Babylon 5 is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label in association with Straczynski’s Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Television. After the successful airing of a backdoor pilot movie, Warner Bros. commissioned the series as part of the second year schedule of programs provided by its Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN).^[1] It premiered in the United States on January 26, 1994 and ran for the intended five seasons. Describing it as having "always been conceived as, fundamentally, a five year story, a novel for television", Straczynski wrote 92 of the 110 episodes and served as executive producer, along with Douglas Netter.^[2]

Set between the years 2257 and 2262, it depicts a future where earth has sovereign states and a unifying Earthgov. Colonies within the solar system, and beyond, make up the Earth Alliance and contact has been made with other spacefaring races. The ensemble cast portray alien ambassadorial staff and humans assigned to the five mile long Babylon 5 space station, a centre for trade and diplomacy. Described as “one of the most complex programs on television” the various story arcs drew upon the prophesies, religious zealotry, racial tensions, social pressures and political rivalries which existed within each of their cultures, to create a contextual frame for the motivations and consequences of the protagonists actions.^[3] With a strong emphasis on character development set against a backdrop of conflicting ideologies on multiple levels, Straczynski wanted “to take an adult approach to SF, and attempt to do for television SF what HILL STREET BLUES did for cop shows.”^[4]

Generally viewed as having “launched the new era of television CGI visual effects",^[5] it received multiple awards during its initial run including two consecutive Hugos for best dramatic presentation,^[6][7] and continues to regularly feature prominently in various polls and listings highlighting top rated sci-fi shows.^[8][9][10] Not appearing on American television since 2003, it continues to be shown in international markets such as the FX Channel in the UK, the TV4-ScifFi Channel in Sweden and the FBC TV channel in Fiji.^[11] Initially written by Straczynski, DC began publishing Babylon 5 comics in 1994 with stories that closely tied in with events depicted in the show.^[12] The franchise continued to expand into short stories, RPG games and novels with the Technomage trilogy of books being the last to be published in 2001, shortly after the spin-off television series, Crusade, was cancelled.

Plot summary[link]

Backstory[link]

At the beginning of the series, five dominant civilizations are represented. The dominant species are the Humans, Minbari, Narn, Centauri, and the Vorlons. "The Shadows" and their various allies are malevolent species who appear later in the series. Several dozen less powerful species from the League of Non-Aligned Worlds appear, including the Drazi, Brakiri, Vree, Markab, and pak'ma'ra. The station's first three predecessors (the original Babylon station, Babylon 2 and Babylon 3) were sabotaged or accidentally destroyed before their completion. The fourth station, Babylon 4, vanished 24 hours after it became fully operational.^[13]

Synopsis[link]

The television series takes it name from the Babylon 5 space station, located in the Epsilon Eridani star system, at the fifth Lagrangian point between the fictional planet Epsilon III and its moon.^[14] An O'Neill Cylinder five miles long and a half mile to a mile across, living areas accommodate the various alien species, including differing atmospheres and gravity. Human visitors to the alien sectors are shown using breathing equipment and other measures to tolerate the conditions.^[15]

The five seasons of the series each correspond to one fictional sequential year in the period 2258–2262. Each season shares its name with an episode that is central to that season's plot. As the series starts, the Babylon 5 station is welcoming ambassadors from various races in the galaxy. Earth has just barely survived an accidental war with the powerful Minbari, who, despite their superior technology, mysteriously surrendered at the brink of the destruction of the human race (the Battle of the Line).

Season 1 – Year 2258[link]

During 2258, Commander Jeffrey Sinclair is in charge of the station. Much of the story revolves around his gradual discovery that it was his capture by the Minbari at the Battle of the Line which ended the war against Earth. Upon capturing Sinclair, the Minbari came to believe that Valen, a great Minbari leader and hero of the last Minbari-Shadow war, had been reincarnated as the Commander. Concluding that others of their species had been, and were continuing to be reborn as humans, and in obedience to the edict that Minbari do not kill one another, lest they harm the soul, they stopped the war just as Earth's final defenses were on the verge of collapse.

It is gradually revealed that Ambassador Delenn is a member of the mysterious and powerful Grey Council, the ruling body of the Minbari. Towards the end of 2258, she begins the transformation into a Minbari-human hybrid, ostensibly to build a bridge between the humans and Minbari. The year ends with the assassination of Earth Alliance President Luis Santiago, and rising tension between the Narn and Centauri, after a Narn outpost is completely destroyed by an unknown third party.

Season 2 – year 2259[link]

At the beginning of 2259, Captain John Sheridan replaces Sinclair as the military governor of the station. He and the command staff learn that the death of President Santiago was actually an assassination masterminded by Vice President Clark (who assumed the Presidency upon Santiago's death). A conflict develops between the Babylon 5 command staff and the Psi Corps, an increasingly autocratic organization which oversees and controls the lives of human telepaths. Commander Ivanova, the second-in-command of the station, is secretly a latent telepath who has illicitly avoided registering with the Psi Corps.

The Shadows, an ancient and extremely powerful race who have recently emerged from hibernation, are revealed to be the cause of a variety of mysterious and disturbing events, including the attack on the Narn outpost at the end of 2258. Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari unknowingly enlists their aid through his association with the mysterious Mr. Morden in the ongoing conflict with the Narn. The elderly and ailing Centauri emperor, long an advocate of reconciliation with the Narn, dies suddenly while visiting Babylon 5. A number of conspirators, including Londo Mollari and Refa, take control of the Centauri government by assassinating their opponents and placing the late emperor's unstable nephew on the throne. Their first act is to start open aggression against the Narn. After a full-scale war breaks out, the Centauri eventually conquer Narn in a brutal attack involving mass drivers, outlawed weapons of mass destruction. Towards the end of the year, the Clark administration begins to show increasingly totalitarian characteristics, clamping down on dissent and restricting freedom of speech. The Vorlons are revealed to be the basis of legends about angels on various worlds, including Earth, and are the ancient enemies of the Shadows. They enlist the aid of Sheridan and the Babylon 5 command staff in the struggle against the Shadows.

