The Audio Guide to Babylon 5

The Audio Guide to Babylon 5 episodes:

• 08.26.2018

  Episode 112: “Sleeping in Light”

  It’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for. Steven Schapansky joins us for the Babylon 5 finale. We’ll be back, after a good long hiatus, to cover the spinoff episodes and movies. Thank you so much for joining...

  
• 08.12.2018

  Episode 111: “The River of Souls”

  The station may be emptying out, but we’re not quite done yet. Jason Snell reminded us this Babylon 5 “movie” aired before the series finale, so we’re dutifully covering it now–and making Jason join us. He’s our very own Ian...

  
• 07.22.2018

  Episode 110: “Objects at Rest”

  Final departures, fateful errors, and a first-and-last message to a child. Not to mention THE SHOT. Which SHOT are we talking about? Find out as we discuss the penultimate-penultimate story of Babylon 5’s fifth season!

  
• 07.08.2018

  Episode 109: “Objects in Motion”

  So many feels: a huge chunk of our cast reaches their points of departure and Babylon 5 approaches the fall of night. JMS’s endgame is in sight.

  
• 06.24.2018

  Episode 108: “Wheel of Fire”

  So we can all just breathe now that the conflict with Centauri Prime is over, right? You would be wrong, friend! See Lyta go rogue as she’s never gone rogue before. See John and Delenn realize they’re going to have...

  
• 06.10.2018

  Episode 107: “The Fall of Centauri Prime”

  What more can we say? Lizbeth Myles joins us as all of Londo’s chickens come definitively home to roost.

  
• 05.29.2018

  Episode 106: “Movements of Fire and Shadow”

  All year long, Sheridan and Delenn have been trying to pull together a historic political alliance. They’ve been contending with not only the forces of history, but the fundamental forces of people. In “Movements of Fire and Shadow” it all...

  
• 05.14.2018

  Episode 105: “And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder”

  Reckoning. War. One of the most powerful episodes of Babylon 5 ever, during the underrated Season 5. So powerful, in fact, that our Control Group, one Steven Schapansky, demanded to be let on the podcast…

  
• 04.29.2018

  Episode 104: “Darkness Ascending”

  Things are ramping up: Lennier, the hero. Lyta, the opportunist. Garibaldi, the watched. Londo, the lonely. The threads are all coming together as we approach the end of Babylon 5….

  
• 04.15.2018

  Episode 103: “Meditations on the Abyss”

  Almost the full ensemble gets together for what might be the calm before the storm, with lots of character beats in an episode that–spoiler alert–we all pretty much believe is FABOO.

  
• 04.02.2018

  Episode 102: “The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father”

  “I want to see the TV series set in the HR department at Psi Corps.” –James Thomson

  
• 03.18.2018

  Episode 101: “Day of the Dead”

  The legendary Neil Gaiman made his American television debut writing the only episode of B5 not authored by Joe Straczynski since late Season 2. Was this mystical character piece too much of a departure from the “house style”? What the...

  
• 03.07.2018

  Episode 100: “The Ragged Edge”

  This episode has epic ’90s computer matte compositing of a balcony, set to a particularly stirring Christopher Franke score! Oh, and Garibaldi does the secret agent thing, hamstrung by his return to the bottle; G’Kar becomes the Narn Pope; Franklin...

  
• 02.18.2018

  Episode 99: “Phoenix Rising”

  It’s the end of the Byron arc, in dramatically tragic fashion–which means it is of course time for our own harbinger of doom, Jason Snell, to return to delight in misfortune.

  
• 02.04.2018

  Episode 98: “A Tragedy of Telepaths”

  The two threads–the telepath colony crisis and the secret Centauri attacks on ISA ships–get pulled tighter together, with an unexpected rescue of Na’Toth (the real one!) and an entirely expected return of Bester. We’d call it the calm before the...

  
• 01.21.2018

  Episode 97: “In the Kingdom of the Blind”

  No more pastels for the Regent, no. Damian London portrays a very different Regent from the sweet old man we used to know as Londo begins to suspect very dark things are afoot in his supposedly liberated world. It’s an...

  
• 01.07.2018

  Episode 96: “Secrets of the Soul”

  As Steven discovers a long-buried secret about an Alliance race, Byron discovers an even more deeply buried secret about telepaths in EVERY race–just as life is getting even rougher for his followers in Down Below. How is the telepath story...

  
• 12.24.2017

  Episode 95: “Strange Relations”

  We all come together in a better place to find a roomful of singing telepaths, an irritated Bester, an irritated Lochley, an irritated Garibaldi, and (thank heavens) a gleefully mischievious Delenn and G’Kar. How’s that master plan of Sheridan’s working...

