URL: http://dvd.ign.com/articles/491/491629p1.html

   <h>Babylon 5: The Complete Fourth Season
   <p>It was the year of fire... the year of destruction ... It was the year
   everything changed.
   <p>by Sergio Non
   

   <p>February 11, 2004 - Talk all you want about special effects,
   spaceships and alien costumes, but above all, the enduring mark of
   great sci-fi is ideas. It's especially true for sci-fi TV shows, which
   love to bludgeon viewers with Major Themes: Being Human (Spock, Data,
   The Doctor, various clones); Cultural Diversity (aliens, we love you);
   What Is Real? (time travel; holodecks; shape shifters); Privacy and
   Individual Rights (telepaths); Religion (The Force); and of course,
   The Meaning of Life (Yoda).
   
   <p>But Babylon 5 wielded the biggest, bluntest instrument of all, and it
   smashed through season four to create an outsized beast of
   grandiosity. Everything about this set screams of self-conscious
   ambition.
   
   <p>The Show
   <p>Ultimately, Babylon 5 was all about the ideas of its creator and
   executive producer J. Michael Straczynski, who wrote the screenplays
   for the majority of the shows, including every episode of the last two
   seasons. His ambition dominated Babylon 5 throughout its run: "I'm
   pretty rigorous in my scripts most of the time. I don't tend to allow
   for a lot of improvisation or a lot of changing around."
   
   <p>The content certainly drips with self-importance -- operatic music;
   exaggerated, acting; didactic dialogues about Really Important Topics;
   sweeping shots of battle -- and in its desperate attempt to be taken
   seriously, Babylon 5 ends up stagey and affected.
   
   <p>Why show consequences when his characters can tell us (and tell us and
   tell us and tell us) about them? Who needs naturalistic dialogue when
   there's preaching to be done? What's the use of small gestures when
   gesticulation can chew up the camera? Why cap the big showdown between
   Shadows and Vorlons with an exciting fight when you can end with a
   long-winded Sheridan speech?
   
   <p>Viewers might have thought the Shadow conflict - which powered the
   show for much of Babylon 5's first three years -- would take an entire
   season to complete, but it was resolved by the sixth show, Into the
   Fire, making the next 16 episodes feel a bit like one long denouement.

   <p>By the time Babylon 5 finally delivers a massive space battle in
   episode 20, Endgame, it's hard to care. It didn't help that
   Straczynski mixed senseless space battle cliches like
   all-weapons-and-shields-are-down-so-let's-ram-them with one clever
   idea involving telepaths and ships.
   
   <p>Yet the maddening and unintentionally comic elements of Babylon 5
   often worked.
   
   <p>Sometimes the outsized, over-the-top acting and dialogue approaches
   brilliance. The devious, sneering Ambassador Londo Mollari might be
   one of the greatest TV sci-fi characters of all time, and his actor,
   Peter Jurasik, gets to bluster and show off his outlandish accent to
   full effect in season four. Mira Furlan's breathless portrayal of
   Ambassador Delenn and Jerry Doyle's smartass, grumpy cop take on Chief
   Garibaldi are weirdly compelling.
   
   <p>And for all his wordiness, Straczynski can write remarkable scenes.
   Season 4's last episode, The Deconstruction of Falling Stars, offered
   a microcosm of the show's best and worst traits. Set up as a
   far-future historian's look back at the effect of Babylon 5 on Earth
   history, the script insists on extolling the greatness of Sheridan and
   his cohorts - you can't get more heavy-handed than Delenn glaring at a
   trio of academic strawmen and wheezing that Sheridan "was a good man."


   <p>On the other hand, Deconstruction includes a wonderful vignette that
   -- in a nod to the classic novel Canticle for Leibowitz -- features an
   older monk defending the Babylon 5 "myth" against the questions of his
   younger colleague; it's a touching, eloquent defense of religious
   belief, and especially surprising coming from a skeptic like
   Straczynski.
   
   <p>Lots to dislike, but even more to love. The ideas and their build-up
   make Babylon 5 worth watching, especially in its climactic season. If
   only the payoff were better.
   
   <p>Score: 9 out of 10
   
   <p>The Video
   
   <p>Sadly, the video quality can make the watching a little hard on the
   eyes. Considering this is a science-fiction show with some fairly
   sophisticated 3D graphics, it wouldn't have been asking too much to
   clean up the video for DVD distribution.
   
   <p>Instead, the ongoing insistence on painting Babylon 5 as an Epic For
   Our Time may have actually made picture quality worse on DVDs. The
   live action sequences were shot in 16:9 format with high-definition
   television screens in mind, but to save money, the special effects
   were created for 4:3 viewing. Thus, all CGI effects are, in effect,
   blown-up on the DVDs, which present the show 16:9, in keeping with
   Straczynski's original vision.
   
