Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Exercise of Vital Powers”

Garibaldi finally meets his new employer, while Dr. Franklin discovers that Lyta can influence the modified telepaths…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on January 5, 2026

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“The Exercise of Vital Powers”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John Lafia
Season 4, Episode 16
Production episode 416
Original air date: June 2, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… The rebel fleet has moved on from liberating Proxima to liberating Beta Durani colony and the Mid-Range Military Base. In a personal log, we hear Garibaldi lamenting that Sheridan is really doing this. This concerns him sufficiently that he has gone against a long-ago-taken oath to never return to Mars.

He and Wade are in a transport tube, heading to Edgars’ Mars home. Wade insists that Garibaldi put on a blindfold, as Edgars values his privacy. Garibaldi thinks that’s absurd and that he’ll look silly. Along the way, they babble about various things, including Wade surprising Garibaldi with the revelation that he has a Masters Degree in English Literature.

On B5, Franklin is continuing his efforts to free the telepaths from Shadow influence, but nothing is working. Allan, who is there on other business, asks for an update. After Franklin tells him, and expresses his frustration, particularly with the fact that Sheridan has yet to tell him what, exactly, is the hurry. Alexander arrives, Allan having asked her there to scan the victim of an assault, who’s having trouble remembering his attacker and wishes some psionic assistance in doing so. While there, Alexander makes telepathic contact with Franklin’s patient, who gets up and walks toward her and doesn’t go crazy or try to destroy everything or reach out to control the equipment.

It only lasts a moment, and as soon as it’s over, Alexander buggers off. Franklin tracks her down, and she apologizes for messing up his experiment, but Franklin gleefully explains that this is the first progress he’s made in ages, and asks her to come back when she’s done with her current job. She reluctantly agrees.

On Mars, Garibaldi arrives at Edgars’ palatial home—Edgars apologizing for how small it is, saying his place on Earth is way bigger. But domed space is at a premium on Mars. However, because he owns businesses on Mars, Edgars has to live on the red planet for half the year to make use of the tax benefits.

Edgars wants to know why Garibaldi was so eager for a face-to-face right now, and Garibaldi explains that he’s concerned about Sheridan. Yes, Clark’s bad news, but Sheridan’s military attack will just tear Earth apart. Garibaldi also seems to think that Sheridan has designs to take over Earth himself. But Garibaldi absolutely does not want to turn him over to Clark. He’d rather Edgars do it. He’ll be seen as a hero, and that will be capital that will be useful to him.

Over the course of the next few days, Garibaldi and Edgars have several conversations. It’s clear that Edgars doesn’t trust Clark, and is especially concerned at how much power he’s given to Psi Corps. He makes it clear that the megacorps have really been running things, and they suspected that Clark had Santiago assassinated long before B5 released the footage proving it.

One of those conversations happens in the middle of the night, with Garibaldi forcibly taken from his bed and brought to a room with a telepath (Edgars wants him frazzled and out of sorts so he’s less likely to hide his thoughts). Edgars asks him several pointed questions, with the telepath showing with a nod whether or not Garibaldi is telling the truth. Garibaldi says he doesn’t trust telepaths.

On B5, Alexander is able to help Franklin find a way around the Shadow implants, though Alexander also has to stop the patient from killing himself. When Sheridan checks in with Ivanova, he transfers down to medlab, at which point Franklin demands to know what he needs the telepaths for so urgently. Sheridan only tells him in private on a secure coded channel—and does so off-camera, so we only see Franklin’s devastated reaction. He then asks if Alexander is available for a long-term gig that will involve travel to Mars.

On Mars, Edgars eventually reveals that he’s incredibly concerned about telepaths. Both he and Garibaldi agree that there will be a reckoning, and Edgars’ concern is that it won’t be a war in the military sense, but rather a war of information and privacy—or lack of same. Plus, Clark has given Psi Corps a great deal more power, and they won’t just give that up once Clark is out of power.

They also agree that Sheridan needs to be stopped. Edgars needs Sheridan off the table to that Clark will relax and lower his guard. He’ll read Garibaldi completely in on what he has planned once he knows for sure he can trust the erstwhile security chief. And his condition for gaining that trust: to turn Sheridan over to Clark. Garibaldi initially refuses, as Clark will kill him, but Edgars assures him that he’ll want to capture Sheridan and gain the propaganda value of having him as a prisoner.

Garibaldi then reveals how to capture Sheridan: through his father David. Edgars says that Clark’s been turning Earth upside down to find David to no avail, but Garibaldi knows how to do it. David suffers from a blood disease that requires a Centauri drug called tenasticin. Find a bogus prescription of that, and you’ll probably find David.

We also see Edgars and Wade looking in on three patients, who are obviously dying, their bodies covered in lesions. Edgars instructs Wade to put them down, as if they were sick pets, as they shouldn’t have to suffer anymore and they have all the information they need.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan is nervous because everything is going so well. Both Franklin and Garibaldi talk about how much he’s changed since returning from Z’ha’dum.

Ivanova is God. The episode opens with Ivanova’s “Voice of the Resistance” broadcast filling in the viewer on the rebel fleet’s progress. In addition, she reports to Sheridan that Clark sent two destroyers to take B5 but as soon as they arrived, they defected.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi makes it clear that he knows that Edgars is up to something more complicated and dangerous than he lets on, mostly by the very fact that he hired Garibaldi. If he just wanted to keep his shipments safe from his competitors, he’d buy a ship and keep it off the radar. He needed secrecy from everyone, which is why he hired Garibaldi.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. When Ivanova tells Sheridan that Delenn is finishing up her business on Minbar and will be returning to B5 soon, Sheridan gets this goofy grin on his face. It’s very adorable.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Alexander is able to telepathically help the Shadow-infested psis. Meantime, the poor telepath that Edgars hires to polygraph Garibaldi is “paid” by being shot and killed by Wade.

The Shadowy Vorlons. Alexander hears the sound of a Shadow vessel when she scans Franklin’s patient. Also, according to Edgars, the Shadows’ interest in Psi Corps is what prompted Clark to keep them close and make them a bigger part of his administration. Garibaldi doesn’t bother to explain the reasons to Edgars—that the Shadows are vulnerable to telepathy—probably because the Shadows aren’t really a factor anymore.

Looking ahead. Sheridan’s use for the Shadow-infested telepaths will finally be revealed in “Endgame.” Edgars’ full plan will be revealed next time in “The Face of the Enemy.”

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. The last question Edgars asks Garibaldi while in the room with the telepath is if he’s still in love with Lise. Garibaldi lies and says no. Later, Garibaldi and Lise have a fraught conversation in which it’s clear that Garibaldi still loves her and that she needs more than a declaration, especially since it’s clear that he’s married to the job first, and any relationship is secondary.

Welcome aboard. Back from “Conflicts of Interest” are Denise Gentile as Lise and Mark Schneider as Wade. Back from “Moments of Transition,” and actually appearing in front of the camera and credited for the first time, is the late great Efram Zimbalist Jr. as Edgars. All three will return next week in “The Face of the Enemy.” In addition, Shelley Robertson does excellent work with her facial expressions and actually gets credited despite having no dialogue as the telepath.

Trivial matters. The episode title derives from Aristotle’s description of happiness, which Edgars quotes: “The exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope.”

Edgars mentions times in history when the people of a nation let fascists take over, citing Russia in 1917 and Germany in 1939 (which actually happened, though it would’ve been more accurate to say Germany in 1933, which is when Hitler was elected chancellor), and also Russia again in 2013 and Iraq in 2025 (which didn’t happen), as well as France in 2112 (which still might). Edgars also makes reference to the Nazi party and the Communist party, as well as the “Jihad party,” which one assumes is supposed to be one in our future and the show’s past.

Garibaldi mentions that three times Mars tried to kill him. One would be when he and Sinclair trekked across the surface of Mars, mentioned in “Infection” and dramatized in the “Shadows Past and Present” storyline that ran through the fifth through eighth issues of DC’s B5 comic book by Tim DeHaas & John Ridgway.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Did you know this place was named after the god of war? Its rising foretold the death of kings, the collapse of empires. It was a very bad sign. Now there are two million people living here.”

“It’s still a bad sign.”

—Wade and Garibaldi discussing Mars.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Everybody lies.” As with “Conflicts of Interest,” we have Michael Garibaldi as a twenty-third-century Dashiell Hammett character, with his manly demands and his cynical voiceovers and his weepy scene with Lise and his macho posturing and his reluctant descent into betrayal.

And it’s actually kind of fun. Jerry Doyle in particular sells the character’s disgust at having to return to Mars. Denise Gentile is a little too melodramatic, but given the awful dialogue she’s stuck reading, there’s only so much she can do.

The episode is, however, owned by the mighty Efram Zimbalist Jr. Edgars has to deliver a lot of exposition, and the dialogue he has as written could very easily have devolved into didactic droning. But his silken voice and relaxed delivery absolutely sell it. It’s a magnificent performance.

Overall, this is a very quiet, talky episode, the calm before the storm, and almost entirely setup. It sets a lot of important things in motion, many of which will pay off next time. On its own it just barely works, mainly due to the frank discussions about telepaths between Edgars and Garibaldi, which Doyle and Zimbalist Jr. make more compelling than they might be in the hands of lesser talents. Still and all, these discussions do a nice job explicating the ethical issues that would come up if a subset of humanity developed the ability to read minds.

Mention should also be made of Shelley Robertson, who has a superb gift for facial expressions, conveying quite a bit without saying a word as the telepath who serves as Garibaldi’s polygraph.

Next week: “The Face of the Enemy.”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “No Surrender, No Retreat”

Sheridan once again mobilizes for war…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on December 15, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“No Surrender, No Retreat”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Michael Vejar
Season 4, Episode 15
Production episode 415
Original air date: May 26, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… B5 is back on a war footing. The Starfuries are running drills under the direction of Corwin, while Sheridan has an early-morning meeting with the representatives of the various non-human nations on B5. Sheridan is calling in a favor in return for the patrols of their borders by the White Star fleet: he’s asking that they sever their ties with Earth Alliance and only respond to calls for humanitarian aid, but not to provide any military aid. He also asks for one capital ship from each of them to protect B5 itself.

G’Kar speaks out in favor of this, pointing out that Earth promised to help Narn in exchange for the weapons that Narn sold them during the Earth-Minbari War. Yet Earth’s aid was nowhere to be found when the Centauri attacked and conquered them, nor did they help out with the Shadow War.

Cole comes to the war room with intelligence from Proxima III, which is the first step of their campaign, to take that world back. There’s a blockade of six Omega-class destroyers in orbit, two of which—the Heracles and the Pollux—are the ones that fired on civilians. Sheridan doesn’t know the commanders of those two ships—Captain Trevor Hall and Captain Elizabeth Morgenstern, respectively—so he figures they’re new and loyal to Clark. Cole also reports that ships are trying to run the blockade despite the very low likelihood of success because that blockade is working—people on Proxima are starving to death.

Sheridan intends to attack from multiple sides, but he also wants to know if there are any vessels that have deliberately avoided firing on civilians. Cole promises to find out. Sheridan also asks Franklin to get the telepaths they rescued from the Shadows and have in stasis ready to be moved. Ivanova and Corwin continue to do drills with the Starfuries, reminding them that all orders must be in the proper code. EarthForce has Sheridan and Ivanova’s voiceprints on file, so they can fake verbal orders.

Vir has fallen asleep doing paperwork. He is awakened from a nightmare by the arrival of Garibaldi, who needs a favor from Mollari. Vir offhandedly mentions the “new offensive,” which surprises Garibaldi. His surprise, in turn, surprises Vir, who assumes that Garibaldi is going to join back up for the fight. When Garibaldi answers in the negative, Vir is confused. Doesn’t Garibaldi want to save his homeworld. Garibaldi says he does, but not Sheridan’s way.

Mollari comes to G’Kar’s quarters with a proposal: he wants them to sign a joint statement in support of Sheridan’s resistance. A joint statement from their two nations that were so recently at war will likely prompt the other nations to follow suit. Mollari wishes to end the acrimony between the two of them, or at least reduce it. To that end, he offers to share a drink as they did before Emperor Turhan’s death. Mollari also offers a belated thanks for G’Kar’s help in getting rid of Emperor Cartagia, even though he knows G’Kar didn’t do it for him.

G’Kar, however, has no interest in Mollari’s thanks, or sharing a drink with him, or the joint statement. Mollari leaves, disappointed.

