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SPOILER WARNING This page gives away the whole story, including the ending. If you haven't seen it, go back to the front page and go rent some tapes. I mean it. You only get to see it for the first time once. |
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Before the station: the Earth-Minbari War In 2245 an Earth ship makes a terrible mistake at first contact with the Minbari, and the Minbari go to war. Earth loses every battle. In 2248, with the Minbari at the gates of Earth, the Minbari suddenly surrender at the Battle of the Line and nobody on Earth knows why. Babylon 5, the fifth station after the first three were sabotaged and the fourth vanished, is built as a place for the races to talk instead of shoot. (The TV movie "In the Beginning," shown on TNT in January 1998, tells the war itself, and it's a good place for a newcomer to start.) |
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Season 1 (2258): "Signs and Portents" Commander Sinclair runs the station and tries to figure out the 24 hours missing from his memory of the Battle of the Line. Londo meets a quiet man named Morden who asks him what he wants, and Londo tells him. Old enemies the Narn and Centauri circle each other. Something is stirring out on the rim. The season ends with "Chrysalis," where in one hour Earth's president is killed, Garibaldi is shot in the back by his own man, and Delenn closes herself up in a cocoon. That's when I knew this show was different. Show a friend: "Babylon Squared," about the missing Babylon 4. It seems like a one-off mystery. It isn't. It pays off two years later. |
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Season 2 (2259): "The Coming of Shadows" Sinclair is reassigned to Minbar and Captain John Sheridan takes over, a war hero from the Minbari war (the one Earth captain who won a real victory against them). Delenn comes out of the chrysalis part human. Londo's new friends turn out to be the Shadows, an ancient race waking up after a thousand years, and with their help the Centauri crush the Narn. G'Kar loses his whole world. Kosh finally steps out of his encounter suit in the last episode, and every race on the station sees something different. Show a friend: "The Coming of Shadows." It won the Hugo. The scene where the dying Centauri emperor tries to make peace, and what Londo does while he's dying, is the whole series in miniature. |
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Season 3 (2260): "Point of No Return" Earth is sliding into a police state under President Clark. When Earth Force bombs civilians on Mars, Babylon 5 declares independence ("Severed Dreams," the second Hugo). Sheridan and Delenn build an army of the younger races against the Shadows, with the Minbari Rangers and their White Star ships. "War Without End" brings back Sinclair and answers the question from "Babylon Squared": Sinclair goes back a thousand years and becomes Valen, the greatest Minbari who ever lived, even though he wasn't born one. That's why they surrendered. I stood up in my living room. Kosh is murdered. And at the end, Sheridan goes to Z'ha'dum, the Shadow homeworld, and jumps into a pit with no bottom. Show a friend: "War Without End," parts one and two. But only after they've seen season one. |
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Season 4 (2261): "No Surrender, No Retreat" Nobody knew if there would be a fifth season, so JMS packed years of story into this one, and it moves like a freight train. Sheridan comes back from Z'ha'dum with help from Lorien, the oldest being in the galaxy. Londo and Vir get rid of the mad emperor Cartagia and free the Narn. The Shadows and the Vorlons turn out to be two old teachers fighting over which lesson the young races should learn, and in "Into the Fire" the young races tell both of them to leave. Then Sheridan turns around and takes back Earth itself from Clark. Garibaldi turns out to have been reprogrammed by Bester. Marcus gives his life for Ivanova. Out of all of it comes the Interstellar Alliance, with Sheridan as its president. Show a friend: "Into the Fire." Or the whole season in one weekend, which is what I did last spring. |
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Season 5 (2262): "The Wheel of Fire" The show moved to TNT in January 1998. Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins) takes command of the station. A colony of rogue telepaths led by Byron makes a home in the station's underbelly and it ends badly. The Centauri homeworld is bombed, and Londo finally learns who has been pulling the strings: the Drakh, servants of the departed Shadows, who put a Keeper on his neck and make him emperor. G'Kar becomes a prophet against his will. Season five is the one fans argue about. It starts slow. I think it's underrated, especially the Londo and G'Kar episodes near the end. The last episode: "Sleeping in Light" was filmed as the season four finale in case there was no season five, then held back. It jumps twenty years ahead to 2281. Sheridan's borrowed time is running out and he gathers his old friends one more time. Then the station is shut down. I'm not going to tell you what happens after that. I watched it with my wife, and neither of us said anything for a long time afterwards. |
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The TV movies "The Gathering" (the 1993 pilot) · "In the Beginning" (January 1998) · "Thirdspace" (July 1998) · "The River of Souls" (November 1998) · "A Call to Arms" (January 1999), which leads straight into Crusade. |