Season 3 – year 2260[link]

The Psi Corps and President Clark, whose government has discovered Shadow vessels buried in Earth's solar system, begin to harness the vessels' advanced technology. The Clark administration continues to become increasingly xenophobic and totalitarian, and uses a military incident as an excuse to declare martial law. This triggers a war of independence on Mars, which had long had a strained political relationship with Earth. Babylon 5 also declares independence from Earth, along with several other outlying Earth Alliance colonies. In response, the Earth Alliance attempts to retake Babylon 5 by force, but with the aid of the Minbari, who have allied with the station against the growing Shadow threat, the attack is repelled.

Becoming concerned over the Shadows' growing influence amongst his people, Centauri ambassador Londo Mollari attempts to sever ties with them. Mr. Morden, the Shadows' human representative, tricks him into restoring the partnership by engineering the murder of Mollari's mistress while putting the blame on a rival Centauri House. Open warfare breaks out between the Shadows and the alliance led by Babylon 5 and the Minbari. It is learned that genetic manipulation by the Vorlons is the source of human telepathy, as it is later discovered that Shadow ships are vulnerable to telepathic attacks. Displeased at the Vorlons' lack of direct action against the Shadows, Captain John Sheridan browbeats Vorlon ambassador Kosh Naranek into launching an attack against their mutual enemy. Kosh's deeds lead to his subsequent assassination by the Shadows.

Former station commander Jeffrey Sinclair returns to Babylon 5 to enlist the aid of Captain Sheridan, Delenn, Ivanova and Marcus in stealing the Babylon 4 space station and sending it 1,000 years back in time to use it as a base of operations against the Shadows in the previous Minbari-Shadow war. Undergoing the same transformation as Delenn at the end of Season 1, Sinclair transforms into a Minbari and is subsequently revealed to be the actual Valen of Minbari legend, rather than a reincarnation. Spurred by the reappearance of his assumed-dead wife (who now works for the Shadows), Sheridan travels to Z'ha'dum, the Shadow homeworld, in an attempt by them to recruit him. However he instead destroys their largest city in a kamikaze nuclear attack, and is last seen jumping into a miles-deep pit to escape the explosion. Garibaldi, during a fight with Shadow vessels, goes missing.

Season 4 – year 2261[link]

In 2261, the Vorlons join the Shadow War, but their tactics become a concern for the alliance when the Vorlons begin destroying entire planets which they deem to have been "influenced" by the Shadows. Disturbed by this turn of events, Babylon 5 recruits several other powerful and ancient races (the First Ones) to their cause, against both the Shadows and the Vorlons. Captain John Sheridan returns to the station after escaping from Z'ha'dum, but at a price: barring illness or injury, he has only 20 years left to live. He is accompanied by a mysterious alien named Lorien who claims to be the oldest sentient being in the galaxy.

Hours before Sheridan's return, Garibaldi is rescued and returned to the station, in rather dubious circumstances. He is markedly more paranoid and suspicious of other alien races and of Sheridan than he was before.

Centauri Emperor Cartagia forges a relationship with the Shadows. Londo Mollari engineers the assassination of Cartagia and repudiates his agreement with the Shadows. Londo kills Mr. Morden and destroys the Shadow vessels based on the Centauri homeworld, in an attempt to save his planet from destruction by the Vorlons. Aided by the other ancient races, and several younger ones, Sheridan lures both the Vorlons and the Shadows into an immense battle, during which the Vorlons and Shadows reveal that they have been left as guardians of the younger races, but due to philosophical differences, ended up using them as pawns in their endless wars throughout the ages. The younger races reject their continued interference, and the Vorlons and Shadows, along with the remaining First Ones, agree to depart the galaxy forever.

After the Shadows are defeated Garibaldi leaves his post as security chief and works on his own as a "provider of information". He begins working for one William Edgars, a Mars Tycoon, who is married to Garibaldi's former love. While he works ever closer with Edgars, he becomes increasingly aggressive towards Sheridan and eventually leaves Babylon 5.

Minbar is gripped by a brief civil war between the Warrior and Religious castes. Delenn secretly meets with Neroon of the Warrior caste and convinces him that neither side can be allowed to win. She tells him that she will undergo a ritual wherein she will be willing to sacrifice herself, but will stop the ritual before she actually dies. When Neroon sees that she actually intends to go through the entire ritual, he rescues her and sacrifices himself instead, declaring that, although he was born Warrior, in his heart he is Religious.

As part of the ongoing conflict between Earth and Babylon 5, Garibaldi eventually betrays Sheridan and arranges his capture in order to gain Edgars' trust and learn his plans. Garibaldi later learns that Edgars created a virus that is dangerous only to telepaths. It is then revealed that Garibaldi was actually abducted by the Psi-Corps at the end of Season 3 and re-programmed by Bester to provide information to him at the right time. Bester releases Garibaldi of his programming, and allows him to remember everything he has done since being kidnapped. Edgars is killed and his wife disappears, but is reunited with Garibaldi after the end of the war. Garibaldi helps free Sheridan and return him to the campaign to free Earth. An alliance led by Babylon 5 frees Earth from totalitarian rule by President Clark in a short but bloody war. This culminates in Clark's suicide and the restoration of democratic government. Mars is granted full independence, and Sheridan agrees to resign his commission. The League of Non-Aligned Worlds is dissolved and reformed into the Interstellar Alliance, with Sheridan elected as its first President and continuing his command of the Rangers, who are to act as a galactic equivalent of United Nations peacekeepers.

In the season finale, the events of 100, 500, 1000, and one million years into the future are shown, depicting Babylon 5's lasting influence throughout history. Amongst the events shown are the political aftermath of the 2261 civil war, a subsequent nuclear war on Earth involving a new totalitarian government in the year AD 2762, the resulting fall of Earth into a pre-industrial society, the loss and restoration of humanity's knowledge of space travel, and the final evolution of mankind into energy beings similar to the Vorlons, after which Earth's sun goes nova.