Sheridan has Ivanova send three White Stars to the sol system to make Clark think they’re scout for an invasion and so he might draw forces away from Proxima, or at least not be able to send reinforcements there. The main fleet heads to Proxima, with the White Star ships painted with B5’s logo.

Three White Stars jump into the far side of the system. Hall, who is in charge of the fleet and who is very much a Clark loyalist, sends the Pollux and the Nemesis after them.

Sheridan then sends in more ships on the near side, and finally the main fleet through the system’s jumpgate behind the Heracles. The Vesta, under the command of Captain Edward MacDougan—an old comrade of Sheridan’s—breaks radio silence. MacDougan tries to convince Sheridan to withdraw; Sheridan tries to convince MacDougan that the orders Clark is giving are clearly illegal. Sheridan reminds MacDougan of ethics classes he taught at the Academy.

Hall orders the Heracles and the battle is joined.

Sheridan’s orders are crystal clear: do not fire unless fired upon. Notably, the Furies does not respond to a flyby and the Juno withdraws from the battle completely, leaving the system. Hall orders MacDougan’s first officer, Commander Robert Philby, to take command and fire on the White Stars. Philby does so eagerly, prompting a wry comment from MacDougan about how he didn’t realize his XO wanted a promotion that badly. However, Philby’s time in command lasts about seven-and-a-half seconds before the rest of the crew mutinies and restores MacDougan to command. The Vesta then immediately stands down.

One White Star and the Pollux are both destroyed with all hands on both ships lost. The Nemesis surrenders, having taken heavy damage. Hall refuses to go down without a fight—especially since he’s dead no matter what happens—but his first officer, Commander Sandra Levitt, refuses to let him take the crew down with him. She orders Hall put under arrest and she broadcasts a surrender to Sheridan.

Sheridan requests that the four remaining ship commanders come to the White Star 2 to discuss what happens next.

On B5, Mollari is joined at the bar by G’Kar, who takes Mollari’s drink, gulps it down, and agrees to the joint statement—but only if they sign on different pages. Mollari agrees.

On the White Star 2, Sheridan meets with MacDougan, Levitt, Captain Yoshi Kawagawa of the Nemesis, and Captain Stephanie Eckland of the Furies. Sheridan just wants to remove Clark from power and then let the people decide if their actions were justified. Levitt is no fan of Clark, but she’s no fan of open rebellion, either. MacDougan says they need to discuss it amongst themselves. They make their decisions: Levitt will make like the Juno and withdraw, taking the Heracles to Beta IX for repairs, keeping Hall under arrest, and staying out of it. Eckland will keep the Furies at Proxima to now defend the colony against retaliation by Clark’s forces. MacDougan and Kawagawa agree to join Sheridan’s fleet.

On B5, Ivanova goes on the Voice of the Resistance to announce both the liberation of Proxima and the joint statement by the Narn Regime and the Centauri Republic supporting the resistance.

Garibaldi leaves the station for Mars to meet up with Edgars. He tells the customs guard that he has no plans to return. (Yes, this paragraph also appeared last week in the rewatch for “Moments of Transition,” because your humble rewatcher is a big honking doofus and conflated the end of this episode with the end of that one. Derp derp.)

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan has to tread a fine line here, as he doesn’t want to be seen as an invader, but a liberator. He is also devastated by the destruction of one of the White Stars and the Pollux, and refuses to refer to what happens at Proxima a victory—merely that they achieved their mission objective, which was to liberate that world.

Ivanova is God. At one point, Corwin comments that the operational phrase is “Trust no one,” but Ivanova says no, it’s “Trust Ivanova, trust yourself—anybody else, shoot ’em.”

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi is not very convincing when he tells Vir that he wants to save his homeworld, just not Sheridan’s way.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Sheridan insists that this be a “clean fight” when queried by Levitt as to why his non-human allies aren’t part of his fleet. But his actual fleet are Minbari-designed ships that use Vorlon tech, and which are mostly staffed by Minbari…

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari is trying very hard to redeem himself, and he also raises a toast to the humans, who have provided a bridge between the Centauri and the Narn.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. It takes G’Kar some time to see past his loathing of the Centauri in general and Mollari in particular to see his way to understanding that the joint statement is a very good idea. G’Kar’s support was already helpful in getting the League of Non-Aligned Worlds on board with supporting the resistance over the Clark regime, and he eventually sees the wisdom of Mollari’s plan. That it takes a while is very understandable, of course…

We live for the one, we die for the one. Cole is the one who gets intelligence on what’s happening on Proxima from the people there.

Looking ahead. Sheridan’s plan for the cryogenically frozen telepaths will finally be revealed in “Endgame.”

Welcome aboard. The three big guests are Marcia Mitzman Gaven as Levitt, the great Richard Gant as MacDougan, and Ken Jenkins, warming up for his role as Dr. Bob Kelso on Scrubs as Hall. Gant will return in “The Face of the Enemy.” Also Joshua Cox is back from “Z’ha’dum” as Corwin; he’ll next be in “No Compromises.”

The extras who play Eckland and Kawagawa are never identified. Philby is played by Neil Bradley, one of the regular background actors on the show—amusingly, this is the only one of Bradley’s ten roles on B5 and Crusade in which he’s not in a ton of makeup, as his other nine roles are as Drazi or Narn.

Trivial matters. Clark ordering civilians to be targeted by EarthForce was revealed at the end of the prior episode, “Moments of Transition.” The White Star fleet started patrolling the borders of the Centauri and the Narn in “Conflicts of Interest” and the nations of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds in “Rumors, Bargains, and Lies.” Mollari’s referring to humans as a bridge between opposing factions echoes comments Delenn has made about humans in both “And Now for a Word” and “Lines of Communication.”

The title of this episode was also the title for the whole season. (It also always tweaks your humble rewatcher, because as a Bruce Springsteen fan, I expect “no retreat” to be before “no surrender.”)

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Captain, I wasn’t about to let Captain Hall get the rest of my crew killed defending Clark’s policies—I happen to disagree with those policies. But that doesn’t mean I agree with your actions, either. It’s not the role of the military to make policy.”

“Our mandate is to defend Earth against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Now Clark has become that enemy. Your oath is to the alliance and to the people back home, not to any particular government.”

“You’re splitting that hair mighty thin, John.”

—Levitt, Sheridan, and MacDougan discussing military ethics.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Enough is enough.” This has always been one of my favorite episodes of the show, because as great as “Severed Dreams” was as an episode, it missed out on one very important aspect of this entire plotline: the difficult decisions that EarthForce personnel would have to make. In that episode, the ships that tried to take B5 were not given faces and barely given voices. But here, we see Hall and Levitt and MacDougan and Philby, and they represent different approaches to this. Hall’s the true believer, the perfect fascist tool, sneering that MacDougan “doesn’t have what it takes” and more concerned with saving his own skin than the welfare of his crew. (Casting Ken Jenkins was a masterstroke, as few actors sneer as well as he does.) Philby is obviously mostly just in it for his own command, following orders like a good little drone. Levitt is primarily concerned with the welfare of her crew, which is more than her CO can say.

And then we have MacDougan, magnificently played by Richard Gant. He’s walking the line between obeying general orders and not carrying out specific ones, and Sheridan forces him to fall off that high-wire, at which point it’s just a matter of in which direction he goes. It’s to his credit that he falls in the right direction. It’s also to his credit that he’s the only commander who tries talking to Sheridan, though that’s partly motivated by their history. We know it’s a good history, too, as Sheridan lets loose with a smile when Cole mentions that the Vesta is part of the blockade.

Bruce Boxleitner is also superb here, and J. Michael Straczynski writes Sheridan perfectly as well. Throughout, Sheridan is bending over backward to not do what Clark’s been wanting EarthForce to do. He starts out by talking, asking the EarthForce ships to withdraw peacefully (an offer that only the Juno takes him up on, and then only after hostilities have broken out), and he refuses to fire on anyone until they fire first. On top of that, the only ships he will initially identify as hostile are the two they know have fired on civilian targets and are therefore viable targets. He refuses to fire on the Furies once it’s clear they won’t engage.

In the end, he also defaults to understanding and compassion and staying within the bounds of military protocol. He just wants to restore things to what they were before Clark introduced fun stuff like NightWatch and firing on civilians. It’s particularly to his credit that he gives the ships options both before and after the battle: withdraw peacefully, defend Proxima, or join them.

It’s very rare that the portions of an episode that feature Mollari and G’Kar are an afterthought, but this is one of those exceptional instances, as I had to keep reminding myself that there were scenes with those two—and they were really really good scenes, too! As ever, both actors just knock it out of the park. Peter Jurasik gives us an exhausted Mollari who is trying so desperately to crawl out of the murderous hole that he dug for himself (I mean, yeah, Morden gave him the shovel, but still…), while Andreas Katsulas gives not a millimeter in the scene in G’Kar’s quarters. The quiet intensity with which Katsulas has G’Kar rebuff every single overture made by Mollari is superlative, and you don’t see the conflict until the later scene in the Zocalo when G’Kar has finally come to—very reluctantly—accept that Mollari’s notion is a good one. And even there, he refuses to give in completely, insisting on their signatures being on separate pages…

In general, I love that this particular storyline will take several episodes to play out. Nature favors the destructive process—what Sheridan is trying to do is rebuild something that Clark has destroyed, and that’s a much longer, more laborious, more difficult thing to achieve.

This is the last Babylon 5 Rewatch of 2025. Thank you all so much for continuing to follow me on this journey through the dawn of the third age. We’ll be off for the next couple of weeks, coming back on the 5th of January 2026 with “The Exercise of Vital Powers.” Have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year![end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Moments of Transition”

Bester returns to the station with a unique proposal for Alexander…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on December 8, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Moments of Transition”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Tony Dow
Season 4, Episode 14
Production episode 414
Original air date: May 19, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… Garibaldi is awakened out of a sound sleep by Edgars, who is completely unapologetic, as he himself is on call at all times, and he expects the same of his employees. Edgars wants Garibaldi to get something through B5 without dealing with customs. Edgars also assures Garibaldi that it contains nothing dangerous or illegal, he just wants to keep it on the down-low to avoid issues with his competitors.

Sheridan can’t sleep, and he contacts CnC to see if there’s any news from Minbar, but alas, there isn’t.

Meanwhile, Delenn and Lennier are on Minbar in one of the ancient cities, which is on fire. They’re caring for the many wounded members of the Religious Caste. The Warrior Caste has announced that, if the Religious Caste doesn’t surrender by the following day, they will destroy the city and everyone in it.

Neroon meets with Shakiri, the leader of the Warrior Caste. Shakiri derides the Religious Caste for their naïveté and for getting them into pointless wars like the one with Earth, where nothing was actually gained. He also waxes philosophical about how life and death are just two sides of the same coin and that death is merely the release from obligation, and not something to be derided. Which is good, since he’s threatening to basically wipe out the Religious Caste…

At B5 customs, Allan notices Garibaldi talking to someone with a package, but is then distracted by the arrival of Bester. Bester insists he’s there on personal business that has nothing to do with the senior staff, and isn’t this supposed to be a free port, like the Voice of the Resistance broadcasts keep insisting?

By the time Allan gets Bester sorted out, Garibaldi is still there, but the package is gone. Allan chases Garibaldi down, but the latter denies ever handling a package, and also neither confirms nor denies the rumors Allan has heard about Garibaldi working for Edgars.

Alexander is struggling to find work. She has a good line on a corporate job, but when they find out she’s on the outs with Psi Corps, they say they can’t hire her—it’s a liability issue. Bester then approaches her—she’s why he’s here. He knows she’s been having trouble finding employment—some of her prospective clients have contacted Psi Corps for a reference, which they can’t provide, of course—and he has an offer for her. She can be brought back on as a deep-cover agent, not beholden to the day-to-day yuckiness of the Corps and able to still get corporate work. The only catches are as follows: she has to wear the logo and the black gloves and she has to be willing to donate her body to the Corps after her death. The Vorlons obviously made her a more powerful psi than she was, and until that happened, everyone assumed one’s psi index to be a constant. A rating changing is unheard of, and they want to study Alexander’s mind after she dies.

Alexander tells Bester to go screw himself.

Adding insult to injury, she can’t afford the quarters she has (the Vorlons were paying for them, but the Vorlons have buggered off and are no longer paying their bills), and Allan very reluctantly tells her that she has to move to a smaller space. He then offers her some work: to scan Garibaldi. When Alexander asks if Garibaldi will agree to the scan, and Allan says no, Alexander very loudly refuses. She’s desperate for work, but not enough to betray a friend like that. Allan apologizes, he’s just frustrated by Garibaldi’s behavior.

