Babylon 5: Episodes
Click the title of the show to read the review. Reviews from Seasons 4 and Season 5 are complete(and listed below), Seasons 1,2 and 3 have not yet been completely reviewed.
Season One
Signs & Portents
It was the dawn of the third age of mankind,
(yet J. M. Straczynski was still in his 40’s)
ten years after Minbar gave Earth
a severe smack. The Babylon Project was
a dream given form, a place where
humans and aliens could argue
without blowing things up and killing
each other. It’s a place where all
sorts of weirdo’s can live,
all wrapped up in a two million, five
hundred thousand tons of spinning coffin.
This is the story of the last
of the Babylon stations.
The year is 2258.
The place: Babylon 5.
Background Information
The Station
The construction of the Babylon 5 station ended in 2257. People were pretty nervous about the whole thing! Sure it was meant to be a place where aliens and humans could chat peacefully, but a lot of weird stuff happened to the previous four.
Three of the stations were blown up and the forth disappeared! I mean, it’s not like you can hide one of these things behind an asteroid! – the insurance premium must be huge!
The Old Adversaries
The Minbari Federation is a main contributor to the Babylon 5 station. they are an old race and Earth Gov. still don’t know much about them. They are old and spiritual (except when they fight – then they are just ruthless) and lets face it, they look bloody weird!
The Earth Alliance is headed up by a cool geezer called President Luis Santiago. Earth is still recovering after the Earth/Minbari war. Earth Gov. may tell you that they are now leaner, fitter and stronger, but that’s all bollocks!
No matter what people say, they still use those old decrepit destroyers and NO-ONE can re-build the thousands and thousands of ships that were destroyed in the war, in only ten years – even if yer a Vorlon!
The Older Adversaries
The Centauri Republic is an old and fading empire run by a bunch of geezers with six willies and hair that any peacock would be proud of. And yet, they are gradually loosing control of their empire rather like us Brits.
One of the regimes that is now lost to the Centauri Republic, is the Narn Regime. A world inhabited by some cool looking reptilian humanoids.
Narns HATE the Centauri and the feeling is mutual. A war has been brewing up between these two races for the last few years – the fragile peace will be short-lived.
Episode Reviews
Currently, we only have three episode reviews for Season One
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Midnight on the Firing Line
Season Two
The Coming of Shadows
The Babylon Project was our last,
best hope for peace, but we see
lots of things getting blown up
It’s a place of commerce and diplomacy
and general bickering and frivolity.
A big bright shiny thing,
all alone in the night.
In this year we all started chasing Shadows and becoming very paranoid indeed.
The year is 2259.
The name of the place is Babylon 5.
Background Information
The Gods
The Shadows are slowly waking up after a 1000-year sleep. They are gradually beginning to infiltrate races around the galaxy with offers of assistance in whatever little skirmish these vulnerable worlds are caught up in.
The Vorlons (and a few on Babylon 5) are beginning to notice and are gradually making preparations for war. The Vorlons still talk in riddles and frustrate and annoy anyone who comes in contact with them. They are however, the one race that seem capable of kicking the Shadows up the bum! They are both very old races and it now seems clear that they are absolute adversaries.
The Imminent War
The Narn Regime and the Centauri Republic are heading for a massive confrontation. Border skirmishes and political intrigue are setting both these races up for war. However, the Centauri Republicare rather bullish; they have a new ally, and the balance of power is tipping in Centauri Prime’s favour (despite the Narns work in gradually developing it’s military strength).
The Old Adversaries
The cool Geezer, President Luis Santiago, is no more and he has been replaced by a paranoid anti-alien geezer called President Clark. Clark rules by propaganda and covert control through agencies such as the Psi Corps a secretive and powerful army of telepaths. 
Clark is afraid of the other races and Earth does not have much to do with Babylon 5 as a result.
Certain religious Minbari know that they have a mixed gene pool. Such a revelation, if it were to become public, would destroy the fragile peace between the Casts.
So far, Earth and Minbar are still pals, but the Warring Cast still feel that there is an old score to settle.
