Babylon 5, The War & Peace of Modern Sci-Fi

Introduction

I recently ran out of Sci-Fi series to watch so I started to think of an old series that I could dust down and re visit. I thought of the obvious ones first and while both the original Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek the next generation got a few minutes of thought, I finally decided on Babylon 5.

Like a Good Wine

I have to say that I was suprised at how well it has aged, considering the early 90’s CGI. The first series was always a little slow for me but is still good, but I have to say that Bruce Boxleitner’s Commander Sheridan is far superior to the Commander Sinclair of the first series (he always looked like Burt from sesame street to me for some obscure reason).

The Father of 21st Century Sci-Fi?

I was also suprised to see how many ideas and effects had been lifted from Babylon 5 in more recent series. I can remember being very impressed by the movement of the fighters (Vipers and Raiders) in Galactica and I had completely forgotten that this particular idea had been first used by the Star Fury’s in B5. Also, the time distortion Story Arc’s and subsequent plot references have been well used in many recent series, Star Trek Enterprise for one. The use of biological technologies including ships is heavily used in the series Farscape where the main ship Moya is a living organism which is interfaced biologically by an alien pilot.

B5 was, IMHO, the first Sci-Fi series to really embrace the Story Arc series method, in fairness the original Battlestar Galactica did do this first, but B5 brings it into a new dimension, with it’s political, love interest, religious and moral subplots spiralling in all directions there truly is something for every pallet. This is probably why I call B5 the War and Peace of Sci-Fi as it is just that, careering through alien wars, dictatorships, revolutions, xenophobia, alien marriages, civil wars and the ethics of cross breeding alien races it is colourful and handles all sorts of philosophical ideas using the Sci-Fi vehicle to cleverly open access to these ideas without the emotional baggage that it’s fictional drama counterparts would inevitably bring along.

Conclusion

I think that B5’s appeal lies in the vast reservoir of ideas that it it draws on, it like many of the best Sci-Fi series can be watched on many levels, with it’s trade mark struggle for good and evil and enough gadgets to keep the geeks (me) happy! Go on give Babylon 5 another watch, you will be pleasantly suprised.