The second part of one of my favorite Babylon 5 episodes A Voice in the Wilderness aired August 3, 1994. In the first part, Epsilon III, the planet below the space station, woke up and Babylon 5 officers go to investigate. Soon, other races lay claim to Epsilon III and threaten to attack the station.
The television movie, Babylon 5: The Gathering, the episode that started it all, aired February 22, 1993. The series would start the following year in 1994, with some changes. Written by J. Michael Straczynski, it starred Michael O'Hare (Commander Jeffrey Sinclair), Jerry Doyle (Michael Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Peter Jurasik (Londo Mollari), Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar), and Patricia Tallman (Lyta Alexander). Tamlyn Tomita appeared as Lt. Cmdr. Laurel Takashima, but was replaced by Claudia Christian (Lt. Commander Ivanova) in the series. Andrea Thompson was a character added in the series as PsiCorps telepath Talia Winters.
It was a great look into a non-Roddenberry vision of space exploration and space travel. The series lasted 5 seasons, and spawned a few spin-offs and television movies.
One of my favorite episodes of Babylon 5, Babylon Squared, first aired August 10, 1994. Babylon 5's predecessor station, Babylon 4, reappears after it vanished mysteriously four years prior. I've only seen it once, so I need to go back and re-watch it. I do remember that Babylon 4 and its disappearance figured prominently throughout the series.
It was the twentieth episode of the first season of Babylon 5, so Michael O'Hare was still on cast as Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, and Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters, although she did not appear in this episode. J. Michael Straczynski wrote the episode.
Beautiful actress Andrea Thompson, born January 6, 1960 in Dayton, Ohio, is probably best known for her work on NYPD Blue, but my favorite is her appearance as Psi Officer Talia Winters on Babylon 5. She also appeared in an episode of Murder, She Wrote with Angela Lansbury.
Thompson was only in two seasons of Babylon 5, appearing in 44 episodes, and her character was written out of the series rather rudely, but I understand there were some extenuating circumstances.
The sixth episode of the first season of Babylon 5Mind War first aired March 2, 1994. I loved this episode because of its portrayal of the Psi Corps. Jason Ironheart (William Allen Young), Talia Winters' (Andrea Thompson) instructor and former lover, arrives on Babylon 5. Right behind him are Psi Cops hot on his tail. Walter Koenig appears for the first time in his recurring role as Alfred Bester.
One of my favorite episodes of Babylon 5, A Voice in the Wilderness (Part 1) aired July 27, 1994. The planet around which Babylon 5 is orbiting, has long been thought to be a lifeless rock. All of a sudden, it comes alive and something under the surface awakens.
Draal, an old friend of Delenn's, arrives on the station. And a revolt on Mars breaks out, which has an effect on the crew. Garibaldi asks Talia if she can find out about an old flame on Mars via her Psi-Corps connections.
Handsome actor Jerry Doyle, born July 16, 1956 in Brooklyn, New York, is best known for his role as Michael Garibaldi on Babylon 5. He was married to co-star Andrea Thompson for two years and they have a son together.
Actress/stuntwoman Patricia Tallman, born September 4, 1957 in Pontiac, Illinois, is beloved by many sci-fi fans as the rogue telepath Lyta Alexander on the TV series Babylon 5. I didn't realize this until reading her bio on imdb.com, that she was Laura Dern's stunt double in Jurassic Park. According to the web-site, you can see her face after Dern's character falls off the T-Rex skeleton and the camera closes in on her face for a second. I remember the scene and thought it was Laura Dern all the time!
I was upset when Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters) left Babylon 5 and held a grudge against Lyta Alexander as being responsible for her leaving, but got to appreciate her.
Actor Michael O'Hare, born May 6, 1952, is probably best known for his role as Commander Jeffrey Sinclair on Babylon 5 with Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle, Andrea Thompson, Bill Mumy, Richard Biggs and Mira Furlan. He had to leave the show after the first season due to his battle with illness. He passed away September 28, 2012 from a heart attack.
Another of my favorite television shows, Babylon 5, premiered January 26, 1994. I found it to be an interesting, non-Roddenberry look at space exploration. Babylon 5 won a Primetime Emmy in 1994 for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series. I particularly liked the Psi Corps, even though they were mainly portrayed as the bad guys. Talia Winters was my favorite character and I was bummed when they got rid of her. I still haven't seen that episode. I've used the Psi Corps as inspiration for my own Psionic Corps novels featuring Corey Shaw and others.
