It’s been two years since Captain John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) helped lead the military to victory in the Shadow War, before becoming President of the Interstellar Alliance. He and his wife Delenn (Rebecca Riedy) are preparing to leave the Babylon 5 space station—which now falls under the command of Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins)—as they head to Minbar, the capital city that will serve as the headquarters for the recently-formed 12-world alliance. However, John is having second thoughts about his new position, Worried that he’s not cut out to be a politician, spending all of his time doing ceremonial things, rather than real work.
However, John quickly discovers that his new life is going to be anything but boring. As he’s giving a ceremonial blessing to a new power system for Tuzenor, something starts to feel a bit off. He realizes, a bit too late, that the new energy source has interfered with his tachyon time stabilizer, causing him to become unstuck in time. John now finds himself constantly, and uncontrollably leaping backwards and forwards in time, and into alternate realities. His best hope of understanding what is happening and getting back to his own time is an alien named Zathras (Paul Guyet), which means heading back to Babylon 5. During John’s quest to restore his place in time, he crosses paths with old friends from his past as well as alternate versions of some of these same people. As he manouvers his way through time, he also tries to prevent bringing about the Shadow War (or another one in an alternate timeline). However, the longer John stays out of his own timeline, the more he becomes lost in time and space, and the harder it will be to find his way home.
The new animated feature Babylon 5: The Road Home is not only a continuation of the original Babylon 5 story, but it also serves as a sort of reboot, leaving things open for many new chapters and stories. The film brings back many of the show’s original actors to reprise their roles, including Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian (“Susan Ivanova”), Billy Mumy (“Lennier”), Peter Jurasik (“Londo Mollari”), Tracy Scoggins, and Patricia Tallman (“Lyta Alexander”). There are also some new voice actors taking over for the actors who are no longer with us, including Paul Guyet, Rebecca Riedy, Anthony Hansen (“Michael Garibaldi”) and Andrew Morgado (“G’Kar”). In general, all of these voice performances are really strong.
As someone who hasn’t seen a single episode of the original Babylon 5 series, I found that jumping right into this follow-up movie, I was a bit confused at times, especially with John constantly leaping around to different times and alternate realities, and meeting up with various versions of other characters. I also wasn’t familiar with the whole Shadow War that had happened in the original series. That said, the film does do a nice job of quickly introducing each character whenever John comes across them for the first time, giving new viewers some background or refreshing the memories of those who haven’t seen the original series in 25 years. And it also does provide a brief history of the Shadow War, how it started and what it was about, as a refresher. Viewers of the original series will likely get a lot more out of the story.
I really appreciated the animation, action and humor of the film. The characters are animated in such a way that they really look like the original actors who played these roles. Even though I hadn’t watched the series, I was still able to instantly recognize many of these characters/actors. The animation mixes a 2D style with 3D computer-generated effects, which make the ships and interstellar battle action really come to life. This is where going from live action to animation really helps, as it allows the film to achieve things that may have been impossible or cost-prohibitive for the series back in the 90s. It also allows the actors to return 25 years later to reprise their roles, picking up right where the series left off.
One thing that surprised me was how much humor there was in this movie, especially from Bruce Boxleitner’s character. John may be in dire trouble leaping through time and space uncontrollably, but that doesn’t stop him from constantly throwing out funny one-liners. Also bringing a lot of humor to the film is the character(s) of Zathras, who has this fun, unique cadence of speech, and is constantly noting John that he should have heeded his warning. But the film is not all action and humor, it also takes these characters, especially John, on a dramatic journey of self reflection… while also trying to save the world(s).
Warner Bros. has released Babylon 5: The Road Home on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray—I was sent the 4K version for review, and it looks great! The animation is clean and crisp throughout, with beautiful colors, lighting and shadows, and a solid level of detail. You can really tell that there was a lot of attention paid to making these characters look and move like their original live-action counterparts. The ships, explosions and other action also looks amazing on screen. The DTS audio track provides clear dialogue throughout, a beautiful score, and makes excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to put the viewer right in the middle of all the action for a really immersive experience.
The 4K and Blu-ray discs packed on either side a standard 4K keepcase, along with a glossy cardboard slipcover and an insert with instructions on how to redeem a 4K Movies Anywhere compatible digital copy. Both discs contain an audio commentary, while the Blu-ray also includes an entertaining 18-minute behind-the-scenes featurette with the cast and filmmakers.
A few weeks ago, I interviewed series creator J. Michael Straczynski and director Matt Peters about the film at San Diego Comic-Con. You can check out those videos here.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:18:48)
- 2160p / Widescreen 1.78:1
- HDR10
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- 4K Digital Copy (Movies Anywhere compatible)
- Audio Commentary (1:18:48)
Creator/writer/executive producer J. Michael Straczynski, actor Bruce Boxleitner, and supervising producer Rick Morales provide an interesting, informative and entertaining commentary throughout the film. They discuss how this reboot of the series came about, the look and style of the animation, the characters and storyline, and more. They also share some fun behind-the-scenes stories about working on the original series. - Babylon 5 Forever (17:57)
The cast and filmmakers extoll their praises for series creator J. Michael Straczynski, and discuss translating the show to animation, returning to these characters/roles after so many years, recasting the roles of the deceased and paying homage to the original actors, mixing 3D animation with a 2D feel, updating the designs of the environments and the ships, making the characters look and move like the actors, and more. Includes concept artwork, recording booth footage, and interviews with director Matt Peters, supervising producer Rick Morales, writer/executive producer J. Michael Straczynski, and stars Bruce Boxleitner (“John Sheridan”), Claudia Christian (“Susan Ivanova”), Billy Mumy (“Lennier”), Peter Jurasik (“Londo Mollari”), Tracy Scoggins (“Elizabeth Lochley”), Patricia Tallman (“Lyta Alexander”), Rebecca Riedy (“Delenn”), Anthony Hansen (“Michael Garibaldi”) & Andrew Morgado (“G’Kar”).
4K Ultra HD:
Blu-ray:
Digital (code may not be valid after 9/30/2025):
Extras:
Only the commentary is included on the 4K disc.
Final Thoughts:
Fans of the Series
As someone who had never seen an episode of Babylon 5 before, I found the story a little tough to follow at times, but I can easily see how fans of the original series will be overjoyed to check this film out and revisit their favorite characters. Checking out the original series and then revisiting this movie are definitely on my To Do list. The film does an excellent job of making these characters look and move like their live-action counterparts. It also provides a lot of exciting action and humor, and does a nice job of rebooting this world, setting things up for additional stories to be told in the future should this release do well. I think fans of the original series will have a great time with this movie. Those who haven’t seen the show may wish to hold off until they have. (There’s a remastered Blu-ray release of the series coming in December!)
Babylon 5: The Road Home (4K UHD/Blu-ray/Digital Code)
$17.99 $15.00 (as of November 24, 2024 11:50 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Babylon 5: The Road Home (Blu-ray)
37% Off $22.98 $11.99 (as of November 24, 2024 11:50 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Babylon 5: The Road Home
$14.99 (as of November 24, 2024 11:50 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
