Babylon 5: The Road Home Review

When it comes to the list of the great sci-fi television dramas, no list is complete without the mention of Babylon 5, the pioneering serialized space epic that aired from 1994-1998. Without Babylon 5, there would be no Battlestar Galactica, no The Expanse, no Foundation – because without Babylon 5 (and its fellow mid-90s cousin Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), studios wouldn’t have seen the strengths that can come with a tight, complex, character-driven serialized story set in the unforgiving world of space. And boy, what a compelling series Babylon 5 turned out to be. It was a major building block of my own television watching journey – a series I adored with characters I loved (I will admit that once my favorite character, Commander Susan Ivanova, left the series prior to its fifth season, I lost some interest, but I stuck it out until the end – and watched the various television movies the series spawned shortly after its conclusion). So, with that nostalgic warmth in my heart, I was excited to hear that the series was making a comeback – or at least a return – in the form of the animated film Babylon 5: The Road Home.

The film slots into the Babylon 5 timeline when Captain John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner, reprising his live action role in the series with a voice over performance here – and he’s still got it) has ascended to the role of President following the victory over the Shadows in the Shadow War and is leaving the station – along with his wife, Delenn (voiced here by Rebecca Riedy, following the tragic death of Mira Furlan in 2021) – to move to Minbar. Naturally, upon starting his term as president, chaos ensues in the form of Sheridan finding himself unstuck in time – meaning that he is moving through his personal past (including visits to his dad on the family farm and popping into a scene directly from the live action series) as well as alternate realities (which allows the film to bring back a host of familiar characters to interact with Sheridan, and lets some of them have some fun with their character’s quirks along the way). Fans of the series might wonder how well the story holds up – and how strong the performances are, seeing as a shockingly large subset of the original Babylon 5 cast has since passed away. But rest assured, this is a film that works from a story perspective – blending action sequences with just enough nostalgia to keep you smiling even in the face of danger to characters you love – and from the performance side of things.

All surviving cast members return to voice their characters again – including Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova, Peter Juraski as Londo Mollari (who gets a heck of a fun sequence that made me want to rewatch the entire series once more), Bill Mumy as Lennier, Tracy Scoggins as Captain Elizabeth Lochley, and Patricia Tallman as Lyta Alexander – and each is more than up for the task at hand. And the new additions to the cast, taking on the roles whose live action counterparts are no longer with us, are more than able to capture the heart of their legacy characters, helping to bring about the deep sense of family the film manages to cultivate throughout its story. This is a labor of love – for creator J. Michael Straczynski (who wrote the film), for the production team, and for the returning cast of actors. And you can feel it in the care taken to place character first – this is a story that comes from character, is driven by character, and provides some truly wonderful beats for our favorite Babylon 5 characters within it. And, in a fun twist, the final scenes of the film set-up what could be a chance to dive into this world once more – through more animated stories – telling a slightly different tale about slightly different versions of our characters.

The cast is strong, the story hits where it needs to be; but what of the animation itself? Well, I’m not an expert in the particular field, but I will say that the film is gorgeous to behold. The animation captures the technical elements that were hard to render in the mid-90s CGI of the series pretty seamlessly. The space battles are cool, the ships are impressive, the aliens (mostly the Shadows) are creepy as all get out. And the color palette of the film is just stunning. G’Kar’s skin has a depth to it that you can’t quite get in live action. Uniforms pop more. Lyta’s hair is a deeper, more contrasting red. Everything feels heightened in a good way, helping to delineate the film from its live-action counterpart, but still capturing the soul of the characters, places, and universe of the original.

Everything you’re looking for in a Babylon 5 story is here – and I suspect it will make some circle back to the original series (available to stream on Max now) and give the series another look. I know I’ll certainly be among those ranks. If you’re a Babylon 5 fan, this is a must see, if only for one more chance to see these characters tell us a story. If you’re a newbie, the story is pretty accessible (there are enough instances of minor exposition dumps and flashbacks to keep you up on the basic history you need to know), but I would recommend watching the entire series to really get the full impact of the film. It’s a lovely watch and it is great to spend some more time with characters we know and love – 30 years after we were first introduced.

Babylon 5: The Road Home will be available on August 15 to purchase digitally from Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu, and more. 4k Ultra HD and Blu-Ray Discs will be available for purchase. The disc includes commentary from J. Michael Straczynski, Bruce Boxleitner, and supervising producer Rick Morales as well as a making of featurette. An advanced copy was provided for review.