Episode Reviews
Currently, we only have two episode reviews for Season Two
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Acts of Sacrifice
I’m afraid there are no other no reviews from this season yet prepared
Season Three
The Point of No Return
The Babylon Project was our last,
best hope for peace.
It failed.
In fact it failed miserably!
Not only are the Shadows influencing
stuff all over the place,
but the Centauri are illegally
thumping Narn Homeworld
and worse still, that git Clarke
is using all the elements of
nastiness and subterfuge
(Psi-Corps and NightWatch) to squeeze
any form of happy living out of the Earthers
Having said all that, in the year of
the Shadow War, Babylon 5 became something greater:
The last, best hope for kicking Shadow bottom!
The year is 2260.
The place: Babylon 5.
Background Information
The Gods
The Shadows are expanding their sphere of influence. After keeping quiet for a thousand years, most of the old ones have left to set up house beyond the rim leaving only the Vorlons to stop them. 
The Vorlons too have stepped-up activity. This was going to be the year that the two would confront each other again. The Vorlons have been popping over for a visit to the lesser races for a long time, probably manipulating many of them for their own special purposes.
In fact Vorlons appear as gods whenever they are seen without their encounter suits on – different gods to different races. They hate the Shadows guts and the only reason (so it seems) for staying behind when the First ones left, was to beat up the Shadows one last time.
The War
The Narn Regime and the Centauri Republic were again at war. The war was particularly humiliating for the Narns since they had suffered at the hands of the Centauri a hundred years earlier.
Unfortunately for the Narns, they declared war on a technologically superior race who were intent on the expansion of their empire due to an insane emperor and the help (and influence) of the Shadows. The Centauri are brutally occupying the Narn homeworld.
The Earth
President Clark, is still behaving like a total git! He seems to take every opportunity to wind up our Mr. Sheridan and has been particularly brutal in the government of Mars and other colonies. There is significant opposition to him, but no-body dares to take him on, not with the help of Psi-Corps and NightWatch. Perhaps Sheridan will change all that.
Season Four
No Surrender, No Retreat
It was the year of fire,
the year that lots of things got blown up.
It was the year we all wondered what
the hell there was after episode six,
the year Delenn and Sheridan got it together
and it was about bloody time.
It was the end of history
(or at least G’Kars left eye),
and it was the year that the Shadows,
Vorlons and Earth Gov. stopped playing God.
The year is 2261.
The place: Babylon 5.
Background Information
The Gods
The Shadows have effectively ‘woken up’ after a 1000-year sleep. The Vorlons too have stepped-up activity. This was going to be the year that the two would confront each other again.
As the oldest races and major galactic powers, it is clear that the Shadows and the Vorlons represent opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum.
The aim is for their philosophy to dominate the younger races – whether they want it or not.
The Shadows believe in progress through chaos and confrontation whereas the Vorlons, through introversion and spiritual growth (though not necessarily achievement or expansion). Both were pushing the younger races a little too hard and everyone was getting pissed-off.
The War
The Narn Regime and the Centauri Republic were again at war. The war was particularly humiliating for the Narns since they had suffered at the hands of the Centauri a hundred years earlier.
Unfortunately for the Narns, they declared war on a technologically superior race who were intent on the expansion of their empire due to an insane emperor and the help (and influence) of the Shadows.
The Centauri are brutally occupying the Narn homeworld.
The Old Adversaries
President Clark, is heading up the Earth Alliance, which is also Shadow influenced. He rules by propaganda and covert control through agencies such as the Night Watch and Psi Corps.
Clark is afraid of the other races and Earth does not have much to do with Babylon 5 as a result, especially since Babylon 5 declared independence from the Earth Alliance in 2260.
The old enemy, the Minbari, apparently have a mixed gene pool. Sinclair, the first commander of Babylon 5 assisted the Minbari by traveling back in time to help against the Shadows. This discovery, by the Religious Caste, stopped the Earth Minbari War at the eleventh hour.
Episode Reviews
The Hour of the Wolf
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: David Eagle
Whatever Happened to
Mr. Garibaldi?
