Babylon 5 Turned The Most Controversial Title In Human History Into An Emmy-Winning Story
Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published
In the history of the world, nothing has united people or divided people like religion. It can bring peace and purpose to one's life while destroying another's. To say that discussing religion in public is controversial, however, is an understatement. Babylon 5 dived into the theme early, using “Parliament of Dreams,” the fifth episode of Season 1, to show the good, bad, and importance of religion, culminating in a final image that serves as a mission statement for creator J. Michael Straczynski throughout the series.
Everything That Makes Babylon 5 Great: Religion, Murder, and Love
Babylon 5 is the center of trade, commerce, and communication for hundreds of species, which means that if the Earth Alliance dedicates an entire week to celebrating religions, there are hundreds of different festivals on board. Each civilization displays its dominant religion, leading to the Minbari religious class holding prayers, the Centauri throwing a party, and other, less-represented species getting quick moments to show what's important.
The main plot of the episode has nothing to do with the religious festival. Narn ambassador G'Kar is trying to survive an assassination attempt he knows is from a political rival seeking revenge beyond the grave. Confused, G'Kar assumes that his new assistant, Na'Toth, is in fact his rival's emissary sent with a message of death. We get an early glimpse of the character G'Kar would become when he and Na'Toth stop an assassin, and escape. After all, the penalty for failing an assassin's guild is death, so why bother getting his hands dirty?
As always, there's another side plot that focuses on giving fans a deeper insight into one of the characters, this time, Commander Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) dealing with the reappearance of his late, late lover and one-time flight attendant, Catherine Sakai. Now working as a planetary explorer, Catherine ends up rich with her new find, and chooses to celebrate with Sinclair. Deciding that she's “here again” for now, Catherine promises that she'll be back, and unlike Londo's love, make sure she is.
Emmy Winning Episode
Babylon 5 it goes back to the religious ceremony of the closing moments of the “Parliament of Dreams” in a big way. Finally, Sinclair will show the unknown politicians the world's dominant religious culture. He leads them through a long, long list of people, each representing a different religion found on Earth, starting with an atheist. It's a great moment that plays right into the credits to show how many religions there are on Earth and how Sinclair intends to honor each of them.
“Parliament of Dreams” was honored at the 1994 Emmys for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series for all the alien prosthetics used throughout the episode. The regular alien cast, including Ga'Kar, Londo, Koth, and Deleen, established the look of their species but the talented background team used this episode to start creating their own stock background designs. Babylon 5 felt like a real space station filled with hundreds of different types thanks to the team's dedication to creating a unique, memorable look, even if you only see them behind a few images.
At the end of the series, there is no doubt about that Babylon 5 in the end it was a show about religion. The ultimate fates of many characters, including Sinclair and Neroon, are directly tied to their religious journey. “Parliament of Destinies” is an early, beautiful symbol of the importance of religion, and why humanity is unique in the universe.
