Viewing Order

This page outlines the different viewing orders which have been suggested over the years and compares them in detail.

Fortunately Babylon 5's original broadcast order doesn't significantly disrupt the viewing experience, so viewers looking for a hassle-free option can safely watch the show's five seasons in the original broadcast order, DVD order, or HBO Max order without any major issues and leave the ardent fans to sweat the details. Also the TV movies and spin-offs (apart from the pilot movie The Gathering) are not integral to the main story so they can safely be left until after the main show. Note the Crusade spin-off original broadcast order does have significant issues and it's usually recommended to watch in an alternative order - the All-Inclusive order is probably the least controversial but that and other suggested orders are discussed in more detail below.

Having said the above, there are a handful of minor continuity issues in the original broadcast order (discussed in more detail below). During the show's original broadcast the showrunner, J. Michael Straczynski (jms) was very engaged with the online fan community and gave a running commentary on the production of the show. His comments revealed some episodes had had their originally planned airing orders rearranged for various reasons. Based on these comments (as well as evidence within the episodes themselves) changes to the original airing order have put forward to enhance the viewing experience in different ways.

Viewing order chart[]

The three most frequently cited viewing orders are detailed below - click the column headers to sort the chart. More detailed comparisons of the different orders are in the later sections.

Episode name	Original Broadcast order	Original Broadcast numbering	Original Broadcast date	Lurker's Guide order	Historical Database order	Historical Database story dates
The Gathering (Pilot)	1		1993-02-22	2	1	2257-01-03 to 2257-01-08
Midnight on the Firing Line	2	1x01	1994-01-26	3	2	2258-02-28
Soul Hunter	3	1x02	1994-02-02	4	3	2258-03-02 to 2258-03-03
Born to the Purple	4	1x03	1994-02-09	5	5	2258-03-22 to 2258-03-25
Infection	5	1x04	1994-02-16	6	4	2258-03-08 to 2258-03-09
The Parliament of Dreams	6	1x05	1994-02-23	7	6	2258-03-30 to 2258-04-03
Mind War	7	1x06	1994-03-02	8	9	2258-04-24 to 2258-04-26
The War Prayer	8	1x07	1994-03-09	9	7	2258-04-03 to 2258-04-07
And the Sky Full of Stars	9	1x08	1994-03-16	10	8	2258-04-11 to 2258-04-13
Deathwalker	10	1x09	1994-04-20	11	11	2258-05
Believers	11	1x10	1994-04-27	12	12	2258-06
Survivors	12	1x11	1994-05-04	13	13	2258-06
By Any Means Necessary	13	1x12	1994-05-11	14	10	2258-05
Signs and Portents	14	1x13	1994-05-18	15	19	2258-08-03 to 2258-08-05
TKO	15	1x14	1994-05-25	22	20	2258-08
Grail	16	1x15	1994-07-06	16	18	2258-07
Eyes	17	1x16	1994-07-13	17	21	2258-09
Legacies	18	1x17	1994-07-20	23	17	2258-07
A Voice in the Wilderness, Part I	19	1x18	1994-07-27	18	14	2258-06
A Voice in the Wilderness, Part II	20	1x19	1994-08-03	19	15	2258-06
Babylon Squared	21	1x20	1994-08-10	20	16	2258-07-12 to 2258-07-13
The Quality of Mercy	22	1x21	1994-08-17	21	22	2258-09
Chrysalis	23	1x22	1994-10-26	24	23	2258-12-30 to 2259-01-01
Points of Departure	24	2x01	1994-11-02	25	24	2259-01-08
Revelations	25	2x02	1994-11-09	26	25	2259-01-12 to 2259-01-19
The Geometry of Shadows	26	2x03	1994-11-16	27	26	2259-01-25 to 2259-02-05*
A Distant Star	27	2x04	1994-11-23	28	27	2259-01-30 to 2259-02-02*
The Long Dark	28	2x05	1994-11-30	29	31	2259-06
A Spider in the Web	29	2x06	1994-12-07	30	28	2259-03
Soul Mates	30	2x07	1994-12-14	32	30	2259-05
A Race Through Dark Places	31	2x08	1995-01-25	31	29	2259-03-14 to 2259-03-17
The Coming of Shadows	32	2x09	1995-02-01	33	32	2259-06-13 to 2259-06-17
GROPOS	33	2x10	1995-02-08	34	33	2259-06-20 to 2259-06-23
All Alone in the Night	34	2x11	1995-02-15	35	34	2259-07
Acts of Sacrifice	35	2x12	1995-02-22	36	35	2259-07
Hunter, Prey	36	2x13	1995-03-01	37	36	2259-07
There All the Honor Lies	37	2x14	1995-04-26	38	38	2259-08
And Now For a Word	38	2x15	1995-05-03	39	39	2259-09-16
In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum	39	2x16	1995-05-10	41	40	2259-09-24
Knives	40	2x17	1995-05-17	40	37	2259-08
Confessions and Lamentations	41	2x18	1995-05-24	42	41	2259-11
Divided Loyalties	42	2x19	1995-10-11	43	42	2259-11-24 to 2259-12-02
The Long, Twilight Struggle	43	2x20	1995-10-18	44	43	2259-12-03 to 2259-12-10
Comes the Inquisitor	44	2x21	1995-10-25	45	44	2259-12-19 to 2259-12-20
The Fall of Night	45	2x22	1995-11-01	46	45	2259-12-18 to 2259-12-24
Matters of Honor	46	3x01	1995-11-06	47	46	2259-12-27 to 2260-01-09
Convictions	47	3x02	1995-11-13	48	47	2260-01-13 to 2260-01-14
A Day in the Strife	48	3x03	1995-11-20	49	48	2260-01-15 to 2260-01-16
Passing Through Gethsemane	49	3x04	1995-11-27	50	49	2260-01-18 to 2260-02-04
Voices of Authority	50	3x05	1996-01-29	51	50	2260-02-05 to 2260-02-07
Dust to Dust	51	3x06	1996-02-05	52	51	2260-02-28 to 2260-03-01
Exogenesis	52	3x07	1996-02-12	53	52	2260-03-10 to 2260-03-13
Messages from Earth	53	3x08	1996-02-19	54	53	2260-03-18 to 2260-04-08
Point of No Return	54	3x09	1996-02-26	55	54	2260-04-08 to 2260-04-10
Severed Dreams	55	3x10	1996-04-01	56	55	2260-04-14 to 2260-04-15
Ceremonies of Light and Dark	56	3x11	1996-04-08	57	56	2260-04-16 to 2260-04-18
Sic Transit Vir	57	3x12	1996-04-15	59	57	2260-06-30 to 2260-07-05
A Late Delivery from Avalon	58	3x13	1996-04-22	58	58	2260-07-11 to 2260-07-12
Ship of Tears	59	3x14	1996-04-29	60	59	2260-07-24
Interludes and Examinations	60	3x15	1996-05-06	61	60	2260-08-03 to 2260-08-05
War Without End, Part I	61	3x16	1996-05-13	63	61	2260-08-09
War Without End, Part II	62	3x17	1996-05-20	64	62	2260-08-12
Walkabout	63	3x18	1996-09-30	62	63	2260-08-16
Grey 17 is Missing	64	3x19	1996-10-07	65	64	2260-11-26 to 2260-11-30
And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place	65	3x20	1996-10-14	66	65	2260-12-07 to 2260-12-11
Shadow Dancing	66	3x21	1996-10-21	67	66	2260-12-14 to 2260-12-19
Z'ha'dum	67	3x22	1996-10-28	68	67	2260-12-19 to 2260-12-25
The Hour of the Wolf	68	4x01	1996-11-04	69	68	2260-12-28 to 2261-01-06
Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?	69	4x02	1996-11-11	70	69	2261-01-08 to 2261-01-14
The Summoning	70	4x03	1996-11-18	71	70	2261-01-11 to 2261-01-18
Falling Toward Apotheosis	71	4x04	1996-11-25	72	71	2261-01-19 to 2261-01-20
The Long Night	72	4x05	1997-01-27	73	72	2261-01-22 to 2261-01-24
Into the Fire	73	4x06	1997-02-03	74	73	2261-01-23 to 2261-01-30
Epiphanies	74	4x07	1997-02-10	75	74	2261-02-01 to 2261-02-15
The Illusion of Truth	75	4x08	1997-02-17	76	75	2261-04-03 to 2261-04-12
Atonement	76	4x09	1997-02-24	78	76	2261-04-26 to 2261-05-05
Racing Mars	77	4x10	1997-04-21	79	77	2261-05-11 to 2261-05-13
Lines of Communication	78	4x11	1997-04-28	80	78	2261-05-13 to 2261-05-16
Conflicts of Interest	79	4x12	1997-05-05	81	79	2261-05-17 to 2261-05-19
Rumors, Bargains and Lies	80	4x13	1997-05-12	82	80	2261-05-19 to 2261-05-21
Moments of Transition	81	4x14	1997-05-19	83	81	2261-05-20 to 2261-09-01**
No Surrender, No Retreat	82	4x15	1997-05-26	84	83	2261-09-02 to 2261-09-04
The Exercise of Vital Powers	83	4x16	1997-06-02	85	84	2261-09-06 to 2261-09-08
The Face of the Enemy	84	4x17	1997-06-09	86	85	2261-10-17 to 2261-10-22
Intersections in Real Time	85	4x18	1997-06-16	87	86	2261-10-23 to 2261-10-27
Between the Darkness and the Light	86	4x19	1997-10-06	88	87	2261-10-27 to 2261-10-31
Endgame	87	4x20	1997-10-13	89	88	2261-11-01 to 2261-11-04
Rising Star	88	4x21	1997-10-20	90	89	2261-11-03 to 2261-12-31
The Deconstruction of Falling Stars	89	4x22	1997-10-27	91	130	2262-01-02 to 1,002,262*
In the Beginning (TVM)	90		1998-01-04	1	128	2245-2249 [Flashbacks] 2278-12-24 [Framing story]*
No Compromises	91	5x01	1998-01-21	92	90	2262-01-13 to 2262-01-17
The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari	92	5x02	1998-01-28	93	91	2262-01-20 to 2262-01-21
The Paragon of Animals	93	5x03	1998-02-04	94	92	2262-01-30 to 2262-01-31
A View from the Gallery	94	5x04	1998-02-11	95	93	2262-02-12 to 2262-02-13
Learning Curve	95	5x05	1998-02-18	96	95	2262-05-17 to 2262-05-22
Strange Relations	96	5x06	1998-02-25	97	96	2262-05-23 to 2262-05-24
Secrets of the Soul	97	5x07	1998-03-04	98	97	2262-05-25 to 2262-05-28
Day of the Dead	98	5x08	1998-03-11	103	94	2262-02
In the Kingdom of the Blind	99	5x09	1998-03-18	99	98	2262-05-27 to 2262-05-31
A Tragedy of Telepaths	100	5x10	1998-03-25	100	99	2262-06-16 to 2262-06-18
Phoenix Rising	101	5x11	1998-04-01	101	100	2262-06-19
The Ragged Edge	102	5x12	1998-04-08	102	101	2262-06-20 to 2262-06-23
The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father	103	5x13	1998-04-15	104	102	2262-06-24 to 2262-06-29
Meditations on the Abyss	104	5x14	1998-05-27	105	103	2262-07-13 to 2262-07-15
Darkness Ascending	105	5x15	1998-06-03	106	104	2262-07-23 to 2262-07-30
And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder	106	5x16	1998-06-10	107	105	2262-07-31 to 2262-08-06
Movements of Fire and Shadow	107	5x17	1998-06-17	108	106	2262-08-09 to 2262-08-14
Thirdspace (TVM)	108		1998-07-19	77	82	2261-06*
The Fall of Centauri Prime	109	5x18	1998-10-28	109	107	2262-08-14 to 2262-08-18
Wheel of Fire	110	5x19	1998-11-04	110	108	2262-08-19 to 2262-08-21
The River of Souls (TVM)	111		1998-11-08	113	111	2263-06-08 to 2263-06-13
Objects in Motion	112	5x20	1998-11-11	111	109	2262-09-01 to 2262-09-05
Objects at Rest	113	5x21	1998-11-18	112	110	2262-09-06 to 2262-09-11
Sleeping in Light	114	5x22	1998-11-25	115	129	2280-12-28 to 2281-01-20
A Call to Arms (TVM)	115		1999-01-03	116	113	2266-12-17 to 2266-12-30
War Zone	116	1x01	1999-06-09	128	114	2267-01-01 to 2267-01-05
The Long Road	117	1x02	1999-06-16	120	115	2267-02-27 to 2267-03-02
The Well of Forever	118	1x03	1999-06-23	122	125	2267-07
The Path of Sorrows	119	1x04	1999-06-30	125	122	2267-06
Patterns of the Soul	120	1x05	1999-07-07	124	124	2267-06
Ruling from the Tomb	121	1x06	1999-07-14	126	123	2267-06-15 to 2267-06-16
The Rules of the Game	122	1x07	1999-07-21	127	126	2267-07
Appearances and Other Deceits	123	1x08	1999-07-28	129	116	2267-03
Racing the Night	124	1x09	1999-08-04	117	119	2267-05
The Memory of War	125	1x10	1999-08-11	119	117	2267-03-30 to 2267-04-01
The Needs of Earth	126	1x11	1999-08-18	118	118	2267-04
Visitors from Down the Street	127	1x12	1999-08-25	121	120	2267-05-13 to 2267-05-14
Each Night I Dream of Home	128	1x13	1999-09-01	123	121	2267-05
To Live and Die in Starlight (TVM)	129		2002-01-19	114	112	2265-03
The Lost Tales	130		2007-07-27	130	127	2271-12-24 to 2271-12-30

