I know a lot of people beat up on season 5, but I prefer to remember how happy I was to find out that there was a season 5.
I watched Babylon 5 when it originally aired, but I was a kid with few sources of info, no cable, and no internet. As far as I knew, The Deconstruction of Falling Stars was the series finale. And while it’s a fine little episode for what it is, it’s a terrible way to close the series.
It was years later that I found out that B5 had moved to cable and got a fifth season plus some movies and a short lived sequel series. Seeing in the beginning was a treat, and while I found season 5 to be uneven, I was also thrilled to have more, and to see things wrap up. And then finally getting the real finale, it was a weight lifted from the deepest, nerdiest depths of my soul.
I haven’t watched B5 in about ten years - I was following a roadmap from a site online to try to watch them all chronologically.
Long story short, I think most of it was a straight run to the penultimate episode of Season 5, and most of the spinoff stuff occurred between that and the final episode.
I got so bogged down and fed up with Crusade and some of the spinoff long-form episodes that I gave up and never actually watched the final episode, and I’ve lost the storyline thread now so I think just watching it cold would lose it’s impact. Shame really.
I think a lot of those guides want you to watch everything, whereas much of the extra stuff isn’t worth it, including basically all of Crusade. I forget the details, but I’d recommend only a few of the films - I’d rather have quality over quantity and so remember it fondly.
The best way to watch Babylon 5 is to either start with the special edition of the gathering or skip it and go to midnight on the firing line. Then just watch the show in either broadcast order or lurkers guide order. In the beginning is recommended but only after season 4 or right before the series finale. Everything else is unnecessary and should be skipped or saved for last.
