Almost ten years since it went off the air, Babylon 5 returns in
a direct to DVD movie that’s written and directed by series creator J. Michael
Straczynski. Babylon 5 is the name of a humungous space station that is home to
a quarter million humans and aliens, all trying to live together in peace (and
sometimes not succeeding). B5 was the more intelligent, thinking-person’s answer
to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, offering a vastly entertaining story in an epic,
novel-like form that took place over the course of its five seasons. Taking
place ten years after the end of the show (but ten years before the final
episode, Asleep In Light), Babylon 5: The Lost Tales offers a pair of separate
stories that focus on two major characters from the series: President John
Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner), the former commander of B5 and now the president of
the Interstellar Alliance, and Colonel Elizabeth Lochley, the present commander
of the Babylon 5 space station.
In the first story, Colonel Lochley must contend with a strange case straight
out of the Exorcist. A B5 crewman has apparently been possessed by demonic
entities. Not knowing what to do, Lochley finally calls for a Catholic priest
(well-played by Alan Scarfe) for help in interviewing the man, who claims that the
demons within have been "seeded" in this particular region of space by God so
that humans, who have left their humble origins behind on Earth in order to
colonize the cosmos, would encounter them and be once again put back in their
proper place. It’s a fascinating, thoughtful dilemma, to which Straczynski
manages to create a satisfying ending with an interesting revelation concerning
the demon’s real origins.
The second, longer story deals with President Sheridan returning to B5 for the
tenth anniversary celebration of the creation of the Interstellar Alliance. Yet
before he can arrive at B5, his ship is asked to pick up the young prince regent
of the Centauri Republic, and bring him to the gathering. However, Sheridan
receives a visit from the techno-mage Galen (a character from the
cancelled-before-it’s-time B5 sequel series Crusade), who shows the president a
frightening, possible future where the Centauri destroy Earth under the command
of the very same prince regent. Sheridan’s dilemma is uneasily clear: he must
kill this boy, before he can grow up to become the mass-murdering tyrant who
wipes out Earth.
If the Babylon 5 series was a novel for television, then consider The Lost Tales
to be a short story collection. Straczynski revisits two of his B5 characters by
giving them each a self-contained mini-adventure. Casual science fiction viewers
not familiar with the series may want to skip this set and sample the show
itself (all five seasons are available in DVD sets--which reminds me, it’s about
high time I did a review of this series). But for the fanatic B5 fan (which I am),
this disc is highly recommended, for it’s akin to a visit with some old friends
that one hasn’t seen in a while. Shot in Vancouver, Canada--in soundstages
neighboring the current Battlestar Galactica TV show--the minimalist production
values and CGI special effects on Lost Tales are superb; the Babylon 5 station in particular
has never looked better. The production also made use of the local Vancouver
talent, such as an actress best known from Stargate.
Although this movie is very slender in length, just 72
minutes long, it's still time well-spent. And there’s plenty of special features
on the disc--including interviews with the cast members, and memorials to
deceased B5 actors Andreas Katsulas (G’kar) and Richard Biggs (Dr.
Franklin)--to keep us fans busy. More Lost Tales adventures are planned down the
line, and if they’re as good as this first set, then I can’t wait. The Babylon 5
universe is a rich, vast tapestry that deserves to be heard from, if for no
other reason than just to see how our old friends are doing.
--SF
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