You know what else the season got this year? A proper HD Remaster! That's one thing Deep Space Nine doesn't have. Unfortunately my reviews are missing out on all those beautiful high-resolution shots as my screencaps came from the old DVDs. No one's going to stumble across my reviews by clicking on one of my pictures in a Google image search ever again, it's a tragedy.
Anyway, this is going to contain giant SPOILERS for everything in season 4 from The Hour of the Wolf to The Deconstruction of Falling Stars, but I won't spoil anything about season 5 or the movies. Or Crusade. Or Legend of the Rangers. Or The Lost Tales.
Okay, first I'm going to quickly run through the checklist in the opening titles and see if the season delivered on its promises:
For the first three years Babylon 5 had been an epic galactic saga told from the perspective of people stuck on a space station. Season 3 introduced the White Star, which allowed Sheridan and the others to get out occasionally, but really that just meant that there was a new standing bridge set built next to all the familiar station sets. Skip to a random part of a random episode from season 3 and chances are you're going to be seeing Babylon 5. This season though the camera actually got to go out to where the action was, as the characters were split up on different missions, getting things done. Or getting tortured.
The story was also very serialised this year, even more so than in season 3. There's no time for standalone sci-fi stories like Passing Through Gethsemane or an Exogenesis this year, everything is going on all the time. In fact there wasn't even enough time for the main arcs, as PTEN's demise forced showrunner jms to rush through the plot to end the season with a sense of closure it wasn't supposed to have. This obviously wasn't an ideal situation, but it wasn't entirely negative either. It's impossible to know how well the season would've worked if they were able to follow the original plan, but the season four we got really moves.
Serialised television took off in a huge way after Babylon 5, but with modern series it doesn't matter whether it's got 22 episodes, or 13 episodes, or 8 episodes a season, I still often feel like the story has been padded out and it could've been trimmed a little. B5 season 4 never had that problem for me, it's got too much going on for that. It was originally going to conclude with Intersections in Real Time, so jms dropped four episodes in order to make space for four episodes of resolution at the end, and it really does feel like they fast-forwarded through important parts of the plot. Especially with the Minbari Civil War arc, G'Kar and Londo's friendship, and the creation of the Interstellar Alliance.
The season's not just about things happening though, it's about what those things mean. One recurring theme I noticed is the control and manipulation of information. Sheridan sacrifices Bryan Cranston to give the Shadows false intel and force them to confront the Vorlons directly, the Shadow War only ends when everyone knows the truth about what's going on, Delenn uses the truth about her heritage to blackmail her clan, ISN runs a smear campaign against the station and Sheridan starts the Voice of the Resistance to counter them etc. Oh, plus Sheridan's shameless trickery in Rumors, Bargains and Lies leads to the formation of the Interstellar Alliance.
Another theme is that you can beat the system. But jms was smart enough to make sure that the system's never beaten in the same way twice, to prevent the season from getting too repetitive. The Shadows and Vorlons' authority is nullified when no one's willing to play along anymore, Delenn's clan leader is blackmailed, Cartagia is assassinated, Shai Alyt Shakiri is shamed, and Clark is straight up defeated in a war. Even the interrogator is beaten by an otherwise powerless Sheridan saying "no, I won't" more times than he can say "yes, you will".
The side effect of this is that it's a season of huge victories. Most of the arcs have been wrapped up, the big conflicts are over, and even the Narn and Centauri are playing nice. If you want an ultra-happy ending, this might actually be the best place to walk away from the series. But Babylon 5's made a habit of finishing stories with time left for an decent epilogue, so a season dealing with the aftermath is very true to form.
Season 4 wasn't all good though...
THE BAD
"It was the year of fire. The year of destruction. The year we took back what was ours."This line's definitely true. With three wars taking place, season four almost certainly had more explosions than any other season so far. Also Sheridan, Delenn, Londo and G'Kar each reclaimed their homeworlds from tyrants.
