Babylon 5 (1994–1998)

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

Creator:

J. Michael Straczynski

Stars:

Jerry Doyle, Mira Furlan, Richard Biggs

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 16 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Jerry Doyle	...	Michael Garibaldi (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Mira Furlan	...	Delenn (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Richard Biggs	...	Dr. Stephen Franklin (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Stephen Furst	...	Vir Cotto (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Andreas Katsulas	...	G'Kar (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Peter Jurasik	...	Londo Mollari (110 episodes, 1994-1998)
Bill Mumy	...	Lennier (109 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 (74 episodes, 1994-1998)
Patricia Tallman	...	Lyta Alexander (47 episodes, 1995-1998)
Jason Carter	...	Marcus Cole (45 episodes, 1995-1998)

Storyline

In the year 2258, it is ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. Commander Sinclair takes command of a giant five-mile-long cylindrical space station, orbiting a planet in neutral space. At a crossroads of interstellar commerce and diplomacy, Cmdr Sinclair (2d season Captain Sheridan) must try to establish peace and prosperity between various interstellar empires, all the while fighting forces from within the Earth Alliance. It is a precarious command, particularly given that sabotage led to the destruction of Babylon stations 1, 2, and 3 and 4 vanished without trace.

---

Plot Keywords:

space | space station | saga | interracial relationship | intolerance | 

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

---

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [United Kingdom]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 January 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

B5

Filming Locations:

Sun Valley, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Babylonian Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min 45 min (110 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although Morden's first name is never mentioned in the entire series, his full name is Dr. Paul Morden.

---

Quotes

Alfred Bester: Being a telepath means you're special and rare and valuable.

---

Crazy Credits

During the first run of the show, the titles for seasons 2 and 4 changed as character changes took place. In season 2, before Delenn's new makeup was revealed the "old" Delenn was shown; and for the first few episodes, Claudia Christian was identified as "Lt. Commander. Susan Ivanova". After she was promoted this was changed to "Commander Susan Ivanova". In the fourth season, at first Jerry Doyle is identified as "Security Chief Michael Garibaldi" while Jeff Conaway was billed as "Zack Allan". Halfway through the season when Garibaldi resigns and Allan is promoted, the credits change to "Michael Garibaldi" and "Security Chief Zack Allan". However, the DVD/R1 release of Season 2 has all the credits showing the new Delenn and "Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova"; and the Season 4 has all credits showing "Security Chief Michael Garibaldi" and "Zack Allan".

---

Connections

Referenced in The Big Bang Theory: The Lizard-Spock Expansion (2008)

User Reviews

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.