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I was there at the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind. It began in the Earth year 2257 with the founding of the last of the Babylon stations, located deep in neutral space. It was a port of call for refugees, smugglers, businessmen, diplomats, and travelers from a hundred worlds. It could be a dangerous place, but we accepted the risk because Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for peace. Under the leadership of its final commander, Babylon 5 was a dream given form, a dream of a galaxy without war, where species from different worlds could live side by side in mutual respect. A dream that was in danger as never before by the arrival of one man on a mission of destruction. Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. This is its story. - "The Gathering" (pilot) |
The newfound freedom to explore space was not without its problems, though. In 2245, twelve years before the pilot episode and thirteen years before the series picks up, humans met, and were nearly wiped out by, the Minbari. A Earth expedition encountered a Minbari fleet for the first time, and, mistaking the Minbari welcoming gesture of opening their gunports to display their weapons as a prelude to an attack, fired first, killing the Minbari leader and several of their ruling body, the Grey Council. The Minbari retaliated in anger and embarked on a holy war, relentlessly pursuing humans back towards Earth. The humans didn't stand a chance against the superior Minbari technology; the only human victory of the entire war came when John Sheridan mined an asteroid field and sent out a fake distress call, luring the Minbari flagship the Black Star to its doom. Three years after the start of the war: the Battle of the Line. The Minbari had reached Earth and the humans launched every available ship in a last desperate attempt to stop the onslaught. Once again hopelessly outgunned, it seemed certain that the Minbari would win...until suddenly, without any explanation, they surrendered.
In 2249 Earth Alliance president Luis Santiago proposed the Babylon Project, aimed at building a space station in neutral terrority that could act as a meeting ground for ambassadors from different worlds, to avoid the sort of misunderstandings that started the Earth-Minbari war and to provide a place for problems to be worked out diplomatically. The project got off to a rocky start - the first three Babylon stations were sabotaged and destroyed before completion, and the fourth disappeared mysteriously 24 hours after becoming operational. Babylon 5 was finally completed in 2257, built with financial aid from several alien governments - in particular the Minbari.
(*) There is some debate as to where exactly the station is; JMS (the show's creator) has said in several places that it is near Epsilon Eridani, about 10 light years from Earth, though he has also been quoted as saying it is 25 or 35 light years from Earth. See here for a more detailed discussion of the station's location.
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It was the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind, ten years after the
Earth-Minbari War. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its
goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and
aliens could work out their differences peacefully.
It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers,
entrepreneurs and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two
million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal...all alone in
the night.
It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last, best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5. - first season introduction |
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Jump now to 2258, a year after Babylon 5 has become operational. The
station is run by Earth Force Commander Jeffrey Sinclair (replaced by
Captain John Sheridan - yes, the same one responsible for the
destruction of the Black Star - in 2259), with Lt. Commander
Susan Ivanova (later promoted to Commander) as his second, Michael
Garibaldi as his security chief, and Stephen Franklin as the head of
MedLab. The main alien races all have ambassadors on the Babylon 5
Advisory Council - Delenn and her aide Lennier represent the Minbari,
Londo Mollari and his aide Vir Cotto the Centauri, G'kar and his aide
Na'toth the reptilian Narn, and Kosh the enigmatic Vorlons. In
addition, many smaller governments are members of the League of
Non-Aligned Worlds, which also has ambassadors on the Council.
Despite the diplomatic functionality of the station, there are still tensions. Though ten years have passed since the end of the Earth-Minbari war, there is still mistrust and hatred between humans and Minbari. The Centauri Republic is a fading empire and many of its residents still hark back to the glory days of old. The Narn have recently fought off a century of Centauri occupation and are rebuilding their military in hope of revenge. Lingering mysteries further complicate matters. The Vorlons seem to have their own agenda, though no one knows what it is - no one has even seen what a Vorlon looks like since the one ambassador on the station never appears without an encounter suit, ostensibly because of his particular atmospheric requirements. There are also the questions of why the Minbari surrendered at the Battle of the Line and what happened to Babylon 4. As one of the characters comments, "No one on Babylon 5 is what he or she appears." With this setting, the story begins. |
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The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace: a
self-contained world five miles long located in neutral territory, a
place of commerce and diplomacy for a quarter of a million humans and
aliens, a shining beacon in space, all alone in the night.
It was the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind, the year the Great War came upon us all. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2259. The name of the place is Babylon 5. - second season introduction |
Having the storyline worked out in advance also allows hints to be dropped about future events - even as early as the pilot little things were slipped in that acquired additional meanings later, sometimes even several seasons later. These little tidbits make it quite entertaining to speculate on what is going to happen next, as well as making it very interesting to go back and watch old episodes.
