By Joshua Tyler
| Published
Science fiction movies and TV shows are full of big space battles, but it’s rare to see them attempt realism. There are a few recent exceptions. The Expanse wowed audiences with its realistic depiction of future space battles. The 2000s Battlestar Galactica used fundamental Newtonian Physics to make some of the most incredible space slugfests ever captured on screen.
Long before either of those shows, one sci-fi series innovated massive, more scientifically accurate space battles using new technology beyond anything anyone had seen before. The show was also the first to ever use CGI on television. It changed everything about the way science fiction is done.
You’re about to discover what happens when the last, best hope for peace fails. These are the best space battles of Babylon 5, ranked in order from great to greatest.
4. The Battle of Proxima 3 (Season 4’s No Surrender, No Retreat)
With the Shadow War ended, Babylon 5’s Captain John Sheridan is free to turn his attention to sorting out the problems with Earth. That’s bad news for President Clark, the corrupt, totalitarian dictator who has taken over. Clark orders Earthforce ships to begin attacking civilian targets and Sheridan can’t let that stand.
A fleet of 6 Omega Class destroyers, led by Captain Trevor Hall aboard the EAS Heracles, is ordered to blockade Proxima 3, a human colony that has broken away from Earth. Sheridan decides that’s the place he wants to make a statement.
The alien allies who helped Sheridan during the Shadow War have signed neutrality treaties and won’t be involved. Sheridan moves on Proxima with a fleet of White Stars and every fighter craft he can find.
The battle doesn’t start right away. This is an Earth-on-Earth conflict, and neither side is eager to kill their brothers and sisters. Sheridan pleads with the other side to defect, offering them amnesty, offering them anything if they’ll stop supporting Earth’s corrupt government.
Captain Hall is in charge, and he has no interest in Sheridan’s speeches. He’s a Clark loyalist, and while some of the other ships take Sheridan’s offer, Hall starts the attack.
The Earth forces are no match for Sheridan’s White Star fleet, and with the support of Babylon 5’s fighter squadrons, it’s clear Hall can’t win. Hall refuses to surrender, intending to fight to the last, but his crew mutinies. They surrender, and the battle’s over.
3. The Liberation Of Earth (Season 4’s Endgame)
Since its very beginning, the Earth Alliance Civil War has loomed in the background of everything that’s happened on Babylon 5. It ends here.
To set the right tone, Captain John Sheridan moves his command to an Earth ship, the EAS Agamemnon. The Agamemnon was his prior command before being moved to Babylon 5.
He faces a fleet of 36 Earth destroyers over Mars, led by General Leftcourt, a man loyal to Earth’s corrupt President Clark. Sheridan is ready for them. He’s been smuggling Shadow-modified telepaths aboard Earth’s ships for weeks.
Sheridan launches a diversion, attacking planetside bases with his White Stars. He orders the telepath Lyta to activate the telepaths smuggled aboard Earth ships. They awaken, disabling most of Earth’s destroyers. The remaining 10 ships are effortlessly disabled by the White Star fleet.
At this point, it seems like things are going well, but that’s about to change. Earth is surrounded by a series of defense platforms, and realizing it’s all over, President Clark decides to turn them on his own planet. The battle becomes a race against time to destroy the platforms before they annihilate the population of Earth.
Meanwhile, the other alien races, who’d supported Sheridan during the Shadow War, have, at Sheridan’s request, stayed out of the fray. Despite previously staying out of the human-on-human conflict, G’Kar and Londo are determined to support their human friends. They’d earlier convinced the others in Sheridan’s Alliance of Light to form up and ride to the rescue.
Everyone arrives at Earth. Sheridan and the White Stars. Earth allied ships. The Minbari, the Centauri, the Narns, and the League of Non-Alligned worlds. Every race in the galaxy arrives with one common goal: To save the Earth.
They attack Earth’s defense platforms in a desperate bid to save the planet. It’s working, but too slowly. Sheridan’s ship, the Agamemnon, is damaged, and its weapons systems are disabled. There’s one platform left, and it’s about to fire on the planet. Sheridan orders ramming speed and sends his ship and her crew to their death.
It’s then, at the very last second, that General Leftcourt arrives. He’s repaired his ship and, hearing what Clark has done, decides to switch sides. A former enemy unites with Sheridan in one final battle to save the human race, and the final platform is destroyed.
Earth is liberated. Clark commits suicide. The Civil War is over.
2. The Battle of Coriana VI (Season 4’s Into The Fire)
The Shadow war is raging. To combat the Shadow threat, Babylon 5’s Captain Sheridan has formed an Alliance of Light, comprised of forces from the Narn, the Minbari, and the smaller non-aligned worlds of the galaxy.
The Vorlon, who they thought were their allies, have revealed themselves as villains no different from the Shadows. They’re destroying whole planets to wipe out all Shadow influence. It’s not going well.
