MovieFreak.com - "Babylon 5 - The Complete Fourth Season" DVD Review by Dennis Landmann

Starring: Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle, Mira Furlan, Richard Biggs, Bill Mumy, Stephen Furst, Jason Carter, Jeff Conaway, Patricia Tallman, Andreas Katsulas, Peter Jurasik

A space station in neutral territory is the focus of a unique five-year saga. In the year 2258, it is ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. Commander Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) takes command of a giant five-mile-long cylindrical space station, orbiting a planet in neutral space. At a crossroads of interstellar commerce and diplomacy, Cmdr Sinclair (2nd season Captain Sheridan) must try to establish peace and prosperity between various interstellar empires, all the while fighting forces from within the Earth Alliance. It is a precarious command, particularly given that sabotage led to the destruction of Babylon stations 1, 2, and 3 and 4 vanished without trace. Thanks to IMDB.

The mind and imagination of series creator J. Michael Straczynski (JMS from now on) is a truly interesting thing. Not only did he create the most compelling and interesting sci-fi saga in television, he scripted almost the entire series. Apart from several staff writers on the first and second season, JMS wrote the entire third and fourth season, and probably the fifth, too. That is quite an accomplishment, and the quality of the writing makes it all the more evident.

Babylon 5 is true science fiction. Inside the show's universe are aliens, humans, and the unknown. Two of the three form an alliance, and the Babylon project is given form. It was a place of commerce and diplomacy where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. However, Season 3 changed everything, as is evident in the show's opening narration, "The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. It failed. But in the year of the Shadow War, it became something greater: our last, best hope for victory." Every season carries a different narration pertaining to the specific events during each new year.

When Season 3 ended with the exciting and perhaps most brilliant cliffhanger on Za'ha'dum, I was totally ready and excited to devour Season 4 (not literally). In fact, I spent roughly three weeks watching seasons 1-4 at the start of December last year. That's 88 episodes in 21 days, and 4 episodes per day. It was the most intense and rewarding TV show marathon I've ever experienced. This should give you, the reader, a definite indication of how extremely cool and exciting Babylon 5 is.

On a side note, there is a continuous debate whether Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ripped off B5's concept. One can compare both shows and see more than a few similarities, but I'm not getting into these here. You probably should know Paramount passed on producing Babylon 5, and only many months or a year later did Warner Bros. come into the picture to pick up the show. I like both shows a lot, but B5 is much more daring and original.

Season 4, also known as No Surrender, No Retreat, is possibly the show's most pivotal season. Almost all the plot threads and foreshadowing introduced in the preceding three seasons come to an exciting climax. This season moves on high alert at all times, danger is imminent, and the pace moves incredibly well. The opening narration puts the season in just the right perspective, "It was the year of fire, The year of destruction, The year we took back what was ours. It was the year of rebirth, The year of great sadness, The year of pain, and a year of joy. It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed. The year is 2261. The place, Babylon 5." Doesn't this just sound terrific?

I don't really want to talk about the major happenings of the season, so I'm going to just hint at some things instead. This season continues Babylon 5's fight and struggle against EarthGov, more or less concludes the subplot of the threat posed by the Shadows, advances the political and hierarchy problems on Centauri Prime, focuses on the Narn's struggle to become free again, and displays a very hard time for the Minbari as their society becomes engaged in a civil war. Also, there are interesting developments with all the major characters, including Chief of Security Michael Garibaldi (Doyle), Captain John Sheridan (Boxleitner), Commander Susan Ivanova (Christian), Dr. Stephen Franklin (Biggs), former Minbari Ambassador Delenn (Furlan), Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari (Jurasik), Narn Ambassador G'Kar (Katsulas), Lyta Alexander (Tallman), and Ranger Marcus Cole (Carter).

This group of actors really does a phenomenal job again this season. I left out a few of the supporting characters, but in general the show's acting is right on target. Again, the writing is truly original and imaginative. JMS really has an ear for dialogue, and not just one to write lines that further the plot. He gives each character certain traits and behaviors, which in turn makes them interesting and also memorable. JMS also likes to include some humor in the writing, and it works almost every time. On the other hand, some lines of dialogue seem to force the drama a bit too much, while some discussions go on for too long. The various directors on the show do a very fine job, as does the director of photography John C. Flinn III, the production designer, the various editors, the special effects team, the make-up artists, set dressers, etc. If there is one very tiny negative issue about the show it's the sets. Sometimes they look quite stale and familiar despite the various decorations and alterations applied to them. Then again, the production usually one set doubling for two different quarters; the ones characters could call their "home". Other than that, Babylon 5 is nearly flawless.

Anyone interested in science fiction who hasn't yet experienced the imagination and excitement of Babylon 5 should definitely start to look into it. I recommend everybody start with Season 1, just as I did. In the beginning I was a little unsure if I made the right choice when I bought seasons 1-3 at DeepDiscountDVD. However, after only five or six episodes I realized the show's potential and went ahead with the rest of the first season episodes. By the end of it I was really amazed at what I've seen, not to mention feeling very pleased with my newly-acquired boxed sets. I guarantee you won't be disappointed by this show. Season 4 is great sci-fi and exciting entertainment.

