jumper_One]

yes it will definitely get better! check out this thread, several people have replied and explained the direction of the show, characters etc

[methosivanhoe]

firstly... yes, it gets amazingly better... trust me, the first season is integral to the overall plot, while it does take a while for everyone to find their feet in the new series, don't give into temptation to skip bits or you'll miss important story bits that won't be used for a long time...

secondly... ignore season 5, seasons 1-4 are the good ones, with seasons 3-4 really hitting the high notes, again though, don't just skip 1-2 or you'll miss out on really important bits and just get lost in season 3.

It is a really amazing show with a story arc that is second to none when it comes to planning out for the entire series. give it a chance, you won't regret it.

M

[maneth]

And by the time you get to the end of season 4, you'll probably be so addicted to the show that even if season 5 doesn't quite match the amazement of seasons 2-4 (even though there are a couple of grotty episodes I skip on reviews too) you'll still watch it.

Even if you do skip season 5, make sure you watch the finale, Sleeping in Light. I practically guarantee it'll blow your mind.

[methosivanhoe]

yeah... i've got to admit, i even shed a tear at the first quater of Sleeping in Light...

M

[LaCroix]

I know that by today's standards the CGI's are old. But back then they were state of the art. Believe me it's the storyline that hooks you. You want to get to know these characters better and their background.

It does get better.

[ToasterOnFire]

Season one is rough around the edges with some meh acting, but stick around! It really starts getting good in s2.

[Xicer]

Trust me, it gets 1000x times better after season one. The story improves dramatically, as does the acting (you'll see why) and it'll hook you in. As for the CGI, well come on the show is about 12-13 years old and at the time those effects were well ahead of their time.

By first episode do you mean the pilot movie? If so then that explains a lot, it definitely wasn't the best pilot in television history. You'll see a dramatic improvement.

[Jeffala]

By first episode do you mean the pilot movie? If so then that explains a lot, it definitely wasn't the best pilot in television history. You'll see a dramatic improvement.

"The Gathering" was awful! Delenn's over-acting in that scene with G'Kar? OMG horrid.

But, as many have said, it gets so much better. The Babylon 5 story, in my opinion, is one of the best in all of science fiction television.

[gopher65]

Heh, that first episode (the 2 hour pilot movie) was dreadful. There was no where to go but up baby! I started with the pilot too and I almost stopped watching B5 when I saw that ep for the first time about a year ago.

Fortunately B5 starts to get halfway interesting about 2/3s of the way through season 1, and just spirals up from there all the way through the end of the 4th season. There aren't many shows that I've watched that get *better* as the seasons pass. Usually it is the other way around.

[Missster.Freeman]

I had started rewatching B5 for the first time in many years and I went through season one a lot quicker than I thought I would. Even some of the weaker episodes had new bits of detail I missed when I watched B5 for the first time. I say there are no real crappy episodes in B5. But that might just be me.

As for season two... that was a real blast! It took me a bit longer to get through season three as I had wanted to savour all the goodies in what is my favourite season. Now doing the same thing with four. I'm actually looking forward to season five as it's the only season I've watched through once. It'll be interesting to see what I make of it now that I'm a lot wiser older.

[kmiller1610]

Like any form of Entertainment, you find the thing you like and if it grabs you, you start to ignore the other parts. For me, B5 grabbed me because of the ideas and the characters. And now, I can watch even the parts that used to make my skin crawl and I'm fine with it. On first glance I thought Londo was the most stupid thing I had ever seen in Sci Fi. Now, every scene with him in it is gold to me.

If you don't buy the characters or the ideas or the seamless story telling (at least one), it will not get any better.

I'm still trying to get through Ferengi love stories when I re-watch DS9 and the great production values are not helping me.....

[Angela V]

I'm currently on season 4 but then I get the series through my library. I do have to admit I would never buy this to re watch. Season 1 is dreadful in acting. It does get much better in season 2. But there are several actors whom just get on my nerves still in season 4. It's a go story though. Worth it just for that .

[Darren]

I'd say that things really start to rachet up by #209, "The Coming of Shadows." By #216, "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum," you're waist-deep in the tidal wave that will have you tossed around and begging for more by the third season finale.

http://www.scifistream.com/babylon5/s2/index.shtml

[TheGreatLordGeorge]

I guess i should start watching again then because i stopped at 208