Julien Neaves, Sci Fi Head Writer
Back in May for my article on the Top 7 Sci Fi/Fantasy Franchises that Deserve a Comeback I mentioned being excited that epic space opera tv series Babylon 5 was receiving an animated film. The belated entry is subtitled The Road Home and was released 25 years after the show came off the air.
I checked it out this past weekend and it was…okay. I guess. The following are my brie thoughts on the film though I will be going into spoilers for the show itself. Let’s activate the jump gate and fly right into it.
The Road Home was written by B5 creator J. Michael Straczynski and is set after the Shadow War. President John Sheridan and his wife Delenn leave the titular station for Minbar to further develop the Interstellar Alliance, but things go awry when a demonstration at an advanced power station leaves Sheridan unstuck in time, space and reality. For people who have never watched the series or have not revisited it recently, this film is not for you. The Road Home assumes you are fully caught up and does little to no hand holding. And if you are not caught up, all the time, space and reality jumping will leave one very much lost in space. With that caveat out of the way let’s move into the positives and negatives.
Many of the original cast members returned to lend the voices to their characters and Bruce Boxleitner is easily the standout as the brave and witty President Sheridan. It was also great hearing the voices of Peter Jurasik, Claudia Christian, Tracy Scoggins and Patricia Tallman as Londo, Ivanova, Lochley and Lyta respectively. Bill Mumy did return as Minbari ambassadorial aide Lennier but his voice sounded off for some reason. The new voice actors to replace the deceased actors were a mixed bag, with Paul Guyet, Phil LaMarr and Anthony Hansen all doing commendable work as Zathras/Jeffrey Sinclair, Dr Stephn Franklin and Michael Garibaldi respectively, but the actors for G’Kar and Delenn just missing the mark.
And while the animation does recapture the look and feel of B5, the character designs are lacking in detail and feel too cartoonish. The story is also an odd one. With its sprawling history and some unexplored storylines (the Shadow allies’ control over Londo, the Telepath War) watching Sherdian jumping through time and alternate realities was not the most enticing plot. It does feel like a love letter to the show but I’m not sure this is what fans have been desiring for after so long. And the story itself drags on more than one occasion but I did enjoy two sequences involving the Shadows. Who doesn’t love the Shadows? The way the dilemma was resolved was also somewhat cliched.
While I was happy to revisit B5 with The Road Home it feels like something of a missed opportunity. And I am not sure this will be the film to reignite the passion of fans and definitely not the one to recruit any new ones. The ending is also hinting at a reboot which I am definitely not looking forward to if that is the plan. Enough with the reboots. Just continue the story. But in the end, maybe the new film will inspire folks to revisit the series. And that would be a good thing.
Editor Jules’ Score: 6 out of 10
Have you seen The Road Home? What did you think of it? And you can check out more Sci Fi content below:
Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.