Because I have lots of free time right now, even with house arrest, to be doing lots of things, I’ve primarily been watching old tv shows.

One show I didn’t like then liked was Babylon 5, which is the show I’m now watching again.

However, what I do on a rewatch is stick with an episode until I remember the basics of it and then either keep watching or skip ahead past the annoying bits. Sometimes I do both by skipping the comic relief section to get to the main story line mostly to see how the writers handle the story over time.

I also tend to have an episode summary available to help me decide if an episode’s worth watching. For example, with Babylon 5 I’ve skipped two episodes entirely and skipped the entire PSI Cop story line in episode six.

The trouble with Babylon 5 is you’ve got a lot of story line and lots of good performances. Andreas Katsulas is terrific as G’Kar and it’s amazing to see how well he can act despite the prosthetics he’s forced to wear. The make up itself still looks quite good.

I also tend to jump off and read and watch things related to the show. For example, I somehow missed several of the actors dying and also missed that J. Michael Straczynski had revealed in 2013 why Michael O’Hare, who played Captain Sinclair, left the show after only one season. (Note: all the videos, especially the second Arizona ComiCon video are worth your time if you like the show.)

I’m tempted to watch the fifth season, which I’ve only skimmed because, technically, the story line had already ended at that point, but I’ll probably save that until exam time.