Babylon 5: In the Beginning is a 1998 American made-for-television film set in the Babylon 5 fictional universe . It was written by J. Michael Straczynski and directed by Michael Vejar . The film originally aired on January 4, 1998 on the TNT cable network , a couple of weeks before the fifth season of the series began.
149-509: The film tells the story of the war between humans and an alien race known as the Minbari , which forms an important part of the backstory of Babylon 5 . The war begins as the result of a misunderstanding, and nearly leads to the extermination of the human race, but is halted by the Minbari leadership at the last moment for reasons that remain secret for over a decade. This near-destruction of
298-452: A light pen and graphics tablet , he would begin by developing the melodic content round which the ambient components and transitions were added. Using playbacks with digital samples of the appropriate instruments, such as a group of violins, he would decide which tracks to produce electronically or record acoustically . Scores for the acoustic tracks were emailed to his Berlin scoring stage, and would require from four musicians to
447-423: A "line" around the planet in an attempt to delay the Minbari to give some humans time to flee the planet. During the battle, a human pilot, Jeffrey Sinclair , is captured for interrogation. The Grey Council is startled to discover that he possesses the soul of the revered Minbari religious leader Valen. Delenn infers that the reincarnation of Valen as a human is a signal that the humans must not be destroyed, and so
596-455: A 6.8 rating/10 share. Figures dipped in its second week, and while it posted a solid 5.0 rating/8 share, with an increase in several major markets, ratings for the first season continued to fall, to a low of 3.4 during reruns . Ratings remained low-to-middling throughout the first four seasons, but Babylon 5 scored well with the demographics required to attract the leading national sponsors and saved up to $ 300,000 per episode by shooting off
745-595: A Sinclair family tradition. Less than a year later, Sinclair was promoted to squadron leader. Due to his rapid rise through the ranks, the rumor of the day was that Sinclair was on the fast track to making Admiral . As squadron leader, Sinclair fought at the Battle of the Line, the last major battle in the Earth-Minbari War . During the course of the battle, his squadron was destroyed by the Minbari , and his fighter
894-407: A White Star (" Objects at Rest "), Lennier, seeing for the opportunity to remove his 'competition', refused to help him and fled, for a short moment leaving him for dead. Almost immediately after he realized the foolishness of his actions and did come back, but by then Sheridan had managed to rescue himself. Lennier ran away, deeply ashamed of what he had done, and was never heard from again, except for
1043-463: A broad palette of colors was developed with Iacovelli, which he referred to as "spicy brights". These warm shades of gray and secondary colors, such as certain blues for the Minbari , would often be included when designing both the costumes and relevant sets. As the main characters evolved, Bruice referred back to Straczynski and producer John Copeland who she viewed as "surprisingly more accessible to me as advisors than other producers and directors", so
1192-571: A central figure of several prophecies within the Shadow War. Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova (seasons 1–4, guest season 5), second-in-command of Babylon 5 , was portrayed by Claudia Christian . Michael Garibaldi was played by Jerry Doyle in seasons one to five and voiced by Anthony Hansen in Babylon 5: The Road Home . He is named after the Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi . In
1341-424: A critical role in " Point of No Return " in leading the bulk of the station's Nightwatch into a trap set up to capture them. Allan was the second aide to B5 Chief of Security Michael Garibaldi from 2259 to 2261. Following Garibaldi's resignation as chief of security in season 4, Allan was appointed Chief of Security. He held the position for many years; except for a brief stint back on Earth, he remained there until
1490-437: A design carried over from the pilot movie, which was difficult to work with and wear due to the combination of leather and wool. While the original pilot film featured some aliens which were puppets and animatronics , the decision was made early on in the show's production to portray most alien species as humanoid in appearance. Barring isolated appearances, fully computer-generated aliens were discounted as an idea due to
1639-404: A devastating attack on Ivanova and Cole's White Star during the battle to reclaim Earth from the tyrannical government of President Clark, Cole takes the severely injured Ivanova to Babylon 5. Using an alien execution device that takes one person's life-energy and transfers it to another, he sacrifices his life to save hers. His corpse is then preserved at Ivanova's request in cryogenic suspension in
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#17327867554791788-703: A feat never before accomplished in American television. Other writers to have contributed scripts to the show include Peter David , Neil Gaiman , Kathryn M. Drennan , Lawrence G. DiTillio , D. C. Fontana , and David Gerrold . Harlan Ellison , a creative consultant on the show, received story credits for two episodes. Each writer was informed of the overarching storyline, enabling the show to be produced consistently under-budget. The rules of production were strict; scripts were written six episodes in advance, and changes could not be made once production had started. With not all cast members being hired for every episode of
1937-523: A final, untraceable call to Delenn in which he asked her and Sheridan for forgiveness. This would likely constitute his "Betrayal of the Rangers" as predicted by Morden. The series left Lennier's final fate unknown, although most of Morden's prophecies came true and there are hints in the series finale " Sleeping in Light " (during a sequence when the guests were remembering their fallen friends), that Lennier
2086-763: A member of the Psi Corps organization. She was assigned to the Earth space station Babylon 5 in the year 2258 to serve as its second resident commercial telepath. Like all Psi Corps members, Winters' telepathic ability was numbered according to ability; Winters was classified as a P5 , the level of most commercial telepaths. Typically, commercial telepaths were assigned to help two or more business parties broker deals, by monitoring their honesty during business negotiations. Talia Winters' telepathic abilities manifested at age five. As required by law, her parents immediately sent her to be raised, educated, and trained in her gifts by
2235-428: A millennial cyclic conflict between ancient races. The human characters, in particular, become pivotal to the resistance against Earth's descent into totalitarianism . Many episodes focused on the effect of wider events on individual characters. Episodes contained themes such as personal change, loss, oppression, corruption, and redemption. Unusual for American broadcast television at the time of its airing, Babylon 5
2384-436: A multimedia franchise of spin-offs consisting of a miniseries, five television movies, twenty-two novels, two tabletop games (an RPG and a wargame), and various other media such as technical books, comics, and trading cards. Having worked on a number of television science fiction shows which had regularly gone over budget, Straczynski concluded that a lack of long-term planning was to blame, and set about looking at ways in which
2533-501: A new Interstellar Alliance along with the Minbari, Centauri, and Narn governments. With their help, Sheridan is able to win the Earth civil war and forces President Clark out of office. Sheridan is forced to resign from the Earth military, but is named president of the Interstellar Alliance. An ex-lover of Sheridan's, Elizabeth Lochley, is assigned to command the station. A group of rogue human telepaths take sanctuary on
2682-402: A new team had been established by Netter Digital , and an equal level of quality was assured, by using similar technology and a number of former Foundation employees. The Emmy-winning alien make-up was provided by Optic Nerve Studios. Christopher Franke composed and scored the musical soundtrack for all five years of the show when Stewart Copeland , who worked on the original telefilm,
