Babylon 5 was a successful TV series set in the 23rd century aboard a space station that served as a United Nations and a jump point to worlds afar. Written and produced by J. Michael Straczynski the original series ran from 1993 to 1998 spanning 5 seasons with a total of 110 episodes made.

The story revolved around characters from Earth and several alien worlds who came together at the space station in the middle of nowhere to forge plans for universal peace in a politically volatile and hostile galaxy. It is a story where aliens from around the galaxy were forced to create new alliances in a never ending struggle to defeat old and new forces of evil.

Through the series 5 year run, the politically charged storyline gradually unfolded itself and built to a very emotional climax when the principal characters all met for a last time some 20 years after the story's 5 year timeframe. Babylon 5 is a testament to how great a science fiction TV series can be, if given the chance it needs to build an audience and not have its creative forces become hindered by corporate and network interests.

In Hawaii Babylon 5 first aired on KHNL Channel 13 before settling on KFVE Channel 5 for most of its 4 season run on the Prime Time Network (PTEN)from 1993 to 1997. While on KFVE TV Babylon 5 was shown on Sunday nights at 7:00 pm. Since the program was syndicated the station often pre-empted Babylon 5 to show University of Hawaii sports broadcasts which frustrated many fans. The station did show the episodes later the same night or on a different day. Letter writing campaigns at the end of each season kept Babylon 5 on the air while it was in syndication before making a move to TNT cable network for its 5th and final season in 1998.

Babylon 5 spawned 4 movies and a sequel series called "Crusade." In "Crusade" the crew of the prototype starship Excalibar must seek a cure to a deadly disease unleashed on Earth by the evil Drakh, former servants of The Shadows.

Sadly, Crusade only lasted for 13 episodes before being pulled by TNT.

Full episodes can be viewed at the Warner Brothers Babylon 5 website.

All five seasons of Babylon 5, a boxed movie set and the Crusade series have all been released to DVD. These discs can be found at the usual retail locations and online at places such as Amazon.com. The DVD sets include extra features like the popular gag reels, a music video, behind-the-scenes featurettes and episode commentaries by JMS and others. Buying the DVDs are worth the money if you are a Babylon 5 fan.

-- Mel

The Season 2 cast of Babylon 5.
Links to Babylon 5

Warner Bros. Babylon 5 Website
Babylon 5: Main article on Wikipedia.org
Lurkers Guide to Babylon 5
Episode Guide to Babylon 5