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Babylon 5

  • TV Series
  • 1993–1998
  • TV-PG
  • 45m
IMDb RATING
8.4/10
36K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
856
40
Bruce Boxleitner, Mira Furlan, Richard Biggs, Jerry Doyle, and Andreas Katsulas in Babylon 5 (1993)
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Space Sci-FiActionAdventureDramaSci-Fi

In the mid 23rd century, the Earth Alliance space station Babylon 5, located in neutral territory, is a major focal point for political intrigue, racial tensions and various wars over the co... Read allIn the mid 23rd century, the Earth Alliance space station Babylon 5, located in neutral territory, is a major focal point for political intrigue, racial tensions and various wars over the course of five years.In the mid 23rd century, the Earth Alliance space station Babylon 5, located in neutral territory, is a major focal point for political intrigue, racial tensions and various wars over the course of five years.

  • Creator
    • J. Michael Straczynski
  • Stars
    • Mira Furlan
    • Richard Biggs
    • Stephen Furst
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    8.4/10
    36K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    856
    40
    • Creator
      • J. Michael Straczynski
    • Stars
      • Mira Furlan
      • Richard Biggs
      • Stephen Furst
    • 271User reviews
    • 41Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 2 Primetime Emmys
      • 18 wins & 26 nominations total

    Episodes111

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    Top cast99+

    Edit
    Mira Furlan
    Mira Furlan
    • Delenn…
    • 1993–1998
    Richard Biggs
    Richard Biggs
    • Dr. Stephen Franklin
    • 1994–1998
    Stephen Furst
    Stephen Furst
    • Vir Cotto
    • 1994–1998
    Andreas Katsulas
    Andreas Katsulas
    • G'Kar
    • 1993–1998
    Peter Jurasik
    Peter Jurasik
    • Londo Mollari
    • 1993–1998
    Jerry Doyle
    Jerry Doyle
    • Michael Garibaldi
    • 1993–1998
    Bill Mumy
    Bill Mumy
    • Lennier
    • 1994–1998
    Bruce Boxleitner
    Bruce Boxleitner
    • Capt. John Sheridan…
    • 1994–1998
    Claudia Christian
    Claudia Christian
    • Cmdr. Susan Ivanova…
    • 1994–1998
    Jeff Conaway
    Jeff Conaway
    • Zack Allan…
    • 1994–1998
    Patricia Tallman
    Patricia Tallman
    • Lyta Alexander
    • 1993–1998
    Andrea Thompson
    Andrea Thompson
    • Talia Winters
    • 1994–1995
    Jason Carter
    • Marcus Cole…
    • 1995–1998
    Josh Coxx
    Josh Coxx
    • Tech David Corwin…
    • 1994–1998
    Ardwight Chamberlain
    Ardwight Chamberlain
    • Kosh…
    • 1993–1997
    Michael O'Hare
    Michael O'Hare
    • Cmdr. Jeffrey Sinclair…
    • 1993–1996
    Julie Caitlin Brown
    Julie Caitlin Brown
    • Na'Toth…
    • 1994–1998
    Robert Rusler
    Robert Rusler
    • Warren Keffer…
    • 1994–1995
    • Creator
      • J. Michael Straczynski
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews271

    8.436.1K
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    Featured reviews

    10Clive_JWM

    A true classic

    Babylon 5 is in my opinion a classic syfi show that ended too soon, with 5 great seasons, and spawning several films and a spin off show. Babylon 5 offers a great way to escape into a wonderful exciting story, the universe of endless potential. A true 90's show, with a great cast, and the effects for the time it was made were amazing. I grew up on this show as a kid and was obsessed, the war with the shadows was thrilling when I was young, and still wish I could have more episodes to this day.
    steve.schonberger

    Best science fiction television ever

    Even though the final season was rather slow, and glossed over a lot of plot lines that probably would have been more interesting, it was still better than most science fiction, and any on television other than the earlier seasons. Other than the final season and scattered weak episodes, the series is the best television science fiction, and near the best dramatic television, and competes with the best movie science fiction.

