@Knixon said:

Comet TV is going to be doing a Babylon 5 marathon on Christmas day. It's still too far out in the schedule to see which episodes are going to be included. So I can't tell if they're going to start with The Gathering and then the regular episodes from the start, or if they're going to scatter it out over several seasons and a few episodes from each.

Don't miss the opportunity to see why Sheldon is wrong about this, too!

To find your local off-air station, or to watch online streaming, go to comettv.com

Maybe they will show all of the movies? That would take up about 12 hours (there are 6 TV movies) & they could show some of the more 'important ' episodes? But I was checking the other day about when the last episode would be & it turns out to be January 31. But I didn't know about the marathon last week so the last episode should be February 1st.

Unless they still show the "regular" episode in its usual time slot on Christmas Day... Since they'll be into season 5 by then, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to sync it that way.

When I asked Comet, they said that they only have the first movie, at least so far. So they might never show the others even in the course of their normal series run. And they don't have Crusade either, so they said.

One thing I'm still interested to find out, is if they're going to show all the complete season 5 episodes. Since they showed the broadcast version of The Gathering, rather than the dvd version, so far I'm optimistic. Supposedly the season 5 episodes with Byron got trimmed for the dvds so they didn't have to pay the actor as much in dvd royalties, or something. But that shouldn't affect the broadcast versions. Seems that it's like how the earlier dvd releases of Married With Children didn't have the Sinatra opening song, because the estate wouldn't allow it. But the syndicated broadcast episodes already had the rights and continued to use the song, even while dvds without the song were being sold. Most recently they apparently reached some agreement because the newest dvd packages include the song.

@Knixon said:

Unless they still show the "regular" episode in its usual time slot on Christmas Day... Since they'll be into season 5 by then, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to sync it that way.

When I asked Comet, they said that they only have the first movie, at least so far. So they might never show the others even in the course of their normal series run. And they don't have Crusade either, so they said.

One thing I'm still interested to find out, is if they're going to show all the complete season 5 episodes. Since they showed the broadcast version of The Gathering, rather than the dvd version, so far I'm optimistic. Supposedly the season 5 episodes with Byron got trimmed for the dvds so they didn't have to pay the actor as much in dvd royalties, or something. But that shouldn't affect the broadcast versions. Seems that it's like how the earlier dvd releases of Married With Children didn't have the Sinatra opening song, because the estate wouldn't allow it. But the syndicated broadcast episodes already had the rights and continued to use the song, even while dvds without the song were being sold. Most recently they apparently reached some agreement because the newest dvd packages include the song.

Weird that they didn't get all of the movies along with the whole series.

Generally I don't like TV marathons because they usually just bounce around with no real logic (except for comedy series). The 'programming director' decides what it shown with no input from the public. Comet should have asked the viewers what their favorite episodes were (too late now though).

Well, The Gathering is the start. And then they show the first regular episode, "Midnight On The Firing Line." But after that, they skip to episode 20 and then episode 22.

Then they don't show Sheridan arriving at all, no, they skip to episode 16! of season 2, and then skip to episodes 21 and 22!

Following that, it's episode 1 of season 3, and another jump to episodes 16 and 17 which shows what happens to Babylon 4 but they didn't show the lead-up episodes in season 1, then the season 3 finale episode 22.

Then without any explanation of what happened to Sheridan etc, they jump to episode 6 of season 4, the end of the whole Vorlon/Shadow story line. And then skip over all of the Earth War episodes to the conclusion in episode 20! Followed by episode 21. And that's it.

Man, if anyone sees this marathon without already knowing pretty much all about the show, it would be easy for them to conclude that "It Stinks!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3qjNcow1F8&list=PLIl2eWOVM20FS7FpmwzWd4-YZzg65Dg_M

@Invidia said:

The Christmas Day Schedule is available now:

https://www.comettv.com/schedule/?date=dec+25&tz=pacific

And it shows the GATHERING will air first before they begin to air the rest of the episodes (the same way as they did when they started to first air the show DAILY).

But they've also chosen different episodes from each of the different Seasons to air after that (which probably also means they're doing precisely what it is that you've asked for BF).

But since one person's favorite eppy might not be the same as another person's, how can they please everyone???

ANDROMEDA will also start to show Episodes from S1 again when S5 ends (which is nice because one also wasn't aware Comet TV existed when they first began to air that show, so it will also be nice to see the FIRST few SEASONS that one didn't see when one first discovered the existence of Comet TV.

The schedule also shows that ANDROMEDA won't air on Christmas day (like it did when they had the FLASH GORDON MARATHON SESSION on Thanksgiving Day).