Babylon 5 is about many things - a character once commented that "this isn't some deep space franchise - this station is about something." Babylon 5 is about making choices, about choosing which door to open, and about taking responsibility and dealing with the consequences. It is about taking something you believe in and working to make that change come about. It is about pain and suffering, but it is also about joy and happiness. It is about fear and loss, but it is also about hope. It is about dreams being destroyed...and it is about dreams being born. It is about self-sacrifice and doing what must be done even at a terrible price. It is about respect and forgiveness, and it is about never being able to forgive. The characters are flawed - the doctor got addicted to stims, the captain causes pain to others (and himself) because he puts duty first, the security chief struggles with self-doubt, an ambassador has a weakness for power - and because of that, they are believable. There are tensions, things happen, characters change. Sometimes the change is subtle, sometimes it is less so. Sometimes it is for the better, and sometimes it is for the worse.
The show seeks to raise questions, to get the viewers to think about choices in their own lives. It does not dictate a Moral of the Week (TM), telling viewers what the "right" answer is - a character may answer the question in some way, but the show simply shows the results of that decision for the character; it doesn't try to say that the choice made was the right one or the wrong one. There is no black and white - both sides of the argument have valid points. This can make the show hard to watch when a "good guy" does something you wish they wouldn't do and when you find yourself agreeing with a "bad guy", but it is a refreshing change from the usual.
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The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. It failed.
In the year of the Shadow war it became something greater, our last
best hope...for victory. The year is 2260. The place: Babylon 5. - third season introduction |
One can't, of course, dismiss the quality of the show itself. B5 has won a number of awards, including the 1996 and 1997 Hugos for Best Dramatic Presentation. (The Hugo is the most prestigious science fiction award.) In 1996, second season episode "The Coming of Shadows" beat out Apollo 13, Toy Story, 12 Monkeys, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, becoming only the eighth television show in the 43 year history of the award to win over a movie. Third season episode "Severed Dreams" won the 1997 award by a landslide, beating Independence Day, Mars Attacks!, Star Trek: First Contact, and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". (Details on the voting for 1997 can be found here.)
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It was the year of fire, the year of destruction, the
year we took back what was ours. It was the year of rebirth, the year of great sadness, the year of pain, and a year of joy. It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed. The year is 2261. The place: Babylon 5. - fourth season introduction |
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It was the end of the Earth year 2260, and the war had paused,
suddenly and unexpectedly. All around us, it was as if the universe
were holding its breath...waiting. All of life can be broken down into moments of transition or moments of revelation. This had the feeling of both. G'Quon wrote, "There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way." The war we fight is not against powers and principalities - it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain. - final words of season three |
The Babylon 5 site - plot synopses, analysis, unanswered questions, and comments from JMS for every episode plus background information, lots of links to other places, and more. A ship (the Hyperion) in the first season episode "A Voice in the Wilderness" was even named after the original location of the Lurker's Guide. If you want to know something about B5, the Lurker's Guide has it - the B5 production staff even uses it as a reference.
Information about B5 on TNT, the new home of B5 (in the US), and recently improved. They update the content daily with information about that day's episode and have many of the on-air promos available for downloading. Be warned, however - the episode descriptions posted contain spoilers, so avoid any links about episodes you don't want to be spoiled for.
Newly revamped, it's been HTMLed to within an inch of its life. Includes station tours, the Babylon 5 Emporium, a chat channel, message boards, and, for fan club members, access to some of JMS' diaries about the production of the show (which are quite interesting). The animated GIFs do get a bit annoying, though.
Included for completeness, the official site has not been updated since late season 4; its role has now been taken over by the TNT B5 site. It does, however, remain a source for episode previews (through late season 4), pictures, movies, sounds, and transcripts from chats with the cast (and JMS).
A valuable reference site, this includes a chronology of the Babylon 5 universe, a discussion of stellar geography in the Babylon 5 galaxy, a list of the prophecies, visions, and dreams in the show, and the text of the opening narrations and various other major speeches.
A very nice encyclopedia of people, things, and places in the B5 universe.
Formerly the place to go for clips and transcripts of various big moments, ISN has unfortunately been shut down by WB.
Sonic Images has produced the two volumes of the Babylon 5 soundtrack now out on CD, as well soundtracks for various individual episodes. These CDs are well worth getting. Their web site has ordering information and sound clips. Also, several of the CDs can be listened to online: volume 1, volume 2, A Late Delivery From Avalon, Severed Dreams, Shadow Dancing, Z'ha'dum
This site has scans of some promotional posters and other material, but perhaps most interestingly has text and images from the original information sent to stations in 1991 to promote the pilot. (Much has changed since then!)
The main B5 newsgroup. JMS reads this group and posts fairly frequently. It is moderated, but mostly to prevent flamewars and to add spoiler protection. As a result it is fairly safe for the spoiler-conscious though it is not perfect, so exercise caution if there are episodes you haven't seen and you care about not being spoiled.
A low-traffic moderated group for informational postings concerning B5. These usually include regional airtime changes, compilations of JMS' posts on AOL and CompuServe, FAQs, and announcements about upcoming B5-related events.
| BABYLON 5, characters, names, and all related indicia are trademarks of Babylonian Productions and Time Warner Entertainment Co., LP. © 1996 Time Warner Entertainment Co., LP. All Rights Reserved. |
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ssb@cs.brown.edu -- last update: 4/7/2000