2831-465: A relationship. After a year of living together, the two of them broke up, but continued to see each other off and on through 2258, when they became engaged. Sakai went missing in late 2259, while on a mission for the Rangers . The season one episode " By Any Means Necessary " establishes that Sinclair received Jesuit education as a young man. In 2240, Sinclair was promoted to fighter pilot, continuing
2980-516: A relatively dangerous mining operation. His brother William had left the colony and become a Ranger on Minbar ; he was killed by the Shadows while visiting Marcus on Arisia. Marcus was one of the few survivors (if not the only survivor) of the attack. Much of Marcus Cole's early background is told in the novel To Dream In the City of Sorrows by Kathryn Drennan. Marcus Cole joined the Rangers following
3129-582: A representative of the Centauri to Babylon 5 when Mollari is back on Centauri Prime. When Mollari ascends to the throne as Emperor, he names Vir as the Ambassador to Babylon 5, by then an important position. As was prophesied, Vir succeeds Londo as Emperor of Centauri Republic during the Drakh War. Vir appears after the main series in "The Fall of Centauri Prime" trilogy of tie-in novels, and is Emperor of
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#17327867554793278-423: A season, the five-year plot length caused some planning difficulties. If a critical scene involving an actor not hired for every episode had to be moved, that actor had to be paid for work on an extra episode. It was sometimes necessary to adjust the plotline to accommodate external influences, an example being the "trap door" that was written for every character: in the event of that actor's unexpected departure from
3427-491: A series could be done responsibly. Taking note of the lessons of mainstream television, which brought stories to a centralized location such as a hospital, police station, or law office, he decided that instead of "[going] in search of new worlds, building them anew each week", a fixed space station setting would keep costs at a reasonable level. A fan of sagas such as the Foundation series , Childhood's End , The Lord of
3576-563: A significant canonical part in the overall story. Straczynski announced plans for a reboot of the series in September 2021 in conjunction with Warner Bros. Television. An animated feature-length, direct-to-video film, Babylon 5: The Road Home , was released in August 2023. The main Babylon 5 story arc occurs between the years 2257 and 2262. The show depicts a future where Earth has
3725-590: A thousand years' of cooperation and began a civil war against one another. After Sheridan and Babylon 5 broke away from Earth, it was Delenn who rescued the station with a fleet of Minbari ships, at the cost of destroying the symbolic circle of the Grey Council. The religious and worker castes sided with Babylon 5 and the Army of Light. Unfortunately, without the Grey Council keeping order, the divisions in Minbari society became so strong that civil war soon broke out. It
3874-547: A unified Earth government and has gained the technology for faster-than-light travel using "jump gates", a kind of wormhole technology allowing transport through the alternate dimension of hyperspace . The Colonies within the Solar System and beyond make up the Earth Alliance , which has established contact with other spacefaring species. Ten years before the series is set, Earth barely escaped destruction by
4023-473: A valuable ally despite her strong loyalty to Psi Corps. Security Chief Michael Garibaldi , who harbored a not-so-secret crush on Winters, was in frequent contact with her. Garibaldi would routinely flirt with her and show up in the stations' transport tubes just when she was about to board them. Although annoyed by his unsubtle advances, Winters remained friendly with him and used her Psi Corps connections to help him contact his former lover, Lise Hampton, during
4172-557: A very sad story and maybe I'll tell it some day". . Elizabeth Lochley was played by Tracy Scoggins in the fifth and last season of Babylon 5 , replacing the previous commander of the station, John Sheridan , and filling the role of the character Susan Ivanova . She was also a semi-regular character in Crusade , where she has a romantic relationship with Matthew Gideon , the captain of the Excalibur . Lochley featured prominently in
4321-512: Is being brokered by the Narn , rivals of the Centauri. Not understanding the purpose of the meeting, the Centauri bomb the peace conference, with neither the humans nor Minbari suspecting their intervention. All hope for peace is lost, and humanity's losses at the hands of the Minbari continue for two more years. In a last, desperate effort, the President of Earth orders all available ships to form
4470-520: Is central to that season's plot. In the pilot film, Babylon 5: The Gathering , the Vorlon ambassador Kosh is nearly killed by an assassin shortly after arriving at the station. Jeffrey Sinclair, the commander of Babylon 5 , is named as the prime suspect, but is proven to have been framed. Commander Sinclair, a hero of the Minbari war, is troubled by his inability to remember events of the war's last day. Though supported by Minbari ambassador Delenn, who
4619-458: Is rapidly expanding into space. Word reaches them of the mysterious Minbari. Though they are warned by Londo to leave this race alone, they send an expedition to study the Minbari, led by the starship Prometheus . The Minbari leadership—the Grey Council, led by Dukhat —are voyaging to investigate concerns that an ancient enemy, the Shadows , may be returning. The Prometheus expedition encounters
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4768-520: Is revived when the homeworld of those who built the life-energy transfer machine was found. He then proceeds to create a clone of Ivanova by enlisting one of Garibaldi's descendants to help him. Endowing it with her exact memories by stealing the scans done of her memory, he then strands her and himself on a lush, fertile and uncharted world with the intent of living "happily ever after" together. There are significant moral questions raised by his actions in this story, but JMS has been quoted as "wishing to give
4917-543: Is secretly a member of the Minbari ruling Grey Council, other Minbari remain distrustful of him. The Narn ambassador G'Kar continually presses for concessions from their former overlords the Centauri Republic. Centauri ambassador Londo Mollari finds a new ally in the enigmatic Mr. Morden to strike back at the Narn. Meanwhile, xenophobic groups on Earth challenge humanity's tolerance of aliens. This tension culminates in
5066-466: Is set approximately five years after the events of the fifth season of Babylon 5 and show that she is still the captain. In Babylon 5: The Lost Tales , Lochley is still in command of the station but now holds the rank of EarthForce colonel. It is unknown whether she and Gideon are still intimate. During her communication with President Sheridan, Lochley says of Dr Stephen Franklin, "Oh, I thought you'd heard. Doctor Franklin went with G'Kar, exploring beyond
5215-403: Is the Minbari ambassador to Babylon 5. Delenn was originally conceived as being a male character but played by a female actor, in order to give the character feminine mannerisms and therefore make him more "alien". The Babylon 5 pilot TV movie The Gathering was filmed with this in mind, but the computer alteration to Mira Furlan's voice to make it sound masculine wasn't convincing, so
5364-402: Is the last of its line; the first three stations were all destroyed during construction, while Babylon 4 was completed but mysteriously vanished shortly after being made operational. It contains living areas which accommodate various alien species, providing differing atmospheres and gravities. Human visitors to the alien sectors are shown using breathing equipment and other measures to tolerate
5513-734: The Babylon 5 universe: humans, the Narn, the Centauri, the Minbari and the Vorlons; and several dozen less powerful ones. A number of the less powerful races make up the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, who assembled as a result of the Dilgar War occurring 30 years before the start of the series. Jeffrey Sinclair , played by actor Michael O'Hare , is the Commander of the Babylon 5 station in season one. After one full season, O'Hare and series executive producer/creator J. Michael Straczynski made
