Babylon 5 S1E1 'Midnight on the Firing Line' FULL LENGTH Reaction & Review
Added 2025-01-28 02:00:35 +0000 UTCLets sail into a brand new sea of stars!
Comments
My favourite sci-fi series, ever, with only Stargate SG-1 as a close second. Can’t wait for you to experience all the twists and turns that will be awaiting you. There are some season one episodes that are a slog to get through (seems to be a thing with first seasons of sci-fi shows) but once it gets going, wow.
Chris Huston
2025-02-09 05:06:37 +0000 UTCIf you don't recognize him from TNG, you might recognize Andreas as the one-armed man in the Harrison Ford movie The Fugitive.
Eric Elliott
2025-02-03 17:31:31 +0000 UTCG'kar is a Narn :) And the fighter ships are called Star Furys
LightningInvoker
2025-02-03 17:31:26 +0000 UTCThis is my first time seeing this episode, and man was it good! Yeah, the special effects look rough but they were ahead of their time when the show aired.
LightningInvoker
2025-02-03 17:23:46 +0000 UTCNo need to remember the name, once you've watched a few episodes of B5 you'll instantly recognise his voice
Tim
2025-01-30 18:40:52 +0000 UTCBabylon 5, you do not know it? Well, I do hope you enjoy it. Besides Star Trek, that was the first sci-fi I connected with and even more so than Star Trek. I was sitting on the edge of my couch as a kid, excited to watch it. Back when I was young, I preferred it more from S2 on, but later on, rewatching B5 multiple times, S1 became one of my favourites. I think the best SciFi had to offer for a long time, one of the very few TV shows that never shied away from some truth and problems. Some typical over-the-top stuff in it, but nearly all of the time with a deeper meaning to it. Typical 90s show in many things, but the same as Stargate's early seasons, it is a kind of TV entertainment that is somewhat missing today. Well, you've just decided what I'm going to spend my time on this evening.
Joel Quinn
2025-01-30 18:35:45 +0000 UTCI love this series so much and how it progresses. I started with the pilot episode "The Gathering" which has introductions to a few of the characters in S1E1. There are little references later in the series to the pilot but honestly it was kind of a janky production and script so maybe S1E1 was the best place to start.
Kevin
2025-01-30 11:53:31 +0000 UTCI found the Gathering inside Season 1 as a 'bonus' so I will definitely be viewing it soon! Thank you, my friend!
Fury Roll
2025-01-29 20:08:01 +0000 UTCWow! They storyboarded five seasons!?! That is insanely awesome! Thank you for the info, my friend!
Fury Roll
2025-01-29 20:07:20 +0000 UTCI am really excited about getting into Babylon 5. SO many people have recommended it and hearing you praise it, G, is adding to the hype :)
Fury Roll
2025-01-29 20:06:30 +0000 UTCThank you so much for all the great information, my friend! I haven't seen many episodes of TNG but I've written down the name and will be on the lookout when I start watching it.
Fury Roll
2025-01-29 20:04:29 +0000 UTCThank you so much for the kind words, my friend! Looking forward to getting into Babylon 5!
Fury Roll
2025-01-29 20:02:13 +0000 UTCI hear you about the drive space :D So glad you'll be joining me, my friend!
Fury Roll
2025-01-29 20:01:14 +0000 UTCNo respect for how little hard drive space I have lol I haven't seen Babylon 5 in ages. I think I got halfway through season 2 or just started season 3 with a friend, then something got in the way and we never got back to it. I enjoyed it quite a bit though, I'm ok with finishing it with you since he's busy these days.
