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Babylon 5 - A Call To Arms [1999]
starring: Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Jeff Conaway, Carrie Dobro, Peter Woodward
directed by: Michael Vejar

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days Audience Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 5014780173231
Format: Closed-captioned, Dolby, PAL, Surround Sound
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: August 02, 1999
Running Time: 90 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: January 03, 1999
Sales Rank: 11815

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
We were promised that it would all end "in fire". Maybe at the end of its five-year run Babylon 5 fulfilled that promise for some viewers, but the announcement that a spin-off series, Crusade would serve to complete story threads moved the goalposts for most. It was a brave idea to attempt bridging the segue into Crusade via this fourth TV movie, but after the ending given by the episode "Sleeping in Light", the timing seems a little last-minute. Bruce Boxleitner gives one last greyed-up and chiselled performance as Sheridan--now President of the new Alliance. Overseeing an unveiled fleet of prototype Victory Destroyer ships, he receives visions offering warning about a lingering danger despite the end of the Shadow War. Though advised and manipulated by Technomage Galen (Peter Woodward), Sheridan is still unable to prevent the unleashing of the Drakh's last Planet Killer weapon. Infused in Earth's atmosphere, this plague will take five years to go "live" and then kill every last human. So begins the premise for the new show. It's a little too incomplete to satisfy as an individual movie. Watching it in conjunction with "War Zone" (the Crusade pilot episode) will give a better understanding of what's motivating everyone. --Paul Tonks

Amazon.co.uk Review:
The epic SF series Babylon 5 was a unique experiment in the history of television. It was effectively a novel for television in five seasons, consisting of 110 episodes with a clear beginning, middle and end. The first season introduces the main characters, headed this year by Commander Jeffery Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) and Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle), and familiarises the audience with the unique environment of a five-mile-long space station in the year 2257.

The first episode, "Midnight on the Firing Line", plays at a breathless pace, introducing Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian) and establishing the conflict between the Narn and Centauri races as represented by their ambassadors, G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas) and Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik). Then follow several mediocre episodes which initially give the impression that B5 is a Star Trek clone afflicted with "silly alien of the week" syndrome. Episodes such as "Soul Hunter" and "Infection" are best watched in hindsight, with knowledge of how good the show later became.

With "And the Sky Full of Stars" B5 really begins to hit its stride, Sinclair being forced to relive his mysterious experiences during the Earth-Minbari war. Filler shows such as "TKO" are notable only for being controversially violent, while the disappointing "Grail" points to writer-creator J. Michael Straczynski's fascination with Arthurian mythology. "Signs and Portents" introduces the sinister Mr Morden (Ed Wasser) and offers the chilling first appearance of ancient alien threat, the Shadows. B5 hits warp speed with a run of exceptional episodes building to the season finale. The two-part "A Voice in the Wilderness" has Mars breaking into open revolt against Earth and the discovery of a "Great Machine" on the dead world Epsilon 3. Referencing 1950s SF classic Forbidden Planet, the story leads to the superb time travel-based "Babylon Squared". Season finale "Chrysalis" proves more than just the usual television cliff-hanger, placing Minbari ambassador Delenn in conflict with her ruling Grey Council and forcing on her a decision which laid the groundwork for Babylon 5 eventually to become a great love story. --Gary S Dalkin

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Superb
Superb series of space station life. Although some criticize the 'stationary' nature of this series, it's examination of live in a microcosm is great. Leadership lessons abound.

Rating:

- And so it begins
Babylon 5 is one of my all time favourite science fiction series and although this first season is not the best the series has to offer, it is still nothing less than enthralling and entertaining. This first season sees all the pieces moved into place for what is to follow and although there are some bumps along the way the show remains a cut above many other first Sci-fi first seasons. Season one is probably one of the more episodic of all the Babylon 5 seasons but despite this the arc plot that stretches throughout all five seasons is present and the writing that has done into the entire plot is far superior than that of many other series.

The show is also quite mature in its dealing with storylines, with themes that include ... Read More:

Rating:

- Measured Start to a Classic Sci-Fi TV Story
Babylon 5 is highly entertaining and totally 'believable' TV sci-fi. It contains epic stories of political intrigue and personal drama, all wrapped up in a fun sci-fi setting. It really is classic stuff, and this first series is where it all started - the stories that develop later are hardly even hinted here, everything is innocent and straightforward.

Most of this first series is taken up by lulling the viewer into a false sense of security, by sticking to fairly 'ordinary' storylines, along with the occasional hint of strangeness in the form of unexplained weird events, and odd time-glitches.

All credit to the creators that they take the whole of this first series to setup some rock-solid foundations for the characters ... Read More:

Rating:

- He was right, nothing was the same anymore...
For my money Babylon 5 was one of the single most influential and revolutionary sci-fi series to come out of America in the 90s. It began life resembling a formulaic, low budget alien-threat-of-the-week Star Trek clone, but after a series of dramatic plot shifts and upheavals it quickly morphed into a galaxy-spanning epic filled with emotion and human drama that regularly delivered movie-quality thrills and surprises. Moreover it transpired that it had all been planned this way from day one - Joe Michael Straczinsky, the series creator and executive producer, had sketched out the whole 5 year story arc at the beginning, and from the third series onwards he pretty much took over sole writing duties to ensure that it all unfolded as he had envisaged. ... Read More:

Rating:

- The start of something special.
Babylon 5 is a television rarity - a five-year show that was always intended to last five years, and written from the start as if it was going to. It's often described as a novel for television, as in many ways its structure and scope more resemble the classics of written science fiction than episodic television.

The show poses a more realistic future than much sci-fi TV: while some of the alien races have their advanced technologies, humanity's future achievements are rooted in the laws of physics and space travel as we know or imagine it today. There is little black and white morality - all the characters are sketched in shades of grey, and there are no easy solutions or guaranteed happy endings.

In hindsight, season one is ... Read More:

VHS : Babylon 5 - A Call To Arms [1999]