Farscape (1999)
I watched Babylon 5 for the first time including all the later movie/miniseries content last year. When it first aired it failed to hold my interest but so many friends have told me to watch it, I finally did. I cut it major slack for effects given the time it was done and it was nostalgic seeing the Amiga/Video Toaster rendered SFX. Speaking of nostalgia, anyone else think Sinclair sounds like Robert Stack (12 O'clock High, The Untouchables, Airplane!)?
But the biggest problem with B5 was not the story but the lack of polish in nearly every script. So much of the dialog seems forced and awkward. And the even the stories fell apart after the war with the shadow aliens. Even if this show was one person's vision, some of the writing should have been delegated to a trusted team so that one person didn't have to take on such an enormous writing challenge.
With all its problems though, B5 still has one of the best time travel stories ever. A 3 year setup! And they were lucky to be able to get the original commander back long enough to complete his story arc.
And with all the shows faults, I see it's influence. DS9 finally became worth watching in the final years when they began emulating B5's long story arcs against a seemingly unbeatable enemy. The Citadel of the Mass Effect video game series (and some of the story elements) feel like an homage to B5.
B5, to me, will always be a show that failed to realize it's own potential.