CLASSIC TV BABYLO N 5

Aspace-station odyssey…

1993-98 AVAILABLE ON DVD, BD, DIGITAL

G7 summits were far more interesting back in the day

Light years ahead of anything else on television!’ declared the publicity for the fourth season of science-fiction series Babylon 5. For once, it wasn’t hyperbole. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski’s 90s space opera did more than just break Star Trek’s stranglehold on small-screen sci-fi. Its groundbreaking approach to serialised storytelling arguably set US TV drama on a creative path that would ultimately lead to everything from Mad Men to the reimagined Battlestar Galactica.

Set in the 23rd century, Babylon 5 centres on the titular five-mile space station, a place of intergalactic diplomacy and home to an array of alien species. An interstellar UN if you like or, as Straczynski pitched it to TV networks, ‘Casablanca in space’. Over the course of the show’s five seasons, this relatively unassuming location would become the lynchpin in a battle for the fate of the entire universe, an epic story of good and evil played out between God-like beings. Allegiances were forged and broken. Characters loved and lost. And every story beat was thought out years in advance.

When it came to planning Babylon 5, Straczynski set down a five-year roadmap for the show, one that would take a more novelistic approach to its storytelling, threading ongoing story arcs through every episode. To that end, while nearly half of the show’s debut season would be written by hired hands, by the second season it was down to just seven episodes. After that, Straczynski only stepped away from the word processor one more time, letting superstar writer Neil Gaiman contribute a story to the fifth season. In total, Straczynski wrote 92 of Babylon 5’s 110 episodes, an astonishing feat that granted him near-total freedom to tell his story his way.

If Babylon 5’s modest budget meant the production couldn’t always keep pace with Straczynski’s epic vision, the pioneering use of digital effects meant that any brief moments of spectacle were rather mind-blowing at the time. Meanwhile, the show’s established character actors (Claudia Christian, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael O’Hare, Mira Furlan) did a terrific job of overcoming most of the weaknesses in Straczynski’s dialogue and occasional shortfalls in production design, bringing real humanity to even the most otherworldly characters.

Although the series came to an end in 1998, Babylon 5 lives on in the form of multimedia spin-offs (this year’s animated movie The Road Home being the latest) and in all the other arc-based US TV dramas to which it opened the door. ANTON VAN BEEK

A VERY SPECIAL EPISODE

SEVERED DREAMS S3, 1996 As the Shadow War heats up, Babylon 5’s secession from the Earth Alliance leads to a tense and shocking military standoff. This enthralling episode deservedly beat cinematic big hitters Star Trek: First Contact and Independence Day to win the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.