Season Five begins very ploddingly in a time of peace and explores the setting-up of the new alliance with the former Captain of Babylon 5 John Sheridan as its President. The new Captain of the station Elizabeth Lochley is very likable almost immediately- despite being written to oppose almost every regular on the show before she's even got both feet through the whooshing space-doors- but she is in my view a very solid replacement for Susan Ivanova, who especially gets the chance to shine in the "River of Souls" TV Movie made at the same time as this season.

The telepaths invited to start a colony on the station are one of the two main subjects of the season, but it's not until episode seven that this storyline picks up pace and becomes absorbing. But even then- after the so-called "telepath war" was alluded to more than once in previous seasons- it's somewhat of a disappointment when you consider what could have been had Straczynski chosen to really take on such a large story-arc and all that it entailed ethically, socially and politically for the universe of Babylon 5. The telepaths' story, which comes at a time between their exploitation by Earth Gov. in the past and the war (between them and the "mundanes") that's to come...is an interesting one, but the main problem is that as a group they are largely uncharismatic and with the exception of their leader- mute, which doesn't make for thrilling viewing. But on the flip side this story does provide Patricia Tallman (Lyta Alexander) with the screen-time she deserves and also some fantastic character dilemmas to sink her teeth into and that's reason enough for me be glued to my seat throughout this season. And once it gets up some momentum the storyline and the characters involved do make for compulsive viewing. The second subject of the season I won't give away for those who haven't seen it before, but it's much more thrilling than the telepath story-arc and also ties in with the finale of the show and also the fabled Babylon 5 feature film, which has yet to materialise...

Every season of Babylon 5 is marked by at least one superlative episode that takes every revelatory idea, every glimmer of brilliance and every subtle exploration into what it means to be human to extraordinary heights and it's no surprise that "Sleeping in Light," the episode in the fifth and final season of Babylon 5 and the finale of the show as a whole...is the episode for me, which attains that inexplicable goal. Even though I hadn't followed the programme from the beginning- when I saw this episode for the first time I was moved to tears, such was the power of the feeling and ability of all those involved in its making and I dare anyone not to react in the same way. The last thing you'll want to hear is that this episode alone is worth the price of the box set, because that implies the rest is below par. Well unfortunately...it is to some extent, but this is Babylon 5- it's still an awesome season, so buy the set for every episode, all 22 and be more than pleasantly surprised by a gem of an episode right at the end.

Matching Boxsets
Review date: 2005-07-26 Rating: 10 out of 10

When you own all 5 boxsets of Babylon 5 it would be nice for them all to look similar when lined up on your DVD shelf. Warner Brothers have a particularly bad record with the Babylon 5 releases in the UK. It first happened when season 4 was released on VHS and the case design didn't match the first 3 seasons. It then started to go wrong with the DVD versions after the release of the season 4 boxset. The first 4 boxsets were available in a cardboard book style case before being re-released in the slimline DVD format (I only ever saw season 4 in the cardboard book package once). The season 5 boxset has a smaller '5' logo on the box and the slimline DVD spines have the episode numbers, so which ever way you turn it, it wouldn't match.

However, the season 5 boxset I received from amazon today does not have the episode numbers on the slimline DVD case spines :)

Disappointing end to the series
Review date: 2005-06-28 Rating: 6 out of 10

As has already been mentioned Season 5 was made after they didn't expect to get the go-ahead for it so all the principal story arcs are ended, rather hastily and in a hurried fasthion, at the end of season 4.

This feels like they didn't really know what to do with themselves because they didn't expect to be making this season.

The early part of the season deals with the growing antagonism between the telepaths and the "normals" and between them and PsiCorps. These stories are rather dull in themselves but the coming war - which is alluded to many times - never actually happens, it simply fizzles out before the end of the season. The Fall of Centauri Prime is grand B5 in the style of the previous great season 3 and 4, but too much is left unanswered. How were the Drakhs defeated by Vir as they seem to have been? What happened to Sheridan and Delenn's son did they find out what was in the gift left by Lando?

We're not told. Buy this to complete your collection, but don't expect too much from it. "Sleeping in Light" is a very fine end to the show (and originally intended for season 4) and had me crying like a baby but even that can't really lift this season above the merely average.

Sorry, but it doesn't deserve the 5 stars the majority of reviewers seem to be giving it. Season 3 and 4 yes. But not Season 5.

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