*story dates which overlap multiple shows.

Frequently cited viewing orders[]

Many suggested orders generally trace back to the below three, each with their own pros & cons:

Original Broadcast order[]

The order in which everything was originally broadcast in the US - this matches the order on the DVD boxsets and on some streaming platforms (see later for differences on HBO Max).

Commentary: For the most part this order doesn't disrupt the viewing experience, however there are a handful of minor continuity issues which, based on comments from jms, seem to arise from a small number of episodes having had their positions shifted for production reasons (minor spoilers below):

Delenn's accomplices use the triluminary in Legacies, but she doesn't receive it until three episodes later in Babylon Squared.
Talia says she doesn't want to be part of Psi Corps in Soul Mates, but her motivation to feel that way comes in the next episode A Race Through Dark Places
Sheridan discovers the truth about what happened to the Icarus in In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum, but when he hallucinates about the ship in the next episode (Knives) he still sees it exploding (which was the cover story).
In Sic Transit Vir we see Drazi & Vree ships patrolling the station, but the Babylon 5 defense treaty isn't signed until the next episode (A Late Delivery from Avalon).
Londo & G'Kar leave the station for Centauri Prime in Strange Relations but then appear on-station two episodes later in Day of the Dead.
The TV movie River of Souls was broadcast two episodes earlier than it should be within the timeline of the show.

Lurker's Guide Master List[]

This comes from the very popular fan site The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 which was maintained during the show's original broadcast and collated jms' comments on Usenet and other online services. One of the outputs of the site was the "Master List": a re-ordering of the original broadcast order, taking into account comments from jms indicating when episodes had had their positions changed due to production issues (e.g. delays in finalising CGI). The Master List page claims (without citation) that jms had given his blessing to the adjustments for Season One and Two.

Features: This order moves 7 episodes within the show's five seasons, based on comments from jms (described in more detail in later sections) addressing the continuity issues described above. It also inserts some of the TV movies within the run of the show, although not consistently - some are inserted chronologically but others are listed separately from the main show as spin-offs.

Commentary:

The major point of debate is the placement of the prequel TV movie In the Beginning at the start of the viewing order. This is based on a post from jms suggesting it gives a stronger start for new viewers - it was originally broadcast at the start of the show's re-run by TNT. Despite this many believe the movie's plot spoilers change the viewing experience of the subsequent seasons too much, and prefer to preserve the experience had by original viewers.
Additionally the order is not entirely consistent as it chose to ignore some jms comments indicating a change to the planned order (for example Mind War, four episodes in the second half of Season One and Passing Through Gethsemane). Moreover one of the order's changes debatably creates a new continuity issue.
Some also prefer not to interrupt the flow of the final episodes of Season Five by inserting TV movies within them, as this order does.

Historical Database[]

During the run of the show Terry Jones (user b5historyman) began compiling the Babylon 5 Historical Database. This involved scouring each episode (and other B5 media) to pick out every reference to events past & future, as well as establishing dates for events within the show itself where possible. During Season Five, after being sent a copy of the chronology, Fiona Avery (Babylonian Productions' Reference Editor) asked to use the Database as an in-house document to support the production of the show, and later updates were made in collaboration with Babylonian Productions and jms.

The chronology was published in The Official Babylon 5 Magazine, and again later in the book Across Time and Space. The latter also included a less in-depth chronology compiled independently by I. Marc Carlson (which placed the finales, TV movies & spinoffs in the same positions as the Historical Database, but makes no adjustment to the broadcast episode order for each season). In an introduction to the book, Fiona Avery said "both [timelines] have the authorization of J. Michael Straczynski".

Some notes for the episode ordering rationale in the Historical Database have been released by the author here. Note the episode order presented is an approximation of a "true" chronological viewing order, as some episodes include flashback/forward scenes within them.

Features: This order repositions 14 episodes from the show's five seasons, based on evidence within the episodes and other media (described in more detail in later sections). Most significantly it moves the Season Four & Five finales outside their respective seasons, based on the chronological setting of their framing stories. The TV movies & spin-offs are inserted within the run of the show, again based on the year of their setting.

Commentary: Although this gives the order in which events occurred 'historically' according to this authorized internal production document, whether this always presents the best viewing order depends on individual taste.

For example in Season Five, Day of the Dead is placed before Learning Curve by the historical analysis, but this has the effect of revealing the nature of Lochley's connection to Sheridan with an off-hand comment in Day, which can then make the playing out of that as a mystery across Learning Curve & Strange Relations seem a bit redundant.
Similarly for the Crusade episode Ruling from the Tomb, the historical analysis places it after Each Night I Dream of Home. This is due to dating cues within the episodes, but has the effect of Lochley & Gideon seeming to introduce themselves to one another despite having already met.
The Historical Database order doesn't correct one of the continuity issues in the original broadcast: in Sic Transit Vir we see Drazi & Vree ships patrolling the station, but the Babylon 5 defense treaty isn't signed until the next episode (A Late Delivery from Avalon).
For the TV movie Thirdspace, some prefer the placement suggested by the Lurker's Guide instead of the more complex placement borne out by the historical analysis (it places the Minbar-based scenes of Moments of Transition before Thirdspace but the station-based scenes of Moments after Thirdspace.)
As with the Lurker's Guide Master List, some also prefer not to interrupt the flow of the final episodes of Season Five by inserting TV movies and Crusade within them, despite their chronological timing. Similarly with the Season Four finale (The Deconstruction of Falling Stars) some prefer the original placement (since parts of the episode follow directly from the previous one) rather than moving it out of position for chronological reasons.

'Hybrid' viewing orders[]

In the years since the show's broadcast, some have chosen to pick different elements from the frequently cited orders, taking what they see as the best from each. Some examples:

blackcoatcowboy's order: Posted on the b5tv.com forums in 2009. The episode ordering within each season, the placement of Thirdspace, and the ordering for Crusade match the Lurker's Guide; whereas the Season Four & Five finales, and the remaining TV movies have been placed as per the Historical Database.

Alkibiades410's orders: Posted on the b5tv.com forums in 2016. Their "preferred continuity" order matches the same mix of Lurker's Guide & Historical Database order as used above by blackcoatcowboy, except that it places In the Beginning first and uses a different ordering for Crusade (discussed later). Their "chronological" order mostly matches the Historical Database order but instead opts for the Lurker's Guide placement for In the Beginning, Thirdspace and Day of the Dead.

In 2020 the Grey Sector blog suggested a viewing order which placed In the Beginning in original broadcast order, Thirdspace as per the Lurker's Guide, and the remaining spin-offs placed after the main show in chronological order.

Ideal Intended order and Ideal Chronological order: Based on the above fan discussions, the Ideal Intended order is an enhanced version of the Lurker's Guide order which adds three personal preference decision points and uses an improved Crusade order. The Ideal Chronological order is an enhanced version of the Historical Database order which makes five changes across Seasons Three, Four, Five, and Crusade. These community created orders are located here.

