Some concrete things that B5 contributed and innovated on (as I understand it, perhaps I'm missing some things): Extensive use of CGI to drastically reduce set

Some concrete things that B5 contributed and innovated on (as I understand it, perhaps I'm missing some things): Extensive use of CGI to drastically reduce set costs. The core of the B5 show takes place on relatively extensive sets that are reused throughout the series, with one-off locations presented with large amounts of composited CG backgrounds. All of the space and planetary footage is rendered, and this choice of setting (simplified lighting and shot composition) played heavily to the favor of the tech at the time--I think most if not all of the work was done on Amigas and Video Toaster. Heavy interaction with the fanbase using Usenet. I think that B5 was probably one of the first times, if not the first time, that fans got to significantly interact with the folks who were creating a show in a meaningful way. These days, it's pretty obvious and common to have shows use their online presence and discussion panels and whatnot to create organic advertising, but back in the day having JMS show up and answer questions and explain why things happened the way they did was pretty amazing. Tightly and long-plotted series storyline. Compared with basically any of the Star Treks (and DS9 is quite arguable because reasons), Doctor Who, Buffy, X-Files, or other contemporary shows, B5 Had 5 years of plot to get through and managed to do so. Every episode (barring some crap chunks of season 1) brings in a new plot line, advances an existing plot line, or closes up a plot line. This is a series that really bears watching twice specifically so that you can see how seemingly little things telegraph well in advance important later points. At least through season 4 I never felt that there was an ass-pull or a moment where the narrative didn't know where the hell it was going. I felt like the writer(s) respected me and were going to take their time to weave a good narrative, however long that took. Genuinely terrible characters and no-win situations. Nowadays it's become somewhat in-vogue to have darker and edgier storylines, but at the time seeing a show willing to do just really evil things (killing children) and having horrible tragedies occur (depicting the permanent loss of at least one alien race that we'd gotten used to seeing around) was rare. Not only was it rare, but it did so in conjunction with a fundamentally optimistic view about people and the future--which is exceptionally rare these days. Displaying competent and important women and LGBT characters. Delenn is an obvious example for her work with the Minbari and later actions, but Susan Ivanova is probably one of the most capable yet human characters I've seen in television science-fiction. Additionally, the way the show explored her interactions with Talia Winters was basically pushing those themes about as far as you could in television at the time it came out. Honestly, the only show I'd put in the same ballpark would be the anime epic Legend of Galactic Heroes. I'd strongly suggest, if you enjoy these things, treating yourself to B5 seasons 1-4 and seeing just how well done this material can be even in the absence of large budgets or well-known actors.