Babylon 5: In the Beginning

Babylon 5: In the Beginning is a science fiction television film set in the universe of the Babylon 5 series. It is framed as a story told by Londo Mollari, the Centauri emperor, who recounts for two young listeners the first contact between humans and Minbari. That encounter went badly wrong and led to a war that brought humanity close to destruction before it ended as suddenly as it had started. John Sheridan and Delenn appear on opposing sides. The film looks back roughly a decade before the series and lays out the events that shaped the station's creation.

Michael Vejar directed, working from a screenplay by J. Michael Straczynski. It is the first of the two Babylon 5 films Vejar directed, followed by Babylon 5: A Call to Arms in 1999. The cast includes Bruce Boxleitner as Sheridan, Mira Furlan as Delenn, Richard Biggs as Dr. Stephen Franklin, Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar, Peter Jurasik as Londo Mollari and Theodore Bikel as Lenonn, with 28 credited cast members and 68 credited crew.

Released in January 1998, the 94-minute film was produced by Turner Network Television and Babylonian Productions. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.7 from around 8,700 votes, while on TMDB its rating is 7.1 from roughly 177 votes, indicating a solidly received title with a much larger audience footprint on the former platform.