Babylon 5, Season 4

iTunes has a poorly endoded version of this show. Space CG effects shots are VERY jerky. I believe this is because these shots were done on video (30fps) and were not handled well when encoding a 24 fps master for Apple. In addition, the black levels and contrast are atrocious. (Composited effects are smooth, though low res, as this is how the effects were produced. That part can be forgiven.) The encoding that was streaming on Go90 was MUCH better. Smooth as butter. Too bad that is over.

After a cartoony first season and a better but still stumbling 2nd, B5 finally hit its stride in the third year, becoming fairly decent, fairly serious tv sci-fi. That carried through this 4th season, with its story expanded to epic scale and the numerous plot threads and character lines woven together pretty cleverly. It still had some weak characters and actors, but they were mostly around the edges, with the better ones stage front. And where the primitive CGI of the first two seasons looks laughable now, by the 3rd season the production values were way up, so that from then on it looks really good for tv. Not the best tv sci-fi ever, but from season 3 on it holds its own pretty well.

By far my favorite. A lot of great characters, but they all come in 2nd to Marcus/Ivanova!

When i first saw B5, i thought it was gonna be a stupid show, but when i got more into it I started really liking it. When i finally got itunes i was happy that they have it on itunes. I thank you for having it on itunes!!

As it says in the prologue at the beginning of any Season 4 episode, this season represented the turning point for the entire plot line, and it is season 4 within which the climax of JMS' "Novel for Television" reaches its peak. The "Shadow War" gets resolved early on, but JMS always made it clear that this series is not about just the events themselves, but about the impact that these events have on the people... Ordinary people who go through extraordinary events and are forever changed. Nobody in Babylon 5 is a hero in the classical sense of the word -- these are merely people who are doing their jobs, in many cases with stronger beliefs and ethics than some, but ultimately just normal people being changed by major events. For this to have any impact, we have to take some time and sit back and see exactly how these people are changed, what they eventually become, and what they do with it. From a dramatic and artistic point of view, season 4 still has some of the best episodes in the entire series... Sheridan's return from Z'ha'dum, his couple of confrontations with Bester, the entire premise of the episode "The Illusion of Truth" (which should be viewed by every journalism student everywhere), and the scenes where they capture and interrogate Sheridan near the end are just brilliantly done for their depth (shades of "Comes the Inquisitor" from Season 2, but with a much darker purpose).

Babylon 5 is not for the A.D.D. television viewer, because the storyline moves much the way life does -- up and down, quickly and slowly, positively and negatively, etc. Viewers who get frustrated with Seasons 4 & 5 do so because they miss the realism that JMS was trying to portray. After you meet Valen, throw out the Shadows and Vorlons, then overthrow your own world's corrupt political machine, any hero would have a slow weekend or two. The point of the show is that after you stop shooting, someone has to clean up the battlefield. Legends are made of men and women (and Minbari and Narns and Centauri), and life's challenges vary from year to year. NO other show has ever gone where B5 went over its five-year arc.

EVRYTHING THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SHADOWS,VORLONS AND THE ELDER RACES WELL, YOU CAN FORGET IT ALL.THE EPISODE INTO THE FIRE COMPLETELY LEAVES YOU HANGING WITH THE FEELING THAT WELL I GUESS I DONT HAVE TO WATCH THE SHOW ANYMORE.OH MY GOSH,THE CENTAURI LEADER IS AN SICKO AND ALMOST RUINS THE FIRST SIX EPISODES. IF YOUR INTERSTED IN THIS SHOW TRY SEASON TWO AND THREE. RISING STAR IS A GOOD EPISODE THOUGH.

The beautiful thing about seasons 3 & 4 is that they are pretty much fluid. Most of the missing pieces that have been building in the story lines of seasons 1 & 2 come together in season 3, adding some resolve, but it's still another build-up. In season 4, everything, and this time I really mean everything, that has been building up over the previous three seasons comes to a close and a new chapter begins. Like with season 3, season 4 keeps you on the edge of your seat with constant intrigue and action and the payoff is well worth the wait it takes to get there. Season 3 is still my favorite, but season 4 is is in a close 2nd place. For fans of the other 3 seasons, you absolutely won't want to miss out on this one!

I hope Season 3 is being built for the Apple TV format and that is why it is delayed. Season 4 is great, and showed us all that you can return from Za-ha-dum? First I want to see how to get there.

While I am very happy to see seasons 4 and 5 have been added to the iTunes Library, Season 3 is very necessary for anyone's collection. Besides setting everything up for the rest of the show and possibly being the best season anyway, it is the only season written entirely by the show's creator, J. Michael Straczynski. Wake up Apple, and satisfy the fans!!!