Babylon 5

Babylon 5 is in my opinion a classic syfi show that ended too soon, with 5 great seasons, and spawning several films and a spin off show. Babylon 5 offers a great way to escape into a wonderful exciting story, the universe of endless potential. A true 90's show, with a great cast, and the effects for the time it was made were amazing. I grew up on this show as a kid and was obsessed, the war with the shadows was thrilling when I was young, and still wish I could have more episodes to this day.

WOW is the word which best describes this program! It is an epic story of legends in a world that is believable interpretation of the future two and a half centuries from now. It is set in a world where humans are now a space faring race, capable of crossing the galaxy in months using a technology called a Jumpgate. The people of Earth have at this point come together in corporation to form a world government known as EarthGov. The humans aren't alone; they occupy the universe with mysterious races like the Vorlons, Shadows, and Minbarie. The leading heroes, Jeffery Sinclair and John Sheridan are captains in EarthForce, but they soon prove to be much more. I dare not enter into the plot since it is redundant on account of it being available at this site and elsewhere. All I will say about the plot is that over its five years, it is an extremely wealthy arc of sadness, joy, comedy, and horror! It is also not without substance, full of philosophy about life, existence, war, and hope. Each episode represents a coherent story, but incomplete since each builds upon the rest. The series is essentially an extended mini-series. Like Star Trek before it, most if not all episodes are constructed with a moral or lesson attached to it. Each episode also addresses some aspect of real human experience. The quest for power, revenge, love, and corporate power to mention a few. I believe that the episodes "Z'HA'DUM", "War Without End 1 & 2", "Whatever Happened To Mr. Garibaldi?", and "Endgame" are some of the best of the series. It is also the only television series that I am aware of that was made better than most Hollywood movies! Watch it, or I will get you.

Well, what to say? For starters, I'm a die-hard Classic Star Trek fan, who had until recently been aware of B5 without ever having seen it. Then, about four months ago, my best friend lent me his B5 DVDs of season 1. And I have to admit, I'm impressed.

To be fair, it took a little while - I was a little wary at first, but it quickly grew on me. Once I got a feel for what was going on, and how the characters worked, yes. It grabbed me. I especially liked Jeffrey Sinclair as a leader-type - someone more thoughtful than your bog-standard action-hero.

Then, after a long wait, my friend lent me seasons 2-4. Again, I was a little wary at first; it had been a while since I'd seen season 1, and I knew that Sinclair had been replaced by John Sheridan. Out of the two leaders, I prefer Sinclair, and for the first few episodes of season 2, I was unconvinced. Then, about a third of the way in, the pace quickened up - considerably. And while I still prefer Sinclair as a leader, by about episode 8 of season 2, I found that I didn't have the time to miss him, things were moving that quickly, there were so many plots unravelling . . .

And therein lies the hook. The amount of detail is extraordinary, the way all the characters and plots became intertwined is amazing. The series is so intense - I was watching up to eight or nine episodes a day, for a week solid! And might I say again, I was a Star Trek fan who had never seen B5 before in my life! As many people before me have said, this show isn't a nice neat everything-gets-resolved-in-the-space-of-one-episode type. Details get carried over. There are long story-arcs. There are things happening all the time. Everything has a reason. You see an insignificant detail in season 1, suddenly it is explained in season 3 as being very relevant for reasons you didn't even know about back in the first season.

If there is one stumbling block for B5, I would have to say that some of the computer-generated images (CGI) are not always up to standard. This is especially true of planet surfaces, in particular Mars. But that's quibbling. The key to good science-fiction is believability. The characters have to act as if the basic premise of the series is perfectly normal to them. That's what makes it work. That's why in the original series of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry made a point of not explaining the workings of anything. For example, Captain Kirk picks up a phaser and fires it without stopping to explain what it was or what it did - after all, in a contemporary series, nobody goes out of their way to say how a gun. We know how it works - so by watching Kirk fire his phaser, we understand implicitly that it is a weapon. The same principle applies in B5 - although to a lesser degree.

Moving on to the acting - this show was blessed with some wonderful people. In particular, Mira Furlan as Delenn is worth watching; she is possessed of a presence and an aura most actors can only dream of. She is one of those people that when she is speaking, becomes the absolute centre of attention without really trying. Also, as stated above, I am a fan of Cmdr Sinclair - and I think Michael O'Hare's portrayal of him is wonderfully underplayed. It would have been so easy just to play him as an action-hero, but no. I really do miss that character. Another favourite would have to be Stephen Furst as Vir - DS9 fans just think Rom, and you're halfway there. Not to mention the "odd couple" of Peter Jurasik (Londo) and Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar) - wonderful.

Actually, that's another point - the aliens. The aliens in B5 are more real than the aliens in Star Trek. Their agendas are much better fleshed out. We understand the whys and wherefores much more than the stereotypes of so many Star Trek races (and remember I'm a longterm Star Trek fan). To use Trek parallels, the Minbari are like the Vulcans and Bajorans combined in temperament, the Centauri are probably most comparable to the Cardassians, and the Narns, well, I'd say Klingons, but that's selling them short. Klingon-Bajoran, perhaps. Any hardcore B5 fans offended by those descriptions - sorry, I'm just using them as guidelines to the uninitiated Trek fans. These B5 races are much more real, less stereotyped. (Although the less said about the Drazi, the better!) To summarise, then - I think this is the best sci-fi since Original Star Trek. Watch this show! Star Trek fans will not be disappointed!

Babylon 5 is one of the TV shows we all wish we had come across sooner. as a massive star trek fan i saw the first few episodes of b5 in its initial run and immediately thought it was below par. at the urging of a friend i came back to it a few years later.... wow! to say i was impressed was an understatement, i immediately began to re-watch the whole series and saw he genius of the story arc and character development. in addition to this the use of aliens that looks alien, use different gasses to breath, are more advanced technologically and (shock) actually speak a language other than English was a joy! the battle scenes were wonderful, well beyond anything i had seen before and as for londo and g'kar, if there are 2 finer characters in all of television then that TV show is doing well. funny, awe inspiring, intelligent and emotional b5 has it all, the only drawback being that sometimes the walls are a little flimsy, sometimes the effects are a little below par, but willing suspension of disbelief is necessary in sci-fi, and b5 is no exception. is b5 a work of genius? definitely, without question yes, but could parts of it be better? those niggly little things that gnaw at us i'm afraid would have brought b5 up a notch, but it remains , without question, one of the finest shows, not just sci-fi, but shows that i have ever seen!

Even though the final season was rather slow, and glossed over a lot of plot lines that probably would have been more interesting, it was still better than most science fiction, and any on television other than the earlier seasons. Other than the final season and scattered weak episodes, the series is the best television science fiction, and near the best dramatic television, and competes with the best movie science fiction.

The action in the series is mostly about the Shadow war, but the real key is the intrigue between the characters, and the personal growth of the characters. Londo is one of the best dramatic characters in any series. He starts as an ambitious schemer who drinks too much, but develops a conscience as he learns the consequences of his ambitions, and finally ends up as a tragic character who reached even beyond his early ambitions, but at a cost that he regrets deeply.

Maybe some day there will be a better science fiction series. But for now this is the level of story-telling television science fiction should try to reach.