Season 5 – year 2262[link]

In 2262, Earthforce Captain Elizabeth Lochley is appointed to command Babylon 5. The station grows in its role as a sanctuary for rogue telepaths running from the Psi Corps, resulting in conflict. G'Kar, former Narn ambassador to Babylon 5, becomes unwillingly a spiritual icon after a book is published that he wrote while incarcerated during the Narn-Centauri War. The Drakh, former allies of the Shadows who remained in the galaxy, take control of Regent Virini on Centauri Prime through a parasitic creature called a Keeper, then incite a war between the Centauri and the Interstellar Alliance, in order to isolate the Centauri from the Alliance and gain a malleable homeworld for themselves.

Centauri Prime is devastated by Narn and Drazi warships and Londo Mollari becomes emperor, accepting a Drakh Keeper under threat of the complete nuclear destruction of the planet. (Portions of the end of his reign are seen in various prescient visions throughout the series; they show Mollari and former nemesis (and later friend) G'Kar sixteen years in the future dying at each other's throats, seemingly out of their grudge. It is gradually revealed that there was a much more friendly subtext, with Mollari having become a slave to the drakh rule and being tired of life; his Drakh Keeper awakens and strangles G'Kar in return. Vir Cotto, Mollari's loyal and more moral aide, succeeds him as emperor, free of Drakh influence. Sheridan and Delenn marry and move to Minbar, along with the headquarters of the Interstellar Alliance. G'Kar leaves Babylon 5 to escape his unwanted fame and explore the rim. Garibaldi also marries and settles down on Mars. Most of the other main characters leave B5.

Nineteen years later on the verge of death, Sheridan takes a final trip to the obsolete Babylon 5 station before its decommissioning. Sheridan apparently dies but is claimed by the First Ones, who invite him to join them on a journey beyond the rim of the galaxy. Babylon 5 station is destroyed in a demolition shortly after Sheridan's departure, its existence no longer necessary as the Alliance has taken over its diplomatic purposes. This final episode features a cameo by Straczynski as the technician who switches off the lights before Babylon 5 is demolished.

Themes[link]

Throughout its run, Babylon 5 found ways to portray themes relevant to modern and historical social issues. It marked several firsts in television science fiction, such as the exploration of the political and social landscapes of the first human colonies, their interactions with Earth, and the underlying tensions.^[16] Babylon 5 was also one of the first television science fiction shows to denotatively refer to a same-sex relationship.^[17][18] In the show, sexual orientation is as much of an issue as "being left-handed or right-handed".^[19] Unrequited love is explored as a source of pain for the characters, though not all the relationships end unhappily.^[20]

Order vs. chaos; authoritarianism vs. free will[link]

The clash between order and chaos, and the people caught in between, plays an important role in Babylon 5. The conflict between two unimaginably powerful older races, the Vorlons and the Shadows, is represented as a battle between two competing ideologies, each seeking to turn the humans and the other younger races to their beliefs. The Vorlons represent an authoritarian philosophy: you will do what we tell you to, because we tell you to do it. The Vorlon question, "Who are you?" focuses on identity as a catalyst for shaping personal goals;^[22][23] the intention is not to solicit a "correct" answer, but to "tear down the artifices we construct around ourselves until we're left facing ourselves, not our roles."^[24] The Shadows represent a philosophy of evolution through fire, of sowing the seeds of conflict in order to engender progress.^[25] The question the Shadows ask is "What do you want?" In contrast to the Vorlons, they place personal desire and ambition first, using it to shape identity,^[23] encouraging conflict between groups who choose to serve their own glory or profit.^[26] The representation of order and chaos was informed by the Babylonian myth that the universe was born in the conflict between both. The climax of this conflict comes with the younger races' exposing of the Vorlons' and the Shadows' "true faces"^[21] and the rejection of both philosophies,^[23] heralding the dawn of a new age without their interference.

The notion that the war was about "killing your parents"^[21] is echoed in the portrayal of the civil war between the human colonies and Earth. Deliberately dealing in historical and political metaphor, with particular emphasis upon McCarthyism and HUAC,^[27] the Earth Alliance becomes increasingly authoritarian, eventually sliding into a dictatorship. The show examines the impositions on civil liberties under the pretext of greater defense against outside threats which aid its rise, and the self-delusion of a populace which believes its moral superiority will never allow a dictatorship to come to power, until it is too late.^[28] The successful rebellion led by the Babylon 5 station results in the restoration of a democratic government, and true autonomy for Mars and the colonies.^[29]

War and peace[link]

The Babylon 5 universe deals with numerous armed conflicts which range on an interstellar scale. The story begins in the aftermath of a war which brought the human race to the brink of extinction, caused by a misunderstanding during a first contact situation.^[13] The Babylon 5 station is subsequently built in order to foster peace through diplomacy, described as the "last, best hope for peace" in the opening credits monologue during its first three seasons. Wars between separate alien civilizations are featured. The conflict between the Narn and the Centauri is followed from its beginnings as a minor territorial dispute amplified by historical animosity, through to its end, in which weapons of mass destruction are employed to subjugate and enslave an entire planet. The war is an attempt to portray a more sobering kind of conflict than usually seen on science fiction television. Informed by the events of the first Gulf War, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Soviet invasion of Prague, the intent was to recreate these moments when "the world held its breath" and the emotional core of the conflict was the disbelief that the situation could have occurred at all, and the desperation to find a way to bring it to an end.^[31] By the start of the third season, the opening monologue had changed to say that the hope for peace had "failed" and the Babylon 5 station had become the "last, best hope for victory," indicating that while peace is a laudable accomplishment, it can also mean a capitulation to an enemy intent on committing horrendous acts, and that "peace is a byproduct of victory against those who do not want peace."^[32]

The Shadow War also features prominently in the show, during which an advanced alien species attempts to sow the seeds of conflict in order to promote technological and cultural advancement. The gradual discovery of the scheme and the rebellion against it, serve as the backdrop to the first three seasons,^[33] but also as a metaphor for the war within ourselves. The concurrent limiting of civil liberties and Earth's descent into a dictatorship are "shadow wars" of their own.^[34] In ending the Shadow War before the conclusion of the series, the show was able to more fully explore its aftermath, and it is this "war at home" which forms the bulk of the remaining two seasons. The struggle for independence between Mars and Earth culminates with a civil war between the human colonies (led by the Babylon 5 station) and the home planet. Choosing Mars as both the spark for the civil war, and the staging ground for its dramatic conclusion, enabled the viewer to understand the conflict more fully than had it involved an anonymous colony orbiting a distant star.^[16] The conflict, and the reasons behind it, were informed by Nazism, McCarthyism and the breakup of Yugoslavia,^[27] and the unraveling of the former Balkan country also served as partial inspiration for another civil war, which involved the alien Minbari.^[35][36]

