Babylon 5: The Gathering
Babylon 5: The Gathering is the test pilot movie of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, aired on February 22, 1993. It is also the first of six feature-length films in the Babylon 5 media franchise.
Babylon 5: The Gathering
Action
Adventure
Science fiction
J. Michael Straczynski
Stewart Copeland
Christopher Franke (1998 re-edit)
United States
English
Douglas Netter
J. Michael Straczynski
89 minutes
PTEN
February 22, 1993
The Gathering covers events which take place roughly one year before those of the first-season episode "Midnight on the Firing Line," providing a framework of backstories, political agendas, and personal relationships for some of the series' major characters.
Following the success of the movie, Warner Bros. Television commissioned the series for production in May 1993, as part of its Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN); the first season would premiere in the United States nearly a year later, on January 26, 1994.
Versions[edit]
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 Babylon 5: 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 that some viewers felt looked too much like a zoo. Tamlyn Tomita's lines had originally been completely redubbed as the studio thought she sounded too "harsh"; the new edition restored her original performance. 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, played by the Berliner Symphoniker.
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 was previously available on AOL's now-defunct In2TV service, and Hulu, but is no longer available on either as of April 2014. The iTunes Store appears to carry the special edition as part of its Season 1 bundle, but not the original, despite being listed with the original air date. The original is available for streaming on Amazon.
The original version was released on DVD by Warner Home Video in Region 2. In Germany, it had the title "Spacecenter Babylon 5 - Die Zusammenkunft."[2] It is also included in the "Complete Collection" and "Ultimate Collection" box sets (released in the UK only).
Changes between pilot and series[edit]
Many elements of the pilot were changed when the series began, giving the pilot a different feel than the rest of the series. This was most evident in the prosthetics, sets, music, and cast members. Patricia Tallman played Lyta Alexander – she was replaced by Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters – but Tallman (as Alexander) would return later in the series, first as a recurring character and then as a regular. The medical officer was Dr. Benjamin Kyle (played by Johnny Sekka), rather than Richard Biggs as Stephen Franklin. The explanation used for these cast changes is 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.[3]
The first officer was Laurel Takashima (played by Tamlyn Tomita), replaced for the series by Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova. The alien characters – such as Delenn and G'Kar – appeared slightly different because the prosthetics were different for the pilot than the series. Also, Delenn was originally supposed to be a male character destined to become female at the end of season 1, but since they could not make Mira Furlan's voice male enough, they decided to play her as female throughout the series.[4]
Ed Wasser, who played Morden in the series, appears in the pilot as Earth Alliance technician Guerra.
The duty uniforms and rank insignia were altered between the pilot and the series, as were the handheld weapons.
Sinclair's love interest (Carolyn Sykes) is replaced by Catherine Sakai.