Babylon 5
- G R Matthews
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
The Year 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.
The show from 1993 starts with a very Star Trek-esque intro. I suppose that the creators of the show thought that it needed that link, the trope, to set it all going.
What the intro does, like the TOS intro, is provide a good bit of scene setting, with the addition of some history to bring a little tension.
It was the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind
Ten years after the Earth-Minbari War
The Babylon Project was a dream given form
Its goal to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully
It's a port of call
Home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers
Humans and aliens wrapped in 2,500,000 tons of spinning metal
All alone in the night
It can be a dangerous place but it's our last best hope for peace
This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations
The year is 2258
The name of the place is Babylon 5
I've just found the series is on PRIME, and that means I can watch it all again for the first time since, well, since the 1990s. My memories are of being awed by the CGI and space battles, which now hold up well enough but certainly look a little dated these days. However, I find that doesn't matter at all.
I must confess, I am only up to ep. 5 of season 1 again, but the rose-tinted memories are coming back.
Three days later, and I just started Ep. 20 of season 1.
This series, apart from the slowly unfolding mystery around Morden, the Mimbari, and the Vorlons – they all know something, and it is foreshadowing the future – it is the relationships between the characters which set this show apart from many others.
Londo, Ambassador of the Centauri, and G'Kar, Ambassador of the Narns, were once at war, the Narn having evicted, finally, the Centauri from their home world and other systems, their combative relationship continues through arguments and petty acts of irritation. It really is, and will continue to be, I know, a cornerstone of the seasons going forward. Even this early on, you can see a mutual respect, with overtones of anger, between the two. One whole episode has revolved around a flower which G'Kar needs but Londo has.
The Minbari are the Zen-like aliens, not giving in to their own anger but looking forward with a knowing eye, sometimes a third eye, it appears. Delenn's presence on the station, and her being of the religious caste amongst the Minbari, are central to the mysticism and the future threat that is coming. It also has a lot to do with Sinclair's role as Commander, even though he leaves for reasons that were not explained till much later, indeed till after the actor's death, and throughout season one this unfolds through a slow drip, drip, drip, which is the way I much prefer it. Very clever writing and plotting.
The human cast, with Sinclair as the commander, serious, kind, and determined to do the best job he can, function well and not without their own conflict. Sometimes, Sinclair takes it all a little too seriously, but that's him. Promoted way above his rank for reasons that become clearer as the season progresses, he has a lot to prove.
Susan Ivanna, Claudia Christian, plays the executive officer, a Russian who jokes about hardships and fears/hates the PsyCorp – and who wouldn't, given what happened to her mother? She has a sense of humour and plays her part as more than just a follow-the-orders character. She has her own character arc, and the show wouldn't be as enjoyable without her.
Garibaldi, played by Jerry Doyle, is an alcoholic (in remission). The Head of Security who likes to build motorcycles, plays jokes and pranks, and has friends everywhere. He has charm and sadness, which come through in a few episodes during season 1, but you know he is a character that you can rely on in a pinch.
And Earth itself? Well, there is a story in itself, and it is one unchanged from our time or the 1990s when the show was made. There is racism, classism, and exploitation of workers. You could argue that the writing foreshadows the future in which we now live, but it also reflects the time when it was made. Oh, and the PsyCorp are just plain 'secret police' who can read minds and have their own agenda. In Bester, Walter Koenig sheds his naive Chekov for a character much more complicated and darker.
Season 1, which I am nearing the end of, teases the shadowed future which is coming, and soon, in Season 2, a lot of secrets will come out. I am looking forward to it!
Is everything rosy in this series, with no missteps? Of course not; the Insect Alien, for one example, is an underworld trader in a rubber suit with four legs (two legs, two arms), and this does speak to some budget constraints, and luckily he doesn't appear too often because each time I laugh.
I'll probably upset some purists out there with this little blog post. I am a fan of Babylon 5, not an expert.
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