    The action in the series is mostly about the Shadow war, but the real key is the intrigue between the characters, and the personal growth of the characters. Londo is one of the best dramatic characters in any series. He starts as an ambitious schemer who drinks too much, but develops a conscience as he learns the consequences of his ambitions, and finally ends up as a tragic character who reached even beyond his early ambitions, but at a cost that he regrets deeply.

    Maybe some day there will be a better science fiction series. But for now this is the level of story-telling television science fiction should try to reach.
    Big Movie Fan

    A Diamond In A Pile Of Manure

    The early to mid-90's was very average in my opinion for science fiction shows. Babylon 5 was a breath of fresh air.

    Unlike some sci-fi shows, Babylon 5 was an ongoing epic. What happened in one episode impacted on another episode and so on. It was set on Babylon 5 (a space station)where five solar systems who have been at war try to make peace. The representatives of these races are all based on Babylon 5 trying to create lasting peace (not unlike the real life League of Nations/United Nations).

    As I said, what happened in one episode impacted on another. There was no jetting off to planets, creating a mess and then jetting off again. There was action, political intrigue and plenty of excitement which made this show stand out in 1994.

    J. Michael Straczynski did a great job with Babylon 5. It's actually a very good allegory of life on Earth in the 20th century. There have been two major wars this century. The League of Nations was set up following World War 1 but they soon became defunct and the United Nations were set up following World War 2 to try and bring peace to the world. Of course it's hard to find peace with so many different governments pulling in different directions. That is why I liked Babylon 5. It was realistic; there were no quick solutions for peace and there were setbacks along the way just like we have in real life.

    I strongly urge anyone who hasn't seen Babylon 5 to check it out.
    LiamABC

    Intense, breathtaking, incredible . . .

    Well, what to say? For starters, I'm a die-hard Classic Star Trek fan, who had until recently been aware of B5 without ever having seen it. Then, about four months ago, my best friend lent me his B5 DVDs of season 1. And I have to admit, I'm impressed.

    To be fair, it took a little while - I was a little wary at first, but it quickly grew on me. Once I got a feel for what was going on, and how the characters worked, yes. It grabbed me. I especially liked Jeffrey Sinclair as a leader-type - someone more thoughtful than your bog-standard action-hero.

    Then, after a long wait, my friend lent me seasons 2-4. Again, I was a little wary at first; it had been a while since I'd seen season 1, and I knew that Sinclair had been replaced by John Sheridan. Out of the two leaders, I prefer Sinclair, and for the first few episodes of season 2, I was unconvinced. Then, about a third of the way in, the pace quickened up - considerably. And while I still prefer Sinclair as a leader, by about episode 8 of season 2, I found that I didn't have the time to miss him, things were moving that quickly, there were so many plots unravelling . . .

    And therein lies the hook. The amount of detail is extraordinary, the way all the characters and plots became intertwined is amazing. The series is so intense - I was watching up to eight or nine episodes a day, for a week solid! And might I say again, I was a Star Trek fan who had never seen B5 before in my life! As many people before me have said, this show isn't a nice neat everything-gets-resolved-in-the-space-of-one-episode type. Details get carried over. There are long story-arcs. There are things happening all the time. Everything has a reason. You see an insignificant detail in season 1, suddenly it is explained in season 3 as being very relevant for reasons you didn't even know about back in the first season.

    If there is one stumbling block for B5, I would have to say that some of the computer-generated images (CGI) are not always up to standard. This is especially true of planet surfaces, in particular Mars. But that's quibbling. The key to good science-fiction is believability. The characters have to act as if the basic premise of the series is perfectly normal to them. That's what makes it work. That's why in the original series of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry made a point of not explaining the workings of anything. For example, Captain Kirk picks up a phaser and fires it without stopping to explain what it was or what it did - after all, in a contemporary series, nobody goes out of their way to say how a gun. We know how it works - so by watching Kirk fire his phaser, we understand implicitly that it is a weapon. The same principle applies in B5 - although to a lesser degree.

