Product Description

Own all five seasons of the award-winning series about the space station that's the tumultuous center of the 23rd century's bid for peace among humans and aliens.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY UPC: 085393481520

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4197 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-04-13
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 30
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 4818 minutes

Amazon.com
The epic sci-fi series Babylon 5 was a unique experiment in the history of television. It was effectively a novel for television in five seasons, consisting of 110 episodes with a clear beginning, middle, and end. The first season introduces the main characters, headed this year by Commander Jeffery Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) and Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle), and familiarizes the audience with the unique environment of a five-mile-long space station in the year 2257. The first episode, "Midnight on the Firing Line," plays at a breathless pace, introducing Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian) and establishing the conflict between the Narn and Centauri races as represented by their ambassadors, G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas) and Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik). B5 hits warp speed with a run of exceptional episodes building to the season finale. The two-part "Voice in the Wilderness" has Mars breaking into open revolt against Earth and the discovery of a "Great Machine" on the dead world Epsilon 3. Referencing 1950s sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, the story leads to the superb time-travel-based "Babylon Squared." Season finale "Chrysalis" proves more than just the usual television cliffhanger, placing Minbari ambassador Delenn in conflict with her ruling Grey Council and forcing on her a decision that laid the groundwork for Babylon 5's eventually becoming a great love story.

Delenn's future love interest, Captain John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) arrived on Babylon 5 in the first episode of season 2, "Points of Departure." The show marked the handing over of command of B5 to Sheridan from Commander Jeffery Sinclair, actor Michael O'Hare becoming a victim of studio politicians who wanted a bigger star in the leading role. "Revelations" explains that Sheridan's wife, Anna, died during an archaeological survey of the world Z'ha'dum, the name being just one of many references to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (the bridge at Khazad-Dum). "The Coming of Shadows" proved to be Babylon 5's finest hour to date, and in "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum," Sheridan learns that Morden was on the ship on which Anna died. Three exceptional shows conclude the season. The Narn-Centauri war escalates in "The Long, Twilight Struggle," Sheridan faces a most unusual ordeal in "Comes the Inquisitor," and in "The Fall of Night" all hope of peace is shattered as a nerve-racking assassination attempt reveals a startling secret about Ambassador Kosh.

"Matters of Honor" launched Babylon 5's third season with the introduction of the White Star, a spacecraft added to enable more of the action to take place away from the station. Also introduced was Marcus Cole (Jason Carter)--in another nod to The Lord of the Rings, a Ranger not so far removed from Tolkien's Strider. A third of the way through the season "Messages from Earth," "Point of No Return," and "Severed Dreams" prove pivotal, changing the nature of the story in a way previously unimaginable on network TV. Earth slides into dictatorship, the fascistic Nightwatch takes control of off-world security, and Sheridan take decisive action by declaring Babylon 5 independent. "Interludes and Examinations" presented the death of a major supporting character, while the two-part "War Without End" reached apocalyptic dimensions in a complex tale resolving the destiny of Sinclair and the fate of Babylon 4, resolving a 1,000-year-old paradox and presenting a vision of a very dark future for Sheridan and Delenn. All this was trumped by the monumental "Z'ha'dum." In the preceding "Shadow Dancing" Anna Sheridan (Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Boxleitner's real-life wife) returned from the dead, no longer entirely human. In the mythologically resonant climax Anna invited Sheridan back to the Shadow homeworld with no hope of survival. Just as in The Lord of the Rings Gandalf fell into the abyss at Khazad-Dum, so Sheridan took a comparable leap into the unknown on an alien world.

Season 4 began on a high point with the Centauri Prime in the grip of the insane Emperor Cartagia (Wortham Krimmer) and a run of six shows leading to the climax of the war against the Shadows in "Into the Fire." If this colossal narrative was resolved a little too easily and the ultimate aim of the Shadows turned out to be a tad disappointing, it still proved to be the most powerful slice of space opera to ever grace the small screen. In the aftermath the sheer scale dropped back a little but the pace never slowed as the rest of the season played out in one relentless cycle of conspiracy, betrayal and conflict, Babylon 5 siding with the rebel Mars colony against the totalitarian Earth. On an unstoppable wave fuelled by roller-coaster plot twists and spectacular action shows from "No Surrender, No Retreat"--when Sheridan avows to overthrow EarthGov--to "Rising Star"--when the aim is realized--Babylon 5 achieved a consistent excellence rare in television.

