So, as you may know, with the advent of Earth: Final Conflict Season 5 turning out to be something far more terrible than any TV show I've ever seen before, I decided to start watching the next show on my list! Babylon 5. I had seen it ages ago, and didn't like it. I don't remember what episode it was (actually, I did at one time, because I watched Season 1 just a few weeks ago and recognized a lot of episodes, but I've forgotten them again), but I didn't like it. But, if you know me well enough, I would have told you that I also didn't like Stargate when I first saw it and I also didn't like Battlestar Galactica when I first saw it. (The real BSG, mind you. Not the trash that's on today.)
So I decided to watch B5 again! And, man... I thought Earth: Final Conflict was deep and political. E:FC was political in the sense of "we're the Taelons, saviors of the human race, we will do what we want because you humans are foolish enough to believe that we're your friends", and the Taelons would manipulate and twist the truth around and when the humans woke up to what was happening, it was usually too late, and there was always a sense of "humanity was careless enough to throw away their independence and now they'll never get it back". And at the end of every episode, you felt that even though something right had been done, there was always a feeling of "but it didn't matter".
Then there's Babylon 5. It's political in the sense of "we're humans, risking everything in an attempt to stop another war like the one that nearly wiped us out. Why can't anyone else see that?", and then everything slowly begins to fall apart. It's not like Star Trek with the perfect unified Federation on a mission to harvest peace across the galaxy, it's more like... Earth was scared that another war would destroy them completely, so they tried to make a neutral zone where they could conduct diplomatic talks, but now that Earth has forgotten about how devastating the war was, they think they can handle anything, and now there's massive political in-fighting. Not at all the perfectly unified Star Trek Federation. And to top it all off, other alien conflicts progress to war and everything's a complete mess, with Babylon 5 stuck in the middle, still trying to keep the peace when everyone, including Earth, is only looking out for themselves. Basically, it's how I always pictured space fiction to be. Earth is interacting with other aliens, but Earth is still the petty humanity fighting themselves for ultimate control.
It's hard to say which one is better. E:FC or B5. Both are amazing at pulling out emotions and making you feel for the different characters. Whether it's pure disgust at one's who can't see the bigger picture, or pure despair when you see entire races falling victim to the shortsightedness. So I'm not sure which is better of the two, if it's even possible for one to be better. They were both so amazing, with awesome storylines. (And then E:FC hit season 5 and that all went to heck.) One thing's for sure. I'm watching Babylon 5 now and, like when I was watching E:FC, my interest in Stargate has sharply fallen. Sure, I still watch it, but I'll always rush back to the deeper stories. To be honest, Stargate is no longer my favorite series. It's good, but not nearly as good as E:FC and B5. Sorry, but I've been spoiled by political complexity!
In short: Watch. Now. Season One, is, of course, a little choppy and boring, but it's essential. As E:FC, Babylon 5 is heavily dependent on previous episodes, but probably less so. You wouldn't be completely lost if you jumped into B5. You could easily pick up "okay, they did this, so that's why this is happening", whereas E:FC was "wait, what are they talking about?" So, basically, watch now! But don't skip, and try not to give up in the first season, because the second is where it starts getting good!
