In Review: Babylon 5: The Road Home

Synopsis: In Babylon 5: The Road Home, John Sheridan finds himself transported through multiple timelines and alternate realities in a quest to find his way back home.

The Story

Set during the show’s final season. The Road Home follows John Sheridon and his wife Delenn to the Minbari homeworld where Sheridon would take on the role of President of the newly formed interstellar alliance. Upon arrival one of Sheridon’s first duties is to open a new power station, which runs off of Tachyan energy, which is a form of energy that exists outside of time and space. At the opening ceremony, Sheridon begins to feel a bit out of sorts as the Tachyons affect him and thrust him on a journey through time and space where he visits alternate timelines of events that took place during the TV show’s five-year run. One of the timelines he finds himself in is one in which Earth Force and the interplanetary alliance lost the shadow war. And we visit another timeline in which Sheridon has a chance to stop the war before it happens. Suffice it to say. Fans of the Babylon 5 series will really appreciate this movie. Whereas casual viewers may be trying to figure out what is going on. 

The Acting

Returning cast members such as Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Peter Jurasik, Bill Mumy, Tracy Scoggins and Patricia Tallman do fantastic work and pick up their respective roles without missing a beat.

The hardest roles to fill would be roles that were taken up by cast members who are sadly no longer with us. But left an indelible mark on viewers for their original portrayals of characters such as G’Kar, Dr. Stephen Franklin, Security Chief Garibaldi, Ambassador Delenn and of course Zathras. All of these roles were recast and the new actors did solid work in the roles. Particularly impressive were Paul Guyet as Zathras who didn’t have a huge role in the run of the TV series, but did have a key role when it came to specific plot points, which we’ll touch on a little later. In short, it takes a certain type of talent to play a role like Zathras and Guyet nailed it. 

Also impressive was Andrew Morgado as G’Kar who was a big player throughout all five seasons of Babylon 5 and was originally played by the wonderful Andreas Katsulas who totally owned the role. Morgado while not quite as theatrical as Katsulas was in the role. Does make a decent fist of it and I really enjoyed the work he did in the scene between G’Kar and Sheridon toward the end of the story where some pretty big life questions are pondered. Indeed for the role of G’Kar. Andrew Morgado had some pretty big shoes to fill and I think he did a decent job of it.

Also good and another key role in the series was that of Ambassador Delenn who is married to John Sheridon on the series and their relationship is key to the movie’s title. Originally Delenn was played by the brilliant Mira Furlan, who much like Katsulas did with G’Kar firmly put her stamp on the role. Rebecca Riedy takes on this role for the film and does a solid job of it.

In short, all the actors that took over roles from those actors that tragically left us did a really good job in the roles that they were given. So kudos must go to the casting director for finding the right talent to fill such big shoes.

Overall

Babylon 5: The Road Home is a love letter to fans of the series who have followed the show through its many movies and spin-offs over the years. Added to this it is also a story that is very much focused on John Sheridon’s love for his friends and Delenn who he considers to be his new home. In short, the film’s throughline is about the family and friends that Sheridon calls his home and the lengths that he’d go to in order to protect them. The time travel aspect of the film uses references to Quantum Physics and makes a really good stab at explaining the observer effect. In fact, the time travel element for this film takes advantage of an incident that happened in the show’s third season in the two-part episode ‘War without End’ in which Sheridon finds himself bouncing through time for the first time. And events from that two-parter loosely tie into the narrative of this movie.

Overall. The story is great and fans of the series will really appreciate it whereas newcomers will likely struggle. As the story leans heavily into the TV show’s mythology.

As far as animation goes. No complaints here. I quite enjoyed the visuals and loved the visual at the end of the story where Sheridon gets reunited with Delenn as her love for him saves the day.

Babylon 5: The Road Home is available to buy on both Blu-Ray and through various streaming services such as Amazon and Apple.