Space rebellions are old hat. Even before Star Wars taught a generation that being part of the Rebel Alliance could turn you into a hero, Robert A Heinlien’s Revolt in 2100 told of humankind rising up against a dictatorship, while the famous Doctor Who serial “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” (later remade as the 1966 film Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.) established that humans fighting against an occupying alien force could be as exciting as it was horrifying. But what if Earth itself was the enemy? What if humanity turned on itself? Technically speaking, everything in the original Star Wars is a civil war, but it hits a little differently when the combatants are Earth against everyone else.
In 1996, during the week of April 1, Babylon 5 Season 3 aired what was, up until that point, its most pivotal episode. The civil war between Earth and its colonies had been brewing for quite some time, but in “Severed Dreams,” the main characters of the show actively decided to break away from Earth, and in doing so, completely changed the game for what a weekly sci-fi TV series could accomplish.
