Full Title: Babylon 5
Year: 1993 – 1998
Starring: Bruce Boxleitner, Mira Furlan, Peter Jurasik,
Andreas Katsulas, Michael O’Hare, Jerry Doyle
Creator: J. Michael Straczynski
Screenwriter: J. Michael Straczynski
Studio: Warner Bros.
My Five Star Rating: 5 stars

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Story Arc

The story itself takes place on a space station called Babylon 5 as we can surmise. As the opening sequence says, it was built after the Earth-Minbari war to promote peace among alien races, but peace is the last thing on the agendas of the diplomatic personnel on the station.

UN Among the Stars

Backstabbing, conniving, and jockeying for galactic advantage is what mostly takes place on this five-mile-long military outpost doubling as a sort of UN among the stars. But if that was the only thing happening, the show wouldn’t be as intriguing as the creator intended.

An Ancient Race Awakens on a Distant World

Soon, there are hints of a very powerful ancient race reawakening after laying dormant for a thousand years. They are located on a distant world at the rim of our galaxy.

Now it’s up to the humans, the Minbari, and all the other races, usually at odds with each other, to see if they can join forces for the coming storm—a war that threatens the entire galaxy.

Mystery, Prophecy, and Incredible Characters

The story is shrouded in mystery and prophecy, with lovable and deplorable characters you can cheer for, cry for, or just plain hate. It is some of the best darned writing I’ve ever seen a science fiction TV show ever display. The episodes mesh together in an almost poetic way. In my opinion, Babylon 5 is truly a work of art.

The Babylon 5 Ecosystem

Although not to the same extent as Star Trek, a number of movies and a TV spinoff titled Crusade were produced following Babylon 5. If you’ve never watched B5, as it is affectionately known among its fans, and you’re looking for a diamond in the rough, don’t pass this one up, folks.

A Brief History Behind Babylon 5

Babylon 5 is an epic, sweeping space opera that was outlined almost like a book. Even before shooting began on the first episode, J. Michael Straczynski knew exactly how the series would start, progress, and end.

It was to run for five seasons then end. Unfortunately, the show was canceled after the forth season. This is where the rabid fan base kicked into high gear with emails and social media posts denouncing the cancellation.

Under pressure, it wasn’t long before the studio relented and gave Straczynski a fifth season. However, he had already written the ending of the show into the fourth season, so a new, parallel storyline had to be written in for season five.

How I Came Upon This Show

During the first season of this incredible TV show, I was working as a computer science instructor at a technical college. My students were adults, and it was a fun job. It allowed me to advance my IT career in ways that had never occurred to me.

Anyway, one of my students was a huge science fiction fan, and she’d talk my ear off about a new show called Babylon 5. Of course I’d heard of it, but never bothered to watch it. At the time, I was a bit busy with things like career, marriage, and raising kids.

My First Episode on a Snowy Winter Night

So just before the Christmas break, my persistent student kept needling me to give the show a chance. I had time off and no excuses not to give it a try. So one snowy evening during my Christmas vacation—yes, I was living in the Northeast then—I decided to watch an episode.

If I didn’t, I knew I wasn’t going to hear the end of it from my persistent student when I got back to work. Friends, I have to tell you, after watching a single episode I was floored. I couldn’t wait to get back to the classroom and talk about it with her.

Thanks Annie

Thank you Annie, wherever you are. If by chance you happen to read this, send me a message from the Contact Page on this site. You are responsible for introducing me, kicking and screaming, to my favorite SciFi TV show of all time.

My Take

Okay, so you obviously know how much I love this show. For my rating I give it 5 stars out of 5. If you like big, sweeping stories that will make you forget the laundry because you have to binge-watch the whole weekend, this is it.

Trivia

Babylon 5 was one of the first TV shows to use CGI extensively. With the limited budget they had to work with, it was the only way they could create those intricate space battle scenes.

Since they were pioneers in CGI, the technology had not developed extensively yet. Many fans, including me, say this is just fine as far as they’re concerned. The low budget feel of the show somehow works well, giving it an overall charm.