Babylon 5: The Road Home Review

David Lynch’sEraserhead, godfather of cult movies, didn’t attract the same blockbuster audience asStar Wars, though both debuted in 1977, and both have influential legacies. Whereas producers, studios and, hell, everyone else have copiedStar Warshoping to emulate its financial success, artists — writers, directors, visual artists and so on — are the ones who want to emulateEraserhead’s style and mood. Such directors as Stanley Kubrick, Mel Brooks, John Waters, and George Lucas himself have all expressed admiration for the innovation of the film.

The sci-fi TV seriesBabylon 5has a similar legacy toEraserhead. Other genre luminaries — Ronald D. Moore, George R.R. Martin — often cite the show as having a profound influence on their own work. Though never a major hit during its initial run from 1994 to 1998, its devoted cult following and innovation of formatting a TV series as an ultra-serialized novel keep it active in the zeitgeist.The X-Filesmight have won more Emmys, andStar Trek: Deep Space Ninemight have attracted more viewers, butBabylon 5has an effect that rivals the legacy of either.

Babylon 5: The Road Home

NowBabylon 5returns withBabylon 5: The Road Home, a new animated movie penned by series creator J. Michael Straczynski that reunites the surviving members of the original cast. Set in the final season of the TV series, the story follows John Sheridan (Bruce Boxlitner) as he oversees the inauguration of a new alien power source. Said engine uses tachyon particles — that is, particles that exist outside of space-time — which sends Sheridan leaping through a series of parallel universes, where he encounters other majorB5characters and visits alternate versions of some of the show’s biggest storylines.

A Strange Loop

It’s difficult to discuss the plot ofThe Road Homewithout giving away major elements of both the film and the TV series. In a sense, the plot doesn’t matter: since this midquel concerns alternate versions of the characters, viewers should intuit that it doesn’t have major consequences for the end of the series.

For that matter,The Road Homedoesn’t even have major consequences in and of itself. Sheridan’s leaping between universes gives the film an episodic feel. The characters, settings, and objectives keep changing every few minutes. That makes for a frustrating story at times, since, no matter what the danger, viewers figure out that Straczynski will push the reset button again, and Sheridan will find himself in new circumstances.

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The Road Homehas two other recent pop culture corollaries.Like Marvel’sWhat If?, the film will play best to major fans of the show, who can understand every single minutia of change from universe to universe. Viewers coming in cold might enjoy the action and visual flare of the film, but without foreknowledge of the story, won’t understand how Straczynski wants to subvert his characters or plot. As withWhat If?,The Road Homealso uses animation to telegraph a more surrealist mood to viewers. Under the direction of Matt Peters, theBabylon 5universe has never felt so sprawling or so strange.

Related:Exclusive: Babylon 5 Creator J. Michael Straczynski Teases the “Joyful Noise” of New Movie

The movie also channels another long-delayed franchise entry:The Matrix Resurrections.As with that film,The Road Homewants to send love to longtime devotees ofBabylon 5;it’s a nostalgic cast reunion that revisits the show’s high points, and that has a buried purpose.Matrixdirector Lana Wachowskihas said she made the fourth film as a way of confronting her grief after the death of her parents. For her, theMatrixstory ended with the third movie. The fourth isn’t a new chapter in the saga, so much as an epilogue to it — a way of sending love to the fans and her collaborators on the franchise.

We get the feeling that Straczynski — who, we should mention, worked on the seriesSense8with Wachowski — wants to do the same thing here. A number of key cast members ofBabylon 5have passed on since the show ended, including Mira Furlan, Michael O’Hare, Stephen Furst, Jerry Doyle, Andreas Katsulas, and Jeff Conway.The Road Homeand its animated format gives Straczynski a chance to revisit their characters.

LikeThe Matrix Resurrections,The Road Homefeels less like a story about its main character than a meta document about its creator. This isn’t John Sheridan’s story, it’s Joe Straczynski’s — note how the pair have the same initials.The Road Homeallows the series' creator to work with his friends and pay respects to others, all under the auspice of an adventure.

Babylon 5: Resurrections

Detractors of the film will argue — correctly — thatThe Road Homedoesn’t have real dramatic stakes. But that’s not the point. As Tolkien did with hisLord of the Ringsappendices andUnfinished Tales, Straczynski doesn’t seek to extend or undo the ending of his epic.The Road Homerepresents a catharsis for its creator, a chance to say goodbye and spend 75 minutes with the characters that helped define his career. Straczynski has long cited the work of Tolkien as an inspiration forBabylon 5.30 years later, that influence still shows.

Related:Babylon 5: Why You Should Be Excited for the Sci-Fi Space Drama’s Return

The Road Homealso offers Straczynski and company an opportunity to play with shiny new toys.Babylon 5broke new ground on television by using computer graphics to portray the show’s space battles and alien environments. These effects looked ridiculous even in the context of their time, and likely played a role in confiningBabylon 5to cult status rather than mainstream success. Now, Straczynski and Peters, armed with advanced CGI and 4K resolution, give theB5universe a detail and menace it couldn’t enjoy before. Alien creatures and spaceships couldn’t boast this level of definition or scope back in 1998.

The Road Homelets Straczynski show viewers what he had in mind all along, and hints at the potential forthe long-in-development-hellBabylon 5reboot. Whether as a streaming or film series, technology can finally do justice to theBabylon 5story. Here is a sleeping giant — one that, when awoken, could finally attract the mainstream success it long deserved.

For now, though, longtime fans ofBabylon 5and sci-fi lovers looking for a fun space opera should take delight inThe Road Home’s fusion of homage and spectacle. The movie doesn’t seek to milk the legacy of the show, so much as honor it: Straczynski has told his story, but that doesn’t mean he’s ever stopped living with his creation. Like his main character, the show’s creator wonders, “What If.” When it comes to theBabylon 5universe, Hollywood should ask the same question.

Babylon 5: The Road Home lands on Digital, 4K UHD and Blu-ray on July 16, 2025.