Babylon 5 5-11: Phoenix Rising

Episode:

99

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

01-Apr-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 11: Phoenix Rising.

Phoenix Rising was actually the 100th episode to be shot but only the 99th to air (due to Sleeping in Light being shelved for a while), so The Ragged Edge ended up getting the party in its place. They got a big cake from TNT for it and everything. Funny thing is, if the season had been broadcast in the correct order then neither of them would've gotten the cake. I haven't written about Day of the Dead yet because it should come after both stories, making it the true episode 100.

Hang on, that means I've covered 98 episodes and two movies now - this is MY 100TH BABYLON 5 REVIEW! Man, I should've gotten myself a cake.

The episode aired on April 1st, but somehow I doubt it'll be a joke. In fact it's basically the second half of A Tragedy of Telepaths. Or maybe part five of Strange Relations, depending on how you look at it. The series has gotten very serialised again.

There'll be lots of SPOILERS below, as I'm pretty much writing this for people who've already seen all of Babylon 5 up to this point (or followed along with my articles at least). You're fine if you're first time viewer though, as I won't be spoiling anything that comes later. Even the things I can remember.

Babylon 5 5-09: In the Kingdom of the Blind

Episode:

97

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

18-Mar-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 9 - In the Kingdom of the Blind. I watched episode 7 - Secrets of the Soul last time so I should probably explain where episode 8's gone.

I'm following the Lurker's Guide's Master List, which tries to put the episodes in the place which makes the most sense for continuity. It only moves a few stories around, in fact the last time I skipped an episode like this was back in season 3, and I think this might be the last episode I'm watching out of order.

The Master List reordering leaves this run of episodes looks like this:

07 - Secrets of the Soul
09 - In the Kingdom of the Blind
10 - A Tragedy of Telepaths
11 - Phoenix Rising
12 - The Ragged Edge
08 - Day of the Dead

So episode 8's not coming around for a while.

Why is this relevant to you? Well it's going to affect what kind of SPOILERS you're going to read here. I only write about the episode I'm on and the ones that came before it, I don't spoil what comes next, so this reordering means that I won't say a thing about anything that happens in Day of the Dead here. On the other hand, my eventual Day of the Dead review could be full of spoilers for episodes 9-12... theoretically.

Babylon 5 5-05: Learning Curve

Episode:

93

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

18-Feb-1998

---

Sci-Fi Adventures is finally back! This week I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 5. All the fives. It's a shame that Deep Space Nine didn't go to nine seasons, as it never got to complete the set. Also Odyssey 5 got cancelled in season 1 and Brooklyn Nine-Nine didn't even make it into double digits. I've still got hopes for Avenue 5 though.

I'm not going to be swayed into liking this episode, by the way. I remember it being a particularly bad episode from the mediocre half of a disappointing season, and I have no intention of allowing myself to inadvertently enjoy it. This isn't going to be a repeat of last time, when A View from the Gallery managed to win me over by the end. Sort of.

Though that being said, it was directed by David J. Eagle, who gave us episodes like Severed Dreams, And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place and The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari, so maybe it'll turn out to be one of the better season 5 stories. I'll let you know.

There will be massive SPOILERS below for this episode and the story so far, as I'll be going through it scene by scene writing comments under screencaps. I'll not spoil a thing about what comes after it though.

Babylon 5 5-02: The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari

Episode:

90

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

28-Jan-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the second episode of Babylon 5, season 5: The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari. More like the very long title of Londo Mollari...

The episode made history when it aired as it's the only episode of television to ever have the words "Londo" and "Mollari" in the title. Though it's not the first to have The Long Night in it, as B5 already did that last season. It's not the first to have a character's name in the title either, but unlike Vir and Garibaldi, Londo was blessed with having his full name immortalised on episode lists.

Here's some more title trivia for you: there was going to be an episode called The Very Long Night of Susan Ivanova in season 2. Creator jms dropped the idea in the end, but reused the name when this came around. They've also reused this shot of the station as I remember seeing it under the title of season 3's Exogenesis!

Alright I'm going to recap the whole episode and throw my opinions and observations in along the way. That means that there will be SPOILERS for anyone who hasn't watched the series up to this point. I won't say a thing about anything that happens afterwards though.

Babylon 5 4-19: Between the Darkness and the Light

Episode:

85

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

06-Oct-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm up to Babylon 5 episode 4-19, Between the Darkness and the Light. The way the title comes up over a shot of a lightbulb swinging in a gloomy cave may not be entirely coincidental.

Between the Darkness and the Light is one of the few titles shared by both Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine... well, kind of. The DS9 episode was the one that aired first, coming out earlier the same year, and it's just called The Darkness and the Light. It was directed by frequent B5 director Mike Vejar, his first episode for the series (but far from his last).

The Babylon 5 episode, on the other hand, was directed by similarly frequent B5 director David Eagle, who was responsible for episodes like Severed Dreams, And the Rock Cried Out No Hiding Place, and The Hour of the Wolf. His episodes have a habit of ending up at the top of episode rankings, so I have a feeling this is going to be pretty watchable.

