"Babylon 5: In The Beginning" And The First Episode of "Babylon 5"s Fifth Season

 

Seems ironic that "Babylon 5" would be the first material covered on Coaxial since the New Year began - indeed - since Coaxial’s six month anniversary earlier this week. See, "Babylon 5" was the first article posted on the first official day of Coaxial News. Making all the more special the fact that Coaxial just got through viewing two of the most anticipated "Babylon 5" productions to come down the pike in a long time - almost exactly six months after that first story went out.

"Babylon 5: In The Beginning" is a prequel / introduction to the series as a whole, and will air Sunday January 4 on TNT. The first episode of "Babylon 5"s Fifth Season is called "No Compromise". We’ll touch on it below. But first let’s start in the beginning…

"In The Beginning" is a more sedate story than many fans seem to be expecting. It’s told at a sometimes…ummmm….leisurely pace. This is not to say it is boring…. necessarily. In fact, there are a few sequences that are quite powerful and moving. But for the most part, ITB tends to focus heavily on the socio-political machinations which propel Earth into a devastating, almost genocidal war with an alien race called the Minbari.

What time isn’t taken up with pseudo-anthropological exposition and cosmic pondering is divided up between meeting and following some of "Babylon 5"s major characters as they appeared ten years previous to the series’ timeline, cross-cutting back to the movie’s narrator, and watching titanic space battles - *usually* (but not always) presented in a series of broken montages. An interesting cross-section and diversity of entertainment to be sure, but less of a "blow out" than it could have been. These are not necessarily bad characteristics. Just means "In The Beginning" is a lot more complex - and about a lot more - than space battles. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

There is an elegance to "In The Beginning" The semi-film noir lighting inside Earth politician’s offices, the understated and almost poetic score which underlies dazzling sequences of devastation and carnage, the spill-lighting (and graphics) off of monitor readouts which cover the faces of actors at spaceship bridge posts all suggest the filmmakers are getting a chance to treat their material with the level of visual sophistication and artistry which weekly shooting limitations usually don’t accommodate - and are priming themselves for the feature film that may soon rise out of "Babylon 5"s movement into increased notoriety and popularity.

But when all is said and done, "Babylon 5: In The Beginning" may be a great big Catch-22. It may be too complicated and richly detailed for virginal B5 viewers to get a grip on, yet too passé for regular viewers of the series - who are already familiar with most of the events covered by this movie. New viewers tuning in to "In The Beginning" in the hopes of using it as in introduction to the "Babylon 5 Universe" may find themselves suffocated in the vast and complex tapestry that ITB quickly weaves and covers them with, and might subsequently be alienated from viewing the series further. As it stands, the fans are more likely the winners here, although I’m not sure this victory is the best tactical scenario.

"Babylon 5" stands at a crucial cross-roads at this point in time. It has received publicity on numerous cable systems the likes of which God could not have imagined. For the first time ever, most Americans KNOW "Babylon 5" exist. For those in other countries, where the show is immensely more successful than it is in the States, this may seem an odd statement. But in the Untied States, a vast majority of people have no idea what "Babylon 5" is. Period. So progress is happening.

TNT has done a magnificent job publicizing "In The Beginning", and has delivered a quality and sophisticated product that will please many who have been with the series for so long. But to "make it" - the series will have to draft more people than just those who are already aware of it. Those who are tuning in for the first time may be intimidated, and question whether they want to see more. In this since, "In The Beginning" is a good launch when considered in the bigger picture, but a difficult crossover at best.

Fans or newbies? Who is it more important to play to at this point in time? Difficult questions - no doubt about that. Only time will tell if the right choices were made.