Babylon 5: The Gathering
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| Babylon 5: The Gathering | |
|---|---|
 Delenn and Sinclair in The Gathering |
|
| Genre | Science Fiction |
| Running time | 89 minutes |
| Creator(s) | J. Michael Straczynski |
| Director(s) | Richard Compton |
| Producer(s) | Robert Latham Brown |
| Writer(s) | J. Michael Straczynski |
| Starring | Michael O'Hare Tamlyn Tomita Jerry Doyle Mira Furlan Blaire Baron John Fleck Peter Jurasik Andreas Katsulas Johnny Sekka Patricia Tallman |
| Music by | Stewart Copeland |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Original channel | PTEN |
| Release date(s) | February 22, 1993 |
| IMDb profile | |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
Babylon 5: The Gathering was the pilot movie of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. The episode aired on February 22, 1993. The events in The Gathering took place approximately one year before the events of the first season.
The pilot had a different feel than the rest of the series. This was most evident in the prosthetics, sets, music, and cast members. Instead of Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova, the first officer was Laurel Takashima (played by Tamlyn Tomita). The medical officer was Dr. Benjamin Kyle (played by Johnny Sekka), rather than Richard Biggs as Stephen Franklin. Implications are that these two characters saw Kosh outside his encounter suit and thus had to be removed from duty - Kosh's secrecy is a running theme in the show.
Patricia Tallman played Lyta Alexander - she was replaced in the first season by Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters - but Tallman would return later in the series, first as a recurring character and then as a regular. The alien characters - such as Delenn and G'Kar - appeared slightly different due to the fact that the prosthetics were different for the pilot episode. Delenn's voice is digitally changed to sound deeper, as the original intention was for Delenn to be a male character played by a female actress - an idea which was later dropped.
[edit] Plot
About one year before the events of the first season and one year after the Babylon 5 station became operational the new Vorlon Ambassador Kosh arrives on the station, and is promptly poisoned by an unseen assailant. The newly arrived telepath, Lyta Alexander, eventually agrees to scan Kosh, and sees an image of Commander Sinclair apparently administering the poison to Kosh.
In the council chamber, G'Kar proposes sending Sinclair to the Vorlon homeworld to stand trial. Delenn votes to abstain, G'Kar votes yes and submits a proxy vote for the Vorlons, who want Sinclair sent to them.
Doctor Kyle is eventually able to save the life of Kosh, and becomes one of the first humans to actually see a Vorlon. The crew eventually discovers that a renegade Minbari using a changeling net had disguised himself as Sinclair. Sinclair then finds and exposes the Minbari, and the Vorlons call off their attack on the station and recall their strike fleet. It turns out at the end, that G'Kar was part of the conspiracy, which had been engineered by the Minbari warrior caste in order to discredit Sinclair in retaliation for his role in the Earth-Minbari War years before.
[edit] Versions
There are two versions of "The Gathering." The original version was a TV movie aired in 1993 on the Prime Time Entertainment Network as a pilot for the series. After a four-year run on PTEN, Babylon 5 moved to Turner Network Television (TNT) for its fifth and final season in 1998. Series creator and executive producer J. Michael Straczynski supervised a special edition of "The Gathering" which aired on TNT immediately following the new TV movie, Babylon 5: In the Beginning. Scenes were edited to move at a faster pace, allowing the restoration of 14 minutes of footage adding exposition and character development.[1] Among the notable additions is a prophetic line spoken by Kosh when he first meets Sinclair. Lost in the special edition is a trip through the station's alien sector which some viewers felt looked too much like a zoo. The original music, composed by Stewart Copeland, is also replaced with a score by Christopher Franke, who composed music for the rest of the series.
The special edition is included in the Warner Home Video DVD releases Babylon 5: The Gathering/In the Beginning and Babylon 5: The Movie Collection. The original version is available on AOL's In2TV service and through the iTunes Store.
[edit] External links
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