That, however, gives Alexander an idea: to approach Garibaldi. She can help him with his PI work. Garibaldi was nearby when Alexander and Bester had their talk, so he knows what the alternative is. On the one hand, Garibaldi doesn’t like telepaths and can’t pay that much; on the other hand, it’d piss Bester right the hell off. So he agrees.

Then Bester shows up, and there’s a brief altercation. Bester tries to scan Garibaldi, which Alexander picks up on. Livid, Garibaldi chases Bester down and tries to beat him up, but security stops him.

On Minbar, Delenn tells Lennier that they will surrender, and it may occur at a place and time of the Warrior Caste’s choosing. Neroon informs Shakiri of this, and that he has chosen the Temple of Varenni. It was a place where disputes were settled in the time before Valen, plus it has equipment that can broadcast the surrender to the entirety of the Minbari Federation. Shakiri approves. He also tells Neroon that Delenn will likely return to B5 after this is all over, and they should find a way for her transport there to suffer an accident. They can’t afford to let her live.

After giving Lennier a scroll with instructions in case something happens to her, Delenn officially surrenders—but then she makes it clear that she’s ending the open warfare, not the conflict between the Warrior and Religious Castes. In this temple, in the time before Valen and the formation of the Grey Council, disputes were settled with the Starfire Wheel, a beam of light that grows in intensity and will eventually burn you alive if you stay in too long. In the olden days, the leaders of the castes would each enter the Starfire Wheel, and whoever left last would be the winner.

Delenn steps into the Starfire Wheel. Shakiri refuses at first, not wanting to die like that. Neroon reminds him of what he said about how life and death are equivalent and how death is just a release from obligation, and Shakiri is shamed into entering. While in the wheel, Shakiri offers to share power with Delenn if she agrees to walk out with him side by side, but she refuses. Eventually, Shakiri gives up and leaves the wheel.

And then the other shoe drops: this was Neroon and Delenn’s plan all along. But Delenn has changed the plan because, as Neroon tells Lennier, they agreed that Delenn would depart the wheel after Shakiri proved himself a coward. However, she doesn’t leave the wheel, and Lennier realizes that she’s sacrificing herself to show her devotion. Neroon, perhaps knowing that he’s a guest star and she’s an opening-credits regular, dives in to rescue her and allow himself to be killed by the Starfire Wheel after pledging his devotion to the Religious Caste and urging the people to listen to Delenn.

On B5, Garibaldi gets another late night/early morning call from Edgars, who informs Garibaldi in no uncertain terms that he’s not to employ Alexander. Edgars wants no telepaths working for him, even indirectly. Garibaldi is forced to cut her loose, and she’s forced to accept Bester’s offer. Bester records a bit of exposition personal log expressing delight that things are proceeding apace with Garibaldi, as he’s more and more alienated from his former comrades, and as an added bonus, Alexander is back in the fold.

Delenn, covered in burns, enters the Grey Council chambers on the Valen’tha. She summons the Nine, re-forming the Grey Council. But now, instead of a balance of three from each of the three castes, there are only two each from the Warrior and Religious Caste, and five from the Worker Caste. The people who do the actual work will have more of a say in the Minbari government. Delenn leaves the middle spot open in honor of Neroon and for “one who is to come.”

Garibaldi leaves the station for Mars to meet up with Edgars. He tells the customs guard that he has no plans to return.

Ivanova comes to Sheridan’s quarters with a head of steam: on Clark’s orders, a civilian transport carrying refugees from Proxima 3 was targeted and destroyed by the EAS Pollux. That’s the last straw for Sheridan. They have to take the fight to Clark, they can’t wait any longer. They’re going to take back Proxima, then Mars, then Earth itself.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan is mad as hell, and he’s not gonna take it anymore…

Ivanova is God. Ivanova’s also mad as hell, and she’s not gonna take it anymore, either. To her credit, she waits to put the murder of civilians on Voice of the Resistance until she’s calmed down.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi is mad as hell at Bester specifically, and his attempt to not take it anymore is frustrated by security. He ends the episode leaving for Mars, with no intention of coming back.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Neroon’s sudden-but-inevitable betrayal at the end of last week turns out to be a ruse, as he and Delenn work together to make peace on Minbar, mostly by exposing Shakiri as a piece of garbage.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Alexander is mad as hell, and is forced to take it, as she can’t afford her current quarters, and has no job prospects thanks to being on the outs with Psi Corps. Her only option is to be back on the ins with the Corps…

Looking ahead. We finally find out that Bester is at least partly responsible for what happened to Garibaldi between “Z’ha’dum” and “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?” This will pay off the next time we see Bester in “The Face of the Enemy.”

Also Edgars’ antipathy toward telepaths is more complicated than he lets on, as we’ll also see in “The Face of the Enemy.”

Welcome aboard. Bart McCarthy plays Shakiri. He’ll be back as a Drazi general in “Movements of Fire and Shadow.” Christy Noonan plays Alexander’s potential employer.

We’ve got recurring regulars Walter Koenig, back from “Epiphanies” as Bester, who’ll next be seen three episodes hence in “The Face of the Enemy”; Efram Zimbalist Jr., still unseen and in voice only, and not credited, as Edgars, back from “Conflicts of Interest,” next to be actually seen and credited in “The Exercise of Vital Powers”; and John Vickery, back from “Rumors, Bargains, and Lies” in his final appearance as Neroon. Vickery will next be seen in Crusade’s “Appearances and Other Deceits” in his other role as Mr. Welles.

And in the category of “stunt casting that has aged badly,” Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, appears as the imaginatively named Mr. Adams, who wants to hire Garibaldi to find his dog and his cat, who are trying to take over the world, a not-even-a-little-bit-veiled reference to the strip characters of Dogbert and Catbert. It was only a little bit amusing in 1997, and is mostly just awful now, given what a toilet turd Adams has become in recent times.

Trivial matters. We never will find out who “the one who is to come” is that Delenn refers to. Speculation is that it’s her and Sheridan’s son David, or Sheridan himself, or someone else entirely. It’s possible Delenn was just speaking generally, but nobody ever speaks generally on a show written by J. Michael Straczynski, so that’s likely a plot point that just never had the chance to be explored.

Allan helped Alexander decorate her quarters over pizza in “Epiphanies.” They have clearly become friends. Also, Allan refers to Garibaldi as “Michael” rather than “Chief,” signalling that he no longer believes Garibaldi is coming back to work.

The final scene between Sheridan and Ivanova sets up the next episode—and, truly, the rest of the season, as the fight between B5 and the Clark Administration will dominate the balance of season four.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“I mean, being a freedom fighter, a force for good—it’s a wonderful thing. You get to make your own hours, looks good on a resumé. But the pay sucks.”

—Bester speaking a bitter truth to Alexander

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Is it wrong to value life?” One of my biggest complaints with B5, both when it first aired and on this rewatch, is the inability of the show to let us see the characters of Presidents Santiago and Clark. We were told to feel things about Santiago’s assassination in “Chrysalis,” and we’ve been told to have animus toward Clark ever since then, but we have no sense of either one of them as a person.

I mention this only because J. Michael Straczynski understood this with the non-human characters. In just one episode, he was able to make us understand and care about Emperor Turhan. The Centauri monarch’s death in B5’s medlab had meaning quantum leaps ahead of that of a president we’d never even heard speak a line of dialogue dying in a CGI explosion.

And this time around, he does it again with Shakiri. The head of the Warrior Caste is someone we didn’t even have a name for until the end of last week’s episode, but in just a couple of scenes—his grand philosophical conversation with Neroon on the subject of life and death and his acceptance of Delenn’s surrender—he shows himself to be a bloviating jackass with no sense of history and tradition and no consideration for lives lost. Then he proves himself a hypocrite when he refuses to enter the Starfire Wheel, and then tries to super-villain his way out of it by offering to share power with Delenn—the same person he expressed his intention to secretly assassinate earlier in the episode. Delenn, of course, doesn’t accept it, because she, unlike Shakiri, has convictions. So does Neroon, which is why he’s willing to sacrifice himself and save her, though that action smacks of “we can’t let the opening-credits regular die, we gotta kill the guest star.”

Also, it’s not a great look on Delenn that she’s willing to sacrifice herself without even letting her fiancé know what she’s planning. Delenn knows exactly how this feels, having been on the other end of it in “Z’ha’dum,” so you’d think she’d at least drop Sheridan a line and say goodbye, y’know?

The B5 portion of the plot works very nicely. It’s never bad to have Walter Koenig evil-ing it up as Bester, and what’s fun about this is that Bester comes out 100% victorious here. It’s hard for a bad guy to be effective if he always fails, so this is a good way to keep Bester in the worthy-foe category, and also provide pathos for both Garibaldi and Alexander.

One of my favorite lines in a movie is from The Princess Bride, when Inigo Montoya says to Westley, “I work for Vizzini to pay the bills. There’s not a lot of money in revenge.” I’m always impressed when a work of dramatic fiction remembers that people need to feed, clothe, and house themselves. Alexander isn’t part of B5’s working staff like Sheridan, Ivanova, Franklin, and Allan (who get paid by docking and repair fees), and she’s not part of an organization like Cole (it’s not stated explicitly, but the Rangers must have the means to support its members). She’s a telepath who needs to be hired to work, and her main client meandered out beyond the rim several episodes ago. And her one hope is dashed by Edgars’ unwillingness to have a telepath on the payroll in any way (for reasons that will become clear in a few episodes). Patricia Tallman plays it beautifully, too, her sad expression as she looks at herself in the mirror putting the black gloves on is just heartbreaking.

The contract exchange between Bester and Alexander is the only low point, as the whole “I want your body” bit is just puerile nonsense, and Bester explaining why a telepath saying, “Are you out of your mind?” is funny is just awkward and awful. A pity, as the rest of the scenes between the two are gold.

Next week: “No Surrender, No Retreat”[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Moments of Transition” appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Rumors, Bargains, and Lies”

Delenn seeks help to end the civil war that has broken out on Minbar…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on December 1, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Rumors, Bargains, and Lies”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Michael Vejar
Season 4, Episode 13
Production episode 413
Original air date: May 12, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… Ivanova, Franklin, Cole, and Allan enter the mess hall, where Sheridan is sitting lost in thought and ignoring all their greetings. Allan congratulates Sheridan on getting the Centauri and Narn to let White Stars patrol their borders, though they all muse on the difficulty of convincing the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to agree to it, even with the two larger nations going for it. Sheridan suddenly bursts out laughing and says he has a plan—not to convince them, but to not convince them. He orders Cole to take three White Stars to Sector 87 and await further orders. A very confused Cole goes off to follow that order.

In hyperspace aboard a White Star, Lennier informs Delenn that fighting has begun on Minbar. The civil war between the Religious and Warrior Castes has begun in earnest. Delenn feels some measure of responsibility as she is the one who broke the Grey Council without regard for the consequences. Lennier points out that Valen prophesied that she would do that, but (a) that was because Sinclair knew it was going to happen, which is the source of all of Valen’s prophecies, and (b) Valen’s prophecy didn’t account for the aftermath because Sinclair’s not around anymore. They rendezvous with several senior members of the Religious Caste on the Takari, and Delenn has invited Neroon to join them as well. Neroon arrives, with a bunch of the Warrior Caste, and everyone looks at each other with suspicion and dread—except for Delenn and Neroon, who meet in private. Once they’ve gone off, the other Religious Caste folks express annoyance at Delenn showing respect to the Warrior Caste.

Both Delenn and Neroon agree that this war is bad for Minbari civilization, though Neroon doesn’t see how they can fix it. Breaking the Grey Council made this inevitable, to his mind, as the Council was all that held the resentments between the two castes in check. Delenn, however, has a plan…

On B5, Mollari is very confused by Sheridan requesting that he not let it be known that the Centauri have allowed the White Stars to patrol their borders. He’s asked the same of G’Kar. When Mollari questions him, he just says, “Trust me.” Then Sheridan encounters the Drazi ambassador, who confronts him about what he’s heard regarding White Stars near Centauri space. Sheridan responds with a very evasive comment that he can neither confirm nor deny.

Upon arriving in CnC, Ivanova reports that Cole has arrived. Sheridan orders Cole to destroy three asteroids, then return to base. A very confused Cole signs off.

The Drazi ambassador pigeonholes Mollari, trying to get him to admit to allowing White Stars to patrol their borders, but Mollari is even more evasive than Sheridan. When the Drazi ambassador gathers some of the other League representatives in the hallway, Franklin approaches them, asking for more blood supplies from them all—he’ll make a formal request through channels, but he wanted to hit them up in person. When asked what it’s for, Franklin unconvincingly says it’s just a precaution in case something happens.

On the Takari, the Religious Caste members are pissed at Delenn meeting in secret with Neroon, and are convinced that she’s capitulating to him. Rather than let this premature surrender stand, they agree to make sure the Takari never reaches Minbar. They are willing to lay down their lives and be martyrs to their cause. They gather a container of toxic gases from the fuel system and hook it up to the environmental controls to gas the ship. They’ll all die and the Takari will drift in hyperspace, lost forever, thus keeping Delenn from betraying them.

On B5, Sheridan tells Ivanova to announce on her next Voice of the Resistance broadcast that there is nothing happening in the sector Cole was just in. Ivanova is concerned about lying when the whole point of Voice of the Resistance is to tell the truth. But Sherian points out that she is telling the truth. Nothing is, in fact, happening in that sector. So she does so, and this sends the Drazi, Brakiri, Gaim, and other ambassadors into an absolute tizzy. Now they’re convinced that something’s going on that Sheridan and the Centauri know about and they’re keeping it from the League.

On the Takari, Neroon is attacked by one of his people, also apparently convinced that Neroon betrayed them to Delenn. Meantime, the Religious Caste members have planted their poison bomb, also convinced that Delenn has betrayed them to Neroon. But when Delenn orders Neroon to be cared for and his attacker to be confined with copies of the sacred scrolls, she explains that she and Neroon are trying to find a way to make peace and stop the war together through cooperation. The Religious Caste members are appalled as they realize they have completely misunderstood Delenn. But there’s also no way to stop the poison.

Unless, of course, someone in a filtration mask goes in and risks his life to retrieve the canister—which Lennier does. He collapses after handing the canister back to the other caste members.

Neroon orders Lennier taken care of by his physicians. He tells Delenn that he is starting to understand why Dukhat took her on as his protégé. Delenn then checks on Lennier, who describes the situation as a malfunction in the fuel system, not mentioning the canister or the poison at all. After she leaves, the Religious Caste members ask why he covered for them. Lennier explains that Delenn sees the world as better than it actually is, and he would rather live in her world than allow her to realize how bad the real one is. He would rather she think the Religious Caste is united and not populated with distrusting morons.

The League ambassadors have decided to ask for Sheridan’s help directly—but not because of this invisible new threat, as they don’t want to overplay their hand. So instead they cite the rumored Drakh raids and ask for Sheridan’s protection there. Sheridan objects, but then recalcitrantly, reluctantly agrees to provide that support.

Ivanova’s next Voice of the Resistance report includes the announcement of a mutual defense treaty between B5 and the League, and also addresses rumors of war and strife on Minbar, and asks if anyone has any mor information to provide it.

Neroon sneaks off the Takari and contacts the head of the Warrior Caste, Shakiri, saying that he knows the Religious Caste’s plans now, and they will be easily defeated.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan knows he’ll never convince the League to let him use the White Stars to patrol, but he can manipulate events so that they’ll ask him.

Ivanova is God. At one point, Ivanova checks Sheridan’s coffee to make sure there isn’t anything untoward in it that is causing his weird-ass behavior.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. The tensions between the Warrior and Religious Castes have boiled over into civil war, and we see how virulent that hatred is in the acts of those supporting Delenn and Neroon, which are singularly un-supportive…

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari doesn’t allow his confusion regarding Sheridan’s motives stop him from throwing himself into the role of denier to the Drazi ambassador with both feet. Mollari also mentions aspect of humanity he doesn’t understand including the Winchester Mystery House, country music, and the comedy team of Rebo and Zooty.

Welcome aboard. We’ve got two recurring characters back in John Vickery, back from “Grey 17 is Missing” as Neroon, and Ron Campbell, back from “The Long Night” as the Drazi ambassador. Campbell will be back in “Meditations on the Abyss,” while Vickery will return next time in “Moments of Transition.”

In addition, the two religious caste members—who are inexplicably never named—are played by Chard Haywood and the great Guy Siner (who is probably best known for playing Lieutenant Gruber in ’Allo ’Allo).

Trivial matters. Delenn previously saw Lennier close to death in “Convictions.” Neroon tried to wrest leadership of the Rangers from Delenn in “Grey 17 is Missing.” Sheridan asked the Centauri and Narn to allow White Star ships to patrol their space in “Conflicts of Interest,” though that they accepted isn’t established until the top of this episode.

This episode has the first reference to the comedy duo of Rebo and Zooty, who will be mentioned several more times before finally appearing in the fifth season’s “Day of the Dead,” played by Penn & Teller.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“I’ve questioned your judgment, your wisdom, your temperament—but never your loyalty.”

“Was that a compliment?”

“After a fashion.”

“Then you trust me?”

“After a fashion.”

—Delenn and Neroon bantering.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “I did it for her, I did not do it for you.” My biggest problem with the B5 portion of this week’s episode is best summarized by my wife’s reaction when watching it: “Is Sheridan possessed by an alien entity or something in this episode?”

The basic idea of Sheridan manipulating the League into asking for the help that Sheridan wants to give them is a good one. But the execution is problematic only insofar as this cackling manipulator who speaks in riddles and obfuscation bears absolutely no resemblance to the John Sheridan we’ve been watching for two-and-a-half seasons now. There’s been nothing prior to this to suggest this level of keeping things close to the vest, and nothing after this to suggest that it’s a change in his personality. Indeed, this is nothing like the shift in Sheridan’s personality that we’ve been seeing all season since his return from Z’ha’dum. If I didn’t know better, I might think that there was a new writer who didn’t quite get the character writing him this time around.

But I do know better, as we’re right in the midst of J. Michael Straczynski’s insane marathon of writing every single damn episode, which makes the choice even more bizarre.

It also continues the rather tiresome infantilization of the Drazi and other League species—or, if you prefer, the paternalistic portrayal of humans toward the Drazi. It left a bad taste in my mouth in “The Geometry of Shadows,” and we do it again here, as the Drazi ambassador is played like a two-dollar banjo. It’s played for laughs, but I can’t bring myself to be amused by it. The League ambassadors just come across as idiots here, and manipulating idiots just make our nominal heroes seem unnecessarily cruel. Though I will credit that the worst outcome for Sheridan’s plan would be that the League ambassadors didn’t react at all, in which case Sheridan has wasted everyone’s time, but there would be no (direct) bad consequences.

The Minbari civil war is much more interesting. It’s always a joy to see John Vickery’s Neroon, and the scenes between him and Mira Furlan’s Delenn just sparkle. Guy Siner and Chard Haywood are equally fine as the Religious Caste jackasses, and Bill Mumy absolutely steals the show as a Lennier whom you underestimate at your peril.

It’s also only the first half of the plot, to be finished next time, and I’ll have a lot more to say about this particular storyline in a week’s time.

Next week: “Moments of Transition”[end-mark]

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Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Conflicts of Interest”

Garibaldi gets his first assignment from his new employer, while Ivanova makes preparations for her first broadcast…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on November 24, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Conflicts of Interest”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David J. Eagle
Season 4, Episode 12
Production episode 412
Original air date: May 5, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… Garibaldi’s meeting with a client is interrupted by another client. Garibaldi excuses the former and talks to the latter, a man named Ben, who is apparently at the end of his rope with frustration over how long it’s taking Garibaldi to find his daughter. When Ben finishes ranting and raving, Garibaldi tells him to turn around, at which point he sees his daughter. As an added bonus, Garibaldi also gives the financially strapped Ben a reduced fee, one that barely covers his expenses, saying that seeing this reunion was payment enough.

We see Wade watching this tableau, and he and a confederate decide that it’s about time Garibaldi got his first assignment, to see if he can handle this gig. If he can’t, well, he’s expendable…

Sheridan summons Allan to his office. Despite his resignation, Garibaldi has yet to turn in his identicard, his link, or his weapon, all of which is required by station regulations. Allan hasn’t forced the issue because he assumes the chief is coming back to work eventually, but Sheridan is less sanguine about that, and also doesn’t like the company Garibaldi is keeping.

Franklin and Cole have returned from Mars. While Cole is reporting to Sheridan, Franklin goes to the War Room to check out its conversion to a studio for the Voice of the Resistance. Ivanova says they’ve got everything they need but a power source. The station’s power can transmit to this sector, but to go properly interstellar they need a huge power source. Franklin reminds her of the planet they’re orbiting, which includes a Great Machine that is hugely powerful, and which they’ve used to transmit big-ass messages, and which Ivanova herself has already been plugged into once. Ivanova, rather than admit that she brain-farted and totally forgot about Epsilon III, instead suggests Epsilon III as if Franklin never said anything. Franklin, who values his life, agrees that it’s a brilliant idea and he wishes he thought of it.

Allan asks Garibaldi for his stuff back. Garibaldi has no problem handing over the identicard—he’s already got a new one that reflects his status as a civilian—and the link—which always annoyed him, especially the way it ripped out the hairs on the back of his hand—but he refuses to turn over his PPG. Allan insists, especially since he is licensed to get one of his own, but that one is military issue—as is his backup weapon, which Allan also insists on taking. Garibaldi is incredibly snotty to Allan on the subject, especially when Allan says he couldn’t refuse the order. Garibaldi counters Allan could too have refused it, but Allan says then Sheridan just would’ve sent someone else. Garibaldi replies that at least then he wouldn’t have had to face Allan doing it, which is a cheap shot.

Later, Garibaldi is eating dinner and watching the “Duck Amuck” episode of Looney Tunes when Wade stops by with a job for him—one that wouldn’t be appropriate for regular working hours. He wants to sneak someone onto the station without any record of his arrival or departure to pick up a sensitive package—which will involve pulling the wool over the eyes of his former staff. Garibaldi, still pissed at Allan for taking his stuff, agrees.

Ivanova arrives on Epsilon III and is shocked to be greeted by Zathras. It turns out that, even though he looks, sounds, and talks the same as the Zathras she met previously, it isn’t the same one—as he went back in time with Sinclair/Valen. Turns out it’s his brother, Zathras. There are ten Zathrases (Zathri?)—well, nine now—and he offers, after many many digressions, including the rather disturbing revelation that he eats bugs, to hook Ivanova up.

Sheridan meets with Mollari and G’Kar. The latter is extremely reluctant to be in the same room as the former, but the captain insists. He tells them about the strikes along the borders of the non-aligned worlds, and he wants the Rangers to patrol those areas and provide humanitarian aid. It’ll be a much easier sell if the Narn and Centauri agree to the same support. They’re both reluctant, as it will be seen as a power play on Sheridan’s part, plus the Narn and Centauri don’t need the help. But Sheridan says it will make a huge symbolic difference.

Wade and Garibaldi sneak the person on board, using a second identicard that Garibaldi has and didn’t give to Allan. However, it’s not Garibaldi’s would-be client, rather it’s his wife, as he himself was unable to make the trip. To Garibaldi’s abject shock, the wife in question is his old flame Lise, who is introduced by Wade as Lise Hampton-Edgars.

They go to Garibaldi’s quarters to catch up. Lise divorced Franz after she found out he was cheating, but because judges always favor Earth natives like him over Mars natives like her, he got everything, including sole custody of their child, whom she anticipates she’ll never see again. She married her new husband, Bill, not long after.

Garibaldi is appalled that she didn’t come to him when her marriage blew up, but she said he seemed happy on B5, happier than she’d ever seen him, and she didn’t want to mess that up for him with her miserable circumstances. Then Garibaldi puts two and two together, and realizes that husband Bill must be William Edgars, one of the richest people on Mars, at which point Garibaldi realizes she traded up.

Allan gets a report on security, which includes an unauthorized entry made by “Security Chief Michael Garibaldi.” Allan is pissed and has the computer cut off any access to Garibaldi the security chief.

Garibaldi, Wade, and Lise meet with the contact in downbelow, a guy named Mark. Mark has something in an isoblock, a high-tech container that’s damn near impossible to break into, and which is usually used to transport restricted biotech. Apparently there’s a genetic flaw in telepaths and the stuff in the isoblock is the starting point for research in how to fix that flaw.

While Mark and Lise discuss the exchange, Garibaldi notices suspicious folks milling about. The suspicious folks turn out to be after Mark, and a firefight ensues. Mark is killed, but Garibaldi is able to get away with Wade and Lise. However, he accidentally traps them when he discovers that his clearances no longer work. He has them climb through the ductwork, sending them ahead while he stays behind to deal with the pursuers. However, it becomes clear to Garibaldi that their foes are telepaths, so he tells them that they’re going to Docking Bay 3, and to just keep that thought in their heads.

