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Babylon 5 (view source)

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''Babylon 5'', a [[The Nineties|Nineties]] [[Space Opera]] created by [[J. Michael Straczynski (Creator)|J Michael Straczynski]], ran from 1994-1998 (a two-hour pilot, "The Gathering", had aired in 1993). It was syndicated as apart of the [[PTEN]] network package for its first four seasons, and was shown on TNT in its fifth.
 
''Babylon 5'' took the use of [[Story Arc|Story Arcs]] to new heights, and introduced the concept of the [[Wham! Episode]], with probably over half of its episodes contributing to one major series-long arc (a [[Myth Arc]]). JMS had plotted out much of the arc before the series began, and occasionally referred to it as a five-year long [[Miniseries]]. (The fourth and fifth seasons had to be telescoped into one when the show was going to be [[Cut Short|prematurely ended]]. Then it was [[Un Cancelled]] and picked up by TNT, and they had to scramble to create [[Post Script Season|a fifth season]], which was not as well-liked by most fans.)
 
While the series is often given as an early example of a [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness|hard science fiction]] show, it does have aliens with [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|powers verging on magic]] and humans with [[Psychic Powers]]. Still, [[Hollywood Science|by TV standards]], it's fairly crispy sci-fi. Likewise, while the show is often seen as being more toward the cynical end of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], at times almost edging into [[Black and Grey Morality]], it also has some shining moments of idealism as well. One could say that the overarching [[Aesop]] of the series is "the [[I Did What I Had to Do|pragmatic]] survive, and the [[The Determinator|determined]] thrive, but [[Earn Your Happy Ending|Faith Manages]]."
 
It spun off the short-lived series ''[[Crusade (TV)|Crusade]]'', which ran for 13 episodes in 1999, telling the story of the spaceship ''Excalibur'' and the search for a counteragent to/cure for a slow-acting biological weapon that had been successfully deployed against the Earth by agents of the Shadows. The series had serious trouble: superficial resemblance to the plot of ''[[Uchuu Senkan Yamato|Star Blazers]]'' was cited, and creators commented on the ridiculous amounts of [[Executive Meddling]] that they had to fight against. This trend for intervention was attacked more than once in the ''Crusade'' scripts themselves. Opinions on the quality of the episodes were divided: to some, the series showed considerable promise before its [[Screwed By the Network|premature death]]; to others, markedly less.
 
There were several associated B5 [[Made for TV Movie]]s:
* ''[[Babylon Five5/Recap/S01 E00 The Gathering|The Gathering]]'' -- 1993 [[Pilot Movie]], with certain differences from the series
* ''[[Main/Babylon Five/Film 01 in the Beginning/Recap|In the Beginning]]'' -- 1998, a prequel to the series
* ''[[Main/Babylon Five/Film 02 Thirdspace/Recap|Thirdspace]]'' -- 1998, takes place during the fourth season of the series, after {{spoiler|the heroes win the Shadow War and all the First Ones leave the galaxy}}, but before {{spoiler|the beginning of the war to liberate Earth}}.
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It is available via Netflix, on disc only. [http://www.thewb.com/shows/babylon-5 The WB] has also put up Season 1 and the first few of season 2 for online watching.
 
Has an [[Babylon Five5/Recap|in-progress Recap page]].
 
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=== [[Trope Maker]] for: ===
* [[Wham! Episode]]
** [[Wham! Line]]
 
... and the ''[[Renamed Tropes|former]]'' Trope Namer for:
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