The post-war landscape has its roots in the Reconstruction. The attempt to resolve the issues of the American Civil War after the conflict had ended, and this struggle for survival in a changed world was also informed by works such as Alas, Babylon, a novel dealing with the after-effects of a nuclear war on a small American town.^[37] The show expresses that the end of these wars is not an end to war itself. Events shown hundreds of years into the show's future tell of wars which will once again bring the human race to the edge of annihilation, demonstrating that mankind will not change, and the best that can be hoped for after it falls is that it climbs a little higher each time, until it can one day "take [its] place among the stars, teaching those who follow."^[38]

Religion[link]

Many of Earth's contemporary religions are shown to still exist, with the main human characters often having religious convictions, including Roman Catholicism, Jesuit beliefs, Judaism and the fictional Foundationism, which was created after first contact with alien races.^[40] Alien beliefs in the show range from the Centauri's Bacchanalian-influenced religions,^[39] of which there are up to seventy different denominations,^[41] to the more pantheistic, as with the Narn and Minbari religions.^[42] In the show's third season, a community of monks takes up residence on the Babylon 5 station, in order to learn what other races call God,^[43] and to come to a better understanding of the different religions through study at close quarters.^[44]

References to both human and alien religion is often subtle and brief, but can also form the main theme of an episode.^[45] The first season episode "The Parliament of Dreams" is a conventional "showcase" for religion, in which each species on the Babylon 5 station has an opportunity to demonstrate its beliefs,^[39] while "Passing Through Gethsemane" focuses on a specific position of Roman Catholic dogma,^[46] as well as concepts of justice, vengeance and biblical forgiveness.^[47] Other treatments have been more contentious, such as the David Gerrold-scripted "Believers", in which alien parents would rather see their son die than undergo a life-saving operation because their religious beliefs forbid it.^[39] When religion is an integral part of an episode, various characters can be used to express differing view points. Such as in "Soul Hunter", where the concept of an immortal soul is touched upon, and whether after death it is destroyed, reincarnated or simply does not exist. The character arguing the latter, Doctor Stephen Franklin, often appears in the more spiritual storylines as his scientific rationality is used to create dramatic conflict. Undercurrents of religions such as Buddhism have been viewed by some in various episode scripts,^[48] and while identifying himself as an atheist,^[39] Straczynski believes that passages of dialog can take on distinct meanings to viewers of differing faiths, and that the show ultimately expresses ideas which cross religious boundaries.^[49]

Sacrifice[link]

A major theme in Babylon 5 is the concept of sacrifice for a greater cause. Kosh sacrifices his life for a first victory against the Shadows. John Sheridan is ready to die at Z'ha'dum. Delenn is ready to die in the starfire wheel to restore Minbari society. Marcus Cole gives his life to save Susan Ivanova. Londo Mollari willingly accepts complete enslavement by a Drakh keeper to save the Centauri from annihilation. Many minor characters also willingly give their lives such as the crew of Drazi or Minbari ships in the final confrontation with the Shadows to save the Army of Light's leaders, some Centauri staying back at the island of Selini to allow the destruction of the Shadow warships, and so on. "Some of us must be sacrificed if all are to be saved." is the spiritual epiphany experienced by G'Kar. This reflects the Vorlon philosophy in contrast to the self-interest philosophy of the Shadows.

Dreams and visions[link]

The subliminal and subconscious play a very significant role in the Babylon 5 universe. Every single major character experiences, on at least one occasion, some altered state of consciousness in which he or she receives some sort of important mental message. This could either be one that further fleshes out the character for the benefit of the viewer, or one of transcendental and transpersonal nature that anticipates important further developments in the storyline. Some of these signs and portents resemble lucid dreams, but many are quite bizarre and "dreamlike," frequently in a spiritual context.

Addiction[link]

Substance abuse and its impact on human personalities also plays a significant role in the Babylon 5 storyline. The station's security chief, Michael Garibaldi, is a textbook relapsing-remitting alcoholic of the binge drinking type; he practices complete abstinence from alcohol throughout most of the series (with one notable exception) until the middle of season five. He only recovers physically and socially and breaks the cycle at the end of the season. Dr. Stephen Franklin develops an (initially unrecognized) addiction to injectable stimulant drugs while trying to cope with the chronic stress and work overload in Medlab (stemming from the Markab extinction), and wanders off to the homeless and deprived in Brown Sector, where he suffers through a severe withdrawal syndrome. Executive Officer Susan Ivanova mentions that her father became an alcoholic after her mother had committed suicide after having been drugged by the authorities over a number of years. Captain Elizabeth Lochley tells Garibaldi that her father was an alcoholic and that she is a recovering alcoholic herself.^[50] Among the aliens, Londo Mollari is at least a heavy abuser of alcohol, mostly in the form of the Centauri national drink, Brivari (though in Centauri culture, sobriety, as opposed to drunkenness, is considered a vice).

Numerous other references to substance abuse and drug dealing are scattered throughout the storyline, including Dust, a white powder with a black-market presence comparable to cocaine. "Dust" turns out to be a "designer drug" developed by Psi Corps and placed into the black market as an experiment to see if psychic abilities could be brought out in "mundanes" (non-telepaths).

