It started slow with a lot of build-up and stories that at first seemed to go nowhere, then in the middle of the first season and onward it started to build up it's own mythology and do space opera at a level no other shows had done up till that point. It foreshadowed a lot of plot points and small details could be addressed three or four years later as it dared to do plot twists and shocking deaths that "Star Trek" and other science fiction shows did not dare do at that time. Stories lead into stories and there was a complex continuity worthy of a well written novel. Characters were engaging even if the acting and dialogue sometimes could be wooden especially some guest actors were exceptionally bad. The last season was also an enormous long epilogue to the first four years and with the exception of the last episode and a couple dealing with the fall of Centauri Prime it was mostly a failure on all accounts, especially the Psi War that was a disappointment to see unfold. Filler episodes were mostly useless though and some characters was not used to their potential even if they were regulars (I'm looking at you: Keffer, Na'Toth and Talia Winters), but at the end it is hard not to embrace this science fiction drama that paved way for heavy serialized series on American TV at a time when most programming leaned on episodic and stand-alone storytelling with little or no characterization. For fans of the genre it is a must even with it's numerous faults.