5662-569: The Brakiri Day of the Dead , in which the dead return for one night, the Brakiri on the station purchase a part of it for the night which includes Lochley's quarters. She is subsequently visited by the ghost of her friend Zoe, who confirms that she deliberately committed suicide by overdosing on drugs. Prior to this, nobody knew for certain whether Zoe's death was intentional. The series Crusade
5811-530: The Lexington but is destroyed by the mines—Earth's only real victory during the war. The Minbari faction that feels the war has caused enough senseless bloodshed—led by Delenn, who has learned that Dukhat believed an alliance with humans would be necessary to defeat the Shadows—uses this as an opportunity to engage in peace talks with Earth. The Centauri discover that the humans are having a secret meeting that
5960-421: The Narn body armor, Bruice combined and layered fabrics as diverse as rayon and silk with brocades from the 1930s and '40s to give the clothing the appearance of having evolved within different cultures. Often we try to coordinate the sensibilities of the aliens. I try to work with Optic Nerve to ensure that the head meets the body in some sensible way. We talk about similar qualities, textures and colors and
6109-488: The Shadows . It was concluded by the Grey Council that Minbari souls were being born into human bodies. The discovery of what Sinclair possessed led the Minbari to surrender and return Sinclair to his fighter. The memory of his time aboard the Minbari cruiser was blocked—though this block would not be permanent and would break down years later. Sinclair — and the Earth Alliance — believed that he had blacked out from
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6258-410: The "acoustic dirt produced by live instruments and the ability to play so well between two semitones" and the "frequency range, dynamics and control" provided by synthesizers, he described his approach "as experimental friendly as possible without leaving the happy marriage between the orchestral and electronic sounds". Using Cubase software through an electronic keyboard , or for more complex pieces
6407-403: The "massive rendering power" required. Long-term use of puppets and animatronics was also discounted, as Straczynski believed they would not be able to convey "real emotion" without an actor inside. In anticipation of the emerging HDTV standard, rather than the usual 4:3 format, the series was shot in 16:9 , with the image cropped to 4:3 for initial television transmissions. It was one of
6556-555: The Centauri palace. Toasting them as his friends, he begins drinking heavily and orders the prisoners to be brought to him in one hour. Minbari The list of Babylon 5 characters contains characters from the entire Babylon 5 universe. In the show, the Babylon station was conceived as a political and cultural meeting place. As such, one of the show's many themes is the cultural and social interaction between civilizations. There are five dominant civilizations represented in
6705-542: The Centuari Republic twenty years after the end of the Shadow War, as shown in " Sleeping in Light ". Lennier was played by Bill Mumy in seasons 1–5. He is Minbari and acts as ambassadorial aide to Delenn throughout most of the series. Just as Delenn was an acolyte of Dukhat , Lennier was the faithful acolyte of Minbari Ambassador Delenn for five years. A member of the Third Fane of Chu'Domo of
6854-416: The Dead ," Lennier is confronted by the ghost of Morden , the human who worked with the Shadows . Lennier, who had returned from training hoping to speak to a spirit as part of an alien religious observance, makes the mistake of asking Morden for wisdom. Morden predicts that Lennier will one day betray the Rangers. This encounter foreshadows later events in the series. Eventually it was revealed that Lennier
7003-540: The Franklin character, and rewrote the script to remove him from the story. In the Babylon 5: The Lost Tales anthology, it is explained that both Franklin and G'Kar – played by Andreas Katsulas who died in February 2006 – had left to explore space beyond the "galactic rim". Talia Winter was portrayed by actress Andrea Thompson in seasons 1–2. Winters was a licensed, commercial telepath from Earth and
7152-413: The Grey Council's convoy by chance. As the Minbari ships approach the Earth ships, they open their gun ports —a sign of respect in their culture. The captain of Prometheus , interpreting this as a signal of intent to attack, opens fire. The Minbari ships are severely damaged and Dukhat is killed. In retaliation, the Grey Council declares a holy war against humanity, with Dukhat's protégée Delenn casting
7301-582: The July 2000 issue 23 of the Official Babylon 5 Magazine , depicts Na'Toth as living on Narn in the winter of 2269 and enjoying a state of celebrity. The book Out of the Darkness by Peter David suggested that as of 2278 Na'Toth was still alive and living on Narn. Zack Allan was played by Jeff Conaway . He regularly appeared in the show from season 2 onwards. During the second and third seasons of
7450-702: The Minbari in their first war against the Shadows, and in so doing, fulfilled Minbari prophecy by becoming the One Who Was . It was here that Sinclair used the triluminary to transform himself into a Minbari, thus fulfilling the legend about Valen being "a Minbari not born of Minbari", also explaining why the triluminary responded so strongly to him during his interrogation by the Grey Council, as it had been programmed to respond to his DNA. Bruce Boxleitner played Captain John Sheridan (seasons 2–5), Sinclair's replacement on Babylon 5 after his reassignment, and
7599-463: The Minbari surrender to the defenseless Earth forces. Because of the damage this revelation could do to their society, they keep the reason for the surrender a secret. In the wake of the war, Earth plans to create a space station that will serve as a venue for peaceful collaboration to prevent future wars; these plans will ultimately result in the creation of Babylon 5 . After the children leave him, Londo views Delenn and Sheridan being held captive in
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#17327867554797748-456: The Psi Corps. During this time Talia was also tested for telekinesis , but was disappointed to learn that she did not have enough to move even a penny. Over the years, Ms. Winters developed a strong loyalty to Psi Corps, and accepted an internship in the commercial telepath division. During this internship, she met and befriended Lyta Alexander , another P5 telepath who had transferred out of
7897-456: The Psi-Cop division. After completing her education, Winters entered the workforce as a commercial telepath. In 2258, Talia Winters arrived on Babylon 5 as its second resident commercial telepath. Her work on the station repeatedly brought her into contact with the command staff. Both of the station's commanding officers (Commander Jeffrey Sinclair and Captain John Sheridan ) considered her
8046-549: The Rangers and became Centauri Emperor Vir Cotto 's assistant. Babylon 5 Babylon 5 is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski , under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Television . After the successful airing of a test pilot movie on February 22, 1993, Babylon 5: The Gathering , Warner Bros. commissioned
8195-412: The Rangers until his death. Delenn asked Ivanova to succeed him. Stephen Franklin was played by Richard Biggs in seasons 1–5 and voiced by Phil LaMarr in Babylon 5: The Road Home . Franklin serves as the chief medical officer on the Babylon 5 space station. He first appeared in the episode " Soul Hunter ". In the script of this episode, he was explicitly described as black. J. Michael Straczynski
8344-514: The Rim." This was filmed in the last quarter of 2006, with actor Richard Biggs (Franklin) having died in 2004 and actor Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar) having died in February 2006, several months prior to principal photography on The Lost Tales . Actor Tracy Scoggins, who portrays Lochley, admitted on the DVD commentary to having difficulty delivering the line, at one point nearly breaking down in tears. The line
