Babylon 5

[thejboy88]

Just a warning, this review will contain spoilers.

I have seen many science fiction series in my lifetime and while I?ve enjoyed many of them, there have been few that have managed to capture my interest for very long.

That changed recently when I discovered an old sci-fi show from the 90?s. Babylon 5 was a show created by J Michael Straczynski in 1993. It was set in the year 2258 but over the course of it?s 5 season run, that date advanced several years. This was an epic and yet very personal science fiction set around the titular space station of Babylon 5.

The premise of the series is that it has been several years since a great war between the humans in what is known as the ?Earth Alliance? and an alien race called the Mimbari. The war lasted 2 years and almost ended with the extinction of the human race, had it not been for the mysterious surrender of the Mimbari for undisclosed reasons.

The station of Babylon 5 was part of the Babylon project, designed to act as neutral territory and serve as both a military base for Earth and a place of diplomacy and commerce for both humans and the many alien races they have encountered. As the name suggests, it was the fifth such station created, the last of them as the previous four were all destroyed or made unusable for various reasons.

As the series starts, the commander of the Station and main character of the series in season 1, Jeffrey Sinclair, is in charge of the station and runs the place with the help of his Lieutenant Susan Ivanova, security chief Michael Garibaldi and chief medical officer Steven Franklin. The series possessed a large ensemble cast, consisting of not only the command staff of the station but also of the ambassadors of the alien races who help make up the Babylon council. These include Delenn of the Mimbari, Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic, a declining empire that pines for past glory, G?Kar of the Narn, whose people recently gained freedom and independence from 100 years of Centauri oppression, and finally Ambassador Kosh of the Vorlons, and ancient and powerful race who are very secretive and refuse to let anyone look at their faces.

After the end of the first season, Jeffrey Sinclair was taken off the show as main character and replaced with a new main character, John Sherridan, who took the position from season 2 until the end of the series. While I personally could never decide who I preferred I understand that many fans of the series have set themselves in rival camps over this issue, very much like the on-going debate regarding Kirk and Picard of Star Trek.

The story, as mentioned previously, spans the course of five years and several TV movies. However I have yet to watch those movies so I will only comment on the series.

What sets the story apart from many sci-fi shows of the time is that it was highly serialised. Many plot themes and storylines are spread out over the course of numerous episodes, all spanning from one end of the series to the other. You may very well find yourself in a position when if you miss one episode, you?ll miss something important that may be referenced or expanded upon a whole season afterwards. Think of it as a precursor to the ?Lost? method of storytelling, miss one and you?re screwed.

As for the story itself, it?s a very good one. There are many important and major stories woven throughout the seasons that very much impact on one another and the characters. The first season had little in the way of over-arcing stories that would dominate later seasons but the seeds were planted early on, including the start of what would eventually become the main conflict of the show.

The transformation of Earth into a military dictatorship, the Mimbari civil war, the on-going conflict between the Centauri and the Narn, and perhaps most importantly, the return of an ancient enemy of the Vorlons who seek to sow conflict amongst the peoples of the galaxy. And that?s just a handful of the stuff that happens in this series. I haven?t even mentioned most of the other storylines involving individual characters. There are many plot twists and story revelations in this series that are bound to keep viewers hooked from the first episode to the last.

Back to the characters, all of them get a chance to shine in this series and none of them are undeveloped. I found myself loving each and every one of these characters. Two in particular eventually became my favourite double-act of any sci-fi show I?ve watched. I won?t say who but if you watch the series you?ll figure it out.

Now it?s been largely accepted by fans of this series that the quality of the episodes drops once you reach season 5. While I agree that the fifth season of the show was not to the same standard of the previous four, I don?t think it?s entirely without merit. I saw plenty of episodes I liked and there was much of what I fell in love with in the earlier seasons to keep me interested. Comments like ?there?s nothing in season 5 worth looking at? is just ludicrous as far as I?m concerned.

This series uses CGI for many of it?s effects shots and while it?s certainly laughable by today?s standards, I don?t think that?s much of a criticism. True model shots work great for some shows but here, I think it suits it well.

As I say before, I love science fiction. But very often I only every get a few types of setting or story. To show you what I mean I will compare this series to my other two favourite sci-fi?s. Star wars was essentially a fantasy story in space, showing us wonders in another time and place. Star Trek showed us an idealised future of humanity, where we have gone beyond the stars and become the best we could be. Babylon 5 gave me, if you?ll forgive the term, a ?third way.? It showed not an idealised future, but a flawed one. A future where we still have the conflicts and issues that plagues us today. Prejudice, conflict, hypocrisy and treachery and all those other problems that are part of every society at one point or another. This was not an ideal future, but in all honestly, it?s the most likely future we?ll have. The problem?s aren?t solved, they?re just moved down the road.

That?s why I love this series. Because while many science fiction shows and movies will try to show us at our best, this one accepts us for what we are, what we have been and what we most likely will be, warts and all. But it doesn?t do so in an overly ?grim and gritty? way that other shows might, which is appreciated by someone like me, who frankly is getting tired of that sort of thing.

I strongly recommend this series for any fan of science fiction.

You know what? Forget that. I recommend this series for everyone! There is not a single type of audience out there that won?t find something to like about this series. Aliens? Done. Action? You got it. Romance? Of course. Whatever you want, it?s in here somewhere.

Hope you enjoyed the review.

 

[Lucyfer86]

Well it is certainly one of the best things that has come out from TV (only coming in second to new Battlestar Galactica in my opinion).