"It was the year of rebirth. The year of great sadness. The year of pain. And a year of joy."Absolutely. Sheridan literally came back from the dead, everyone was downright miserable at the start, both G'Kar and Sheridan were tortured, and characters also achieved huge victories.
"It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed."Yes and no for this one. We finally reached the Third Age of Mankind here, however The Deconstruction of Falling Stars showed that there was plenty of history left to come. Plus I'm not sure that everything changed, but Sheridan became a president of an Interstellar Alliance, grew a beard and married Delenn, Garibaldi and Ivanova both quit, the Shadows and Vorlons left the galaxy, Narn, Centauri Prime, Minbar and Earth were saved, Marcus died... I'd say enough changed.
"The year is 2261. The place, Babylon 5"Nope! Both lies. Well okay it was 2261 for 21 episodes, but then Deconstruction of Falling Stars jumped ahead a bit. And the place was Z'ha'dum, Centauri Prime, Narn, Epsilon III, Mars, Earth, White Star 2, the Agamemnon etc. The series really got around this season, which is unusual for B5.
For the first three years Babylon 5 had been an epic galactic saga told from the perspective of people stuck on a space station. Season 3 introduced the White Star, which allowed Sheridan and the others to get out occasionally, but really that just meant that there was a new standing bridge set built next to all the familiar station sets. Skip to a random part of a random episode from season 3 and chances are you're going to be seeing Babylon 5. This season though the camera actually got to go out to where the action was, as the characters were split up on different missions, getting things done. Or getting tortured.
The story was also very serialised this year, even more so than in season 3. There's no time for standalone sci-fi stories like Passing Through Gethsemane or an Exogenesis this year, everything is going on all the time. In fact there wasn't even enough time for the main arcs, as PTEN's demise forced showrunner jms to rush through the plot to end the season with a sense of closure it wasn't supposed to have. This obviously wasn't an ideal situation, but it wasn't entirely negative either. It's impossible to know how well the season would've worked if they were able to follow the original plan, but the season four we got really moves.
Serialised television took off in a huge way after Babylon 5, but with modern series it doesn't matter whether it's got 22 episodes, or 13 episodes, or 8 episodes a season, I still often feel like the story has been padded out and it could've been trimmed a little. B5 season 4 never had that problem for me, it's got too much going on for that. It was originally going to conclude with Intersections in Real Time, so jms dropped four episodes in order to make space for four episodes of resolution at the end, and it really does feel like they fast-forwarded through important parts of the plot. Especially with the Minbari Civil War arc, G'Kar and Londo's friendship, and the creation of the Interstellar Alliance.
The season's not just about things happening though, it's about what those things mean. One recurring theme I noticed is the control and manipulation of information. Sheridan sacrifices Bryan Cranston to give the Shadows false intel and force them to confront the Vorlons directly, the Shadow War only ends when everyone knows the truth about what's going on, Delenn uses the truth about her heritage to blackmail her clan, ISN runs a smear campaign against the station and Sheridan starts the Voice of the Resistance to counter them etc. Oh, plus Sheridan's shameless trickery in Rumors, Bargains and Lies leads to the formation of the Interstellar Alliance.
Another theme is that you can beat the system. But jms was smart enough to make sure that the system's never beaten in the same way twice, to prevent the season from getting too repetitive. The Shadows and Vorlons' authority is nullified when no one's willing to play along anymore, Delenn's clan leader is blackmailed, Cartagia is assassinated, Shai Alyt Shakiri is shamed, and Clark is straight up defeated in a war. Even the interrogator is beaten by an otherwise powerless Sheridan saying "no, I won't" more times than he can say "yes, you will".
The side effect of this is that it's a season of huge victories. Most of the arcs have been wrapped up, the big conflicts are over, and even the Narn and Centauri are playing nice. If you want an ultra-happy ending, this might actually be the best place to walk away from the series. But Babylon 5's made a habit of finishing stories with time left for an decent epilogue, so a season dealing with the aftermath is very true to form.
Season 4 wasn't all good though...
THE BAD
I hate the look of the Vorlon planet killer. Burgers shouldn't have tentacles!
