Babylon 5 - In The Beginning (DVD)

...IS IT?

Babylon 5: In the Beginning is a film spin-off of the highly successful Babylon 5 series. Babylon 5 Series 1, as we're told in the intro to each episode, is set 10 years after the Earth-Minbari war; In the Beginning is the story of the Earth-Minbari war itself, how it started and how it finished. Anyone familiar with Babylon 5 is probably already aware that, on the brink of wiping out humanity completely, the Minbari forces ...
...back here and tell about Babylon 5 itself, in case you're in the dark at this point. Babylon 5 is a space-station in a neutral region of space, funded and staffed by Earth Force. It's purpose is to enable members of various races to meet and discuss any problems they have in a civilised manor, in the hope of prolonging the uneasy peace of the galaxy. The main races, which is to say the largest and most powerful empires, are Humans (predictably), ... more

Here we are with another addition to my growing collection of Bab 5 reviews. Let's see if I can manage to avoid repeating myself once more!

WHAT IS IT?

Babylon 5: In the Beginning is a film spin-off of the highly successful Babylon 5 series. Babylon 5 Series 1, as we're told in the intro to each episode, is set 10 years after the Earth-Minbari war; In the Beginning is the story of the Earth-Minbari war itself, how it started and how it finished. Anyone familiar with Babylon 5 is probably already aware that, on the brink of wiping out humanity completely, the Minbari forces surrendered. Therefore, we already know how things will turn out and the major interest, at least for the exsting Bab 5 fan, is in finding out why it turned out that way. I'm not sure the reasons are revealed explicitly anywhere in the Bab 5 series (although I'm watching them again at present, so I may shortly find out that I'm wrong there), so this should be all new stuff, even for the seasoned Bab 5 veteran.

I'll take a step back here and tell about Babylon 5 itself, in case you're in the dark at this point. Babylon 5 is a space-station in a neutral region of space, funded and staffed by Earth Force. It's purpose is to enable members of various races to meet and discuss any problems they have in a civilised manor, in the hope of prolonging the uneasy peace of the galaxy. The main races, which is to say the largest and most powerful empires, are Humans (predictably), Minbari, Narn and Centauri. Since this film focusses on the Earth-Minbari war, the Narns and Centauri aren't much in evidence in the story itself. However, no Bab 5 outing would be complete without Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik) and G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas), so they both make appearances here too; the story is told by Londo (Centauri Ambassador) from the point in time when he is the Emperor of the Centauri Republic and both he and G'Kar play small parts in the story of the war itself.

CAST & CHARACTERS

Captain John Sheridan - Bruce Boxleitner
Susan Ivanova - Claudia Christian
Delenn - Mira Furlan
Londo Mollari - Peter Jurasik
G'Kar - Andreas Katsulas
Dr. Stephen Franklin - Richard Biggs
Jeffrey Sinclair - Michael O'Hare

Despite being set ten years before Babylon 5 goes online, most of the regular cast appear as younger versions of themselves, and the makeup people actually did a pretty good job of making them look younger!

MY OPINION

For an existing Bab 5 fan, this one's a treat! I'm watching my way through all things Bab 5 at the moment and I watched this just after finishing season 1, which isn't a bad place to insert it in the sequence. Series 1 raises a number of questions about the Earth-Minbari war and the involvement of Jeffrey Sinclair, which In The Beginning handily answers.

If you're not already a fan, this is still worth a watch. The CGI is pretty slick, the battles are exciting and you don't have to be familiar with the characters or anything else about Bab 5 to enjoy it, presumably that was the intention of the makers. That said, I'd guess that you're always going to enjoy it more if you're familiar with the background.

However, once again we're short changed with regards to DVD extras. Having watched the Season 1 Box set and The Gathering, I shouldn't have been surprised, yet still was, at the lack of any DVD extras whatsoever. A very poor show indeed! Considering the RRP is £19.99 (£17.99 at Amazon), I think we ought to get some decent extras to make it worth buying at all. This is poor value for money, hence I've knocked 1 star off the rating.

My overall verdict is that, sadly, this is one for the big Bab 5 junkies to buy. If you're a fan but you're put off by the high price tag and lack of extras, or if you're not an existing fan and you just want to dip your toe in the Bab 5 pool, then this is certainly worth renting and won't disappoint.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the running time is 90 minutes. 

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