This series appeared in the UK in 1994. I rented the pilot episode on video as I had heard about B5 from American friends on Compuserve (aaah, those were the days). Like most people I expected a Star Trek:Deep Space 9 clone - it wasn't.
B5 has always been a pioneer of CGI for special effects. The only thing I could really criticise in the pilot was the CGI used for the transport in the hub of the station. Pixelated graphics does not help me believe something is real.
After the pilot, however things got much better. The ship effects and designs were so far ahead of Star Trek:TNG, et al, that I became hooked on these alone. Once the story arc made it's presence known there was no going back. The first appearance of the shadow vessels shimmering out of hyperspace was a very impressive introduction to the real story.
In the UK we finished the 5th season just before the New Year. Channel 4 showed the respect it had for the 4th series by giving it a good, 11pm (ish) slot. But they let me down on this series. A lack of advertising and a completely different slot meant that I had missed the first 3 episodes before finding it by chance on a Sunday lunchtime. Continuously changing the times didn't help either guys! They capped it all by stopping 5 episodes before the finale, then showed them between Christmas and New Year at 11am! Good job I was on the ball with the listings.
I've recently bought the 1st four movies - every one of them very good. Crusade hit UK screens in August, but as I've missed them all so far, I'll hold judgement on that one until I've seen it. From the look of "A Call To Arms" the same principals guiding B5 apply. Shame it has been cancelled, but hopefully some other network will pick it up. The Sci-Fi Channel may yet be able to pull it off. Take a look at the new ships - Excalibur bears more than a passing resemblance to an old favourite of mine, the "Liberator" (Blake's 7). Not surprising when Blake's 7 was an inspiration to J M Straczynski.
A small selection of the best images on the net can be found below. Links to B5 sites (including of course the official one) are also included.
Lurker's Guide to B5 The official B5 site
(You can E-mail me on 