User reviews

Babylon 5 was a hugely ambitious sci-fi show to get off the ground with complex characters and story arcs that went on over the entire 5 series run. This was the first pilot movie and it paves the way to what would follow.

It's an intriguing piece of sci-fi with some strong performances in particular Peter Jurasic as Lando Mollari and Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar. The special effects are a bit limited in places but thats to be expected from a show just finding it's feet.

Some of the actors in this initial show would leave to pursue other projects but the core remained in. There are some story lines (which I wont spoil) that could have been further explored had Takishima and Lyta stayed on the show. The acting quality is mixed and this was ironed out as the series went on.

All in all it's a good TV movie that does stand on it's own well but it will leave you with a few questions and a good reason to pick up on the series which just get's better as it goes along.

Good TV movie that will get you ready for the full series 7/10

"Babylon 5" was actually one of my favorite shows of the nineties, second only to "The X-Files". This first Pilot tele-movie really does not do the later series justice. I think what is evident here is that the writing was superior to a lot of the other sci-fi offerings out there. The acting seemed strained in this tele-movie and there were casualties in the follow up series because of this. The special effects were the then state of the art CGI but seems dated now. All this was improved later on when the producers had a hit on their hands and some more money to play with. Still, sit through it in order to fully appreciate the fantastic story arcs that were unfolded in the following series. Consider this a prologue to a great sci-fi epic because it is!

As a Babylon 5 fan I have watched it more than once, last time today, after seeing yesterday another B5 movie "B5:In the Beginning". I must confess that the latter is much better. Still, it is not bad for a series' start. Some of the characters are portrayed differently than I've grown accustomed to in the series (like G'Kar for example), Delenn's makeup is less than perfect (compare it with the one in "In the Beginning") and she really looks unusual (after seeing her later transformation...).

But there are some good lines and Peter Jurasik(Lando Mollari)'s act is delightful and so is Mr Jerry Doyle(Garibaldi)'s. A good start for a B5 beginner and a must re-watch (after seeing the rest of the series).

When J. Michael Straczynski conceived B5, he really wrote a great story!

but the original version of this pilot was weak.

The original score was some awful synthesizer music that was painful to hear. They also had a bizarre tour through an alien zoo with muppets, and some fairly incoherent plot points.

Now, probably if you've seen this, you saw the "Special Edition" version they did for TNT, where JMS was allowed to tweak the special effects, put back in scenes PTEN made him take out, take other things out that contradicted what we would later see in the series. (For instance, all mention of G'Kar's wife vanish in the new version.) They severely changed the appearance and even the concepts of the aliens. (For instance, initially, the Minbari were supposed to be hermaphrodites, neither male nor female. They decided that Mira Furlan was better treated as all woman!) A few plot points are never reconciled, like how could you poison Kosh, who was essentially an immortal being of pure energy. Well, if you are an obsessive enough fan to notice, they've already got you hooked, so who cares? Part of the problem was a weak cast. Tamilyn Tomita, Johnny Sekka and Blair Brown were all replaced by the time the series went into full production. Patricia Tallman was also written out but brought back later. Michael O'Hare was a weak actor, and they sacked him by the end of season one.

It's the dawn of the third age of mankind. It's 2257 and it's the last of the Babylon stations deep in neutral space. It's a port of call for a variety of alien species. Jeffrey Sinclair is the commander. He's still haunted by the Battle of the Line. The remaining Earth forces were gathered in a final battle against the Minbari. Despite destroying most of the remaining Earth forces, the Minbari surrendered without explanation. Laurel Takashima is the second in command. Lyta Alexander is the newly arrived telepath. Michael Garibaldi is the security chief. Delenn is a Minbari. Humans made first contact with the Centauri. The Narn do not like the Centauri after overthrowing their enslavement. The Vorlons are a mysterious powerful race and their ambassador Kosh Naranek is the last to arrive. Kosh is poisoned and Sinclair is blamed.

I was never a big Babylon 5 fan although I stayed with it for long stretches. It always seemed to me to be a slightly inferior Deep Space Nine. It doesn't help that it came out slightly after DS9. It felt always a step behind. The best idea from the pilot is the Battle of the Line. I found that battle to be mysterious, poetic, and full of possibilities. This pilot movie is a lot of expositions with a functional TV story. It holds the promise of a solid sci-fi TV show although it's not something extraordinary. Second season lead Bruce Boxleitner is superior to Michael O'Hare although I wish they kept Tamlyn Tomita around. I have nothing against Claudia Christian, and I can certainly understand the complexity of contracts and TV casting.

This was the pilot episode of the Babylon 5 series, a dystopian series set in the far distant future, in the middle of outer space. Honestly, I saw this episode, but I wasn't convinced about the series. In any case, it has an excellent look and good sci-fi, especially if we consider that we are talking about material made for TV, and not for the big screen.

