Back in 1994, Babylon 5 launched as a TV series very much in the Star Trek mold. Indeed, these comparisons became awfully “in your face” given that B5 took place on a space station, as did Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a show that debuted exactly a year prior to B5.

Despite these similarities, both series did fine. DS9 ran for seven seasons while B5 went for five.

Although the B5 series ended in November 1998, the franchise persisted for a while. However, 2023’s direct-to-video animated effort Babylon 5: The Road Home appears to offer the first B5 film in more than 15 years.

Babylon 5 Captain John Sheridan (voiced by Bruce Boxleitner) plans to leave the station to become president of the Interstellar Alliance. However, as he settles into his political duties, John begins to experience weird “brain blips” that bring strange moments of déjŕ vu.

These leave him “unstuck in time” and sent across various timelines. John needs to figure out how to stabilize his status to find a way back to his present.

If you look at this site’s archives, you’ll find no reviews of anything Babylon 5. Does that automatically indicate I never viewed the series?

No – but I didn’t. I can’t remember what occupied by TV-watching time back in the mid-late 1990s, but sci-fi didn’t act as part of my viewing schedule.

This means I didn’t view DS9 - or any TV Trek outside of ”The Original Series" – until the early 2000s, and I never got around to B5. I probably got offered B5 on DVD but figured all that Trek acted as enough TV sci-fi for me.

As such, Road acts as my literal introduction to the universe of B5. Outside of my awareness of the general concept, I went into this movie with zero understanding of the characters or circumstances of the series.

A few months after the release of Road Home, all five seasons of B5 will get issued on Blu-ray. I may review that package, which will give me a full B5 tutorial.

Until – if – that occurs, can I say that Road makes me intrigued to see more? Maybe?

Though some of that semi-indifference stems from my utter lack of familiarity with the characters and concepts as I watched this movie. Road doesn’t become completely befuddling for B5 neophytes like me, but I suspect it works much better for knowledgeable fans.

Road does offer a very brief “tutorial” at the start. We get a quick synopsis of the series’ events that gives newbies at least some grounding.

However, this doesn’t explain nearly enough to cover all the bases. As such, I frequently felt like I missed out on the meaning of much of the story and characters because I lacked that foreknowledge.

By necessity, this makes my review one-sided, as I can’t say how it might work for anyone other than fellow B5 rookies. I’m sure established fans will enjoy it more.

That said, even with my general absence of connection to the characters, I think Road offers a reasonably entertaining experience, though its theme feels a bit trite in today’s marketplace. The story’s time-jumps mean it feels a lot like the slew of “multiverse” projects we find these days.

Indeed, the notion of John becoming “unstuck in time” can feel like a gimmick. This allows him to hop around to different eras and visit various other B5 characters in a way that seems to exist mainly to allow fans a way to see all their faves.

Again, given my absence of B5 knowledge, none of this mattered to me. However, I can see that many will enjoy these moments.

With or without these connections, Road moves at a fast pace and comes with plenty of action. It tosses in decent humor at times as well.

All of these factors allow Road to become a mostly entertaining ride despite my semi-confusion at times. I do feel like I should watch it again after I view the original TV series, though.

Babylon 5: The Road Home appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I felt consistently pleased with this strong presentation.

No issues with sharpness emerged. The movie always came across as tight and well-defined, so don’t expect any signs of softness.

Jaggies and moiré effects also remained absent, and the image lacked edge haloes or artifacts. In addition, source flaws were a non-factor and didn’t appear at any point.

In terms of colors, Road went with a lively palette that favored purples, blues, yellows, greens and reds. The tones looked solid, as they showed positive richness and vivacity.

Blacks were deep and tight, while shadows showed nice clarity. Across the board, the image worked well.

I thought the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Road opened up the sci-fi material well. With plenty of action, the mix added pizzazz to the program.

The forward channels brought out the majority of the material. Music presented strong stereo imaging, while effects cropped up in logical spots and blended well.

The surrounds also contributed good information. For the most part, these reinforced the forward channels, but they also brought us a fair amount of unique material, instances that mainly occurred during bigger action scenes. The back speakers brought out a nice sense of space and environment.

Audio quality always satisfied. Speech was warm and natural, without edginess or other issues. Music sounded lively and full, while effects displayed good definition.

Those elements seemed accurate and dynamic. All of this led to a positive presentation that deserved a “B+”.

As we move to extras, we find an audio commentary with creator/writer J. Michael Straczynski, actor Bruce Boxleitner and supervising producer Rick Morales. All three sit together for this running, screen-specific look at connections to the series, story and characters, cast and performances, and art and animation.

That sounds like an appealing mix of topics, but unfortunately, the end product becomes sadly low on actual insights. Though we get occasional nuggets, mostly the participants praise the film and all involved, so this turns into a less than informative chat.

Babylon 5 Forever spans 17 minutes, 57 seconds. It offers notes from Boxleitner, Straczynski, Morales, director Matt Peters, and actors Claudia Christian, Bill Mumy, Tracy Scoggins, Patricia Tallman, Rebecca Riedy, Andrew Morgado, Peter Jurasik, and Anthony Hansen.

“Forever” looks at the franchise and its adaptation to this format, cast and performances, set/vehicle design and art, animation, story/characters, and connected areas. Like the commentary, it offers occasional useful material but it can feel heavy on happy talk.

A reintroduction to the TV series’ universe, Babylon 5: The Road Home probably works better for knowledgeable fans. Still, even as a neophyte, I think the film offers enough excitement to make it fairly entertaining. The Blu-ray brings very good picture and audio as well as a commentary and a featurette. This becomes a fairly brisk action tale.