36 Hours

Story: And Now For A Word

Written By: J. Michael Straczynski

Season: 2

This is a unique episode that uses a gimmick storytelling device of the whole episode being a News Report.  Essentially it is supposed to be a special report, “36 Hours on Babylon 5”.  While there, the reporters witness a Centauri ship attacked and destroyed by Narn, which is a major escalation of their war, seeing as they’ve moved into the Neutral space of Babylon 5.  

The whole episode is really about the escalation of that war, at one point several fighter ships of Narn and Centauri origin engage right outside the station, later two major warships battle it out just outside the station and destroy each other.  What a lucky news team to get all this!  I actually think this episode would’ve been really gripping without the news story gimmick, but even with that gimmick it was a fairly solid episode that furthered the storylines by things actually happening. 

I’d say a highlight of this episode was the creepy yet cheery PsiCorp commercial that felt very Nazi propaganda, if the Nazis had used cheery TV commercials.  

NEXT TIME: Icarus