Quark's

The worst B5 episode is probably the technomagus one, and I was going to argue, but you are very right.

Andromeda is so much worse than B5.

Yeah it's worse, but hey, they both made 5 seasons lmao

Michael O'Hare was pretty healthy when they filmed the pilot, but got worse after, which is part of why season 1 was delayed; he took some time for treatment and JMS held off on filming until he was ready to come back. He took a turn while they were filming the season and it affected his acting. He came back for a guest appearance later on when he was feeling better and put in his best performance as the character. He retired shortly after, though.

I can’t recommend Andromeda.

I attempted unsuccessfully to slog alone through the first season. Our kids bailed after a few episodes.

The fact that it’s fans say the early seasons are the better ones gave me no incentive to persevere.

Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) got into some weird shit later in life, but it's a great "lost in space" style show anyway. They cruise around in their lil space shippy solving mysteries or whatever. Nothing too original but fun

As an adendum to that guy's post, season 5 is weaker due to production issues, but really picks up in the back half and resolves the G'Kar-Londo plot. That last bit makes it worth watching all on its own, for me.

I did, but it wasn’t very good. If you really like the original, go ahead and give it a shot. Make sure you watch the Call To Arms movie, which is kind of a pilot for the spin-off.

The old is more important than limited funds. I remember reading an interview from JMS where he mentioned B5 was about $1 million an episode. Which after accounting for inflation is about $2 million an episode in today's money. The BSG remake was at about $1 million per episode.

I can tell you in 1995 the CGI on B5 was pretty great.

It's not that season 5 is bad, it's that they pretty much resolved everything in season 4 when they didn't think they were getting a season 5.

Then, after they hit it out of the park with 4, TNT comes along and goes "So about season 5..."

"Uhh... yeah... season 5... heh." 💧💧😅💧💧

It’s decent. First half is not as good as any of the other seasons, but the second half ramps it up considerably and is great. Sad but great.

Maybe I'm the only one who likes S05 just as much. Yea it's not as bombastic in scope, but you still get the same great characters and universe.

There are problems with Season 1, Season 2 has a better hook and because they replaced the commander and are doing a bunch of catch up work, there's no harm starting there then circling back.

Season 1 is a slow burn and there are a lot of filler episodes that don't go anywhere (looking at you Infection, Deathwalker, Believers, TKO).

That being said, the must watch season 1 episodes:

1-3, 5-8, 11-13, 16-20, 22.

Better to skip the first season than not watch at all.

I am someone who noped out of the show mid season one during its original broadcast run, despite being really psyched by the pilot, and fortunately gave it a second chance for season two when Boxleitner was brought in.

I think watching season 1 later isn't a bad idea at all. It feels like you're in on what's being set up, and knowing what's coming makes the sloggy episodes tolerable. I watched the show in the order 2 3 1 4 5 on the advice of a friend, and I'm really glad I didn't start with season 1. I would have quit before the end of the season and missed out on what's now my favorite show of all time.