30 years ago (give or take,) the pilot for a science fiction show aired that changed the way TV operated. Building upon and strengthening the idea of Star Trek’s five-year mission, this show proved that sci-fi TV could be something grander than an episodic adventure. It all began in the Earth year 2257 with the founding of the last of the Babylon stations, located deep in neutral space. This is its story.
Spoilers ahead for the pilot and much of the show itself.
1. There Is a Hole In My Watching
You didn’t think I could stay away, did you? While my journey through all five seasons came to an end a few months ago, there is still more Babylon 5 to watch/read. In fact, there was one piece of the original series I missed way back when I started my reviews: the original pilot, also known as The Gathering. To be fair to 2018 me, I don’t think the pilot was available on Amazon Prime and by the time I was watching on Vudu (in SD) and then HBO Max (in HD), it never quite seemed like the right time to go back.
The 30th anniversary of its original airing though – again, give or take a week – is exactly the right time.
OK. Let’s do a bit of table setting. Pilots are funny beasts because they either never see the light of day or they end up acting as a show’s de facto first episode, likely to save on production costs, even if actors and settings and props change between that and “episode 2.” The Gathering, however, is a special case because the pilot is actually a film, one which aired nearly an entire year before “Midnight on the Firing Line,” the first episode of season 1, and, in keeping in line with Babylon 5’s semi-real-time approach to storytelling, is also set one year prior.
Well, technically.
See, the version of The Gathering I watched is actually the TNT edit aka the “JMS fixes his youthful mistakes and WB/PTEN’s nonsense” edit. You can find a bunch of the details on the Lurker’s Guide as to what changed. The long and short of it is this allowed Straczynski to bring the movie more in line with the series as it developed, like having the series composer to rescore it, to fix the pacing with additional scenes, and generally make the film more coherent. A not insignificant task considering a bunch of the negatives were destroyed by rats and water damage.
One other interesting note, I don’t think the pilot got an HD version with the rest of the series. It does seem to have proper wide-screen CGI though. It could be a mistake on Vudu (and Tubi’s) part or it could just be the reality, seeing as how it was classified as a movie for the sake of the DVD releases.
2. How Do You Like Me Now?
I was genuinely shocked at how much I enjoyed The Gathering. I didn’t go in thinking I wouldn’t like the pilot but I definitely was expecting something closer to the rougher episodes of season 1 – wooden acting, goofy as all hell plots, and a slow, slow pace. Now, all of that was still present but I found I didn’t mind it nearly as much as I did when sitting through those other episodes.
Perhaps what helped was the aforementioned re-editing from a now much more seasoned JMS and crew or perhaps I just let my past thoughts, and ideas about the episode, cloud my judgment. It could also be that the pilot’s bones were just more solid than some of the first season’s episodes by virtue of being the introduction rather than having to bide time for other plot or character developments.
It doesn’t really matter now. What matters is that it was a lot of fun! Sure, it’s not Babylon 5’s best by a long shot but it was never going to be. And had I not come back to this at the end of the series, I would’ve been absolutely jazzed, full of questions and a burning desire to see at least some of them answered.
Continued below3. Who Are You?
Okay. Enough preamble. Let’s get into the meat of the pilot. It’s still early in the station’s life and not every ambassador has arrived, namely the ambassador from the Vorlon empire. We’re given a tour of the station and its inhabitants, shown the roles of our principal cast, and prepped for the many motives of the central mystery of the episode: who tried to kill the Kosh, the Vorlon ambassador, why, and will they succeed? Throw into that a little light framing of the captain of the station, Sinclair, and that’s the broad strokes of the film.
This is a brilliant set-up for a pilot because not only does it allow it to stand on its own while laying the groundwork for developments in the series, it also neatly sells the concept of the show and gets one invested in the characters. Plus, there’s a mystery holding it all together! Who doesn’t love a good mystery?
Of course, viewers like me know how everything plays out because they reference the events of the pilot throughout the rest of the show, even once Sinclair is gone. I knew that Del Varner, the suspicious guy from the beginning, was actually an assassin wearing a changeling net to steal faces. I knew Kosh would survive and Sinclair would be found innocent. I could see the twists and turns coming because I knew the characters even if they are markedly different here, thanks to JMS changing them for the series proper and their growth over the seasons.
Had I not known any of this, had I come in cold, I would not have known who to trust. I would have been sucked deeper into the mystery. Even still, I was absorbed in trying to figure it out and figure out how they would figure it out. I wanted to see Sinclair go free. I wanted to see what was in Kosh’s encounter suit. And I certainly wanted to know why G’Kar’s eyes are so sunken.
4. It’s the Little Things
The other thing I really liked about The Gathering was how distinct the characters felt, even at the start, and how distinct their relationships to each other felt. Like, G’Kar’s deeply creepy proposal to Lyta, something that’s blessedly forgotten about until late season 5, or Takashima and Kyle’s conversation about Sinclair over illicit coffee. Or even Delenn’s cryptic conversation with Sinclair in the garden.
