Get ready to recreate the dramatic adventures of Captain John Sheridan, psychic lady Ivanova, kindly space vampire Londo Mollari, and – did the doctor guy get a name? I forget – but you know, be sure not to do it on the actual space station the show was on, and that you don’t set it in any time period after season 2, and that you don’t let too many Narn be on your team, with The Babylon Project, a stuffy game about that space show you only vaguely remember.
System Mastery 
If you haven’t watched this show, do yourself a favor and look up the Centauri hair. It’s way stupider than I could have imagined.
I love Babylon 5. Thanks for this.
Centauri also have something way more different than just the hair. Haven’t you ever got to 6?
I was thinking about checking out the show before, but now I will definitely not.
To be fair, the System Mastery dudes make fun of everything. It’s part of the appeal of this podcast, seeing them shit on one game after another, so I would suggest taking their opinion with a grain of salt.
Babylon 5 is my favorite sci-fi show of all time, even after growing up on TNG. What is has, that every other sci-fi show lacks, is a continuing story. The story is told from one episode to the next, and there are even parts of season 1 that foreshadow events much later on. No other sci-fi series does this, not Stargate, not Star Trek, not Battlestar. At best most other shows will have only a loose idea, a few “story episodes” with a half dozen episodes of filler in-between.
The biggest thing against B5 right now is that it’s not available in hi-def. No blu-ray release. Which can be especially noticeable in any scene where they use compositing (like a CG background).
I encourage anyone to give it a chance and to do so from Season 1. Give Season 5 a big pass though, once you finish season 4 just skip to the last episode of season 5 (Sleeping the Light).
Nah, I’m used to picking through their criticisms to find the hidden merits which they leave unmentioned. It was your comment, and the research required to figure it out, which put me off from watching the show. It’s just a little too “mature” for my tastes.
To each their own, but personally I find it some pretty good comic relief: https://youtu.be/bpcaYfH9TLc?t=2s hahaha
I can’t imagine J^2 restraining themselves from discussing that, so I have to guess that they were unaware (It comes up mostly in season one, so there’s that. But still a failing in the book…)
(“Six Prehensile Penises” seems like a natural Afterthought title, though.)
How did you manage to avoid saying The Babylon Project: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire?
Babylon Five is still by far the best sci-fi show that ever existed. Sadly we will probably never see its like again since it’s unlikely a creator will be given that much authority again.
Game was shit though.
The first captain was played by Michael O’Hare, who left due to really bad mental health issues. Also Claudia Christian was the first officer for the first 4 season, except for the pilot – which was filmed almost a year eariler. She left the show when it was cancelled after season 4, then due to contract issues didn’t return when it was renewed for season 5 after all. This situation also caused stoey problems. The whole series is the reason you now get long story arcs in series, like the new Battlestar Galatica.
This game was shit, even the d20 version was better. Although not much.
Except BSG doesn’t have long story arcs. The best it can manage is 2 or 3 episodes in a row. While JMS planned everything out, other series just wing it and guess what, it shows.
Babylon 5 is my favorite show, but it came out before I got into RPGs. By the time I was the show was done and warnings abounded not to get the game, though the warnings came with scant details.
Now I know, and before I let curiosity and hope overcome the wise words of my predecessors.