BPP – A Call To Arms

The Babylon Project Podcast

Welcome to our fifth and final review of the Babylon 5 movies. A Call to Arms originally aired on TNT on January 3rd, 1999. The movie depicts events that happened one year before the spin-off series “Crusade”, and one year after the events in the movie “Legend of the Rangers”.

After the last movie we reviewed, this one was refreshing and felt like it comfortably belonged with the series. As the movie opens we see Delenn is the Vice President, and we learn Sheridan has been keeping below the radar. We quickly see why: he’s been involved in the creation of a new hybrid Minbari-Human-Vorlon technology destroyer class of ship. There are two prototypes complete (Excalibur and Victory) and the time has come for Sheridan to see the fruit of the work. He boards the Excalibur and we’re introduced to Mr. Drake, the lead engineer, who will guide Sheridan’s orientation.

Things get tense right away when it becomes clear to Sheridan and Garibaldi that the demonstration flight will be the first time the ship has operated out of dock—there was never a shakedown cruise to confirm engines and systems work as designed. With the likelihood that something will go wrong, Mike is mad, and Mr. Drake gets a little more time to ensure the ship is ready to sail. While all this is going on, Sheridan receives a message from Delenn, takes it in a private room, and we get our first indication something is amiss. The message wasn’t from Delenn at all. Instead, it was a jumbled series of images, and Sheridan ends up zoned out for a half hour, only interrupted when Mike comes in to check on him. Thinking he had just stepped into the room, he’s surprised to hear Mike tell him he had been there for 30 minutes, but explains away the lapse in memory by saying something was simply wrong with the message. Later, he’s visited by Galen in a dream and shown a vision of a place called Daltron 7.

On B5, a dangerous (and very interesting) woman called Dureena arrives, with an apparent fascination with knives that surfaces when Security checks her. She clears Security and asks a simple and odd question: Where do the lost people go? The answer: Down Below. She’s on her way and in short order we discover she’s a member of the Thieve’s Guild, and meets with the local group on B5. Later, she’s also visited in a dream and told to “choose her target wisely.”

The demonstration of the new ship goes as well as can be expected, but with two disturbing events occurring: Sheridan is visited again by Galen, told about the Techno-mages, and warned of a coming attack on Earth by a race called the Drakh (a subservient ally of the Shadows); and when the Excalibur’s main guns are fired, it drains the entire ship’s systems resulting in a total loss of power and rendering the ship vulnerable for at least 60 seconds. Regarding the Drakh, it seems they’re planning to take the Shadow’s place, and take revenge on the Earth for its role in the demise of their former Shadow masters. Sheridan has also been sketching the busts of three unknown people, and has Mike looking into the mysterious Daltron 7. In short order Sheridan meets Dureena when he passes by B5 to explain the emerging threat to Earth to Captain Lockley, and realizes she’s one of the people she’s had visions of and sketched a picture of. Her connection? She’s one of the few (if not the only) surviving members of her race after the Shadows destroyed her planet in the Shadow War. She joins Sheridan. An Earth Alliance ship also arrives and is commanded by Captain Anderson, the second person Sheridan had sketched a picture of. He’s also been having visions similar to Sheridan’s, he’s convinced him to come along, and the two of them concoct a plan to use both prototype destroyers to attempt to save the Earth. They slip away from B5 unnoticed. They’ll visit Daltron 7, and then find a way to confront the Drahk to prevent them from using a planet killer on Earth like the one used on Dureena’s home world. They slip away from B5 unnoticed, and in some cleverly orchestrated moves, steal the Excalibur and Victory, and our three heroes (Sheridan, Sherman and Dureena) head toward Daltron 7 before Mike (now chasing them) catches up.

Arriving at Daltron 7, they find the planet destroyed, and a dead Drazi with an important recording. The Drazi is the third person Sheridan had sketched out. They take the recording and go, and almost immediately end up confronted by Drahk fighters, who don’t appear to recognize the ships and therefore don’t just attack right away. As they negotiate with Dureena, she attempts to bluff. It was good, but the Drahk don’t believe her. It appears they’ve been tipped off by someone! A big black hole (a null field) appears in space and the Drahk run in. Sheridan decides to fire into the hole and pursue. When he emerges on the other side he discovers an incredibly large fleet ready to go on the offensive, with a planet killer weapon prepared for Earth. He hastily withdraws, calls to fill Lockley in on the threat, and makes an appeal to her to contact Earth and plead the case to have the fleet position itself around the planet to fight. Meanwhile, Mike arrives at the secret base where Excalibur and Victory were, learns that the ships are gone and with some hesitation, brings Mr. Drake along as his pursuit continues. Shortly after this, he discovers the leak—none other than Mr. Drake—who has traded away humanity for what he believes is a better and safer deal with the Drahk.

Given the size and lethality of the attacking fleet, Excalibur and Victory arrive at Earth pleased to see the message got through and the fleet was in position. Shortly after, the attack begins. Given the size of the attacking force, along with the fight happening so close to Earth, Captain Anderson has a plan that just might work: the Earth fleet with punch a hole for Victory and Excalibur, who can then use their more powerful weapons to destroy the planet killer. He hole is made, but somehow when Excalibur fires, it misses the actual ship carrying the planet killer. With no time left, Victory rams the control center of the attacking force, destroying the weapon.

Just when it appears all is well, however, the Drahk begin doing something else, effectively spraying the surface of the Earth with…something. As the movie begins to close, we learn that it’s a biogenetic plague, engineered by the Shadows, but not optimized for use on humans. The result, humanity has five years to attempt to find a cure, or perish. The movie ends with the decision to use Excalibur as a search and research ship, and humanity begins a crusade to find the cure, setting the stage for the follow-on series “Crusade”.

Now that the movies are complete, Raul, Jim and JP will finish out the television-based Babylon 5 story by watching and reviewing the one-season series “Crusade”. Please stay with us as we work our way through this final bit of television content!

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Just remember… No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There’s always a boom tomorrow!

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