I'd like to get cracking on Babylon 5, but I can't seem to find any non-spoliery explanations of what order I shoudl watch it in. The sesons are obvious enough, but I'm not sure about the movies and the spin-offs.

Start with the pilot, "The Gathering" (available on the Movies set).  Then Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4 before any of the movies (there are spoilers in the prequel film, "In the Beginning" that would ruin some of the surprises).  After Season 5, you can watch any of the Spin-off series or films ("Crusade," "The Legend of the Rangers," "The Lost Tales).

So the Gathering, all five season in order, the rest of the movies in the movie set in the order they are presented, then Crusade, then Legend of the Rangers, then Lost Tales?

Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:

Quote:
So the Gathering, all five season in order, the rest of the movies in the movie set in the order they are presented, then Crusade, then Legend of the Rangers, then Lost Tales?

"The Gathering" was the original pilot and aired as a TV movie about a year before the series actually premiered.  It sets up the whole first season and needs to be watched first, which makes it odd that it part of the movies collection.

"In the Beginning" aired after the 4th season, but before the 5th.  It is prequel that takes places several years before the series began.  However, it is filled with spoilers and would ruin many of the mysteries if you watched it beforehand.

"Thirdspace" and "The River of Souls" aired during the 5th season.  Since they are standalone, they could be watched after the 4th season.  "A Call to Arms" aired after the 5th season.

Interestingly, the show's final episode, "Sleeping in Light", was produced at the end of the 4th season when it looked like a 5th season would not happen.  It was held back when the 5th season was agreed to by TNT and aired as that season's finale (a new episode was shot to end the 4th season). Since the episode jumps ahead to a certain period of time, all of the movies and spinoffs actually occur before the episode.

If the CGI sequences look low res on the DVD, it's because the master was lost.

Quoting DarklyNoon:

Quote:
I envy you for watching this the 1st time 

Me too.

Also when he decides to watch it for the 2nd and 3rd time and now (with the knowledge of the full story) discovers all the hints and clues that were laid out in the early episodes.

Quoting synner_man:

Quote:
Quoting Dr. Killpatient:

Quote:
If the CGI sequences look low res on the DVD, it's because the master was lost.

Not only that, many of the effects shots were rendered for 4:3, so the current WS versions had to crop off the top and bottom, since the masters were gone and couldn't be re-rendered at 16:9.  So the resolution drops as a result.  I don't think the quality is as bad as some make it out IMHO.

You're probably right about that. I think half of my problem is that the first time I watched B5, it was on a 14" 4:3 screen. Now watching it on a 26" HD screen so will obviously notice more than when it first shown. 

This thread encouraged me to go back and revisit the show from the beginning.  About halfway through the first season (after watching the pilot).  Just as I-Fling-Poo said, I wish that I could erase all of the secrets from my mind as I rewatch, as I keep thinking about how this-leads-to-that, or how that story point ends up going nowhere. It is still a fun viewing (though the 1st season is the weakest), but nothing beats that first viewing.