Babylon 5’stitular space station is the fifth iteration of an intergalactic program, but the true circumstances surrounding the prior four remained major mysteries throughout the show.Babylon 5takes place largely on the space station that shares the show’s name, which serves as a diplomatic base and trading center for the various alien races that make up the galaxy. While the station is largely opperated and controlled by the Earth Alliance and human military, the other notable races ofBabylon 5like the Minbari, Centauri, Narn and the Vorlons set up diplomatic outreach by sending ambassadors to the station.
Babylon 5 isn’t named that because of any specific stylistic reason, but because the prior four versions of the station were destroyed or lost to a cosmic rip in the universe. The latter mystery became one of the most important elements of the show’s lore, playing into some ofBabylon 5’s biggest plotlines. The first three stations still remain a mystery over twenty years since the show debuted, highlighting the expansive and ambiguous nature of theBabylon 5universe. Here is what happened to each iteration of the Babylon Project inBabylon 5, including the final fate of Babylon 5.
Babylon 5 Is The Fifth Space Station Of Its Kind
The Babylon Project Was Designed To Ensure Peace In The Galaxy
Babylon 5’s titular space station is actually the fifth attempt to realize the Babylon Projectwithin the sci-fi universe, with the other iterations of the station either destroyed or lost. In the world ofBabylon 5, a number of intergalactic conflicts ravaged the galaxy and pitted various factions and species against one another. In the aftermath of the Human/Minbari War that almost wiped out humanity, the Earth Alliance sought to create a new safe-zone from which they could try to resolve any conflicts before they escalated. Ideally, the station would serve as neutral ground for galactic diplomacy and trade.
Babylon 5’s Best Trick Was Hiding The Show’s Real Villain In Plain Sight
Babylon 5’s big cosmic war arc was a stand-out storyline, but quietly helped hide the show’s true big bad in plain view of the characters.
The core idea saw diplomats from various races coming together and living on the station for trade and political purposes. While the station’s proximity to Earth and reliance on theirmilitary ensured humanity remained in a prominent leadership position on Babylon 5, a certain level of diplomatic immunity and influence on the station ensured all races had the opportunity to direct events on the station. The station is called Babylon 5 because it is the fifth attempt at bringing the Babylon Project to fruition, as the other four stations were lost under mysterious circumstances before the events of the show.
The First Three Babylon Stations Were Destroyed By Sabotage
The True Culprits Were Never Revealed
The first three Babylon stations aren’t prominent inBabylon 5because they were destroyedbefore they could be fully completed. All three were the victims of sabotage, as described by construction worker Jinxo in the season 1 episode “Grail.” In all three cases, the station’s infrastructure collapsed before the station was destroyed. The exact circumstances of all three sabotages were left to the viewer’s imagination, and the saboteurs were never revealed. During online conversations with fans cataloged byWeb Archive,Babylon 5creator J. Michael Straczynski confirmed that the three stations were brought down by outside forces sabotaging the construction.
The true saboteurs were never revealed — although Straczynski did make it clear that the saboteurs weren’t the Shadows.
Straczynski revealed that “the B1-B3 sabotages had nothing at all to do with the B4 situation;it was just done by forces opposed to the very notion of the Babylon Project.” However, the true saboteurs were never revealed — although Straczynski did make it clear that the saboteurs weren’t the Shadows. The stations might have been destroyed by alien races seeking to prolong their own goals or by the Vorlons in an effort to ensure the B4 and B5 stations would be constructed. Another possible culprit was the xenophobic branch of humanity that eventually crystalized into the villainous Nightwatch organization.
The Mystery Of Babylon 4 Is A Major Part Of Babylon 5’s Lore
Babylon 4 Was Actually Vital To A War That Happened A Thousand Years BeforeBabylon 5
The mystery surrounding Babylon 4 is actually one of the biggest twists in the show. Two years before the events ofBabylon 5, Babylon 4 was completed and activated. However, it disappeared into a mysterious spacetime anomaly a single day later. The station reappears briefly in season 1’s “Babylon Squared,” giving the crew of Babylon 5 time to rescue the people stuck on the lost station before it drifts back through time. The station is then seen in the season 3 two-parter, “War Without End,” where it is revealed that the lost Babylon 4 actually has a major historical importance.
“War Without End” revealed that without the stable time-loop ensuring Babylon 4 made it to the past, the future could change for the worst.Babylon 5: The Road Homeestablished a full multiverse ofBabylon 5timelines, suggesting that those possible futures may have still happened in other realities.
Babylon 4 was sent back thousands of years in time alongside Jeffery Sinclair, allowing him to be transformed into the Minbari religious figure Valen. Valen was crucial to the first war against the Shadows, ensuring the station is sent back in time to prevent a future where the Shadow armada is able to easily overwhelm and destroy Babylon 5.This also explains why the Minbari spared humanity during their war, as Sinclair’s transformation into Valen connected their species on a biological level and ensured humanity was protected by the same laws of inter-species peace that had long defined Minbari culture.
Why And When Babylon 5 Is Finally Destroyed
Babylon 5Ends With The Space Station Being Decommissioned And Blown Up
Over the course ofBabylon 5, many alternate versions of the titular station are destroyed, as seen in the possible futures glimpsed in “Babylon Squared,” “War Without End,” and the subsequent sequel filmThe Road Home. However, the crew of the station were able to prevent these possibilities, allowing Babylon 5 to serve as a major base of operations in the conflict against the Shadows and the subsequent liberation of Earth. After the primary events of the show and the conclusion of season 5’s storylines,the station became less and less vital to the continued peace of the larger galaxy.
However, Babylon 5 remained an important trading and cultural location for several years. The final episode ofBabylon 5, “Sleeping in Light,” which takes place largely twenty years after the events of the show, delves into the final fate of the station. In the year 2281, the Earth Alliance decides that the increasingly empty station has become a potential safety hazard andelects to destroy the station. The station is visited one last time by Ivanova, Garibaldi, Franklin, Delenn, Vir, and Zack before it is decommissioned and destroyed by overloading the reactors, givingBabylon 5an emotional and fitting send-off.
