“Babylon 5: The Gathering” is a slog of a film that has a really interesting and fascinating world but terrible execution. I’m honestly glad that I’d seen episodes of the show before watching this in full because what made me stick around through it was knowing how good the story gets later. This is a film I’d only recommend to people who are already fans of the show because this cool story is doing almost everything it can to suck in execution.
The film was directed by Richard Compton and written by J. Michael Straczynski.
The story involves the station Babylon 5 which has recently become operational as a hub for representatives of the 5 major powers of the galaxy (humans, Narn, Minbari, Centauri and Vorlon) as the Commander Sinclair (Michael O’Hare) works to solve the mystery with his crew when the Vorlon Ambassador is mortally wounded.
SPOILERS ahead
The Pros:
The Premise and Station – The basic idea of a station housing ambassadors from powers throughout the galaxy, each with their own aims and motivations facing a potential murder is intriguing. I really like the premise especially as the Station was so recently completed.
The Politics – You get the power dynamics between the different powers established really well. Vorlons, Menbari and humans are the strongest with Vorlons probably being the greatest in strength with the Centauri being a dying empire and the Narn being a former occupied warrior nation seeking retribution. This dynamic plays well in how the representatives play off one another.
Dr. Benjamin Kyle – Dr. Benjamin Kyle is one of the few characters who doesn’t feel like he’s reading off a script or cards and sounds invested in what he is doing. I really liked how he was the one to take charge to solve the poisoning of the ambassador too and is the one the person to reveal that the assassin is using a shapeshifting technology. Johnny Seka did a good job.
Michael Garibaldi – Jerry Doyle is another one of the standout performances as he plays the dishonored security chief really well. You clearly see a guy trying to find himself again and his relationship with Sinclair works. You can see their friendship and why he stays on the station.
Londo Mollari – Peter Jurasik is the last performance that doesn’t feel forced, stilted or bland. He plays the gambler recounting past glories of the empire really well. He never stops being selfish but unlike Ryjal on “Farscape” Londo is actually charismatic and likeable. He has an almost Dukat way about him in how he interacts with others. He’s now the character story I most want to see unfold and that is in large part due to Juraski’s charisma in the role.
The Mysteries – When I said the story is good it is good because of the core mysteries. We learn almost nothing about the Vorlons but when they stand down we see that they are just like the other representatives in their own way, even if looking upon them brings visions. The Menbari are fascinating too as Delenn is holding info from Sinclair about the war and the assassin was an Menbari assassin wanting to hurt humanity for them defeating the Menbari in the war. These core mysteries help setup the basic premise of the show and gives more to be discovered and explored.
The Cons:
Stilted Writing – The writing is a lot of tell and not much show. This is largely due to characters giving orders or stating the obvious, which really doesn’t help a lot of the performances.
Most of the Acting – This feels like it was a first for a lot of these actors as the acting tends to be overacted when it is minor nothing characters and G’Kar and stilted acting for everyone I didn’t mention above in the pros. Sinclair manages to pull of some decent acting near the end of the film but before that he is wooden as hell.
G’Kar – G’Kar is a villain with no complexity. He threatens to take the dna or rape a psychic who arrives on the station and besides that is attempting to start a war or get DeLenn to join him in a potential war. There is nothing to like about the character at all and he’s just a flat villain.
Pacing – This film is only an hour and a half but due to the stilted writing and performances and with that pacing feels almost double the length it actually is.
As said above, I’d only recommend this film to those who are already fans of the show. The film is a chore and it is only a few standout performances and the story itself that made it possible for me not to rate it completely in the negative. This still isn’t good and I’d only rate it as far as okay. So glad the show manages to payoff the really cool ideas that are setup at least. They deserved a better pilot film though.
Final Score: 6.5 / 10 A few performances keep this from being an absolute failure but it only barely works.
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