Focused Story order: Some prefer to focus on "the story of the last of the Babylon stations" as the story told across the five seasons of the main show. This then considers the spin-offs separately, almost as 'short stories' set in the same world as the main 'novel' of the show, viewing them after the main show in chronological order. The exception is In the Beginning which connects directly to the overall story of the series and can sit well as a prologue (although as with the Lurker's Guide, a first-time viewer starting with In the Beginning is debatable - they may instead prefer to watch it chronologically at the end of the other TV movies to avoid any spoilers).

Distinctive viewing orders[]

More recently there have been suggested viewing orders which take more radical approaches:

HBO Max: The streaming service HBO Max presents the episodes in original broadcast order for Seasons Three through Five. However for Season One four episodes are in different positions (including the two moved by the Lurker's Guide) - whether by accident or design, this order matches an online post from March 1994 by jms written after only the first eight episodes had aired, describing the planned schedule for the remainder of Season One. For Season Two again four episodes are in different positions but here HBO Max seems to follow the episodes' internal production numbering (which in many cases matches the changes in the Lurker's Guide order). Unfortunately however in the case of Divided Loyalties and The Long, Twilight Struggle the change creates a minor continuity issue.

Modified Production order: As a part of a Kickstarter update for his upcoming book All Alone in the Night: The Making of Babylon 5, Jason Davis detailed his suggested viewing order. It takes the episodes internal production order as a starting point, with some adjustments for auctorial intent. This gives a very different order for Season One, while the changes for Seasons Two through Five are generally consistent with the Lurker's Guide Master List.

Character Arc order (Season One only): This order was created by user gs4291 in 2020, with the original aim of constructing an episode order for Season One without having to default to the original broadcast order (as most other re-orderings do). After finding internal story continuity only gave half the data points needed to assemble a 'complete' ordering, gs4291 then also looked at how characters' interactions change over the course of the season. The final result is intended to not only set up and pay off plot developments in the most rewarding way, but also to give the most satisfying arc of character development to as many characters as possible. The detailed analysis behind the order can be found here.

Visual Evidence order (Season One only): This order was put forward by redditor avn3 in 2021 (in this post and later updated in this post) which considers the episodes as evidence, as if videotapes of actual events. Since these events must have happened in some particular order, the smallest clues may need to be found to rearrange them properly. 'Hard evidence' is prioritised, which may be as little as a title in a newspaper or a monitor in the background.

Detailed viewing order comparisons[]

TV movies & Spin-offs[]

While there is some amount of debate around the ordering of episodes within each season (see later sections), the majority of the viewing order debate is around when the Season Four & Five finales and the Babylon 5 TV movies/spin-offs should best be viewed. This section compares the following orders:

Original Broadcast
Lurker's Guide
Historical Database
Focused Story order

Note 1: Since The Gathering is the series pilot it goes at the start of Season One in all suggested orders
Note 2: Since A Call to Arms is a backdoor pilot for Crusade it goes at the start of Crusade in all suggested orders
Note 3: numbering in the below table is not always continuous - the intention is to highlight where the different orders agree

Episodes/Movies	Original Broadcast	Lurker's Guide	Historical Database	Focused Story order
The Gathering & Season One	1	1	1	1
Season Two	2	2	2	2
Season Three	3	3	3	3
Season Four (Eps 1-8)	4	4	4	4
Season Four (Eps 9-14)	6	6	6	6
Season Four (Eps 15-21)	8	8	8	8
S4E22 The Deconstruction of Falling Stars	9	9	27^{[0. 1]}	9
In the Beginning (TVM)	10	0^{[0. 2]}	25^{[0. 3]}	0 / 25^{[0. 4]}
Season Five (Eps 1-17)	11	11	11	11
Thirdspace (TVM)	12	5^{[0. 5]}	7^{[0. 6]}	19^{[0. 7]}
Season Five (Eps 18-19)	13	13	13	13
River of Souls (TVM)	14	16^{[0. 8]}	16^{[0. 9]}	20^{[0. 7]}
Season Five (Eps 20-21)	15	15	15	15
S5E22 Sleeping in Light	18	18	26^{[0. 10]}	18
**A Call to Arms & Crusade**	22	22	22	22
The Legend of the Rangers (TVM)	23	17^{[0. 11]}	17^{[0. 12]}	21^{[0. 7]}
The Lost Tales	24	24	24	24

References

↑ Since the framing story of The Deconstruction of Falling Stars is set 1,000,000 years in the future.
↑ Based on this comment from jms: "If [as a first-time viewer] you want to play it as a strict mystery, then no, probably don't go near [In the Beginning]... but frankly, if I were going to start someone off on B5, I'd definitely want to start with ItB, which sort of skims in and out of the overall storyline in a beautiful fashion.". The ambivalence is due to the movie containing some spoilers for events in the first four seasons.
↑ Since the framing story of In the Beginning is set in 2278.
↑ In the Beginning works very well as a prologue to the main story, but if a first-time viewer wants to avoid some spoilers this ordering would place it last, after the other spin-offs.
↑ This analysis places Thirdspace between The Illusion of Truth and Atonement based on Franklin and Delenn's appearances. This assumes Zack's uniform fitting in Atonement is a re-fitting.
↑ The Historical Database places the Minbar-based scenes of Moments of Transition before Thirdspace but the station-based scenes of Moments after Thirdspace. This also assumes Delenn returned from Minbar, took part in the events of Thirdspace, then went back to Minbar before later returning to Babylon 5 again in The Face of the Enemy.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 Moving the spin-offs after the main series to avoid interrupting the flow of the main story.
↑ River of Souls placed after Objects at Rest, based on this online comment from jms saying River of Souls was originally planned to air two weeks later.
↑ River of Souls placed after Objects at Rest, since chronologically River of Souls takes place after Objects at Rest but before The Legend of the Rangers
↑ Since Sleeping in Light is set in 2281. Note that, if viewed in this order, the beginning of The Lost Tales includes a spoiler for Sleeping in Light.
↑ The reasoning behind this placement is not clear - it is consistent with the placement of River of Souls, but inconsistent with the placement of Crusade and The Lost Tales.
↑ Since The Legend of the Rangers is set in 2265.

The Gathering & Season One[]

There's less of an obvious through-line tying the first season together as the story hadn't yet got to the point where each episode flowed directly into the next. As a result there's more space for fans to find details within the episodes which suggest alternative orders. This section compares the following orders:

Original Broadcast
Lurker's Guide
HBO Max
Historical Database
Character Arc order
Visual Evidence order
Modified Production order

Note: numbering in the below table is not always continuous - the intention is to highlight the places where the different orders agree

Episodes	Original Broadcast	Lurker's Guide	HBO Max	Historical Database	Character Arc	Visual Evidence	Modified Production
The Gathering	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midnight on the Firing Line	1	1	1	1	1	1	1^{[1. 1]}
Soul Hunter	2	2	2	2	2	2	2^{[1. 2]}
Born to the Purple	3	3	3	4.3^{[1. 3]}	4.3^{[1. 4]}	4.3^{[1. 5]}	4.3^{[1. 2]}
Infection	4	4	4	4	4	4	4^{[1. 6]}
The Parliament of Dreams	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Mind War	6	6^{[1. 7]}	6	8.3^{[1. 8]}	11.7^{[1. 9]}	6	6^{[1. 10]}
The War Prayer	7	7	7	7	4.2^{[1. 4]}	4.2^{[1. 4]}	4.8^{[1. 2]}
And the Sky Full of Stars	8	8	8	8	9.5^{[1. 11]}	4.7^{[1. 12]}	4.7^{[1. 2]}
DeathWalker	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Believers	10	10	10	10	10	10	4.5^{[1. 2]}
Survivors	11	11	11	11	11	15.5^{[1. 13]}	8^{[1. 2]}
By Any Means Necessary	12	12	12	8.7^{[1. 8]}	12	12	12
Signs and Portents	13	13	11.5^{[1. 14]}	21^{[1. 15]}	21^{[1. 15]}	13	13
TKO	14	21.3^{[1. 16]}	17^{[1. 14]}	21.3^{[1. 17]}	20.3^{[1. 18]}	12.5^{[1. 19]}	17^{[1. 2]}
Grail	15	15	15	20.8^{[1. 20]}	5.5^{[1. 21]}	15	5.5^{[1. 2]}
Eyes	16	16	16	21.5^{[1. 22]}	21.5^{[1. 23]}	16	21.5^{[1. 2]}
Legacies	17	21.8^{[1. 24]}	21.8^{[1. 14]}	20.5^{[1. 24]}	20.5^{[1. 24]}	21.8^{[1. 24]}	12.5^{[1. 2]}
A Voice in the Wilderness I	18	18	18	18	18	18	18^{[1. 25]}
A Voice in the Wilderness II	19	19	19	19	19	19	19
Babylon Squared	20	20	20	20	20	20	15^{[1. 2]}
The Quality of Mercy	21	21	14^{[1. 14]}	21.8^{[1. 22]}	11.3^{[1. 26]}	19.5^{[1. 27]}	14^{[1. 2]}
Chrysalis	22	22	22	22	22	22	22^{[1. 28]}

