"Babylon 5" Phoenix Rising (1998)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

David J. Eagle

Writers:

J. Michael Straczynski (creator)
J. Michael Straczynski (writer)

TV Series:

"Babylon 5" (1994)

Original Air Date:

1 April 1998 (Season 5, Episode 11)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Space | Space Station | Saga | Mass Destruction | Fascism

Cast

Bruce Boxleitner	...	President John Sheridan
Jerry Doyle	...	Michael Garibaldi
Mira Furlan	...	Delenn (credit only)
Richard Biggs	...	Dr. Stephen Franklin
Bill Mumy	...	Lennier (credit only)
Tracy Scoggins	...	Capt. Elizabeth Lochley
Stephen Furst	...	Vir Cotto (credit only)
Jeff Conaway	...	Zack Allan
Patricia Tallman	...	Lyta Alexander
Peter Jurasik	...	Londo Mollari (credit only)
Andreas Katsulas	...	G'Kar (credit only)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robin Atkin Downes	...	Byron
Jack Hannibal	...	Peter
Walter Koenig	...	Alfred Bester
Victor Love	...	Telepath
Leigh McCloskey	...	Thomas (as Leigh J. McCloskey)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Quotes:

[first lines]
Alfred Bester: A few words for those who've just arrived: A colony of rogue telepaths have been unwisely allowed to take up residence here. Since they are all humans, they fall under the jurisdiction of Earth law. The Alliance has agreed to respect the rights of each member world to control its own people...

Ugghh! I'm dying of angst overload!!!!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

While there is a lot to like about this episode (particularly the scene where Garibaldi has his final showdown with Bester), in the end this episode really stinks. Most of it is because while in seasons one through four the writing was top-notch, here it was sadly clichéd and stupid--so much so that I have a hard time believing the great J. Michael Straczynski could have written them.

Once again, the king of angst (Byron) is back but this time he's so over the top and silly that my wife and I started laughing at him and this whole awful plot line. At the very end, it got even worse, as the show featured perhaps the worst showdown in sci-fi history. As Bester, psi cops and crew members looked on (and did absolutely nothing even though Byron was very distracted and blathered on and on), Byron and some of his rogue-est telepaths sang a supposedly touching song (sort of like the 23rd century's answer to "We Are the World") and whined about the meaningless of it all. Frankly, it seemed like a parody of Anne Rice's characters, Lestat and Louis de Pointe du Lac (Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt). In a vampire film, it works--here it just seems silly and out of place. And the whole time I kept praying SOMEONE would just shoot Byron and shut him up once and for all! Fortunately, he does not return after this episode and the season limps to a close.