Techtite's TV Reviews!

"Season one had good stories, yes, though its hero was Commander Jeffery Sinclair (Michael O'Hare), who even the most stouthearted fanboy would admit was quite the stuffy shirt, compared to Bruce Boxleitner's Captain Sheridan of later seasons."

---from the review

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The Deep Space Nine Debate Continues... The biggest debate in 1990's sci-fi was: who ripped off whom? Deep Space Nine was too strikingly similar to Babylon 5 to be mere coincidence, that two sci-fi fronts would consider a story about an "inter-species" space station at the same time. However, is this really a debate Babylon 5's fans wish to keep alive...? To one and all Trekkers, Deep Space Nine is by far the WORST, most dragging, dull Star Trek spin-off ever conceived. If you're ready to compare the worst of Star Trek to Babylon 5; be my guest. However, all those arguments that "my boring space station is better than your boring space station" have gone their course, and led to little more than people who never saw this series thinking it's "the show Deep Space Nine ripped off." Even if this is true, given how pathetic Deep Space Nine was, this is no compliment. Do you really want people to remember this series as the inspiration for the worst of Star Trek? I wouldn't.

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Babylon 5: 

The Complete First Season!

Click picture to order this season on DVD

A Review by Techtite

"It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last, best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon5." 

Such was the prologue to Babylon 5; one of the biggest enigmas in all of sci-fi history. On the one hand, any science fiction fan would tell you, this was the source of some really good 1990's sci-fi. On the other hand, to fanboys, even a compliment that sincere is not enough. They insist series creator J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) was some sort of genius for conceiving a series with a "novel format...with a definitive beginning, middle, and end." Now, don't get me wrong --it was really good sci-fi-- though how was B5's "beginning, middle and end" unlike any typical series, with a pilot episode, middle seasons, and a series finale...? Yet Babylonians insist theirs was a beginning/middle/end, that was a "real" beginning/middle/end. Don't you see...? Never mind; neither do I. Let's just agree with this much; season one is now out on DVD, and any sci-fi fan will want to buy it. Right...? Right.

B-5's freshman season doesn't help the "novel format" theory, however, when it is so clearly different from later seasons. For one thing, its hero was Commander Jeffery Sinclair (Michael O'Hare), who even the most stouthearted fanboy would admit was quite the stuffy shirt, compared to Bruce Boxleitner's Captain Sheridan of later seasons. Why would "one story" begin with a totally different Captain...? Never mind; the truth is, without Sheridan, season one is merely the groundwork for the series' better, later seasons. However, let's be fair; anyone would likely say the same thing about Star Trek: The Next Generation's First Season. Much like that season, this season is merely a stepping stone.

Of course, even season one has the definitive character of Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian). Ivanova was this series' reigning Jewish Russian lesbian, and regardless of putting all their minority eggs in one basket, the resulting character was to this series what Mr. Spock was to Star Trek. Forget the nonsense that it was "intended from the beginning" that season 5 would be the series' last; the truth is, no sooner did Claudia leave, then the series tanked. Claudia was the glue that held this bucket of bolts together. Few other shows could have replaced the show's lead character (Sinclair/Sheridan) with barely a care in the world; in this series, people were paying too much attention to Ivanova to care.

In addition to key stage-setting episodes, this season one collection offers some nice DVD bonuses. Each episode has been digitally remastered, with two of the best episodes introduced by JMS himself. Two behind-the-scenes featurettes are offered, plus a thorough "tour" of the station and its inhabitants. The original on-air episode previews are also offered, which allows for a the-way-it-was-first-aired format, if you wish, with you able to view the "next week..." teasers in between episodes. In short, this is everything a fan would want...even if they might want the later seasons even more.

---Techtite

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