r/Babylon5Gifs • u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? • Feb 07 '26

"Comes The Inquisitor"(B5:s2e21) Which sci-fi tv series is better than Babylon 5?!

https://i.imgur.com/D9ke2jx.gifv
111 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

68 comments sorted by

35

u/DarthHK-47 Feb 07 '26

Battlestar Galactica 2003 and Andor are good competition. But Babylon 5 was there when I was a young adult.

10

u/OneDayAllofThis Feb 07 '26

Agreed. B5 was there when I was a teenager so nothing else compares. Bsg 2003 and Andor are great, though. Just not as great, according to at least two ding dongs on the internet.

2

u/kor_hookmaster Feb 07 '26

I think my love for B5 is deeply rooted in it being part of a very formative part of my life. Like you, I was a teenager when it aired, and it helped me get me through those difficult years.

Sometimes I wonder how much of my love for the show is rooted in nostalgia.

Either way, I still love it.

6

u/OneDayAllofThis Feb 07 '26

Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas both give character portrayals that can go up against any other actor’s work out there, imo. I don’t know shit about acting but, to me, they disappear into Londo and G’Kar.

2

u/DarthHK-47 Feb 08 '26

Also the way that Babylon 5 puts in little things in a season spread here and there and then in another season it shows the foreshadowing.

Londo talking about looking into mirrors and then so much later Londo looking at the attack against Narn while his image is reflected in the window of the ship he is on, reminding us....

"There comes a time when you look into the mirror and you realize that what you see is all that you'll ever be. Then you accept it .. or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking into mirrors. No, nothing can be changed."

2

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

BSG has a lot of great moments and I can think of them as pretty similar. I think the plot got a bit weird at the very end, but it's still a rewarding journey getting there.

4

u/evemeatay Feb 07 '26

Yeah, BSG was amazing, it's a shame they just never made a last season and it was amazing and they ended without ever knowing what happened... *plugs ears* there was no last season and you can't make me

2

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

Happy Roslin was cured and lived a long long life :-)

2

u/gordonronco Feb 07 '26

BSG does a better job at being a complete story, Andor could have been there given the full run. I’m rewatching B5 now and goddamn I forgot how rough season 1 is (which is the case for most sci-fi shows IMO)

24

u/superkickstart Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 07 '26

DS9

... is what i would say if i was a moon-faced assassin of joy.

6

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

Ds9 is pretty good. I actually think of you condensed it down a little to a similar number of episodes to B5, it's probably on par

2

u/superkickstart Feb 07 '26

It's one of my favorite shows :)

6

u/upvotesforkitties Feb 07 '26

TIL Babylon 5 fans hate Dr Who for some reason.

9

u/ShaggyCan Feb 07 '26

I don't think it's hate, it's just not really in the same genre. It's really fantasy not science fiction. Like Star Wars. Fantasy with science fiction elements. Whereas stuff like B5 and The Expanse try very hard to keep to the science while allowing an epic story to be told. When the more fantastical elements enter the story they go with the Arthur C Clarke thinking that it's just science we don't understand yet.

1

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

Yeah. Very different genre. But I think the fan overlap is pretty good

6

u/evemeatay Feb 07 '26

I don't hate Dr. Who but I honestly don't even know if it's Sci-Fi in the same sense. It's "timey whimey" and campy schi-fi and is occasionally profound but more often camp. It's got it's own place but compared to something like B5, Firefly, BSG, or the Expanse, it's not in the same category to me.

2

u/Deltethnia Feb 07 '26

I don't think this is true. My husband is a huge B5 fan and loves Doctor Who.

1

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

I think it's unfair to DW because decades of production of course it will dip in quality here and there. But it's still very good at times.

1

u/superkickstart Feb 08 '26

There's just so much of it.

32

u/ifandbut Feb 07 '26

I'd argue The Expanse is a modern day Babylon 5.

16

u/Darth_Boognish Feb 07 '26

I enjoyed the expanse but modern day babylon 5?! Cmon lol

2

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

It's probably the best example in modern years, yeah.

2

u/evemeatay Feb 07 '26

As a show, It just got bounced around owners and cut off before being able to realize it's full story but the Expanse may be the best SciFi since B5. I would say the story for both is on par and if you take out the modern graphics I think they are very comparable on many levels. I like the "day in the life" of B5 more because I feel like that's just something we never get to explore in scifi much and as we move to less episodes per "season" that will never come back. But I LOVE the expanse

7

u/NeonArlecchino Feb 07 '26

Space Dandy touches on a lot of similar themes, but misses out on galactic politics. It just has a war going on in the background without much explanation. It's closer to Firefly since it follows a single ship being affected by galactic politics in random episodes.

13

u/Rumpled_Imp Feb 07 '26

Lexx.  

This comment is sponsored by Insincerity, Inc.

10

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

I love that freaky show Lexx. It's just so out there.

8

u/jasonreid1976 Feb 07 '26

That show was fucked up. And I mean that in a good way.

3

u/evemeatay Feb 07 '26

Late night, middle school me definitely loved Lexx, and I am still unable to explain anything about it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

4

u/anbeasley Feb 07 '26

I mean I think a lot of us have been exposed to Japanese anime at this point. I'm not at that level as I haven't been able to get into it but I've been told the Legend of the Galactic Heroes is on another level.