Actually, scratch that last one and replace it with Delenn going full Sheev on G’Kar in her room. That was WILD. What were those rings? Why did we never see them again? And did you see how intense she was?!
Then you’ve got Londo’s drunken conversation with Garibaldi as he bemoans the current fate of the Centauri empire and the subsequent confession that he was being blackmailed with proof of his grandfather’s hand in atrocities on Narn. But what’s so illuminating in that is not that he’s ashamed of the knowledge itself but is instead fearful of what it will do to his social standing should it come out on Centauri Prime.
This is what I love about Babylon 5 and why I think this pilot resonated with so many viewers. The plot is mostly a vehicle for the characters, which is why the least interesting scenes and lines are the ones of pure exposition, gotten out of the way to catch us up to speed, unable to be brought up more organically due to the self-contained, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink nature of a pilot. It’s a fine plot, it’s an engaging plot, but the strong foundation the show is built upon is the characters and the way they shape the events of the show and it’s nice to know that was present even from the start.
5. Will the Real Lieutenant Please Stand Up?
But, as with all things Babylon 5, what was present at the start does not always remain through the end. Or even to the first episode!
Yes, there were a number of changes between the pilot and the first episode of season one. As series watchers will know, Lt. Commander Laurel Takashima, Dr. Benjamin Kyle, Resident Telepath Lyta Alexander, Trader Carolyn Sykes, and C’n’C Tech Guerra all do not make it to season 1. They’re replaced by Susan Ivanova, Stephen Franklin, Talia Winters, Catherine Sakai, and, I presume, David Corwin. That said, Lyta does reappear later in the show, sporting a far less 80s look and a noticeably less narc-y attitude. I had no idea she was this much of a narc at this point. WOW.
Continued below
I was really sad to see that Tamlyn Tomita (Takashima) and Johnny Sekka (Kyle) never got to continue with the show. They seemed to have a great grasp of their characters and while their performances are pretty rough around the edges, it’s no more rough than Claudia Christain or Jerry Doyle’s was early in season 1. I’m saddened that they never got to grow into the character they could have been but I get it. Tomita didn’t want to be typecast and considering the studio forced her to redub her lines in the original broadcast because she was “too harsh,” I can see why she was afraid of how audiences would see her should she become associated with the role.
By the by, I have no idea how this exec thought her line deliveries were “too harsh.” I sense it had to do with her being an asian woman and her performance not fitting the prejudiced stereotype he’d built in his mind of what that means.
As for Sekka, he had to bow out due to health issues. In fact, this was his last acting role, unless you count the other 1993 film he was in, “The Gifted,” but that was shot long before B5 if my understanding of lead times holds true. Even though it allowed Richard Biggs to join the cast, it’s a true shame Sekka couldn’t stay. Clearly Straczynski thought so too because he made the character head of Xenobiological studies on Earth and had Dr. Franklin follow after him at the end of season 5.
Of the final three, one left due to accepting a position on a different show (Blaire Baron, who played Sykes,) one I couldn’t get confirmation on why she left/wasn’t brought back, though her work as a stuntwoman may have kept her busy elsewhere (Tallman,) and the last didn’t actually leave! Yep. That’s right. That was, in fact, Ed Wasser playing Guerra. You might know him as a certain…smiling agent of the Shadows.
And that’s just the major character changes, which led to certain plot shifts that I honestly don’t care all that much about seeing as how that’s usually how pilots work. Additionally, there are plenty of aesthetic changes to the various prosthetics and costumes, personality shifts as JMS figures out what he actually wants to do with the characters and have them change, and my favorite little detail, the design of the PKGs. They look like price scanners here! It’s hilarious.
The final change I wanted to highlight is with Delenn. There were originally plans to have her transition from male to female at the end of season 1, hence the more masculine presenting facial features in the pilot. However, they couldn’t find a good way of doing the same to Mira Furlan’s voice in a convincing or good way so they abandoned that plan. While it may have had its problems, much like with Ivanova’s hidden bisexuality, this would’ve added a much welcomed additional queer element to the show.
My only hope is that, should the new show get off the ground, we get true trans characters (and trans writers/actors to back them up.)
That about does it for now. Thank you all for joining me as I take a quick dive back into the world of Babylon 5 and finally get to talk about this strange, fun, and wild pilot. If you’re reading this before watching the series…I’m sorry for some of the spoilers. If you’re going back to this like I did, I hope you got just as much of a kick out of it. I’ll catch you around, the next time our orbits align.
This is Elias. Signing out.
Best Line of the Night:
1. Sinclair: “How bad is what you heard?”
Carolyn: “Pretty bad.”
Sinclair: “Then it’s true.”
2. Londo: “See the great Centauri Republic. Open 9-5. Earth time.”