References

↑ Although Midnight on the Firing Line was the third episode to enter production, the script was actually the first written.
↑ ^2.00 ^2.01 ^2.02 ^2.03 ^2.04 ^2.05 ^2.06 ^2.07 ^2.08 ^2.09 ^2.10 ^2.11 Based on the episode production order.
↑ Born to the Purple placed after Infection assuming the Narn-Centauri negotiations referred to in Infection as happening "next Tuesday" are the ones which take place in Purple.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 Born to the Purple placed after The War Prayer to smooth out perceived inconsistencies in the development of Ivanova & Garibaldi's early relationship: so that their antagonist moments in Prayer come before the turning point in their relationship in Purple (discussed in more detail here). This also aims to make Londo's early character development more consistent so that Shaal Mayan confronting Londo about the absence of love throughout his life in Prayer comes before his affectionate relationship with Adira in Purple (discussed in more detail here).
↑ Born to the Purple placed after The War Prayer based on the newspaper headline in Purple referring to Home Guard attacks on Earth embassies, which were referred to in Prayer.
↑ Although Infection was the first episode to enter production, the script was actually the third written.
↑ Although the Lurker's Guide order is based on jms' comments, Mind War is not moved despite this comment from jms that it was originally intend to air as "episode 10 or so" until the studio decided to move it earlier.
↑ ^8.0 ^8.1 The specific reasoning behind the placements of Mind War and By Any Means Necessary is not described in the published sources. It is perhaps due to the mention of a budget meeting in Mind War and the station budget being finalised in Means, although the reasoning for the placement between Sky and Deathwalker is not described.
↑ Mind War placed after Survivors to better serve G'Kar’s character development: by consistently presenting him as the series' apparent antagonist, it gives greater impact to the 'twist' of his selfless act in Mind War - discussed in much more detail here.
↑ Based on the episode production order, note this comment from jms that Mind War was originally intend to air as "episode 10 or so" until the studio decided to move it earlier.
↑ And the Sky Full of Stars placed after DeathWalker so Jha'dur's taunt to Sinclair about the "hole in his mind" acts as a setup for Sky instead of a loose back-reference which isn't paid off.
↑ And the Sky Full of Stars placed just after Born to the Purple - since Garibaldi is reading the same newspaper in both episodes, it's assumed they must be sequential.
↑ Survivors placed after Signs and Portents as Zeta Wing were not used for the all-or-nothing Battle of Babylon 5 in Signs therefore they are assumed not to have been delivered to the station yet. And Survivors placed after Grail because a background monitor in C&C lists the passengers of transport Von Braun, including "Gajic, Aldous". The same screen appears in Grail and also lists the location of the transport as Bay 7 so apparently for some reason it was delayed and is still docked on the station in Survivors.
↑ ^14.0 ^14.1 ^14.2 ^14.3 This placement by HBO matches with this post from jms written after the first eight episodes had aired, describing the planned episode schedule for the remaining episodes.
↑ ^15.0 ^15.1 Signs and Portents placed after Legacies based on Delenn having built only the first tier of the chrysalis device in Legacies, but having built the first two tiers in Signs - screenshots. This also makes sense from a character development perspective - in the original order during the discussion with the Grey Council in Squared over whether Valen's prophecy is at hand, it is incongruous that Delenn doesn't mention that she was recently visited by a Shadow agent in Signs (discussed in more detail here). This placement (combined with placing Legacies after Babylon Squared) requires the assumption that the pilot killed in Squared is a different pilot than the one who briefly appears in Signs, despite being played by the same actor (who also plays a security guard in Season Three...).
↑ TKO is placed towards the end of the season, based on this comment from jms describing how TKO and The Quality of Mercy were accidentally switched by the studio (although Quality is kept near its broadcast position). However this post from jms suggests TKO's originally planned episode position was actually #17 before the switch, as restored in the HBO Max order.
↑ TKO placed after Signs and Portents as TKO is said to have happened "several months" after the death of Ivanova's father in Born to the Purple. Purple is dated in the Historical Database to March 2258 and Signs has a date given in dialogue of August 2258.
↑ TKO placed just before Legacies to give consistency to the development of Ivanova and Sinclair's personal relationship: the tone of their conversations in Legacies and Eyes are more personal and confiding than in other episodes. Placing TKO before these conversations then makes Sinclair's attendance of Ivanova's father's shiva the catalyst for this shift in their relationship (discussed in more detail here).
↑ TKO placed earlier as it only happened "several months" after the death of Ivanova's father in Born to the Purple.
↑ Grail placed between Legacies and Signs and Porents based on an assertion that a partially-built chrysalis device appears in the background of Delenn's quarters, however this is not clear - see screenshots here
↑ Grail placed before DeathWalker to keep Kosh more of an unknown in Grail, thereby making the suggestion that he might be sucking out lurkers' brains (slightly) more believable. Grail placed before Sky as Sinclair and Delenn's interactions in Grail work better to establish their initial relationship as 'old friends', and so give a bigger impact to the revelations in And the Sky Full of Stars (discussed in more detail here).
↑ ^22.0 ^22.1 The reasoning for placing Eyes just before The Quality of Mercy is not described in the published sources - it is perhaps done on the assumption Delenn's absences in the two episodes are continuous (although this assumption is not made for DeathWalker).
↑ Eyes placed after Signs and Portents as Ben Zayn refers to the Minbari government's selection of Sinclair, which he and Garibaldi discovered in Signs.
↑ ^24.0 ^24.1 ^24.2 ^24.3 Legacies placed after Babylon Squared based on this post from jms stating a preference for this, referring to "one little detail". This is likely a reference to the triluminary (reinforced by the last comment on this page), which Delenn receives at the end of Squared and is used by Delenn's accomplices in the events of Legacies.
↑ The absence of the chrysalis device in Delenn's quarters is explained by the assumption Delenn has moved the device into her bedroom, as seen later in Chrysalis.
↑ The Quality of Mercy placed before Mind War so that stories presenting Londo as the 'clown' of the show all take place before Mind War, thereby giving more weight to G'Kar's suggestion that Londo is "not exactly what he appears" (discussed in more detail here).
↑ The Quality of Mercy placed earlier as it takes place only "six months" after Lennier's arrival in The Parliament of Dreams but should also be some time after Grail because Ombuds Wellington has since had time to grow a beard.
↑ Although Chrysalis was the twelfth episode to enter production (to allow more time for post-production), it was written as the season finale.

Season Two[]

The storytelling starts to become more serialized in Season Two and a number of significant turning points in the premise of the show mean there's much less ambiguity to episode ordering compared to Season One - the focus is more on correcting for post-production delays. This section compares the following orders:

Original Broadcast
Lurker's Guide
HBO Max (unfortunately in the case of Divided Loyalties and The Long, Twilight Struggle this order makes one line in Twilight not make sense. The Modified Production order follows this order, but with Loyalties and Struggle returned to their broadcast order)
Historical Database

Note: numbering in the below table is not always continuous - the intention is to highlight the places where the different orders agree

Episodes	Original Broadcast	Lurker's Guide	HBO Max	Historical Database
Points of Departure	1	1	1	1
Revelations	2	2	2	2
The Geometry of Shadows	3	3	3	3
A Distant Star	4	4	4	4
The Long Dark	5	5	5	8.5^{[2. 1]}
A Spider in the Web	6	6	6	6
Soul Mates	7	7	7	7
A Race Through Dark Places	8	6.5^{[2. 2]}	6.5^{[2. 3]}	6.5^{[2. 4]}
The Coming of Shadows	9	9	9	9
GROPOS	10	10	10	10
All Alone in the Night	11	11	11	11
Acts of Sacrifice	12	12	12	12
Hunter, Prey	13	13	13	13
There All the Honor Lies	14	14	14	14
And Now For a Word	15	15	13.5^{[2. 5]}	15
In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum	16	16	16	16
Knives	17	15.5^{[2. 6]}	15.5^{[2. 3]}	13.5^{[2. 7]}
Confessions and Lamentations	18	18	18	18
Divided Loyalties	19	19	19	19
The Long, Twilight Struggle	20	20	18.5^{[2. 8]}	20
Comes the Inquisitor	21	21	21	21
The Fall of Night	22	22	22	22

References

↑ The Long Dark placed after Soul Mates because a human Ranger can be seen in the background of one scene. Based on details from the canon novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows this places Dark in June 2259, three months after humans were allowed to enter the Rangers in February during that novel. A Race Through Dark Places has an on-screen date of March 2259. Mates is dated to May 2259 in the Historical Database, though the specific reasoning for this is not stated in the published sources.
↑ A Race Through Dark Places placed before Soul Mates based on this and this comment from jms - the network decided to air an additional episode, and since Race needed more post-production work Mates was aired out of order instead. The difference can be seen in Talia Winters' story: in Race she discovers the truth about Psi Corps and then in Mates talks about "being part of an organization that scares the hell out of [her]" and that she "doesn't want to be a part of" Psi Corps. However an alternate argument can be made for the original broadcast order: in Mates Ivanova helps Delenn deal with her unmanageable new human hair, and in Race Delenn's hair is elegantly styled for her dinner with Sheridan.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 HBO Max appears to be listing the Season Two episodes by their internal production numbering - in this case, by accident or design, this gives the same result as the Lurker's Guide order.
↑ The specific reasoning for placing A Race Through Dark Places before Soul Mates is not given in the published sources - it is perhaps because the episodes originally aired in this order in the UK, where the author of the Historical Database is based.
↑ HBO Max appears to be listing the Season Two episodes by their internal production numbering. This placement of And Now For a Word before There All the Honor Lies doesn't have a significant impact on the viewing experience.
↑ Knives placed before In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum based on this comment from jms that Knives was delayed due to time needed to complete CGI animation. The original intention was for Sheridan's hallucination in Knives to be a reminder about Anna Sheridan and then for Shadow to pay that off by picking up her storyline.
↑ Knives placed before There All the Honor Lies based on Franklin saying Sheridan was on the Agamemnon "seven months ago", putting Knives in early August 2259. Hunter, Prey is dated to July 2259 in the Historical Database, though the specific reasoning for this is not stated in the published sources. And Now For a Word has an on-screen date of September 2259. Honor is dated to late August 2259 in the Historical Database, though the specific reasoning for this is not stated in the published sources.
↑ HBO Max appears to be listing the Season Two episodes by their internal production numbering - unfortunately moving The Long, Twilight Struggle before Divided Loyalties creates a continuity issue: in Struggle Delenn refers back to her conversation with Sheridan about profanity from Loyalties. With the episodes flipped this line now makes no sense.