In fact the VFX in season four had a few issues, some probably caused by the switch over from Foundation Imaging to Netter Digital, some caused by the producers prioritising quantity over quality. One episode even had missing engine glows and ships flickering out of existence, because there were so many ships and so many shots.
Though Netter Digitalinherited acquired the original assets and did a great job of replicating the look established by Foundation (while Foundation went off to replicate the look of Star Trek for Voyager). You can tell that something's changed, battles are less three-dimensional for one thing, but some of the scenes they pulled off this season were bloody impressive for 1997 television.
Another problem with the season is that the story leaves some of the cast members without much to do. Londo, G'Kar and Vir virtually disappear after the opening arc, Ivanova's stuck reading the news for a lot of the season, Zack's gone by the last third and Corwin only gets like one episode! Garibaldi, on the other hand, gets plenty to do, he's just miserable and cranky the whole time. Even more than last season!
Plus the creation of the Interstellar Alliance seems like it was always going to be the end goal of the series, as it means that Babylon 5's succeeded and completed its purpose, but it feels like they've pulled the trigger way way too early for that. The only set up I can think of comes in The Summoning, when Sheridan returns from Z'ha'dum and everyone immediately drops their pitchforks and joins his fleet, and Rumors, Bargains and Lies, where Sheridan manipulates the League into allowing White Stars to patrol their borders. It's a shame because it's an interesting development, and I like how it echoes Sinclair bringing the Minbari castes together at the end of the last Shadow War and forming a Grey Council.
THE GOOD
In fact the VFX in season four had a few issues, some probably caused by the switch over from Foundation Imaging to Netter Digital, some caused by the producers prioritising quantity over quality. One episode even had missing engine glows and ships flickering out of existence, because there were so many ships and so many shots.
Though Netter Digital
Another problem with the season is that the story leaves some of the cast members without much to do. Londo, G'Kar and Vir virtually disappear after the opening arc, Ivanova's stuck reading the news for a lot of the season, Zack's gone by the last third and Corwin only gets like one episode! Garibaldi, on the other hand, gets plenty to do, he's just miserable and cranky the whole time. Even more than last season!
Plus the creation of the Interstellar Alliance seems like it was always going to be the end goal of the series, as it means that Babylon 5's succeeded and completed its purpose, but it feels like they've pulled the trigger way way too early for that. The only set up I can think of comes in The Summoning, when Sheridan returns from Z'ha'dum and everyone immediately drops their pitchforks and joins his fleet, and Rumors, Bargains and Lies, where Sheridan manipulates the League into allowing White Stars to patrol their borders. It's a shame because it's an interesting development, and I like how it echoes Sinclair bringing the Minbari castes together at the end of the last Shadow War and forming a Grey Council.
THE GOOD
Shit happens this season! All the shit! Some might argue that season 3 is the better season, but this is the year of shocking turns, things getting done and satisfying pay-offs. Three of the main driving conflicts of the series, the Shadow War, G'Kar vs Londo, and Earth's fall to fascism, get a resolution here.
This was also the year of people getting out of the station for a bit, which meant we got some new scenery for a change. It was still Babylon 5 and the budget hadn't gotten any better, so the new locations were hit and miss, but whenever they went somewhere that wasn't an obvious redress or made from curtains I thought it looked pretty nice.
It's funny just how little drama there was on B5 station itself this year. It seems that the Earth embargo actually did them some good, as it apparently kept out all the n'ka'leen feeders, Soul Hunters, Deathwalkers, Ikaaran war machines, invisible Shadow servants, cyberzombies, serial killers, mad bombers etc. A few telepathic assassins got through and evil Kosh caused some problems, but aside from that all the action was off station.
Splitting up the crew wasn't without its drawbacks, I like to see people working together and bouncing off each other in entertaining ways, and they can't do that if they're on different planets. But the way everyone was off on their own missions really increased the scope. Garibaldi's arc in particular took the story in unexpected new directions, as his reprogramming isolated him from people and his life became a film noir. It also added some mystery back into the series just as the Shadow War plot finally ran out of secrets, and it gave him something to do after being kind of underused last season. Even if he was basically an antagonist.
