Story: In what is apparently the last of Jane Killick’s behind-the-scenes books about Babylon 5, the author examines the making of the show’s final season, beginning with The Deconstruction of Falling Stars, which technically capped off season four despite being produced by TNT. The guide then tackles everything from No Compromises through Sleeping In Light, though I admit to being very disappointed with the final episode’s coverage – it starts out with “What hasn’t already been said about this episode?” as an almost up-front announcement that you’re not going to get much out of this section. The Babylon 5 magazine coverage of Sleeping, and – quite frankly – Joe Nazarro’s liner note insert in the episode’s soundtrack CD, were more informative than this.
Review: What really makes Killick’s book isn’t necessarily her material, but the reminiscences of the actors, and some of season five’s key players – namely Tracy Scoggins and Robin Atkin Downes (Byron) – haven’t talked much about their B5 work in the past, so their comments here, though sparse, are refreshing. On the flipside, most of J. Michael Straczynski’s quotes are lifted from his Usenet postings – but unlike Hal Schuster (author of unauthorized – and, to be completely candid, unauthored – guides to nearly everything), I’m sure Killick had JMS’ permission to reprint these.
Despite the fact that I enjoy Killick’s B5 books, I still can’t help but be critical of their structure. A good chunk of each episode’s sub-chapter is taken up by a plot synopsis which usually lasts two to three pages in itself. Most fans who are bothering with the season-by-season guides will already have these details memorized, and there are numerous other episode guides out there, such as the Lurker’s Guide and, if you’ll pardon my humility, our own site here. I would much rather have had that space filled with more juicy details, and perhaps a very brief episode synopsis.
I was also a little disappointed with the lack of coverage of the TNT movies, which could probably take up their own entire sixth volume. They’re mentioned occasionally in this book, but they’re referenced as all but an unconnected and unrelated entity of their own.
Ultimately, I recommend “The Wheel of Fire” to you, mainly because of the wealth of material in the refreshingly ungossipy sections giving the actors’ comments. Anyone can get online and find out what JMS was thinking when he created various facets of the Babylon 5 universe, but the actors’ comments and feelings are rarely so prominent, and it is that perspective which makes Jane Killick’s five-volume examination of Babylon 5 so interesting.
Year: 1999
Author: Jane Killick
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 180 pages