Cast[link]

In addition, several other actors have filled more than one minor role on the series. Kim Strauss played the Drazi Ambassador in four episodes, as well as nine other characters in ten more episodes.^[52] Some actors had difficulty dealing with the application of prosthetics required to play some of the alien characters. The producers therefore used the same group of people (as many as 12) in various mid-level speaking roles, taking full head and body casts from each. The group came to be unofficially known by the production as the "Babylon 5 Alien Rep Group."^[53]

Production[link]

Origin[link]

Having worked on a number of television science fiction shows which had regularly gone over budget, creator J. Michael Straczynski concluded that a lack of long-term planning was to blame, and set about looking at ways in which a series could be done responsibly. Taking note of the lessons of mainstream television, which brought stories to a centralised location such as a hospital, police station, or law office, he decided that instead of "[going] in search of new worlds, building them anew each week," a fixed space station setting would keep costs at a reasonable level. A fan of sagas such as the Foundation series, Childhood's End, The Lord of the Rings, Dune and the Lensman series, Straczynski wondered why no one had done a television series with the same epic sweep, and concurrently with the first idea started developing the concept for a vastly-ambitious epic covering massive battles and other universe-changing events. Realizing that both the fixed-locale series and the epic could be done in a single series, he began to sketch the initial outline of what would become Babylon 5.^[54][55]

Straczynski set five goals for Babylon 5. He said that the show "would have to be good science fiction" as well as good television -- "rarely are shows both good [science fiction] and good TV; there're [sic] generally one or the other [emphasis in original]." It would have to do for science fiction television what Hill Street Blues had done for police dramas, by taking an adult approach to the subject. It would have to be reasonably budgeted, and "it would have to look unlike anything ever seen before on TV, presenting individual stories against a much broader canvas." He further stressed that his approach was "to take [science fiction] seriously, to build characters for grown-ups, to incorporate real science but keep the characters at the center of the story."^[56] Some of the staples of television science fiction were also out of the question (the show would have "no kids or cute robots").^[57] The idea was not to present a perfect utopian future, but one with greed and homelessness; one where characters grow, develop, live, and die; one where not everything was the same at the end of the day's events. Citing Mark Twain as an influence, Straczynski said he wanted the show to be a mirror to the real world and to covertly teach.^[54]

Format[link]

Described as a "window on the future" by series production designer John Iacovelli,^[58] the story is set in the 23rd century on a large O'Neill Colony named "Babylon 5"—a five-mile-long, 2.5 million-ton rotating colony designed as a gathering place for the sentient species of the galaxy, in order to foster peace through diplomacy, trade, and cooperation. Instead, acting as a center of political intrigue and conflict, the station becomes the linchpin of a massive interstellar war. This is reflected in the opening monologue of each episode, which includes the words "last, best hope for peace" in season one, changing to "last, best hope for victory" by season three.

The series consists of a coherent five-year story arc taking place over five seasons of 22 episodes each. Unlike most television shows at the time, Babylon 5 was conceived as a "novel for television", with a defined beginning, middle, and end; in essence, each episode would be a single "chapter" of this "novel".^[59] Many of the tie-in novels, comic books, and short stories were also developed to play a significant canonical part in the overall story.^[60]

The cost of the series totalled an estimated $90 million for 110 episodes.^[61]

Writing[link]

Creator and showrunner J. Michael Straczynski wrote 92 of the 110 episodes of Babylon 5, including all 44 episodes in the third and fourth seasons;^[62] according to Straczynski, a feat never before accomplished in American television.^[63] Other writers to have contributed scripts to the show include Peter David, Neil Gaiman, Kathryn M. Drennan, Lawrence G. DiTillio, D.C. Fontana, and David Gerrold. Harlan Ellison, a creative consultant on the show, received story credits for two episodes.^[64] Each writer was informed of the over-arching storyline, enabling the show to be produced consistently under-budget. The rules of production were strict; scripts were written six episodes in advance, and changes could not be made once production had started.^[65]

Though conceived as a whole, it was necessary to adjust the plotline to accommodate external influences. Each of the characters in the series was written with a "trap door" into their background so that, in the event of an actor's unexpected departure from the series, the character could be written out with minimal impact on the storyline.^[66] In the words of Straczynski, "As a writer, doing a long-term story, it'd be dangerous and short-sighted for me to construct the story without trap doors for every single character. ... That was one of the big risks going into a long-term storyline which I considered long in advance;..."^[67] The character of Talia Winters was to have undergone a transformation into a Psi Corps secret agent, having been revealed as a "sleeper," whose true personality was buried subconsciously, and who acted as a spy, observing the events on the station and the actions of her command staff.^[68] When Winters's portrayer Andrea Thompson left the series, this revelation was used to drop the character from the series.

Ratings for Babylon 5 continued to rise during the show's third season, but going into the fourth season, the impending demise of network PTEN left a fifth year in doubt. Unable to get word one way or the other from parent company Warner Bros., and unwilling to short-change the story and the fans, Straczynski began preparing modifications to the fourth season in order to allow for both eventualities. Straczynski identified three primary plot-threads which would require resolution: the Shadow war, Earth's slide into a dictatorship, and a series of sub-threads which branched off from those. Estimating they would still take around 27 episodes to resolve without having the season feel rushed, the solution came when the TNT network commissioned two Babylon 5 television films. Several hours of material was thus able to be moved into the films, including a three-episode arc which would deal with the background to the Earth–Minbari War, and a sub-thread which would have set up the sequel series, Crusade. Further standalone episodes and plot-threads were dropped from season four, which could be inserted into Crusade, or the fifth season, were it to be given the greenlight.^[69] The intended series finale, "Sleeping in Light", was filmed during season four as a precaution against cancellation. When word came that TNT had picked up Babylon 5, this was moved to the end of season five and replaced with a newly filmed season four finale, "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars".^[70]

Costume[link]

Ann Bruice Aling was costume designer for the 5 seasons of the show, after production designer John Iacovelli suggested her for the position having previously worked with Bruice on a number of film and theatrical productions.^[71]

With the variety of costumes required she compared Babylon 5 to “eclectic theatre”, with fewer rules about period, line, shape and textures having to be adhered to.^[72] Preferring natural materials whenever possible, such as ostrich leather in the Narn body armour, Bruice combined and layered fabrics as diverse as rayon and silk with brocades from the 1930s and 40’s to give the clothing the appearance of having evolved within different cultures.^[73][74]