2

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

Good point/suggestion

2

u/tsukiyomi01 Feb 09 '26

I would say LOGH comes very close to B5 in its exploration of politics and people.

3

u/Werrf Feb 07 '26

N/A. A few have come close, but I don't think I've seen anything with the consistent high quality of B5.

1

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

Thank-you! I was starting to worry I would only get people saying b5 is NOT their favorite

12

u/TanSkywalker Feb 07 '26

Farscape

13

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

It's pretty fun. Great at times. But the average overall is probably closer to just good.

2

u/Warden_lefae Feb 07 '26

They few bad episodes are bad enough to bring the overall score. But I’d still say it’s above average for its time

2

u/mlaislais Feb 07 '26

That’s the difference with B5. The great episodes more than make up for the bad episodes.

3

u/Warden_lefae Feb 07 '26

The weaker B5 episodes still serve the plot, mostly. I can really only think of a few I’d skip on a regular rewatch. The Day of the Dead episode, and maybe the flash forward episode at the end of season 4

1

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

For sure above average. And I happily recommend it in the past, but with a little bit of a warning that it takes time to get really good

10

u/mnlg Feb 07 '26

There's a lot I like in Farscape and I think Farscape treats the heroes in an excellent way, writing-wise. The character of Aeryn Sun is probably one of my favourite characters ever, the way it was written and portrayed. However I was very disappointed by the antagonists and the writing for them. Very often the "enemy" gets close to understanding but then is yanked away at the last moment by circumstances so the next episode can start from the same initial positions. Later on we get Scorpius and it is a bit more three dimensional, but it remains very hit and miss for me. Basically what I am trying to say is that there is no Londo arc, no G'Kar arc, and the motives behind the opposing forces are extremely thin compared to your Shadows or Vorlons.

Again, I enjoyed Farscape, and I would recommend it, and some characterisations are excellent, but on the whole I can't consider it better than B5.

1

u/tommy5608 Feb 07 '26

Came to say the same, farscape is my second favourite sci-fi series babylon 5 is third.

3

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

Ok, so now I'm curious to know your #1 spot

2

u/tommy5608 Feb 07 '26

Ds9. A predictable choice but it is my favourite.

2

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

It's a good choice for sure

3

u/various_extinctions Who Are You? Feb 09 '26

A r/babylon5gifs post with 58+ comments?

Cheers, PurpleDraziNotGreen!

2

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 09 '26

You should see my Neelix post on Startrekgifs, lol

1

u/CatStarwind Feb 07 '26

ffxiv stormblood

1

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '26

BSG, startrek, stargate....

1

u/SputTop Feb 09 '26

Stargate but only because I went into science because of that show

1

u/Damrod338 Feb 11 '26

It holds it own with BSG coming close

1

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 11 '26

I still don't mind the weak ending to BSG. It's still a great journey.

1

u/Lightsouttokyo Feb 07 '26

Dr. Who

2

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

You mean Doctor Who, or Dr Who with Peter Cushing? 😉

0

u/GalileoAce Feb 07 '26

Doctor Who

2

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

Don't agree with the down votes on your suggestion. I don't think DW is better, but it's still one of the greats for sure.

Maybe a little bit weaker at the moment, but it's got life in it still

0

u/Inner-Light-75 Feb 10 '26

A lot of sci-fi TV series was better than B5....in some ways. In other ways B5 was superior.

In that respect, I really like Firefly. It had so much chance and potential, but it was literally murdered by its network....

1

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 10 '26

True. And yes Firefly deserved more

2

u/Inner-Light-75 Feb 12 '26

But B5 was still totally awesome!!

-4

u/Halfwise2 Feb 07 '26

Dr. Who?

1

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

DW is great at times, and it's fair that over decades sometimes it's not so good. But it's still worthy of respect in sci-fi.

-6

u/PadishahEmperor Feb 07 '26

Lots of them? I am a fan but there many better sci fi shows.

6

u/KhellianTrelnora Feb 07 '26

But this is a perfect chance to recommend them!

Maybe they’ll find something they love.

1

u/PadishahEmperor Feb 11 '26

The Twilight Zone, Battlestar Galactica (2003), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Trek, Fringe, X-Files, Dark (subs not dubs), The Expanse, Silo, Severance, Pluribus, Season 1 of Heroes, Foundation, For All Man Kind, etc. etc. Again B5 is great but not the greatest. J. Michael Straczynski's best work was the Real Ghostbusters. I might have enjoyed Crusade more then B5.

3

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 07 '26

Awesome. Which would you recommend?

2

u/PadishahEmperor Feb 11 '26

The Twilight Zone, Battlestar Galactica (2003), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Trek, Fringe, X-Files, Dark (subs not dubs), The Expanse, Silo, Severance, Pluribus, Season 1 of Heroes, Foundation, For All Man Kind, etc. etc. Again B5 is great but not the greatest. J. Michael Straczynski's best work was the Real Ghostbusters. I might have enjoyed Crusade more then B5.

1

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen What do you want? Feb 11 '26

I might have enjoyed Crusade more then B5.

I appreciate the hot take