Anyone who considers themselves a science fiction buff has to have watched all five seasons of Babylon 5 and the many television movies that were produced to complement the complex storylines that creator J. Michael Straczynski envisioned for the show. When the show finally ended, the die-hard fans clamored and begged for a feature-length movie. Instead, they got more television movies and a spin-off show called Crusade which was canceled very early into the show’s run.
When Straczynski was again approached to do a feature-length for a show that hadn’t been regularly broadcast since 1998, he was very hesitant, especially after two of the main actors from the show (Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs) have since passed away. So instead of a feature-length, Straczynski decided on a few direct-to-DVD anthology sets that would be more character-driven and more personal than anything that been done before, but still have essential roles in the already established B5 universe.
Voices In The Dark is the first anthology set with two episodes, one featuring Colonel Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins) and the other featuring President of the Interstellar Alliance John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) and Galen (Peter Woodward). Both episodes intertwine and are set during the same 72-hour timeframe in the year 2272. The Babylon 5 station is busier than usual as President Sheridan is set to arrive in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Interstellar Alliance’s founding.
The first one titled “Over Here” involves Lochley and a crew member (Bruce Ramsay) supposedly possessed by the devil. Lochley summons one of the few priests left on Earth, Father Kelly (Alan Scarfe), to perform an exorcism. It seems like a straightforward action, until the crew member begins reading minds, predicting the future, and even creating a firestorm around the station to show his authenticity.
These events lead Lochley and Kelly to believe that the crew member is possessed by the devil, but what’s strange is that he actually wants to be exorcised. The devil‘s willfulness leads Lochley and Kelly to second-guess any and all options. Can the concept of God and the devil still be viable even after humans have long explored the far reaches of the galaxy and after all of the angels and demons (“The First Ones” to you newbs) have left?
The second one titled “Over There” involves President Sheridan as he travels to Babylon 5, but on the way he stops to pick up Prince Regent Dius Vintari (Keegan Macintosh), a representative of the Centauri Republic, for the B5 festivities. During the trip, Sheridan receives a dream from the technomage Galen about Earth’s future destruction, and that the only way to prevent it is to kill the young Vintari.
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