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"Babylon 5" (1994) More at IMDbPro »

Babylon 5 Season 1, Set 3 - Starliner (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: This set of six episodes from Babylon 5's inaugural season plants the seeds of violent change that will first sprout in the season finale "Chrysalis," as characters reveal secrets and hidden dimensions. "Survivors" puts Garibaldi in the hot seat as the target of an investigation, which is headed by a vengeful officer out for Garibaldi's blood, and concerns a plot to assassinate Earth's President Santiago. Allusions to Malcolm X aside, "By Any Means Necessary" is unusual in that it deals with a strike by dock workers and an unusually harsh response by the increasingly militarized Earth Government as Commander Sinclair attempts to mediate. "Signs and Portents" at first may appear to refer to the premonitions of seer Lady Ladira, who has arrived on Babylon 5 to oversee the safe return of a Narn sacred relic. But more likely it is tied up with the first appearance of the seemingly mild-mannered Morden, whose brief interview with Londo links their destinies in ways no one could comprehend--apart from, perhaps, Lady Ladira. Though not one the season's more exciting episodes, it becomes the essential linchpin in the transformation of Londo from clownish dignitary to political power in the Babylon 5 master plan. "TKO," by contrast, is a rather generic story of a human fighter in an alien blood sport, enriched by the secondary story of Ivanova's religious quandary concerning her father's death. "Grail" guest stars David Warner as a modern-day crusader searching the stars for the Holy Grail and standing against a bloodthirsty murderer on a mission of revenge. "Eyes" replays "And the Sky Is Full of Holes" with the plot of "Survivors" as a colonel with a grudge against Sinclair assumes command of the station, but the subplot involving Ivanova's refusal to submit to a telepathic scan at the risk of her career (and the promises of a sincere telepath played by cult actor Jeffrey Combs) is far more revealing. --Sean Axmaker

Babylon 5 - A Tragedy of Telepaths / Day of the Dead (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: Though Babylon 5 never quite achieved the status of the Star Trek series in whose considerably large footsteps it followed, it did manage to create a intriguing and entertaining world. Babylon 5, much more so than Star Trek, relied on long plot arcs to sustain the complexities of its underlying conflicts, so if you missed an episode or two, you may have had a tough time getting back on track. Not to worry! You can now view them on video. Volume 5.6 compiles "Tragedy of the Telepaths" and "Day of the Dead" from the series' fifth season. In "Telepaths," rebel mindreaders use mindpower to resist the forces of Security Chief Zack Allan (Jeff Conaway of Taxi fame) and station commander Lockley (Tracey Scroggins). But for the telepaths, the resolve for nonviolence is starting to crack. "Day of the Dead" features the comedy team of Penn & Teller (as Rebo & Zooty), whose arrival on Babylon 5 reminds President Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) that humor is a universal element like hydrogen. Arrivals of another kind remind Babylon 5 dwellers of the preciousness of life when spirits of deceased friends and lovers appear during a Brakari ritual. --Tod Nelson

Babylon 5 - Phoenix Rising / The Ragged Edge (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: Though Babylon 5 never quite achieved the status of the Star Trek series in whose considerably large footsteps it followed, it did manage to create a intriguing and entertaining world. Babylon 5, much more so than Star Trek, relied on long plot arcs to sustain the complexities of its underlying conflicts, so if you missed an episode or two, you may have had a tough time getting back on track. Not to worry! You can now view them on video. Volume 5.7 compiles "Phoenix Rising" with "The Ragged Edge" from the fifth season. In "Phoenix Rising," the station has become a 2.5 million ton powder keg, with PsiCorps cop Bester (Walter Koenig, who played Chekov in the original Star Trek series) using questionable tactics to suppress a telepath revolt and Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle) and Franklin (Richard Biggs) being held as rebel bargaining chips. No one can anticipate the rebels' next move. In "The Ragged Edge," G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas) finds that his most profound pleasure in life is dutifully maintaining a lengthy personal journal. That private pleasure turns to shock when he returns from Centauri to discover the journal has published and that enthusiastic Narn readers now hail him as a demigod.--Tod Nelson

Babylon 5 - The Collection (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: At its best, Babylon 5 functioned more like chapters in an epic than stand-alone episodes in the Star Trek vein of science fiction shows. These initial episodes, like much of the first season, are in that latter tradition: short, mostly self-contained stories that nonetheless serve to expand our understanding of the Babylon 5 universe. The series pilot "The Gathering" is a conspiratorial adventure with a futuristic twist, set in the murky web of alien alliances and intergalactic political tensions. "Midnight on the Firing Line," set six months after the pilot, is the first broadcast episode of the series proper and introduces five new series regulars. As deadly raiders plunder space freighters around the galaxy, the Narn invade a Centauri colony in an act of revenge for wrongs done to their race decades ago, hinting at the blood fury that will drive these races to even greater evils against one another. "Soul Hunter" introduces a race that imprisons the souls of great artists and leaders at the moment of death. When one of them arrives on the station, it sets off a near panic in the alien races and an emotional response from the usually circumspect Delenn (Mira Furlan) that borders on homicidal. "Born to the Purple" plays on the weakness of Ambassador Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik) for pretty young women and drink, in a plot by a manipulative information peddler (guest star Clive Revill) to secure secret blackmail files (which, we find out, is the only coin worth anything in Centauri politics). "Infection" stars David McCallum as an archeologist who draws his former protégé Dr. Richard Franklin (Richard Biggs) into a scheme involving a technological find that carries a deadly secret. --Sean Axmaker