SPOILER WARNING: If you've a first-time viewer and you've reached this point in the series then you've got nothing to worry about here, I won't mention a thing about later episodes. Otherwise I'd recommend watching all 85 episodes first and then coming back, because there'll be spoilers for lots of them here.

Babylon 5 4-12: Conflicts of Interest

Episode:

79

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

05-May-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the 79th episode of Babylon 5, titled Conflicts of Interest. For whatever reason they decided to render the station from the back instead of the front for this shot, so there's a close up of B5's ass behind the title. It's also episode 12 of season 4, which means I'm in the second half of the season now. I'm 7/10ths through the show!

Conflicts of Interest was directed by David J. Eagle, who was the only Babylon 5 director to ever have a bird-related surname. He directed episodes like Severed Dreams, And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place and Falling Toward Apotheosis, so he preferred to hang around at the top of people's episode rankings, but this could be the episode where it all started to go wrong for him. We're in season four, so probably not, though it's been a while so I can't actually remember if this one's any good or not.

Here's some more trivia for you: the episode came out on May the 5th, the day after Star Wars Day. I don't think Babylon 5 ever got its own day, but I suppose the 5th of the 5th isn't the worst date you could pick for it.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to go through this episode scene by scene spoiling the events with my recap and spoiling the story by nitpicking everything as I go. I'll even spoil episodes that came before it! But I won't spoil anything that comes after it, so this is safe for first time viewers.

Babylon 5 4-04: Falling Toward Apotheosis

Episode:

70

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

25-Nov-1996

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about Falling Toward Apotheosis, the 70th episode of cult 90s sci-fi epic Babylon 5.

Hang on, that's the same stock CGI establishing shot they used behind the title for the episode A Day in the Strife! Only this time there's a better title in front of it (in my opinion), and it's in lower case for whatever reason. The previous episode's title was upper case and the one before that was lower case so maybe they're alternating now.

'Apotheosis' sounds like it should be the title of an X-Files or Star Trek: Voyager episode, but it works here I reckon. It means 'the elevation of a person to the status of a divine being'. Here's some more trivia for you: this was the last episode of the series to air (in the US) during 1996. Also this is one of the few episodes to have a commentary track on the DVDs, and I don't think it really spoils anything for once. It's just a few of the actors joking around.

There'll be massive SPOILERS here in this review though, as I'll be going through the whole episode, recapping every scene and talking about relevant events from previous stories. You don't have to stop reading if you're a first-time viewer though. As long as you've watched up to this point you'll be fine.

Babylon 5 4-01: The Hour of the Wolf

Episode:

67

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

04-Nov-1996

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Sci-Fi Adventures is back for another two months of sci-fi recap reviews! Most of them are going to be of Babylon 5 episodes to be honest as I need to get through this series, but I'm fine with that. I can think of worse series to be stuck with.

I'm starting off with the first episode of season four, The Hour of the Wolf! Though I'm watching it on DVD without the adverts, so it's more like The 42 Minutes of the Wolf.

Here's an interesting fact about US science fiction TV shows during the last century: they didn't typically live long. At the time this episode aired The X-Files was starting its fourth season and Star Trek: The Next Generation had just finished an epic seven season run, but for other sci-fi, especially space sci-fi, three seasons was an exceptional run. Battlestar Galactica and Space: Above and Beyond managed one season, Buck Rogers reached two, and even titans Lost in Space and Star Trek were cancelled after year three. So for Babylon 5 to make it to year four was actually pretty unusual. And appreciated considering the cliffhanger the last season left us on.

Hey I just noticed that the title text has gone back to the season 1 font! Well, on the DVDs at least, it would've looked different on the original airing. The shadow didn't used to look so dark for one thing.

Anyway I should point out that this is a recap/review for people who've already seen the episode or don't care about SPOILERS. It's very first-time viewer friendly though, as I'll not be spoiling anything that happens after this point.

Babylon 5 3-20: And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place

Episode:

64

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

14-Oct-1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Babylon 5 episode 64: And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place.

Now there's a proper title! In fact there's so much title there that they couldn't show the station in the same shot as it'd be hidden behind the wall of text. Plus it starts with 'and', which makes it feel like it's just a fragment of an even longer title.

This is actually is the longest title of any episode of Babylon 5... except for the The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father, which has the the same number of words but is exactly one character longer (including punctuation and spaces). Here, have a list of some of the longest sci-fi episode titles so you can see where this fits in the grand scheme of things:

• Star Trek: For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (50 characters)
• Discovery: The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry (48 characters)
• Babylon 5: The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father (40 characters)
• Babylon 5: And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place (39 characters)
• Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (38 characters)
• Twilight Zone: The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross (38 characters)
• Battlestar Galactica: Taking a Break from All Your Worries (36 characters)
• Stargate: SG-1: There But for the Grace of God (30 characters)

By the way, if you're looking for SPOILERS, you're in the right place, as I'll be spoiling the hell out of this episode and anything that led up to it. Though if you're a first time viewer, or just don't want to be reminded about what happens next, you've got nothing to worry about here.

