Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998) (TV)

Director:

Jesús Salvador Treviño

Writers:

J. Michael Straczynski (creator)
J. Michael Straczynski (written by)

Release Date:

19 July 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The crew of Babylon 5 discover an ancient artifact floating in hyperspace.

Plot Keywords:

Space | Telepathy | Alien Technology | Spacecraft | Alien Invasion

Cast

Bruce Boxleitner	...	Capt. John J. Sheridan
Claudia Christian	...	Susan Ivanova
Mira Furlan	...	Delenn
Richard Biggs	...	Stephen Franklin, M.D.
Jeff Conaway	...	Zack Allen
Stephen Furst	...	Vir Cotto
Patricia Tallman	...	Lyta Alexander
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Bill Morishi
Shari Belafonte	...	Elizabeth Trent
William Sanderson	...	Deuce
Kip King	...	Leo
Floyd Levine	...	Alex
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter	...	Merchant
Joshua Cox	...	Lt. David Corwin
Judson Mills	...	Delta Seven

Also Known As:

Babylon 5: Guardians (USA) (working title)
Thirdspace (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:6 | Germany:12 | Finland:S | Iceland:12

Company:

Babylonian Productions

Trivia:

When they finished editing the movie for broadcast, the producers found out that they were actually a few minutes short so the elevator scene with Zack and Lyta was added.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Ivanova says (on Sheridan's link) that the carbon-14 dating puts the artifact at one million years old. But carbon dating can only be done to objects on earth, as the carbon ratios in space would be vastly different and constantly changing.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sheridan: [voiceover] It was the middle of the Earth year 2261. The year between wars and the beginning of a new age. The Shadow war was over, but there was still a darkness waiting for us at home...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dead Space (2008) (VG)

Not perfect, but certainly an enjoyable scifi romp.

A reasonable outing.

B5 - and JMS writing in particular - works better when not contained to standalone episodes. Give him space to breathe, and his musing flows far better. He has room to comment, moralise and philosophise beautifully. Give him a single story and he tries to cram in too many explanations and plot movements which start to clog up the script. This is a pity as the script is what he is good at.

So a nice story, but a little uneven. Sometimes continually underlines the same plot points over and over killing room for nice stand alone dialogue or character exposition. Other times, the character scenes (the lift scene ) are too long an neither help the story or offer any depth for their duration.

That said, the SFX is very nice, the music from Franke is far more classically orientated than before and it's a nice chance to try and highlight some of the minor characters. The story idea is reasonable, if a little unusual in scifi tone for B5 (befitting Trek more) and it lacks some of the regular B5 heavyweight actors (G'Kar and Londo are sadly missing and Delenn has few scenes).

Nevertheless, an enjoyable if a little vacuous compared to what one comes to expect from B5. The aural and visual experiences are good, the actors are solid and the story good enough to standalone. Not perfect, but still a good slice of pulp scifi action.