| Babylon 5: In The Beginning | |
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 TNT Promotional Poster for Babylon 5:In The Beginning |
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| Genre | Science Fiction |
| Running time | 94 minutes |
| Creator(s) | J. Michael Straczynski |
| Director(s) | Michael Vejar |
| Producer(s) | John Copeland |
| Writer(s) | J. Michael Straczynski |
| Starring | Bruce Boxleitner Mira Furlan Richard Biggs Andreas Katsulas Peter Jurasik Reiner Schöne Michael O'Hare |
| Music by | Christopher Franke |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Original channel | TNT |
| Release date(s) | January 4 1998 |
| IMDb profile | |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
Babylon 5: In the Beginning (1998) is a television movie set in the Babylon 5 science fiction franchise. It was written by J. Michael Straczynski and directed by Michael Vejar. The movie originally aired January 4, 1998 on the TNT cable network, a couple of weeks before the season 5 run began. It focused mainly on characters part of the established Babylon 5 cast, but it did include the notable guest star Reiner Schöne (playing Minbari leader Dukhat).
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Synopsis
In the Beginning tells the story of a pivotal event in the history of the Babylon 5 universe. Ten years before the television series Babylon 5 is set, a terrible event occurred: Earth became involved in a deadly conflict with the just-discovered Minbari race. This war almost led to the extermination of the human race, but it was mysteriously halted at the last moment by the Minbari leadership for reasons that would remain secret for over a decade. This near-destruction of the human race led to the Earth Alliance creating the Babylon space stations as a means of preventing further wars.
During the first four years of the Babylon 5 TV series, numerous hints about and glimpses of the Earth-Minbari War were offered. When the program moved to the TNT cable network for its fifth season, a set of made-for-TV movies were ordered to promote it, and Straczynski chose to use the first of these to tell the story of the war he had so often alluded to in previous episodes. The movie begins before the war, when the human race — feeling cocky following their defeat of the Dilgar — is rapidly expanding into space. Word reaches them of the mysterious Minbari race. Though they are warned by Centauri ambassador Londo Mollari to leave this race alone, they seek to make first contact. Meanwhile, the Minbari Grey Council, led by Dukhat, has become concerned that the Shadows may have returned to Z'ha'dum in fulfillment of Valen's prophecy. They are taking a roundabout route to the dark world to investigate when they encounter Earth ships, specifically the Prometheus, seeking to make first contact. A tragic misunderstanding follows. The Minbari ships turn towards the Prometheus and engage their long range sensors to gain more data on the unknown Earth ship. Unknown to the Minbari, the intense EMP field generated by their long range sensors have the unexpected side effect of disabling the Prometheus' hyperdrive, preventing the Prometheus from retreating. As the Minbari ships draw closer, they open their gun ports - a sign of respect in their culture. The interference from the Minbari sensors also prevent the Prometheus from determining whether or not the Minbari ships are charging their weapons. The captain of the Prometheus, with his Jump Engines disabled and the Minbari ships approaching gun ports open, misinterprets this as a sign of aggression and opens fire. The Minbari ships are heavily damaged, and their beloved leader Dukhat killed. In retaliation, the Grey Council announces a holy war against mankind, and the Earth-Minbari War begins.
Earth-Minbari war
The war lasts three years and countless humans are killed, being overwhelmed by superior Minbari technology. Several battles are seen: a lone corvette is witnessed charging a Minbari fleet; a Nova Class dreadought rams a Minbari War Cruiser. Colonists are seen saying good bye to family and children, before marching outside to certain death. Commander John Sheridan, first officer of the Lexington is part of a battle group engaging the Minbari. After a Minbari ambush, Sheridan's CO is killed. He assumes command of the damaged ship and lays a trap for the enemy, seeding the local asteroids with nuclear mines. The Minbari Warcruiser closes in to finish off the remaining earth ship but is destroyed by the nuclear blast. The ship is the Dral La Fi (Minbari for Black Star) the Minbari flag ship. As a last, desperate effort to stave off the inevitable, the president of Earth orders all available ships to form a line around the planet in a vain attempt to stave off the final Minbari obliteration of the human race. This, the Battle of the Line, is the final battle of the war. During the battle, Satai Delenn (Mira Furlan), a member of the Grey Council, abducts a human pilot to learn about Earth's defenses. This pilot is Jeffrey Sinclair (Michael O'Hare). The Grey Council is startled to discover, upon using the triluminary, that he appears to carry the soul of Minbari religious leader Valen. The Grey Council concludes that Minbari souls have been reincarnated in humans. Since Minbari do not kill Minbari, they surrender to the defenseless Earth forces rather than kill Minbari souls in human bodies. Because of the damage this revelation could do to their own culture, they keep the reason for the cease-fire a secret. In the wake of the war, Earth decides to build a space station that can serve as a kind of United Nations in space, with the intent of preventing future wars. (It takes five tries to get it right.)
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Notes
In the Beginning focuses significantly on what major characters of the TV series were doing during the Earth-Minbari War. In the process, it creates a few apparent contradictions to series continuity. It also significantly uses footage taken from the television episodes. In fact, Michael O'Hare (Jeffrey Sinclair) appears only in file footage, despite his pivotal role, since the actor was on the East Coast and could not economically be brought out to Los Angeles for filming a few additional scenes. Some of the contradictions in the film are disputed. For example, in the first season episode And The Sky Full of Stars, a Minbari member of the Grey Council tells Delenn that Sinclair must be killed if he remembers his missing 24 hours at the Battle of the Line. J. Michael Straczynski has stated that this is not a contradiction, as unlike Kosh and Ulkesh, the Grey Council did not know of Sinclair's destiny to travel back in time and become Valen, rather believing that it was the other way around. They had concluded that rather than see Minbari society destroyed, as they were not prepared for the truth about Valen at the time, it would be necessary to kill Sinclair if he remembered. [1] Another contradiction is in the character of Dr. Franklin. One of the scenes in the movie has Franklin, Sheridan and G'Kar going on a secret mission to the Epsilon system. However in the series, Franklin's dialogue suggests that he had never met or worked with Sheridan before. An obvious and easily explained contradiction is the difference in Delenn's appearance between In the Beginning/B5 TV Series and the pilot movie, The Gathering. Straczynski originally considered having Delenn begin as a male character and later become a female, but this idea was soon abandoned. Nevertheless, the makeup had already been influenced by this and it was too late to change. This is evident as in the pilot movie, Delenn's overall appearance is harsher, her voice is slightly lower, and her chin is noticeably sharper.
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