Babylon 5: In the Beginning [Region 2]

"In the Beginning" starts off on Centauri Prime, where outside the royal palace the city is burning. A young boy and girl intrude upon Emperor Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik), who gives the boy an opportunity to issue one order. "Make it good," the old man advises, and the boy does, saying, "Tell me a story!" The Emperor does, going back to the start of the Third Age. This would be the year 2243, when a young Londo arrived at the Earth Dome as liaison to the Centauri delegation. Earth had recently won the Dilgar War and the government of Earth is now expanding its sphere of influence. Earth is having some success in its attempt to make treaties with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, and now Earth is sending an expedition to make contact with the mysterious Minbari. Londo advises General Lefcourt to send only one ship and to be wary of the Minbari, but, of course, the military of Earth is nothing if not arrogant. Even not knowing the "history" of the series, it was clear that when Londo mumbles something about Earth not waking up the dragon it foreshadows hard times for Earth. Any and all doubts disappear when Lt. Cmdr. John Sheridan (Boxleitner) shows up and calls Captain Jankowski, the leader of the expedition, "a loose canon."

Before the Earth ships reach Mindari space we learn something about the warrior caste of these people and Lenonn, the leader of the Anla'shok (the Rangers). Lenonn is worried about the prophecies of Balen, which indicate that a time of crisis is coming during which the Anla'shok will play an important role. We also hear about the Vorlons for the first time. Then Captain Jankowski shows up and despite having been warned not to make first contact (which begs all sorts of questions about why this particular captain was sent with a fleet on an intelligence gathering mission) gets close enough for the Mindari to engage their senses. This begins a chain of events with tragic consequences, as both Jankowski and the Mindari prove equally adept at having no understanding of cross-cultural communication.

The importance of this exchange is that this little encounter is the spark that ignites the Earth-Mindari war, and the importance of that war is that the forces of Earth are no match for the Mindari. It is ironic to watch "In the Beginning" today, a year after the war with Iraq, because it is hard not to see strong parallels between the one sided wars. The great strength of this story is the idea that there is nothing Earth can do to stop the Mindari from destroying the Earth and ending the human race, a far cry from the superiority of the species that is a constant in the vast majority of science fiction (e.g., the "Star Trek" universe.

The problem is that just as the cause for the war was a bit far fetched (one of the first things you learn in encountering another culture is that symbols do not mean the same thing; e.g., do not hitch hike in central Africa because that gesture is their version of flipping somebody off), so is the end of the war, where a convenient bit of information pretty much pops out of nowhere. Still, on balance, there is a clear sense that in the universe of "Babylon 5" that humanity is occupying one of the lower rungs on the intergalactic totem pole, which is a decidedly different premise from what we are used to in the realm of science fiction series. Those of us who start the "Babylon 5" experience at this point also get to watch those first season episodes knowing all about the "hole" in Commander Sinclair's mind.

Ironically, while "In the Beginning" does a nice job of filling in the back story of the Earth-Mindari war, it also raises a new series of questions with regards to how we get from the end of this prequel to the start of the official "Babylon 5" series. It might be just me but I think the Minbari should be a bit more proactive in their relationship with the humans given the big surprise of this storyline. If it is big enougth to suddenly bring a war to a screeching halt, then it should lead to something more substantial in the diplomatic realm as well.


Not a stand-alone.   September 24, 2001
Eran Cohen (Israel)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

You can see it as a pilot to the Babylon 5 series, or as a sidekick during the watch of the entire series, at the least - after the end of season III. Avoid seeing it as a stand-alone. I stress this advise because I had seen it two years after seeing the complete saga, a fact that caused this TV-movie to lose impact. It's a pity, remembering how much I had waited for this to come, watching the series for the first time. At last, when I saw it, everything was `know this, know that...' like seeing something the was taken out of context, when the content itself is old news.