8493-508: The Rings , Dune and the Lensman series , Straczynski wondered why no one had done a television series with the same epic sweep, and concurrently with the first idea started developing the concept for a vastly ambitious epic covering massive battles and other universe-changing events. Realizing that both the fixed-locale series and the epic could be done in a single series, he began to sketch
8642-520: The Shadow War arc, which comprises parts of season 3 and 4. Vir was once again used as a "moral counterpart" to Mollari towards the end of the Shadow War arc. Mollari has Vir come to Centauri Prime to assist in the assassination of Emperor Cartagia . The assassination plot goes astray, with Vir finally being the person to kill the Emperor. Following the Shadow War, Vir returns to Babylon 5. In season 4 and 5, he continues to act as Mollari's assistant, and as
8791-520: The Shadow war, Earth's slide into a dictatorship, and a series of sub-threads which branched off from those. Estimating they would still take around 27 episodes to resolve without having the season feel rushed, the solution came when the TNT network commissioned two Babylon 5 television films. Several hours of material was thus able to be moved into the films, including a three-episode arc which would deal with
8940-420: The Shadows. Sheridan and Delenn establish a "conspiracy of light" to fight the influence of the Shadows. When Clark declares martial law, Sheridan declares Babylon 5 's independence from the Earth government. Mollari realizes his deal with Mr. Morden has become dangerous but is unable to end it. As the Shadows cause conflict and chaos throughout the galaxy, Sheridan confronts Kosh and successfully convinces
9089-422: The Shadows. Despite Kosh's warnings, Sheridan confronts the Shadows on their homeworld Z'ha'dum. He crashes a spacecraft packed with nuclear weapons into the planet, seemingly dying in the explosion. Sheridan is rescued from Z'ha'dum by the mysterious Lorien. With the Shadows in retreat, the Vorlons begin destroying any planet allied with or influenced by the Shadows. Mollari overthrows the mad emperor Cartagia with
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#17327867554799238-418: The Vorlons to provide military assistance against them. In retaliation for Vorlon intervention, the Shadows assassinate Kosh. Sinclair travels back in time a thousand years to aid the Minbari in the previous Shadow War, becoming the legendary Minbari religious leader Valen. Sheridan discovers vulnerabilities in the Shadow vessels and learns to predict their objectives, leading to the first major military defeat of
9387-408: The ability to block the scans of P12 (the highest rated) telepaths. Winters put these new abilities to use the following year when Psi Cop Al Bester came to Babylon 5 to stop an Underground Railroad that Ironheart had set up for runaway telepaths. Her experience with the fugitive telepaths finally made her aware of how corrupt the Psi Corps had become. It was this epiphany that finally dissolved
9536-423: The acceleration. When Babylon 5 was brought into operation in 2257, Sinclair was selected by the Minbari to command the newly constructed station. He was selected over many more senior officers, including Colonel Ari Ben Zayn, all of whom had been vetoed by the Minbari (they had stipulated that they should approve the choice of Station Commander, as they had shared the cost of construction). In January 2259, Sinclair
9685-448: The aging Centauri Emperor Turhan dies, Mollari and his ally Lord Refa install Turhan's unstable nephew Cartagia as emperor and force a war against the Narn. Aided by Mr. Morden's "associates" the Shadows, the Centauri decimate the Narn. The war ends with a planetary bombardment of the Narn homeworld, followed by the enslavement of the surviving Narns. Delenn and Vorlon ambassador Kosh request Sheridan's help to fight against their ancient foe,
9834-426: The aid of G'Kar in exchange for the liberation of the Narn from Centauri rule. Mollari betrays the Shadows in order to save the Centauri homeworld from the Vorlons. Sheridan realizes the Vorlons and Shadows have used the younger races in a proxy war , and convinces both sides to permanently end their conflict and to leave the younger races alone in peace. Sheridan next refocuses on returning democracy to Earth. He forges
9983-423: The alien characters. The producers therefore used the same group of people (as many as 12) in various mid-level speaking roles, taking full head and body casts from each. The group came to be unofficially known by the production as the "Babylon 5 Alien Rep Group." The five seasons of the series each correspond to one fictional sequential year in the period 2258–2262. Each season shares its title with an episode that
10132-457: The alien manipulation of his government but is too late. After a devastating attack by Alliance forces on Centauri Prime, Mollari is installed as emperor, but under Drakh control. He then withdraws the Centauri from the Interstellar Alliance. Twenty years later, Sheridan has a last reunion with his friends before leaving to join Lorien and the older races "beyond the rim". The original show spawned
10281-531: The assassination of Earth's President Santiago, who favored such contact. Sinclair is transferred to be ambassador to Minbar, and General Hague assigns captain John Sheridan command of the station. Hague and Sheridan believe now-president Clark conspired in Santiago's death but have no proof. Clark gradually moves Earth in an isolationist direction and takes steps to install a totalitarian government. When
10430-523: The background to the Earth–Minbari War , and a sub-thread which would have set up the sequel series, Crusade . Further standalone episodes and plot-threads were dropped from season four, which could be inserted into Crusade , or the fifth season, were it to be given the greenlight . The intended series finale, " Sleeping in Light ", was filmed during season four as a precaution against cancellation. When word came that TNT had picked up Babylon 5 , this
10579-450: The bonus pay they offered, without paying much attention to their political views and fascist nature. However, he had the truth of their nature driven home when a shopkeeper accused of sedition for publicly criticizing Clark's presidency was physically dragged away from his store and imprisoned by Nightwatch officers in the episode, " The Fall of Night ". After this experience Zack agreed to help Babylon 5's command staff, eventually playing
10728-467: The character the happy ending he deserves" while at the same time raising the type of ethical question for which Babylon 5 is famous. Na'Toth is the aide to Narn Ambassador G'Kar . She was played by Julie Caitlin Brown in the first season. For the second season, Brown was replaced by Mary Kay Adams . Na'Toth was written out of the series after appearing in two more episodes. Brown returned to reprise
10877-450: The characters at the center of the story." Some of the staples of television science fiction were also out of the question (the show would have "no kids or cute robots"). The idea was not to present a perfect utopian future, but one with greed and homelessness; one where characters grow, develop, live, and die; one where not everything was the same at the end of the day's events. Citing Mark Twain as an influence, Straczynski said he wanted
11026-470: The conditions. Babylon 5 featured an ensemble cast which changed over the course of the show's run: In addition, several other actors filled more than one minor role on the series. Kim Strauss played the Drazi Ambassador in four episodes, as well as nine other characters in ten more episodes. Some actors had difficulty dealing with the application of prosthetics required to play some of
11175-430: The corrupt government headed by Morgan Clark, he still trusts her judgment and ability. The show later reveals that Sheridan and Lochley had been married briefly after graduating from EarthForce Academy. While the marriage did not work out, they still have a mutual respect and appreciation. She proves to be a strong and capable leader, finding solutions to many crises and coping with the ones that had no solutions. During
11324-401: The costume department made onscreen cameos . During the season 4 episode " Atonement ", the tailors and costume supervisor appeared as the Minbari women fitting Zack Allan for his new uniform as the recently promoted head of security. His complaints, and the subsequent stabbing of him with a needle by costume supervisor Kim Holly, was a light-hearted reference to the previous security uniforms,
