Babylon 5: In the Beginning

"In the Beginning" is a mark of brilliance...a perfect made for TV movie for the Babylon 5 series. It is the best of the B5 movies with the second being the pilot episode.

ITB chronicles the genesis of the Earth Minbari war which was a holy war started by misunderstanding between Humans and a powerful alien race called the Minbari. In the struggle, a huge chunk of humanity is killed as the Minbari march towards Earth, destroying human colonies on the way.

Since this movie comes near the end of the 3rd season and out of chronological order, it answers many unanswered questions that B5 watchers would expect to be answered from the 1st Season onwards.

On its own, the story is PERFECT. There is plenty of CGI war scenes, plenty of dramatized war scenes and plenty of intrigue. A perfect reason to bother getting into the series itself if you weren't a fan.

I was a fan of Babylon 5 as a kid, but I didn't remember the story before seeing this movie. However, seeing this brought out a whole lot of goosebumps. Not because I am the greatest fan, but because of the amazing acting and setting in some of the scenes

Without doubt the movie that has brought me closest to crying in a whole lot of years.

An absolute recommendation goes out to all! But be bewared: It will be tempting as hell to join the wagon and see the series :D

If you are already a fan of the series, you have no choice. An absolute must-see for fans, and a "should see it anyways" for all others!

I actually cried, Can you beleive it? This film was so good, it touched me. That part where Londo is talking about loving Centauri Prime, and then it goes back to the war, showing the little shelter full of crying humans, powerful stuff. Mira Furlan and Bruce Boxlietner played their roles to perfection. And I have never seen Peter Jurasik perform better, and I've seen a lot of his stuff. Simply put, this film should have won an Emmy. It was incredible.

All stories have a beginning. The five year TV tale of Babylon 5 did not however begin with the first episode. This story told in semi-autobiographical form by one of the TV series' main characters sets the scene for what would become the TV series storyline. Babylon 5 has consistently shown what can be done in the science-fiction area with intelligent writing, a good cast, and a decent budget for special effects. This is no exception, the acting is its usual standard - with particular mention to Peter Jurasik, always excellent entertainment in the form of Londo Mollari. The effects are of the same standard as the TV series, still the benchmark of computer animation for the small screen.

Most of the principals of the TV series are there - although some are reduced to almost cameos. The plot line is somewhat disjointed, but that's offset by the way it is told by Jurasik's Londo Mollari. The individual scenes are just long enough in most cases to carry the plot and allow the actors scope, while still making sure that those who watched the series find out the pasts of all the characters, although Garibaldi is conspicous by his absense.

For those who want a rollicking good tale of heroism, triumph, tragedy, humour and big explosions, then this is a movie for you.

Although this movie came a long time after the series premiere, it was actually the first piece of B-5 I saw. It's a great movie on it's own, and a perfect way to start the whole series, because you get all the background info.

The movie revolves around the Earth-Minbari wars, a war erupting when a captain from an earth-warship reacts to a Minbari greeting in a hostile way, resulting in the death of several hundreds of thousands of Earthlings. And that's all you need to know, the rest will show itself when you watch the movie.

The action is great, special effect OK (they were never great, sad to say) and the acting first-class! So go see this movie, and then follow up with probably the second-best Sci-Fi series EVER (after Enterprise of course...:))