Babylon 5 (show)

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Are you new to the show? Have you not seen all five seasons? Then we suggest you visit the spoiler free version of this page! We cannot guarantee that it is spoiler free yet.

(note: this was copied from the wikipedia. This is in much need of a rewrite however it is a place to start)

Note: Did you mean to go to the Babylon 5 Station?

Image:Babylon5 02.jpg
The Babylon 5 Station


Babylon 5 is an epic science fiction television series created, produced, and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski, commonly known in various online circles as JMS. The music for the TV series and related TV movies (except for the TV Movie A Call to Arms) was composed by Christopher Franke. The pilot movie, The Gathering, aired on February 22, 1993 (the first run of the pilot was scored by ex-Police drummer Stuart Copeland; the soundtrack was later rescored by Franke) and the regular series initially aired from January 26, 1994 through November 25, 1998, first in syndication on the short-lived Prime Time Entertainment Network, then on cable network TNT. Because the show was aired every week in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 without a break, the last four or five episodes of the early seasons were shown in the UK before the US.

The series was designed arround themes that affect everyday society. The series won several awards, including two Hugos for Best Dramatic Presentation. One of the Hugo awards is used as a prop in the final episode, marking the first time that a Hugo has been shown on-screen in a series that won a Hugo.

Spoiler warning: Plot, character development, or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] Concept

Image:Babylon5 01.jpg
The Babylon 5 station

The series, often held as a good example of space opera, consists of a five year story arc taking place over five seasons of 22 episodes each. The hub of the story is a large Wikipedia:Space_station space station named Babylon 5; the five-mile-long, 2.5 million ton rotating colony is built to be a gathering place for fostering peace through diplomacy, trade and cooperation. In the words of its commander, it is humanity's "last, best hope for peace." However, Babylon 5 is the center of political intrigue and conflict, and eventually becomes a pawn in a massive interstellar conflict from which it emerges with a Pyrrhic victory over forces of darkness and chaos.

Having long been a science fiction fan himself, Straczynski was determined to produce a science fiction series for adults where, for once, things would be done properly: consistent technology, "no kids or cute robots", no new "particle of the week" to tie up a plot. It was not a utopian future - there is greed and homelessness. It was not a place where everything was the same at the end of the day - main characters grow, develop, live and die. An unabashedly political show, it was always ready to deal with politics, sex, religion, and philosophy.

Unlike most television shows, this series was conceived as a novel, with a defined beginning, middle, and end. In addition, even tie-in novels, comic books, and short stories play a significant part of the overall story.

The overall story of the show was plotted out in some detail before the first episode was ever shot. Having a (loosely) predetermined plot was advantageous in many respects, as longer-term planning greatly reduced the working budget required on sets and costumes. The planned plot arc, allowing largely fixed sets and economies of scale, favorably compared with more episodic series which might require an entirely new set of props or costumes for each episode.

Though conceived as a whole, and with Straczynski writing most of the episodes (including all of the episodes of the third and fourth seasons, a feat never before accomplished in American television), it was necessary to adjust the plotline to accommodate external influences. The replacement of actor Michael O'Hare as the station commander after the first season, the unexpected departure of actresses Claudia Christian and Andrea Thompson, and the necessity to compress the fourth season story arc due to fears of cancellation proved to be major challenges.

Babylon 5 is often cited as raising the bar for science fiction television, using an arc-driven storytelling style now prevalent not only in sci-fi, but in mainstream dramas as well. Straczynski anticipated the rise of digital television, shooting the series in 1.78:1 format rather than the normal 1.33:1 - a full six years before ER and many other dramas began doing the same thing. Babylon 5 also revolutionized the use of computer technology in creating visual effects at a time when using models and miniatures was the norm.

[edit] Cast and primary characters

See also:

[edit] Regular cast

[edit] Recurring guest characters


There was also a group of actors who each played numerous bit parts, known informally as The Babylon 5 Players. For example, each of the actors who played a Drazi ambassador during the series also appeared as another minor character elsewhere in the Babylon 5 saga.

[edit] Babylon stations

Babylon 5 is the fifth, and last, of the Babylon stations. Its predecessors Babylon, Babylon 2, and Babylon 3 were all sabotaged and destroyed before their completion. Twenty-four hours before going online Babylon 4 disappeared without trace. The episode "Babylon Squared" and the two-part episode "War Without End" deal with the disappearance of Babylon 4. Babylon 5 is substantially smaller than the previous stations because so much money was spent on the prior stations. For example, Babylon 4 had its own propulsion system, while Babylon 5 has none.

Straczynski has said that he has detailed notes on the inauguration of the Babylon station program, and that one man is at the heart of the effort to get the first one built.

Civilizations

Themes

[edit] Music and scoring

The original pilot movie had music composed by Stewart Copeland. When the show was picked up as a weekly series Copeland was not available, and so Straczynski hired Christopher Franke, of Tangerine Dream fame. Franke stayed on as the composer for all five seasons of B5, and three B5 telefilms. When Straczynski obtained funds to create a new writer's edition of the pilot movie, the original Stewart Copeland score was replaced with a new score by Christopher Franke.

[edit] What is available in the Babylon 5 universe?

[edit] The episodes

Main article: List of Babylon 5 episodes

Each season shared its name with an episode which was central to that season's plot.

See the guide to the episodes.

[edit] Other Made-For-TV movies

[edit] Spin-off series

[edit] Novels

[edit] DVDs

The Babylon 5 series has been released in DVD form. Included are all episodes, selected director and cast commentary, previews of episodes, and a multimedia database of Babylon 5 related information. As of 2005, all five seasons of the original series, as well as five of the six movies and the spinoff series Crusade, are available for purchase.

[edit] Video games

In 1998 a computer game based on Babylon 5, named "Into the Fire," was being developed by Sierra. This game was to have cast the player as the pilot of a Starfury fighter craft through many missions of a dynamic storyline, while also giving the player an opportunity to "move up through the ranks" and eventually take command of capital ships and even fleets. It was to feature large battles and realistic physics. Multiplayer competitive and cooperative modes would have allowed players to pilot ships of alien races. Christopher Franke composed and recorded new music for the game, and live action footage was filmed with the primary actors from the series.

Work on this game ended on September 21, 1999, when, as part of a corporate reorganization, Sierra canceled it and laid off its development staff.

The web site FirstOnes.com followed the game's development and demise, and continues to track Babylon 5 mods for other games. FirstOnes.com also hosts the site of the Space Dream Factory, an independent project to develop several standalone games. The first of these, titled "Babylon 5: I've Found Her", is set five years before the series, and can be downloaded free of charge at the project's website.

[edit] Current projects

None. See Theatric Movie(dead): The Memory of Shadows

[edit] Related articles

[edit] External links

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