A list, a B5 list

[jedi_of_urth]

Okay, so no sooner do I say I’m ready to watch B5 for some kind of self organized big event rewatch than ‘oh right it’s baseball season, I don’t know if I’m going to set myself up for failure so easily.’ So this is going to be a slow process, and for now I’m just going to list out how everything might all work once I get to it, just so I have a list. See in my head I’m not just rewatching the show, I’m going to reread the novels, read (most of) the comics, maybe review some other tie-in/related things I have around (those won’t be on the list for now).

So, listing it all out, may eventually serve as a master post if I’m invested enough to do so, but more likely so that my probable failure will be laid down:


(I’m using a combination of my mostly very dated memory of when the books could be read, the release dates from the lurker’s guide and this person’s list of when things should be set to figure out when to slot things in. I also need to give some thought to what order I’m going to watch some of the episodes in so I’ll come back with that later.)

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Meta: In The Beginning, do not begin with it
Meta: Mostly stick to the DVD order

Xx00: The Gathering
1x01: Midnight on the Firing Line
1x02: Soul Hunter
1x03: Born to the Purple
1x04: Infection
1x05: The Parliament of Dreams
1x06: Mind War
1x07: The War Prayer
1x08: And the Sky Full of Stars
1x09: Deathwalker
1x10: Believers
1x11: Survivors
1x12: By Any Means Necessary
1x13: Signs and Portents
1x14: TKO
1x15: Grail
1x16: Eyes
1x17: Legacies
1x18: A Voice in the Wilderness 1
1x19: A Voice in the Wilderness 2
1x20: Babylon Squared
1x21: The Quality of Mercy
1x22: Chrysalis

2x01
2x02
Comics 1-4 (approximately when set)
2x03
2x04
Book 1 (approximately when set)
2x05
2x06
2x07
Comics 5-8 (approximately when set)
2x08
2x09
2x10
Book 2 (kinda maybe where it’s set)
2x11
2x12
2x13
2x14
2x15
Book 3 (not when set, but seemed okay reading position)
2x16
2x17
2x18
Comic 11 (not real setting, recommended position)
2x19
2x20
2x21
2x22

3x01
3x02
Book 5 (when said to be set)
3x03
3x04
3x05
3x06
3x07
Book 4 (not when set, seemed reasonable reading position)
3x08
3x09
3x10
3x11
3x12
3x13
Book 6 (not when set, seemed reasonable reading position)
3x14
3x15
3x16
3x17
3x18
3x19
3x20
3x21
3x22

Book 7 (set pre-series but seems best point to read)

4x01
4x02
4x03
4x04
4x05
4x06
Book 8 (not when set, but so poorly fit in continuity I’ll read it here)
Comics 12-14 (quick look shows it’s post Shadow War but Garibaldi is security chief, so will read here)
4x07
4x08
4x09
4x10
4x11
4x12
4x13
4x14
Book 9 (not when set, seemed reasonable reading position)
4x15
4x16
4x17
4x18
4x19
4x20
4x21
4x22

Xx01 In The Beginning
ITB novel
Xx02: Thirdspace
TS novel

5x01
5x02
5x03
5x04
5x05
5x06
5x07
5x08
5x09
5x10
5x11
5x12
5x13
Psi Corps 1
Psi Corps 2 (set pre series, written during season 5, so seems reasonable to read here)
5x14
5x15
5x16
5x17
5x18
5x19
5x20
5x21
5x22

Xx03: River of Souls
Psi Corps 3 (technically set after Crusade, but want to read the PC books around s5)
Xx04: Call to Arms
CTA novel

(Crusade)
c1x01
c1x02
c1x03
c1x04
c1x05
c1x06
c1x07
c1x08
c1x09
c1x10
c1x11
c1x12
c1x13

Technomage 1
Technomage 2
Technomage 3 (technically set much earlier in the series, but they are as focused on Galen, makes sense to read after Crusade)

Legend of the Rangers

Legions of Fire 1
Legions of Fire 2
Legions of Fire 3 (these were published before the technomage books and are more connected to B5 proper, but are mostly set post Crusade; so lacking any better place for them I thought I’d read them here)

The Lost Tales
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I don’t own comics 9-10.
I’m not sure there’s any point in reviewing the A-Z Guide or the Babylon Files.
I can’t find my season by season guides even if they were fully worth reviewing.
Things I could review: The Security Guide to B5, Creating B5, the B5 roleplaying game corebook; Frontier Earth (by Bruce Boxleitner), Diplomatic Act (by Peter Jurasik), Tales from the New Twilight Zone (by JMS); the B5 blooper reel, other DVD features.
I have over the years...found...most of the short stories I think (does it make it better or worse that don't think I ever read them), along with the unfilmed Crusade scripts, so I may slot them in late in the game, but we’ll see.


You want to know the kicker? In the amount of time I spent looking for info on when to read the external material, digging out all my books, looking up dates, pondering how to deal with the ones that were hard to place, etc., I probably could have just watched The Gathering and gotten going.