Babylon 5: Thirdspace
Reviewed by Michael Turton (turton@cc.fy.edu.tw)
The marked superiority of B5 to every other current SF TV show is not reflected in this made-for-TV film that suffers from major defects of scripting, continuity, and story. Only B5's traditionally on-the-cheap but excellent special effects are up to snuff in _Thirdspace_.
_Thirdspace_ is the story of the discovery of an alien artifact which, when activated, brings forth a race from another dimension bent on eliminating all life in this galaxy. The B5 team races to destroy the artifact as it takes over the minds of station denizens, draws the power from the station and transits a fleet into B5 local space. The story takes place during the period after the space station has declared independence from Earth under the leadership of Captain John Sheridan, and after he led the Alliance against the Shadows to victory.
To begin with, the story is an old SF cliche. All this money spent, and that's the best idea the writers could come up with? After the artifact is hauled over to B5, Interplanetary Expeditions (IPX), a corporation which makes a living excavating for ancient artifacts, shows up demanding access to the artifact. IPX's connections to the Shadows and the facist dictatorship on Earth (both Sheridan's enemies), are well-known, yet they are not even mentioned in the story. Instead a deal is struck.
Predictably, the artifact wakes up and wreaks the inevitable havoc. Yawn. It controls minds inside the station and many come to worship it (can anybody say "_Berserker_ series?"). Alliance weapons are almost useless against it, so Sheridan suits up and jets over through raging battle between the Alliance fleet and the artifact fleet, carrying a nuclear weapon. He sneaks into the artifact and plants the bomb, then slips out past the bloodthirsty aliens grabbing for him like Barry Sanders darting through the Chicago Bears' secondary. The bomb sits for five minutes inside the artifact, but the aliens remain unaware of it. The idea that Sheridan must hand-deliver a nuclear weapon (or can get out of range in time) is absurd. Are there no missiles or robots handy to carry the weapon in? The concept of a "power drain" is also iffy. How and in what form is the energy converted and transmitted through a vacuum from the station to the artifact?
Then there are the usual problems of B5. Measurements are in "feet" and "miles." Apparently the UN government has converted the world from metric to English. Speeches are overly long and have an unrealistic flavor. Nobody speaks in monosyllables or grunts in the B5 universe. Zack, the security chief in Garibaldi's absence, takes on some of his mannerisms and expressions. Like his mentor, he even falls in love with a telepath, pouring out his feelings while the two are trapped in a busted elevator. The speech is long and hideously embarrassing; moreover, he doesn't even notice that Lyta, the object of his affection, is staring into space and muttering to herself in a bout of temporary psychosis triggered by the artifact. Impossible. B5 has been conscientious (for TV) in depicting the awful price of combat, but no mention is made of the losses in the fighting around the artifact.
At least some of the elements that make B5 so popular are present. There are recurring characters from previous episodes in _Thirdspace_. The special effects are magnificent. Delenn, as always, is a delight.
Still, with so much blood and treasure expended, _Thirdspace_ is a massive disappointment. Why wasn't a competent and imaginative outside sci-fi writer hired to give the show a gritty SF feel? Why was such a hackneyed storyline chosen, with so many to chose from? B5 has made its repution by setting new directions for SF on TV. It's a shame it had to take a step back toward Hollywood with _Thirdspace_. I give it 1.5 stars out of 5.
Copyright 1998 by Michael A. Turton
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews