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"It began in the year 2257 with the founding of the last of
the Babylon stations located deep in neutral space. Babylon 5 is
a dream given form - a dream of a galaxy without war where species
from different worlds can live side by side."
It is difficult when looking back on this immensely successful
five year series to fully understand just how close it was each
year to not being made. With story arcs crossing the whole five
years, it would have been a crime not to go the distance, but each
year was very much in the balance of such mindless TV talk as "viewing
figures", etc.
Thankfully, it did go the distance and overall created a wonderful
set of stories. Some were terrific and a few may have been less
inspired, but the complete legend by J. Michael Straczynski is a
great addition to SF television. There are those who endlessly debate
the compared merits of Star
Trek and Babylon 5. We see this as a pointless exercise. There
is so little decent SF on TV that we applaud anything worth watching.
Babylon 5 was the "last, best hope for peace". With SFX
now at the point where spaceships look real, makeup at the point
where various aliens look real, and a legacy of SF that give a basis
to the stories that can then be viewed as real, it was up to the
creators and actors to make it become real. And this they did. The
five year series was followed by some interesting films and a spinoff
series called Crusade -
unfortunately short-lived due to change of ownership and death by
committee. Obviously there is a great deal more coming to this site
about Babylon 5 ... in time.
Characters:
Jeffrey Sinclair (Series 1) (Michael O'Hare)
John Sheridan (Series 2-5) (Bruce Boxleitner)
Susan Ivanova (Series 1-4) (Claudia Christian)
Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle)
Delenn (Mira Furlan)
Dr. Stephen Franklin (Richard Biggs)
G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas)
Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik)
Lennier (Bill Mumy)
Vir Cotto (Stephen Furst)
Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson)
Marcus Cole (Jason Carter)
Elizabeth Lochley (Series 5) (Tracy Scoggins)
Na'Toth #1 (Julie Caitlin Brown)
Na'Toth #2 (Mary Kay Adams)
Lt. Warren Keffer (Robert Rusler)
Zack Allan (Jeff Conaway)
Lyta Alexander (Patricia Tallman)
Bester (Walter Koenig)
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