This Is The Best Sci-Fi TV Show That’s Not Star Trek or Star Wars

The realm of science fiction has given birth to so many great shows that have shaped the fabric of pop culture. Star Wars has moved from the big screen to the small, with mostly successful results. Star Trek has once again cemented its place on television with fare like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Even new series like The Expanse and Silo have managed to become the topic of water cooler conversation. But there is one science fiction show that definitely deserves to be discussed with the same fervor: Babylon 5. Created by J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5 wasn’t just a well-crafted science fiction series — it also provides an example of storytelling elements that have shaped modern television.

What Is ‘Babylon 5’ About?

Babylon 5 centers on the titular space station, which acts as a diplomatic hub for the Earth Alliance and various other alien species. It’s a place for people all over the universe to unite and bond… though the crew of Babylon 5 soon finds themselves embroiled in various conflicts. The station’s first commander, Jeffery Sinclair (Michael O’Hare), learned that he was actually Valen — a figure of great importance to the alien race known as the Minbari. Its second, John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner), became the central figure in a series of prophecies concerning the mysterious beings known as the Shadows. Throughout the Shadow War, there’s upheavals in governments, telepathic sabotage, and even a moment where Sheridan is forced to lead an insurrection against the Earth Alliance in order to save mankind.

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Though Straczynski developed Babylon 5 early in his writing career, it took years for him to actually bring it to life. In his memoir Becoming Superman, he details the process of pitching the show to WB — and it was a rather torturous one. Before he actually pitched WB execs the show, Straczynski had cracked a tooth and attempted to numb the pain by drinking an entire pitcher of ice water. The process left him with a numb mouth, but he managed to somehow impress them into giving the series a green light. However, another obstacle appeared in the form of Star Trek — specifically, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Much like Babylon 5, the series featured a space station as its main base of operations with a commander that became the central figure in a prophesized war. Even though Straczynski never felt that Paramount was directly ripping off Babylon 5, he expressed annoyance that Deep Space Nine would beat his series to the punch. “I know full well that even if the Warners PR machine got working 24 hours a day on this, half of all viewers will see this show, coming out after DS9, and think it’s just a last-minute knockoff or ripoff of DS9,” he wrote.

‘Babylon 5’ Gave Birth to Most Of Prestige Television’s Recurring Trends

Babylon 5 managed to last five seasons, racking up plenty of awards and acclaim along the way. Even more surprising was that this was Straczynski’s original intent; he planned for Babylon 5 to embody the five-act structure of a novel.What he didn’t anticipate was the large role he’d play in shaping the series. As the series’ showrunner, Straczynski had a major hand in writing for Babylon 5; however, circumstances led to him penning the entirety of Season 3 and Season 4 solo. In fact, the only person to provide a freelance script post-Season 2 was Neil Gaiman for the Season 5 episode “Day of the Dead.” Straczynski was still able to bring the majority of his vision to life, even with cast members departing.

Straczynski was also able to play the long game with Babylon 5, starting characters at one extreme and placing them at another by series’ end. A key example is Citizen G’Kar (Andreas Katsulas). At first a wrathful terrorist hellbent on destruction, he transformed into a peaceful man who led his species into a golden age. Likewise, Sheridan, a decorated war hero, was forced to go against his own government in order to save it. While this would become the norm with series such as Lost and Breaking Bad, Babylon 5 beat them to the punch. Straczynski would also employ a similar method with Sense8, the Netflix series he created with Lily & Lana Wachowski.

The Legacy of ‘Babylon 5’ Continues

Alongside the final season of Babylon 5, Straczynski would script four made-for-television movies. One of those movies, A Call To Arms, ended with the Shadows deploying a weapon that would kill all life on Earth within a few years. John Sheridan commissions a vessel called the Excalibur to search for a way to reverse Earth’s fate, leading to the spinoff series Crusade. However, Crusade ran into a major problem with its parent network TNT: after receiving a study that showed that the audience for Crusade wasn’t really sticking around for other TNT programming. Therefore, the series was canceled after a conflict between the producers and TNT executives, with only 13 episodes being aired.

Straczynski would attempt to resurrect Babylon 5 over the years — and he finally seems to have succeeded. A reboot is currently in the works, with Straczynski reworking the story to focus on John Sheridan. Sheridan is also the focus of Babylon 5: The Road Home, an animated film that flings him through time and space as he attempts to save Babylon 5 from a horrific fate — and witnesses several alternate realities in the process.

When all is said and done, the impact of Babylon 5 can’t be denied. Its storytelling structure was years ahead of its time, leading to prestige television adopting rich character development as well as serialized story arcs. It gave a major boost to Straczynski’s writing career, leading to him writing several acclaimed comics including Rising Stars for Top Cow and The Amazing Spider-Man for Marvel. It also proved that science fiction not named Star Wars or Star Trek can thrive in pop culture.

Babylon 5 is available to stream on Max.