Excellent science fiction television! (Babylon 5)

Member Name: sharktrager

Product:	Babylon 5
Date:	25/11/00 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some excellent special effects

Disadvantages: The first year was a bit dodgy

BABYLON 5 first aired in the US in 1993. It is set on a space station in the 23rd Century. It was created by J. Michael Straczynski, who had previously worked on the 1980s version of THE TWILIGHT ZONE and who also wrote a script for an new version of 'V' (entitled THE NEXT CHAPTER) which was unfortunately not picked up. This is a shame as his work on BABYLON 5 shows what an excellent job he could have made of re-working that failed TV show.

BABYLON 5 in its first year was based around the exploits of the commander of the space station, Sinclair (played by Michael O'Hare). At the end of the first season O'Hare was replaced by Bruce Boxleitner as Captain Sheridan.

The first season was, in my opinion, characterised by excellent special effects but some dodgy storylines and some very ham acting. Michael O'Hare comes across as very wooden and episodes like TKO and EYES are very derivative of much pulp sci-fi out there. There were some good episodes too though in the first year, particularly the two-part A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS and BABYLON SQUARED, the latter of which would only be fully understandable after watching the show for a further three years!

When O'Hare was replaced, the show improved - Straczynski took on the writing of the majority of the episodes and as such the quality of the writing improved. Boxleitner remained for the rest of the series run and his character fitted in much better than Sinclair ever did.

At the end of the 4th Season it looked like the show would not be returning, but at the last minute it gained a reprieve. The 5th and final season lacked some of the quality of the previous years, but was still successful enough for a spin-off series entitled CRUSADE which sadly only lasted for half-a-season itself, and 4 spin-off television movies. There is still talk of a big-screen version, but I hope this only happens if the quality returns to that of the 3rd and 4th seasons.

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