Contains some spoilers!

2021/09/12

It is that time again! Time to start a rewatch of Babylon 5! It always excites me, because it one of my all-time favorite TV shows as you probably know if you are familiar with this website. I have been thinking about it for almost a year now, starting a rewatch. One reason I had not started yet was because I first was hoping and waiting for that Blu-ray release which first seemed to be released in March of this year. When this fell through I was pondering to buy the digital release, which has been released in HD as you may know.

At first it wasn’t available to me, because HBO MAX is not available where I live, but when I found it on Amazon Prime, the German version where I have a Prime account, I waited for the right price to purchase all five seasons. I was literally purchasing a season when I got the message that I had to live in Germany, Austria or Switzerland to be able to buy the DIGITAL Babylon 5 content! But because I don’t live in either of these countries, I could not complete the purchase! I was really disappointed by this and I realized that there is not much else to do then to rewatch Babylon 5 on my DVD set. Sure, I can wait longer and hope that there will be a Blu-ray release, or that I can see it, buy it on another streaming service, but I just no longer want to postpone the rewatch because it now it is more than four years ago since I last watched B5, and I really am missing it!

Last few rewatches it is customary for me to start with “In The Beginning”. Perhaps if you are new to Babylon 5 I am not sure I would start with “In The Beginning” but just rather with the original Pilot “The Gathering”.  The story starts on the Centauri home world, where Londo Mollari, emperor, hears some children’s voices. He summons them, a caretaker is with the kids and for 5 minutes the boy can be emperor and gets to give one command. He wants to hear a story. Londo tells the story about the Human – Minbari war, which almost annihilated the human species. But on the eve of victory, the Minbari surrendered.

You find out that not only Londo Mollari but also G’Kar plays a role in the early days before they were elected ambassadors on Babylon 5. What you perhaps might expect is a large role for Sinclair and although he is in the movie, he is only there for a small, but very important, part in the movie. The story does unfold predictively, of course because as fans we already knew what happens, perhaps not in detail but in general but also because first contact happens as commander Sheridan predicts. Captain Jankowski is exactly as Sheridan describes him to be, as a viewer you immediately feel he cannot handle the situation and indeed this is what happens. So what happens is in fact a war because of miscommunication! The Minbari “greet” the unknown vessel with gunports open, this is customary for the warrior caste. The human vessel sees this as a hostile move so before there is any verbal communication, Captain Jankowski orders the attack on the Minbari vessels, killing Minbari’s great leader Dukhat.

What follows is a war which the humans cannot possible win, they are outgunned, the Minbari are one of the oldest spacefaring races. Delenn, Dukat’s apprentice, was so distraught at the murder of her master that she ordered to kill all humans but it does not take long before she seems to regret that decision, the Humans are no match for the Minbari. Meanwhile under Sheridan’s command the Lexington is the first ship to destroy a Minbari vessel, the Black Star, one of Minbari’s greatest ships. Delenn and the leader of the rangers, Lenonn, think it is time to try and talk to the Humans. But this is sabotaged by Londo Mollari, because he learned of the involvement of the Narns and was afraid it would lead to closer ties between the Humans and the Narns. The war continues and the warrior caste is set to annihilate the Human race. Delenn, wants to see a human before she gives the final word to destroy humankind and randomly picks the starfury where Sinclair is in, while Sinclair is trying to ram  the Minbari vessel. Sinclair is strapped down and he is tested by with the triluminary. The Minbari are shocked to see it glow! Which means that Sinclair has a Minbari soul and Minbari do not kill Minbari so they immediately surrendered but without giving the Humans any explanation why. This remains a mystery well into the series.

I think it’s Babylon 5’s best movie, it has a great story, the reason why the Babylon stations were built in the first place. It does have some inconsistencies because before Sheridan ever became Captain of Babylon 5, we learn from “In The Beginning”, Sheridan already has met Franklin, Londo and G’Kar, which is not obvious when watching season 2 of Babylon 5. He also meets Delenn, although she wears a hood all the time so he only hears her voice but giving this is at least 10 years ago, it is logical he does not remember her from her voice. The movie also ties into season 3 (episode “War Without End”) quite nicely when we see, after the children and their caretaker have left, Londo is watching a screening where Sheridan and Delenn are together in his prison.

Soundtrack:

Perhaps unknown to some, there is also a soundtrack for this movie (as well as for “Thirdspace”, “The River of Souls” and “The Lost Tales”). If you are still able to purchase it, I recommend it, it is a wonderful piece of music. It is still available I believe.

VHS Video Tapes:

Like the Babylon 5, the series, “In The Beginning” I also purchased on VHS Video Tape directly after its release in the UK. I did the same with the other movies of course but when I finally sold all my tapes, with in hindsight some regret, but I simply did not have the space to keep them any longer, I gave the buyer the “In The Beginning” movie on VHS for free, because at that time I owned it on DVD. But I kept the other movies on VHS, still have them, on a shelve, like you do with a picture frame. But I miss the best movie unfortunately, even though I no longer am able to watch it on VHS.

Final Word:

Well as I said I start my latest rewatches with this movie, it’s a great way to start the rewatch, especially when you are very familiar with the Babylon 5 universe. I can’t wait to begin the series, I also already watched the pilot “The Gathering” right after this and because I already wrote a blog about that 4 years ago I won’t write one now (as also for Season One of B5). So next up is “Midnight on the Firing Line”!

Screencaps taken from: www.cap-that.com/b5/