Babylon 5 3-10: Severed Dreams

Episode:

54

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

1-Apr-1996

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about a Babylon 5 episode.

Severed Dreams was pretty much the final part of a stealth three-parter, and this worked out pretty well for UK viewers who got the episodes weekly with no breaks and no cliffhangers. It was less good for US fans, as they had to wait five weeks to see how things got resolved here. They couldn't have really aired it any sooner though to be fair, as the episode is so VFX heavy they struggled to get it all finished in time as it is. I'm not sure it was absolutely necessary to air the episode on April 1st though. Viewers just had to hope that the entire story arc didn't turn out to be a magnificent prank.

I can't talk really, as I had the bright idea to launch Sci-Fi Adventures on April 1st, and it's the day the site always comes back after taking February and March off. In fact I could've been clever and held off reviewing Severed Dreams until next April, using it to kick off the next block of reviews, but... no. It's already taken me long enough to get here.

Here's some trivia for you: the episode was up for the 'Best Dramatic Presentation' Hugo in 1997, an award that Babylon 5 had actually won the previous year with The Coming of Shadows. This time though it was up against Independence Day, Star Trek: First Contact, the 30th anniversary episode of Deep Space Nine where they go back and hang out with Captain Kirk, and... uh, Mars Attacks! Spoiler: Mars Attacks! didn't win.

In fact it was Babylon 5 that went and won the Hugo for a second time! Because that's what happens when you make Severed Dreams.

SPOILER WARNING!

The DVD comes with a commentary track, but I'd recommend staying clear if you haven't seen the whole series yet as they tend to spoil things. In fact stay clear of all the special features. My review, on the other hand, won't spoil a thing! Well, except for the whole of Severed Dreams and the episodes leading up to it.

Babylon 5 3-06: Dust to Dust

Episode:

50

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

05-Feb-1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm reviewing episode 50 of Babylon 5! A few episodes got shuffled around the airing order along the way for various reasons, but not this one. It's absolutely, unambiguously episode number 50... unless you count the pilot movie as an episode, in which case this is 51.

I don't think they did anything special with the episode to celebrate the milestone though. That establishing shot of the station up there looks unusually pretty, but that's just coincidence. However, the episode's called Dust to Dust, which of course means that a major character's going to die before the end credits roll. But which one of them will it be?

It's Chief O'Brien! Sorry O'Brien fans, but this is the story that he dies in. Oh hang on, I forgot to mention that there will be massive SPOILERS in this review, for this episode and for earlier ones as well. But nothing that comes after it. Basically I'm going to pretend that it's February 5th 1996, this is the latest episode to air, and I haven't even watched the trailer for the next story yet.

Babylon 5 3-03: A Day in the Strife

Episode:

47

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

20-Nov-1995

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about A Day in the Strife, an episode with a bad title! It's also the third episode of the third season of cult sci-fi 90 series Babylon 5, which I'm going to have to get through before I can start writing about cult series from the 00s or 10s.

The episode was directed by David J. Eagle and written by showrunner J. Michael Straczynski, but that's not really news as they're all written by Straczynski at this point. Some writing rooms struggle to plot out 13 episode seasons, he wrote an entire 22 episode season all on his own. So I suppose I can't really be too hard on him about the title.

David Eagle had only directed one B5 episode before this, In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum, but he came back many times afterwards for episodes like Severed Dreams, And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place and Falling Towards Apotheosis. I plan to avoid giving SPOILERS for anything other than this episode and the ones that came before it but... that's a pretty encouraging list of stories.

Babylon 5 2-16: In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum

Episode:

38

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

10-May-1995

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm putting the previous DVD back in to watch In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum.

Babylon 5 first aired with the occasional episode out of order, mostly due to the visual effects taking ages, and if you watch the episodes off disc or Amazon you get to experience the authentic continuity weirdness this causes (which is pretty minimal to be honest, it's not really a big deal). But I'm following the J. Michael Straczynski approved Lurker's Guide Master List order, which enhances the narrative by pulling Knives forwards and slotting this in before Confessions and Lamentations, leaving this block of episodes looking like this:

15 - And Now for a Word
17 - Knives
16 - In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum
18 - Confessions and Lamentations
19 - Divided Loyalties

By the way, this is one of the few episodes to get a DVD commentary by producer jms and if you're watching B5 for the first time I'd recommend leaving it until you've seen the whole series. In fact all the special features seem to have been produced under the assumption that if you've bought the discs you're probably already a fan. Which is fine, but they could've at least included a spoiler warning. Like this:

WARNING, I'm about to write some massive SPOILERS all over this review! But only for this episode and the ones that precede it. Which includes Knives.