Better than Star Trek? Maybe. (Babylon 5)

Member Name: Mauri

Product:	Babylon 5
Date:	17/04/02 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great story

Disadvantages: Acting could be better

In the late nineties (1994-1998) many hard-core science fiction fans had to make a choice Star Trek- Voyager or Babylon 5. I never had this problem, I watched both!

WHAT IS IT ABOUT

The year is 2258, ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. The last hope for a lasting peace to be established in the universe is Babylon 5 an orbiting space station set up to be the safe meeting place for representatives of all interstellar empires. The previous Babylon stations disappeared without trace and if Babylon 5 fails the universe is likely to descend in to war and conflict once again. Commander Jeffrey Sinclair has been chosen to head the operation. However there are sinister elements even from within the Earth alliance that try to undermine even further this already difficult task.

This is the basic story but the plot developed over five seasons to become very complex indeed.

This gradual development of characters and story would normally suggest that after an initial successful run the script writers went on to expand the original story and add to characters profiles and to generally increase the possibility of different subplots, but uniquely for a science fiction series this was not the case for Babylon 5. The main writer J. Michael Straczynski envisioned the complete story years before the series was made, this makes the viewing less episodic in nature and requires a loyal following by the audience if you wish to keep up to date with the story. However this approach does allow a depth of narrative rarely seen in TV sci-fi. Essentially it is a sci-fi novel serialised over 110 episodes over five seasons.


THE BABYLON 5 UNIVERSE

Babylon 5 is set in the same time frame as the original Star Trek series but in many ways the universe is more primitive and close to our own world. It has a more earthy, gritty feel than Star Trek and very often the stories are more disturbing, not one for younger viewers.

In the B
5 world there are various power centres. Earth first contact with an alien civilization are the Centauri’s a technologically advanced race that was from the outset very friendly to the extent of sharing jump-gate technology with Earth thus allowing long distance space travel without the use of hibernation or sleeper ships.

After years of relative peace the expanding Earth federation meets and through a misunderstanding, goes to war with a new race the Minbari. The Minbari are humanoid creatures that are divided into three castes - Warrior, Religious, and Worker, each being further divided into clans. The Minbari are ruled by the ‘Grey Council’ made up of members of the Warrior and Religious castes. They are an ancient race and were in some way associated with the Vorlons in the last Shadow Wars.

The Vorlons are a mysterious race whose real appearance is never discovered. They only ever appear wearing "encounter suits". They possess strong telepathic powers. Little is known of their long past or of their involvement with the ancient races.

Another important member cosmopolitan mix present on B5 are the Narn a form of reptilian humanoids. The Narn have been traditional enemies of the Centauri ever since the Centauri took over their home planet and stripped it of resources. This continuing feud is a strong element of the overall story.

The final powerful influences over events in B5 are the telepaths. These are humans who have varying degrees of telepathic ability. All telepath are required to be registered and monitored by an organisation known as PSI corps. The best of the telepaths are ‘invited’ to join an elite outfit known as the Psi cops.

The main threads of the stories follow the lives of Babylon 5’s Commander (originally Sinclair, later Sheridan) and his crew, the hard-nosed and cynical head of security Alfredo Garibaldi, the second in Command Susan Ivanova and the Chief
Medical Officer Dr Stephen Franklin. The other main players are the various ambassadors, G’Kar from Narn, Londo Mollari from Centauri and Ambassador Delenn form the Minbari.

The space station is a cauldron of intrigue and double-dealing as the various races spy on each other trying to gain an advantage while seemingly engaged in a peace process. In the background there is the spectre of a little known mythical race from the ancient past who where the scourge of the known universe, The Shadows. While most people don’t believe in the existence of the Shadows recent event point to an invisible force in the universe subtly affecting the course of events pushing the races towards war. Could it be the return of the Shadows?

The Babylon 5 universe is as rich and varied as any recent SF series. In the complexity of the characters and plots it easily rivals any of the Star Trek incarnations. The different alien races have been imaginatively created and the visual presentation is believable. The special effects are adequate although not outstanding and overall you don’t get the impression that the series was made on a low budget. Due to the setting of the story early unfavourable comparisons were made to Star Trek Deep Space Nine, which was also set on a Space station. The problem with DS9 was the setting on a stationary environment limited the scale and nature of the episode story lines, by contrast even though the same could be said for B5 the nature of the plot and it’s continuity from episode to episode and season to season make the setting an advantage. Where SP9 to some extent fails B5 succeeds.

One thing that strikes you about Babylon 5 is the quality of the scripts. There is an overall connectivity to the story that allows a greater development of character. The acting can sometimes be less convincing, I always though Jerry Doyle’s portrayal of chief of security Garibaldi (apart from the physical likeness) was
a sort of ‘B’ movie version of a Bruce Willis character. Bruce Boxleitner has never convinced me as an actor either but despite this we do get some fine performances from Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas in particular as the respective Cantauri and Narn ambassadors in addition for any Star Trek fans look out for Chekov (Walter Koenig) playing the evil PsiCop Bester.


Despite all its flaws Babylon 5 is a wonderfully entertaining space adventure with more depth to it than most.


THE CAST

Michael O'Hare ....Commander/Ambassador Jeffrey David Sinclair/Valen (1994-1996)
Bruce Boxleitner ....Captain/President John J. Sheridan (1994-1998)
Claudia Christian.... Lt. Commander/Commander/Captain Susan Ivanova (1994-1997)
Jerry Doyle....Security Chief Michael Alfredo Garibaldi
Mira Furlan....Minbari Ambassador Delenn
Richard Biggs.... Chief Medical Officer Stephen Franklin, M.D.
Andreas Katsulas.... Narn Ambassador/Citizen G'Kar
Peter Jurasik.... Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari/Emperor Mollari I
Bill Mumy....Minbari Attaché/Ranger Lennier
Stephen Furst....Centauri Attaché/Ambassador Vir Cotto
Andrea Thompson.... Commercial Telepath Talia Winters (1994-1995)
Jason Carter.... Ranger Marcus Cole (1995-1997)
Tracy Scoggins.... Captain Elizabeth Lochley (1998)
Robert Rusler.... Starfury Pilot Lt. Warren Keffer (1994-1995)
Jeff Conaway.... Assistant Security Chief/Security Chief Zack Allan (1994-1998)
Patricia Tallman.... Commercial Telepath Lyta Alexander (1994, 1996-1998)
Walter Koenig….PsiCop Alfred Bester

AVAILABILITY

Sometimes repeated on Channel 4 or the Sci-Fi channel.
All the original series (five seasons) are available on Video but not yet on DVD.

Six TV movies were also made in conjunction with the series:

Babylon 5: The Gathering (1993) available on VHS
Babylon 5: In the Beginning (
1998) available on VHS
Babylon 5: The River of Souls (1998) available on VHS
Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998) available on VHS
Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (1999) available on VHS
Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight (2002) yet to be screened in the UK.

There are also two spin-off series from the show ‘The Legend of the Rangers’ still in production stage and ‘Crusade’ (1999) axed after the first season…but that’s another opinion…

Thanks for reading and rating this opinion.


© Mauri 2002

Summary: