As someone who saw Babylon 5 when it first came out (but only from the 2nd season on), I was thinking:
Does anyone else who saw the series in first run think that the fact that they separated the last 4-5 episodes of Seasons 2, 3, and 4 from the rest of the season by summer hiatus, and that they ran the season finales of season 2/3 season premiers of season 3/4 back-to-back altered your perception of the show? (As I recall, looking at the air dates the first season played all but the season finale, then played the season finale back-to-back with the first 7-8 episodes of season 2, but then again Season 1 started in January and played a full 22 episodes so its hiatus structure had to be different than that of the following seasons).
Most 20-26 episode a season shows have their finale around late April- early June, then a summer hiatus before coming back late August - early October. Babylon 5 would play the 17th or 18th episode, then take a hiatus, and then play 8-9 episodes in the fall, covering the end of one season and the start of another.
Effectively, Confessions and Lamentations, War Without End part II, and Intersections in Real Time were season finales in terms of when they aired.
Given how the show tried to distinguish its seasons, did anyone else find the failure to match the schedule to the season structure jarring?
Did the way episodes were aired impact your B5 experience?
Did the way episodes were aired impact your B5 experience?
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Kinky Vorlon
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Re: Did the way episodes were aired impact your B5 experience?
I didn't catch it on it's initial run.
I discovered B5 just before I started university, and Canada's sci-fi channel (then called Space, don't know or care what they call it now) had just started up and was relying on a lot of reruns to fill it's schedule. One of these shows was B5 which they aired on a daily basis. In the space of a few weeks, I caught most of seasons 2-4 and a good chunk of season 5, it was almost like binge watching you have now. I got completely caught up in the story, I didn't need the info dumping recaps you often have because I saw that episode a couple of days ago.
The schedule you describe sounds hectic and it would definitely affect how you experienced it.
I discovered B5 just before I started university, and Canada's sci-fi channel (then called Space, don't know or care what they call it now) had just started up and was relying on a lot of reruns to fill it's schedule. One of these shows was B5 which they aired on a daily basis. In the space of a few weeks, I caught most of seasons 2-4 and a good chunk of season 5, it was almost like binge watching you have now. I got completely caught up in the story, I didn't need the info dumping recaps you often have because I saw that episode a couple of days ago.
The schedule you describe sounds hectic and it would definitely affect how you experienced it.
The past tempts us, the present confuses us, the future frightens us. And our lives slip away moment by moment lost in that vast, terrible in-between.
Re: Did the way episodes were aired impact your B5 experience?
From what I recall here (UK) it didn't get quite that messed around (and there were some grumbles IIRC about some episodes being shown here before they were in the USA) but the last season? last two seasons? got moved to a late night slot, which was irritating.
Re: Did the way episodes were aired impact your B5 experience?
No, not at all.
Back in the Time Before Time, watching B5 on the "PTEN" network, that was in reality my Local UHF station(had to touch some tin foil to that silly circle antenna and touch that to a window frame to get a good signal) I would have never noticed.
Of course that was in-between the idiotic way the UHF station just randomly showed the episodes, and worst of all how they were preempted all the time by dumb sports games that "ran over time". Then I'd have to stay up till midnight on Sunday as that was the slot for "shows dumped for dumb sports".
Back in the Time Before Time, watching B5 on the "PTEN" network, that was in reality my Local UHF station(had to touch some tin foil to that silly circle antenna and touch that to a window frame to get a good signal) I would have never noticed.
Of course that was in-between the idiotic way the UHF station just randomly showed the episodes, and worst of all how they were preempted all the time by dumb sports games that "ran over time". Then I'd have to stay up till midnight on Sunday as that was the slot for "shows dumped for dumb sports".
