How many miles to Babylon (5)? (Babylon 5)

Member Name: cooly3

Product:	Babylon 5
Date:	14/09/00 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Sci-fi entertainment

Disadvantages: It'll spoil you for the rest!

For my money you'd have to travel a long way to beat Babylon 5 as a masterpiece of sci-fi TV.

It's set in a space station where 'humans' and alien races can interact (supposedly peacefully) with all sorts of results...

Like any good series it has well constructed plots with some storylines that are resolved in an episode and others which are developed only over time. The many storylines remain credible within their own universe, as ever it's up to the viewer how deeply they become involved in the life of that universe. And this vison of the future is one you could just imagine happening; maybe because the excellent sci-fi author Harlan Ellison is a program consultant.

I find that I can't stop myself becoming imersed - the program just pulls you in because it has great stories to tell and believable, sympathetic characters not just bland stereotypes. The aliens races are diverse but never appear too weird or just plain stupid. And noone has fantastic supernatural powers which make them superior to God. The people are all human in the widest sense of the word.

In addition the graphics are superb - how do they do that? Way superior even to the more up-to-date Star Treks. And on the Star Trek note (I am a fan by the way) the true highlight of Babylon 5 is the cameo role of Psi Core nasty cop played by none other than Walter Koenig (Chekov). What more could a person ask?

Summary: