Star Trek Veteran Turns Babylon 5 Turns Out to Be the Show’s Best Character

Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published 9 seconds ago

For better or worse, the characters of Star Trek: The Original Series they find their careers tied to science fiction decades after the series ended. It ended up working out well for Walter Koenig, the original Chekov, who got a late comeback Babylon 5 as Albert Bester, the villainous Psi-Cop who became a staple of the series that ran for five seasons. Chekov was supposed to appeal to young fans, while Bester was a villain from his first scene to the end, and throughout, Koening took whatever material he was given and knocked it out of the park.

Albert Bester Was Babylon 5’s Greatest Villain

First appearance of Walter Koenig Babylon 5 in “Mind War,” the show’s sixth episode, introduced the audience to the dark side of the Psi Corps from the beginning. Albert Bester, a representative of the mysterious Psi-Corps, lives on a space station to capture a renegade telepath. Bester doesn’t get along with the station’s management, lying to Jeffrey Sinclair (Michael O’Hare) for the first of many, many times the Psi-Cop will interfere with his real job regardless of who might get hurt along the way. Koening’s performance was praised by fans immediately after the episode aired, and to date, his 12 episodes are among the best in the show.

With more in common with Khan than Chekov, by Walter Koenig Babylon 5 Psi-Cop was driven by the desire to create a world where telepaths ruled over the world. He wasn’t smart about it either, and thankfully, none of the other characters held back when discussing their feelings for Bester, resulting in some of the show’s best lines. Only a perfect match between actor and character can lead to a line as strong as this delivered with sincerity: “Pinata, huh? So, do you think of me as something bright and cheerful, full of toys and candy for little children? Thank you! That makes me feel so much better about our relationship.”

No Redemption Arc Anywhere To Be Found

As the series continued, and Walter Koenig began to play freely Babylon 5 a straight-up villain, Bester gradually went from annoying adversary to ally as The Shadow War escalated. Not only did that last long but it was completely broken up during Season 5 and the Telepath War. Sheridan’s (Bruce Boxleitner) mission to try to shelter a telepathic colony on a space station was started with the best of intentions, but it nearly destroyed the fledgling Alliance even before Bester got his hands dirty.

The Psi Corps’ strict rules and strict discipline, exemplified by the motto, “The Corps is the mother, the Corps is the father,” were wholeheartedly embraced by Besker and his sense of superiority. Even after the fall of the Telepath War led to the destruction of the Corps, he helped his beliefs, and in fact, at first, the storyline of Season 5 was not going to be the end of Psi Cop. Walter Koenig was expected to appear again in Babylon 5 repentance, The Crusadebut the show was canceled before it happened, which is a shame, considering how much he fell at the end of the show, there was limitless story potential in his rise from the ashes.

As good as Walter Koenig’s performance as Chekov in the Star Trek: The Original Series that, if anyone says that his greatest sci-fi role was Albert Bester in Babylon 5it would be hard to argue. We’ve had five seasons of creepy viewing, artificial mind control, and dramatic comebacks, including a hilarious drydown: “It’s amazingly impossible, Mr. Garibaldi. But you are welcome to try.” Not once in any episode is there an attempt to give Bester a redemption arc or to paint him as anything other than an arrogant villain willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.