BABYLON 5
The Lost Tales

Available on DVD

Review

It is ten years since the establishment of the Interstellar Alliance and Captain Lochley is still in charge of Babylon 5, the space station established in neutral territory as a place where the races of the galaxy could come together in peaceful negotiation. The Interstellar Alliance took away that role, but the place is still a hub for all kinds of aliens passing through and trade. To celebrate the tenth anniversary, President Sheridan is returning to Babylon 5 for the first time since he left. On the way, he is visited by a technomage who warns him of the destruction of Earth by a member of the Centauri nobility, a prince who is to accompany him to the celebrations and a prince whose death would ensure that such a future could not come to pass.

On the station, Commander Lochley is having a rough day as she receives a priest that she has summoned in order to tackle a member of security who appears to have become possessed by a demon.

THE LOST TALES is an attempt to wring a little more mileage (and cash) out of a franchise that has passed its sell by date. Two stories that have nothing in common and actually add nothing to the mythology of the show. The final season left enough gaps that could have been filled in by this and other TV movies, but none of those are even addressed.

Part of the problem might have been the unavailability of actors from the original cast since Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggins are the only two original cast members to return, despite the fact that all of the races' representatives are shown during the introduction. Perhaps this was meant to be the first of a series of TV movies, but that is unlikely to happen now since this brace of stories is so dreadfully dull. The idea of demons stashed amongst the stars waiting for humanity to come along and free them, thus reigniting the fear of, belief in, God is a challenging one and part of the show's constant flirting with religion and matters of faith, but a theological debate doesn't make for the most exciting television and, one apocalyptic vision aside, talking is all this demon actually does. As for Sheridan's being tempted by a vision of a deadly future and being offered the chance to end it by killing a, currently, innocent young man is only ever going to end one way and never convinces for a moment. The technomage, Galen, is sworn not to interfere and yet that's all he did in the spin off series CRUSADE, so there's no internal consistency here either.

The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of show creator J Michael Straczynski, since he both wrote and directed this. Perhaps it is time he laid the show to its final rest before he messes up our memories of it completely.