11473-679: The costumes could reflect these changes. Ambassador Londo Mollari 's purple coat became dark blue and more tailored while his waistcoats became less patterned and brightly colored as Bruice felt "Londo has evolved in my mind from a buffoonish character to one who has become more serious and darker." Normally there were three changes of costume for the primary actors; one for on set, one for the stunt double and one on standby in case of "coffee spills". For human civilians, garments were generally purchased off-the-rack and altered in various ways, such as removing lapels from jackets and shirts while rearranging closures , to suggest future fashions. For some of
11622-499: The darker side of the Psi Corps. Also in 2258, Jason Ironheart arrived on the station in secret while on the run from the Psi Corps. The experiments he had participated in had strengthened his abilities to the point where he could telekinetically manipulate matter at the subatomic level. Ironheart gave his lover two gifts as he transformed into a being of pure energy: her own minor telekinetic abilities, substantially less powerful (and therefore less dangerous) than Ironheart's, and
11771-400: The death of his brother, William, and at times he seems to have joined the Rangers as a form of guilt over his brother's death. Cole becomes close friends with Dr. Franklin. Defending Delenn during her transition to become "Ranger One", Cole engages Neroon in a fierce one-on-one battle. Despite losing, and nearly being killed, he earns Neroon's respect, even getting Neroon to laugh warmly. It
11920-470: The deciding vote. The war continues for several months and human forces are overwhelmed by superior Minbari technology. Lieutenant Commander John Sheridan , first officer of the Lexington , is part of a battlegroup engaging the Minbari. After Sheridan's commanding officer is killed, Sheridan assumes command of the damaged ship and lays a trap for the enemy, seeding the local asteroids with nuclear mines. The Minbari flagship Black Star closes in to finish off
12069-520: The decision for the character and actor to depart as a regular. O'Hare subsequently reprised the character of Sinclair briefly in season two and a two-episode guest appearance in season three, enabling the show to wrap up loose ends. As a result of this departure, there are several minor inconsistencies between the first season and the remainder of the show, most visibly in " And the Sky Full of Stars " and " Babylon Squared ". At O'Hare's personal request,
12218-505: The departures of Claudia Christian and Andrea Thompson from the series. First thing I did was to flip out the stand-alones, which traditionally have taken up the first 6 or so episodes of each season; between two years, that's 12 episodes, over half a season right there. Then you would usually get a fair number of additional stand-alones scattered across the course of the season. So figure another 3–4 per season, say 8, that's 20 out of 44. So now you're left with basically 24 episodes to fill out
12367-423: The effects of inertia on the motion of spacecraft. Foundation Imaging provided the special effects for the pilot film (for which it won an Emmy) and the first three seasons of the show, led by Ron Thornton . After co-executive producer Douglas Netter and producer John Copeland approached Straczynski with the idea of producing the effects in-house, Straczynski agreed to replace Foundation, for season 4 and 5, once
12516-467: The episode, series creator J. Michael Straczynski explained that Zack was involved in heroic activity and lost his leg. In keeping with his previous experience with uniforms, it is suggested that the prosthetic he was supplied with never fitted correctly. Later in the episode, after the aged and abandoned Babylon 5 was destroyed and the Drakh influence on Centauri Prime was exposed and eliminated, Zack joined
12665-637: The first television shows to use computer technology in creating visual effects , rather than models and miniatures, primarily out of budgetary concerns; Straczynski estimated that each of their episodes cost US$ 650,000 to make, compared to the US$ 1.5 million cost of each episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation . The visual effects were achieved using Amiga -based Video Toasters at first, and later Pentium , Macintosh , and Alpha -based systems using LightWave 3D . The effects sequences were designed to simulate Newtonian physics , with particular emphasis on
12814-478: The first three seasons, Garibaldi served as chief of security aboard the space station Babylon 5 . He held the rank of Chief Warrant Officer . In season four, during the Shadow War , Garibaldi was secretly subjected to mental reprogramming, which was triggered after the war. Garibaldi resigned from his job as chief of security to work as an independent investigator, helping people find what they had lost during
12963-520: The first volume of Babylon 5: The Lost Tales entitled "Voices in the Dark", released on DVD in July 2007. Due to a troubled youth, Lochley never consumed alcoholic beverages or other drugs from the moment she began her military career. After Captain Sheridan is relieved of his command, he requests Earth to assign Lochley as his replacement. Although she chooses not to join Sheridan's rebellion against
13112-591: The flow of the total being. Truthfully, often the look of the prosthetic comes somewhat earlier and from that I have an understanding of what direction to go. — Ann Bruice Aling, 1995 With an interest in costume history, she initially worked closely with Straczynski to get a sense of the historical perspective of the major alien races, "so I knew if they were a peaceful people or a warring people, cold climate etc. and then I would interpret what kind of sensibility that called for." Collaborating with other departments to establish co-ordinated visual themes for each race,
13261-598: The fourth season, the Prime Time Entertainment Network , which Warner Bros. opted to use for Babylon 5 , was shut down, leaving the planned fifth season in doubt. Unwilling to short-change fans of the show, Straczynski began preparing modifications to the fourth season that would allow him to conclude his overall arc should a fifth season not be greenlit, which ultimately became the direction the fourth season took. Straczynski identified three primary narrative threads which would require resolution:
13410-610: The full orchestra, with a maximum of 24 present at any one time. One of three conductors would also be required for any score that involved more than six musicians. Franke would direct recording sessions via six fiber optic digital telephone lines to transmit and receive video, music and the SMPTE timecode . The final edit and mixing of the tracks would take place in his Los Angeles studio. A total of 24 episode and three television film soundtracks were released under Franke's record label, Sonic Images Records, between 1995 and 2001. These contain
13559-452: The full reasons for his departure from the show were kept secret until after his death in 2012. The following year, Straczynski revealed that O'Hare struggled with delusions and paranoia due to mental illness, which ultimately prevented him from continuing to act. However, Straczynski emphasized that O'Hare's fans, particularly those of his role as Sinclair, had helped him cope with his struggle in ways medication never could. The character
13708-469: The great war between the Shadow and Vorlon races, and ushered in the Third Age for Mankind - a great time of growth and change. But after the Shadow War ended, both Delenn and Sheridan found their homeworlds embroiled in civil wars . Although her work had saved countless lives and ended the great war, she returned home to a world racked with chaos and death. Delenn and the religious caste surrendered to
13857-403: The hidden personality took over. There were concerns among the stations' command staff over how much inside knowledge this new Ms. Winters could use against them. By that time, they had become convinced that then Vice President Clark had assassinated his predecessor with help from outsiders so he could assume the presidency, and they were clandestinely gathering evidence to that effect to ensure it
