B5: The Gathering

Now it's time to start the plunge into Babylon 5. These reviews will be a bit different and may discuss more of the content because this is my first time through Babylon 5. The same goes for the Battlestar Galactica ones which will begin next week.

However, let's get into the episode. The series opens with a voice over of a guy with a thick accent that explains some of the back story. It is the year 2257, and humans have progressed to the point where they are interacting with a multitude of aliens from other worlds on a daily basis. There is, however, great tension between the five major alliances that dominate this space. The Earth Alliance has fought a recent war against the Minbari Federation, and there is a similar conflict between the Narn and the Centauri. There are also the Vorlons, who I'm guessing are like the Breen from Star Trek. We don't really know much about them yet, but their policies appear to be strict and unforgiving. Wow, that's a lot of names to take in at one time. Luckily, we have pictures to get some of these guys straight.

Centauri(below) ------------------ Narn(left), Minbari(right)

Vorla

Anyway, Babylon 5 is a newly built station in neutral space where species can reside in hopes of peace among the various races. It is the fifth in a series of stations, the first three having been sabotaged and destroyed and the fourth mysteriously disappearing just after it was launched. In many ways this show reminds me of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which also took place aboard a space station, and involved a variety of races trying to deal with each other.

In the beginning portion of the episode, we get to see the ambassadors that make up the Advisory Council, which is kind of like a United Nations in space, settle on the station. They are Jeffrey Sinclair, the Commander of the station crew, from Earth, G'Kar from the Narn Regime, Deleen from the Minbari Federation, and Londo Mollari from the Centauri Republic.

Additionally, the station crew, who are serving under Commander Sinclair, are first introduced in this episode. At least so far, the characters seem fairly uninteresting and naive. Sinclair seems like the stereotypical, new man to the job Commander, mostly because we don't see much of his back story and he doesn't do anything spectacular. Lieutenant Commander Laurel Takashima seems to spend a lot of time controlling the bridge, which seems nice. It's refreshing to see a woman in a high command position like that every once in a while, but it seems like the actor is trying way too hard to set herself apart from the rest of the crew. Her voice continually changes pitch and appears separated, which doesn't seem like it should matter much at first, but it just gets cornier the more she talks. The rest of the characters don't seem to have that much personality, at least at this point in the game. I guess that's fine as long as we get some development in later episodes.

The main plot for the episode begins when the Vorlon Kosh falls ill shortly after arriving on the station. Medical Officer Benjamin Kyle determines that he was poisoned, which begins an investigation on the station that divides the races. Sinclair is blamed for it after Lyta, the telepathic crew member, reveals in a mind scan that he was the one who Kosh last saw before blacking out. Sinclair is to be deported to the Vorlon Empire, but it is soon discovered that the suspect is using a changeling net to disguise themselves as various people. They eventually catch the culprit, and it's enough to persuade the Vorlons to stop threatening the station.

Although this series shows promise so far in its execution and story line, I don't believe that it was a very effective opening to the show. The consummate pilot should develop an intriguing storyline through some major character establishment and conflict, and also be interlaced with action sequences and humor that catches the attention of the average viewer. The Gathering had some humor and action(albeit filled with cringeworthy CGI), but the plot didn't really develop that much, and was not intriguing enough too get me excited for subsequent episodes.

Score: 4

Best Quote: "Would you like to be conscious or unconscious during the mating?"

Best Moment: That hyperspace vortex thing is kinda cool.

P.S. Sorry that there aren't many pics for this one. I had formatting issues...