With the second season came changes, changes that ultimately bettered the show and redefined its course. The season got off to a bang with Delenn's future love interest, Captain John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) arriving on Babylon 5, in the first episode of season 2,
"Points of Departure." The show marked the handing over of command of B5 to Sheridan from Commander Jeffery Sinclair, actor Michael O'Hare becoming a victim of studio politicians who wanted a bigger star in the leading role. This excellent installment also revealed more about why the Minbari surrendered to Earth at the Battle of the Line when they were on the verge of victory.
As the season converged the show really began to find its legs and made strides to becoming a scifi show worthy of being remembered for sometime. This was a season where the show took risks, memorable risks. For instance the classic "AND NOW FOR A WORD":, done entirely as a futuristic "60 Minutes" type program, the episode visits Space Station Babylon 5 and digs deep with hard hitting, exploitive journalism, bringing one character to tears and also illuminating the seemingly dark motivations of another.
Another episode that really showed viewers this was no ordinary Star Trek clone was THE COMING OF SHADOWS, which actually beat out Deep Space Nine for that year's Hugo Award. This is a story of political intrigue foreshadowing the fate of two of the major characters and one not to be missed! In all Season 2 of this series proved to be the one that helped make it a memorable one.
The complete season list includes 22 episodes spread over six discs. These can be found at http://www2.warnerbros.com/babylon5/chronicles.html
.
The Disc:
As we mentioned before there has been much discussion about how the series was filmed for television. Overall, this season looks a lot better than the first season's episodes. This isn't really because of the mastering of the discs, but is most likely the result of a better filming process that was used for season 2. The effects shots, reformatted from full-screen CGI, show occasional pixilation, but the new compositions are more dynamic than the old 4:3.
Once again the sounds here just don't seem to match the visual quality we are getting. Plenty of explosions and space noises are evident but unfortunately they lack the dynamic punch of a theatrical event. However things are still crisp and clear for the dialogue.
As for the extras what can I say? Warner offers them but not to the extent that a $100 set should. Extras include an Introduction to Season 2 (8 minutes) and "Building Babylon: Blueprint of an Episode" (13 min.). More interesting is "Shadows and Dreams," an 8-minute feature on B5's two Hugo Awards. Three episodes have commentary tracks, with J. Michael Straczynski examining the politics, mythology, and production of "In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum" and "The Fall of Night," and stars Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, and Jerry Doyle have a decidedly lowbrow laughfest through "The Geometry of Shadows." There's also a really cute gag reel buried as an easter egg.
bottom line:
A MUCH better season offering with plenty of foreshadowing and quality acting. With so many important changes here, one can almost totally blow off season one and start here. Definitely worthy of your hard earned scifi dollar!
By - Brian "Shroom" Gray