14006-533: The hope that he might be revived in the future. This was actually not shown in the series, but in the credits of " Sleeping in Light ". The credits showed each character as first and last seen. Cole's story concludes in "Space, Time & the Incurable Romantic", a short story written by JMS and published in Amazing Stories #602. It takes place hundreds of years after the series ends. Cole
14155-573: The human race leads to the Earth Alliance commissioning the Babylon space stations as a means of preventing further wars. In 2278, the planet Centauri Prime is in flames. Londo Mollari , the emperor of the Centauri Republic , tells two children, Luc and Lyssa, the story of the Earth-Minbari War, which took place 35 years ago while he was a diplomatic liaison to Earth. In 2243, the human race, emboldened by recent victories,
14304-461: The idea was dropped and Delenn was changed to a female. The Minbari makeup used from then on gave Delenn a much more feminine appearance. When first appearing as the Minbari ambassador to Babylon 5, Delenn initially hid her status of being a leader of the Grey Council. At the start of the 2nd season, Delenn used a special artifact to transform into a half-human, half-Minbari hybrid - initially treated with suspicion by humans and Minbari alike. Delenn
14453-618: The imperialist Centauri ; the Narn , who only recently gained independence from the Centauri empire; and the mysterious, powerful Vorlons . Several dozen less powerful species from the League of Non-Aligned Worlds also have diplomatic contact with the major races, including the Drazi , Brakiri , Vree , Markab , and pak'ma'ra . An ancient and secretive race, the Shadows , unknown to humans but documented in many other races' religious texts, malevolently influence events to bring chaos and war among
14602-446: The initial outline of what would become Babylon 5 . Once I had the locale, I began to populate it with characters, and sketch out directions that might be interesting. I dragged out my notes on religion, philosophy, history, sociology, psychology, science (the ones that didn't make my head explode), and started stitching together a crazy quilt pattern that eventually formed a picture. Once I had that picture in my head, once I knew what
14751-505: The known species. Among the chaos the Shadows cause is a Centauri descent into irredentism and Earth sliding into totalitarianism under President Morgan Clark. The Babylon 5 space station is located in the Epsilon Eridani system, at the fifth Lagrangian point of the fictional planet Epsilon III and its moon. It is an O'Neill cylinder 5 miles (8.0 km) long and 0.5–1.0 mile (0.80–1.61 km) in diameter. The station
14900-480: The largest corporations on the planet. During the fifth and final season of Babylon 5 he was the Director of Covert Intelligence for the new Interstellar Alliance, a post parallel to the real-life present-day CIA Director. After the episode " Sleeping in Light " Garibaldi returned to his family on Mars. Upon arriving home, he found that his daughter had won a tennis match . Garibaldi's life after Sheridan's departure
15049-552: The main arc of the story. —J. Michael Straczynski, 1996 Straczynski purposely went light on elements of the five-year narrative during the first season as he felt the audience would not be ready for the full narrative at that time, but he still managed to drop in some scenes that would be critical to the future narrative. This also made it challenging for the actors to understand their motivations without knowing where their characters were going; Straczynski said "I didn't want to tell them too much, because that risks having them play
15198-406: The main female characters a more couture approach was taken, as in the suits worn by Talia Winters , which Bruice described as being designed and fitted to within "an inch of their life". Costumes for the destitute residents of downbelow would be distressed through a combination of bleaching, sanding, dipping in dye baths and having stage blood added. Like many of the crew on the show, members of
15347-439: The major theme was, the rest fell into place. All at once, I saw the full five-year story in a flash, and I frantically began scribbling down notes. —J. Michael Straczynski, 1995 Straczynski set five goals for Babylon 5 . He said that the show "would have to be good science fiction". It would also have to be good television, "and rarely are SF shows both good SF *and* good TV; there're [ sic ] generally one or
15496-515: The music, which one reviewer described as having "added another dimension of mystery, suspense, and excitement to the show, with an easily distinguishable character that separates 'Babylon 5 from other sci-fi television entries of the era." With his recording studio in the same building as his home located in the Hollywood Hills , Franke would attend creative meetings before scoring the on average 25 minutes of music for each episode. Using
15645-485: The musical scores in the same chronological order as they played in the corresponding episodes, or television films. Three compilation albums were also produced, containing extensively re-orchestrated and remixed musical passages taken from throughout the series to create more elaborate suites. In 2007 his soundtrack for The Lost Tales was released under the Varèse Sarabande record label. Warner Bros. slotted
15794-485: The other." It would have to do for science fiction television what Hill Street Blues had done for police dramas , by taking an adult approach to the subject. It would have to be reasonably budgeted, and "it would have to look unlike anything ever seen before on TV, presenting individual stories against a much broader canvas." He further stressed that his approach was "to take [science fiction] seriously, to build characters for grown-ups, to incorporate real science but keep
15943-639: The position of "Head of Xenobiological Research" on Earth upon the retirement of Dr. Benjamin Kyle. He appeared in the Crusade episode " Each Night I Dream of Home ". J. Michael Straczynski has said that Franklin eventually dies while exploring an unknown planet, but has not revealed the details of exactly how or when he dies. When Biggs died in May 2004, Straczynski had been working on a Babylon 5 script titled The Memory of Shadows . Straczynski decided not to recast
16092-411: The religious caste and a fierce fighter, he later joined the Rangers . He had family aboard the Minbari flagship Black Star when it was destroyed by Babylon 5 commander John Sheridan . Though other Minbari felt much animosity towards Sheridan, as they felt he'd acted dishonorably in destroying it, Lennier held no hard feelings, apparently understanding why Sheridan had done it. In the episode " Day of
16241-426: The religious caste, which returned to Delenn the balance of power. Delenn then gave control of the Grey Council to the worker caste, who had for many years stayed in the middle, as the religious and warrior castes simmered with disagreement. After John Sheridan refused to stand for re-election as President of the Interstellar Alliance, Delenn was chosen to succeed him. When she accepted the role, Sheridan took command of
16390-459: The result, rather than the process." He recalled that Peter Jurasik had asked him about the context of Londo's premonition, shown partially in " Midnight on the Firing Line ", of himself and G'Kar choking each other to death, but Straczynski had to be coy about it. The full death scene was shown in context in " War Without End - Part 2 " near the end of the third season. During production of
16539-669: The riots on the Mars colony . Talia Winters's most complicated relationship was with Susan Ivanova , the station's second-in-command. Initially, Ivanova was hostile to Winters' arrival and refused to acknowledge her presence. She quickly discovered that Ivanova's mother was a telepath who, rather than joining the Corps and leaving her family, submitted to a decade's worth of drug injections which dampened her spirit along with her abilities. Ivanova blamed Psi Corps for her mother's suicide ; her experience gave Talia her first opportunity to learn about
16688-401: The role in the fifth-season episode " A Tragedy of Telepaths ". In The Babylon Files , a Babylon 5 guidebook, series creator Straczynski said he had considered having G'Kar have a "revolving-door" series of aides, akin to Murphy Brown . Na'Toth was the second aide to G'Kar, after his first aide Ko'Dath died in an airlock accident. When Na'Toth arrived, a member of the Narn assassins' guild