He then leads them to a crowded corridor nowhere near Docking Bay 3, grabs a security guard, tells him to tell Allan to take a squad to Docking Bay 3. Then he tells Wade to get Lise to Brown 14, where there’s a guy who can whip up fake identicards for them.

Allan and a squad arrive at Docking Bay 3 to find two very surprised telepaths. However, as they’re being arrested, they crack cyanide capsules in fake teeth and die, with “To the future!” being their last words.

A very pissed-off Sheridan meets with a very cranky Garibaldi. Sheridan is not happy about the dead bodies and all the crimes Garibaldi has committed. Garibaldi—who unconvincingly insists he has no idea why his clients were fired upon—is not happy about having his clearance revoked just in time to be trapped. Sheridan makes it clear that if anything like this happens again, Sheridan will revoke his business license.

Later, Garibaldi gets a personal message from Lise (identified as Lise Hampton, not Lise Hampton-Edgars). Garibaldi deletes it without listening to it. The next morning, he gets a direct voice call from William Edgars himself, who offers to put him on retainer, though it will mean eventually coming to Mars. Garibaldi accepts.

Now having access to power from Epsilon III, the Voice of the Resistance has its first broadcast, with Ivanova declaring that the truth is back in business.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan is at the end of his rope with Garibaldi, and he’s trying very hard to keep the coalition of nations together in the wake of the Shadow War and in the shadow (ahem) of the Drakh threat.

Ivanova is God. Ivanova rather dopily forgets about the possibility of using Epsilon III as a power source, and for her sins, has to put up with Zathras.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi obviously has a major blind spot against Sheridan, as he acts mostly reasonably except when dealing with Sheridan or his orders.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari gets one of more bitterly amusing lines when he says, “As much as it may astonish everyone in this room, I agree with G’Kar.”

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar and Mollari both express concern that Sheridan’s using the Rangers to ostensibly maintain the peace along the borders of worlds being threatened by the Drakh and other Shadow allies could be interpreted as a grab for power—which is why Sheridan wants them on his side, of course…

We live for the one, we die for the one. The Rangers’ purpose after the last Shadow War was to be on the lookout for the Shadows’ return. That ain’t happening now, but Sheridan needs them to have a new function.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. It’s obvious that Lise and Garibaldi still have feelings for each other, but it’s also obvious that Garibaldi is not going to let himself get sucked into that quagmire again, especially now that she’s married to a rich dude for whom Garibaldi is working.

Welcome aboard. Back from “Babylon Squared” is Denise Gentile as Lise, and back from “Racing Mars” is Mark Schneider as Wade. They’ll both be back in “The Exercise of Vital Powers.” Back from “War Without End, Part 2” is Tim Choate, this time as Zathras, as opposed to his prior appearance as Zathras; Choate will return in a different role in Crusade’s “The Rules of the Game.”

Charles Walker plays Ben, Ebony Monique Solomon plays Ben’s daughter, and Richard S. Horvitz plays Mark.

And we hear the (uncredited) voice of Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Edgars. We’ll hear his voice again in “Moments of Transition” before he finally appears on camera (and is credited) in “The Exercise of Vital Powers.”

Trivial matters. The Drakh attacks on border worlds was established in “Lines of Communication.”

We don’t find out if the Narn and Centauri agree to Sheridan’s proposal in this episode—that answer won’t come until next time in “Rumors, Bargains, and Lies.”

The serum that Lise is given is not what everyone here says it is, as we’ll learn in “The Face of the Enemy.”

John Schuck was performing on Broadway, and so was unavailable to appear as Draal, as the script originally called for. Tim Choate was available however, so they brought Zathras back, kind of.

The conversation between Ivanova and Zathras was done as one continuous four-and-a-half-minute shot with no breaks, and was nailed on the first take by Choate and Claudia Christian.

The echoes of all of our conversations. “But only Zathras have no one to talk to. No one manages poor Zathras, you see. So Zathras talks to dirt, or to walls, or talks to ceilings. But dirt is closer. Dirt is used to everyone walking on it—just like Zathras. But we have come to like it—it is our role, it is our destiny in the universe. So, you see, sometimes dirt has insects in it. And Zathras likes insects. Not so good for conversation, but much protein for diet.”

—Zathras, rolling.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “If you’re going to wait for the universe to start making sense, you’ll have a long wait ahead of you.” Back when I started this rewatch with “The Gathering,” I described Garibaldi as, “a walking, talking cliché of the maverick cop,” and man, he embodies that in this episode, except now he’s the embittered ex-cop working as a PI. He’s pretty much a Dashiell Hammett character transported to the twenty-third century, and J. Michael Straczynski leaves no cliché unwritten as we follow Garibaldi’s little odyssey here. We’ve got it all! The opening bit to show he has a heart of gold. The pretty woman from the PI’s past who’s with another man now, who happens to be the client. The PI’s antagonistic relationship with his ex-colleagues in the police EarthForce. The big shootout. The unexpected complication. We’ve even got crawling around in unconvincingly clean and spacious ductwork!

The one thing that might have mitigated this tired cliché-fest would’ve been some indication of the mind-control that Garibaldi is obviously under, but aside from his overinflated crankiness toward Sheridan, that doesn’t really play a role here.

Indeed, we’re not even reminded of it, which means that we have nothing to mitigate Garibaldi being an asshole. His not turning in his weapon, link, or identicard is inexcusable. After all, the last time he resigned—in “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum”—he turned in his link and weapon. For him to get mad at Allan for following procedure is, to say the least, dickish. Plus, allowing military-issue weapons to remain in the hands of a civilian is asking for trouble, which Garibaldi knows full well as the former chief of security.

And yes, a lot of this is related to whatever was done to him between “Z’ha’dum” and “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?” But it still makes it hard to sympathize with his troubles, and since those troubles take up the majority of the episode, it makes it hard to care about it overall.

Next week: “Rumors, Bargains, and Lies”[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Conflicts of Interest” appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Lines of Communication”

Delenn investigates attacks on Minbari allies, while Franklin and Cole rally the resistance leaders to Sheridan’s cause…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on November 17, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Lines of Communication”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John C. Flinn III
Season 4, Episode 11
Production episode 411
Original air date: April 28, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… Sheridan is watching ISN’s anti-B5 propaganda. Ivanova asks why he’s torturing himself—every time he watches it, he gets riled up. But Sheridan insists that he’s using it for motivation. At the rate they’re going, Clark will be able to justify sending the military in to “liberate” B5.

Franklin sends a quick, coded message to B5 saying that things are proceeding apace on Mars. B5 doesn’t reply, and it’s quick enough, and cryptic enough, that it’s unlikely to be traced or figured out. Which is good, because if Clark found out that one of B5’s senior staff was on Mars, he’d send in the whole fleet to find him…

Cole bursts in on Franklin and Number One to inform them that the Red Planet Hotel has been attacked by terrorists, killing an Earth security force—but also ten civilians.

On B5, Forell reports to Delenn that many worlds near the border of Minbari space are being attacked—including the Norsai, whom the Minbari swore to protect. However, that promise was made by the Religious Caste. The Warrior Caste has shown no interest in honoring that promise, and with the Grey Council dissolved, there’s no one to enforce it.

Delenn goes to Sheridan to tell him about the raids. He says that the Pak’ma’ra have also suffered similar raids on the outskirts of their territory. Delenn wants to take a fleet of White Stars to investigate these raids.

On Mars, Number One tears Phillipe a new asshole for the attack on the Red Planet Hotel. Phillipe says that Donovan approved it, but Number One runs Mars, not Donovan. Franklin and Cole are impressed by the truly epic rage Number One is showing.

On B5, it’s around midnight, and Sheridan is hit with inspiration. He goes to Ivanova’s quarters, waking her out of a sound sleep, and dragging her to the War Room (once she reminds him that maybe he should give her a minute to change into uniform). Sheridan wants to fight fire with fire. He wants Ivanova to do what she did during the Shadow War, when she provided updates to the folks fighting with the Army of Light. Except this time she’ll be the Voice of the Resistance, countering ISN’s bullshit with the truth.

Ivanova is not particularly thrilled at the notion—she hated doing those updates during the Shadow War—but Sheridan makes it an order.

On the White Star flagship, Delenn is having difficulty sleeping, as she’s troubled by what’s happening on Minbar. Forell makes those troubles worse when he mentions the rumors that the Warrior Caste is looking at forming their own ruling council and that they’ve been ejecting Religious Caste members from the cities.

On Mars, Franklin and Cole speak before the gathered leaders of the Mars Resistance. Number One reminds him that Sheridan was the commander on the scene when EarthForce put down the food riots, and nobody has forgotten that. Franklin and Cole acknowledge that, but say that they have to put aside their differences to deal with the greater threat: Clark. Cole points out that he lived on the Arisia colony, which EarthGov bled dry. But they need to avoid open aggression and be smart.

They also emphasize that the fight is with the person, not the office. They’re not trying to overthrow EarthGov completely, just get rid of the fascist. They’ve got a plan to liberate both Mars and Proxima III. But the attacks on civilian targets like the Red Planet Hotel have to stop.

When asked where they’ve been up until now, they say they’ve been busy fighting a war, and before anyone can say that that’s not their problem, Cole reminds them of the Keeper they found on Captain Jack’s shoulder. Aliens are still taking an interest in human events.

Franklin drops the final bombshell: he promises that, if the Resistance cooperates fully with B5’s plan, Mars will be granted their freedom when it’s all over.

The White Star answers a distress call from a Pak’ma’ra ship. They’re too late to save the ship from the fleet of unfamiliar ships attacking it. Lennier sends out a greeting to the ships in Interlac, but they answer in Minbari—meaning they’ve encountered Minbari before.

Forell answers the question that raises by pointing a gun at Delenn. This was all a setup so that Delenn could meet with the Drakh. Delenn reluctantly agrees to speak with the Drakh.

On Mars, after the meeting, Number One congratulates Franklin on his speech, even though it contained some lies. Franklin demurs, but Number One calls him on it. She knows that Franklin hasn’t had any direct communication with Sheridan—just the indirect communication earlier—so Sheridan couldn’t possibly have said anything to Franklin about the attacks on civilian targets, which didn’t happen until their arrival on Mars. Franklin then admits that he ad-libbed that bit, but he knew that Sheridan would’ve said that if he’d known about the attacks. Number One thanks him, as it also helped her out.

Number One then invites Franklin to dinner and asks Cole if he’d help with guard duty, as they’re short-handed. Cole believes that Number One has the hots for Franklin. Again, Franklin demurs, but Cole insists.

On the White Star, an emissary from the Drakh comes over. He seems to be a bit out of phase with reality, and speaks through a translator. Forell explains that the rumors he mentioned earlier are actually facts: the Warrior Caste have indeed cast Religious Caste members out into the polar regions, leaving them to die of exposure, thus getting around the prohibition against Minbari killing Minbari on a technicality. The Warrior Caste has indeed formed a council and in essence declared war on the Religious Caste. They need help, and Forell says the Drakh will provide that, in exchange for a few colonies on the outer reaches of Minbari space. The Drakh recently lost their homeworld due to a natural disaster, you see. The Religious Caste will listen to Delenn and help with convincing them to take the help.

Delenn and Lennier obviously put it all together, but say only that they will return in seven days with the Religious Caste’s answer. Just before the emissary leaves, Forell refers to Delenn by name for the first time, and the emissary reacts.

Once the emissary is gone, Delenn turns angrily on Forell. The homeworld the Drakh lost is Z’ha’dum, and they are allies of the Shadows that were left behind. What’s more, they know Delenn is one of the heads of the Army of Light that drove the Shadows away.

Delenn and Lennier quickly talk strategy. The White Stars are faster than the Drakh ships, but only once they’re in motion—they have to overcome inertia first, and they’ll be vulnerable. Delenn suggests the Warrior Caste technique known as skin-dancing: hugging the hull of a ship to deter fire. Lennier can’t do it himself, he doesn’t have the training, but he can program the maneuver into the ship’s computer and hope for the best.

They pretend like they’re going home, then double back and skin-dance on the Drakh mothership. White Star 16 is destroyed, but the rest are able to jump to hyperspace.

Lennier says he’s setting a course for B5, but Delenn says she didn’t order that. Instead they double back and go on the offensive, returning to destroy the Drakh mothership. Then she orders Lennier to return the fleet to B5.