The final season found Claudia Christian departed and Ivanova replaced by Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins), who in a soap-opera twist turned out to be Sheridan's first wife. Sheridan was promoted to President of the Interstellar Alliance and the action moved to a group of telepaths seeking sanctuary from the PSI-Corp on B5. Meanwhile the aftermath of the Shadow War was explored, and as usual the season picked up toward the end, with a string of fine political episodes. The final episode, "Sleeping in Light," was directed by J. Michael Straczynski and made an epilogue to the series. Set 20 years later, after all the sound and fury this quiet, elegiac tale is the apotheosis of the love story that proved the balance to the tragedy of the preceding darkness. A personal story resolved against a background of the epic, at once transcendent, deeply human, and profoundly optimistic, "Sleeping in Light" is as moving as any hour in the history of television drama and a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to one of the greatest series ever made. --Gary S. Dalkin

Customer Reviews

4 out of 5 seasons aint bad
I love Babylon 5 and watched it all the time on TV.. I will says that the transfer over to DVD was good but i have seen better.. Still with that said i don't think any B5 lover will be disappointed...

as far as seasons go i do have to say that I am disappointed in the fifth and final season.. The story line is lacking and spacial effects that B% was known for was sub-par.. Honestly i would have ended the series with the forth season, but i think because of fan response it was extended to a fifth and final season...

the other seasons are outstanding and to be honest a lot of the story lines can be easy applied to today.. the one thing i love about the B5 series is a more "realistic" view of the feature.. earth is united but still has problems, unlike others series where the future is a perfect place..

Flawed, but Fantastic
Had I watched the pilot movie "The Gathering" before starting the series, I would never have started the series. Had I not been assured by a friend that the first few episodes were not on a par with the rest of the series, I wouldn't have made it past those first episodes. The opening of Babylong 5, I must say, is terrible. Everything from the writing to the acting to the music is truly second rate.

HOWEVER:

It plants the seeds of a story that was so well planned that throughout its entire run, everything remains consistent with the plot-points and characterizations that are established from the beginning.

Babylon 5 does what all the best science fiction (its rival DS9, the updated Battlestar Galactica) does: it lets the characters and emotions drive the story, even when the overall plot gets rather intricate. Stories play out over long stretches of time, characters grow and develop, relationships form and develop or dissolve. It is a testament to the strength of the characters that the final episode of the series is perhaps the finest of its whole run, built upon the powerful emotions that come with saying goodbye.

I have more criticisms of Babylon 5 than I do of any other show that I would consider top-tier. Like The West Wing, it is nearly entirely written by one man, and his voice - though it is of course the genius behind the series - can lead to a lack of diversity in conversational style. The acting ranges from excellent (the actors playing aliens are uniformly excellent, as is Bruce Boxleitner) to mediocre, to terrible (Michael O'Hare is one of the worst actors EVER; Jerry Doyle and Patricia Tallman are the primary offenders by the end). The show was forced to wrap things up in the 4th season, then was surprisingly renewed for a 5th season - had they known they had this season available, the Shadow War would have been brought to a more satisfying conclusion.

But the show survives my criticisms because of its strengths. The rise of G'Kar and the fall of Londo Mollarri is one of the most impressive pieces of storytelling ever committed to film. The flaws of the characters feel real and logical. The truly deep and original plotting sustains a very complicated story over five years.

The dvd set is well put together, with each disc well protected, and some very interesting commentaries from series creater J. Michael Straczynski. A word of advice: wait until after you've seen the whole series to view some of the featurettes, as there are occasional spoilers in the commentaries and special features.

Hi 5 to B5!!!
I first bought this show a few years back after watching the last 4 seasons on TV. For some reason, I had a momentary lapse of reason and sold them all!!! Few months back... could not resist, especially when I saw that they were starting to come out with movies like "The Lost Tales". Rebought the whole 5 seasons and the movie sets! Started rewatching with one of my daughters.. man, I'm like a kid with a new toy!!!