”And so, it begins… Here we are. The end of the first season. “Chrysalis” is more than just an awesome season finale, however. It’s the episode that sold me on Babylon 5. It’s the episode that showed me there was something worth tuning into on a regular basis instead of the sporadic basis I had been watching the show originally. In short, it’s awesome. I’ve spent a lot of the past few... 

You know how I’ve been going ga-ga over the past few episodes and their references to classic sci-fi? I have to take a moment and applaud the title of this episode. “The Quality of Mercy” is taken from Shakespeare, more specifically The Merchant of Venice. You know, one of the Bard’s not-so-widely-read plays. It happens to be one of my favorite speeches, about the power of forgiveness and mercy.... 

As I said last time, “A Voice in the Wilderness” attempts to ramp things up for Babylon 5. The first half of the episode does a pretty good job of setting a higher pace, however the second episode is where things start to fall apart. The promise of the first half of the episode isn’t quite lived up to with the second half, beginning with the revelation of what Garabaldi sees coming through the... 

With only five episodes left in the season, it’s time for the show to ramp things up. “A Voice in the Wilderness” is a nice attempt to do so, although I propose that it’s one of the weakest scripts to come from series creator J. Michael Straczynski, with huge neon signs instead of subtle foreshadowing, some really bad character motivation, and one of the worst cliffhangers in the history of... 

It’s obvious that Babylon 5 is inspired by epic stories of the past. Captain Sheridan carries himself as Odysseus, refusing to concede to outside forces, including death, until the time is right (and, of course, there are the constant references to Tennyson’s “Ulysses”). The Rangers (among other things) add a feeling of Lord of the Rings inspiration. And, more than once, we get references to... 

Alright ladies and gentlemen, buckle in. This is going to be a long ride. For many people, “Signs and Portents” is the start of the major story arc in Babylon 5. It’s my hope that, over the course of this series so far, I’ve shown that some story elements go all the way back to the first episode (“Midnight on the Firing Line”). This is definitely a game changer, however, with so much story... 

In Star Trek: First Contact, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) has a speech about how, in the future, they’ve transcended such things as material greed; everyone works for the common good of mankind, with humanity’s focus on material possessions having been eliminated by the Trek era. Every time I hear that speech, I think, “Bullshit.” I mean, seriously: who wants to be a janitor for the common... 

It’s been a good run. ”And the Sky Full of Stars” revealed a key point of Earth history and revealed to viewers what happened during Sinclair’s missing time in the Battle of the Line. ”Deathwalker” touched more on the history of Earth and reminded us that the cryptic Vorlons are an ever-present threat. ”Believers” gave Franklin a chance to shine and presented on of Babylon 5’s moral... 

With Star Trek in the ‘60s, Gene Roddenberry showed that science-fiction can be used as a powerful medium of social commentary – a tradition J. Michael Straczynski carried on with Babylon 5 more than once. “Believers” is the first such episode, where Babylon 5 really dives into a topic that of some importance to contemporary audiences. While it is at times a bit heavy handed, “Believers”... 

Oh, those wacky Vorlons. They spend so much time attempting to be cryptic, and then we get an episode like this where they really let their hair down a little… proverbially of course. The Vorlon interactions are the highlight of “Deathwalker,” but the episode carries on the momentum of the previous episode’s exploration of human history as well as exposing some of that moral gray area that...