Babylon 5 (TV Series) Into the Fire (1997) User Reviews

An excellent end to a major arc

[cliometrician · 10/10 · 19 July 2018]

What a great episode this was. I certainly disagree with those who think it was a little flat at the end. It is hard to see how it could be improved. What others might see as the ep being a little too preachy, I consider to be excellent sci-fi. This ep had a little of everything: Mr. Morden got his comeuppance, Vir got to do the little waggle of fingers that he hoped for; Lorien gave us an in-depth expository on the Old Ones; Commander Ivanova got to join the fleet in time to see action; Londo writhed in pain when he learned of the treachery of Mr. Morden; and Sheridan and Delenn got to save the day as we knew we would.

It was almost a little sad to see this arc come to an end because we have lived with it for so long. It leads one to wonder if anything that follows can be as interesting. Wonderful job by all the actors involved. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode.

Fantastic

[VenVes · 14 April 2019]

Excellent and poignant conclusion to the Vorlon and Shadow storylines.

Especially loved the scene where it is highlighted what a gift it is that our lives have been made short (although I wouldn't mind a couple more decades for everyone). Can't wait to see what happens next!

A surprisingly limp and "talky" conclusion to the Shadow War

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 January 2007]

Well, for the past several seasons, the show has built up to this final ultimate showdown between the Vorlons, Shadows and the forces organized by Sheridan. This buildup was wonderful and helped make this a great sci-fi series. The problem here, though, is that although this final showdown IS exciting, it's also pretty talky and preachy--at least to me. Instead of the expected shooting and devastation, when all the species converge in one place in space, Lorien, Sheridan and Delenn work out the problem in a mystical way that left me pretty flat. This isn't to say it's bad, but I just expected more than "Okay, we're sick of you--now go away"! But, oddly, the Shadows and Vorlon listen and go!! I just expected more.

A weak, unsatisfying end to a 3 year storyline

[bzo-18910 · 3/10 · 31 July 2023]

The first 3 seasons of Babylon are among my favorite Sci-Fi ever made. I've rewatched multiple times. Despite a slow start and weaker and filler episodes mixed in, those seasons struck a balance of well-acted true thought provoking futurist science fiction, wonder, mystery, intrigue, drama, literary allusion, historical and social allegory, suspense, action, adventure, and character study. You realize from the first episode the bar has been raised - no shields, no teleports, no matter replicators, no androids. This is humanity itself and aliens representative of past and present human factions projected forward 250 plus years. Season 2's Coming Of The Shadows is the crowning achievement melding these themes together. Yet, rewatching recently, Babylon 5 is clearly a show with obvious shortcomings overlooked due to it's reputation as ground breaking for its "5 year story" compared to highly episodic shows of its era.

It starts to unravel in season 3 when Kosh is killed taking the mystery/wonder aspect with him. Stories become harder to suspend disbelief for with more reliance on plot contrivances and characters acting unexpectedly. This coincides with a general slide into the dreaded "space opera" motif, often nothing more than common military drama masquerading as sci-fi because it takes place in space/the future. Thoughtful interplay with characters and storytelling seem overtaken by CGI space battles with a detached video game feel (in contemporary quotes, the creator spoke often about number of effects shots, as if that were a measure of good storytelling or watchability)

Credulity slips further with the season 3 ending reveal of the Shadow homeworld. We learn the Shadows have made a 1980's background extra their key human liason, with no explanation of his origin or importance other than a flashback to a prior terrible film-school caliber inscrutable dream sequence. Soon thereafter early in Season 4 a badly costumed alien wearing jewelry is revealed as the first ever ageless living being.

This slide reaches its low point in this episode "Into The Fire", in which a 3 year build up to an epic galactic war through time foretold by prophecies of multiple species ends abruptly with Bruce Boxleitner, in his quest to win the award for most scenery chewed in a season, yelling at two races of nearly ominpotent aliens to get off his lawn. Naturally they go meekly on their way without a fight. But not before the Vorlons, previously portrayed as semi-formless angelic awe-inspiring light beings in one of the show's defining moments, are now presented as a common lifeless ceremonially garbed humanoid female, perhaps because they couldn't afford the CGI anymore. Or the cringe worthy moment of a demonic looking Shadow whimpering for it's quasi-parent alien to come along. And with that the epic mythological Chaos vs. Order struggle setup over the previous 60 plus episodes is all but forgotten.

Thee show still has its moments but when you slowly build to something for 3 years then wipe it away in one swoop its difficult for viewers to remain invested in what comes next.

Could have been better

[Mischief810 · 7/10 · 17 September 2014]

Here, the conflict with the elder races--the Shadows and the Vorlons-- reaches its climax. This is an interesting sci-fi story line stretching back many episodes. The problem is that the writers spent so much time on subplots in those previous episodes that this climax comes off rather weakly.

It could have been better, and it would have been better if subplots were relegated to a few five minute segments scattered throughout. Subplots with absolutely no bearing on the overarching plot of a multi- episode arc don't need to do much to tell their story. In this arc's case, the fabric of the main plot is weakened by the producers, writers and directors spending too much time on sideline characters and their plot lines.

One of the things I do like about this arc is that it has something of a J.R.R. Tolkien feel to it. The elder races seem to know that the age of the younger races is at hand. Only with B5, the elder races seem unwilling to let go. Lorien as a Gandalf seems to fit here.

It's an enjoyable climax to the arc, but again it could have been even better.