I’m currently on season 2 and I’m really enjoying it. I wish I could binge it but don’t have the time. I was wondering if there are any books or comic books I can read once I’m finished. I really hope no sequels are in the works. Well I would love sequels but not in the current era. I don’t want any articles talking about how problematic the show is.
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Congrats on taking the B5 pill. It's the best sci-fi ever put on mainstream TV.
To answer your question, there are a number of movies but none of them are really worthwhile with the possible exception of the pilot movie. I don't remember the name but it takes place just before the first episode proper. Definitely don't watch fifthspace.
I should also probably mention something about season 5 but... Well, you'll find out on your own.
Thanks! I hear that Deep Space Nine is a ripoff but I don’t see it besides a space station
Well the meta evidence is that the creator of B5 went to the network that produced Star Trek with the space-UN, somewhat more grounded sci-fi concept and was rejected only for them to produce DS9 a short time later along somewhat similar lines
Oh, ok. So they took his idea and reworked it into a Star Trek universe.
Kinda. They ended up going in somewhat different directions with it.
B5 and DS9 was that thing where they were both working on a similar idea without actively copying each other
While not related to the books part there is a suggested viewing order due to various sequels and prequels that were made as well as revelations.
https://i.stack.imgur.com/glTFC.png
Cool! Thanks!
Let's see, DC released some comics, although I can't really remember most of them being remarkable, apart from the In Valen's Name series, which was rather good.
As for the novels, a couple of trilogies were written after the series ended, all of which are worth reading and continue the story/fill in some blanks: Legions of Fire, Technomage (best read after watching Crusade), and Psi Corps. There were numbered standalone novels as well, but they were of dubious quality and mostly non-canon, apart from The Shadow Within (best read before the Technomage trilogy), and To Dream in the City of Sorrows (covers Sinclair's journey after the end of Season 1). There are also some canon short stories floating around the internet as well.
Thanks!
There wasn't much of a B5 EU. However, Mongoose Publishing wrote a ton of splatbooks for B5RPG that filled in a lot of gaps.
The sad reality of Babylon 5 is that it is probably a complete work. It's doubtful a remake will ever be attempted, and without a remake it's doubtful any spinoff pitch would float after how badly Crusade fell flat.
Crusade? Thanks for the info.
The spinoff we got instead of the spinoff people wanted.
I remember.
Massive Spoilers
When a spinoff was first announced, there was brief speculation that it would star Jerry Doyle, Patricia Tallman, and Walter Koenig. That it would be an intrigue story about the looming telepath war. A conclusion to Lyta's promise that if Garibaldi built the infrastructure to help her take on the PSI Corps, then she would remove the mind hack that keeps him from shooting Bester.
Instead we got a crummy series about totally new characters fighting a threat that was pulled out of nowhere in the Season 5 movie special.
Instead they immediately jumped to after the Telepath war skipping the entire series of events which included the in universe deaths of several characters.
Speaking of, RIP Jerry Doyle and everyone else from B5 that has now since died;
Richard Biggs, Stephen Franklin. Stephen Furst, Vir Cotto. Andreas Katsulas, G'Kar. Jerry Doyle, Michael Garabaldi. Jeff Conaway, Zack Allan. Michael O'Hare, Jeffrey Sinclair. Tim Choate, Zathrases.
WTF Mira Furlan [Delenn] died at the start of this year from West Nile virus!
Holy hell I didn't know about like half of those.
Going to go be sad now.
It's one of those really surprising contrasts with Star Trek since DS9 being the obvious series to compare with B5 only has Rene Auberjonis [Odo] at 79 and Aron Eisenberg [Nog] at 50 no longer around and in the case of Eisenberg he was only born with 1 kidney hence his short stature so had existing health issues throughout his life.
Even if you go back to the earlier ST series none of the core cast of TNG have died at this point and only 3 of the core TOS cast have being Deforest Kelly [Bones] in 1999, James Doohan [Scotty] in 2005, and most recently Lenard Nimoy [Spock] in 2015.
It's unfortunately a lot worse if you look into some of the reasons why they died.
Biggs died of an aortic dissection, which is almost impossible to save from. Same thing killed Dermont Morgan [Father Ted].
Furst had a startling weight loss during the show from s1 Vir to s5 and eventually died due to complications from diabetes.
Katsulas died of lung cancer because he smoked pretty much his entire life.
Doyle had a massive drinking problem to the point he had a stroke/was in a coma for some time which likely took years off him even though he woke up.
Conaway had a history of drug abuse similar to Eddie Guerrero that caused complications in treating pneumonia that eventually claimed him.
O'Hare has had quite a few speakers [including JMS himself] talk about his severe mental health issues and the depression he was struggling with for years which led to him willingly being written out of the show so he could seek help. Suffered a heart attack then died 5 days later after being a coma.
Choate was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2004 when he was only 49.
From what I read Mira Furlan had some other health issues for some time.
It has a bigger body count than a 1950s western in both onscreen and offscreen deaths. Never film in a place they tested atomic weapons!
Actually there IS a small EU. JMS had notes left over for storylines that weren't finished in the series proper and several books were created based off those, they've been recognized as the official continuation of the story.
The Telepath War was a fucking rip and a massive letdown.
I need to watch it, I remember it ran on TV in the afternoon in the mid 90s more as a after-school show than anything else here in Norway, and I only ever caught individual episodes and snippets.
It’s worth it. I’m watching it on HBO Max
You could think of season 5 as a spinoff, but it stays true. Its more B5, but not as focused because there's really no overall story arc. There are a few movies. The pilot movie is excellent. It really should be the start of season 1. There was a spinoff serious - maybe the crusade? I enjoyed all of it for what it is