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Politics slowly poisons an action series if the show gets caught in the murky depths of politics itself. Luckily "Babylon 5"'s fifth season avoided this pitfall. After the massive Shadow War that dominated seasons three and four, all was still not well on the massive space station. That's good news for fans of thoughtful science fiction. Captain Sheridan was pressured to resign during the conclusion of season four. He emerged during the same episode as the nominee for President of the Interstellar Alliance which guaranteed continued conflict among the various players from seasons three and four. In drama the only thing better than conflict is down and dirty conflict and we got that during season five. ***

Season five opens with John Sheridan's ( Bruce Boxleitner)inauguration and an assassination plot brewing on the station. Newly arrived Captain Lochley (Tracy Scoggins) takes command of the station from Sheridan and is immediately asked for sanctuary from a group of powerful telepaths who are being hunted down by Psi-Corp the league of telepaths. Much of what appears in the first episode sets up a series of story arcs that occur over the last twenty-two episodes of the show's last season. ***

Although the series couldn't quite recapture the energy of the previous two seasons, J. Michael Straczynski's creation still went out on a high note with 22 quality episodes focusing on the fracturing alliance between Earth and other alien worlds. The story arc involving renegade telepaths might have seemed smaller in scope than the war that dominated much of the series but the smaller scope benefited the last season in many ways. Straczynski's scripts focused on the characters and the inner demons that drove them. Lyta Alexander (Patricia Tallman) who played a much smaller role during season three finally came into her own with the story arc about the telepaths. Tallman gives a series of beautifully nuanced performances as Lyta Alexander throughout the season. Many of the loose ends of the previous seasons were tied as well adding ballast to some of the other politic heavy episodes favored during the year. ***

The introduction of Tracy Scoggins to replace the departing Claudia Christiansen gave the series a nice boost in the energy level. Scoggins played Captain Lochley as fiercely as Boxleitner had Captain Sheridan in previous seasons. She often disagree with Sheridan ( she had been briefly married to Sheridan as well which added fire to the fuel between them) but always tried to take the moral higher ground regardless of her personal beliefs. It's a pity that Scoggins wasn't introduced earlier as she's a very talented actress that can command the big and small screen. With considerable power. ***

The series finale "Objects at Rest" (actually shot during season four just in case the series wasn't renewed) stands as one of those rare moments in the history of a series where the material equaled the best moments of previous seasons. Straczynski proved his point as well about science fiction on television; "Babylon 5" became every bit the rich character driven powerhouse as the Trek franchise during its five year run. Much credit has to go to Straczynski himself as he wrote the bulk of the episodes for all five seasons (and during one season wrote all 22 episodes--a first for dramatic television). ***

The picture quality varies from sparkling to drab depending upon the individual episodes. The variation isn't as extreme as it was for the last two sets (where you could run from one extreme to another within the same episode). While the transfer for the optical effects have improved, they still suffer from a fuzziness and lower resolution when compared to much of the live action footage. Much of this is due, again, to the fact that the images for the opticals weren't directly remastered from the source material. Still, it's clear that Warner has been listening to fan complaints about the previous sets. ***

The sound quality remains high throughout most of the set. There's occasional issues with muffled dialogue and the like but, on the whole, the sound comes across crystal clear. Although it's not a perfect presentation (what could be with 4 episodes per disc using all that bit space does limit the presentation), "Babylon 5- The Fifth Season" compares favorably to "Star Trek Voyager" and other similar series. ---

"B5" seasons one through four created new high standards for series boxed set extras and season five is no disappointment either.We get a great introduction to the episode "Wheel of Fire" by Straczynski. One of the best featurettes "Digital Tomorrow" focuses on the optical effects created for the series with rare, behind the scenes footage of the digital creation of the B5 Universe and interviews with the supervising effects crew. The effects co-coordinators, Straczynski, producers Douglas Netter and John Copeland discuss the difficulty in achieving the distinctive look of the show on a syndicated series budget.

