BABYLON 5: THE GATHERING {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The pilot of this fantasy/science-fiction television series set in the future, about the goings-on aboard a massive space station called Babylon 5, the center of interplanetary politics and intrigue between humanity and several alien races.
The year is 2257. Babylon 5, a space station and the last remaining Babylon station, is established, functioning as a port-of-call for species from across the galaxy and servings as the last hope for peace between warring interplanetary superpowers. The commander of the station, Jeffrey Sinclair, welcomes a telepath from earth named Lyta Alexander to Babylon 5. A criminal named Del Varner sneaks aboard Babylon 5 for an unknown purpose. Meanwhile, G’Kar, the ambassador of the alien Narn Regime, issues a complaint to Lieutenant Commander Laurel Takashima about his ship being searched for weapons. Other than those authorized by the Earth Alliance, no weapons are allowed on board Babylon 5.
Sinclair shows Lyta around Babylon 5. He explains that the major alien powers gathered on the station and the representatives of the Earth Alliance make up an advisory council similar to the United Nations. Babylon stations 1, 2, and 3 were destroyed through sabotage and 4 vanished without a trace, leaving only Babylon 5. The representative for the final alien race, the Vorlons, is scheduled to arrive in 48 hours. The arrival of that ambassador, named Kosh, will signify that Babylon 5 will have representatives from every major interplanetary superpower. Unbeknownst to anyone on Babylon 5, an unknown ship clamps on to the side of stations’ hull.
Sinclair meets with Delenn, ambassador for the Minbari race. Earth and Minbar were engaged in a highly destructive war ten years prior. Earth has virtually no information on the Vorlon race; Delenn confidentially gives Sinclair a classified file containing all the Minbari’s knowledge about the Vorlons. The Vorlon ambassador arrives early as Sinclair has a communication with his girlfriend, a trader named Carolyn Sykes. G’Kar apologizes to Takashima for his earlier rudeness and allows his ship to be searched. In the stations’ casino, Londo Mollari, ambassador for the Centauri race, is busy gambling. Michael Garibaldi, security chief of Babylon 5, gets Londo to promise to be present at the reception for Kosh. After Garibaldi leaves, Del approaches Londo about providing credits for additional gambling.
G’Kar meets privately with Lyta to request her assistance; the Narns have no telepaths among them and he wants her DNA in order to create some. Lyta is rendered speechless when she learns that this process will most likely require “direct mating” with G’Kar. Del continues to sneak around the ship. Kosh’s ship docks just as Sinclair gets briefly stuck in an elevator due to a minor power outage. Kosh arrives dressed in an environment suit, as his physiology is highly different from the other races aboard Babylon 5. Londo is absent from the greeting. Suddenly Kosh falls unconscious in the docking airlock for no discernable reason. He is rushed to Babylon 5’s medical bay.
Dr. Benjamin Kyle, chief medical officer of Babylon 5, wishes to remove Kosh’s suit in order to operate on him, but Takashima reports that the Vorlon government will not allow the suit to be removed for “security reasons.” Sinclair orders that the operation be performed anyway, but kept secret so as not to create a political incident. When an opening is created in Kosh’s environmental suit, or “encounter suit,” a great white light issues forth. Kosh is stabilized but his condition is still poor. The earth senate is concerned that the matter could escalate further. Sinclair wants Garibaldi to find out the location of Londo during Kosh’s docking and the cause of the elevator malfunction earlier. Garibaldi advises that Sinclair get some rest.
Sinclair returns to his room to rest. He finds Carolyn waiting for him and they go to bed together. Later, Dr. Kyle reports to Sinclair that his tests indicate that Kosh was poisoned, indicating an attempted assassination. Upon hearing this, Sinclair declares Babylon 5 to be in lockdown, preventing all ships from entering or leaving the station. G’Kar speaks with Delenn, believing that Londo is the culprit behind the attempted assassination of Kosh. Delenn rejects his proposal for an alliance against the Centauri, pointing out that G’Kar’s hatred of the Centauri stems from a time in the Narn’s history when they were servants of the Centauri. G’Kar turns the discussion to the Earth-Minbar war; he notes that despite having a clear advantage the Minbari surrendered for unknown reasons. Delenn reveals nothing; G’Kar goes on to say that there is a rumor that the surrender was prompted by a Minbari religious order, the Grey Council. At this, Delenn becomes agitated and uses a ring-like device to crush G’Kar with gravitational waves. She spares his life and allows him to leave.
Garibaldi finds Londo at a bar and questions him. Londo claims he was at the casino and names Del as a witness. He recounts how the Centauri once maintained a powerful empire but have now been reduced to a handful of worlds. He compares the Centauri’s relationship to humans as a remora to a shark; they wish to share in humanity’s success in the galaxy. Takashima talks to Dr. Kyle, who has an idea on how to discover who tried to assassinate Kosh: have Lyta perform a mental scan of Kosh and access his memories. Takashima counters that such an action would infuriate the Vorlons, but Dr. Kyle wants to keep it off the record so they won’t find out. Takashima recounts her early work as a security officer and how she refused to give in to corrupt promotion practices. Sinclair promised her a promotion if she worked within the system, and both of them came through.
Despite her objections, Lyta performs a mental scan of Kosh. The mysterious ship clamped to Babylon 5 causes an oxygen loss, which is detected. Lyta sees through Kosh’s memories; from Kosh’s perspective it appears that Sinclair is the culprit behind Kosh’s poisoning. Sinclair enters and Lyta accuses him of the assassination attempt. A maintenance robot is blown up by the mysterious ship.