Delenn meets Sheridan in the War Room, which is being remodeled as the studio for the Voice of the Resistance. She says that not only are the Drakh emerging as a serious threat, but this incident has shined a light on a big problem on Minbar—a problem that Delenn herself is mostly responsible for causing when she shattered the Grey Council. She has to go home and deal with it, and she thinks it’ll be good for her to be away for a while so Sheridan can focus on what he needs to accomplish on Earth. Sheridan isn’t happy about it, but agrees.

On Mars, Cole is on guard duty, opening and closing his staff weapon, while the sounds of Franklin and Number One having hot passionate nookie-nookie echo through the tunnels…

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan weaponizes his anger at ISN’s propaganda by coming up with a counter to it: his very own propaganda!

Ivanova is God. Ivanova does not want to be the Voice of the Resistance. When Sheridan says she has a face people trust, she counters that she would prefer a face people fear. Sheridan allows as how that can be true as well…

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn belatedly realizes that shattering the Grey Council and leaving was perhaps not the wisest move, as the consequences are rather dire.

We live for the one, we die for the one. Cole is as passionate and fervent in his speaking for B5 as Franklin is, but the doctor gets all the credit, and is rewarded with dinner and sex, while Cole just gets stuck on guard duty. Ah, well, they say the Rangers are used to making sacrifices for the greater good…

The Shadowy Vorlons. We get our first real look at the Drakh, who will continue to be antagonists moving forward, both here and in Crusade.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Number One obviously has the hots for Franklin. It takes Cole dropping a brick wall on Franklin’s head to make him realize it and do something about it. Cole reminds Franklin that in difficult times like this, you shouldn’t pass up a shot at happiness.

Welcome aboard. Marjorie Monaghan officially makes Number One recurring, as she returns from last week’s “Racing Mars”; she’ll be back in “The Face of the Enemy.” Paolo Seganti plays Phillipe, G.W. Stevens plays Forell, Carolyn Barkin plays the latest ISN propaganda spewer, and stunt performer Jean-Luc Martin plays the Drakh emissary.

Trivial matters. Z’ha’dum was destroyed, leaving the Shadows’ allies homeless, in “Epiphanies.” Captain Jack was discovered to have a Keeper in “Racing Mars.” Delenn broke the Grey Council in “Severed Dreams.”

This is the first appearance of the Drakh, who are responsible for the Keepers seen in “War Without End Part 2,” “Epiphanies,” and “Racing Mars,” though that connection has yet to be established.

Cole’s prior home of the Arisia colony is likely a reference to ancient alien race from the Lensman novels by E.E. “Doc” Smith. Pretty much every space opera ever written and/or performed since the early twentieth century owes a debt to Lensman.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Tell me, is this how you treat all your former lovers?”

“As a matter of fact, yes!”

—Phillipe’s question to Number One after she tears him a new asshole, an exchange that bodes ill for Franklin…

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Touch that button and pray very very fast.” The theme of this episode is “unintended consequences,” especially for Delenn. Everything that’s happening on Minbar and everything that happened to her with the Drakh was a direct result of two things Delenn did: break the Grey Council and win the Shadow War.

The latter was pretty much unavoidable, and the alternative would’ve been way worse, but the former, truly, was hilariously irresponsible. You don’t remove the ruling council of an interstellar nation and then just leave and not replace it with anything. The surprise isn’t that Minbar is devolving into civil war, the surprise is that it took this long.

And honestly, the more I think about it, the worse Delenn looks. Indeed, this is the third time in the last four episodes where Delenn has been seen to spectacularly screw up. There was her and Sheridan’s disastrous interview in “The Illusion of Truth,” in which she and the captain gave ISN tremendous ammo for their propaganda war with their irresponsible method of conveying their points (and agreeing to be interviewed together for a network that is stoking fear of aliens). Then we found out in “Atonement” that she played a very large role in starting the Earth-Minbari War. And now this. Nature abhors a vacuum, and something was going to fill the gap left by the Grey Council going poof, and the Warrior Caste—many of whom were already pissed about the surrender to Earth—were pretty easy to predict as the ones who would be most aggressive about it.

The other unintended consequence Delenn deals with is the Drakh, which you can’t blame her for, though it does shine a different light on the Shadows’ capitulation in “Into the Fire.” You have to wonder if they were playing a long game here, figuring that they couldn’t stand against all those First Ones, but if they left the Drakh and the others behind, they’d finish their work…

The actual contact with the Drakh is very well handled. Lennier realizing that the Drakh are communicating in Minbari rather than translated Interlac, meaning that they’ve had contact with a Minbari before. Both Lennier and Delenn instantly realizing what the Drakh homeworld that they lost was, but not saying anything in front of the emissary. Delenn and Lennier working out a strategy to get out before the Drakh take their revenge. It’s all expertly written and beautifully acted by Mira Furlan and Bill Mumy. Credit also to G.W. Stevens, who is just right as the naïve Religious Caste member who falls for the Drakh’s ploy.

The stuff on Mars is fine. We see that Number One is a force to be reckoned with, with Marjorie Monaghan doing superlative work. We see that Sheridan is still high-handed and arrogant even by proxy, as Franklin’s message from him is way more like barking orders than trying to forge an alliance. And the Franklin-Cole double act remains a delight.

Next week: “Conflicts of Interest”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Racing Mars”

Marcus and Franklin meet their liaison to the Mars resistance, while Sheridan confronts Garibaldi about his attitude.

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on November 10, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Racing Mars”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Jesus Treviño
Season 4, Episode 10
Production episode 410
Original air date: April 21, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… Ivanova meets with Sheridan to discuss their supply issues. With EarthGov’s quarantine in effect, and the punishment for violating it by any human being brutal, even black market sources are steering clear. Ivanova says she’s already working on a solution, which she’s been doing on her own to give Sheridan deniability. She then relieves Sheridan of command on medical grounds, as he hasn’t taken any personal time in nine months, during which he’s died, been resurrected, and fought a war, and maybe he should take a break before the inevitable showdown with Earth.

Franklin and Cole are in the cargo hold of a a liner heading toward Mars, with Cole making Franklin batshit with his game of “I Spy.” Cole then discovers someone sneaking about. He calls himself Captain Jack, and he claims to be the brother of the ship’s captain, who lets him hitch a ride periodically. He also offers superior food to their meal-bar rations: Insta-Heats, which actually taste and smell good. Cole insists they not only not take them, but keep their distance from Captain Jack, as they’re to make no contact with anyone until they meet their Mars Resistance liaison. Eventually, however, Jack reveals that he’s the liaison, uttering the appropriate code phrase. He didn’t identify himself right away out of a sense of caution. He gives them the identicards they’ll need on Mars—they’re for a couple, Jim Fennerman and Daniel Lane.

Sheridan tries to relax by watching TV, but all the Earth channels have been blacked out except for ISN. He puts that on, only to see a rerun of Dan Randall’s hit piece. After watching Garibaldi’s evisceration of Sheridan, the captain decides to confront his erstwhile chief of security. Garibaldi makes no apology for his words—and isn’t freedom of speech what they were supposed to be fighting for? Sheridan counters that they’re having enough trouble with Clark’s propaganda war without Garibaldi giving him ammunition for his side.

Their discussion gets very heated, with both sides yelling, and Sheridan making it clear that he won’t tolerate Garibaldi endangering the station.

Some very skeevy-looking guys observe this, led by a guy named Wade. Later they approach Garibaldi with an offer to help deal with Sheridan, though they frame it as “helping” the captain.

Captain Jack takes Cole and Franklin on a tube across Mars. Jack says they’ve heard all kinds of outlandish stories about B5, including that they’d abandoned Mars. Franklin assures them that they haven’t abandoned them, they’ve just been busy fighting a war—Jack has no idea what he’s talking about. He’d heard rumors about a war, but nothing he really believed. Cole is rather annoyed to learn that he’s finally a war hero and nobody seems to know about it…

Ivanova meets with four smugglers, who haven’t been operating much around B5 lately. They explain that EarthGov’s penalties for doing business anywhere near B5 are too harsh to risk. Plus, Nightwatch has made gun-running damn near impossible. Ivanova offers them a deal: bring legit supplies—food, medicine, and so on—to B5 and they’ll have the protection of B5’s starfuries when they’re in the general vicinity and have full access to B5’s repair facilities for their ships.

Captain Jack leads Cole and Franklin down some underground corridors belonging to abandoned mines. They’re met at gunpoint by members of the Mars Resistance, led by someone identified only as “Number Two.” The communiqué from B5 was fragmentary, and they also have news of a hit squad coming for them, so they’re playing everything safe. They ask for Cole and Franklin’s real identicards, and they’ll verify those against their DNA profile to make sure they’re really Marcus Cole and Stephen Franklin. While they wait, Captain Jack shows Franklin a picture of his daughter, complete with her address on the back of it, which he says is there because he sometimes forgets it. He also insists on keeping his coat on, despite how hot it is in the tunnels.

Delenn approaches Sheridan in the Zen garden, where he’s stewing about the confrontation with Garibaldi. To his horror, she has yet another Minbari ritual that prospective couples must undergo, though he relents when he finds out that it’s to spend a night discovering each others’ pleasures. Wah-hey!

Number Two returns along with Number One: the identicards show that they aren’t Cole and Franklin. However, before anything else can happen, Captain Jack shakily raises a PPG and aims it at Number One. Franklin tackles her to the ground, which saves her life, while Cole manages to shoot Jack in the shoulder, which knocks an alien creature off it.

Jack runs away, dropping the real identicards on the ground. The resistance folks capture the alien, which is now dead, and Franklin examines it. It’s a parasite, with fibres that wrap around the nervous system. Jack probably was being controlled. In retrospect, he dropped hints that something was odd, and also provided a method of notifying his next of kin with the picture of his daughter.

Number One tries contacting him via his comm headset, which he still has. He’s in a tube, and he’s stolen a grenade. Number One tries to convince him that it’s over, the alien parasite is dead, but Jack says that it’ll just grow back. So he blows himself up with a grenade.

Sheridan tries to mend fences with Garibaldi, and the talk is almost reasonable until an alien woman practically genuflects before Sheridan. Garibaldi loses his temper, violently grabbing the woman and saying he’s not a messiah or a religious figure, he’s just a person. Sheridan urges Garibaldi to let go of her, as he’s hurting her. Garibaldi asks if Sheridan likes this adulation, oblivious to the physical harm he’s causing. Sheridan puts a hand on Garibaldi’s shoulder to get him to leave her alone, and Garibaldi decks him.

Sheridan calls off security, which is more than happy to arrest their former boss for assaulting their current CO, but Sheridan says this one’s free. Next time, he’ll knock Garibaldi’s block off. After Sheridan walks off, Garibaldi is visibly pissed at himself.

Sheridan goes to Delenn’s quarters for the pleasure ritual, only to be rather appalled to find a crowded room. There are a mess of Minbari—including Lennier—present as witnesses, apparently. Delenn drags a reluctant Sheridan into the bedroom.

Number One tells Cole and Franklin that the resistance leaders are all going to gather, but it’ll take a couple of days. In the meantime, they’ve made a reservation at the Red Planet Hotel in the names of their assumed identities: it’s the honeymoon suite.

Garibaldi meets with Wade, saying he’s in, that Sheridan has gotten out of control. But he won’t hurt him. Wade assures with a hilarious lack of conviction that they just want to help Sheridan, no really, honest.   

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan spends his enforced vacation trying really hard to make nice with Garibaldi, also trying really hard to deal with having his sexual preferences displayed for many Minbari to see. He doesn’t do so great with either…

Ivanova is God. Ivanova pitch to the smugglers is a clever mix of enticing—protection and repairs—and enlightened self-interest—they’d only be smuggling nice things—and also threats—she makes it clear that their ships will need those free repairs if they step out of line. Her pitch is sufficiently successful that one of the smugglers propositions her.

The household god of frustration. It’s obvious that Garibaldi is being manipulated in some way. His body language and facial expressions make it clear that his initial response in the immediate aftermath of his second confrontation with Sheridan is regret and self-directed anger at how badly he’s screwed up. But the next time we see him, he’s telling Wade how dangerous Sheridan is, which is a completely different response, and at odds with reality.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Minbari really do have a ritual for every damn thing…

We live for the one, we die for the one. Cole gets to show off his badassery twice, once when he finds and captures Captain Jack in the cargo hold, and again when he takes out his guard before shooting the Keeper off Jack’s shoulder.

The Shadowy Vorlons. We see another Keeper like the one that attached itself to the Centauri Regent (and Mollari in the future) on Captain Jack, and it’s apparently trying to break the Mars Resistance. This is in keeping with the Shadows’ allies still trying to help Clark out.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. The morning after the pleasure ritual, Lennier and Sheridan encounter each other in a transport tube. Lennier looks at Sheridan questioningly and asks, “‘Woo-hoo!’?” Sheridan just looks embarrassed.

