Babylon 5 SVHS
I was a huge Babylon 5 fan. I loved everything about it, most notably what a wonderfully consistant universe JMS had created.
I went a little nutty when it came to getting this favorite show of mine. I went out and bought a $600 SVHS tape recorder and bought SVHS tapes at $12 apiece to record the whole show, 57 tapes in all. I got Direct TV just so I could record them with a higher quality digital signal.
I’d stay home to hit the pause button and meticulously remove the commercials from episodes I had already seen while recording it for posterity.
So now I have 114 hours of Babylon 5 on SVHS in a box in my garage labelled “B5 Heavy”. What am I supposed to do with it? The box really is quite heavy. The entire DVD set can be bought for $350 on eBay, $150 if you go with a Chinese bootleg.
When I was doing the collecting, I knew that I was being obsessive. I’d even tell people, “I know it’s a bit much. I figure that everyone is allowed to have just one obsessive thing in their lives. This is mine.”
What am I going to do with the set now? Sit at home and watch 114 hours of old sci-fi show?
But now that it’s done, I kind of hoped that… I don’t know… something good would come of it. It doesn’t feel right to just throw it all away.
I don’t think that is obsessive. I watched all the episodes of bab 5 in a month of unemployment after my return from a roadtrip all over the southwest and up the California coast, and to Burning Man via SF. It was the only thing that came close to BM and a roadtrip…
I had always felt daunted by the prospect of watching them all in a row like that.
Yeah, I can see how that would be a wonderfully immersive experience, living in the Babylon 5 world so intensely for a period of time.
Thank you!
Immersive is kind, obsessive is more accurate.
i watched babylon 5 so intensively one i was dreaming about it.2 i thought i was a narn once during intercourse (alcohol induced) what the fuck is up with that?
I know this is really old and you may have gotten rid of these tapes, but the preservation guys at originaltrilogy.com are looking for the broadcast versions of Babylon 5 as they are apparently much better than the released DVDs. If you still have them, I’m sure they would be interested in hearing from you. Thread here – http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Babylon-5-Broadcast-NTSC-4-3/topic/12758/.
Thanks!
No way! I’ll see if I still have them and chime in on the conversation in a couple days. I might still have them.
Update: Oh no! After years tucked in the garage, the giant box of tapes finally succumbed to a spring cleaning a while back. Sorry but I don’t have my SVHS Babylon 5 tapes any more.