I just finished Babylon 5. All I can really sat at first is… wow. That series blew my mind away. Unlike many reviewers on Netflix, I loved the pilot – and I loved Season One. Then Seasons Two made me reel in awe, and three and four had my mind on a whole different plane. Season Five went back down to between One and Two, but was still mindblowing. The sheer amount of work, creativity, genius, and inspiration that went into this is astonishing – incidents from seasons one and two had dire consequences in the final season, and the last episode – “Sleeping in Light” – had me tearing up by the end, it was so moving. I’ve never felt so connected to the characters of any show before, or even any book series – I will truly miss them.

Never before have I ever also seen so much character development; each character changes drastically over the course of the show:

-A low-ranking captain becomes Humanity’s greatest hope for peace, and later ends up 1,000 years in the past to form the foundation of one of the Galaxy’s greatest civilizations.

-A war hero that is both hated and respected by his enemies and friends becomes a messiah who gives his life for the dream he has for the galaxy, and later ascends to another level of being.

-A comical, incompetent drunkard becomes a spiteful and vindictive power-hungry traitor, and then turns into a noble and courageous leader who gives his life to save his people.

-An angry, bitter, cynical, vengeful, crude ambassador becomes a spiritual guide for his people and changes the face of his whole civilization, and changes the very principles of the galaxy.

-A meek, kindhearted, and loyal ambassadorial aide becomes the womanizing emperor of one of the galaxy’s largest empires.

-An honorable, reformed, competent, loyal man becomes a traitor, devolves into his past vices, and then rises again as a reformer for good as a business leader.

-A naive, loyal, inexperienced ambassadorial aide becomes a wise and just inspiration for his people, and then turns on one he has the greatest respect for in a twisted act of love, ending his appearance in shame and a flight away from it all.

-A depressed, bitter, distraught young man becomes a noble hero, and then dies saving the only woman he ever truly loved.

-A hardline, impatient, no-nonsense officer becomes a wise, understanding, and compassionate leader of an intergalactic security force.

-A kind and caring man sworn not to hurt anyone becomes a drug abuser, who then becomes a freedom fighter and then a bureaucratic researcher.

-An angry individual who started a wear that almost wiped out an entire civilization comes to love those whom he almost destroyed, changes the shape of her people, and becomes a wise and just leader of the galaxy.

And there are many more. Never before have I seen such superb character development and such an intricate plot with as few contradictions as in Babylon 5. Truly, this series is the best television show I have ever seen, and will influence me in a lot of things. It has made me think about questions I haven’t thought about, and is heavy with weighty themes and ponderings. I recommend this show to anyone, really – it was just that good.