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Kevin Dobson
The Summoning
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: John McPherson
Falling Toward Apotheosis
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: David Eagle
The Long Night
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: John LaFia
Into the Fire
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Kevin Dobson
Epiphanies
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: John C. Flinn, III
The Illusion of Truth
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Stephen Furst
Atonement
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Tony Dow
Racing Mars
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Jesus Trevino
Lines of Communication
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: John Flinn III
Conflicts of Interest
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: David Eagle
Rumors, Bargains and Lies
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Mike Lawrence Vejar
Moments of Transition
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Tony Dow
No Surrender, No Retreat
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Mike Lawrence Vejar
The Exercise of Vital Powers (no review)
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: John LaFia
The Face of the Enemy
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Mike Lawrence Vejar
Intersections in Real Time
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: John LaFia
Between the Darkness and the Light
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: David Eagle
Endgame
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: John Copeland
Rising Star
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Tony Dow
The Deconstruction of Falling Stars
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by: Stephen Furst
Season Five
Wheel of Fire
It was the year of The Alliance when
even more things got blown up.
It was the year we all confessed
“I wanna be a teep” and the year
Delenn and Sheridan had a baby
It was the dawn of a new age, we lost
an Ivanova and gained a Lockley
and it was soooo bloody depressing.
It was the year a bunch of teep twerps went psycho.
The year is 2262.
The place: Babylon 5.
Background Information
The Gods
The Shadows and the Vorlons have gone. The new gods to contend with are the teeps, a merry band of psychic people who believe that they are better than normals and deserve a little (or a lot) more. 
They believe that they should not be at the beck and call of normals but that the tables should be turned and it should be they who rule the galaxy.
It has to be said that Sheridan and Delenn could also be considered gods. The new leaders of the almost all-powerful Alliance, are, by themselves, a force to be reckoned with.
The War
The Narn Regime and the Centauri Republic are friends again. Well, Londo and G’Kar are getting on a little better. It is widely regarded that there is a war on its way and this will essentially be a human war between the telepaths and the normals.
At the end of the last season we saw Sheridan lead the army of light against the tyrannical Earth Force and win. Actually he won BIG TIME! There was relatively little loss of life and he managed to re-unite humanity afterward by resigning from Earth Force and taking up the position of President of the Alliance.
Sheridan now has a difficult job trying to stop the members squabbling and to take tough action, where needed in combating the teep threat and certain other mysterious cultures who have ideas above their station.
The Old Adversaries
Clearly, the adversaries in this season are the telepaths and the normals. With the Shadows and Vorlons gone, there is a bit of a vacuum. There is no clear enemy, no clear goodies or baddies. However there does seem to be a sinister alien race originating from the Shadow homeworld, and these guys pull strings!
Episode Reviews
No Compromises
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Janet Greek
The Very Long Night
of Londo Mollari
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David Eagle
The Paragon of Animals
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Mike Lawrence Vejar
A View from the Gallery
Written by J. M. S. and Harlan Ellison
Directed by Janet Greek
Learning Curve
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David Eagle
Strange Relations
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John C. Flinn, III
Secrets of the Soul
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Tony Dow
The Day of the Dead
Written by Neil Gaiman
Directed by Doug Lefler
In the Kingdom of the Blind
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David Eagle
A Tragedy of Telepaths
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Tony Dow
Phoenix Rising
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David Eagle
The Ragged Edge
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John Copeland
The Corps is Mother,
The Corps is Father
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Stephen Furst
Meditations on the Abyss
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Mike Lawrence Vejar
Darkness Ascending
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Tony Dow
And All My Dreams,
Torn Asunder
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Goran Gajic
Movements of Fire and Shadow
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John C. Flinn, III
The Fall of Centauri Prime
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Douglas Wise
Wheel of Fire
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Janet Greek
Objects in Motion
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Jesus Treviño
Objects at Rest
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John Copeland
Sleeping in Light
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by J. Michael Straczynski
The Episode Reviews are © 1999-2019 Tony Fawl or respective reviewers.
Not for reproduction without the authors permission.
The BABYLON 5 names, characters and everything else associated with the series are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, TNT and Warner Brothers, a division of Time Warner Entertainment Company. All rights reserved.