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.

The year is 2261. It was the year that creator Joe Straczynski totally based the Centuari Republic on the Roman Empire. The only thing Cartargia didn't do was play the violin as he sought to see Centauri Prime go down in flames I search of his own godhood. It was the year that Garibaldi became a victim a'la 'The Manchurian Candidate' ('The Corps is mother!'). It was also the year that within figurative months of each other that John Sheridan came back from the dead, persuaded the Vorlons and the Shadows to join the other Old Ones beyond the Rim and took back the Earth...giving it back to a somewhat ungrateful self government. Between all this, Sheridan also suffered a week of intense torture and still managed to bounce back with a beard. The same could also be said of the Narn G'Kar although minus the beard but he lost an eye. They sure make species robust in the future. It was a busy year for all in the Babylon 5 reality.



Am I being cynical? Just a tad. Knowing the history of the series as it was recorded in 1996-97 that there was a chance that there might not have been a fifth year, Straczynski edged his bets somewhat and ensured most of the significant storylines were covered in Season 4. It was hardly surprising that in some quarters, this season stands out and Season 5 is seen more as anti-climatic in comparison. This is not to belay the performances here of any here but these were hectic times.

If anything and bearing in mind I'm a B5 fan, I always felt a little disappointed that Straczynski didn't do more with the main plot elements as described above even with the pressure of producing all the scripts this season. Considering this is covering most of the major plotlines, I would have thought there might have been less work in some respects and some re-thinks in others. With Harlan Ellison allegedly looking over his shoulder, I'd have thought some of this would have been picked up on and nudged to go beyond the expected.

The extras are the usual audio commentaries and a rather remarkable film montage to match composer Christopher Franke's 'No Surrender No Retreat' suite. It's a shame that the gag reel only demonstrates that the actors can all swear like troopers when they mess up their lines but at least it indicates the durability of the sets and props. Then again, the data files still only carry information that you could have picked up from watching the episodes themselves. Not quite sure who this is intended for as the regular fans would already have picked this information up from the episodes themselves.

If you've bought the first 3 seasons of Babylon 5, then you'll also be picking up on the last two for completest sake. Don't feel slighted by my comments above. This is still an extra-ordinary series and helped break the mould that all SF had to be 'Star Trek' to sell to a TV network. To do so much on such a small budget is even more remarkable.

G.F. Willmetts