Dani Gould
2025-01-29 18:23:13 +0000 UTCWhat an amazing treat, my favourite sci-fi show of all time watched by one of my favourite reactors! Back in the day this was my 1st experience of on-screen rather than on-page science fiction: somehow Star Trek was never bought to be shown on tv in my country when I was growing up, so it was mind-blowing to actually see a fully realised fictional universe on a screen like this after devouring every sci fi book I could get my hands on in my local library. There have been many other shows since then, I love DS9 with all my heart, and The Expanse is definitely in my top 5 shows of all time, not just genre ones. And yet B5, uneven as it is sometimes, will always be special because I grew up with it and it basically made me who I am now.
two_owls
2025-01-28 18:18:08 +0000 UTCNow that I've watched, couple of actor notes if I may. Michael O'Hare (Sinclair) - Yes, you're not the only one to have trouble with his delivery. Some hate it, a few really like it (very assured is what I've heard it called by those), I'm neutral on it, but it's definitely different I believe he was primarily a theatre actor before this, which may explain it somewhat? Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi) - Very interesting person, started off as a pilot, then spent a few years as a Wall Street stockbroker, got bored of that and decided to become an actor, landing the role of Garibaldi on B5. After that was over, went and became a fairly successful talk radio host. Interesting guy, would have loved to have met him in real life, alas he died of liver failure in 2016. Peter Jurasik (Londo) - Apparently the accent he uses for Londo was his own idea, you'll note his assistant Vir (yes, that is Flounder) doesn't have it, nor do most other Centauri we meet later). He just showed up on set and started talking like Dracula. Fantastic actor, and he grows more and more into the role as the show goes on. Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar) - Without all the awesome make-up you might recognise him as Commander Tomalak, Romulan nemesis of the Enterprise throughout much of TNG. Another amazing actor, didn't have as much to do in this first episode but still put in an excellent performance, many more great things to come.
Tim
2025-01-28 15:27:50 +0000 UTCOh god dammit! Babylon 5, really? Already have a backlog of things to watch due to lack of time recently, and now you're starting my favourite sci-fi show of all time? Thanks a bunch! But seriously, this is one of the best shows ever, the serialised structure with season-long (and show-long) arcs was pretty groundbreaking at the time, DS9 copied it to some extent but never got close to matching B5s intricate narrative (DS9 is still a great show of course, some B5 fans hate it but not one of those). Just a warning though that the show, and in particular the first season, can be a little rough, They had very little money (I believe half the per-episode budget of TNG) so don't be surprised if things like sets, costumes etc something look like they'd be more at home in a theatre production - which is kinda fitting considering how many of the actors where experienced in theatre. Finally, on the Gathering, while's it interesting to see, it's definitely not essential to watch, it was filmed more as a proof of concept and, as Erasure25 mentions, a lot of changes where made before filming on Season 1 proper began. And while the events of the Gathering are somewhat important, everything you need to know from it gets covered again in later episodes. I believe the general recommendation to new viewers is to watch it as a curio after finished the first season, can't say if that's good advice myself since I saw it first on rental video back in '91 or so :) Anyway, really hope you enjoy this!
Tim
2025-01-28 10:42:58 +0000 UTCGreat choice, dude! I've never actually seen S1, but started in S2 hahaha. One of the best, most underrated sci-fi shows out there. And it has two of the best characters in sci-fi tv history ever.
LightningInvoker
2025-01-28 04:59:57 +0000 UTCI'm soooo happy we started this series. It is one of my favorites of all time. Also, I am glad you got the notebook too, yer gonna need it. I have to bite my tongue for everything that happens in these episodes. I don't think can comment with anything that happens without spoiling something. The entire 5 year series was already planned out. Fun fact... the fighters are as Newtonianly (if that can be a word) accurate as possible... I think even NASA approves.
Christian Rennie
2025-01-28 03:44:57 +0000 UTCI was going to say the same thing as Lauren that you should watch The Gathering, which was the pilot. I think there was like a year gap between the airing of The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line. Just a warning, there did make some changes to casting and characters from the pilot to the first episode. Another note, they did make some made-for-TV movies, which you should obviously not watch yet. In particular, there is a movie called "In the Beginning." Despite its title, don't watch it yet until after Season 4.
Erasure25
2025-01-28 02:18:22 +0000 UTCThank you, my friend! Will be checking it out ASAP!
Fury Roll
2025-01-28 02:14:18 +0000 UTCHey there! I just started watching your post. I don't remember how much of the first episode references the TV pilot movie "The Gathering" which was aired a year before the first episode, but later episodes do reference events that took place during that pilot and so may not make as much sense without it. I'm not really sure that it's all that important, to be honest. It's been a while since I've seen this show.
Lauren M
2025-01-28 02:06:21 +0000 UTC