Season Three[]

The serialization ramps up even more so in Season Three, and so again there is even less debate about the episode order. This section compares the following orders:

Original Broadcast (matches HBO Max and the Historical Database, for Season Three)
Lurker's Guide

Note: numbering in the below table is not always continuous - the intention is to highlight the places where the different orders agree

Episodes	Original Broadcast	Lurker's Guide
Matters of Honor	1	1
Convictions	2	2
A Day in the Strife	3	3
Passing Through Gethsemane	4	4
Voices of Authority	5	5^{[3. 1]}
Dust to Dust	6	6
Exogenesis	7	7
Messages from Earth	8	8
Point of No Return	9	9
Severed Dreams	10	10
Ceremonies of Light and Dark	11	11
Sic Transit Vir	12	12
A Late Delivery from Avalon	13	11.5^{[3. 2]}
Ship of Tears	14	14
Interludes and Examinations	15	15
War Without End, Part I	16	16
War Without End, Part II	17	17
Walkabout	18	15.5^{[3. 3]}
Grey 17 is Missing	19	19
And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place	20	20
Shadow Dancing	21	21
Z'ha'dum	22	22

References

↑ Although the Lurker's Guide order is based on jms' comments, Voices of Authority is not placed before Passing Through Gethsemane despite this post from jms confirming they were originally intended to air in that order, but CGI post-production delayed Voices (also mentioned in the third comment on this page). The reason given for not adopting this modification is "since the events of [Voices] tie into the beginning of Dust to Dust, and aren't mentioned at all in Gethsemane, the initial airing order is actually an improvement.". The Modified Production order chooses to follow the production order, rather than the broadcast order.
↑ 'A Late Delivery from Avalon moved before Sic Transit Vir based on this comment from jms that Vir was moved earlier for broadcast to allow time to finish special effects on Avalon and to position Michael York's appearance for a ratings "sweeps" week. The modified order makes continuity-sense as the Babylon Treaty is signed in Avalon and then Drazi & Vree ships are seen patrolling the station in Vir. This change is also made in the Modified Production order.
↑ Walkabout placed before War Without End based on this comment from jms stating Walkabout was initially planned to go first, but the production order was changed to avoid the two parts of War being split across four months. However this change creates two possible continuity issues: (i) in Interludes and Examinations the Vorlons attack the Shadows openly; then in War Without End Marcus says there hasn't been a Shadow attack since the Vorlons got involved; and in Walkabout we see the Shadows attacking Drazi ships. If you flip War and Walkabout then Marcus' comment makes no sense. (ii) Also jms has confirmed the Vorlon who arrives in Walkabout (dubbed "Kosh II" in fan circles) is the same Vorlon residing on Minbar (named Ulkesh Naranek in the canon novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows) who we see at the start of War Without End. Therefore if you flip the original broadcast order then Ulkesh travels from Minbar to Babylon 5 in Walkabout; then flies back to Minbar to deliver a couple of cryptic lines to Rathenn in War Without End; then presumably goes back to Babylon 5 to continue as ambassador. While this is possible it seems a bit odd for Ulkesh to be bouncing back and forth like this.

Season Four[]

At this point the show has reached 'peak serialization': the story of each episode flows directly into next and there is no debate around the ordering of the episodes themselves. Opinions only vary on how (or if at all) to integrate the TV movie Thirdspace, as discussed in the TV movie section. This section compares the following orders:

Original Broadcast (matches HBO Max, and the Modified Production order, for Season Four)
Lurker's Guide
Historical Database

Note: numbering in the below table is not always continuous - the intention is to highlight the places where the different orders agree

Episodes	Original Broadcast	Lurker's Guide	Historical Database
The Hour of the Wolf	1	1	1
Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?	2	2	2
The Summoning	3	3	3
Falling Toward Apotheosis	4	4	4
The Long Night	5	5	5
Into the Fire	6	6	6
Epiphanies	7	7	7
The Illusion of Truth	8	8	8
Atonement	9	9	9
Racing Mars	10	10	10
Lines of Communication	11	11	11
Conflicts of Interest	12	12	12
Rumors, Bargains and Lies	13	13	13
Moments of Transition	14	14	14
No Surrender, No Retreat	15	15	15
Exercise of Vital Powers	16	16	16
The Face of the Enemy	17	17	17
Intersections in Real Time	18	18	18
Between the Darkness and the Light	19	19	19
Endgame	20	20	20
Rising Star	21	21	21
The Deconstruction of Falling Stars	22	22	n/a^{[4. 1]}
Thirdspace (TVM)^{[4. 2]}	n/a^{[4. 3]}	8.5^{[4. 4]}	14.5^{[4. 5]}

References

↑ Placed outside Season Four, at the very end of the chronological order, since the framing story of The Deconstruction of Falling Stars is set 1,000,000 years in the future.
↑ As discussed in the TV movie section, the Focused Story order advocates watching the TV movies separately from the main run of the show, to avoid breaking up the flow of the story.
↑ Thirdspace originally aired during Season Five, between Movements of Fire and Shadow and The Fall of Centauri Prime.
↑ This analysis places Thirdspace between Illusion of Truth and Atonement - Franklin's presence places it before his mission to Mars (which runs from Atonement to Conflicts of Interest) - and it can't come after that mission since by the time he returns, Delenn has left for Minbar and Delenn appears in Thirdspace. Since Zack is wearing a black Army of Light uniform in Thirdspace, it must come after Illusion as he is wearing security greens in that episode - this assumes Zack's uniform fitting at the start of Atonement is a re-fitting after the damage from Thirdspace.
↑ The Historical Database places the Minbar-based scenes of Moments of Transition before Thirdspace but the station-based scenes of Moments after Thirdspace. This also assumes Delenn returned from Minbar, took part in the events of Thirdspace, then returned to Minbar before later returning to Babylon 5 again in The Face of the Enemy.

Season Five[]

Here the show remains at 'peak serialisation' - the only debated episode position is the one not written by jms. Also opinions vary on how (or if at all) to integrate the TV movie River of Souls, as discussed in the TV movie section. This section compares the following orders:

Original Broadcast (matches HBO Max, for Season Five - except River of Souls is not on HBO Max).
Lurker's Guide
Historical Database (matches the Modified Production order, for Season Five)

Note: numbering in the below table is not always continuous - the intention is to highlight the places where the different orders agree

Episodes	Original Broadcast	Lurker's Guide	Historical Database
No Compromises	1	1	1
The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari	2	2	2
The Paragon of Animals	3	3	3
A View from the Gallery	4	4	4
Learning Curve	5	5	5
Strange Relations	6	6	6
Secrets of the Soul	7	7	7
Day of the Dead	8^{[5. 1]}	12.5^{[5. 2]}	4.5^{[5. 3]}
In the Kingdom of the Blind	9	9	9
A Tragedy of Telepaths	10	10	10
Phoenix Rising	11	11	11
The Ragged Edge	12	12	12
The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father	13	13	13
Meditations on the Abyss	14	14	14
Darkness Ascending	15	15	15
And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder	16	16	16
Movements of Fire and Shadow	17	17	17
The Fall of Centauri Prime	18	18	18
The Wheel of Fire	19	19	19
River of Souls (TVM)^{[5. 4]}	19.5	21.5^{[5. 5]}	21.5^{[5. 6]}
Objects in Motion	20	20	20
Objects at Rest	21	21	21
Sleeping in Light	22	22	n/a^{[5. 7]}

References

↑ The original broadcast position of Day of the Dead is incongruous as Londo & G'Kar leave for Centauri Prime in Strange Relations but then are on the station in Day of the Dead. Also In the Kingdom of the Blind is said to take place the day after Secrets of the Soul but Day was placed in-between them.
↑ Day of the Dead placed after The Ragged Edge based on this comment from jms that it was originally planned to air in slot 513 (which 'translates' as S5E12 due to a quirk of the Season Five production) and on this comment describing how Day was moved earlier to accommodate the NBA playoffs. Since Londo & G'Kar return to the station in The Ragged Edge their appearance in Day is no longer inconsistent. There is a potential continuity issue: in Day Garibaldi blames the incident on "the telepaths" which was probably intended as a reference to Byron's group (the episode was written after the first four Season Five scripts had been completed) despite them no longer being on the station after Phoenix Rising.
↑ Day of the Dead placed before Learning Curve: since Londo & G'Kar are on-station in Day it is placed before their departure for Centauri Prime in Strange Relations. Also Relations starts the immediate morning after Curve so Day of the Dead must come before Curve as well. The decision to put Day of the Dead before Londo's trip to Centauri Prime (as opposed to after as done in the Lurker's Guide order) is based on a number of factors (based on this online post): (i) a newspaper headline in Day of the Dead reads "Narn Consulate Opens On Mars Amid Controversy"; (ii) according to an article in The Official Babylon 5 Magazine Volume 2 Issue #1, Mars was formally declared independent in March 2262; (iii) the assumption is the controversy is due to the consulate being opened before the formal independence - therefore Day takes place in the early part of the season. Note that, as a viewing experience, this has the effect of revealing the nature of Lochley's connection to Sheridan with an off-hand comment in Day, which makes the drawing out of that as a mystery across Curve and Relations a bit redundant.
↑ As discussed in the TV movie section, the Focused Story order advocates watching the TV movies separately from the main run of the show, to avoid breaking up the flow of the story.
↑ River of Souls placed after Objects at Rest, based on this online comment from jms saying River of Souls was originally planned to air two weeks later.
↑ River of Souls placed after Objects at Rest, since chronologically River of Souls takes place after Objects at Rest
↑ Placed later in the chronological order, outside Season Five, since Sleeping in Light is set in 2281.

A Call to Arms & Crusade[]

The viewing order for Crusade is notoriously tangled - some background to its short but troubled production can help: The opening episode was originally planned to be Racing the Night and production began with the Excalibur crew wearing gray & red uniforms. After five episodes had been filmed (with another five scripts in hand), the network called for a production hiatus to make changes. These included a costume change to more functional black uniforms and a mandate to write a new opening episode introducing the characters in a more conventional style. To make sense of the uniform changes, it was planned to:

start the series with a number of 'black uniform' episodes, including the new opening episode
have an episode in which the the uniforms were changed to gray/red
air the originally filmed five 'gray/red uniform' episodes
have an episode in which the uniforms were changed back to black
air the remaining 'black uniform' episodes

After the production hiatus, eight episodes were filmed with the black uniforms, including the new opening episode (War Zone) and the first 'bridging' episode, explaining the change from black to gray/red uniforms (Appearances and Other Deceits). Of the other three completed scripts, the next to be filmed was the 'gray/red to black' bridging episode (To the Ends of The Earth) but before filming began the network called for production to cease and shortly afterwards the show was cancelled. This section compares the following orders, each of which attempt to reconcile the above:

Original Broadcast[]

The order in which the episodes were originally broadcast in the US - since the second 'bridging' episode was not produced, the decision was taken to air all the 'black uniform' episodes in one block, followed by the 'gray/red' episodes, despite many of the 'black' episodes being written with the intention of being aired after the 'gray/red' block. While some episodes had dialogue re-dubbed to try and get them to fit in this new order, a number of continuity problems couldn't be avoided (minor spoilers below):

The nano-virus shield is used in Patterns of the Soul, five episodes before it's discovered in The Memory of War
In The Well of Forever Gideon reminds Galen of the time he described the Excalibur as "family", which he doesn't do until seven episodes later in The Memory of War.
Lochley & Gideon's exchanges are quite formal in Each Night I Dream of Home, despite them getting to know each other intimately six episodes earlier in The Rules of the Game.

