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Ten years before the construction of the Babylon 5 station,
the devastating Earth/Minbari war was waged. We see the roles
played in this conflict by characters who would go on to shape
the destiny of a galaxy - people such as John Sheridan, Delenn,
Londo Mollari and G'Kar...
This
TV movie (released simultaneously alongside the extended version
of the pilot episode, The Gathering) marks the eagerly
awaited DVD debut of Babylon 5.
Although
it was produced well into the series' five-year run, this
flashback story is in obvious ways an appropriate place to
start. Indeed, TNT commissioned it as a prelude to their own
broadcast of the series. In the Beginning is certainly
more indicative of the show's overall style than the pilot,
whose cast, costumes and make-up designs all proved to be
subject to modification. However, any viewers who are new
to B5 and who decide to watch this movie first will
ultimately discover that a great many plot developments from
the five-year saga, such as the reason why the war came to
such an abrupt halt, are spoiled for them here.
Truth
be told, none of the TV movies work as well as the best of
the one-hour episodes, simply because the appeal of B5
lay largely in the suspense it carefully cultivated on a week-by-week
basis. Of the movies, though, this is one of the better examples.
The plot is admittedly bitty, being built upon references
and revelations divulged over the course of the series, although
it does contain many moving scenes that are full of tragic
irony. The show's regulars look convincingly youthful as their
former selves - especially Bruce Boxleitner (as Sheridan)
and Peter Jurasik (as Mollari). The CG work is variable -
on one hand, there are some ropy virtual sets, while on the
other, the space battles are some of the best that have ever
graced our TV screens.
I
was most disappointed by the lack of extra features on this
DVD (unless you count the subtitles and re-dubbed audio in
a selection of languages, which I don't). Not a tremendously
auspicious beginning.
Richard
McGinlay
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