The creator of Babylon 5 (J. Michael Straczynski) set out to create a science fiction TV series unlike anything that had come before it, a show with complex plot threads that appealed to an adult audience, a show about more than just the weird alien of the week that was a metaphor for some part of us. I admit that sounds arrogant, but he did it and he did it well.
He populated his floating tin can in space with a number of different dramatic stock types culled from a wide variety of genres. They clash and forge friendships, fight and find comfort in the familiar just like everyone. No one in the B5 universe is infallible, everyone is flawed, and as such it felt real.
Despite being principally run by Earth, each of the alien governments place a representative ambassador aboard the station; that many egos in one place always spells trouble.
At its core the series revolves around a five-year story arc with a beginning, middle and end already in place before shooting began; that focussed agenda is what sustains it.
Season One introduces and explores the interpersonal relationships of the characters, and their individual relationships within the larger political standing, which makes sense when you consider that a fragile peace time exists after an interstellar war between humans and a race known as the Minbari.
Who actually won that war is open to interpretation, and there's bad blood and hatred still in the hearts of many. The Commander of B5 fought on the front line, and ever since there exists "a hole" in his mind, a void that he seeks to fill, a memory that was taken from him that explains why he's there, where he came from and where he's going. That premise opens up an ambitious drama that was both engaging and at times heartbreaking.
The first season is marred by some bad acting and low budgets, but it's essential background for Seasons 2, 3 and 4, which changed sci-fi forever. If you can forgive its failings and embrace its aspirations, you likely won't be disappointed.
22 episodes, approx 44 mins each.
3½ boneheads and encounter suits out of 5
3 comments:
My area didn't get it until the last season so we needed to play catch up with the older reruns in the late afternoon on TNT. I remember TNT sending Susan Ivanova to the Superbowl and she talked to "cheese heads".
Yikes, the last season is a bad place to start. Not because it's the end of the story but because it's a bad season.
Yeah I had to avoid the newer ones and try to figure out when they started to air it from the start and after that do it again when the air times got switched around.
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