  
• 12.10.2017

  Episode 94: “Learning Curve”

  We use the word “spackle” a few times in this podcast. We like that word. Rolls off the tongue. MEANWHILE, for the second episode in a row the stars of the show aren’t our regulars. What’s up with that? Is...

  
• 11.26.2017

  Episode 93: “A View from the Gallery”

  DEPLOY THE GREEK CHORUS! Two never-before-seen minor characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern their way through the space station and their cast. In Spoiler Space for the previous episode, our intrepid podcasters expressed their dread of “A View from the Gallery.” Was...

  
• 11.19.2017

  Episode 92: “The Paragon of Animals”

  Telepath politics. Gunboat diplomacy. Newlywed apartment living. Doesn’t sound like much. SPOILER ALERT: We absofragginlutely loved this episode.

  
• 10.29.2017

  Episode 91: “The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari”

  It’s the second episode of a brand new season with a brand new status quo, so what do you do? Ignore all the new people and new situations, and do a character study about alllll of the bad decisions one...

  
• 10.15.2017

  Episode 90: “No Compromises”

  Somewhat to their surprise, the cast and crew and showrunner got their fifth season. But to quote some guy way back in the first, “Nothing’s the same anymore.” Sheridan’s wearing a suit, not a uniform. Ivanova’s gone. There’s a new...

  
• 10.02.2017

  Episode 89: “Thirdspace”

  Creepy Cthulhu aliens from beyond Firstspace and Secondspace! This Untold Tale of Babylon 5 was produced after the fourth season when they had no hint there would be a fifth. Is this a better “movie” than “In the Beginning”? Does...

  
• 09.17.2017

  Episode 88: “In the Beginning”

  Four years into BABYLON 5, JMS took a mulligan with a brand new prequel movie that served as a pilot for the series’s relaunch on the TNT network! Is it a better beginning to B5 than the original pilot, “The...

  
• 09.03.2017

  Episode 87: “The Deconstruction of Falling Stars”

  It’s a season finale, and it’s entirely cuckoo bananapants! We look into the distant future of the B5 universe along with our traditional season-ending appearance by our beloved Control Group, Steven Schapansky. Plot points are seeded for Season 5, soapboxes...

  
• 08.20.2017

  Episode 86: “Rising Star”

  Boy howdy, does this feel like the last episode of the entire series! Where could B5 possibly go from here? (We’ll talk about that in spoiler space, of course.) Jason Snell was actually at the studio when they were editing...

  
• 08.06.2017

  Episode 85: “Endgame”

  So. Much. Happens. Y’all. All of Sheridan’s planning comes together and the Earth Civil War is at an end. Did it happen too fast, or was the payoff worth the buildup? Join us!

  
• 07.23.2017

  Episode 84: “Between the Darkness and the Light”

  It’s a little known fact that American television regulations were changed following the initial broadcast of this episode because it was determined that so. much. stuff. happening in a single episode was hazardous to viewers’ health. The cards are on...

  
• 07.09.2017

  Episode 83: “Intersections in Real Time”

  Welcome to John Sheridan’s darkest ordeal. Good morning. (Artificial daylight comes on.) Shall we begin?

  
• 06.28.2017

  Episode 82: “The Face of the Enemy”

  Steven Schapansky rejoins us because (1) Mike Vejar and (2) Michael Garibaldi–as we find out just exactly WHAT has been going on underneath Steven’s favorite character’s shaved pate. That sadistic so-and-so Bester is back, and your intrepid podcasters question whether...

  
• 06.11.2017

  Episode 81: “The Exercise of Vital Powers”

  Two out of three podcasters surveyed loved “(The) Exercise of Vital Powers.” Worldbuilding! One out of three didn’t. Lots of talking! Find out who’s on which side, and where we all stand on the issue of Sudden Telepathy as a Plotline...

  
• 05.29.2017

  Episode 80: “No Surrender, No Retreat”

  Well, Sheridan promised us last episode that things would get super serious. JMS wastes no time; there’s a reason all of Season 4 shares a title with this episode. Too much, too quickly, too soon? And how did you feel when...

  
• 05.14.2017

  Episode 79: “Moments of Transition”

  Stuffed to the gills with plot, “Moments of Transition” puts a pin in the Minbari Civil War, puts the screws to Lyta Alexander’s career, puts Michael Garibaldi at odds with both his new employer and his (former?) friends, and puts...

