Season five is a really shocking failure of imagination if you think about it. JMS was given 21 episodes—15 hours of TV—to work with and a near blank slate on where he could go thematically in an already very rich universe and failed utterly to come up with something meaningful to fill the air. WTF?

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@avclub-c0346985d8c2d12fd123ef7d6829dcf7:disqus
the man under all that lizard makeup proves to be  one of the finest actors in the history of television

@avclub-c0346985d8c2d12fd123ef7d6829dcf7:disqus
the man under all that lizard makeup proves to be  one of the finest actors in the history of television

Alcoholism, kidnappings and women in fridges are the triumvirate of very, very overused plot devices.  In B5, also add characters named David.

Alcoholism, kidnappings and women in fridges are the triumvirate of very, very overused plot devices.  In B5, also add characters named David.

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@avclub-04d524031f29c89d78cae864bd6f0de7:disqus : In the hands of a good writer, that could have been very interesting given how much time the series had spent painting Sheridan as god's gift to the universe.

@avclub-04d524031f29c89d78cae864bd6f0de7:disqus : In the hands of a good writer, that could have been very interesting given how much time the series had spent painting Sheridan as god's gift to the universe.

The spinning on rastb5m would have been epic if Boxleitner quit and JMS had to set up Messiah v3.0, or if Furlan quit and JMS had to set up Messiah's Wife v2.0.  Doubly so if either of them didn't sign up for season 5 after SiL was filmed.

The spinning on rastb5m would have been epic if Boxleitner quit and JMS had to set up Messiah v3.0, or if Furlan quit and JMS had to set up Messiah's Wife v2.0.  Doubly so if either of them didn't sign up for season 5 after SiL was filmed.

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@avclub-6753aa5dd1f979351e5cb7f6db6c7b5b:disqus : Given how effectively the Vorlons could hit other things when push came to shove, I doubt there's any extras Deathwalker's ship could have been carrying that would have made any difference.

@avclub-6753aa5dd1f979351e5cb7f6db6c7b5b:disqus : Given how effectively the Vorlons could hit other things when push came to shove, I doubt there's any extras Deathwalker's ship could have been carrying that would have made any difference.

@avclub-05504937cdc07f36babc5831fbf2e119:disqus : Aside from the Joss Whedon targeting system and the shitty acting, LoTR was a bad idea because the premise is so horribly repetitive. The Hand was the fourth recently awakened, overwhelmingly powerful, ancient enemy in the B5 continuity. The other three were the…