Space Bawls

While I've never been an overwhelmingly huge fan of J. Michael Straczynski's interstellar sci-fi series set on the nexus-like space station of the title, I've always appreciated it. It's not every day — or every decade — that genre fans get a densely plotted, character-heavy series that doesn't pander to the lowest common denominator and manages to run for exactly as long as its creator intended. If that was all Babylon 5 did, there'd be cause for celebration. But that it also managed to be good...heck, champagne all around. —Marc Bernardin