Script order[]

This is the order in which the scripts were originally written (originally without any thought to costume changes) which perhaps gives a guide to how the stories were originally planned to progress before the network's intervention (detailed in Volume 2 of the Crusade: Other Voices script book series and reproduced at b5books.com/crusade-episode-viewing-order).

Rerun Broadcast[]

A few years after the original run, the Sci Fi Channel acquired the rights to air Crusade and (being familiar with the controversy) asked jms in what order he would like them to air the episodes. In this post he outlines his rationale: choosing to ignore the costume changes in favour of better introducing the story and characters (at least "as best [he] could remember it when they called"). This places the 'gray/red' episodes at the start with the 'black' episodes mixed in the middle & end. War Zone & Appearances are placed right at the end, outside the run of the other episodes, reflecting that they were only written to accommodate mandates imposed by the network. This order is adopted by the Lurker's Guide Master List.

Historical Database[]

This is the order in which events 'historically' occurred according to the authorized internal production document, the Historical Database. This retains War Zone as the first episode and places the 'gray/red' episodes in the middle as originally planned, with the majority of 'black' episodes then coming after. The placement of Ruling from the Tomb is not preferred by some as it leads to Lochley and Gideon introducing themselves to each other, despite having met two episodes earlier.

All-Inclusive[]

Published in Volume 2 of the Crusade: Other Voices script book series (and reproduced at b5books.com/crusade-episode-viewing-order), as compiled by its Senior Editor Jason Davies: "With the publication of all the extant Crusade material, a new all-inclusive order, interpolating all the various episodes, scripts, outlines and notes in to a cohesive whole, was needed to make sense of the series as it now stands." - Crusade: Other Voices, Volume 2 p361. This also places the 'gray/red' episodes in the middle, taking the events of unproduced episodes into account.

Note 1: Since A Call to Arms is a backdoor pilot for Crusade it goes at the start in all suggested orders
Note 2: Although not strictly relevant for a viewing order, the three completed but unproduced scripts help explain the placement of some episodes in the All-Inclusive order.
Note 3: numbering in the below table is not always continuous - the intention is to highlight where the different orders agree

Episodes	Original Broadcast	Script	Rerun Broadcast	Historical Database	All-Inclusive
A Call to Arms (TVM)	0	0	0	0	0
War Zone	1	20	20^{[6. 1]}	1	1
The Long Road	2	17	11	2	2
The Well of Forever	3	14	12.5	19^{[6. 2]}	19^{[6. 3]}
The Path of Sorrows	4	15	15	15^{[6. 4]}	4^{[6. 5]}
Patterns of the Soul	5	18	14	18^{[6. 6]}	18^{[6. 7]}
Ruling from the Tomb	6	19	15.5	15.5^{[6. 8]}	1.5^{[6. 9]}
The Rules of the Game	7	16	16	20^{[6. 10]}	16^{[6. 10]}
Appearances and Other Deceits	8	21	21^{[6. 11]}	8	8
Racing the Night	9	9	9	11.5^{[6. 12]}	9
The Memory of War	10	10	10	10	10
The Needs of Earth	11	9.5	9.5	11	9.5^{[6. 13]}
Visitors from Down the Street	12	12	12	12	12
Each Night I Dream of Home	13	13	13	13	13
To the Ends of The Earth (script only)	n/a	22	n/a	22^{[6. 14]}	14^{[6. 15]}
Value Judgements (script only)	n/a	23	n/a	23	23^{[6. 3]}
End of the Line (script only)	n/a	24	n/a	24	24

References

↑ As per this jms post: "I separated War Zone from the rest because structurally, that's a story I would never have told if there wasn't a gun to my head."
↑ The Well of Forever placed after the 'gray/red uniform' block since in Well Gideon refers back to Galen describing the Excalibur as "family" in The Memory of War. The specific reasoning for placing Well after Patterns of the Soul is not described in the published sources - it is perhaps to keep Ruling from the Tomb and Patterns close together as they are both dated to June 2267.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Because the All-Inclusive order integrates the unproduced scripts, The Well of Forever is placed just before the unproduced episode Value Judgements so "ideal contrast is provided by placing Matheson's trial by Mr Jones... immediately before his encounter with Bester." - Crusade: Other Voices, Volume 2 p368
↑ The reasoning for placing The Path of Sorrows after the 'gray/red uniform' block is not described in the published sources.
↑ The Path of Sorrows kept before the 'gray/red uniform' block to establish the mystery of the destruction of the Cerberus before that storyline is further developed in the unproduced episode To the Ends of The Earth.
↑ Patterns of the Soul placed after the 'gray/red uniform' block based on the use of the nano-virus shield, which was discovered in The Memory of War.
↑ Patterns of the Soul placed after The Rules of the Game since "Lorka 7 provides a promising destination for the Excalibur crew, which can then be undercut by General Thompson's orders to divert to Theta 49 in Patterns." - Crusade: Other Voices, Volume 2 p.368
↑ Ruling from the Tomb placed after the 'gray/red uniform' block due to the gray/red episode Visitors from Down the Street having on-screen date of May 2267 and a banner in the background of Ruling having a date of June 2267. The inconsistency between Lochley and Gideon knowing each other in Each Night I Dream of Home but then re-introducing themselves to each other in Ruling is explained as due to Lochley being "distracted by unfolding events". Ruling placed just before Patterns of the Soul since Ruling is dated to June (based on the banner) and the colonists on Theta 49 in Patterns are said to have left Earth six months after the plague was released (which is dated to January, based on it being the anniversary of the foundation of the Interstellar Alliance).
↑ "Ruling from the Tomb is placed second, which is consistent with the urgency of assembling a large conference and Gideon's assertion that if there were a saboteur aboard his ship, it would have been blown up "weeks ago"." - Crusade: Other Voices, Volume 2 p367
↑ ^10.0 ^10.1 The Rules of the Game placed after the 'gray/red uniform' block so Gideon's visit to Babylon 5 follows Lochley's invitation in Each Night I Dream of Home.
↑ jms placed Appearances and Other Deceits outside the main ordering since the episode was written to explain the studio-mandated costume changes, which this order chooses to ignore in favour of story and character development.
↑ Racing the Night placed after The Memory of War based on this comment from jms that Racing "was written to take place about 5 months after the Drakh attack", whereas in Memory the ISN broadcast states the planetary quarantine is entering its fourth month. The reasoning for placing Racing after The Needs of Earth is not described in the published sources.
↑ The Needs of Earth placed before The Memory of War to "do as little damage as possible to Staczynski's original intent" - Crusade: Other Voices, Volume 2 p367.
↑ To the Ends of The Earth placed late in the order as the date is given in dialogue as September 2267, despite the script starting with the crew in gray/red uniforms, being said to have be wearing them for "almost two months".
↑ To the Ends of The Earth placed (as intended before the series' cancellation) to bridge between the 'gray/red uniform' episodes into the second block of 'black uniform' episodes - at the start of the script the gray/red uniforms are written out of the show.

Other Crusade orders[]

Some other viewing orders for Crusade have been suggested:

blackcoatcowboy's 2009 b5tv forum post includes some orders for Crusade:

the "Chronological Order" matches the Historical Database, except that Ruling from the Tomb is moved earlier before Appearances and Other Deceits to rationalize the sequencing of Lochley & Gideon's encounters.
the "J Michael Straczynksi's Order" matches the Rerun Broadcast order in the table above.

Alkibiades410's 2016 b5tv forum post describes a number of episode orders for Crusade:

the "Alternate Chronological Order" matches blackcoatcowboy's "chronological order" above
the "JMS Intended Broadcast Order" matches the Script order in the table above
the "JMS Preferred Chronological Order" is the Script order but with Needs & Memory switched as per the Historical Database
the "Sy-Fy Broadcast Order" matches the Rerun Broadcast order in the table
the "Chronological Order" matches the Historical Database
the "All-Inclusive Chronological Order" matches the All-Inclusive order
the "Preferred Continuity Order" matches the All-Inclusive order except the last 3 episodes follow the Historical Database
the "JMS 'Fan Prodded' Chronological Order" has no citation for its source, but is the Rerun Broadcast order with the last 2 episodes instead placed first
the "JMS' TNT Impacted Order" is taken from Volume 2 of Crusade: Other Voices and is based on production documents circa January 1999 before the show was cancelled (described at b5books.com/crusade-episode-viewing-order).

In 2016 the Grey Sector blog did a comparison of a number of orders for Crusade including the Original Broadcast, Rerun Broadcast, Historical Database, and All-Inclusive orders (although it mistakenly ascribes the Lochley/Gideon continuity errors to the All-Inclusive order). It also includes a "Continuity Order" which came from a now-removed Wikipedia page - it generally matches the All-Inclusive order except that Ruling & Rules are each two positions later. Additionally the blog proposes an "Expanded Pure" order, which has a similar concept to the Script order but instead places the 'black uniform' episodes in chronological (i.e. Historical Database) order.

Page Changes[]

Note: Before making significant changes to this page, please be sure to first discuss them on the talk page, to ensure the changes have a consensus with other Babylon 5 fans on Fandom.

[tdofschrono-1] Since the framing story of The Deconstruction of Falling Stars is set 1,000,000 years in the future.

[2] Based on this comment from jms: "If [as a first-time viewer] you want to play it as a strict mystery, then no, probably don't go near [In the Beginning]... but frankly, if I were going to start someone off on B5, I'd definitely want to start with ItB, which sort of skims in and out of the overall storyline in a beautiful fashion.". The ambivalence is due to the movie containing some spoilers for events in the first four seasons.

[itbchrono-3] Since the framing story of In the Beginning is set in 2278.

[4] In the Beginning works very well as a prologue to the main story, but if a first-time viewer wants to avoid some spoilers this ordering would place it last, after the other spin-offs.

