Babylon 5, originally broadcast from 1994 to 1998, was an ambitious and ground-breaking science-fiction series. Conceived as a novel for television by series creator J. Michael Straczynski, the story unfolded over the five years of its run, with each episode representing a chapter. The show set a high standard for both story-telling and special effects, and paved the way for a host of long-running story-arc focussed television shows. However, given that there are a lot of stages to set – alien worlds and races, a large cast of characters and a tangled web of politics – it is not surprising that the first season got off to a fairly slow start.
The Babylon 5 of the title refers to a huge space station, envisaged as a kind of interstellar United Nations, a place of diplomacy and trade and intrigue, “a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully,” according to the introductory voice-over.
Main Characters of Babylon 5 Season 1 DVD
Babylon 5 has a large ensemble cast, with a refreshing focus on the characters rather than space battles (although there are a good number of space battles too), raising it above the usual run of science-fiction shows. Babylon 5 is populated by characters with histories and tangled motivations, whose actions have consequences.
The station's command staff comprises Commander Jeffrey Sinclair (Michael O'Hare), Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian), Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle) and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen Franklin (Richard Biggs). Michael O'Hare's Sinclair is stalwart and true but unfortunately stiff and wooden, but the others are distinctive and intriguing.
Distinctive and intriguing are good ways to describe the alien ambassadors on the station, particularly G'Kar (Andreas Katsoulas) and Londo (Peter Jurasik) who take the acting honors from their first scenes. Londo's ego, patriotism and susceptibility to the idea of power and G'Kar's need for revenge threaten to lead them down dark paths.
While the first season's pace is necessarily slowed by the sheer amount of exposition necessary to get the story up and running, its very structure is a strength as elements introduced early on come up again later in the season (and indeed in the second, third and fourth seasons). As the season progresses there's a growing sense of unease and foreboding about what is to come.
Babylon 5 Season One DVD Extras
There are commentaries by J. Michael Straczynki on selected episodes and behind the scenes documentaries about the making of Babylon 5.
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