16837-415: The season 4 episode "Endgame " achieving the rare feat of beating the prime-time soap operas for first position. Straczynski stated that PTEN only required the show to be profitable for the network to remain in production, and said that while this was the case for its first four seasons, on paper it was always losing money; he also remarked in a 2019 interview that in terms of contractual profit definition
16986-571: The series for production in May 1993 as part of its Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN). The show premiered in the US on January 26, 1994, and ran for five 22-episode seasons. The series follows the human military staff and alien diplomats stationed on a space station , Babylon 5 , built in the aftermath of several major inter-species wars as a neutral ground for galactic diplomacy and trade. Major plotlines included intra-race intrigue and upheaval, inter-race wars and their aftermaths, and embroilment in
17135-450: The series he was a security officer on the Babylon 5 station. In the fourth season, he was promoted to become Babylon 5's Security Chief and he retains that position through to the end of the series' fifth and final season. Briefly in season 2 and 3, Allan was a member of Nightwatch , a civilian para-police force created by Earth Alliance President Morgan Clark to expose and arrest "traitors to Earth". True to form, Zack joined Nightwatch for
17284-411: The series, the character could be written out with minimal impact on the storyline. Straczynski stated, "As a writer, doing a long-term story, it'd be dangerous and short-sighted for me to construct the story without trap doors for every single character. ... That was one of the big risks going into a long-term storyline which I considered long in advance;..." This device was eventually used to facilitate
17433-673: The series. He was an active participant in the Earth Alliance Civil War, where he aided the Mars Resistance in its fight to free the Mars colony from Earth control. During the war between the Centauri Republic and the Interstellar Alliance, he worked with the telepath Lyta Alexander in investigating reports of Drazi atrocities against the Centauri on the Drazi homeworld. During the series's fifth and final season, Franklin resigned from his post at Babylon 5 to accept
17582-591: The show to be a mirror to the real world and to covertly teach. Following production on Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future , Straczynski approached John Copeland and Doug Netter, who had also been involved with Captain Power and showed him the bible and pilot script for his show, and both were impressed with his ideas. They were able to secure an order for the pilot from Warner Bros. who were looking at
17731-640: The show to premiere on its nascent Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN). As original content from another studio, it was somewhat anomalous in a stable of syndicated content from Warner Bros. and the cause of some friction between Straczynski's company and Warner Bros. The pilot film, The Gathering , premiered on February 22, 1993, with strong viewing figures, achieving a 9.7 in the Nielsen national syndication rankings. The regular series initially aired from January 26, 1994 through November 25, 1998, first on PTEN, then in first-run syndication , debuting with
17880-525: The spy. Lyta traveled to Babylon 5 with the password that would activate the hidden personality. With the permission of Captain John Sheridan, Lyta sent the password into the minds of individuals among and close to the command staff. When she sent the password into Winters' mind, the hidden personality took full control of her psyche, effectively killing the Talia Winters that everyone had come to know. Talia became hostile and returned to Earth after
18029-456: The station was decommissioned in 2281. Because of this, he was the only one not to receive his invitation to Sheridan's farewell party in Sleeping in Light , though Allan was still to meet Sheridan one more time as Sheridan took one last walk through the station. In Sleeping in Light , he walked with a noticeable limp, which has never been explained on screen. In the voiceover commentary of
18178-462: The station, seeking Sheridan's aid to escape the control of Psi Corps, the autocratic Earth agency that oversees telepaths. The Interstellar Alliance refuses to grant them a planet of their own, and they are eventually expelled from the station. Meanwhile, the Drakh, former supporters of the Shadows, seek revenge for the Shadows' defeat. They infiltrate the Centauri government and orchestrate attacks against other Alliance members. Mollari attempts to purge
18327-597: The studio lot, therefore remaining profitable. The fifth season, which aired on cable network TNT , had ratings about 1.0% lower than seasons two through four. In the United Kingdom, the show aired every week on Channel 4 without a break, with the result that the last four or five episodes of the early seasons screened in the UK before the US. Babylon 5 was one of the better-rated US television shows on Channel 4, and achieved high audience Appreciation Indexes , with
18476-421: The syndication fear was incorrect, since syndicate stations told him they show their shows in episode order to track broadcasts for royalties; however, he could not assure Warner Bros. about the attention span or premature cancellation concerns, but still set out to show Warner Bros. they were wrong. Straczynski wrote 92 of the 110 episodes of Babylon 5 , including all 44 episodes in the third and fourth seasons,
18625-403: The technologically superior Minbari , who sought revenge after an Earth starship unwittingly killed their leader during first contact , only for them to unexpectedly surrender on the brink of victory. Earth has since established peaceful relationships with them and the Earth Alliance has become a significant and generally respected power within the galactic community. Among the other species are
18774-399: The tension between herself and Susan Ivanova; from that point on, the two women developed a mutual respect which later blossomed into a relationship. In 2259, dissident telepath Lyta Alexander learned of a Psi Corps sleeper program that the Psi Corps had hidden in her. Although she knew one such sleeper had been sent to Babylon 5 to spy on its command staff, she did not know the identity of
18923-447: The third season, since Stephen Furst had taken a role in a sitcom and couldn't appear in many episodes. This was explained in-universe as a reassignment as liaison to Minbar. Mollari arranges to have this happen in order to help Vir further develop in his career, but privately admits to Delenn that he does not want Vir around with the events - namely the Shadow War - that are soon to come. Vir Cotto remains an important character during
19072-581: The time to get programming for a planned broadcast network. Warner Bros. had remained skeptical about the show even after greenlighting the pilot. According to Straczynski, Warner Bros. had three main concerns: that American attention spans were too short for a series-long narrative to work, that it would be difficult to sell the show into syndication as the syndicate networks would air the episodes out of order, and that no other science-fiction television show outside of Star Trek had gone more than three seasons before being canceled. Straczynski had proved out that
19221-483: The time, Vir was an embarrassment to his family, and his family arranged for him to be assigned to this position as a means of getting him as far away from them as possible. In the first two seasons, Vir proves himself to be an able assistant to Ambassador Mollari and also develops a friendship with the aide to the Minbari Ambassador Delenn, the acolyte Lennier . Vir appears less frequently during
19370-434: The war. Increasingly, he came into conflict with Babylon 5 staff. Eventually, Bester released Garibaldi from his psychic conditioning by making subtle adjustments to Garibaldi's personality. Garibaldi started drinking again in season five. Eventually, his long-time lover Lise Hampton returned to Babylon 5 to help support him. They married soon afterwards, and he left Babylon 5 to help her run Edgars Industries on Mars, one of
19519-408: The warrior clans. She then forced a showdown between herself and the new leader of the warrior caste. This would be a purification in which Delenn could sacrifice herself for her caste and for the Minbari people. With her sacrifice, the leadership of Minbar would continue to be held by the religious caste - not the warriors. Her old rival Neroon saved her life, however. And in his death cries he joined