Warner Bros. presents Babylon 5 in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Video quality is still not great, and although I doubt WB is going to do anything about it for the Season 5 release, quality is much better in comparison to the season 1 and 2 sets. The special effects shots were rendered for the 1.33:1 format, and for this presentation cropped to fit the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. This causes minor problems, but they never really bothered me. Colors are overall pretty nice and well-saturated. Detail is fine, and sharpness looks quite decent. The print image appears in good shape, although several specks and areas of grain are visible, especially during the low-lit scenes. Many of the dark scenes look a little fuzzy, but blacks and dark tones are pretty good. I didn't notice any compression artifacts. Overall, this is not a great presentation, but it gets the job done just fine and there aren't any big issues to be bothered by.

Warner Bros. presents Babylon 5 in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. The soundtrack is listed as being remastered, and in a way that is only half correct. Surrounds are never really in use, and the rear speakers are only active during certain times. Franke's score sounds just perfect, however. There is some good definition and placement among the front speakers. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand, and only a few times does a line sound muffled. Audio is not particularly strong, but the soundtrack presentation is fairly good with considerable clarity in most cases.

This is the fourth season of Babylon 5 and Warner Bros. again continues to add some really nice bonus materials. Prior season releases featured commentaries, at least two featurettes, some text-based material, and more. I'm glad to report the extras on this set are all enjoyable and welcome. As with every other season set, there is a very nice booklet inside the book-like packaging listing episode synopsis, chapters, airdates, and director info. Most fulfilling, however, is JMS' introduction on page 2. Let's get started.

First are three commentary tracks for selected episodes. The first track is by actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Peter Jurasik and Patricia Tallman on Falling Toward Apotheosis (disc 1). Listening to them gives listeners the impression they all had a terrific time doing the show, and with all the joking and reminiscing about certain aspects this track is recommended for fans of the show. JMS participates on the second (disc 5) and third (disc 6) commentary track for episodes The Face of the Enemy and the season finale The Deconstruction of Falling Stars. This man is very well-spoken, articulate, and most importantly, interesting. He offers good insight about the show and aspects of the production, but he also gets into other subjects that don't necessarily relate to B5, yet are still interesting. His comments on Stars are especially worthwhile as he explains his approach to the episode, such as saying "it's about myth" and going into more detail on the meanings and implications of that episode. Fans of the show will definitely want to listen to both of his tracks.

The rest of the special features are located on disc 6. The menu offers the following extras, among brief filmography info on Douglas Netter and JMS.

Viewers can choose to view an introduction to Season 4 (6:27). It contains interviews with JMS, cast and crew, but spoils too much of the plot and twists. Those who haven't completed the season should not watch this. Otherwise, the introduction is fine.

Then comes Celestial Sounds (5:44), a featurette that should appeal to every fan of the show. It takes viewers inside the mind of composer Christopher Franke, well, sort of. Here we get interviews with Franke, JMS, producer John Copeland and executive producer Douglas Netter. Specifically, Franke is inside his studio and tells us what his intentions were with composing and how he approached it. The other three interview participants offer general comments and praise for Franke and his work. It's a good watch.

Next is No Surrender, No Retreat DVD Suite (6:49), a montage of various clips from Season 4 featuring newly composed music by Franke. This suite is totally cool because I love the show's music. It also encapsulates the season quite nicely. Fans of the show should definitely get a kick out of this. This is a nice touch.

Inside The Universe of Babylon 5 you will find text-based material as well as brief video clips. Specifically, you can select Personnel Files (Lyta Alexander, Kosh II, Neroon, Lorien, Cartagia) and Data Files. The files are actually brief video clips with narration and cover the following topics: Voice of the Resistance, Proxima 3, Edgars Institute, Mars Resistance, and Battle for Earth. Clicking featurettes takes you back to the special features menu.

The most fun and amusing extra is the Gag Reel (3:27), also part of the Universe menu. It's edited nicely with a cool music beat, but the video quality is kind of weak. The reel features flubbed lines and on-set mishaps, but the funniest thing is seeing and hearing Walter Koenig saying "ah shit" after messing up take after take, and Mira Furlan saying "I fucked it up" after forgetting her line. I don't know why, but this is just classic in a funny kind of way. Obviously, the actual curse words are bleeped out, but they're still audible. Past season sets featured gag reels only as Easter eggs, so I'm pleased to report the Season 4 gag reel is available in the open.

Menus are easy to navigate and the show's signature score plays over them. A "play all episodes" function is available on each disc. There are also episode selections and chapter selections. You can select to view the episodes with optional English, French and Spanish subtitles. The average episode length is 44 minutes. The total running time of the season is approximately 966 minutes.

I really can't say much else about Babylon 5 other than it is terrific, exciting and compelling sci-fi. If you haven't gotten into the show yet, this is your time to catch up before Season 5 hits stores mid-April. WB's video/audio quality is fine, and the extras are very nice. This set comes highly recommended to fans of the show and anybody else interested in experiencing great sci-fi. The set can get a bit pricey at $80 in most stores, but it's worth buying. Seek out a Costco, which sells it for less.

THE SEASON/SHOW	10
THE VIDEO	7
THE AUDIO	7
THE EXTRAS	7
OVERALL (not an average)	8