Since Sinclair is named as a suspect in the assassination, the Vorlons ask that he be taken off the investigation. Takashima takes his place as the advisory council conducts an informal hearing on Sinclair. Dr. Kyle will not reveal who the “witness” to Kosh’s attempted murder was. He has discovered that the poison used was a rare compound found only in the Damocles sector, which was along Carolyn’s trading route. Sinclair is outraged that she is being drawn into the trial and protests. Garibaldi speaks to him afterwards; he doesn’t trust Lyta because he is suspicious of telepaths. He notes she has been seen conversing with Del, who has a criminal record for his smuggling activities. He has taken a huge risk by traveling to Babylon 5, but Garibaldi doesn’t know why. Sinclair orders Garibaldi to find Del and question him.
The advisory council reconvenes and G’Kar recommends remanding Sinclair to the custody of the Vorlons for a real trial. He and Londo vote “yes,” Takashima votes “no,” and Delenn abstains. This creates a deadlock, but G’Kar reveals that he has already contacted the Vorlon government on this matter, and they have already agreed, thus passing his vote. Garibaldi finds Del’s dead body in his room. Later Londo finds Garibaldi drinking and explains that G’Kar blackmailed him with embarrassing secrets about his family; family honor is of unparalleled importance in Centauri society. He appears to be genuinely apologetic for his vote, however.
Sinclair reveals to Carolyn that he fought in the final and biggest battle of the Earth-Minbari war. He recounts the highly destructive battle, including his attempt to ram his damaged ship into a Minbari heavy cruiser. He blacked out and awoke 24 hours later to find that the Minbari had surrendered. Lyta visits Dr. Kyle and tries to surreptitiously sabotage Kosh’s life support. A struggle ensues and a second Lyta comes around the corner; the first “Lyta” is an imposter. Dr. Kyle manages to prevent further harm from coming to Kosh.
Garibaldi and Sinclair find the ship clamped to the side of Babylon 5 and discover that it was used to allow a single person to infiltrate the ship. The also hear reports of an engineer being reported dead, but sighted by crew members after his time of death. Takashima discovers that Del brought aboard a “changeling net,” an illegal holography device that can allow a user to perfectly replicate another person’s appearance. They determined that Del smuggled the changeling net aboard Babylon 5 and then sold it to the assassin, who used it to mimic Sinclair’s appearance.
Takashima scans for the energy signature produced by the changeling net and locates it; Sinclair and Garibaldi go after the assassin. The Vorlons arrive from hyperspace with an armada of ships, demanding that Sinclair be handed over to them. Sinclair and Garibaldi find the assassin; Garibaldi is taken out of commission by a laser blast, leaving Sinclair to fight him alone. Attempts to stall the Vorlons fail, so Takashima prepares Babylon 5 for battle. Sinclair and the assassin get into a fistfight, during which Sinclair throws him onto an electrical grid, revealing his true appearance: that of a Minbari. When he asks the assassin why he tried to assassinate Kosh, he merely replies “there is a hole in your mind” before activating an explosive device on his person. Sinclair escapes just before the explosion goes off. The Vorlons break off and Takashima manages to realign the station.
Kosh recovers from the poison. Delenn was able to determine the exact identity of the assassin and gives Sinclair a file on him. Later Sinclair invites G’Kar to his room for a toast; it turns out the assassin was part of a Minbari warrior caste that separated from the government after the Earth-Minbar war. He implicates G’Kar’s ship as being partially responsible for the assassin arriving on Babylon 5, using the changeling net to disguise himself as a member of G’Kar’s crew. He also reveals that G’Kar’s drink was laced with nanotechnology that acts as a tracer, preventing G’Kar from taking hostile action while on Babylon 5. However, Sinclair reveals to Garibaldi that he was bluffing; there is no such device but G’Kar will be subject to many painful tests by his people in order to find the imaginary transmitter.
Kosh is formally received by Babylon 5. Sinclair leaves the party early and Delenn speaks to him in private. He asks her about the assassin’s last words; she says they are an “old Minbari insult” but she seems to be hiding something. He wonders aloud if the phrase has any relation to his period of unconsciousness during the Earth-Minbar war. In any event, Delenn is not forthcoming with answers. The pilot ends when Takashima allows ship traffic to resume, declaring that Babylon 5 is “open for business.” Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: PTEN
- DATE: February 22, 1993 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:34:11
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:54909
- GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: PTEN - TV series - 1993-1998
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Douglas Netter … Executive Producer
- J. Michael Straczynski … Co-Executive Producer, Writer
- Robert Latham Brown … Producer
- John Copeland … Co-Producer
- Richard Compton … Director
- Stewart Copeland … Music by
- Michael O'Hare … Cast, Jeffrey Sinclair
- Tamlyn Tomita … Cast, Laurel Takashima
- Jerry Doyle … Cast, Michael Garibaldi
- Mira Furlan … Cast, Delenn
- Blaire Baron … Cast, Carolyn Sykes
- John Fleck … Cast, Del Varner
- Paul Hampton … Cast, The Senator
- Peter Jurasik … Cast, Londo Mollari
- Andreas Katsulas … Cast, G'Kar
- Johnny Sekka … Cast, Dr. Benjamin Kyle
- Patricia Tallman … Cast, Lyta Alexander
- Steven R. Barnett … Cast, Eric
- William Hayes … Cast, Traveler
- Linda Hoffman … Cast, Tech #2
- Robert Jason Jackson … Cast, Tech #3
- F. William Parker … Cast, Business Man #1
- Marianne Robertson … Cast, Hostage
- Dave Sage … Cast, Business Man #2
- Ed Wasser … Cast, Guerra