by Xavier Gonne
When asked about it, I’ve often described Babylon 5 as “The Wire of SF”. Yes, it’s that good. When I hear someone has never seen it, two competing feelings announce themselves. The first, of course, is disbelief. How can someone be alive, conscious and have access to the internets not know of B5, I ask, often while shaking the individual by the lapels. But, the other feeling is one of envy. I envy those people who have never seen Babylon 5. Why? Because they get to experience it for the first time.
When asked about it, I’ve often described Babylon 5 as “The Wire of SF”. Yes, it’s that good. When I hear someone has never seen it, two competing feelings announce themselves. The first, of course, is disbelief. How can someone be alive, conscious and have access to the internets not know of B5, I ask, often while shaking the individual by the lapels. But, the other feeling is one of envy. I envy those people who have never seen Babylon 5. Why? Because they get to experience it for the first time.
Set on the titular space station, on first blush the show comes off as a paler version of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, which had premiered the year before. The sets were wobbly, the costumes were curious, the make-up was odd, and the special effects budget wasn’t up to much. Add to that, it was on a network (PTEN) which was so unhealthy, commercially speaking, that it died during the life of the show.
There was a lot to say about B5 in that first year and much of it wasn’t good. But, inside all that naysaying and beyond all that criticism, something had begun that would change the TV landscape forever.
Season two started with the loss of the lead actor, due to personal reasons, which resulted in the re-tooling of some of the story which was to come. The executive producer & creator J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) would later say that despite all the issues the production suffered, he got to tell 85% of the story he wanted to tell. By the end of season two, we got the first glimpses of what he wanted to say.
There was a lot to say about B5 in that first year and much of it wasn’t good. But, inside all that naysaying and beyond all that criticism, something had begun that would change the TV landscape forever.
Season two started with the loss of the lead actor, due to personal reasons, which resulted in the re-tooling of some of the story which was to come. The executive producer & creator J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) would later say that despite all the issues the production suffered, he got to tell 85% of the story he wanted to tell. By the end of season two, we got the first glimpses of what he wanted to say.
By the end of season two, the word was spreading about Babylon 5. The first season, and all those issues, was a just set-up for a massive five year story arc. This had never been tried before, never been attempted. It was a herculean task. Season two had doubled-down on the arcing story, expanded on it and JMS was now ready to blow everyone away.
I was one of those naysayers. I have to admit that. I was put off by all of the things which I referred to above (and by a friend whose opinion I no longer respect!). It took a few (other) friends to start to change my mind. They sat me down with the last four episodes of the second season, recorded on VHS tapes. As we watched, they would occasionally pause the tape, dump some exposition on me, before pressing play again. I can’t say I followed it all. Indeed, I can remember during the viewing I mixed up G’Kar and Kosh (“Wait, Mollari had a vision that G’Kar would choke him to death? The guy in the space suit?”).
Needless to say, thanks to that intervention, I was hooked… just in time for season three.
I was one of those naysayers. I have to admit that. I was put off by all of the things which I referred to above (and by a friend whose opinion I no longer respect!). It took a few (other) friends to start to change my mind. They sat me down with the last four episodes of the second season, recorded on VHS tapes. As we watched, they would occasionally pause the tape, dump some exposition on me, before pressing play again. I can’t say I followed it all. Indeed, I can remember during the viewing I mixed up G’Kar and Kosh (“Wait, Mollari had a vision that G’Kar would choke him to death? The guy in the space suit?”).
Needless to say, thanks to that intervention, I was hooked… just in time for season three.
There is this old gag; a DS9 fan and a B5 fan are talking. The B5 fan says, “Oh, you’ve got to watch B5; they harbored renegade human ships, they broke away from Earth, they destroyed a major government… oh and they had one of the biggest space-battles ever shown on TV.” The DS9 fan replies, “That’s great. What season was that?” To which the B5 fan retorts, “Oh, no. That’s one episode!”
That was “Severed Dreams”. Ask me about the first time I watched that episode some time. It’s a cool story.
Season three delivered on the promise of the first two seasons and then some. With season four, and the aforementioned collapse of the network, JMS was forced to curtail his five year arc into four years. There were some shaky moments, but by and large, it was another fantastic season. With the news that he would indeed get a fifth year (on TNT), a new arc was created for the final, albeit, lacklustre year.
Without B5, there would be no LOSTs, no Fringes, no BSGs. There would be no show which claims a major arc, because no one would believe it’s possible. JMS and Babylon 5 showed that it was not only possible, but that it could drive people’s imagination so that people are still watching it today.
If you have the time… and by that I mean a lot of time, check out a YouTube series called “Katie watches Babylon 5”. It’s a delight to watch her go from knowing nothing about the show to being a rabid fan.
That was “Severed Dreams”. Ask me about the first time I watched that episode some time. It’s a cool story.
Season three delivered on the promise of the first two seasons and then some. With season four, and the aforementioned collapse of the network, JMS was forced to curtail his five year arc into four years. There were some shaky moments, but by and large, it was another fantastic season. With the news that he would indeed get a fifth year (on TNT), a new arc was created for the final, albeit, lacklustre year.
Without B5, there would be no LOSTs, no Fringes, no BSGs. There would be no show which claims a major arc, because no one would believe it’s possible. JMS and Babylon 5 showed that it was not only possible, but that it could drive people’s imagination so that people are still watching it today.
If you have the time… and by that I mean a lot of time, check out a YouTube series called “Katie watches Babylon 5”. It’s a delight to watch her go from knowing nothing about the show to being a rabid fan.
Do you remember Babylon 5, or were you a Deep Space Nine fan?
Let us know in the comments!
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