  
• 04.30.2017

  Episode 78: “Rumors, Bargains and Lies”

  John “Machiavelli” Sheridan manipulates the alien governments into a fiendish conspiracy against Earth! (Or that’s how ISN might broadcast it these days.) Meanwhile, the Religious Caste is not too thrilled with Delenn making overtures toward Neroon, and bless poor Londo’s...

  
• 04.16.2017

  Episode 77: “Conflicts of Interest”

  On this episode of Garibaldi, P.I., Michael does NOT don a Hawaiian shirt nor acquire a Ferrari. Instead he picks up a new job opportunity that takes him up against his former security forces. Meanwhile, Ivanova’s new job duties lead...

  
• 04.02.2017

  Episode 76: “Lines of Communication”

  We are sorry to report that our Control Group, one Steven Schapansky (not appearing in this episode) had a conniption fit over the lack of descriptiveness in this episode’s title. Wait until he gets a load of next week’s. Meanwhile,...

  
• 03.19.2017

  Episode 75: “Racing Mars”

  Somehow we made it through the whole episode without a John Barrowman reference. Chip considers this a personal failing. But, hey, let’s advance the Earth plot line a bit, spend significant time on another planet, and continue the buddy-movie adventures...

  
• 03.05.2017

  Episode 74: “Atonement”

  OK, did this episode have the best guest casting find ever in B5 history, with Reiner Schone, or did it have the best guest casting find ever? Yeah, the three of us are big fans of Dukhat. Plus, this episode...

  
• 02.19.2017

  Episode 73: “The Illusion of Truth”

  It’s the B5 directorial debut of one Vir Cotto (not appearing on your screen this time) and the flip side to Season 2’s “And Now for a Word.” Call them Alternative Facts, call it Fake News, call it what you like:...

  
• 02.05.2017

  Episode 72: “Epiphanies”

  It feels like the first time, only different! Londo’s happily haggling on the Zocalo. Sheridan’s matching wits with Bester. But Garibaldi’s quit his job, and the certainty of the Shadow War’s endgame has vanished. Welcome to Babylon 5 as it...

  
• 01.22.2017

  Episode 71: “Into the Fire”

  There’s a really obvious Hamilton reference that Chip could drop into this podcast, particularly the last half of a certain King George song, but Erika would kill him. Besides, this podcast is chock full of content, so there’s no time for...

  
• 01.08.2017

  Episode 70: “The Long Night”

  It’s special guest star Bryan Cranston! OH EM GEE! But maybe in the ’90s that wouldn’t be what held your attention. Maybe it was the sight of a very determined Narn breaking his unweakened chains, or a formerly cherubic second...

  
• 12.26.2016

  Episode 69: “Falling Toward Apotheosis”

  How different is Season Four, and how different is John Sheridan now? He sits at the war room table and puts a hit out on a Vorlon. Yeah, things are getting serious in Grid Epsilon. Pull up a chair and...

  
• 12.11.2016

  Episode 68: “The Summoning”

  Sheridan summons, Garibaldi shrink-wraps, Marcus confesses, Ivanova discovers, Delenn reunites, G’Kar screams, Vir threatens, Cartagia washes, Zack retrieves, Lyta confronts, Kosh abuses, Londo waits. Bit of a day.

  
• 11.27.2016

  Episode 67: “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?”

  OK, so a lot of stuff happens in this not-very-eponymous episode! We find out a bit more about whatever happened to Sheridan, Delenn prepares to go to war, G’Kar trips up, Londo offers a deal, and we learn very little about whatever...

  
• 11.15.2016

  Episode 66: “The Hour of the Wolf”

  You only just missed a song parody from Chip on this one, but hey, time was short and the songs from Rio aren’t exactly Creative Commons. You will, however, get some excitement over the new titles, a rescue attempt from our Big...

  
• 10.30.2016

  Episode 65: “Z’ha’dum”

  Season three ends. John Sheridan ends. Anna Sheridan ends…again. The Shadow War…pauses. Michael Garibaldi…vanishes. And Delenn despairs. Welcome to one of the most devastating episodes of Babylon 5, to yet another turning point, and to our Control Group–with us once...

  
• 10.16.2016

  Episode 64: “Shadow Dancing”

  We present a podcast within a podcast, a new addition to The Incomparable Network: Steven Schapansky’s “Vejar or Not”. (The preceding sentence is a complete lie.) We celebrate the outstanding work of Foundation Imaging in the mother of all space...

  
• 10.02.2016

  Episode 63: “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”

  In this episode: we talk about one of the most delicious/creepy comeuppances in science fiction television history, Erika makes a hip-hop reference that is one letter away from being brilliant, and pause to remember all the poor crew on the...