19668-502: Was a subtle eulogy to both actors. Marcus Cole was played by Jason Carter in the third and fourth seasons of the show. He is a leading member of the Rangers, a military force consisting of Humans and Minbari who serve the "One", a triumvirate consisting of Jeffrey Sinclair / Valen , Delenn , and John Sheridan . The character's backstory is given as being born on the Arisia Mining Colony, where his family operated
19817-459: Was adamant throughout the run of the series that Franklin be a true individual who could have been played by an actor of any race. Richard Biggs later expressed his gratitude at being able to play a role purely as an actor, not a black actor. Franklin has strong moral convictions. Although he spent most of the series in MedLab saving lives, Franklin also saw his share of action and adventure during
19966-552: Was also revealed on the show (episode: The Summoning ) that Marcus Cole was a virgin, a character aspect which was a marked departure for a dashing hero role. However, the combination of his virginity and fighting skill once led him to (only half-jokingly) compare himself to Sir Galahad (" A Late Delivery From Avalon "). He falls in love with Susan Ivanova. However, the two do not become involved. Some attribute this to Ivanova's previous history of disastrous romantic relationships, such as her relationship with Talia Winters. Later, after
20115-416: Was attempting to kill G'Kar at the behest of an old rival. G'Kar was eventually kidnapped by the assassin. Na'Toth went to the assassin and claimed to be his backup. She was then able to disable the pain device that had been placed on G'Kar, allowing G'Kar to defeat the assassin, who left the station before the assassin guild had him killed. Na'Toth went home to Narn at some point during the second season. She
20264-534: Was badly damaged. In a last act of defiance, Sinclair attempted to ram one of the Minbari cruisers. He failed in this when he was captured by another Minbari cruiser for interrogation by the Grey Council . The council's Triluminary detected Valen's DNA in Sinclair, so they assumed, to their profound shock, that he possessed the soul of Valen , a hero of the Minbari who led them to victory 1,000 years ago against
20413-650: Was born on Mars Colony. In an early episode of season one, Sinclair stated that his family had been pilots "ever since the Battle of Britain " and Sinclair's father was a fighter pilot for EarthForce who participated in the Battle of Balos, the last engagement of the Dilgar Invasion. Sinclair continued the tradition and became a fighter pilot. Sinclair enlisted in EarthForce in 2237. During his time at EarthForce Academy, he met Catherine Sakai , with whom he had
20562-462: Was conceived as a "novel for television" with a pre-planned five-year story arc, each episode envisioned as a "chapter". Whereas contemporaneous television shows tended to maintain the overall status quo, confining conflicts to individual episodes, Babylon 5 featured story arcs which spanned multiple episodes and even seasons, effecting permanent changes to the series universe . Tie-in novels, comic books, and short stories were also developed to play
20711-410: Was dissected after arriving back on Earth, saying, "We learned some interesting things about Ms Winters in the course of her debriefing and dissect—that is, examination." Vir Cotto was played by Stephen Furst in seasons 1–5. He is a Centauri male who was from a family of minor nobility. Vir first appears in the episode " Midnight on the Firing Line " as an assistant to Ambassador Londo Mollari . At
20860-410: Was instrumental also in getting Sinclair to be stationed as the first Earth ambassador to Minbar since, unbeknownst to Sinclair initially, they chose him because he was the first human the Grey Council had any direct contact with during the Battle of the Line. In season two, Delenn and John Sheridan fell in love, which drove a further wedge between the Minbari religious and warrior castes, who soon broke
21009-585: Was killed in the Telepath War . This has been confirmed by J. Michael Straczynski in The Babylon 5 Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski TV Movies , in which he writes that both Lennier and Lyta Alexander were killed in the explosion of Psi Corps Headquarters in a major battle of the Telepath War. Straczynski had previously said of Lennier's death (in his commentary for "Sleeping in Light"): "That's
21158-415: Was later learned that Delenn herself was descended from Valen. Delenn is the "One who is," representing both halves of the Minbari and human race merged, more literally merging in the marriage of Delenn and Sheridan. Together they became war leaders, with Delenn managing to bind together diverse planets and races into a great alliance. Sheridan was the "warrior", while she was the "spirit". This alliance ended
21307-589: Was moved to the end of season five and replaced with a newly filmed season four finale, " The Deconstruction of Falling Stars ". Ann Bruice Aling was costume designer for the show, after production designer John Iacovelli suggested her for the position, having previously worked with her on a number of film and theatrical productions. With the variety of costumes required she compared Babylon 5 to "eclectic theatre", with fewer rules about period, line, shape and textures having to be adhered to. Preferring natural materials whenever possible, such as ostrich leather in
21456-611: Was on Narn when the Centauri used mass drivers to pluck asteroids out of orbit and bomb the Narn homeworld. Na'Toth was missing and presumed dead. In the fifth season, Na'Toth was found to be alive and imprisoned in the Centauri Royal Palace (" A Tragedy of Telepaths "). Londo Mollari and G'Kar smuggled her from the palace, and arranged for her to be sent back home to receive treatment for her injuries. Na'Toth did not appear in any further Babylon 5 television episodes or movies. The short story True Seeker , published in
21605-434: Was passed to members of the military who felt the same, and who could discreetly get it to the right hands. The staff had just agreed to bring Talia in on the operation, and were on the verge of doing so when Lyta had arrived to inform them of the sleeper. Garibaldi himself had mused that if Lyta had come one week later, they'd all be standing in front of a summary court martial board, if not worse. Psi Cop Bester hinted that she
21754-413: Was reassigned as ambassador to Minbar , where he took command of the Rangers . He was succeeded at Babylon 5 by Captain John Sheridan . In 2260, Sinclair received a 900-year old letter from himself on Minbar, revealing that he was not the reincarnation of Valen, as the Grey Council believed, but in fact Valen himself. Armed with this knowledge, Sinclair took Babylon 4 back with him 1,000 years to aid
21903-542: Was relatively peaceful. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski said that his ultimate fate would be much quieter than Garibaldi could have imagined. In three novels - the last book of the Psi Corp trilogy, and the last two books of the Centauri Prime trilogy - the authors explore the period between the end of Babylon 5 and Sheridan's "death" in 2281. Satai Delenn was played by Mira Furlan in seasons 1–5. She
22052-552: Was secretly in love with Delenn. He explained to Marcus Cole that it was "not romantic love as you would understand it, something nobler." Lennier did not act on his feelings due to her involvement with John Sheridan . Lennier did confess his feelings to her when he and Delenn were both trapped in hyperspace facing death, but Delenn , who had long known of his feelings for her, feigned that she hadn't heard his confession to spare him embarrassment. Lennier's feelings later caused his downfall. When Sheridan suffered an accident aboard
22201-412: Was unable to return for the first season due to recording and touring commitments. Initially concerned composing for an episodic television show could become "annoying because of the repetition", Franke found the evolving characters and story of Babylon 5 afforded him the opportunity to continually take new directions. Given creative freedom by the producers, Franke also orchestrated and mixed all
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