Cast and Crew

J. Michael Straczynski wrote all five of the movies that return to the Babylon 5 universe. The original cast returns in most cases. For The Gathering, that is the original cast, since that's the pilot movie.

This DVD release includes English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Past TV reviews can be found here.

Original Airdate

These movies were made in 1993 (The Gathering), 1997 (In The Beginning), and 1998 (Thirdspace, A River Of Souls, and A Call To Arms).

Synopsis

The Gathering is the original pilot movie, detailing the events that surrounded Kosh's arrival on Babylon 5. In The Beginning shows the events that surrounded the Earth-Minbari war, as viewed from a time after most of the events of the series take place. Thirdspace is set between seasons three and four (roughly), and describes one particular story that was unrelated to the ongoing saga. Similarly, A River Of Souls follows the series with a new adventure unrelated to most of what came before it. Finally, A Call To Arms serves as a prequel for Babylon 5: Crusade.

High Point

I think In The Beginning is the best of the set. It really starts pulling pieces together and adding to the entire project.

Low Point

Thirdspace is probably the worst of the set. What I love most about Babylon 5 is the grand, sweeping saga that fills every corner of the universe. This and A River of Souls don't quite seem to fit, since they're essentially one-off stories that don't play a larger role in the entire series. I think that's why they didn't quite feel like Babylon 5 to me. Thirdspace is the low point simply because A River of Souls is a better story. Thirdspace had a few moments that didn't quite add up, such as Ivonova's continued sanity.

The Review

This is hard to review in a single set of categories. There's a huge spread in the content here, moreso than any of the complete TV season sets I've got. As a result, it's hard to get extreme ratings in any category. In The Beginning and A Call To Arms are both great, and would be in the mid-thirties if they were scored individually. The Gathering has the kind of writing we've learned to expect from the series, but enough differences (particularly the make-up effects) to disorient the viewer who was familiar with what was coming. (If not for voice and body language, Delenn would be unrecognizable.) I've decided to rate them as a single package anyway, just becase that's the way they're being sold. If you've already got the The Gathering / In The Beginning DVD, I'm not sure you'll want this entire package. (If you don't have that DVD, get this package instead.) This will add commentaries, introductions, and better transfers, as well as another excellent movie, but the third and fourth movies aren't that spectacular. If you plan to pick up Babylon 5: Crusade when it eventually ships, this is worth owning for the effective introduction you'll get in A Call To Arms.

The originality of this suffers because two fifths of the set lack the "piece of a larger tapestry" feel that Babylon 5 did so well in all of its previous television incarnations. Thirdspace and A River of Souls had the episodic feel that I grew tired of watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. A Call To Arms redeems the set after those two, as it sets the stage for a new tapestry that promised to look as gorgeous as the one that was woven over the first five seasons of the series. I give it 4 out of 6.

The effects in the first four films were very much like the series. Those in A Call To Arms seemed to take things up a notch, as though they were testing out an upgrade that they planned to use for Crusade. I give it 4 out of 6.

The stories were well written individually. Only three of the five felt like the unique kind of storytelling that made Babylon 5 stand out from the other genre shows on the air. In The Beginning really shines in this category. This was the first complete Babylon 5 broadcast that I really got. I missed most of the series during its original broadcast (seeing only two episodes at the 1996 Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference, and not getting much out of them having none of the background needed to truly understand it). I heard it was a prequel, so I assumed one could understand it without having seen the series. That was correct, and I enjoyed it. Watching it with full knowledge of the series behind me, I realize how much I'd missed out on the first time around. (The "what do you want?" part is a perfect example; a new viewer can follow it, but a familiar viewer remembers a subtle but significant phrase from the first season.) I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting was just what we'd come to expect from Babylon 5. It says a lot about how great the casting was that these actors had their roles down this early. The only bad acting came from Tamlyn Tomita in The Gathering. I can see why we got Claudia Christian when the series finally went episodic. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response was mixed. Three of the movies worked very well. (Do I still need to specify which three?) The other two just feel so out of place in Babylon 5 that I couldn't really get engaged in them. Part of that problem was the limited character roster. I appreciate that A River of Souls was the first chance to see Captain Lochley demonstrating why she earned the job, but the large tapestry feeling of the series was supported by the large and well defined cast. Seeing what amounts to a reunion of the cast (even if it was so soon after the series) without the complete cast was a bit of a let-down. The episodic feel of two of the movies also detaches the viewer somewhat, as there feels like there's less chance of anything having series implications later. (This is especially true of Thirdspace, which is set between existing seasons of the show.) There is some chance of lasting repurcussions, but that's just not the way it feels. A world-altering ending would have been a pleasant surprise. The other three movies work beautifully, though. I give it 4 out of 6.

The production is well done. I suspect they had more time and money to spend on each movie than they had for two episodes of the series, in spite of the equality in total length of the finished product. If they didn't, then their acheivement is even more impressive. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, we've got three great movies (two of which are already available in an inferior form) and two decent movies that don't really show what Babylon 5 was so good at. I give the package 4 out of 6.

In total, Babylon 5: The Movies receives 31 out of 42.