We also see many of the key effects sequences throughout all five seasons and are reminded that, in many respects, "B5" broke new ground for the use of digital effects. While "Trek" and even "DS9" were relying more heavily on model work, "B5" economically helped create a vast universe on an ity bity budget compared to the Trek shows. There's also a nicely done featurette that focuses on the series' fans and their reaction to the show. Interviews with fans, cast members and writer/creator/producer Straczynski provide us with a glimpse of how fandom kept the show alive when the odds (and TV Guide's Jeff Jarvis) predicted the show would fail.

We get a glimpse into some of the merchandise related to the show as well. One new extra is the inclusion of a section that has deleted and/or extended scenes. This new feature expands on the wonderful extras included in previous editions.. "The Universe of Babylon 5" focuses once more on the personnel files of the various characters with footage from the series. The Data Files continues to providing enlightening details about the background of the various alien races and situations that have occurred in other seasons. We also get an amusing "Gag Reel" and the Easter Egg "Dead or Alive?" about Ranger Marcus Cole who perished during the conclusion of season four saving the life of Commander Ivana. The cast, crew and fans weigh in on whether Marcus' character died or was frozen for revival at a later date. The "Easter Egg" can be found under the Data Files section by scrolling up to the prominent 5 logo and pressing the enter key once. ***

The inclusion of the "teasers" for forthcoming episodes continues to set "B5" apart from the crowd. It also gives a brief overview of the episode which is handy if you don't recall what happened in which episode. They're also fun in their own melodramatic way. The booklet once again gives a brief synopsis of each episode and the key production crew/cast that is featured in each one. Again, this has been an area where the Trek sets have been sorely lacking. Although many wouldn't consider the packaging to be an "extra" I do prefer the "book" style packaging of "B5" to the latest packaging of "Star Trek Voyager" and the fold out accordion style favored by Fox for many of their DVD sets. Their easier to use, access and you don't have to unfold the whole darn set to get to the last disc. ---

Once again the producers of "B5" have outdone themselves with two commentary tracks by creator J. Michael Straczynski and one commentary track by Boxleitner, Tallman, Jurasik and Scoggins. The latter commentary improves on the party atmosphere of the previous two cast commentaries. It's professional enough to follow but it's still clear that they are having a damn fine time. If you haven't seen the episodes that J. Michael Straczynksi provides commentary for, you may want to watch the episodes first without his take on things. His intelligent, articulate comments provide an example of how well thought out many of the plot points were during the five year run. He also admits that on occasion he had to wing it when things didn't turn out quite as he had planned (as with the departure of Claudia Christiansen during season four and the replacement of Michael O'Hare during season two). ---

The cast commentary means its party time again. They razz each other repeatedly, make sarcastic comments about their own (and others) performances and generally have a blast. Although it isn't as informative as Straczynski's commentaries, they're a lot of fun to listen to. It's like having members of the cast watching the episode with you. There are, of course, times when you want them to shut up but, being a polite host, you'll let them ramble on. ---

Another outstanding job from the producers of "B5" and Warner, season five closes out the series in high style. With the announcement of another boxed set for the prequel, pilot and other movies made for Sci-Fi after the series concluded and the possibility that the short lived "Crusade" may be coming to DVD as well offers more promising nuggets from the Straczynski and the producers of this fine boxed set. ---

The picture and sound quality varies a bit but, on the whole, "B5" looks and sounds impressive. Although the optical effects and sets can still occasionally look cheesy because of the transfer, the series looks much better than it did during its broadcast.The downside of DVD is that you also see the flaws of the sets and optical effects. Luckily, the writing, acting and direction prevent this from becoming a distraction. Actually, the effects work is quite amazing considering how far CGI has come in the last couple of years with "Lord of the Rings". The generous extras and commentary tracks also make this an essential purchase for fans of the series. On the whole an admirable job that the producers of other series should look to as the standard for boxed sets in the future.