The Audio Guide to Babylon 5

Well, we didn’t hate it. “Knives” is a return to the A-plot/B-plot style of which we saw so much in Season 1. Could either plot have carried an episode on its own? How stunningly effective was the Prime Time Entertainment Network’s trailer? How do you pronounce “Knives”? And what element led Chip to splutter, “It’s … Continue reading Episode 38: “Knives” →

We interrupt this program to bring you a show within a show! How novel! But does “And Now for a Word” hold up as a projection of future journalism? Does it advance the story arc? Is it a good introduction to B5 itself? And how about that lovely video transfer?

Sheridan’s framed for murder, Londo’s symbolically cast…in a bad light, Vir’s about to be cast from the station, a new Deep Space Franchise is born, and Lennier’s got family trouble. Just another typical day on Babylon 5!

Hunter, comma, Prey. Your humble hosts pretty much agree that this is not only a good episode, it’s the first episode of Babylon 5 that is purely arc-driven: it’s all about what came before and sets up what is to come. Let’s talk about conspiracies, singing ships and hapless doctors!

The long-awaited Ivanova Dance edition of B5AG is here! Did anything else happen in this episode? As a matter of fact, quite a lot. Weep for G’Kar. Curse Londo. Snicker with Taq. Boom. Shubba-lubba. And, as always, don’t miss our spoiler and non-spoiler discussion threads!

This is possibly a first in Babylon 5 history: the B5AG crew cites Ross Perot in an otherwise serious critical analysis. Meanwhile, Captain Sheridan is all alone in the night, Delenn is all alone in the night, a pilot whose call sign may as well have been “Dead Meat” is all alone in the night, and … Continue reading Episode 33: “All Alone in the Night” →

Paul Winfield comes onto the station as General Richard Franklin (no relation to the Doctor Who actor, sorry) and brings 25,000 ground pounders with him as, one episode after the Narn-Centauri war began, our favorite space U.N. quickly takes on a decidedly military tone. Is “GROPOS” underrated? Were you squirming in your seats at Garibaldi and … Continue reading Episode 32: “GROPOS” →

In every story worth its salt, there’s at least one pivot point. We’ve already had a couple in Babylon 5. This one won a Hugo. That made it a perfect time for our Control Group, Steven Schapansky of Radio Free Skaro and Lazy Doctor Who, to come back once more. “He said…pick a target.”

Does the love quadrangle drive your three co-hosts to delight or delirium? Talia is given a chance to escape her destiny with the Psi-Corps, but is her reunion with her ex a dream or a date with destruction? Don’t despair: The Audio Guide to Babylon 5 is taking on “Soul Mates”!

It’s the most pivotal turning point (wait, that’s redundant) yet for Talia Winters, as an underground band of telepaths forces her to face the truth about PsiCorps. All this, a dinner date, Ivanova managing to somehow not kill her commanding officer from his couch, and Bester, too: it’s “A Race Through Dark Places.”

Talia Winters…is back! San Diego…is a wasteland! John Sheridan is…a truther? (Absolutely not!) And there’s something sinister lurking within the station–an eponymous spider…in the web… (Note that we had some audio issues with this recording–not too bad, but a little off our preferred standard. Zathras apologizes.)

Guest actor Dwight Schultz is more tortured than “Howlin'” in his turn as a former soldier grappling with ghosts in his head and an invisible stalker who likes to snack on human organs. Meanwhile, Dr. Franklin needs to revisit his medical ethics training and a cryogenically suspended visitor from another century is most emphatically not Buck … Continue reading Episode 27: “The Long Dark” →

Does Babylon 5 have a footwear agenda? Does Delenn need to pick up a copy of Leadership Lessons for the Newly Follicled? And how about that happy-go-lucky Captain Sheridan who has taken to gnawing his executive staff’s heads off? It’s just another day in hyperspace for the calm, collected crew of the EAS Cortez. (No it’s not … Continue reading Episode 26: “A Distant Star” →

The most bitter, vividly remembered conflict in all of Babylon 5 history is barely contained in “The Geometry of Shadows”! But in the cold light of reason, are the Drazi color wars actually entertaining or does the memory cheat? Plus, in Spoiler Space, Chip monologues like no one’s business (or, alternatively, like no one’s listening) on Technomages. … Continue reading Episode 25: “The Geometry of Shadows” →

Revealed! The fate of G’Kar! Revealed! The fate of Delenn! Revealed! The fate of Garibaldi! Revealed! The fate of the Guy What Shot Garibaldi! Yeah, not much happens in this one.