The Greatest Sci Fi/Fantasy TV Shows: Considering the case for the sci fi and fantasy television shows that should be counted among the greatest of all time.
What Is It?
This show takes place on the massive space station Babylon 5 which acts as a neutral meeting place for the various races and nations in the known galaxy. The five major races are humans, Minbari, Centauri, Narn, and Vorlon, and there are several minor races as well. Commander Sinclair (and later Captain Sheridon) commands the station and also interacts with the various races along with his crew. But when an ancient race referred to as the Shadows makes its presence known, a galaxy-wide conflict follows with Babylon 5 finding itself caught in the middle.
Aired: PTEN & TNT, 1993-98, 5 Seasons Totaling 110 Episodes + 6 TV Movies
Starring: Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle, Mira Furlan, Peter Jurasik, Andreas Katsulas, Richard Biggs, Patricia Tallman, Michael O’Hare
Created By: J. Michael Straczynski
Argument to Count It as One of the Greatest Sci Fi TV Shows:
Babylon 5 was an important accomplishment for sci fi television. It was one of the first shows that had a strong story arc and it stuck with that throughout its run. J. Michael Straczynski planned a beginning, middle, and end and, despite a near cancellation after its fourth season, managed to see the story to the end. After this series, a story arc became standard for genre entries, and the audience pretty much came to expect that. But JMS may have done it the best as he planned out his tale in advance and actually built in “trap doors” to handle things like an actor leaving or other factors that could impact the progression of the story. In addition, JMS wrote the majority of the episodes, penning the scripts for 92 of the 110 episodes including every ep from the third and fourth seasons.
Along with the grand saga that unfolded across the show’s five seasons, JMS managed to focus on how this interstellar war impacted the individuals caught up in it. The show veered away from the brainy and tech-focused sci fi offered by the Star Trek franchise and other genre entries and delivered hard-hitting drama when at its best. And while the acting could be stiff with stilted dialogue at times, the cast was more than up to the task of bringing the show to life. B5 also delivered any of a number of iconic genre characters like Susan Ivanova, Mr. Garibaldi, G’Kar, Londo Mollari, Delenn, and more, and even characters with small parts could stand out at times.
Another thing that Babylon 5 brought was the use of CGI for its special effects which was revolutionary for the time. The vast majority of the sfx were created by CGI and those were quite impressive for the early ’90s. Perhaps they do not stand up as well when compared to modern technology (the re-mastering has helped a little bit), but without the use of the digital effects, JMS may not have been able to pull off the grand space saga that he delivered with B5.
Argument Against:
While Babylon 5 did manage to tell a grand space epic with a story arc spanning across five seasons (and several movies), there are those who would say that it has plenty of warts and does not stand up well to the test of time. The pilot and first season get the show off to a slow start and deliver plenty of moments that are highly derivative. And then, the fifth season kind of peters out after much of the story was crammed into the fourth year for fear of a possible cancellation. The acting and directing for the series are often quite stiff, and the dialogue often feels stilted and unnatural. In addition, the CGI is highly dated and looks cartoonish at times. While the show did accomplish much in its five-year run, it has since been overshadowed by genre entries with much better production values like Farscape, Battlestar: Galactica (2003), and The Expanse, and B5 should be considered a minor classic at best.
Johnny Jay’s Take:
When it comes to space-based sci fi TV shows, Star Trek: The Original series still holds a high place for me (more on that one at this link), but Babylon 5 is next in line as far as the greatest shows are concerned. And even if you look at the expanded genre of sci fi and fantasy, B5 still ranks up there in the highest tier. It is full-on science fiction, dealing with some very interesting genre concepts (this is one of the early shows to look at powerful ancient beings as god-like figures) while also unlocking the dramatic potential of its stories. And then there are the many characters introduced and the dynamic relationships between each that helped to flesh out the show and give it further depth. Plus, there was the world-building that created an expansive universe that could have carried on into multiple other shows (though sadly, each of those attempts was cut short). Sure, Babylon 5 has its flaws and you have to accept its cheesiness, but that is also true of other classics like the original Trek, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and even the Trek sequel shows from the ’80s and ’90s. If you can look past that, then you can see that B5 stands out as one of the greatest sci fi TV shows of all time.