Also there’s some very obvious chemistry between Franklin and Number One…

Welcome aboard. Donovan Scott plays Captain Jack, while Clayton Landey plays Number Two and Geoff Meed and Brian Tahash play the two smugglers with speaking parts. Carrie Dobro—who will later star in A Call to Arms and Crusade as Dureena Nafeel—appears as the Brakiri woman. Enough archive footage from “The Illusion of Truth” is used to give Jeff Griggs another guest star credit as Randall.

We also get two new recurring characters. Marjorie Monaghan debuts the role of Number One, while Mark Schneider kicks off the role of Wade. Monaghan will return next time in “Lines of Communications,” while Schneider will be back in “Conflicts of Interest.”

Trivial matters. This is the third time we’ve seen a Keeper, following the one on Mollari in the future of “War Without End, Part 2” and the one on the Regent at the end of “Epiphanies.”

At one point, Ivanova and the smugglers mention that one of them smuggled in a compound that made Garibaldi bald, providing a plot reason—beyond, “he’s going balder by the nanosecond,” anyhow—why Jerry Doyle started just shaving his head.

Garibaldi refers to the pope with a feminine pronoun, a bit that, according to J. Michael Straczynski, resulted in many angry responses from Catholics all over the world. A Pope Bernadette II will be referenced in an episode of Crusade.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Just my luck—first time in my life I’m a war hero, and nobody knows about it! And worst of all, I’m married to you!”

“Well, that’s not my idea.”

“Oh, you say that now—tell that to your mother. She never stopped calling us about it. ‘So, when’s the big day? I’ve got to pick out patterns. Your father isn’t going to live forever!’ And on and on and on and on.”

—Cole taking the piss out of Franklin.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “And that’s when I killed him, your honor.” I have not been kind to the late Richard Biggs in this rewatch. I have come through this not liking Biggs’ acting much, and especially not liking the character of Franklin. But I recall having fond memories of the Mars Resistance subplot, and while a lot of that is due to my abject love of Marjorie Monaghan, this episode reminded me that a big part of it was the easy chemistry between Biggs and Jason Carter. This chemistry extended to real life, as the pair were close friends all the way to Biggs’ tragic death. And that really helps sell the Mars part of the episode.

Which is good, as that part of the plot has two major casting issues—which, luckily, won’t affect the future of the storyline, as this is the only appearance by each. Clayton Landey mistakes snarling for acting in his role as Number Two, and Donovan Scott and his hilariously wandering accent is just a little too precious as Captain Jack. He definitely ranks way behind Sparrow, Harkness, and the guy in the Billy Joel song when it comes to fictional Captain Jacks…

I find myself wondering what the plan was for Garibaldi’s betrayal before Michael O’Hare had to leave the show. The Sinclair-Garibaldi friendship was a cornerstone of the first season—indeed, Garibaldi only had his job because the commander was his drinking buddy—and having Garibaldi betray the station would have had much more weight if it was Sinclair he was betraying. But the advantage of it being Sheridan is that the relationship between the two of them was never particularly strong. Yes, they worked together, and generally trusted each other, but the closeness that Garibaldi had with Sinclair has never been there with Sheridan. And so Garibaldi’s turning on him actually has a certain sincerity to it that it wouldn’t have had with Sinclair.

Of course, it’s a bit spoiled by the fact that we know that Garibaldi’s being controlled by something or someone. It might have been more effective if we didn’t know that about him, and thought this might be a legitimate character choice.

Especially since Garibaldi’s words do have the ring of truth. Since returning from Z’ha’dum, Sheridan has been a lot more high-handed and arrogant.

The rest of the episode generally works well. Ivanova’s solution to the supply issue is clever and well handled. Sheridan’s expression of Minbari ritual fatigue hangs a lantern on the rather ridiculous number of rituals that the Minbari seem to have for every damn thing—plus “‘Woo-hoo!’?” still makes me laugh, though that’s primarily due to Bill Mumy’s letter-perfect deadpan.

Next week: “Lines of Communication”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Atonement”

Delenn returns to Minbar to undergo “The Dreaming” and justify her choice of Sheridan…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on November 3, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

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Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

“Atonement”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Tony Dow
Season 4, Episode 9
Production episode 409
Original air date: February 24, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… Allan is being fitted for an Army of Light uniform by some Minbari tailors. Allan is reluctant to accept it, partly because the tailors keep poking him with pins, mainly because he is convinced that Garibaldi’s resignation is a temporary situation and he’ll eventually come back to the job.

A Minbari cruiser arrives carrying Callenn, the head of Delenn’s clan. She asks for one more day before they head back to Minbar, which Callenn grants her. Delenn then summons Sheridan to her quarters, greeting him while wearing a slinky black dress. She points out that they haven’t had much time alone lately and so suggests a dinner date—and also to finally have their third night of her watching him sleep to see his true face, as they never did get that done, what with him going to Z’ha’dum and dying and being resurrected and stuff….

Sheridan—mostly focused on how hot Delenn looks in the dress—agrees to all that, though he says he doesn’t really see the value of watching him drooling with his face mashed into a pillow…

She also tells him that the next day she has to go to Minbar to take care of some things, and she’s not sure when she’ll be back.

Sheridan meets with Franklin and Cole. With Clark’s propaganda campaign going full bore, B5 is losing credibility. They need to make a move against Earth, so Sheridan wants to start coordinating with the Mars Resistance. Sheridan would prefer to go himself to make the connection, but he’s too recognizable, and also the most wanted person in the Earth Alliance. He’s sending Franklin, who’s part of the senior staff, which will lend credibility, but not a prominent member of same. Cole is going along as his bodyguard. They need to take a roundabout route so it’ll take a few weeks to get there.

Delenn watches Sheridan sleep, then goes toward the docking bay—only to be intercepted by Lennier, who insists on going with her. Delenn doesn’t want him to come along, as she fears that he’ll learn horrible things about her. But Lennier has pledged himself to her and won’t leave her side. So they go off to Minbar together.

On Minbar, Delenn’s clan meets, all wearing white robes. Callenn expresses the clan’s concerns: no Minbari has ever married an alien. This on top of her using the triluminary to make herself partly human. She committed both these actions without consulting the clan. She is therefore required to justify these decisions and abide by the clan’s final ruling, to which she agrees. She will also undergo the Dreaming, a process of seeing visions of one’s past that will reveal the truth behind their actions. Someone in the Dreaming can have a second to be a protector and guide, a job for which Lennier of course volunteers.

Delenn and Lennier both drink from a cup that apparently gives you shared hallucinations. They enter the Dreaming, and Delenn sees herself alongside Dukhat. She was a mere acolyte at this stage, and Delenn and Lennier see her being brought before the Grey Council, who have heard about humans from the Centauri. The Council believes that they should not contact the humans—the Worker Caste fears being weakened by more sources of food and artifacts, the Religious Caste fears alien beliefs being introduced to the Minbari, and the Warrior Caste don’t want anything to do with primitives. Dukhat disagrees, and asks Delenn to give a reason why they should make contact. Delenn says that the greatest enemy is the unknown, so doesn’t it behoove them to find out everything they can about humans?

Dukhat both congratulates and apologizes to her for putting her in that position, and for using her to make a point to the Grey Council. He then makes her his aide.

Jump to many years later, and Delenn is made a member of the Grey Council. When they bring the triluminary near her, it glows, which surprises everyone. Later Dukhat confirms that it doesn’t usually glow, and he starts to explain that he expected something like this and he chose Delenn for a reason. But before he can elaborate, there’s an alarm.

We see the first contact between human and Minbari. Dukhat fears that their approaching with gun ports open will be misinterpreted, but before he can give the order to close them, the human ships fire. Dukhat is killed in the ensuing conflagration, dying in Delenn’s arms while trying to tell her something. Morann, one of the Grey Council, approaches Delenn saying that the remaining eight members are deadlocked with regard to how to respond—four want to take vengeance for Dukhat’s death, four want to try a diplomatic solution. Overwhelmed by grief for her dead mentor, Delenn cries out to fight the humans and show no mercy. By the time Delenn comes to her senses and calms down, the war has taken on a life of its own and it can’t be stopped.

In the present, Lennier realizes that this is what Delenn was worried about him finding out. But he doesn’t condemn her or castigate her as she feared. Delenn now realizes she has spent the last ten years atoning for that moment of anguish that resulted in a brutal war that killed so many. She wonders if her engagement to Sheridan is part of that atonement—and even if it isn’t, will the clan see it that way and forbid her to marry him?

The Dreaming having ended, Delenn is instructed to meditate overnight and she will discuss it with the clan in the morning.

As she drifts off to sleep, Delenn realizes why the Dreaming showed her Dukhat’s death—he tried to tell her something before he died, but she has no memory of that, so stricken was she with grief. She and Lennier go back to the Dreaming, and when Callenn tries to stop her, she insists that he join her as well. The three of them see Dukhat’s death again, and hear what he actually said: that he picked her as his aide for a reason, because she is a child of Valen.

Delenn sends Lennier to retrieve a specific Grey Council record. Lennier returns with the record in question, saying that the guards resisted him at first, but, “I managed to… explain matters to them. They will recover in time.”

It is a genealogy record he has recovered, and it shows that Delenn is one of many Minbari who is descended from Valen. But they know now that Valen was also the human Jeffrey Sinclair—which means that all of his descendants have human DNA. The triluminary glowed in Delenn’s presence because it was designed to glow in the presence of Sinclair’s DNA.

Callenn admits that he already knew all this. But they must keep the secret of the Minbari’s lack of genetic purity. Delenn angrily says that, if she’s already impure, who gives a crap who she marries? Callenn, however, has a more elegant solution that will allow everyone to save face. In the time before Valen, when clan fought clan, there was a tradition that the two sides of a conflict would, after peace was achieved, would have a wedding between the two formerly warring clans. Delenn can couch her engagement to Sheridan in those terms, with her wedding a marriage between the formerly warring “clans” of humans and Minbari.

Delenn and Lennier return to B5 and a very relieved Sheridan. Delenn says only that her affairs are in order and does not specify why she went home.

We cut to Franklin and Cole in the uncomfortable-looking hold of some ship or other, working their way very very slowly to Mars. Cole is opening and closing his staff as a nervous habit, and after Franklin tells him to stop, he offers to sing instead, and then breaks into “Model of a Modern Major-General” from The Pirates of Penzance.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Franklin offers to try to find out what happened to Sheridan’s Dad, but Sheridan refuses. While they know the farm has burned down, Sheridan is fairly sure that they don’t actually have his father in custody, because if they did, they’d crow about it publicly. It’s safer if nobody inquires after him.

Ivanova is God. We first see Ivanova on her way to a Drazi religious festival. We next see her stumbling out of a transport tube, hair messed up, covered in glitter, and limping with a cane.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. When she’s made Dukhat’s aide, Delenn stands before him looking at the floor. Dukhat tells her to look up, which she says is disrespectful, but he says that if she constantly looks at the floor, she’ll be constantly bumping into things. It’s word-for-word the same as the exchange between Delenn and Lennier when the latter reported as her aide in “The Parliament of Dreams.”

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. Franklin gives G’Kar a prosthetic eye. G’Kar is tickled by the fact that he will still be able to see through it, even if it’s not actually in his head.

We live for the one, we die for the one. It shouldn’t really surprise anyone that Marcus Cole is a fan of Gilbert & Sullivan…

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Delenn is able to stay engaged to Sheridan. And there was much rejoicing.

Welcome aboard. German actor Reiner Schöne makes his first of two appearances as Dukhat; he’ll return to the role in In the Beginning. Robin Atkin Downes makes his first appearance on the show, as Morann, a role he’ll also return to in In the Beginning; Downes will have the recurring role of Byron in season five. Brian Carpenter plays Callenn.

Trivial matters. The disastrous Earth-Minbari first contact with Dukhat’s death being the catalyst of the war after the misunderstanding about the meaning of gun ports being open was established in “Legacies.” We saw the human side of it in David McIntyre’s flashbacks in “A Late Delivery from Avalon.”

Valen was established as being a transformed and time-displaced Sinclair in “War Without End, Part 2.”

Delenn told Sheridan about the watch-the-dude-sleep-for-three-nights tradition among Minbari women considering a mate back in “Shadow Dancing.” Their second night of it was interrupted by Anna Sheridan at the end of that episode.

