7.1/101,215 votes#1 - Midnight on the Firing Line
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 1/26/1994
When the Narn attack a Centauri colony, Londo and G'Kar nearly come to blows. Meanwhile, raiders are attacking transport ships near the station.
Director: Richard Compton
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
6.8/101,128 votes#2 - Soul Hunter
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 2/2/1994
A badly damaged ship is brought into the station and the strange alien inside is identified as a soul hunter - an immortal race who can sense death and supposedly steal someone's soul.
Director: Jim Johnston
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
7.0/101,041 votes#3 - Born to the Purple
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 2/9/1994
Londo unknowingly falls for a beautiful slave, whose owner wants her to steal sensitive information. Garibaldi discovers that someone is using a restricted communications channel.
Director: Bruce Seth Green
Writer: Larry DiTillio
6.4/10988 votes#4 - Infection
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 2/16/1994
Dr. Franklin gets a visit from an old friend and former mentor, xenoarchaeologist Dr. Vance Hendricks who wants Franklin's help to analyze some organic artifacts he found on a dead world. But the artifacts seem to have a will of their own and start to manipulate Hendricks' assistant.
Director: Richard Compton
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
7.3/10980 votes#5 - The Parliament of Dreams
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 2/23/1994
Sinclair's old flame, Catherine Sakai, arrives during a week-long festival when humans and aliens demonstrate their dominate religious beliefs. An old enemy sends an assassin to kill G'Kar.
Director: Jim Johnston
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
7.6/101,002 votes#6 - Mind War
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 3/2/1994
The Psi-Cops arrive at the station to capture a rogue telepath, Talia's old Psi Corps instructor. Catherine Sakai is warned not to survey Sigma 957 by G'Kar.
Director: Bruce Seth Green
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
6.8/10933 votes#7 - The War Prayer
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 3/9/1994
A racist group is terrorizing non-humans on Babylon 5. Meanwhile Londo has trouble with two young Centauri who want to break with tradition by ignoring their arranged marriages, and instead marry for love.
Director: Richard Compton
Writer: D.C. Fontana
7.9/10987 votes#8 - And the Sky Full of Stars
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 3/16/1994
Sinclair is kidnapped and interrogated by two men determined to prove he betrayed earth during the Battle of the Line.
Director: Janet Greek
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
7.5/10928 votes#9 - Deathwalker
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 4/20/1994
Na'Toth attacks an alien woman that has just arrived on the station, claiming that she is the Dilgar war criminal Jha'dur - known as Deathwalker. Meanwhile, Talia is hired by Kosh to oversee some rather strange negotiations.
Director: Bruce Seth Green
Writer: Larry DiTillio
7.0/10966 votes#10 - Believers
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 4/27/1994
An alien couple comes to Dr. Franklin with their fatally ill son. The child could be cured by a simple operation, but the parents' religion specifically forbids it. Meanwhile, Ivanova escorts a damaged star liner through raider territory.
Director: Richard Compton
Writer: David Gerrold
6.8/10843 votes#11 - Survivors
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 5/4/1994
There is an explosion in one of the fighter bays just days before the president is to visit Babylon 5. A dying man implicates Garibaldi, which is just what the head of presidential security wants to hear, as she blames him for her father's death.
Director: Jim Johnston
Writer: Marc Scott Zicree
7.2/10871 votes#12 - By Any Means Necessary
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 5/11/1994
The station's dock workers stage an illegal strike after an accident in the docking bays. G'Kar tries to take part in a Narn religious ceremony, but must find a replacement G'Quan-Eth plant that was destroyed in the accident.
Director: Jim Johnston
Writer: Kathryn M. Drennan
8.3/10960 votes#13 - Signs and Portents
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 5/18/1994
A Centauri noble comes to Babylon 5 to transport an important relic in Londo's possession back to the homeworld. And a mysterious man visits all the alien ambassadors asking them an unusual question.
Director: Janet Greek
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
5.8/10895 votes#14 - TKO
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 5/25/1994
Garibaldi is surprised when an old friend comes to Babylon 5 to fight in the "Mutai" - a savage alien fighting arena. Meanwhile, Ivanova has trouble dealing with her father's death.
Director: John C. Flinn III
Writer: Larry DiTillio
6.6/10848 votes#15 - Grail
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 7/6/1994
A man comes to Babylon 5 asking the alien ambassadors for information that can help him with his quest to find the Holy Grail, while a Downbelow gangster gives security problems by mind-wiping all who oppose him.
Director: Richard Compton
Writer: Christy Marx
7.2/10842 votes#16 - Eyes
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 7/13/1994
Sinclair's decisions the last year catch up with him, when an internal affairs investigator arrives to test the crew's loyalty to Earth Force with the help of a telepath. And Lennier shows great interest in Garibaldi's attempt at assembling a 1990's motorcycle.
Director: Jim Johnston
Writer: Larry DiTillio
7.1/10792 votes#17 - Legacies
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 7/20/1994
A Minbari war cruiser comes to Babylon 5 to display the body of a recently dead Minbari leader, while Ivanova and Talia battle for the fate of a young girl with newly discovered telepathic powers.
Director: Bruce Seth Green
Writer: D.C. Fontana
7.8/10850 votes#18 - A Voice in the Wilderness (1)
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 7/27/1994
Strange signals start coming from Epsilon 3, the planet below Babylon 5. A science ship is sent to investigate, but is fired upon by a defense system on the planet. Meanwhile, Garibaldi worries about a lover he left back on Mars, when fighting breaks out there.
Director: Janet Greek
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
8.0/10850 votes#19 - A Voice in the Wilderness (2)
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 8/3/1994
The situation heats up when an Earth Force heavy cruiser arrives to "protect Earth's interests", and the fusion reactors on Epsilon 3 start going out of control, and may blow up the planet and Babylon 5.
Director: Janet Greek
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
8.5/10944 votes#20 - Babylon Squared
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 8/10/1994
Babylon 4 reappears at the same place it disappeared four years before, and Sinclair and Garibaldi lead an expedition to evacuate its crew. Meanwhile, Delenn is summoned by the Grey council. They inform her that they have selected a new leader - her.
Director: Jim Johnston
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
7.3/10825 votes#21 - The Quality of Mercy
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 8/17/1994
Dr. Franklin investigates an unlicensed medical practitioner in Downbelow, while Londo takes Lennier for a tour of Babylon 5's seedier locales. And in the brig, a convicted murderer waits for his sentence to be carried out - the death of personality.
Director: Lorraine Senna
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
8.6/10940 votes#22 - Chrysalis
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 10/3/1994
The Centauri are about to withdraw from a quadrant of space because the Narn are harassing them, when Londo gets an offer to take care of the problem. Meanwhile, Garibaldi tries to find out what his informant stumbled upon that got him killed.
Director: Janet Greek
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
The Best Episodes of Babylon 5 Season 1
Every episode of Babylon 5 Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Babylon 5 Season 1!
Babylon 5 is a five-mile long space station located in neutral space. Built by the Earth Alliance in the 2250s, its goal is to maintain...
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Season 1 Ratings Summary
"Midnight on the Firing Line" is the best rated episode of "Babylon 5" season 1. It scored 7.1/10 based on 1215 votes. Directed by Richard Compton and written by J. Michael Straczynski, it aired on 1/26/1994. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Soul Hunter".