With an interest in costume history, she initially worked closely with J. Michael Straczinski to get a sense of the historical perspective of the major alien races, “so I knew if they were a peaceful people or a warring people, cold climate etc. and then I would interpret what kind of sensibility that called for.”^[73] Collaborating with other departments to establish co-ordinated visual themes for each race, a broad palette of colours was developed with Iacovelli, which he referred to as “spicy brights”.^[58] These warm shades of grey and secondary colours, such as certain blues for the Minbari, would often be included when designing both the costumes and relevant sets. As the main characters evolved, Bruice referred back to Straczynski and producer John Copeland who she viewed as “surprisingly more accessible to me as advisors than other producers and directors”, so the costumes could reflect these changes. Ambassador Londo Mollari's purple coat became dark blue and more tailored while his waistcoats became less patterned and brightly coloured as Bruice felt "Londo has evolved in my mind from a buffoonish character to one who has become more serious and darker."^[72]

Normally there was three changes of costume for the primary actors; one for on set, one for the stunt double and one on standby in case of "coffee spills". For human civilians, garments were generally purchased off-the-rack and altered in various ways, such as removing lapels from jackets and shirts while rearranging closures, to suggest future fashions. For some of the main female characters a more couture approach was taken, as in the suits worn by Talia Winters which Bruice described as being designed and fitted to within “an inch of their life”. Costumes for the destitute residents of downbelow would be distressed through a combination of bleaching, sanding, dipping in dye baths and having stage blood added.^[73]

Like many of the crew on the show, members of the costume department made an onscreen cameo. During the season 4 episode Atonement, the tailors and costume supervisor appeared as the Minbari women fitting Zack Allan for his new uniform as the recently promoted head of security. His complaints, and the subsequent stabbing of him with a needle by costume supervisor Kim Holly, was a light hearted reference to the previous security uniforms. A design carried over from the pilot movie, which were difficult to work with and wear due to the combination of leather and wool.^[74]

Prosthetic Makeup & Animatronics[link]

While the original pilot film featured some aliens which were puppets and animatronics, the decision was made early on in the show's production to portray most alien species as humanoid in appearance. Barring isolated appearances, fully computer-generated aliens were discounted as an idea due to the "massive rendering power"^[75] required. Long-term use of puppets and animatronics was also discounted due to the technological limitations in providing convincing interaction with the human actors ("…if you want any real emotion from the character, you're going to have to have an actor inside" [emphasis in original]).^[75]

Visuals[link]

In anticipation of future HDTV broadcasts and Laserdisc releases, rather than the usual 4:3 format, the series was shot in 16:9, with the image cropped to 4:3 for initial television transmissions.^[76] Babylon 5 also distinguished itself at a time when models and miniature were still standard by becoming one of the first television shows to use computer technology in creating visual effects. This was achieved using Amiga-based Video Toasters at first, and later Pentium and Alpha-based systems.^[77] It also attempted to respect Newtonian physics in its effects sequences, with particular emphasis on the effects of inertia.^[78]

Foundation Imaging provided the special effects for the pilot film (for which it won an Emmy) and the first three seasons of the show. After the show's co-executive producer (Douglas Netter) and producer (John Copeland) approached Straczynski with the idea of producing the effects in-house, Straczynski agreed to replace Foundation, for season 4 and 5, once a new team had been established by Netter Digital, and an equal level of quality was assured,^[79] by using similar technology and a number of former Foundation employees.^[80] The Emmy-winning alien make-up was provided by Optic Nerve Studios.

The show's success was seen as a great asset for Commodore Business Machines, the makers of the Amiga computer, and for NewTek, the company which made the Video Toaster card and its accompanying 3-D animation program, Lightwave 3D. On the strength of Babylon 5, Lightwave 3D would be employed on other shows, eventually becoming an industry standard.

Music and scoring[link]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[81]

Christopher Franke composed and scored the musical soundtrack for all 5 years of the show when Stewart Copeland, who worked on the original telefilm, was unable to return for the first season due to recording and touring commitments.^[82] Given creative freedom by the producers, Franke also orchestrated and mixed all the music which one reviewer described as having “added another dimension of mystery, suspense, and excitement to the show, with an easily distinguishable character that separates "Babylon 5" from other sci-fi television entries of the era.”^[83][84]

With his recording studio in the same building as his home located in the Hollywood Hills, Franke would attend creative meetings before scoring the on average 25 minutes of music for each episode.^[83] Utilising Cubase software through an electronic keyboard, or for more complex pieces a light pen and graphics tablet, he would begin by developing the melodic content round which the ambient components and transitions were added. Using playbacks with digital samples of the appropriate instruments, such as a group of violins, he would decide which tracks to produce electronically or record acoustically.^[83][85]

Utilizing the “acoustic dirt produced by live instruments and the ability to play so well between two semitones” and the “frequency range, dynamics and control” provided by synthesizers, he described his approach “as experimental friendly as possible without leaving the happy marriage between the orchestral and electronic sounds”.^[85] While highlighting Babylon 5 was produced on a “veritable shoestring”, and as such would have been unable to afford a full orchestral score every week, at least one reviewer felt that the soundtrack would have benefitted from a greater use of the Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra, which Franke established in 1991.

And while Franke's handling of the electronic textures is adept, I think he could have made a little better use of the German orchestra that's credited in every episode. In particularly, the driving, fanfare-like title themes would gain a lot of distinction from the kind of guts that an acoustic sound would bring to them.^[86]

Scores for the acoustic tracks were emailed to his Berlin scoring stage, and would require from four musicians to the full orchestra, with a maximum of 24 present at any one time. One of three conductors would also be required for any score that involved more than 6 musicians. Franke would direct recording sessions via six fibre optic digital telephone lines to transmit and receive video, music and the SMPTE timecode. The final edit and mixing of the tracks would take place in his Los Angeles studio. Initially concerned composing for an episodic television show could become “annoying because of the repetition”, Franke found the evolving characters and story of Babylon 5 afforded him the opportunity to continually “push the envelope”.^[83][85]

Assembling music written for the series' final episode, Sleeping in Light succinctly encapsulates just how far Franke's sensibilities evolved over the course of Babylon 5's five-year production run -- the synthesizer textures and martial percussion so long a fixture of the series' musical palette are now enhanced by strings and guitars that emphasize the deeply human emotional dimensions of the interstellar drama. Indeed, for all the series' obvious emphasis on fantasy and otherworldly sounds, Franke never lost track of its earthbound soul. Epic in scope and scale, Sleeping in Light boasts a power few TV soundtracks achieve.^[81]

A total of 24 episode and three television film soundtracks were released under Franke's record label, Sonic Images Records, between 1995 and 2001. These contain the musical scores in the same chronological order as they played in the corresponding episodes, or television films. Three compilation albums were also produced, containing extensively re-orchestrated and remixed musical passages taken from throughout the series to create more elaborate suites. In 2007 his soundtrack for The Lost Tales was released under the Varese Sarabande record label.

