So when the DVD was released, I had seen only a few episodes of B5, none of which were first-season episodes. Nevertheless, I bought the boxset based on strong recommendations from friends. I was not disappointed.
For those as unfamiliar with the show as I was (and more), Babylon 5 is the name of a space station created in the aftermath of a war between Earth and the alien race called the Minbari, with the goal of preventing another interstellar war. The races represented are humans, the Minbari (more advanced than humans, and strongly religious), the Centauri (once a great power, now fading), the Narn (a reptilian race formerly ruled by the Centauri, and now out for revenge on them), the Vorlons (in a word, inscrutable), and a consortium of smaller races. There is also another race called the Shadows that seems to be moving behind the scenes.
Probably the biggest difference between B5 and most of its predecessors is the fact that it was designed to cover a 5-year story arc, a very ambitious concept, especially given that its completion was subject to the whims of network executives (which I hear did cause problems in later years). This enabled creator J. Michael Straczynski to plan for long-term character development, as well as to create a story on an epic scale (I'm a sucker for big epics). Early on, the episodes seemed fairly self-contained to me, but as the series went on, I began to see the links and developments more clearly.
It all adds up to a tremendously addictive series. I managed to watch all 22 episodes in the boxed set within a week, and was left itching to see season 2. As I mentioned before, I'm a fan of big epics, so I'm not sure whether someone who prefers more short-term stuff will enjoy the series as much as I did, but I would encourage anyone who likes SF to try watching.
Character-wise... I'm not a good judge of acting, so I won't comment on it. But all the major characters are charismatic and likeable in their own ways (even Morden, in a sinister manner). I can honestly say that there's not a major character in the mix whom I didn't find a reason to like, although my favourites would be Ivanova and G'Kar.
As for special features, there is an intro by Stracsynski, who also gives commentaries for two of the most important episodes, "Signs and Portents" and "Chrysalis". There are also two mini-documentaries and some short data files on disc 6. I had heard that there was a flaw with the aspect ratio on disc 2, but this was not apparent on my copy.
Straczinski comments in one of the documentaries on the disc that B5 has been said to rank with the original series of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek as representing a paradigm shift in American SF TV. From what I've seen here, it deserves that ranking.