Where Can You Watch It?
The entire series is widely available on DVD and economically priced, and it finally received the Blu-ray treatment in late 2023. Warner Bros. also did a fully remastered version for streaming that was on HBO Max for a while but has since shifted to Tubi TV.
Do you consider Babylon 5 one of the greatest sci fi TV shows of all time, or has it not stood up the test of time? Chime in with your thoughts below.
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Yes with regard to Space 1999 I agree that the show did decline significantly in quality over the years. That happens with a lot of Sci Fi shows with the exception of Star Trek, the Next Generation which I believe actually got better over time. It was retired and I think they made one movie. When someone has a Sci Fi concept, it is generally not enough in itself to keep the story interesting. It has to evolve over time or else people will get bored with it and it will eventually be cancelled. Elena
Yes that was my point about Space 1999, the science was totally inaccurate even for the time it was made. Nevertheless all Sci Fi shows will probably be able to be critizised for their scientific accuracy as we continue to learn more and more about space and the actual conditions necessary for exploration. These shows are still good shows as long as the acutal story lines are good, the “sceince” is in my opinon secondary.
The sketchy science of this show can be forgiven to an extent in the first season when it was delivering some of its best episodes. But by the second season it switched its focus to action-adventure and had a notable drop in quality.
I did watch Babylon 5 and while I was kind of joking around about the customs of the two opposing “alien” races in the series, I was not impressed at all with their costums. I realize that this is a TV show not a movie and it has multiple eposides and a very limited budget compared to an actual movie, which could have unlimted funding depending on who was makeing the movie. Again in my opinion the show was not as good as say: Star Trek, the origional and the next generation, some of the other spins offs were not that good either, but these two shows were excellent. Sci Fi is very personal when it comes to people’s tastes. I understand that, and I am only stating my personal opinion. Elena F. Schumann
Does anyone remember “Space 1999” with husband and wife team Barbara B. and Martin Landau. The moon somehow leaves the gravitation of the earth and becomes a wanderer in space along with a space station on the moon with the husband and wife in charge. The problem which is never addressed is that if the moon actually was able to leave the gravity of earth there would be a situation on earth that could potentially kill every living thing on it. Hopefully that never happens.
That show often comes up here on the site. I had fond memories of the show as a child but it is one of those that definitely does not hold up on alot of counts – the science accuracy being but one factor in that assessment.
Babylon 5 definitely is among the greats. The so-called warts are part of it’s enduring charm – much like some of the ‘dated’ aspects of other greats like Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Blake’s 7 among others. It presaged the arc driven stories that were to come years later but in most cases, production values asides, really didn’t come close to the narrative scope and character development of this show.
Babylon 5 was a very good Sci Fi series but it was not the “Greatest Shows of all Time”.
The background story about the “bad” Stick aliens and the “good” aliens with some kind of red ball on the top of their heads really just did not make a lot of sense. The alliance between the “humans” and other aliens with the aliens with red balls on the top of their heads as the “leaders” of this group, would make some sense since the red ball guys were the “good aliens” and humans would want to join forces with the “good” aliens, at least we would hope that is what the humans would do is just a bad guy verses good guy story that has been done over and over, BORING. Star Trek does better by making aliens who are not nessesarily all good or all bad, I like stories with multi complex aliens that act more like humans. Yes there were other aliens in Babylon 5 but this ongoing theme of the “sticks” verses the “red balls” was running thin and these aliens could have had more realistic costumes than looking like toys that kids play with.
I’m not sure the Babylon 5 you saw was the same one I saw…’Red Ball’ and “Stick’ Aliens? That sounds like descriptions from someone that never really watched the show with any meaningful attention. As the story unfolds we find that the supposed ‘good’ Ancient race is not really all that benevolent at all. Certainly it wasn’t the ‘same old thing’ especially at the time it was on the air.
It seems that you’ve reposted an old article about Babylon 5, or were not informed, the BluRay came out in December and was announced at the middle of the last year
Thanks for the heads up. Corrected now.