Another thing this season did well was villains, as it's got so many, they stuck around for entire arcs, and they were generally fantastic. Season 3 had the occasional visit from Bester, Morden and Lord Refa, but season four gave us five episodes of Cartagia, four episodes of William Edgars, and Bester and Morden dropped by a few times as well. Weirdly Clark never really left the shadows to become an actual character, but we got to see him reflected in all the people who carried out his will, like Captain Hall and the interrogator. And that bastard Dan Randall.
CONCLUSION
Babylon 5 season 4 is pretty good.
But is it the best season yet? Well, maybe not of all television ever, but I think it may actually be the strongest season of the series. Season 3 gives tough competition, but it really dipped at times (Walkabout, Grey 17), so it can't match season 4's consistency. There isn't a single bad episode here, just an episode with bad Drakh makeup. Then again season 3 also had an incredible peak with the Severed Dreams trilogy and I'm not sure this season has anything that can beat it. Damn, it's actually really hard to say which of the two is my personal favourite.
Oh hang on, I can just give the individual episodes a score out of 9 and then get an average for each season. And the maths says... it's 7.32 for the third year vs 7.46 for the fourth. So season 4 wins! But it's bloody close.
Ranking the individual episodes is even more difficult for me, partly because they're so similar in quality, partly because the serialised plot means it's hard for me to remember what events took place in which story. But I've done it for the last three seasons already so I suppose it has to be done:
This was also the year of people getting out of the station for a bit, which meant we got some new scenery for a change. It was still Babylon 5 and the budget hadn't gotten any better, so the new locations were hit and miss, but whenever they went somewhere that wasn't an obvious redress or made from curtains I thought it looked pretty nice.
It's funny just how little drama there was on B5 station itself this year. It seems that the Earth embargo actually did them some good, as it apparently kept out all the n'ka'leen feeders, Soul Hunters, Deathwalkers, Ikaaran war machines, invisible Shadow servants, cyberzombies, serial killers, mad bombers etc. A few telepathic assassins got through and evil Kosh caused some problems, but aside from that all the action was off station.
Splitting up the crew wasn't without its drawbacks, I like to see people working together and bouncing off each other in entertaining ways, and they can't do that if they're on different planets. But the way everyone was off on their own missions really increased the scope. Garibaldi's arc in particular took the story in unexpected new directions, as his reprogramming isolated him from people and his life became a film noir. It also added some mystery back into the series just as the Shadow War plot finally ran out of secrets, and it gave him something to do after being kind of underused last season. Even if he was basically an antagonist.
Another thing this season did well was villains, as it's got so many, they stuck around for entire arcs, and they were generally fantastic. Season 3 had the occasional visit from Bester, Morden and Lord Refa, but season four gave us five episodes of Cartagia, four episodes of William Edgars, and Bester and Morden dropped by a few times as well. Weirdly Clark never really left the shadows to become an actual character, but we got to see him reflected in all the people who carried out his will, like Captain Hall and the interrogator. And that bastard Dan Randall.
CONCLUSION
Babylon 5 season 4 is pretty good.
But is it the best season yet? Well, maybe not of all television ever, but I think it may actually be the strongest season of the series. Season 3 gives tough competition, but it really dipped at times (Walkabout, Grey 17), so it can't match season 4's consistency. There isn't a single bad episode here, just an episode with bad Drakh makeup. Then again season 3 also had an incredible peak with the Severed Dreams trilogy and I'm not sure this season has anything that can beat it. Damn, it's actually really hard to say which of the two is my personal favourite.
Oh hang on, I can just give the individual episodes a score out of 9 and then get an average for each season. And the maths says... it's 7.32 for the third year vs 7.46 for the fourth. So season 4 wins! But it's bloody close.