[thirdlurk-5] This analysis places Thirdspace between The Illusion of Truth and Atonement based on Franklin and Delenn's appearances. This assumes Zack's uniform fitting in Atonement is a re-fitting.

[6] The Historical Database places the Minbar-based scenes of Moments of Transition before Thirdspace but the station-based scenes of Moments after Thirdspace. This also assumes Delenn returned from Minbar, took part in the events of Thirdspace, then went back to Minbar before later returning to Babylon 5 again in The Face of the Enemy.

[sep-7] 7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 Moving the spin-offs after the main series to avoid interrupting the flow of the main story.

[8] River of Souls placed after Objects at Rest, based on this online comment from jms saying River of Souls was originally planned to air two weeks later.

[soulschrono-9] River of Souls placed after Objects at Rest, since chronologically River of Souls takes place after Objects at Rest but before The Legend of the Rangers

[lightchrono-10] Since Sleeping in Light is set in 2281. Note that, if viewed in this order, the beginning of The Lost Tales includes a spoiler for Sleeping in Light.

[11] The reasoning behind this placement is not clear - it is consistent with the placement of River of Souls, but inconsistent with the placement of Crusade and The Lost Tales.

[lotrchrono-12] Since The Legend of the Rangers is set in 2265.

[13] Although Midnight on the Firing Line was the third episode to enter production, the script was actually the first written.

[prod-14] 2.00 ^2.01 ^2.02 ^2.03 ^2.04 ^2.05 ^2.06 ^2.07 ^2.08 ^2.09 ^2.10 ^2.11 Based on the episode production order.

[negoti-15] Born to the Purple placed after Infection assuming the Narn-Centauri negotiations referred to in Infection as happening "next Tuesday" are the ones which take place in Purple.

[chardev-16] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 Born to the Purple placed after The War Prayer to smooth out perceived inconsistencies in the development of Ivanova & Garibaldi's early relationship: so that their antagonist moments in Prayer come before the turning point in their relationship in Purple (discussed in more detail here). This also aims to make Londo's early character development more consistent so that Shaal Mayan confronting Londo about the absence of love throughout his life in Prayer comes before his affectionate relationship with Adira in Purple (discussed in more detail here).

[headline-17] Born to the Purple placed after The War Prayer based on the newspaper headline in Purple referring to Home Guard attacks on Earth embassies, which were referred to in Prayer.

[18] Although Infection was the first episode to enter production, the script was actually the third written.

[19] Although the Lurker's Guide order is based on jms' comments, Mind War is not moved despite this comment from jms that it was originally intend to air as "episode 10 or so" until the studio decided to move it earlier.

[budget-20] 8.0 ^8.1 The specific reasoning behind the placements of Mind War and By Any Means Necessary is not described in the published sources. It is perhaps due to the mention of a budget meeting in Mind War and the station budget being finalised in Means, although the reasoning for the placement between Sky and Deathwalker is not described.

[21] Mind War placed after Survivors to better serve G'Kar’s character development: by consistently presenting him as the series' apparent antagonist, it gives greater impact to the 'twist' of his selfless act in Mind War - discussed in much more detail here.

[22] Based on the episode production order, note this comment from jms that Mind War was originally intend to air as "episode 10 or so" until the studio decided to move it earlier.

[23] And the Sky Full of Stars placed after DeathWalker so Jha'dur's taunt to Sinclair about the "hole in his mind" acts as a setup for Sky instead of a loose back-reference which isn't paid off.

[24] And the Sky Full of Stars placed just after Born to the Purple - since Garibaldi is reading the same newspaper in both episodes, it's assumed they must be sequential.

[25] Survivors placed after Signs and Portents as Zeta Wing were not used for the all-or-nothing Battle of Babylon 5 in Signs therefore they are assumed not to have been delivered to the station yet. And Survivors placed after Grail because a background monitor in C&C lists the passengers of transport Von Braun, including "Gajic, Aldous". The same screen appears in Grail and also lists the location of the transport as Bay 7 so apparently for some reason it was delayed and is still docked on the station in Survivors.

[hbo-26] 14.0 ^14.1 ^14.2 ^14.3 This placement by HBO matches with this post from jms written after the first eight episodes had aired, describing the planned episode schedule for the remaining episodes.

[chrysal-27] 15.0 ^15.1 Signs and Portents placed after Legacies based on Delenn having built only the first tier of the chrysalis device in Legacies, but having built the first two tiers in Signs - screenshots. This also makes sense from a character development perspective - in the original order during the discussion with the Grey Council in Squared over whether Valen's prophecy is at hand, it is incongruous that Delenn doesn't mention that she was recently visited by a Shadow agent in Signs (discussed in more detail here). This placement (combined with placing Legacies after Babylon Squared) requires the assumption that the pilot killed in Squared is a different pilot than the one who briefly appears in Signs, despite being played by the same actor (who also plays a security guard in Season Three...).

[28] TKO is placed towards the end of the season, based on this comment from jms describing how TKO and The Quality of Mercy were accidentally switched by the studio (although Quality is kept near its broadcast position). However this post from jms suggests TKO's originally planned episode position was actually #17 before the switch, as restored in the HBO Max order.

[29] TKO placed after Signs and Portents as TKO is said to have happened "several months" after the death of Ivanova's father in Born to the Purple. Purple is dated in the Historical Database to March 2258 and Signs has a date given in dialogue of August 2258.

[30] TKO placed just before Legacies to give consistency to the development of Ivanova and Sinclair's personal relationship: the tone of their conversations in Legacies and Eyes are more personal and confiding than in other episodes. Placing TKO before these conversations then makes Sinclair's attendance of Ivanova's father's shiva the catalyst for this shift in their relationship (discussed in more detail here).

[31] TKO placed earlier as it only happened "several months" after the death of Ivanova's father in Born to the Purple.

[32] Grail placed between Legacies and Signs and Porents based on an assertion that a partially-built chrysalis device appears in the background of Delenn's quarters, however this is not clear - see screenshots here

[33] Grail placed before DeathWalker to keep Kosh more of an unknown in Grail, thereby making the suggestion that he might be sucking out lurkers' brains (slightly) more believable. Grail placed before Sky as Sinclair and Delenn's interactions in Grail work better to establish their initial relationship as 'old friends', and so give a bigger impact to the revelations in And the Sky Full of Stars (discussed in more detail here).

[abs-34] 22.0 ^22.1 The reasoning for placing Eyes just before The Quality of Mercy is not described in the published sources - it is perhaps done on the assumption Delenn's absences in the two episodes are continuous (although this assumption is not made for DeathWalker).

[35] Eyes placed after Signs and Portents as Ben Zayn refers to the Minbari government's selection of Sinclair, which he and Garibaldi discovered in Signs.

[trilum-36] 24.0 ^24.1 ^24.2 ^24.3 Legacies placed after Babylon Squared based on this post from jms stating a preference for this, referring to "one little detail". This is likely a reference to the triluminary (reinforced by the last comment on this page), which Delenn receives at the end of Squared and is used by Delenn's accomplices in the events of Legacies.

[nochrys-37] The absence of the chrysalis device in Delenn's quarters is explained by the assumption Delenn has moved the device into her bedroom, as seen later in Chrysalis.

[38] The Quality of Mercy placed before Mind War so that stories presenting Londo as the 'clown' of the show all take place before Mind War, thereby giving more weight to G'Kar's suggestion that Londo is "not exactly what he appears" (discussed in more detail here).

[39] The Quality of Mercy placed earlier as it takes place only "six months" after Lennier's arrival in The Parliament of Dreams but should also be some time after Grail because Ombuds Wellington has since had time to grow a beard.

[40] Although Chrysalis was the twelfth episode to enter production (to allow more time for post-production), it was written as the season finale.

[41] The Long Dark placed after Soul Mates because a human Ranger can be seen in the background of one scene. Based on details from the canon novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows this places Dark in June 2259, three months after humans were allowed to enter the Rangers in February during that novel. A Race Through Dark Places has an on-screen date of March 2259. Mates is dated to May 2259 in the Historical Database, though the specific reasoning for this is not stated in the published sources.

[42] A Race Through Dark Places placed before Soul Mates based on this and this comment from jms - the network decided to air an additional episode, and since Race needed more post-production work Mates was aired out of order instead. The difference can be seen in Talia Winters' story: in Race she discovers the truth about Psi Corps and then in Mates talks about "being part of an organization that scares the hell out of [her]" and that she "doesn't want to be a part of" Psi Corps. However an alternate argument can be made for the original broadcast order: in Mates Ivanova helps Delenn deal with her unmanageable new human hair, and in Race Delenn's hair is elegantly styled for her dinner with Sheridan.

[hbo-43] 3.0 ^3.1 HBO Max appears to be listing the Season Two episodes by their internal production numbering - in this case, by accident or design, this gives the same result as the Lurker's Guide order.

[44] The specific reasoning for placing A Race Through Dark Places before Soul Mates is not given in the published sources - it is perhaps because the episodes originally aired in this order in the UK, where the author of the Historical Database is based.

[45] HBO Max appears to be listing the Season Two episodes by their internal production numbering. This placement of And Now For a Word before There All the Honor Lies doesn't have a significant impact on the viewing experience.

[46] Knives placed before In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum based on this comment from jms that Knives was delayed due to time needed to complete CGI animation. The original intention was for Sheridan's hallucination in Knives to be a reminder about Anna Sheridan and then for Shadow to pay that off by picking up her storyline.

[47] Knives placed before There All the Honor Lies based on Franklin saying Sheridan was on the Agamemnon "seven months ago", putting Knives in early August 2259. Hunter, Prey is dated to July 2259 in the Historical Database, though the specific reasoning for this is not stated in the published sources. And Now For a Word has an on-screen date of September 2259. Honor is dated to late August 2259 in the Historical Database, though the specific reasoning for this is not stated in the published sources.

[48] HBO Max appears to be listing the Season Two episodes by their internal production numbering - unfortunately moving The Long, Twilight Struggle before Divided Loyalties creates a continuity issue: in Struggle Delenn refers back to her conversation with Sheridan about profanity from Loyalties. With the episodes flipped this line now makes no sense.