The episode shows and introduces several characters, starting with Michael Garibaldi, and even a series of alien races from various corners of the universe. Relations between all of them are not at all easy, and the murder of a diplomat promises to complicate things a lot. I didn't know about the series until a few days ago. It wasn't even born when it passed, but it didn't take much to understand that the series gained, for a long time, a cult status that was hard to disappear.

At a time when remakes are being made of everything and anything else, even things that don't need it, why not invest a few million in a remake of this TV series, with all the visual and computerized resources that we have now, and that didn't exist when was it made? It would perhaps be a way to revive interest in the source material.

Back in 1993 one of my co-workers, who knows I'm a science fiction fan, asked if I was going to watch the pilot for that new SF TV seriies. At first I didn't think I had heard of this before. Then I realized that this must be the show that J Michael Stracynski (JMS), the screenwriting columnist for <i>Writer's Digest</i>, quit that job to work on.

I watched the movie and was instantly intrigued. Unlike many SF TV shows, the science was well done (with none of the technobabble seen in other shows). A valiant attempt was made to present a few totally non-humanoid aliens. (This resulted in the funny puppet aliens in a section that was edited out when the special edition was created)

But what drew my interest was the fact that this movie had laid down plot threads for the proposed series. Unanswered questions about what really happened to the first four Babylon stations. And why had the Minbari suddenly surrendered at the end of the Earth-Minbari war when victory was in their grasp? What was the story behind Commander Sinclair's missing time at the Battle of the Line?

Before the series itself aired I read an article in Cinefantastique which explained that JMS had a plan for an ambitious story arc that would take five years to complete. I was ready.

While I count myself as a fan of the Babylon 5 television series, the original movie that introduced the series was a weak start. Although many of the elements that would later mature and become much more compelling in the series are there, the pace of The Gathering is slow, the makeup somewhat inadequate, and the plot confusing. Worse, the characterization in the premiere episode is poor. Although the ratings chart shows that many fans are willing to overlook these problems, I remember The Gathering almost turned me off off what soon grew into a spectacular series.

I have long time been a fan of Babylon 5, so you should keep this in mind--I'm sure this must color my review of this TV movie pilot for the show. Fans of the series might notice some odd changes in cast--this happens a lot in pilot episodes, as the show often is slightly re-tooled before the shows begin in production. For example, the doctor, the second in command were different actors than in the series and the prosthetics on Mira Furlan made her look much more "alien" in this movie. It's a shame about the doctor, as I really liked the African man who played him with a bit of sarcasm and flair.

As for the rest of the cast, they were amazing to watch for a pilot. Normally, on most pilots, the camaraderie isn't really there and the relationships just seem a bit underdeveloped. However, here, Garibaldi, Sinclair and the rest seem to work well together and the made for TV movie is very watchable and similar to the resulting series despite the cast changes. For the early 1990s, the production values are excellent, though in 2006, the computer graphics appear, at times, a bit dated--as this was the first sci-fi series that got rid of modeling and used computer generated images for all its space scenes. All in all, it's an exciting and riveting show--made even more so by the always brilliant writing of J. Michael Straczynski.

I didn't see this movie until after I'd seen the whole Babylon 5 series and I'm very glad of that because frankly, I found it creaky and uninspiring.

G'Kar undertook a complete change of character once the series started (thankfully), in fact I couldn't even be certain it was him for a good bit of the movie. Delenn was a nightmare! She looked about 150 years old, talked in riddles the whole time and waddled about like a duck - and had this been the first I'd ever seen of the series I would have wondered why Mira Furlan had been wasted on such a character, when she's outgoing and beautiful and has so much to offer.

At least Garibaldi and Mollari were recognisable, and shone like a couple of good deeds in a naughty world! Even Michael O'Hare improved as the movie went on, but unfortunately once you've experienced Bruce Boxleigner in charge, there's no going back, he just went in, boots and all, and was exceptional.

And what a bit of luck Patricia Tallman grew her hair and at the same time turned Lyta Alexander into an altogether deeper, nicer and more rounded character. In this movie she was entirely one-dimensional.

I am an ENORMOUS fan of Babylon 5 - but I won't be watching this again!

"The Gathering" comes as a complete surprise unless you are aware of the process of the development of a TV series for sale. For anyone who has not seen Babylon 5, "The Gathering" is a reasonable telemovie, but only of strong interest to serious science fiction fans. But for fans of the series, this movie is an excellent example of how the storyline for the series was originally conceived and then modified when its limitations became obvious. The changes in the characterisations of Delenn, G'Kar and Llando can, in the retrospect provided by the later release (and viewing) of this pilot, be seen as significantly adding to the strength that made the series the classic it has become.

Nothing more than a TV soap set on a space ship where the diverse people of the world are represented by aliens in various guises who exhibit excessive melodramatic tendencies (usually similar tendencies within the same species - because you always become what you're born into!!!) in order to amplify their differences, emotions and perspectives. Great viewing if you were a kid around that time but it hasn't aged well.