As to the plot itself, the film deals with the Earth-Minbari war, that its consequences resonated for years afterwards, deep into the series. As you've probably imagined, we're dealing with the main cast of B-5, that are 10 years younger ( an antithesis to the episode "Sleeping in Light", which I reviewed in the past).

Some of the curiosity of the enthusiastic fans is satisfied regarding the past of part of the main cast of `Babylon 5': Lando, G'kar, Susan Ivanova, Sinclair, and of course John J. Sheridan, as a promising young lieutenant, and the way he got his infamous nickname "StarKiller". The whole setting is advancing toward the dreadful "Battle On The Line", which does not let down in presentation, but due to time limits is shorter than it should have been.

Last word, remember that in order to completely enjoy the whole thing, you'd want to be `inside', really live the events - and that is best achieved by watching the series - for the first time, or all over again.


An Extraordinary Look at the Earth-Minbari War   July 30, 2001
John Kwok (New York, NY USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Without a doubt, "Babylon 5: In The Beginning" is a great prequel to the "Babylon 5" saga, replete with great acting, cinematography and special effects. I have yet to see anything on "Star Trek" which remotely comes close to the grandeur and broad canvass of J. Michael Straczynski's epic tale. Although I recommend viewing this film after seeing the first three seasons of "Babylon 5", newcomers to "Babylon 5" will not be left in the dark, watching this drama of miss opportunities, tragic errors, and the unrelenting, brutal war which ensues between the Minbari and humanity. Theodore Bikel is splendid as Lenonn, the leader of the Rangers. Ditto for Raynor Scheine as Dukhat, the Minbari leader of its Grey Council. And so are series regulars Bruce Boxleitner (Sheridan), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar), and of course, Peter Jurasik (Mollari), in their respective roles. And in his few brief moments on screen, Michael O'Hare is quite good as Sinclair, revealing how his character will play a momentuous role in the subsequent history of Babylon 5. I am stunned by how well Straczynski, his actors, and crew, were able to tell the story of the Earth-Minbari war in the short span of 93 minutes. But then again, I shouldn't be surprised; especially this is what I came to expect after watching countless episodes of "Babylon 5". Hopefully Warner Brothers will release a DVD version of this splendid film soon.


Babylon 5's version of the apocalypse!   July 27, 2001
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Babylon 5 is easily one of the best sci-fi series ever made. Unlike Star Trek, where the "good guys" almost invariably win, no matter what the odds (as with the Borg), one of the strengths of B5 is that the humans don't always defeat the odds or find some miraculous "technobabble" way to stop a superior alien race. This B5 film, "In the Beginning" shows the events of the great and bloody Earth/Minbari War, which happened about ten years before the timeline of the "Babylon 5" TV series. The makers of this film have done a great job of showing most of the familiar (and even less-familiar) characters of the B5 universe. Without giving away too much of the plot, the war begins when an arrogant human starship captain opens fire on a warship from a (then) mysterious and little-known alien race called the Minbari. As it turns out, this is a fatal mistake, not only for the starship captain but for the entire human race. The Minbari are centuries ahead of Earth in weapons and technology, and in revenge for what they see as a sneaky, "Pearl Harbor"-style attack they start a war to exterminate humanity. The people of Earth and her colonies fight bravely, and they do manage to slow down the Minbari offensive, but the Minbari are so advanced in terms of technology and firepower that nothing can permanently stop them, and by the end of the film it looks as if the Earth is doomed to total destruction. How the story plays out is wonderfully done, and this film shows the answers to many of the questions and stories which are often discussed on the television series but never shown: How did Captain Sheridan destroy the Minbari's flagship, the "Black Star" (one of Earth's few victories in the war)? How did Commander Ivanova's beloved older brother die in the war? What role did G'Kar, the Narn Ambassador to Earth, and Londo, the Centauri Ambassador to Earth, play in the war? If you're not a fan of Babylon 5 then this movie may well get you hooked, but if you are a fan and you haven't seen this film, then by all means you should buy it, as it's one of the best sci-fi "TV" movies ever put on film. Watch it!