All alone in the night, the name of the place is Babylon 5

I recently started watching Babylon 5, having bought the entire series off Amazon. Let me tell you, any SF fan should get this thing. The series is subject to some of the fallacies that drove Star Trek into the ground, but generally, it is a daring, evocative experience. Don't let the somewhat dated effects fool you, this is genuine, cutting-edge escapism in its purest form.

What is it about space that draws me, I wonder. Had Babylon 5 been a contemporary show about a government-controlled base located on Earth, I wouldn't have cared for it. even with the same actors and real-world storylines. Space, the future... we move into the realm of the possible, of the potential. What dreams are made of. And what dreams may come. Babylon 5 both illuminates the mental horizon and expands it though estrangement, while underlining it with continuity. And it is in the continuity that the show bests Star Trek on every front. It must be watched sequentially from one end to the other, yet it doesn't have ends per se. It's a slice of life as it could be, and the entire universe is its playground. Naturally, it is highly symbolic, the way SF tends to be, and many of its themes are built upon the factual, the real. But its subtle estrangement is wonderfully deceptive. You keep thinking that you're on to it, that you've learned the rules, and then they change, ever so slightly, but sometimes in shockingly brilliant ways. It lives in a continuum halfway between Star Trek and Farscape, and for me, that is a true sweet spot, balancing the familiar episodic narrative with the grand, overarching storyline. Babylon 5 can be enjoyed on many levels at once, which is the hallmark of really good fiction. I heartily recommend it to anyone who missed out on it like me.