I am on the second viewing of the Babylon 5 franchise. It cannot be compared to another series about space stations. The beginning is very explosive, the characters have different personalities, but the friendship and mutual respect, shows the formation of a complex crew. It should be an example for some. I'm a sci-fi superfan and I love the movie that is the beginning of the adventure!

I just watched BABYLON 5:THE GATHERING DVD again, mostly because I haven't watched it in a while.....I can see why. I haven't seen such cold and wooden acting from a movie in quite a while. Some of the actors did migrate to the series that were good in their assigned roles(Garabaldi, Delenn, G'Kar, Londo). Unfortunatedly, The really bad actor, Michael O'hare came along as well.

As compared to his "supposed" TV counterpart, Cmdr. Sisko from DS9, this guy is extremely weak and the actor seemed to force out the words and didn't really have a strong presence on the movie or the series that followed. I was relieved that he was replaced by the FAR better actor, Bruce Boxleitner.

Tamilyn Tomita is a marvelous and very attractive woman and actress. I, however didn't think she fit in this role. As compared to her TV counterpart, Major Kira from DEEP SPACE NINE, she was very boring and seemed to try TOO much to be forceful when she really wasn't. The support actor, especially in the C and C area, were even worse than the main characters( except the late Mr. Katsulas. he was great, as usual).

To make this short, and not to reveal too much here. BABYLON FIVE: THE GATHERING was not a great movie, but it did open the door to a great series, so you can't completely dismiss it, even if you really should.

For any true Babylon 5 fan, The Gathering is indispensable. With such a long and detailed story arc ahead, it would be a mistake to miss this, or the majority of the episodes of the first season. Unfortunately, both suffer from mediocre acting and so-so special effects (by today's standards).

By the end of season 1, Michael O'Hare does grow on you, even with his hammy acting (he is a stage actor which didn't translate so well to TV). He's not bad, but Bruce Boxleitner ultimately does a much better job. Claudia Christian also gets better over time, and is light years ahead of Tamlyn Tomita, who did an awful job in the pilot.

That said, I am on my second viewing of B5, and although the pilot and first season are cringe-worthy at times, they are both worth seeing, culminating in an incredible payoff with seasons 2,3 and 4. Watch this and then watch the whole series. You won't be disappointed.

This show had spectacular visual effects for those time and the ships were very realistic (only in the first season) ,and i remember how surprised i was when i saw the train from the interior of the space station for the first time and also i think this is one of the first series which was filmed in widescreen format ,in the nineteens only the cinematic movies were shot in that way,so the series looks very good even on any 4k smart-tv of our days.Well,the series is very much influenced by Star Trek TOS and TNG and offcourse by Star Wars and mainly by Dune (Londo is looking very much like some characters from Dune ) just like Star Trek TNG (the look of the Borg cube was heavily influenced by Dune),because Patrick Stewart was in a leading role.

You can give JMS and the boys a pass on this one because they were at the beginning of their series and on a small budget, but the movie is still sub-par. Dont get me wrong, B5 the series is by far the best TV series ever, but if i was an exec seeing this movie, i wouldnt have ordered the series. I dont like O'Hare as an actor, the costumes are silly, and there are tons of cliches. The same can be said for most of the first season (with the exception of Babylon Squared and Survivors); Bruce immediately put a fire into the series and it went on to be an amazing spectacle. If you are a B5 fan and havent seen this movie, see it. If you arent a B5 fan, dont...you wont want to watch the series.

This would 6-7 out of 10 if you are watching the first edit of the pilot but the 1998 re edit is better a 8 out of 10 and fits better with rest of the series.

Babylon 5 the television series has legion of devoted fans but this pilot television movie was rather disappointing and hammy.

We enter the limited world of the space station Babylon 5, a place where various alien races can interact and hopefully live in peace.

Set in the 23rd century and after a war between the Earth Alliance and the Mimbari Federation, a new arrival Ambassador Kosh is found poisoned and his death would lead to instability. A telepath scans the ambassador and the suspect is Commander Sinclair, the person in charge of Babylon 5 and he has to clear his name.

Being a Star Trek:DS9 fan, I found Babylon 5: The Gathering to be a pale imitation, a little bit too hammy. The special effects looks a bit cheap although the subsequent television series did bring in some improvements to the characters.

The opening of a crucial space station is put in jeopardy when the commanding officer is accused of the attempted murder of a diplomat (Jeffrey Willerth).

There was a strange point in history, known as 1996, where voters on IMDb rated this film one of the Top 100 movies ever made. Not Top 100 of the decade, but of all time. A made-for-TV movie for a second-rate science fiction series. Oh, voters of 1996, you were a strange people.

The movie is not bad for what it is. And, since it was basically a pilot, I can understand how this led to a series. It is nothing compared to the Star Trek shows of the era, but could arguably be said to be better than "Voyager".