Use of the Internet[link]

The show employed Internet marketing to create a buzz among online readers far in advance of the airing of the pilot episode,^[87] with Straczynski participating in online communities on USENET (in the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated newsgroup), and the GEnie and CompuServe systems before the Web came together as it exists today. The station's location, in "grid epsilon" at coordinates of 470/18/22, was a reference to GEnie ("grid epsilon" = "GE") and the original forum's address on the system's bulletin boards (page 470, category 18, topic 22). Also during this time, Warner Bros. executive Jim Moloshok created and distributed electronic trading cards to help advertise the series.^[88] In 1995, Warner Bros. started the Official Babylon 5 Website on the now defunct Pathfinder portal. In September 1995, they hired a fan to take over the site and move it to its own domain name, and to oversee the Keyword B5 area on America Online.

Broadcast history[link]

The pilot film, The Gathering, premiered on February 22, 1993, and the regular series initially aired from January 26, 1994 through November 25, 1998,^[89] first on the short-lived Prime Time Entertainment Network, then on cable network TNT. The show aired every week in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 without a break; as a result the last four or five episodes of the early seasons were shown in the UK before the US.^[90] The pilot film debuted in the United States with strong viewing figures, achieving a 9.7 in the Nielsen national syndication rankings.^[91] The series proper debuted with a 6.8 rating/10 share. Figures dipped in its second week, and while it posted a solid 5.0 rating/8 share, with an increase in several major markets,^[92] ratings for the first season continued to fall, to a low of 3.4 during reruns,^[93] and then increasing again when new episodes were broadcast in July.

Ratings continued to remain low-to-middling throughout the first four seasons,^[94] but Babylon 5 scored well with the demographics required to attract the leading national sponsors and saved up to $300,000 per episode by shooting off the studio lot,^[91] therefore remaining profitable for the network.^[95] The fifth season, shown on cable network TNT, had ratings about 1.0% lower than seasons two through four.

In the United Kingdom, Babylon 5 was one of the better-rated US television shows on Channel 4,^[96] and achieved high audience Appreciation Indexes, with season 4's "Endgame" achieving the rare feat of beating the prime-time soap operas for first position.^[97]

On November 25, 1998, after five seasons and 109 aired episodes, Babylon 5 successfully completed its five year story arc when TNT aired the 110th (epilogue) episode "Sleeping in Light".

Awards[link]

Awards presented to Babylon 5 include:

• Emmy Award: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Special Visual Effects, 1993 (The Gathering)^[98]
• Emmy Award: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series , 1994 (episode, "The Parliament of Dreams")^[98]
• Hugo Award: Best Dramatic Presentation, 1996 (episode, "The Coming of Shadows")^[6]
• Hugo Award: Best Dramatic Presentation, 1997 (episode, "Severed Dreams")^[7]
• Saturn Award: Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series, 1998^[99]
• Space Frontier Foundation Award: Vision of the Future, 1994
• Space Frontier Foundation Award: Vision of the Future, 1996
• E Pluribus Unum Award: (Presented By American Cinema Association), 1997^[100]

Nominated Awards include:

• Emmy Award: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series, 1995 (episode, "Acts of Sacrifice")^[98]
• Emmy Award: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series, 1995 (episode, "The Geometry of Shadows")
• Emmy Award: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Series, 1995 (episode, "The Geometry Of Shadows")
• Emmy Award: Outstanding Cinematography for a Series, 1996
• Emmy Award: Outstanding Makeup for a Series, 1997 (episode, "The Summoning")
• Emmy Award: Outstanding Makeup for a Series, 1998 (television movie, In The Beginning)

Babylon 5 media franchise[link]

In November 1994 DC began publishing monthly Babylon 5 comics. A number of short stories and novels were also produced between 1995 and 2001. Additional books were published by the gaming companies, Chameleon Eclectic and Mongoose Publishing, to support their desk-top strategy and role-playing games.

Three telefilms were released by Turner Network Television(TNT) in 1998 after funding a fifth season of Babylon 5, with the demise of the Prime Time Entertainment Network the previous year. In addition to In the Beginning, Thirdspace and The River of Souls, they released a re-edited special edition of the original 1993 telefilm, The Gathering. In 1999 a fifth telefilm was also produced, A Call to Arms, which acted as a pilot movie the spin-off series Crusade, which TNT cancelled after 13 episodes had been filmed.

In 2000 the SciFi channel purchased the rights to re-run the Babylon 5 series, and premiered a new telefilm, The Legend of the Rangers in 2002, which failed to be picked up as a series. In 2007 the first in a planned anthology of straight to DVD short stories entitled, The Lost Tales, was released by Warner Home Video but no others were produced due to funding issues.^[101]

Home video releases[link]

In July 1995 Warner Home Video began distributing Babylon 5 VHS video tapes under its Beyond Vision label in the UK. Beginning with the original telefilm, The Gathering, these were PAL tapes showing video in the same 4:3 aspect ratio as the initial television broadcasts. By the release of Season 2, tapes included closed captioning of dialog and Dolby Surround sound. Columbia House began distributing NTSC tapes, via mail order in 1997, followed by repackaged collector editions and three-tape box sets in 1999, by which time the original telefilm had been replaced by the re-edited TNT special edition. Additional movie and complete season box sets were also released by Warner Bros. until 2000.

