Yar, you be here: Babylon 5 - The Complete First 5 Seasons (5-Pack) > Customer Reviews

Babylon 5 - The Complete First 5 Seasons (5-Pack) Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 17 Reviews)

Best bang for your buck...
First, let me say that I think Babylon 5 is probably one of the greatest sci-fi series there has ever been. EVER. That should give you a glimpse where my review is going. I don't plan on trying to change anyone's opinion, but I do hope to explain why this series has been a favorite of mine ever since I first saw it.

For one thing, it has an epic storyline. When I say storyline, I mean how it was planned as a 5 season journey. The series main attraction to me was that it was connected throughout all its seasons, weaving a tale reminiscent of the old space operas.

I've been tired of the generic sci-fi at that time (Star Trek, I'm looking at you) that while good, it never really made me want to watch every single episode. I mean, did it matter that I missed one episode of ST:TNG? Not really, unless it was a two parter, becasue most episodes were self contained and had nothing to do with each other. Babylon 5 changed that.

It was like a book, made into a TV show. For anyone who has read a long book series, such as The Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, and even Harry Potter, you will understand why one has to keep reading the next book, and the next, and so on. It's the story, the wanting to know what happens to the characters that drives one to keep on reading. That's the feeling Babylon 5 gave to me.

Some people might complain that Babylon 5 was a lot of dialogue and not enough explosions. To me, that was the best part, the interaction between the characters, their motivations, their fears, and their failures.

To me, Babylon 5 is almost like a love story. Literally, and figuratively. For one thing, it was a labor of love from its creator and producers that the series was able to complete its five year run. The actors certainly loved working on that show as well. It was a matter of love to the series that kept the fans watching, and it was the love in the Babylon 5 story itself that makes it magic. It was the love of Earth that forces the actions of our main characters, it was the love of each other that brings them together, and it was the love of peace that drives them to fight.

So much one can say about this series......but now, I'm going to put in my two cents about this Amazon.com deal. I believe it's actually quite a smart move for you to buy it this way. I made the mistake of buying my copies retail and at different places; some places charge up to $100 dollars for each season, while the lowest retail I've seen is around $79. There also comes the problem of finding them all at the same time. Most stores don't carry all seasons, so to find them all, you'll need to go store to store. By using the Amazon.com way (which I wish I could have done myself) you get all the seasons at once, and the price is quite low.

Of course, the price is still steep, but consider this - you are looking at about 22 episodes per season, clocking about 45+ minutes each. That means you are looking at about 1000+ minutes per season, times 5, that's roughly about 5000+ minutes of great TV watching. Now, think about the price of one movie (most of which are around 98 minutes, on average) and then think to yourself how many times you've kicked yourself for wasting 20 bucks on a movie you didn't like? In the end, if you do a numbers game, your are getting more out of one season, than you would out of 4 movies (1 1/2 hours each, 20 bucks each, about 6 hours and $80 dollars) while Babylon 5 (1 season is about 1000+ which is around 15 hours of so, for only $74 at amazon.com).

Deep, moving, thought provoking sci-fi
Well, where does one start in describing babylon 5? This is not just a great science-fiction series, but also a fantastically written and acted long epic. The series reads like an old fashioned novel. It is deep , it is rich, the carachters are extremely well drawn out and interesting , filled with flaws but also greatness in equal measure. It is a story that involves not only into the adventure but into the process of growth of the people and the worlds it describes. What I really like about babylon 5 is that it touches on so many important topics, such as the connection between one's actions and the consequences of those actions, the need to sometimes stand alone and firm with one's truth even when inconvenient, the nature of light and dark, the meaning of the struggle between good and evil, the meaning of true courage, the consequences of cowardice and self-interest, the dynamics of power and corruption in governments and the role of the individual in creating change at a collective level. JMS, the writer of this series, is a smart, sensitive and deep man that obviously had something very important to say through this series that he wrote almost singlehandedly - something that apparently is very unusual in television. And it is my feeling that he got his message across very well, helped by a superb cast of amazing actors that brought to life these very unique carachters in a way that , after a while, you really belive that they are real. Londo Molari, G'kar, Delenn, Ivanova...how could these carachters, so full and complex, be just the creation of somebody's mind? JMS and his team really created something special with this series, a universe that is consistent and real and exciting in which a magnificent story unfolds. Watch this series without skipping one episode as you will loose some of the story if you don't. Even in the first series there are elements that are important for things that happen in seasons four or five. The story is that well crafted. And if you are like me and my boyfriend, by the end of the series, you will get to care so much about these carachters, that you will weep true tears by the time you get to its closing. A very moving, fun and thought provoking work.

don't drop them!
I'm with everyone else who says B5 is a great series. The series is fantastic, watching them on DVD without interruptions is terrific, yada yada yada. If you didn't think so, you probably wouldn't be buying all 5 seasons.

The only issue I have with each season pack is the relatively poor way that the DVD holders themselves are put together. The plastic disk holders are simply glued in (and not very well or securely IMO) to the cardboard covers. It doesn't take much opening/closing/dropping from short distances onto carpet to get the disk holders to come unglued. I've already had two disk holders come unglued from their covers.

For the price, I would have liked to see a little more secure binding, or maybe fold-out style packaging similiar to the way the LoTR extended edition DVDs were put together. With 6 disks in each season, it might have made the package a little big, but at least everything would stay together.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Next Page