Babylon 5 Movies showing on Sci-fi channel

azezil

Wednesday nights, 10pm Sci-Fi Channel, stared last wedesday, 6 in total:

The Gathering(1993)
In the year 2259, ten years after humankind was almost annihilated in a war that started with a simple cultural misunderstanding between a race of beings known as the Minbari, an enormous space station called Babylon 5 was built to provide a diplomatic cross-roads for all alien species.

However, relations get off to a bad start when Ambassador Kosh, a Vorlon, who are a race of mysterious corporeal entities, is poisoned and the ship’s captain, John Sinclair, is implicated in the assassination attempt.

In the Beginning(1998)
Acting as a prequel to The Gathering, In the Beginning takes us back to events leading up to the Earth-Minbari war. Done in an absorbing narrated style akin to that of a father giving his offspring an oral history lesson, the sick and dying Centauri Emperor Londo reveals to two mischievous children insight into humankind’s calamitous crawl out of cosmic darkness and into the path of enlightenment.

Released prior to the series’ finale, In the Beginning is a somewhat overly talky attempt at providing detail to some of the mysteries shrouding key events in the series. Although we learn more about why the Minbari had a change of heart and decided not to eradicate earth, and what may have caused Captain Sinclair’s amnesia during the final day of the battle, there is very little action considering it’s supposed to be a cascading science fiction battle saga.

Thirdspace(1998)
Commander Ivanova discovers a million-year-old artifact floating in hyperspace. Taking it back to the Babylon 5, an archeologist attempts to commandeer the enormous structure for corporate purposes, but Captain Sheridan is concerned of her intentions after learning from the Vorlons that the artifact is in fact a mausoleum harboring a malevolent, yet seductive being from a third space dimension.

The River of Souls(1998)
An unbalanced archeologist steals a relic from the Whisper Gallery - a place created by the Soul Hunters, an alien race who believe they have the right to snatch the souls away from the dying - claiming the ancient piece has the power to grant eternal life. However, tampering with the relic releases a number of distressed and agitated souls who begin menacing the crew.

Being a fan of Star Trek: NG, I found Thirdspace, with its Lovecraftian horror elements and The River of Souls, with its moral and philosophical implications regarding an afterlife, to be the two highlight tele-movies in this box set. They both concentrate heavily on the standard Trek formula of something ‘nasty’ coming aboard and threatening the characters. Many fans have criticised creator J. Michael Straczynski for this seemingly lack of reverence to the Machiavellian mystique embedded within the Babylon 5 realm , but both films still show a provocative and intellectual ingenuity that adds another emotional layer to the characters.

A Call to Arms(1999)
Having forged a strong alliance with the Minbari and Vorlons, the newly created Interstellar Alliance headed by President Sheridan combine technological capabilities to create a powerful series of Earth Alliance Starships to battle the Drakh, who have obtained a deadly weapon that can annihilate planets.

Reviled by critics, but held close by fans who looked beyond the wooden acting and terrible script, and the fact that all the most interesting characters from the series have been dispensed with, A Call to Arms attempted closure to the Babylon 5 universe and provided a tantalizing template and introduction to the new realm of Crusade – Babylon 5 - the next generation.