You should check out the Crusade B5-spinoff serie too, tho it got cancelled and isn't nearly as good as B5, still worth the watch.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

What sets the story apart from many sci-fi shows of the time is that it was highly serialised. Many plot themes and storylines are spread out over the course of numerous episodes, all spanning from one end of the series to the other. You may very well find yourself in a position when if you miss one episode, you?ll miss something important that may be referenced or expanded upon a whole season afterwards. Think of it as a precursor to the ?Lost? method of storytelling, miss one and you?re screwed.

This is a fairly important point. I was around when the show originally aired, but I was busy with other stuff and never got into it at the beginning. When I finally checked it out in the middle of the second or third season after hearing a bunch of people talking about it, I had no idea what the hell was going on, and that combined with the relatively low budget it had compared to things like DS9 (which I did watch regularly at the time) turned me off. It looked kind of silly, and I didn't really care about what was happening, so I dismissed it as yet another crappy, forgettable show.

Jump forward a few years to when the series ended and it got released on DVD. One of my good friends bought all the season box sets and everything because of how much he liked it, and he finally convinced me to give it another chance, sending me home with the first season one night. I literally watched the entire thing straight through that weekend, only briefly pausing between episodes to get food and go to the bathroom and stopping for a few hours to sleep at one point. I think a few weeks later by the time I got season three or four from him, I did at least one of those in one sitting with no sleep at all, just the whole ~18 hours all at once. It's a very different, much better show when you actually know what's going on and have something invested in it/the characters.

 

[kwydjebo]

Great review. Is always a good day to sing the praises of a great sci fi show.

I seem to recall a rumour that some of the writers (Perhaps Strazinsky himself) were initially attached to Star Trek Deep Space 9, (Personally my favorite Star Trek Series, although when I recently rewatched it, the early seasons seemed to drag...except for episodes the heavily featured the Ferengi) but couldn't do much of what they wanted in the "utopian" Star Trek universe, thus B5 was born. It was a great series, although, as I recall, the first season did start slow (it is prolog after all, and honestly due to local broadcasts I got into the series mid stream and had to choke down season 1 when it became apparent the shows that I found kinda boring were laying groundwork for the later story.), Sinclair was supposed to stick around but the actor had other commitments, so Bruce Boxenlightner was brought in as Sheridan (Apparently Straz had an "Escape Hatch" for every cahracter so they could be removed if an actor had to leave for any reason). Season 5 was epilogue (And I agree there were still some great shows in there. The "Meet the dead" one, the telepath war, heck any episode with Bester was golden in my books), and really, for my money Seasons 3 and 4 (the Shadow war and Earthforce civil war) were the true meat of the series.

The movies I'm aware of consist of the Pilot (Mostly the same characters from the series, it was made a while before the series began, the events of this are referred to later), the one where old Lando tells children of the Earth/Mimbari war (Not crucial to see for the story, but certainly worth it, I think by season 3 most of the revelations that occur here are revealed in the series) and a few Post series movies, one that leads into Crusade.

Personally I think what really set it apart was that there was that very strong direction that was obvious to the writer and adhered to. Hints dropped in the first season come to fruition in season 3, or 4 (or 5). Also Strazinsky and his staff were excellent at slowly developing plots that seemed trivial at first, and would later build to become major. As well I recall reading that Straz was focused on the fiction, not the science, apparently when once asked "How fast does a Star Fury travel" his reply was "It moves at the speed of the plot. If it needs to make it to location x in 3 hours, then that's how long it takes. If it needs to arrive 5 minutes too late, then so be it". Some wise critic/fan once remarked "The major difference between B5 and Star Trek is that the Universe in both shows is at point A at the beginning of the episode, and by the End, on Star Trek, everything is back to Point A, where B5 has moved, either largely, or slightly, to a point B. As the OP mentioned, some great character development, particularly with characters like G'Kar, Milari, and Vir (maybe I missed it, but I felt the season 5 change of Lanir was pretty drastic to his character in the previous seasons), and some character who don't develop too much, but are just fun, Bester, Ivanova, Zathros!
As you say, too often in future Sci-fi we get the extreme utopian or Dystopin future (although if you watch the season 4 final episode that looks into the future, you kinda get both) and B5 gives a pretty good balance, the future is good, but not without problems. People can still be greedy, there are those with wealth and power, those who seek it, and there are the downtrodden.

So now here is my question, my fave sci-fi shows are Farscape, B5, STS9, and Stargate Atlantis. Notice a trend of shows (3 out of 4) where humans are far from home in a station/base facing a menacing threat for a significant portion of the series run, is it just me, or is this just a winning combination?

 

[Ixal]

As well I recall reading that Straz was focused on the fiction, not the science, apparently when once asked "How fast does a Star Fury travel" his reply was "It moves at the speed of the plot.

That might be true (but then no sci-fi series, not even star trek, ties itself down this much) but even when they not tried, they are a lot closer to "science" than other series. No sound in space? Check (in the scenes filmed inside a cockpit) or the rotational sections on human ships for generating gravity (although there are several flaws with its implementation, for example the Babylon 5 bridge).

Overall my favourite Sci-fi series by far.

 

[Quinnthalas]

Babylon 5 (up until the start of the last season of the original series) is to me a highlight of sci fi writing and character development, it is quite simply a masterpiece and I have yet to see any sci fi come close to it.

 

[Darktowermagic]

If I recall correctly the reason for changing Sinclair for Sheridan was because for the overall arc of the series JMS wrote himself into a corner, that left him no room to grow the character.