pub: DVD: Warner Brothers Z1 27461. 22*42 minute episodes plus extras. Price: Varies from around £60 to £35, so look around for the best deal) stars: Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Claudia Christian, Mira Furlan, Peter Jurasik and Andrea Katsulas and many others.

check out website: www.babylon5.com

This is the season where the war heats up with the Shadows taking a far more significant open part. It is also where John Sheridan has to learn that he can’t blunder in to things and expect everything to fall into place.

It’s the season where B5 has a regular Ranger, Marcus Cole, on-board, even if he is a rather flamboyant loud eccentric with a perchance for Shakespeare. It’s also where telepath Lyta Alexander returns after a little fine-tuning on the Vorlon homeworld. It’s also the season which has the fantastic two-parter ‘War Without End’ counter-part to Season One’s ‘Babylon Squared’.

It’s also the season where G’Kar’s attitude changes and he provides much needed support when the Night Watch are finally chucked off station. It’s the season where B5 breaks away from the Earth Alliance and its command staff get black uniforms. It’s the season where the shit truly hits the fan in a big, big way. It’s 2260 and the place is Babylon 5.

To say that this is a brilliant season is putting it mildly. Every significant character, with the exception of the always loyal Lennier and the enigmatic Mr. Morden, has a radical change and takes on a different path. Stories hit on two significant fronts more than any other tales on board the station. The first, is the developing political situation on Centauri and their imposition on the Non-Aligned Worlds.

The other is that of the Shadow War as they attempt to take the Vorlons out of the picture for revealing themselves to be less than observers and make their own moves. Throughout all of this, writer Joe Straczynski reveals more about what is going on and its significance.

In the extras, Straczynski also reveals how much allegory he still relies on from World War Two and other tit-bits of information you might not have read elsewhere. The actors' voice-over with actors Boxleitner, Doyle, Briggs and Wasser seems to reveal that they felt many characters were actually in odd marriages, especially Garibaldi and Franklin. Four people talking together tends to have odd pregnant pauses when no one is sure who should speak next.

Wasser seems a little subdued with the other three but might be indicating his place in the acting hierarchy rather than stepping too far out of his position in the pay scale. I still think it might have been interesting in the extras section to feature some stills from the voice-over section to remind everyone what they look like today.

Of the other extras, we see how the station was built and a rather fascinating study of actor Marshall Teague being made up into the Narn Ta’lon which I found actually beats looking at the stills in the media mags.

If anything, the only thing I wish was developed further was the Personal Files, as they don’t really say much more than what is in the episodes nor enter any fresh insight into the characters. There was also significantly less than the previous two seasons which is rather odd when so much is changing in this season.

If you’re a Babylon 5 fan, then you’ve already picked this up. If you’ve been tracking this series down based off my other reviews, then you’re going to love this season.

GF Willmetts