Nitpicking: Babylon 5

The experiment continues, but with a political theme as Six runs for high office and...stuff happens.

We review the series' start, give a little of its historical context and lose it as we follow the bouncing ball...

This is it, folks. We examine Babylon 5 as a whole, look at our favorite (and not-so-favorite) episodes and hear a little from the guests we've talked to along the way. We close with a reveal of our next series, starting on July 25!

The "good" in goodbye.

We examine the ups and downs of B5's final season in preparation for next week's Series Finale, listing our required and skippable episodes and our top and bottom three.

Faster than we expected, we've reached The End. Almost everyone is leaving, everyone else is stepping into new positions and it's time to turn off the lights and shut things down.

We're cleaning up - one of the final three episodes in which someone, for some reason, wants to bother killing Michael Garibaldi.

Babylon Five welcomes back G'Kar as we welcome back guest commentator Jill Neff in the flesh to the fabulous Nitpicking Studios.

A quintessentially Babylon Five episode - consequences, change and the summation of the series as a whole, where we also bump up against the limits of the storytelling.

Everything finally catches fire. And, once again, it's a little much for just one episode.

Consequences, consequences, consequences.

The clouds gather in many storylines, but it sort of all comes together.

It's not like Babylon 5 doesn't have good filler. You just won't find it here.

As a special treat, we have the first episode of Brassy and Sassy, a podcast by N:B5 co-host Neil McGarry and Kelly Correno.

Contrary to all available indicators, this Alfred Bester episode is most definitely NOT the jam of guest commentator Cynthia Taylor.

New problems, changing roles, and unpleasant surprises characterize a two-pound episode in a five-pound bag. Be sure to stick around for our discussion with Tim Allen of Code for Recovery!

This episode marks the end of the telepath storyline, in which Garibaldi crashes and Byron burns.

A solid episode of two storylines: Everything goes wrong on Babylon 5, and it's heading the same way on Centauri Prime.

The next installment of Nitpickers v. President John Sheridan continues as Byron and his people do something incredibly stupid.

Neil Gaiman continues the JMS tradition of dropping the "sub" from sub-text. Includes guest commentator Dan Kostelec.

A mass gathering of a perverted nature about a mass gathering of a perverted nature. Includes guest commentators Jill Neff and Cynthia Taylor.

The telepath story finally kicks into high gear. Wish we could say the same about the rest of the episode.

Rangers, trouble in Down Below, philosophizing... and no one learns very much. All plot, no story.

AKA Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Stupid. Turns out the view from the gallery is exactly the same as that from the orchestra.

A good, but not outstanding episode ensues when the fate of an previously-unknown species on the edge of Drazi space must be protected by a still-forming Alliance.

This very long walk could have been avoided if Londo Mollari (and Lennier) had a sassy gay friend.

This episode breaks the pattern of strong season starts and serves as the opening argument in Nitpicking vs. President John Sheridan of the Interstellar Alliance.

In an episode where guest commentator Dan Kostelec is the Chris Pratt to our velociraptors, we learn that, like faith, spite manages.

With a view from the top of the rollercoaster, we examine Season Four, giving our feelings about the series' strengths and weaknesses. We finally reveal our own Grand Design for the narrative as well as our required and skippable episodes and the top and bottom three.

The unofficial end of Season Four is politics all the way down. Oh, and 240 seconds of Lise Edgars.

The episode in which the Earth civil war is wrapped up and Marcus tells us exactly who he is.

This episode does the job of moving the story forward. Which after last week is a blessed relief.

Repeat after us: Seaon Four has twenty-one episodes. TWENTY. ONE.

Film-noir comes to the Garden of Gethsemane as Garibaldi finally betrays Sheridan.

The series anticlimax truly sets in as Franklin and Lyta deal with Shadow-influenced psychics and Garibaldi goes full noir on Mars.

The Earth civil war begins but it's a quiet moment between still-enemies that steals the scene.

If the last episode was all setup, this one is pure payoff.

This merely good, but necessary, episode sees the League of Non-Aligned Worlds played for a laugh as well as the return of Neroon.

Even in this boring, tedious episode, the truths of B5 -- Ivanova's the best and Garibaldi's just the worst -- remain. And, for some reason, there's Invader Zim.

We're deep in the oatmeal of Season Four as a bunch of stuff happens to people. It's fine.

Red planet. Gay honeymoon. Includes guest commentator Cynthia Taylor.

An episode that lacks an actual atonement or any importance outside of "In the Beginning."

Breaking a pattern of terrible episodes, guest commentator Jill Neff joins us for a discussion about truth and the media.

Nitpickers of the jury, Neil begins building his case that Sheridan is a shitty politician.

The apotheosis of Babylon 5 arrives in the ending of the Shadow War.

Babylon 5 at its best: we wrap up the Cartagia storyline as well as the Narn storyline and set the stage for the final confrontation with the First Ones.

Sheridan and Garibaldi are getting back into things while Londo and Vir are getting in over their heads. And be sure to stick around for the special sing-along ending!

After a brief haitus, the Shadow war resumes as Delenn and Ivanova struggle to keep together the Army of Light. Oh yeah, and some people come back.

The inevitable disappointing second episode doesn't dissapoint, as the characters continue to grapple with the events of last season, while somehow accomplishing nothing.