Ranking the individual episodes is even more difficult for me, partly because they're so similar in quality, partly because the serialised plot means it's hard for me to remember what events took place in which story. But I've done it for the last three seasons already so I suppose it has to be done:
| 22. | Lines of Communication - The Franklin/Mars Resistance plot line doesn't involve much and Delenn's meeting with the Drakh is just ridiculous. |
| 21. | The Deconstruction of Falling Stars - It's an interesting episode, but a series of isolated vignettes wasn't ever likely to match the avalanche taking place in the rest of the season. |
| 20. | The Illusion of Truth - A dark counterpart to And Now for a Word... spoiled a little by how gullible the crew are. |
| 19. | Rumors, Bargains and Lies - Sometimes it's nice to watch an episode where the hero has everything planned out from the start and just has to push the pieces into place. |
| 18. | Atonement - Gets bonus points for actually showing us the legendary Dukhat. Loses points for making me look up how to spell Dukhat (I've got to remember that it's duck-hat). |
| 17. | Epiphanies - This one's pretty decent, save for Bester's 'I'm a villain' monologue to no one at the end. |
| 16. | Racing Mars - Features absolutely zero racing. |
| 15. | Moments of Transition - Features Delenn redefining a planetary government while Bester trolls people on the station. Not sure it's a good thing that both plots feel about equally as important. |
| 14. | Conflicts of Interest - I put this so high because it has Garibaldi going full John McClane. I would've put it higher if they'd pulled it off better. |
| 13. | Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi? - I can barely remember this one now. I think G'Kar wore a hat. |
| 12. | Rising Star - A step down in pace after the Earth Civil War, but I appreciate the series taking the time to deal with the aftermath. |
| 11. | The Exercise of Vital Powers - Mostly scenes of good actors explaining things to Garibaldi. |
| 10. | Between the Darkness and the Light - I keep wanting to put this one higher, but then I remember Lyta's rant about wanting to sue someone. |
| 9. | The Hour of the Wolf - Kicks off the six-part Shadow War conclusion arc by introducing the mad Cartagia. |
| 8. | The Summoning - You can't tell from the title, but this is the one where G'Kar is whipped until he screams. |
| 7. | The Face of the Enemy - Garibaldi actually goes through with betraying Sheridan! Great direction, shame the director was a little too fond of splicing in photographs and overdid it by the end. |
| 6. | Falling Towards Apotheosis - Sheridan vs. Fake Kosh! You know things are getting real when the crew actually assassinate an ambassador. |
| 5. | Intersections in Real Time - It's the third 'interrogator yells at the commander in the dark' episode of the series and probably the best. |
| 4. | No Surrender, No Retreat - An episode good enough to name the season after, but not quite the best. |
| 3. | Into the Fire - A lot of fans found the resolution of the Shadow War to be a cop out, but I thought it ended well enough. Plus an all-out military victory would've stepped on Endgame's shoes. |
| 2. | The Long Night - That said, I think the best of the six-episode Shadow War finale arc was this one, mostly because of Londo's plot to assassinate his Emperor. |
| 1. | Endgame - The equal and opposite of Chrysalis and Severed Dreams, as Sheridan finally comes home and ends President Clark's rubbish leadership by parking his spaceship over Earth, phoning up, and asking someone else to sort him out. |
Alright, here's a quick list of all the season 4 episodes you can safely skip without missing out on anything: none of them.
That's four seasons down, only one left to go. But will I be covering the oft-maligned season 5? I suppose I could just stop here and walk away. No one really needs to hear what I think about Byron. Though on the other hand, if I don't do it you'll be missing out on my awesome low-resolution DVD screencaps. I couldn't let you down like that.
That's four seasons down, only one left to go. But will I be covering the oft-maligned season 5? I suppose I could just stop here and walk away. No one really needs to hear what I think about Byron. Though on the other hand, if I don't do it you'll be missing out on my awesome low-resolution DVD screencaps. I couldn't let you down like that.
NEXT TIME
Though I've still got one more thing for you to read this month however. Next on Sci-Fi Adventures I'll be reviewing Star Trek: Discovery, season 3!
I, for one, am glad you're continuing with season 5, even if that means facing *sigh* Byron.
ReplyDelete