Features the entire third series of the high energy out of the world adventures involving the acion loving crew and their self styled space station. Episodes include: Matters of Honor , Convictions and many more.

In the gap between seasons four and five of Babylon 5, fans suffering withdrawal symptoms were sated by this first TV movie. As a prequel to the series' timeline, creator J. Michael Straczynski had an awful lot of continuity to consider. Amazingly, there's only one inconsistency throughout (a matter of who met whom and when), making this an essential part of the overall storyline. The tale is told cleverly from the future as the remembrances of Londo (Peter Jurasik), who is now Emperor of a dying Centauri homeworld. He looks back at the beginnings of the Earth-Minbari war and links together many clues strewn throughout the shows' early years. We see exactly how Delenn contributed to the first blows, the death of dignitary Dukhat, and most importantly what really happened to Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) at the Battle of the Line. The FX showcased by the battle are genuinely spectacular, but overshadowed by the make-up department which had the thankless task of making everyone look younger. Their best success is on an uncredited Claudia Christian who appears as an 18-year-old Susan Ivanova dealing with the death of her brother. Being a prequel there's little in the way of a surprise finale, but there's plenty of intrigue along the way. --Paul Tonks

The Earth military encounters an alien race called the Minbari, where series of accidents and misunderstandings, breaks into a war killing every human on Earth.

Captain John Sheridan (Bruce Boxlietner) arrives on Babylon 5 in the first episode of the second series, "Points of Departure", which marks the handing over of command of B5 to Sheridan from Commander Jeffery Sinclair (actor Michael O'Hare had become a victim of studio politicians who wanted a bigger star in the leading role). This excellent instalment also reveals more about why the Minbari surrendered to Earth at the Battle of the Line when they were on the verge of victory. "Revelations" explains that Sheridan's wife, Anna, died during an archaeological survey of the world Z'ha'dum, the name being just one of many oblique references to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. "The Geometry of Shadows" introduces the Technomages, characters who featured more significantly in the ill-fated spin-off series Crusade (1999), while "The Coming of Shadows" proved to be Babylon 5's finest hour. The story of political intrigue foreshadowing the fate of two of the major characters won the Hugo award for the Best Dramatic Presentation at the 1996 World Science Fiction Convention and proved so powerful that J Michael Straczynski included it in his Complete Book of Scriptwriting.

"And Now for a Word" takes the unusual step of presenting a day-in-the-life of B5 seen through the eyes of a TV news crew, just as the Narn declare war on the Centauri. The inclusion of a PSI-Corps commercial paid homage to Paul Verhoeven's satirical ads in Robocop (1987). In "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum", Sheridan learns that Morden was on the ship on which Anna died, this episode seeing the Captain pushed to his limits by grief and determination to discover why Morden survived. Three exceptional shows conclude the year. The Narn-Centauri war escalates in "The Long, Twilight Struggle", Sheridan faces a most unusual ordeal in "Comes the Inquisitor", while in "The Fall of Night" all hope of peace is shattered as a nerve-wracking assassination attempt reveals a startling secret about Ambassador Kosh.

On the DVD: Babylon 5--Series 2 presents all 22 episodes anamorphically enhanced at 16:9, with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Originally shot with eventual widescreen presentation in mind, the programmes looks far better than they did when broadcast. The effects shots, reformatted from full-screen CGI, show occasional pixilation, but the new compositions are more dynamic than the old 4:3. Always a show with powerful audio, the remixed soundtrack is rich and involving, if lacking in the bass punch and complex layering of much more expensive cinema productions. Extras are an introduction to Series 2 (eight mins) and Building Babylon: Blueprint of an Episode (13 mins), is a perfunctory promotional piece. More interesting is Shadows and Dreams, an eight-minute feature on B5's two Hugo Awards. Three episodes have commentaries, with J Michael Straczynski examining the politics, mythology and production of In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum and The Fall of Night, and stars Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian and Jerry Doyle have a decidedly low-brow laugh-fest through The Geometry of Shadows. There is an alternative French soundtrack and subtitles for the hard-of-hearing. --Gary S Dalkin

"Matters of Honour" launches the third series of Babylon 5 with the introduction of the White Star, a spacecraft added to enable more of the action to take place away from the static space station. Also introduced is Marcus Cole (Jason Carter) who, in another nod to The Lord of the Rings, is a Ranger not so far removed from JRR Tolkien's Strider. In "Voices of Authority" the show finds an epic scale as Ivanova seeks the mysterious "First Ones" for allies against the Shadows, and evidence is discovered pointing to the truth behind President Santiago's assassination. A third of the way through the series "Messages from Earth", "Point of No Return" and "Severed Dreams" prove pivotal, changing the nature of the story in a way previously unimaginable on network TV. Earth slides into dictatorship, the fascistic Nightwatch takes control of off-world security and Sheridan takes decisive action by declaring Babylon 5 independent.

"Interludes and Examinations" presents the death of a major supporting character, while the two-part "War Without End" reaches apocalyptic dimensions in a complex tale resolving the destiny of Sinclair and the fate of Babylon 4 (dovetailing elegantly with the events of Year One's "Babylon Squared"), resolving a 1,000-year-old paradox and presenting a vision of a very dark future for Sheridan and Delenn. All this is trumped by the monumental "Z'ha'dum". In the preceding "Shadow Dancing", Anna Sheridan (Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Boxleitner's real-life wife) returns from the dead, no longer entirely human. In the mythologically resonant climax Anna invites Sheridan back to the Shadow homeworld with no hope of survival. Just as Gandalf fell into the abyss at Khazad-Dum, so Sheridan takes a comparable leap into the unknown on an alien world.

On the DVD: Babylon 5, Series 3 presents all 22 episodes anamorphically enhanced at 16:9 for widescreen TVs. While not up to blockbuster movie standards these are the finest looking B5 discs yet. Likewise the remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 sound packs a considerable punch in the many action scenes while remaining clear and atmospheric throughout. Reasonable though unremarkable extras are in line with previous box sets, with detailed and informative commentaries by series creator J Michael Straczynski on episodes "Z'Ha'Dum", and the Hugo Award-winning "Severed Dreams". Actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Richard Biggs and Ed Wasser offer a more jokey and backslapping appraisal of "Interludes and Examinations".

Introduction to Point of Return is essentially a six-minute trailer for the season, while Behind the Mask: Creating the Aliens of B5 offers make-up artist John Vulich, JMS, and producer John Copland reflecting on the creation of various races. Complementing this is a seven-minute look at Building a Better Narn. Designing Tomorrow: The Look of Babylon 5 focuses on the work of production designer John Iacovelli. Finally The Universe of Babylon 5 presents five short character profiles. The set offers an alternative French soundtrack and subtitles in English, English for the hard-of-hearing, French and Dutch. --Gary S Dalkin