Rating: 
Summary: A perfect work of art
Review: I really was surprised by the quality of images, sound (exceptional!), stories and the variety of imaginating ideas.
Surprising is the quality of the music composition.
Fantastic work, I hope the season 2 will be as good.
Amazing!!!
But, I dont understand: Bruce Boxleitner is not there!
It is Michael O'Hare who is the commander...
Rating: 
Summary: The Epic Begins!
Review: This DVD boxed set contains the entire first season of J. Michael Straczynski?s epic Science Fiction series.
The show takes place on a five mile long space station that acts as a congregating place of commerce and diplomacy for humans and aliens. Babylon 5 was original in that it was the first American television series (that I am aware of) designed from the incept to tell an ongoing story across multiple years with a final resolution. Straczynski?s original vision was for the series to run five years. It appeared that it was going to be axed after the forth season, though, and he decided to resolve most of the major storylines at that point. TNT chose to pick up the fifth and final season, but by that time most of the show?s momentum had run its course, and that season proved mostly superfluous (except for the final episode which had actually been shot at the end of the forth season).The first season of Babylon 5 lays the groundwork for Straczynski?s grand vision. This vision centers on a cosmic war between two god-like races (the Vorlons and the Shadows) with humans and the other alien races acting as the pawns. The first season gets the ball rolling by introducing us to the central characters of the story and setting events in motion. Unlike the later seasons, these episodes stand on their own with minimal continuity between shows. However, most episodes are integral to the grand scheme. A viewer re-watching these for the first time will see the links to future events and will appreciate how Straczynski meticulously set the pieces in place. Characterization was definitely one of the strong points of Babylon 5. The central character from the first season is Commander Jeffery Sinclair (played by Michael O'Hare). Sinclair, the commander of Babylon 5, is a strong yet compassionate leader. Surprisingly, this character was dispensed with after the first season (except for a couple of guest star roles) and replaced by Captain John Sheridan (played by Bruce Boxleitner). Straczynski claimed this was a planned move, but there were rumors of friction behind the scenes. Personally, I preferred Sinclair. O?Hare added a dramatic intensity to the role whereas Boxleitner always seemed overly chipper as Sheridan. Sinclair?s supporting cast includes his stern Russian second in command Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian), his security chief with a checkered past Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle), and the workaholic Dr. Stephen Franklin (Richard Biggs). The primary aliens are the Faustian Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik) who at first appears to be a buffoon but eventually proves to be key player in releasing the evil of the Shadows, the lizard-like Citizen G?Kar (Andreas Katsulas) who originally appears to be a villain but later shows his sympathetic side, the mystical Minbari ambassador Delenn (Mira Furlan), and the mysterious and cryptic Vorlon ambassador Kosh. Mollari and G?Kar are the most interesting of the alien characters because of the tragic character elements that each embodies and because of their ongoing love-hate ?friendship?. Other characters of note: Bill Mummy (of Lost in Space fame) plays Delenn?s attaché and Walter Koenig (Chekov from the original Star Trek) makes his first appearance in this season as the delightfully evil telepath Bester. The special effects are done primarily with CGI (I believe this was the first television series to rely so heavily on the medium) and are quite impressive. The show was done on a fairly limited budget, however, so at times it has a cheesiness about it. The acting is at times wooden and the directing stiff, but not enough to detract from the overall quality. The writing was the second strongest point of Babylon 5 next to the characters. In the first season, the consistency was not as strong as in seasons two through four, but there are still many gems to be found. The better stories are engaging and challenging. A far cry from the preachy ?morality plays? of Star Trek, these stories often center around a moral conflict and rarely present simple solutions to the issues raised. Some stories of particular note from this season: ?Mind War?: The evil telepath Bester is introduced as Earth?s Psi Cops chase after a telepath that was subjected to experiments and has now grown too powerful. ?Deathwalker?: A renown war criminal has the secret to immortality and Earth along with several of the alien worlds are willing to set their morals aside to make a deal with her. (This episode should be required viewing for all politicians.) ?Believers?: An alien mother and father will not allow Dr. Franklin to operate on their dying child because of their religious beliefs. Dr. Franklin decides to do it anyway. ?Babylon Squared?: Babylon 4 (which disappeared several years prior) appears through a time rift. Sinclair and Garibaldi go aboard and get a glimpse of a potential apocalyptic future. In addition to the full 22 episodes from the first season, the DVD set also includes some extras such as a short making of Babylon 5 documentary and some informational sections.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Presumably you already know all about B5 or you wouldn't be contemplating the purchase of a 6-DVD set. I had taped all the episodes off the air during its five-year broadcast, and during my periodic Babylon-a-thon viewings. I longed for clean copies. Given some Amazon.com reviewers' complaints about the quality of the transfers, though, I hesitated to buy these. Until Christmas, when they became my present to me. Yes, there's an itty bit of sparkle every now and then, but so slight that I would never have noticed had I not been primed to look for it by the exaggerated complaints. The images are richly dark -- as they were intended to be -- and far superior to broadcaster's misguided efforts at "brightening" them up. I had expected individual clamshells, but the disks are mounted on both sides of the "pages" of a single cardboard "book," which fits into a slipcase. Yes, the packaging might have been better; but it's not unacceptably shoddy, and it takes up less room than 2 VHS tapes. Bottom line: I'm thrilled to bits with the set, and will order Season 2 the moment it comes out in April. (And at these prices, they're a steal compared to the tapes.) To the critics of Season 1: no, it's not my favorite either; but B5 is a saga (not serial, not episodic), and that's rather like judging an novel based on the first chapter. Season 1 sets up for payoffs in Seasons 3-5, or weren't you paying attention?