It all comes to a head over a heavily populated planet called Coriana VI. Sheridan lures the forces of both the Shadows and the Vorlons to this one place.
Until now, the two elder races have avoided fighting each other. Instead, they use others as pawns in an eternal argument against each other. Sheridan’s plan is to force the Vorlons and Shadows into facing off, though he knows his forces will be caught in the middle.
He has an ace in the hole. The Vorlons and the Shadows aren’t the only elder races left in the Galaxy. Sheridan sends Ivanova to recruit the last remnants of the other First Ones. Whether they’ll show up when called upon is unknown.
The battle begins. The Shadows and the Vorlons fall for Sherdian’s trap. The ancient enemies are so laser-focused on each other that the two mega-powers ignore Sheridan’s vastly inferior Army of Light.
Refusing to be ignored, Sheridan attacks, using asteroids mined as a trap. Now the Vorlons and the Shadows are pissed. They turn to engage the Army of Light.
The battle quickly turns into a massive fireball of destruction, with three fleets ripping each other to shreds. The Army of Light isn’t doing well; they’re getting decimated. Sheridan puts out a call for help, and that’s when the First Ones show up. They only bring one ship each, but one ship is enough.
Now, there are four fleets involved instead of three, and the battle becomes even more chaotic. The First Ones destroy the Vorlon Planet Killer, saving Coriana VI.
The shadows engulf Sheridan’s fleet in a death cloud, bringing the battle to a halt. Both the Vorlons and the Shadows appear to Sheridan and Delenn, demanding they choose one of them to side with. Babylon 5’s power couple refuses.
Angered, the Shadows begin firing missiles at Sheridan’s command ship, the White Star 2. Every time they do, an Alliance of Light ships throws itself in the missile’s path, sacrificing themselves to save their leaders.
Stymied by Sheridan and his people’s decision to commit suicide rather than pick a side, the Vorlons and Shadows give up. The oldest of the First Ones, Lorien, convinces them to leave the Galaxy and move on. The Shadow War is finally over.
1. The Battle Of Babylon 5 (Season 3’s Severed Dreams)
The Battle of Babylon 5 is something the series spent three seasons building towards. We watched as the Earth-based government the Babylon 5 crew answers to turns increasingly authoritarian and corrupt.
Sometimes the signs of the Earth government’s rot are hidden in the background. Sometimes they’ve been front and center of the story. It’s been happening gradually. We know it, and the Babylon 5 crew knows it.
Captain Sheridan has tried to stay neutral, but that won’t last. In the season 3 episode “Severed Dreams” he’s forced to take a stand. That stand leads to immediate conflict.
Earth’s corrupt President has ordered the Earthforce fleet to attack and destroy the ships of those disloyal to his regime. One of those ships, an Omega Class destroyer called the EAS Alexander, is forced to fight back. Hunted and on the run, the ship’s commander, Ed Ryan, realizes he and his crew have only one place of sanctuary left. That place is Babylon 5.
The Alexander and another Omega Class destroyer, the Churchhill, soon arrive at Babylon 5. Sheridan is ordered to surrender them or fight against the government and the planet he’s sworn to protect. Sheridan and his crew choose to fight.
He announces Babylon 5’s independence and braces for battle. Earth sends a task force to throw him and everyone who supports him in jail. Battle ensues.
The attacking task force is comprised of two Omega Class destroyers and two Hyperion class heavy cruisers. Babylon 5 has its defense grid, its fighters, and two Omega Class destroyers.
Sheridan and his captains are hesitant to fire on other Earthforce vessels. Until recently, the people on board their opponent ships were friends and colleagues. Their opponents aren’t as interested in holding back, and so the battle begins.
Babylon 5 launches its fighters and activates the defense grid. The station and its allies return fire. Explosions are everywhere. Breaching pods are launched by the enemy, and begin landing troops on the station in an effort to take it over. Babylon 5 is prepared to repel boarders, but the Earth ships have them outnumbered.
One of Babylon 5’s ships, the Churchhill, is critically damaged. Her captain chooses to sacrifice herself and her crew, destroying the remaining attacker.
One Omega Class destroyer remains, but Captain Sheridan orders the station to focus its fire. She’s heavily damaged and Sheridan begs her commander to surrender. It’s too late and the ship explodes.
The battle is over; Sheridan thinks they’ve survived. It isn’t, and they haven’t.
New jump gates open, and more Earthforce ships emerge. Two more Omega Class destroyers and a Hyperion class destroyer are bearing down on a now-depleted Babylon 5. Sheridan and his crew brace for death.
That’s when the Minbari arrive and Delenn gives what may be the greatest speech in the history of science fiction.
“Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else.”
Earth’s fleet, terrified of the Minbari’s superior ships, runs for the jump gate and doesn’t return. Babylon 5’s independence is secured, and the battle is over for now.