[Babylon5 Spaceship]

Babylon 5 Soundtrack Liner Notes


From J. Michael Straczynski, Creator/Executive Producer of Babylon 5

The Babylon Project was a dream given form,� says the narrator of Babylon 5...words truer than may seem at first glance. It took five years, from concept to pilot movie, to get Babylon 5 on the air. Everyone told us it couldn�t be done, that we were too ambitious, that the effects would bankrupt any studio, that no one would be interested in a five-year saga with a definite beginning, middle and end. But dreams share one quality: they are stubborn and do not easily surrender to common sense.

And now, seven years after its conception, Babylon 5 enters its second season, telling its curious tale of a quarter-million humans and aliens locked together in a five-mile space station in neutral territory in the Earth year 2259, each with their own dreams and nightmares.

Throughout the process of bringing Babylon 5 to millions of television screens, we took great care to make everything about the show unique and special. nowhere is that more evident than in Christopher Franke�s moving and powerful scores, which have by turns enlivened, thrilled, touched and, on occasion, unnerved. the composer�s task is not a simple one: to work around the dialogue without stepping on it: to be invisible against the drama while at the same time grabbing you by the lapels, throwing you up against a wall and blowing the doors off your house.

And here Christopher Franke, former member of Tangerine Dream, has successed beyond telling. Never have I worked with a composer who so thoroughly understood what was in my head before I could even describe it. The soundtrack you hold in your hands is an embodiment of that dream, taken one step further. Rather than individual, unconnected music cues or brief pieces, Franke has reorchestrated his original scores and primary thems for Babylon 5 (such as his lovely, haunting �requiem for the Line�) into one long uninterrupted symphonic piece, and ambitious and unusual step which few composers are willing to make. In this way, the Babylon 5 soundtrack is emblematic of the series itself... individual pieces which, when taken together, form a unique tapestry.

From the original conception of Babylon 5, interpreted and given life in major and minor keys by Christopher Franke, this soundtrack is a long-awaited gift to the millions of viewers who have been so supportive of this unusual story. Close the doors, crank up the volume, and prepare to have your socks blown off...the musical adventure is just beginning.

J. Michael Straczynski, Creator/Executive Producer of Babylon 5



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