"Babylon 5" (1994) TV series 1994-1998

Creator:

J. Michael Straczynski

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

26 January 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A space station in neutral territory is the focus of a unique five year saga.

Plot Keywords:

Space | Space Station | Saga | Alien | Space Opera

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 16 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Mira Furlan	...	Delenn / ... (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Richard Biggs	...	Dr. Stephen Franklin / ... (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Stephen Furst	...	Vir Cotto / ... (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Peter Jurasik	...	Londo Mollari / ... (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Bill Mumy	...	Lennier (109 episodes, 1994-1998)
Andreas Katsulas	...	G'Kar / ... (109 episodes, 1994-1998)
Jerry Doyle	...	Michael Garibaldi (108 episodes, 1994-1998)
Bruce Boxleitner	...	Capt. John Sheridan / ... (88 episodes, 1994-1998)
Claudia Christian	...	Cmdr. Susan Ivanova / ... (88 episodes, 1994-1998)
Jeff Conaway	...	Zack Allan / ... (72 episodes, 1994-1998)
Patricia Tallman	...	Lyta Alexander (47 episodes, 1995-1998)
Jason Carter	...	Marcus Cole / ... (45 episodes, 1995-1998)

Also Known As:

B5 (USA) (promotional abbreviation)

Runtime:

45 min (110 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 (season 5) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Finland:K-11 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Sun Valley, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Babylonian Productions

Trivia:

Two blooper cassettes were made of various gaffes and mistakes (and traded hands as bootlegs for many years), but they were never commercially released. A short "gag reel" features on most of the season box sets, however.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the episode Shadow Dancing, when Franklin slams against a bulkhead, the entire wall moves.

Quotes:

Commander Jeffrey David Sinclair: Everyone lies, Michael. The innocent lie because they don't want to be blamed for something they didn't do and the guilty lie because they don't have any other choice.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Changeling (2008)

Take it from me; it's brilliant. Full Stop.

B5 is in all respects a revolutionary piece of work. It was the first SF TV-series that actually had all the episodes and story-arcs in place before shooting(as opposed to StarTrek and the likes). Although I have always been a Trekkie I consider Babylon-5 to be much better. This is SF on TV as you would read it in a good book. The actors do a fine job(especially Andreas Katsulas and Peter Jurasic) and although almost all of the aliens are of humanoid shape they manage to behave quite alien sometimes.

This is required watching for every self-respecting ScienceFiction-fan. In that respect it is on a par with StarWars and StarTrek.

B-5 just goes deeper that the Paramount-format or the eternal battle of good versus evil. In B-5 there are hardly any absolute evil creatures, all the characters have their dark side, just like you and me.

It was a miracle that Warner Bros was so supportive of JMS. You can tell by the result that this was somewhat of a lovebaby. I wonder how many years it will be before something better will be made, I fear it will take years and years to top this series.