Babylon 5 (TV Series) TKO (1994) User Reviews

Babylon 5:TKO

[Scarecrow-88 · 5/10 · 19 June 2012]

An old pal of Garibaldi's, a reputed boxer who was shafted for not throwing a fight, set up by those who wanted to benefit from dropping a bout to another inferior opponent, comes to Babylon 5 station to participate in the dreaded Mutai, an alien equivalent of UFC or something to that effect. But the Mutai's lead master will not accept a human and so Walker Smith, determined to return his name to prominence, has learned of another way to participate, by showing up at a fight as a spectator, challenging the Sho-rin, the champion. The challenge cannot be denied, and even though Garibaldi fears his friend will be taken apart, Walker is prepared to fight, his heart's desire to prove he still has what it takes to be a feared fighter, especially wanting to prove the boxing commission that they made a mistake about him. Meanwhile, Ivanova receives a visit from an old family friend from her native Russia, a Jewish Rabbi who knew her father. Ivanova has yet to sit shiva, a ceremony mourning the passing of her father. Ivanova was estranged from her father, a scholar/intellectual who felt that humans had no right in space until there was peace on Earth first. Despite his objections, she entered Earthforce and their relationship was severed, something her dying father, Andrei lived to regret. He was not a man who showed his love and when his wife, Ivanova's mother, died during the Psi Corps testing process (committing suicide), her brother perishing in the Earth/Minbari war, daughter needed affection more than ever, not to receive it. This is really a stand-alone episode that will not be remembered as anything that particularly spectacular although it does explore the character of Ivanova. The subplot with Walker Smith is meaningless for the exception that it causes alien warriors of the Mutai to respect the courage, bravery, and fighting spirit of humans. Don Stroud (Coogan's Bluff) is an alien who supports Walker in his fight in the Mutai.

Can a human compete in an alien martial arts contest?

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 3 July 2018]

This stand-alone story opens with two people arriving on Babylon 5. One, Walker Smith, is a wrongly disgraced boxer who wants to regain his reputation by being the first human to compete in the Mutai, an alien martial arts contest. The second is a rabbi who is a family friend of Lt. Cmdr. Susan Ivanova; he wants her to formally mourn her father according to Jewish tradition, something she is reluctant to do. Smith is initially refused permission to compete but then he is approached by an alien who tells him there is another way into the sport; it won't be easy though as it involves formally challenging the champion.

After the previous episode which introduced major plot arcs it was a bit of a disappointment to get a stand-alone episode; especially one largely centred on a guest character. The Mutai bouts are pretty intense and does look like a real martial art; presumably inspired by the identical sounding Muay Thai. For a single episode character Walker Smith is entertaining enough; Gregory McKinney does a fine job, especially during the final bout. The secondary story, involving Ivanova, provides some decent character development but isn't as interesting. Overall not one of the better episode unless you are a fan of martial arts.

Even the supposedly weakest episode of Babylon 5 is pretty good

[zevranage · 7/10 · 21 February 2024]

Yes, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I actually don't think that this episode deserves such a low rating of 5.8 (which is generally considered to be "very bad" by IMDb episode rating standards). I believe this episode can be considered mediocre and forgettable at the very worst, but not downright terrible.

The A plot is okay. Nothing particularly outstanding or atrocious. However, the B plot regarding Ivanova's overcoming her feelings of grief and guilt is just great. A really great example of high-quality character writing in a sci-fi show. Not to mention that her acting in this episode is probably one of the best in this series so far. So this B-plot alone makes this episode a worthwhile addition to the story.

Great

[VenVes · 22 July 2018]

This series just keeps on rolling. Not only does this episode give us way more insight into Ivanova's character, it also puts Garibaldi in his element with an old friend, culminating in a finale that is both heartbreaking and heartpounding. Perfectly captures the essence of what it means to fight adversity.

Among the worst episodes of B-5--skip this one unless you are a die-hard fan

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 3 January 2007]

For much of the first season of Babylon 5, the series still hadn't established any sort of over-arching plot to connect the episodes like it would have in seasons 2 through 5. In some ways, it was as if the genius behind the series, Michael Staczynski was still trying to feel for a sense of direction and in this case, the show had a guest writer who seemed to have no feel for where the show was headed. Because of this, so many of the season one episodes are self-contained in that they don't connect well with previous or later episodes. This is pretty much the way of sci-fi shows like Star Trek, but for B-5, this makes these earlier episodes less satisfying.

In this episode, an old friend of Garibaldi who we have never heard about before suddenly appears on the base to announce he's going to fight in the Mu-tai--some sort of macho fighting competition where no human has fought before. In so many ways, it is highly reminiscent of the cheesy Jean-Claude Van Damme film BLOODSPORT. And, totally uncharacteristically for this show, the episode is ultra-violent and will alienate much of the audience. This is really like a WWF episode merged with BABYLON 5! Ugghh! What a horrible episode! In fact, there's very little to like about it, as the show does NOTHING to further the ongoing plots of the show and everything in the episode seems to have no context. In fact, some of the characters, such as Garibaldi, behave in ways that seem antithetical to who they have been and will be on the show. As a result of this lack of regard for continuity and a really dumb ultra-macho plot line to boot, this is a rotten episode through and through!

Skip this irrelevant episode

[polite-45692 · 2/10 · 12 May 2019]

Skip this irrelevant episode. It has no relevance to the story as a whole.

The Lt. Commander's emotional difficult is uninteresting.

An elite level boxer is unlikely to get hit by looping punches or simply stand and trade looping punches.

Nothing important occurred.

I liked it.

[c_jarmon · 8/10 · 20 January 2012]

I think it was very much a B5 episode in that it showed the characters had lives before the station ever existed. You see this in later episode in the series when the writers take the focus away from the main characters as in 'A view from the gallery'. The story arch was contained in Ivanova having to deal with the death of her father. The character building skills of the writers is what kept me watching the show. That and the knowledge that it only planed to run for 5 years gave me hope of a complete story arch. Consider this,one could see the Mu-tai as a simile of the coming conflict. One race pitted against another far stronger than itself but one it must face all the same. Remember the boxer tried to explain it to Garibaldi that the match was more about finding your limits in facing adversity than anything else. AKA the Shadow Way.

Excellent filler episode

[robertdlar · 8/10 · 20 March 2023]

I see a lot of hate for this episode from voters and some reviewers but I do not understand where it is coming from. I am going to guess many younger viewers who don't remember when a TV series had to have 23 episodes to count and this forced writers to spread out their plots and arcs more, but to say that JMS didn't have a plan was just wrong. This episode is still important for character development and and universe building.

It shows you that many races of the Galaxy have some form of Martial arts, beliefs on honor and fairness and how they view Humans. The only real flaw is that no human has ever tried to get into the Mutai before? I found that hard to believe even the first time I watched it, specially considering the MMA people we have, but it is possible no human really knew about this till recently and were just kept out till Walker Smith found a back door in. This is why I could not give this a 9 or 10.

The other plot revolves around Ivanova grieving for her father. This episode actually taught me a lot about a religion I new little about and I enjoyed it and the character of the Rabbi was fantastic. This also shows Ivanavoa in a (rare) moment of weakness and you get to see her break down and cry. So it may not forward the over all plot and barely features any of the main characters, I feel like the low ratings are not indicitive of the episode but how it relates to other B5 Episodes. Let's be honest here, compared to some of the writing we are getting today, this is an amaning and well written episode.