   <p>The end result? For any scene with special effects, including
   composite shots that mix live-action and CGI, the same problems noted
   in IGN's previous review exist here: graininess, jagged edges and
   digital errors, even on non-HD television sets. If you don't have a
   high-definition television, try watching this on a PC's DVD player --
   you may find yourself wondering if you're watching a DivX downloaded
   from the Internet or an actual DVD.
   
   <p>The quality on the trailers is even worse.
   
   <p>Score: 4 out of 10
   

               <p>Excuse me, what were you saying about my hair?

   <p>Audio and Languages
   <p>Babylon 5 does a workmanlike job with its 5.1 sound. Muscular surround
   sound systems can show off with the bombastic "No Surrender, No
   Retreat" musical suite -- you'll definitely know if your subwoofer
   works, and your rear speakers , while not used as extensively as in a
   high-quality theatrical release, get more of a workout than from most
   TV shows.
   
   <p>As far as the show itself, careful listeners will pick up a few
   incidental noises, as well as echo effects of computer voices -- check
   out the final sequence in Deconstruction for a good sample. However,
   as is often the case with TV shows, Babylon 5's battle sounds -- which
   rear speakers should be carrying more than any other track -- are
   generally front-loaded.
   
   <p>The set has subtitles in English, French and Spanish. Happily, the
   subtitles remain during the audio commentaries.
   <p>Score: 7 out of 10

   <p>Shame that 200 years from now, we still won't have a cure for
   baldness.

   <p>Packaging and Extras
   
   <p>The 6-disc set comes in a thin Amaray holders. It includes a pamphlet
   with brief synopses of each episode.
   
   <p>Audio commentaries include one for episode 4, Falling Toward
   Apotheosis, with actors Jurasik, Doyle, Bruce Boxleitner (who played
   Sheridan) and Patricia Tallman (telepath Lyta Alexander). Apparently
   it was recorded via remote, since some of the actors indicate they're
   in different locations. It's also entirely useless for anyone seeking
   insight into the show - the group spends most of its time cracking
   jokes about the shape of Doyle's head, followed by Boxleitner's
   ability (or lack thereof) to remember lines, and the Londo hairpiece
   that Jurasik wore.
   <p>Hey baby, come here often?

   
   <p>Perhaps the actors kept it breezy, knowing that Straczynski would more
   than make up for it with his excessively thoughtful audio supplement
   to two episodes, The Face of the Enemy and the aforementioned
   Deconstruction. The former also includes comments from director
   Michael Vejar. Straczynski also sits down for a separate interview
   that serves as an introduction to and overview of the entire show.
   
   <p>Disc Six includes a short documentary about the show's composer,
   Christopher Franke, a performance of the "No Surrender, No Retreat"
   orchestral suite, a gag reel and a Universe of Babylon 5 feature with
   tidbits about various Babylon 5 elements.
   
   <p>Preview trailers are included for each episode. Warner Brothers should
   have left them out -- what's the point of trailers for episodes that
   can already be watched at will? - and used the extra space for higher
   video quality.
   <p>Score: 7 of 10

   <p>This is what happens when some people try to hook up their own
   satellite dish.

   <h>IGN's Ratings for Babylon 5: The Complete Fourth Season
   <l>Rating <l>Description
   
   <l>9 The Movie
   <l>We love it, we love it not. We love it, we love it not. We love it...
   <l>4 The Video
   <l>Very poor, especially for a science fiction show.
   <l>7 The Audio
   <l>Fairly front-loaded for a 5.1 mix.
   <l>7 The Extras
   <l>Similar to previous efforts.
   <l>7 OVERALL
   <p>(out of 10 / not an average)
   
   <h>Babylon 5 S5 Due In April
   <p>Final season looks to be as loaded as previous sets.

   <h>Babylon 5 Revival Follow-Up
   <p>Jerry Doyle speaks out regarding plans for a B5 revival. And JMS
   responds!

   <h>Straczynski on Spidey 2?
   <p>IGN FilmForce has the truth about the latest rumor.

   <h>Babylon 5 on DVD: The Interview
   <p>J. Michael Straczynski talks to IGN about DVDs, Legend of the Rangers,
   comics, and more.

   <h>10 Questions: J. Michael Straczynski
   <p>The creator of Babylon 5 and Rising Stars gives his 10 answers.

   <h>Interview with J. Michael Straczynski (Conclusion)
   <p>"As things unravel, it's a larger conspiracy, so basically after the
   second year - the show you think Crusade is would be a whole different
   show, with much more depth to it..."

   <h>Interview with J. Michael Straczynski (Part 3 of 4)
   <p>"I would go back in time and do it again... I would not do it a second
   time, because it damn near killed me the first time."

   <h>Interview with J. Michael Straczynski (Part 2 of 4)
   <p>My log line on Jake and the Fatman was 'He cant walk. He can't act.
   Together they fight crime.'"

   <h>Interview with J. Michael Straczynski (Part 1 of 4)
   <p>"Ive sold about maybe 85-90% of everything Ive ever written. I have no
   explanation."