So it's a B5 MARATHON all day long when Christmas arrives.

No Invidia, they are doing what I said I didn't like! Just flopping around through the seasons.

And unless you are a rabid fan the schedule doesn't say which season each episode is from. I suppose we could just google each episode to find out which is which BUT IT WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED THEM TO LIST THAT INFO IN EACH DESCRIPTION.

@Invidia said:

@bratface

Generally I don't like TV marathons because they usually just bounce around with no real logic (except for comedy series). The 'programming director' decides what it shown with no input from the public. Comet should have asked the viewers what their favorite episodes were (too late now though).

BF wants them to show us our favorite episodes.

And by JUMPING all around that also seems to be what they're trying to do.

But again, how does one show us our FAVORITES when each of us will also have a DIFFERENT OPINON of what that FAVORITE eppy would be???

In other words, there's also NO WAY they can please EVERYONE no matter what they do or how hard they try to do it.

Since one also missed THE GATHERING, one is also pleased to see one gets another chance to watch it again.

@Knixon

if anyone sees this marathon without already knowing pretty much all about the show, it would be easy for them to conclude that "It Stinks!"

Or maybe if they happened to catch one or two of the episodes they'll also be CURIOUS ENOUGH to start watching the show on a DAILY BASIS???

And then they can also catch up with the rest of what happens ... whenever they begin to air SEASON ONE again (the same way as they will also do ANDROMEDA after S5 ends soon)???

Or someone could also visit the MANY different websites that have episode SUMMARIES of ALL of the SEASONS of the show.

And then they would also be able to understand better what they're watching.

Some TV stations run a poll on their websites ahead of time asking for the viewers favorite episodes. If they had just thought ahead a bit they could have done the same thing.

It will certainly be background viewing for some of the day and serious pay attention viewing for other times. Some people will tune in for several episodes at a time while others will be in and out. Either way Sheldon will be wondering if he stepped into an alternate universe where multiple showings of Babylon 5 are acceptable. He will eventually yell "Comet TV" in the same way he yelled "Wheaton!".

A few more episodes have been added since I first saw their schedule. Including just one from season 5.

@Knixon said:

A few more episodes have been added since I first saw their schedule. Including just one from season 5.

Could you answer a question about Garibaldi? I missed the scenes where he was found & brought back to B5. I'm watching the episode (Epiphanies, season 4 episode 7) where he resigns. I can't remember, when do the details of his capture & 'torture' come out?

Well for him and the other characters, not just the audience which has seen at least some of it already, it starts near the end of season 4 episode 17 ("The Face of the Enemy"), and continues/concludes in episode 19 ("Between the Darkness and the Light").

As I recall, episode 18 between those two is just about Sheridan.

@Invidia said:

We didn't see what happened to him. All we see is how he passed out and then we also see some VERY BRIEF FLASHBACK scenes. But other than that we're pretty much as in the DARK as he is about what happened to him before he ends up back on B5 again.

Thanks I thought I had missed more?

@Knixon said:

Well for him and the other characters, not just the audience which has seen at least some of it already, it starts near the end of season 4 episode 17 ("The Face of the Enemy"), and continues/concludes in episode 19 ("Between the Darkness and the Light").

As I recall, episode 18 between those two is just about Sheridan.

I thought I had missed more than I thought. I just remember he was in the cell screaming that he doesn't remember anything & the next day he was back on B5. Thanks Knixon.

@Invidia said:

The FLASHBACK SCENE we saw where he remembers something only lasted for a SECOND or TWO and it reminds one of an ALIEN ABDUCTION scene.

Since he sees that weird message he deletes that's mostly STATIC, apparently it's also some kind of a secret code someone or something has sent him???

Because he also resigns from his job right after that.

Yes I figured the message was a code meant to trigger something they planted in his head. But what.

We also saw that the weird message he receives on B5, is the same kind of effect that was playing over his face before he "woke up" on/in the lifepod and was taken back to B5.

And we also saw the Psi Corps person standing over him, after he got the knockout gas. Which Garibaldi himself would not have seen.

I don't think we can know if Garibaldi really didn't remember anything, even with those flashbacks, because he had been programmed to forget/ignore them as soon as they happened (so as to keep him from suspecting any Psi Corps involvement); or if he just SAID he couldn't remember because that was part of the program, or because he couldn't figure out what it meant and he didn't want others to be suspicious.

P.S. When Garibaldi is shown/told what really happened, look for the Harlan Ellison cameo as a Psi Corps operative.