Image Entertainment released Babylon 5 laserdiscs between December 1998 and September 1999. Produced on double-sided 12-inch Pioneer discs, each contained two episodes displayed in the 4:3 aspect ratio with dolby surround audio and closed captioning for the dialog. Starting with two TNT telefilms, In the Beginning and the re-edited special edition of The Gathering, seasons 1 and 5 were released simultaneously over a six month period. Seasons 2 and 4 followed, but with the decision to halt production due to a drop in sales, precipitated by rumours of a pending DVD release, only the first twelve episodes of season 2 and the first 6 of season 4 were released.^[102]

In November 2001 Warner Home Video began distributing Babylon 5 DVDs with a two-movie set containing the re-edited special edition of The Gathering and In The Beginning. The telefilms were later individually released in region 2 in April 2002, though some markets received the original version of The Gathering in identical packaging.

DVD box sets of the individual seasons, each containing six discs, began being released in October 2002. Each included a printed booklet containing episode summaries, with each disc containing audio options for German, French, and English, plus subtitles in a wider range of languages including Arabic and Dutch. Video was displayed in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Disc 1 of each set contained an introduction to the season by J. Michael Straczynski, while disc 6 included featurettes containing interviews with various production staff as well as information on the fictional universe and a gag reel. Three episodes in each season also contained commentary from either Straczynski, members of the main cast or the episode director.

Since its initial release a number of repackaged DVD box sets have been produced for various regional markets. With slightly altered cover art, they included no additional content but the discs are more securely stored in slimline cases, rather than the early book format with hard plastic pages used during the original release of the first three seasons.

Other releases[link]

Seasons 1 and 2, and parts of season 3, of Babylon 5 have been released as advertisement-supported downloads through the In2TV and Hulu download services. Additionally, every episode from seasons 1 to 5, as well as the pilot film Babylon 5: The Gathering, are available for purchase on the Xbox Live Marketplace in the United States. All 5 seasons, and 5 movies (In The Beginning,Thirdspace, River of Souls, A Call To Arms, Legend of the Rangers) are available through iTunes.

Mastering problems[link]

While the series was in pre-production, studios were looking at ways for their existing shows to make the transition from the then standard 4:3 aspect ratio to the widescreen formats that would accompany the next generation of televisions. After visiting Warner Bros. who were stretching the horizontal interval for an episode of Lois & Clark, producer John Copeland convinced them to allow Babylon 5 to be shot in super 35mm film. “The idea being that we would telecine to 4:3 for the original broadcast of the series. But what it also gave us was a negative that had been shot for the new 16x9 wide screen format televisions that we knew were on the horizon.”^[103]

Though the CGI scenes, and those containing live action combined with digital elements, could have been created in a suitable widescreen format, a cost saving decision was taken to produce them in the 4:3 aspect ratio. The intention was to then crop the top and bottom of the images, and upscale the resolution for any future widescreen release or transmission. In 2000 when the show was transferred to widescreen for airing on the Sci-Fi channel prior to a DVD release the plan was not followed, as John Copeland recalls, “They did another video hack and simply used a digital post production device like a DVE (Digital Video Enhancer) to blow the material up. They essentially stretched it approximately 1/3 to fill the larger aspect ratio.”^[103]

The scenes containing live action ready to be composited with matte paintings, CGI animation etc. were delivered on tape already telecined to 4:3, and contained a high level of grain, which resulted in further image noise being present when enlarged and stretched for widescreen.^[105] For the purely live action scenes, rather than using the film negatives “Warners had even forgotten that they had those. They used PAL versions and converted them to NTSC for the US market. They actually didn't go back and retransfer the shows.”^[106]

With the resulting aliasing, and the progressive scan transfer of the video to DVD, this has created a number of visual flaws throughout the widescreen release. In particular, quality has been noted to drop significantly in composite shots.^[107][108]

See also[link]

• Babylon 5 influences
• Babylon 5's use of the Internet
• Index of Babylon 5 articles
• List of television series that include time-travel
• rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
• The Be Five
• The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Babylon 5

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Babylon 5

• Babylon5.WarnerBros.com Official website
• Babylon 5 at the Internet Movie Database
• Babylon 5 at TV.com
• Babylon 5 at the Open Directory Project
• The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5: Babylon 5 reference and episode guide
• Early Babylon 5 Designs: Information from the original 1991 promotional flyer, with different character names and Peter Ledger's artwork

Andreas Katsulas
Andreas Katsulas in 2000
Born	Andrew Katsulas (1946-05-18)May 18, 1946 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died	February 13, 2006(2006-02-13) (aged 59) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–2006
Website
http://www.andreaskatsulas.com

Andrew "Andreas" Katsulas (May 18, 1946 – February 13, 2006) was a Greek-American actor known for his roles as Ambassador G'Kar in the science fiction television series Babylon 5, as the one-armed villain Sykes in the film The Fugitive (1993), and as the Romulan Commander Tomalak on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also played Vissian Captain Drennik in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Cogenitor".

Early life[link]

Born in St. Louis, Missouri to a working-class Greek American family, he first became hooked on acting when he was 4 years old and his mother took him to a local community theater. He studied theatrical arts at Saint Louis University and earned a Master's degree in Theatre from Indiana University. From 1971 to 1986, he toured with Peter Brook's international theatre company, performing improvisational and prepared theater pieces on stages ranging from Lincoln Center to barrios in Venezuela.

Career[link]

Katsulas moved to Los Angeles, California in 1986. His film roles include appearances in The Sicilian, Someone to Watch Over Me, Sunset, Hot Shots! Part Deux, The Fugitive, and Executive Decision.

Katsulas was a regular on Babylon 5, where he played Ambassador G'Kar. He also guest starred on many television shows, including: Alien Nation; The Equalizer; Murder, She Wrote; NYPD Blue; Millennium; Star Trek: The Next Generation (episodes "The Enemy", "The Defector", "Future Imperfect", and "All Good Things...", as Commander Tomalak); Star Trek: Enterprise (season 2, episode 22, "Cogenitor"); and Max Headroom. He also appeared in the TV-movie The Death of the Incredible Hulk. He featured as a voice actor in the PlayStation 2 titles Primal (as Scree the gargoyle), and 24: The Game (based on the TV series 24).

Death[link]

In early 2005, Katsulas, who in the words of Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, "loved smoking with a passion that cannot be described"^[1] was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer. He died on February 13, 2006 at the age of 59. He was survived by his wife and two children.

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]