Rating:
Summary: Roll on Season 2 !!
Review: No question, B5 was the finest and most intelligent SciFi series to hit TV. Here finally is the first season's DVD set. Star Trek's over the hill and the plotlines are repeated too often. Stargate is much better than ST, but they still get a bit repetitive. However B5 episodes each in their own right are clever, well-written and original ... with a sneaky twist that catches up with you as you go along. Unlike other SciFi series, there IS a point to the B5 saga, and the subtle clues, facts and histories build up to a universal battle that sucks you in and drags you (willingly) along. This series is unmissable. In the years it was on our screen we only missed one episode (unavoidable). I can't wait to buy all the boxed sets!
Rating:
Summary: Greatest SCI-FI of 90's
Review: Babylon 5 is truly the best SciFi TV show of the 90's, possibly of all time. It is designed as a 5-year TV "novel" with a defined beginning, middle, and end. This alone sets it above most tv shows, whom often fall into the "problem-of-the-week" syndrome with little continuity between episodes. Since B5 already had a general plan, a "story arc" before the first minute was filmed, this allowed the production team to focus on plot and character. This is where Babylon 5 shines. More than any other TV show I have ever seen, B5 has the most dimensional characters. They seem like real people, not some one who was designed while the series was in progress, slapping on new features when needed. The plots of the series are also exellent, although in the first season it has some rough parts. A B5 episode is like an onion. Every time you watch it, you peel another layer off. A seemingly innocent remark at first will grow every watching until it just smacks of irony after watching the complete series. B5 is truly a work of literature. Now to the DVD review: This DVD has some flaws, but nothing that makes it not worthy of your money. First of all, the visuals. According to my sources, Babylon 5 was filmed in a format similar to film, so that it could be transfered to HDTV. This is true for the live action. However, the CGI was made in standard (old style 4x3) to save money. At the time, they thought processing power would be cheap enough that they could remake it for widescreen. They were wrong. In result, there are several artifacts and other image problems from the "streching" of the CGI to widescreen anamorphic. The audio does not have a strong remix into 5.1. as well. However, there is one thing that makes the entire dvd worth purchasing. The comments on two of the episodes by the creator, JMS, are worth buying the DVD for. JMS seems to know how to comment on an episode, because his comments are enjoyable and informative, although there are several spoilers for those who have not seen the entire series.
In conclusion, BUY this DVD!
Rating: 
Summary: My god! It's full of DUST![.]
Review: If you are expecting a classic Science Fiction series, which fantastic characters and stories which gave Star Trek some tough competition, this set is for you! If you are expecting a newly remastered, cleaned up deluxe looking DVD set, FORGET IT![.] Granted it's really nice to have this show on DVD, but the experience is EXTREMELY muted by the film prints they used in this set. The picture is scratched, dusty and rough looking. There are several long scratch lines throughout many of the scenes (Check out the scene with the hustler doing the Ball & Cup trick in SOUL HUNTER and you'll see what I mean.) For a new show, I'm really surprised how these prints look like something out of the 60's, in fact I own several series from that era (I Spy) which actually look better (and I Spy was NOT even remastered!) Believe it or not my off air VHS copies look considerably BETTER on terms of the film print. Anyway it's a shame WB was not willing to put a little more effort into the series, even if it drove the price up a but, I'd be willing to pay.
Rating:
Summary: biased opinion
Review: This is a very well done compilation of the first season of Babylon 5, the special features are all interesting, especially the information provided about the characters, Station and Technology, and the episode commentary... well, I think that is all of them... oops, well, it is all good, but take it with a grain of salt because I am a rabid Bab-5 fan.
Rating:
Summary: "And so It begins..."
Review: I recall originally seeing this series as it aired and readily confining it to "Star Trek" wannabee perdition.
I quit watching the show after the first 3 eps, but luckily continued to tape them. Fortunately a time arrived when I was able to watch the series as it was really meant to be viewed, as chapters in a book, without the week or months long lags between episodes.
I was hooked by "Parliment of Dreams" and realized that this was something special by "The Believers" (a story that could never unfold in the Star Trek universe).
But be warned, the first season -is- uneven, due mainly to the necessity of establishing the universe that the story was set-in, the backstory of the main players, and ultimately because a good number of the stories were NOT written by series-creator, J. Michael Straczynski (the only season this is true).
But even relative duds like "TKO" and "Legacy" have bits of stirring dialogue, great character moments and a foreshadowing of events to come that we aren't able to fully appreciate until looking back retrospectively...
Bottomline, patient indulgence of a few growing pains will pay off in HUGE dividends of enjoyments not only latter 2/3rds of this season, but in the subsequent years as well...
My Highest Marks possible...
Rating:
Summary: Very Satisfying Watching
Review: My family and I really enjoyed watching the complete first season. We watched many of the original series and still catch it on the Sci-fi channel when able. We feel that the series was for the most part very true to life as far as behavior in a political and business trade setting. What I mean is the lieing and misleading of rivals in order to further their own agenda.We would very much enjoy to see the second thru the fifth season become available for purchase. I would like to know when this is scedualed to happen.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding SciFi
Review: Babylon 5 was under-rated by the critics. The first season delivers excitement and entertainment. It is well acted, directed and thought provoking. One come to care about the various characters. It is will worth the investment of your time and financial resource. I am anxiously awaiting the second and third seasons.
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