Customer Reviews

Babylon 5 - Midnight on the Firing Line [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These early Babylon 5 episodes offer tantalizing glimpses into what will unfold during the series. In "Midnight on the Firing Line" newly arrived Lieutenant Commander Ivanova (Claudia Christian) aids Commander Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) in two separate crises affecting Babylon 5; the Narn attack on the Centauri colony of Ragesh III and a vicious attack by raiders. Both crises will loom large throughout the course of Babylon 5's first season. In "Soul Hunter" a psychotic Soul Hunter arrives on Babylon 5, intent on collecting the soul of a prominent individual. Newly arrived medical chief Doctor Franklin (Richard Biggs) plays an important part in this episode. We also learn a bit more about the mysterious Minbari ambassador Delenn's (Mira Furlan) past.

These are the first two episodes of Babylon 5 (after the pilot there was a six month wait while the PTEN network figured out what to do with B5. The first episode (Midnight) had some real weak moments to it. Overall it worked and it did set in motion the plot of the next four years.

Soul Hunter is actually a fairly good episode. Somewhat unusual for B5 in that the alien here (the Soul Hunter) really is a purely evil (insane by the standards of his race). This was the first episode of B5 that made me think this series might really do something worthwhile. Not nearly as good as later episodes but still, worth owning for true fans.

Midnight on the Firing Line is roughly fourty-five minutes long and aired on January 26, 1994. Here we are introduced to some new characters: Vir Cotto, Londo's aide, Talia Winters, and Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova. The show starts of with Ragesh 3, which is a Centauri agricultural colony, being attack. Though unknow at the time, the Narn Regime is attacking the colony. The show switch to the Babylon 5 station where Vir informs Ambassador Mollari that Ragesh 3 has been attacked. Also going on in this show are the elections of Earth president and attacking raiders. Later in the series they would trim the show down as to one or two stories going on. Londo gets a message from his home world that they are going to do nothing. Londo tries to trick the Babylon 5 council in voting for sanctions against Narn. Ambassador G'Kar reveals to the council that the Centauri Republic is going to do nothing. It is during a rescue mission that the raiders are caught and a Narn outpost was to blame. It is also found out that Narn knew well in advance of the attack on Ragesh 3 and when Commander Sinclair presents the evidence to G'Kar, the Narn leave Ragesh 3 and incumbent President Luis Santiago re-elected. The show ends with Lieutenant Commander Ivanova paging Commander Sinclair saying: "Commander we have a problem". I am giving Midnight on the Firing Line an AAA+++ for its use of computer animation.

Soul Hunter is fourty-four minutes long and aired on February 2, 1994. Unlike Midnight on the Firing Line, where you have three stories going, Soul Hunter only has one main story to it. The show starts off with the arrival of the new head of the medical staff, Dr. Stephen Franklin. About thirty seconds into the show Commander Sinclair is being paged to CNC (command and controll) to investigate a new life form. The Commander is able to save the unknown space ship and the alien is taken to Med Lab. We find out through Ambassador Delenn that it is a Soul Hunter. A Soul Hunter is a race of aliens that track down worthy souls that are dying and preserve them. This Soul Hunter has gone rogue and has built a machine to preserve souls before the person is dying or about to die. The Soul Hunter escapes from Med Labs and steal from his ship his collection of souls and the weapon to capture the souls. He the Soul Hunter kidnaps Ambassador Delenn because he believes that she is the reason for him being there. Another Soul Hunter arrives at the station to warn Commander Sinclair that somebody is about to die and if he does not allow him to dock that more souls will be lost. Soul Hunter 2 tell Commander Sinclair that Soul Hunter 1 has some past failures in the past and has created a machine to capture worthy souls. Soul Hunter 1 has disgraced his fellow brothers. Soul Hunter 2 helps Commander Sinclair find Ambassador Delenn and track down Soul Hunter 1. Soul Hunter is killed by the machine he was using to capture Ambassador Delenn soul. In the end we see Ambassador Delenn freeing Soul Hunter 1 souls. I am givnig Soul Hunter a AAA+++ for it on going story and no side story.

Midnight on the Firing Line is a step up from the series pilot. Although still flawed in many respects, it has much more to recommend it. Michael O'Hare is still the weak link in Babylon 5's acting entourage, but thankfully he is much improved from the first installment. Newcomer Cladia Christian suffers from a few early jitters too, but manages. Although Tamlyn Tomita (Babylon 5's first second in command) was less rough around the edges, Christian begins to stake out the future personality of her character nicely. In addition, both Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters) and Stephen Furst (Vir) do credible jobs in their maiden outings. The make-up, however, is a small step backwards from previously and G'Kar's character suffers visibly in more than one scene. The editing too continues to be too quick, especially on the front end of a camera switch from character to character. On the plus side, the plot is thoughtful and plausible, suffering from only one small improbability at the end which is used to wrap up the story. Soul Hunter is another positive step for the Babylon 5 universe. The story is again slow and the ending for the third time in three tries is flawed, but the potential for the series is on full display here. One of the strongest aspects of the Babylon 5 series is its incorporation of religion into the future, whether human or alien, positive or negative, superficial or thought provoking. Soul Hunter only dips its toe into the waters here, and rather obliquely at that, but here it is enough. This show marks the first appearance of Dr. Franklin (Richard Biggs) and in this instance his addition is mostly positive. The editing, too, is much improved from earlier episodes. Kudos to Skip Robinson. Things are getting better. Stay tuned.