    Moving on to the acting - this show was blessed with some wonderful people. In particular, Mira Furlan as Delenn is worth watching; she is possessed of a presence and an aura most actors can only dream of. She is one of those people that when she is speaking, becomes the absolute centre of attention without really trying. Also, as stated above, I am a fan of Cmdr Sinclair - and I think Michael O'Hare's portrayal of him is wonderfully underplayed. It would have been so easy just to play him as an action-hero, but no. I really do miss that character. Another favourite would have to be Stephen Furst as Vir - DS9 fans just think Rom, and you're halfway there. Not to mention the "odd couple" of Peter Jurasik (Londo) and Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar) - wonderful.

    Actually, that's another point - the aliens. The aliens in B5 are more real than the aliens in Star Trek. Their agendas are much better fleshed out. We understand the whys and wherefores much more than the stereotypes of so many Star Trek races (and remember I'm a longterm Star Trek fan). To use Trek parallels, the Minbari are like the Vulcans and Bajorans combined in temperament, the Centauri are probably most comparable to the Cardassians, and the Narns, well, I'd say Klingons, but that's selling them short. Klingon-Bajoran, perhaps. Any hardcore B5 fans offended by those descriptions - sorry, I'm just using them as guidelines to the uninitiated Trek fans. These B5 races are much more real, less stereotyped. (Although the less said about the Drazi, the better!) To summarise, then - I think this is the best sci-fi since Original Star Trek. Watch this show! Star Trek fans will not be disappointed!
    baartwyk

    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.

    More like this

    Babylon 5: In the Beginning
    7.7
    Babylon 5: In the Beginning
    Babylon 5: A Call to Arms
    7.1
    Babylon 5: A Call to Arms
    Babylon 5: The River of Souls
    6.5
    Babylon 5: The River of Souls
    Crusade
    6.7
    Crusade
    Babylon 5: Thirdspace
    6.8
    Babylon 5: Thirdspace
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
    8.1
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
    Babylon 5: The Lost Tales
    6.4
    Babylon 5: The Lost Tales
    Farscape
    8.3
    Farscape
    Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight
    6.0
    Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight
    Babylon 5: The Road Home
    6.6
    Babylon 5: The Road Home
    Star Trek: Enterprise
    7.6
    Star Trek: Enterprise
    Stargate SG-1
    8.4
    Stargate SG-1

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      When Stephen Furst went in to audition for Vir, he saw that everyone else in the waiting room had done their hair up into a Centauri crest; he was the only person without one. In a blind panic, he went to the bathroom and tried to use liquid soap to create a crest. When his name was called, he stumbled in, with a disheveled, lopsided crest, eyes tearing up from liquid soap running into them. He began to apologize profusely, stammering with run-on sentences. Series show runner J. Michael Straczynski and the producers looked at each other, declared "Oh my God, it's Vir!", and offered him the role on the spot.
    • Goofs
      Multiple people state that the Vorlon's quarters contain a lethal combination of gases that would kill humans. However, no one decontaminates or changes their uniform immediately after they leave. No one even wears gloves inside, even though toxic gases could settle upon their skin, or be absorbed through it.

      These gases would kill humans (or other species) *if breathed*. Not simply by exposing the skin to them.
    • Quotes

      Mr. Morden: What do YOU want?

      Ambassador Vir Cotto: I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this.

      [waves]

      Ambassador Vir Cotto: Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?

    • Crazy credits
      As the credits roll in "Atonement" Jason Carter "Marcus" is singing Gilbert and Sullivan's "I am the very model of a Modern Major General."
    • Alternate versions
      The Region 1 DVDs are cropped to Widescreen with fuzzy CGI effects as well as some redone narration and alternate theme song openings for select episodes.
    • Connections
      Featured in Computer Chronicles: Data Storage Solutions (1998)

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    FAQ22

    • How many seasons does Babylon 5 have?Powered by Alexa
    • How do the various movies fit into the series timeline?
    • What is "The Memory of Shadows"?
    • What is "The Gathering"? Do I need to watch that first?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 22, 1993 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • B5
    • Filming locations
      • Sun Valley, Los Angeles, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production companies
      • Warner Home Video
      • Babylonian Productions
      • Time Warner
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      45 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1(original broadcast)
      • 1.78 : 1

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