Burbank, Calif., July XX, 2002 – After countless requests from sci-fi fans everywhere, Warner Home Video releases the first 22 regular season episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series Babylon 5 to DVD on November 5 with the 6-disc giftset Babylon 5: The Complete First Season. Loaded with extras including commentaries by series creator J. Michael Straczynski, the set will sell for $99.98 SRP/$79.95 MAP. Orders are due October 8.

Babylon 5, the acclaimed, award-winning series about the space station that's the tumultuous center of the 23rd-century's bid for peace among humans and aliens, joins Friends, The Sopranos, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons and more TV-to-disc programs that prove DVD is the hot-selling format fans want to own.

Babylon 5 was the first-ever television series to use extensive computer-generated imagery and to shoot and air in a widescreen format. The series rewarded fan loyalty and broke new ground by maintaining narrative consistency through a five-year story arc, and the show was singled out by NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other noted institutions for its science-based treatment of futuristic space themes/technology. Babylon 5 won two Emmys (for Groundbreaking Visual Effects and Makeup) and earned the Saturn Award for Best Genre Cable/Syndicated Series (1999) from the Academy of Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.

Today, Babylon 5 continues its mission with episodes syndicated on the Sci-Fi Channel, which also recently aired the new Babylon 5 feature, Legend of the Rangers. There are more than 30 novels in print set in the B5 universe, and a new Babylon 5 television series and video game are in development.

The 6-disc set Babylon 5: The Complete First Season includes the following:

• All-new digital widescreen transfers [16x9, 1.77:1]
• Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
• Introduction and audio commentary on two key episodes by series creator J. Michael Straczynski
• Behind Babylon 5 dossier of documentaries:
• The Making of Babylon 5
• Back to Babylon 5
• The World of Babylon 5: Take a station tour and explore the humans, aliens, political situations, scientific data, tech files, weaponry and hardware of this unique futuristic era.
• Interactive menus
• Scene access

-more-

• Languages: English and Français
• Subtitles: English, Français & Espanol

The long-running Emmy-winning television series Babylon 5 takes place in the year 2257 A.D., on an immense space station floating in a stationary orbit in a neutral corner of a distant galaxy. Manned by a crew of peaceful Earthmen and women, Babylon 5 serves as a non-political economic and social hub for the four alien races -- the Narn, Centauri, Vorlon and Minbari -- who fight to control the galaxy