[49] Although the Lurker's Guide order is based on jms' comments, Voices of Authority is not placed before Passing Through Gethsemane despite this post from jms confirming they were originally intended to air in that order, but CGI post-production delayed Voices (also mentioned in the third comment on this page). The reason given for not adopting this modification is "since the events of [Voices] tie into the beginning of Dust to Dust, and aren't mentioned at all in Gethsemane, the initial airing order is actually an improvement.". The Modified Production order chooses to follow the production order, rather than the broadcast order.

[50] 'A Late Delivery from Avalon moved before Sic Transit Vir based on this comment from jms that Vir was moved earlier for broadcast to allow time to finish special effects on Avalon and to position Michael York's appearance for a ratings "sweeps" week. The modified order makes continuity-sense as the Babylon Treaty is signed in Avalon and then Drazi & Vree ships are seen patrolling the station in Vir. This change is also made in the Modified Production order.

[51] Walkabout placed before War Without End based on this comment from jms stating Walkabout was initially planned to go first, but the production order was changed to avoid the two parts of War being split across four months. However this change creates two possible continuity issues: (i) in Interludes and Examinations the Vorlons attack the Shadows openly; then in War Without End Marcus says there hasn't been a Shadow attack since the Vorlons got involved; and in Walkabout we see the Shadows attacking Drazi ships. If you flip War and Walkabout then Marcus' comment makes no sense. (ii) Also jms has confirmed the Vorlon who arrives in Walkabout (dubbed "Kosh II" in fan circles) is the same Vorlon residing on Minbar (named Ulkesh Naranek in the canon novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows) who we see at the start of War Without End. Therefore if you flip the original broadcast order then Ulkesh travels from Minbar to Babylon 5 in Walkabout; then flies back to Minbar to deliver a couple of cryptic lines to Rathenn in War Without End; then presumably goes back to Babylon 5 to continue as ambassador. While this is possible it seems a bit odd for Ulkesh to be bouncing back and forth like this.

[52] Placed outside Season Four, at the very end of the chronological order, since the framing story of The Deconstruction of Falling Stars is set 1,000,000 years in the future.

[53] As discussed in the TV movie section, the Focused Story order advocates watching the TV movies separately from the main run of the show, to avoid breaking up the flow of the story.

[54] Thirdspace originally aired during Season Five, between Movements of Fire and Shadow and The Fall of Centauri Prime.

[55] This analysis places Thirdspace between Illusion of Truth and Atonement - Franklin's presence places it before his mission to Mars (which runs from Atonement to Conflicts of Interest) - and it can't come after that mission since by the time he returns, Delenn has left for Minbar and Delenn appears in Thirdspace. Since Zack is wearing a black Army of Light uniform in Thirdspace, it must come after Illusion as he is wearing security greens in that episode - this assumes Zack's uniform fitting at the start of Atonement is a re-fitting after the damage from Thirdspace.

[56] The Historical Database places the Minbar-based scenes of Moments of Transition before Thirdspace but the station-based scenes of Moments after Thirdspace. This also assumes Delenn returned from Minbar, took part in the events of Thirdspace, then returned to Minbar before later returning to Babylon 5 again in The Face of the Enemy.

[57] The original broadcast position of Day of the Dead is incongruous as Londo & G'Kar leave for Centauri Prime in Strange Relations but then are on the station in Day of the Dead. Also In the Kingdom of the Blind is said to take place the day after Secrets of the Soul but Day was placed in-between them.

[58] Day of the Dead placed after The Ragged Edge based on this comment from jms that it was originally planned to air in slot 513 (which 'translates' as S5E12 due to a quirk of the Season Five production) and on this comment describing how Day was moved earlier to accommodate the NBA playoffs. Since Londo & G'Kar return to the station in The Ragged Edge their appearance in Day is no longer inconsistent. There is a potential continuity issue: in Day Garibaldi blames the incident on "the telepaths" which was probably intended as a reference to Byron's group (the episode was written after the first four Season Five scripts had been completed) despite them no longer being on the station after Phoenix Rising.

[59] Day of the Dead placed before Learning Curve: since Londo & G'Kar are on-station in Day it is placed before their departure for Centauri Prime in Strange Relations. Also Relations starts the immediate morning after Curve so Day of the Dead must come before Curve as well. The decision to put Day of the Dead before Londo's trip to Centauri Prime (as opposed to after as done in the Lurker's Guide order) is based on a number of factors (based on this online post): (i) a newspaper headline in Day of the Dead reads "Narn Consulate Opens On Mars Amid Controversy"; (ii) according to an article in The Official Babylon 5 Magazine Volume 2 Issue #1, Mars was formally declared independent in March 2262; (iii) the assumption is the controversy is due to the consulate being opened before the formal independence - therefore Day takes place in the early part of the season. Note that, as a viewing experience, this has the effect of revealing the nature of Lochley's connection to Sheridan with an off-hand comment in Day, which makes the drawing out of that as a mystery across Curve and Relations a bit redundant.

[60] As discussed in the TV movie section, the Focused Story order advocates watching the TV movies separately from the main run of the show, to avoid breaking up the flow of the story.

[61] River of Souls placed after Objects at Rest, based on this online comment from jms saying River of Souls was originally planned to air two weeks later.

[62] River of Souls placed after Objects at Rest, since chronologically River of Souls takes place after Objects at Rest

[63] Placed later in the chronological order, outside Season Five, since Sleeping in Light is set in 2281.

[64] As per this jms post: "I separated War Zone from the rest because structurally, that's a story I would never have told if there wasn't a gun to my head."

[65] The Well of Forever placed after the 'gray/red uniform' block since in Well Gideon refers back to Galen describing the Excalibur as "family" in The Memory of War. The specific reasoning for placing Well after Patterns of the Soul is not described in the published sources - it is perhaps to keep Ruling from the Tomb and Patterns close together as they are both dated to June 2267.

[mathes-66] 3.0 ^3.1 Because the All-Inclusive order integrates the unproduced scripts, The Well of Forever is placed just before the unproduced episode Value Judgements so "ideal contrast is provided by placing Matheson's trial by Mr Jones... immediately before his encounter with Bester." - Crusade: Other Voices, Volume 2 p368

[67] The reasoning for placing The Path of Sorrows after the 'gray/red uniform' block is not described in the published sources.

[68] The Path of Sorrows kept before the 'gray/red uniform' block to establish the mystery of the destruction of the Cerberus before that storyline is further developed in the unproduced episode To the Ends of The Earth.

[69] Patterns of the Soul placed after the 'gray/red uniform' block based on the use of the nano-virus shield, which was discovered in The Memory of War.

[70] Patterns of the Soul placed after The Rules of the Game since "Lorka 7 provides a promising destination for the Excalibur crew, which can then be undercut by General Thompson's orders to divert to Theta 49 in Patterns." - Crusade: Other Voices, Volume 2 p.368

[71] Ruling from the Tomb placed after the 'gray/red uniform' block due to the gray/red episode Visitors from Down the Street having on-screen date of May 2267 and a banner in the background of Ruling having a date of June 2267. The inconsistency between Lochley and Gideon knowing each other in Each Night I Dream of Home but then re-introducing themselves to each other in Ruling is explained as due to Lochley being "distracted by unfolding events". Ruling placed just before Patterns of the Soul since Ruling is dated to June (based on the banner) and the colonists on Theta 49 in Patterns are said to have left Earth six months after the plague was released (which is dated to January, based on it being the anniversary of the foundation of the Interstellar Alliance).

[72] "Ruling from the Tomb is placed second, which is consistent with the urgency of assembling a large conference and Gideon's assertion that if there were a saboteur aboard his ship, it would have been blown up "weeks ago"." - Crusade: Other Voices, Volume 2 p367

[loch-73] 10.0 ^10.1 The Rules of the Game placed after the 'gray/red uniform' block so Gideon's visit to Babylon 5 follows Lochley's invitation in Each Night I Dream of Home.

[74] s placed Appearances and Other Deceits outside the main ordering since the episode was written to explain the studio-mandated costume changes, which this order chooses to ignore in favour of story and character development.

[75] Racing the Night placed after The Memory of War based on this comment from jms that Racing "was written to take place about 5 months after the Drakh attack", whereas in Memory the ISN broadcast states the planetary quarantine is entering its fourth month. The reasoning for placing Racing after The Needs of Earth is not described in the published sources.

[76] The Needs of Earth placed before The Memory of War to "do as little damage as possible to Staczynski's original intent" - Crusade: Other Voices, Volume 2 p367.

[77] To the Ends of The Earth placed late in the order as the date is given in dialogue as September 2267, despite the script starting with the crew in gray/red uniforms, being said to have be wearing them for "almost two months".

[78] To the Ends of The Earth placed (as intended before the series' cancellation) to bridge between the 'gray/red uniform' episodes into the second block of 'black uniform' episodes - at the start of the script the gray/red uniforms are written out of the show.

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[1. 12]

[1. 13]

[1. 14]

[1. 15]

[1. 16]

[1. 17]

[1. 18]

[1. 19]

[1. 20]

[1. 21]

[1. 22]

[1. 23]

[1. 24]

[1. 25]

[1. 26]

[1. 27]

[1. 28]

[2. 1]

[2. 2]

[2. 3]

[2. 4]

[2. 5]

[2. 6]

[2. 7]

[2. 8]

[3. 1]

[3. 2]

[3. 3]

[4. 1]

[4. 2]

[4. 3]

[4. 4]

[4. 5]

[5. 1]

[5. 2]

[5. 3]

[5. 4]

[5. 5]

[5. 6]

[5. 7]

[6. 1]

[6. 2]

[6. 3]

[6. 4]

[6. 5]

[6. 6]

[6. 7]

[6. 8]

[6. 9]

[6. 10]

[6. 11]

[6. 12]

[6. 13]

[6. 14]

[6. 15]

Viewing Order

Contents

Viewing order chart[]

Frequently cited viewing orders[]

Original Broadcast order[]

Lurker's Guide Master List[]

Historical Database[]

'Hybrid' viewing orders[]

Distinctive viewing orders[]

Detailed viewing order comparisons[]

TV movies & Spin-offs[]

The Gathering & Season One[]

Season Two[]

Season Three[]

Season Four[]

Season Five[]

A Call to Arms & Crusade[]

Original Broadcast[]

Script order[]

Rerun Broadcast[]

Historical Database[]

All-Inclusive[]

Other Crusade orders[]

Page Changes[]

Fan Feed