Netflix now has Seasons 1-5 on “Watch Instantly”.
None of the movies, including The Gathering, are on streaming yet, neither is Crusade.
But I’m going to call this an opportune time to tell your friends who haven’t yet watched much Babylon 5 that they can now check the series out before investing in their own copies of the show.
Don’t forget about the free Netflix trial and longer trial coupons. Great way to share your love of B5 without having to lend out your discs.
The gathering IS on there, it’s episodes one and two, but none of the other movies are on there yet….
But now the series is going away! It’s in my streaming queue, and it says Until 7/1/11!
It’s gone already. Unfortunately, I only learned it was there yesterday and today it’s gone. Netflix, you suck. Was it really only on watch instantly for less than four months?
I never saw the ending date, and I was already in the middle of Season 4; oh well, I just moved the DVDs to the top of my queue.
so anyone know when B5 is coming back to Netflix streaming and why it was removed?
From what I understand, Netflix can only license certain items for streaming for a limited amount of time. Then they either have to re-license them, or wait a certain amount ot time before re-licensing them.
Apparently you can see programs and movies falling off and getting back on the Instant Play lists all the time… not sure if there’s someone or some site actually tracking that, though. That’d be helpful if there were, maybe figure out if there’s a pattern of studios that prefer shorter licenses so Netflix can’t compete too much with their own services, or for some other reason.
My hope is that because of how popular B5 was on streaming, Netflix might be able to get it back quicker.
Thanks, Summer, for that explanation. I was in the middle of season 3 watching for the first time! Fortunately, someone I know has the disks…
Yes, I was in the same boat. I had just gotten to the second season with the purple vs green war – then next day NADA!!! I also did not see that there was an end date. If I had – I would have forced myself to watch the whole thing 24/7 until it was done.
I actually called Netflix and they said that they were planning on putting it back on, but no word on when.
I am this close to just buying the complete set. . .
After getting cut off at the end of Season 3, I’m just now putting the rest of the series in my DVD queue after finishing True Blood. But Season 4 of B5 isn’t even available on DVD! Is anyone else seeing this or is just me? Season 5 is there, what’s the deal?
For some reason, only season 4 has been dropped on the DVD side of Netflix (or whatever it’s going to be called now that it’s split from the streaming side). I actually called when they lost their license in July and they had no idea when they”d get it back. Now, I’ll have to reconsider buying it on DVD. The streaming was just very convienent.
Really weird they no longer have S4 on dvd. It may have fallen through the cracks due to this split up bull, but I’d email them about it. Nudge them to get it back! It could be after all not available due to human error on their part when its actually just sitting there waiting to be shipped out.
Amazon has had it dirt cheap for a while if I remember right. It’s down to half what I paid for it like 5-6 years ago. I saw S1 for 20 bucks. Think I saw them all for about that at Sam’s Club a while back. Haven’t looked in Walmart.
At 20 bucks a pop I think just about everyone can afford to buy a season a month or every other month. Would be funny if someone cancelled netflix to use that money to buy B5. Netflix is sure asking for it. I miss my streaming + 1 dvd package. Would have given them 12 or maybe even 14 bucks a month to keep it.
I’ve seen some seasons on Amazon for under $15. I think one season was $12 at some point. You can also watch some episodes for free at http://www.thewb.com/shows/babylon-5 . If you search for Babylon 5 on hulu it directs you to this website. They only have the first season and five episodes of the second season though. Some episodes of the first season (Soul Hunter, for example) don’t work, at least in my area. The quality isn’t great either, but it’s watchable. They also have clips. Beware the labels on the episodes as well. Most are not numbered correctly. In the episode descriptions they also refer to “Susanna” (Susan Ivanova), “Giribaldi” and “Warlons” (the worst of all, but almost strangely insightful) Now if only I could find free episodes for the last five of the fifth season and last of the second season which I missed watching because Netflix instant cut it off… By the way, B5 was actually on Netflix instant before March 18, 2011. I started watching it maybe June 2010. Not that that matters now.
I also have a request for future episodes: Would it be possible to get an interview with Mira Furlan or Bill Mumy? They seem to be some of the actors with major characters who haven’t been interviewed yet. What about another interview with Jason Carter?
I would love to be able of finally watch this show here in Brazil. As far as I know, the brazilian Netflix don’t have this show in its collection. D: