Episode 88: “In the Beginning”

B5AG guest and Radio Free Skaro host
Steven Schapansky

Four years into BABYLON 5, JMS took a mulligan with a brand new prequel movie that served as a pilot for the series’s relaunch on the TNT network! Is it a better beginning to B5 than the original pilot, “The Gathering”? Does it strain credibility to have our cast of characters interacting during the Earth-Minbari War, portrayed by actors who are not actually ten years younger? And why do we call it the Earth-Minbari war instead of the Human-Minbari war or the Earth-Minbar war? And why is Chip only now asking that question? Luckily we don’t distract our recurring guest Steven Schapansky with those last questions!

3 thoughts on “Episode 88: “In the Beginning””

  1. Thanks for the show! I knew all about B5 when it aired but was never able to watch it. Got around to it on Hulu a couple years ago and I’m glad I did.

    Any suggestions on the best (legal please!) way to watch “In the Beginning,” “The Gathering,” and other B5 standalone/spin-offs online? (I hesitate to buy it for $8 on iTunes, but that’s one option. Go90 only has something called “The Lost Tales”?)

  2. One tiny detail that made me and my OCD happy: the Ranger pin that Lenonn wore was subtly different from the one used once humans joined: there was only a figure of a Minbari, on the left side. The right side was patterned but otherwise blank – no human, for obvious reasons. It’s little things such as that which remind me of the care that JMS and the designers put into the show.

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