Ivanova made herself into “Green Leader” of the Drazi and settled their ancient conflict back in “The Geometry of Shadows,” which is probably why she got invited to their party and why she wore a green sash to it.

Jason Carter sang the first verse of “Model of a Modern Major-General” in one take, which ended with Richard Biggs screaming in agony. That take, and Biggs’ scream (and director Tony Dow saying “Cut!”) was played over the closing credits instead of the usual theme music.

This is the first time Mira Furlan has been in full Minbari makeup since the beginning of season two. She’ll be back in it for In the Beginning.

The movie Thirdspace takes place between the first two scenes of this episode, as it takes place after Allan started wearing the Army of Light uniform and after the Shadow War, but before B5 and Earth started formally fighting each other and before Franklin’s departure for Mars.

The echoes of all of our conversations. “When others do a foolish thing, you should tell them it is a foolish thing. They can still continue to do it, but at least the truth is where it needs to be.”

Dukhat imparting wisdom to Delenn and explaining why he had her speak before the Grey Council.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Marcus, this is the kind of conversation that can only end in a gunshot.” One of the great dichotomies of the character of Delenn is that she’s this sweet, compassionate, friendly person who fights for the light and rails against the darkness—so it’s very easy to forget how manipulative and capricious and self-centered she can be. The very plot of this episode is prompted by her doing things she shouldn’t have done because she thinks it will be good for her: becoming part-human and agreeing to marry a human, both things she should never have done without at least consulting her clan.

And we find out the rather brutal revelation that the war was entirely her fault. Well, okay it’s partly the fault of the captain of the Prometheus who fired the shot, but it’s entirely on Delenn that the Minbar went for, in her own words, no mercy instead of trying to talk it out.

A big reason why this episode works so well is the excellent casting of Reiner Schöne as Dukhat. After hearing several times about what a great leader Dukhat was, and how devastating his loss was, the casting of the role was crucial to making this episode work—and, for that matter, to make the entire Earth-Minbari War work as a plot point. Schöne absolutely knocks it out of the park, giving us a truly charismatic leader.

Much credit also goes to Mira Furlan, especially for her portrayal of Delenn as a very young acolyte. She convincingly gives us Delenn at three very different points in her life, and as usual inhabits the complexity of the character with verve and style.

Some nice character bits floating around the Minbari stuff, too. Allan finally getting an Army of Light uniform is a welcome change, especially given how ill-fitting the new regular security outfits are. Ivanova going on a Drazi bender is a cute followup to the events of “The Geometry of Shadows,” and Cole tormenting Franklin with Gilbert & Sullivan is epic.

Next week: “Racing Mars”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Illusion of Truth”

A team of ISN reporters arrives at the station wanting to do a story about Babylon 5…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on October 27, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“The Illusion of Truth”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Stephen Furst
Season 4, Episode 8
Production episode 408
Original air date: February 17, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… Ivanova finds Sheridan alone in the war room, which isn’t really needed anymore, since the Shadow War is over. Sheridan is concerned about the likelihood of a war against President Clark. He’s also concerned about his father. They’d managed to stay in touch since breaking off from Earth, but he hasn’t heard anything from the old man in a while, and the last message he did get was that strangers were asking around town about him.

In customs, a new arrival named Dan Randall refuses to allow his luggage to be inspected. Allan forces the issue, only to discover that the luggage contains recording equipment and Randall is a reporter for ISN.

Franklin reports to Sheridan that they have to shuffle around the telepaths in the cryo units, as some of them are malfunctioning. Sheridan authorizes it, then visits Randall, who is currently in custody for traveling under false papers. Randall insists that, if he and his people had said who they really were, they’d have been turned away. But Sheridan says they have an open-door policy, and everyone’s allowed on the station—the equipment, though, is a different matter. ISN is a propaganda machine for Clark, and they won’t assist in that.

Randall puts his cards on the table: he’s here to do a piece on B5. Yes, it’s supposed to be a hit piece, but Randall wants to try to get some of the truth out there. He claims that he’s one of several ISN employees who are trying to work from within to at least get some truth out.

Garibaldi has started up a business as a finder: locating items that have gone missing in the chaos of the Shadow War. We see him with a client who is trying to convince him that a statue is a family heirloom with sentimental value, but Garibaldi knows full well that it’s a Drazi religious icon and that his client probably stowed some valuables in there before having to abandon his home and he wants the stuff back.

After they negotiate a new price and the client buggers off, Lennier joins Garibaldi to ask how he is doing and why he resigned. Garibaldi expresses mostly polite frustration at how many people are asking him that. Sheridan then interrupts, accompanied by Randall. Sheridan wants Lennier to show Randall and his cameras around the station. After Lennier goes off with the reporter, Sheridan and Garibaldi exchange awkward glances.

Lennier takes Randall around, answering questions about things like who pays for ship repairs. The floating camera also repeatedly baps Lennier on the head, to his annoyance. For reasons passing understanding, Lennier takes Randall to downbelow. While there, they encounter Franklin wheeling away a patient. The doctor also takes a call regarding cryo units.

Mollari complains to Sheridan about the temperature in his quarters. The ISN cameras capture that discussion.

Randall interviews Sheridan and Delenn, who are very obviously a couple, and they discuss that some. At one point, Randall asks if there are misgivings about their relationship, and Sheridan says nobody will be able to stop what they’ve begun.

Randall’s last interview is with Garibaldi, who resists at first, but eventually lets it all hang out, including his serious misgivings about Sheridan.

Some time later, Sheridan, Ivanova, and Delenn meet in Sheridan’s office to watch Randall’s report. ISN starts with some news, including that Earth has mostly taken back Mars, and also that a writer has confessed to the Senate’s committee investigating anti-Earth activities that he has worked against Earth’s interests, and he also names three other creative people whom he claims has done likewise. Said writer has very obviously been tortured and is speaking under duress.

We then start Randall’s report. Contrary to his assertions to Sheridan at the top of the episode, this is a pure hit piece, with footage reedited and interview questions changed to make B5 look as bad as possible. Using the footage of downbelow, Randall claims that all the civilian humans on B5 live like that, and that some are taken for experimentation. Using the footage of Lennier showing Randall around downbelow and Mollari rebuking Sheridan, Randall claims that the senior staff on B5 in general and Sheridan in particular are completely beholden to alien influence. An “expert,” Dr. William Indiri, claims that this is an example of Helsinki Syndrome (a misuse of Stockholm Syndrome, though it’s possible the syndrome’s name changes over the next couple centuries, though it can also be evidence that Indiri is incompetent).

Randall was also able to sneak into the cryo chambers and see that there are people there, whose names aren’t on any manifest for the station. Randall theorizes that these are where the humans are being taken for experimentation. (These are, of course, the telepaths that the Shadows modified.)

The conclusion of Randall’s report expresses sympathy for Sheridan’s apparent illness and hope that he can be rescued and healed away from alien influence.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! The one useful thing that comes out of Randall’s report is an offhand mention that Sheridan’s father is missing and the family farm has been burned to the ground, which gives Sheridan more information about his father’s fate than he had before Randall’s arrival.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi has a flashback to his imprisonment, one we haven’t seen before, where he’s tied to a chair and being told repeatedly, “You work for no one but us.”

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Randall also theorizes that Delenn’s transformation was done at Sheridan’s behest to make the notion of human/alien hybrids more palatable to humans.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari’s quarters are apparently having environmental issues, as he complains that it’s so cold that he fears his arms will turn to ice and fall off. Sheridan wry reply is that there are other limbs of Mollari’s that he’d rather see fall off…

Looking ahead. Garibaldi’s animus toward Sheridan will continue to be an issue over the next several episodes.

Welcome aboard. Jeff Griggs is perfectly skeevy as Randall and Henry Darrow is hilariously unimpressive as Indiri. Alison Higgins is back from “Ship of Tears” as the Clark-friendly ISN anchor; she’ll be back in “The Face of the Enemy.”

Trivial matters. This is the first of five episodes in the franchise directed by Stephen Furst. It was only his second time in the director’s chair. After co-writing and co-starring in the 1993 kids martial arts film Magic Kid, he returned to not only co-write and co-star in 1994’s Magic Kid II, he also directed the sequel. Furst continued to direct—his last project before his death in 2017 was to direct the science fiction web series Cozmo’s, which starred B5 co-star Claudia Christian, as well as Star Trek’sRobert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, and Aron Eisenberg.

The scene of Lee Parks naming fellow alien sympathizers (Adrian Mostel, Beth Trumbo, and Carleton Jarrico) is a tribute to four people who were blacklisted from working in Hollywood after being named during the hearings held by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s: Larry Parks, Zero Mostel, Dalton Trumbo, and Paul Jarrico.

The “This Year in History” segment on ISN (which really should be called “This Day in History,” but whatever) includes Yuri Gagarin’s successful orbiting of Earth in 1961, “North American” President Bill Clinton creating a Commission on the Future in 1999 (which didn’t happen), the foundation for a lunar colony being laid in 2018 (which really didn’t happen, heavy sigh), and the creation of the Psi Corps in 2161. Gagarin’s name was misspelled on the original broadcast, but that was fixed in reruns and on home video and streaming.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Commander, did you threaten to grab ahold of this man by the collar and throw him out an airlock?”

“Yes, I did.”

“I am shocked! Shocked and dismayed! I’d remind you that we are short on supplies here. We can’t afford to take perfectly good clothing and throw it out into space. Always take the jacket off first—I’ve told you that before. Sorry, she meant to say, ‘Stripped naked and thrown out an airlock.’ I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.”

—Sheridan and Ivanova making it clear to Randall how unwanted he is.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Our job is to report the news, not to make it or guide it.” This is almost a great episode. It’s kept from greatness by a bunch of small things. It’s not enough to make this a bad episode, and it is in fact quite a good one, but I find myself frustrated, because it should’ve been so much more.

The first problem is a casting one. Jeff Griggs is just too dang sleazy to be in any way convincing as the embedded crusader he paints himself as in the early part of the episode. He’s very effective as a propagandist during the report that takes up the back half of the episode, but he’s so aggressively insincere early on that I find it impossible to credit that anybody on B5 took him seriously. (The show did a much better job of casting a similar role in “And Now for a Word.”)

The second is that our heroes are remarkably stupid here. I don’t mean in allowing Randall to do his interviews. Allowing him to do the report was absolutely the right thing to do. If Randall was lying and was really going to do a hatchet job, well, that was going to happen regardless of Sheridan and the gang’s level of cooperation. And if he was telling the truth about trying to get at the truth (ahem), then cooperating can only help.

No, it’s how they went about it, starting with having Lennier be his tour guide. If you’re trying to hedge against this turning into a propaganda piece for the isolationist anti-alien EarthGov, then don’t have a non-human be the guide to the station, and especially don’t do an interview sitting next to your Minbari girlfriend. Sheridan said to Ivanova before the broadcast that they were all careful to make simple declarative sentences that couldn’t be taken out of context, but that wasn’t even remotely true, starting with Sheridan and Delenn actually saying phrases like, “Anything that gets in the way disappears” (in the passive voice!) and “If they don’t understand we will make them understand” and my favorite, “There is no force in the galaxy that can stop what we have done here together. Nothing will be able to stop us.” I mean, for fuck’s sake, why not just wear a sign saying, “TAKE THIS OUT OF CONTEXT PLEASE!”

On top of that, what possible reason would you have to let Randall get anywhere near downbelow? Even if Randall was sympathetic, there is no way, none, to make downbelow look good and about a billion ways to make it look awful, as we saw.

And that’s the problem with the episode: it stacks the deck, puts words in Sheridan and Delenn’s mouths in particular that are slightly awkward but necessary to make it easy for Randall to edit them into something that sounds awful.

Other parts of the report work much better. For example, the stuff with the cryochambers is something they couldn’t have predicted being a problem. (Hey look, Bester finds a way to screw with the crew again!) And Garibaldi’s anti-Sheridan tirade was also probably a big surprise to our heroes, and which is part of an ongoing issue that will continue throughout the next dozen episodes or so.

Director Stephen Furst deserves significant credit here, as the whole episode is beautifully lensed, from the foreshadowing still shots of bits the ISN cameras caught to the news report itself. It’s expertly filmed, and it’s not a surprise that Furst would come back to direct four more episodes.

Next week: “Atonement”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Epiphanies”

Bester comes to Babylon 5 with information about President Clark — but it has a price

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on October 20, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Epiphanies”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John C. Flinn III
Season 4, Episode 7
Production episode 407
Original air date: February 10, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… The Shadow War is over and B5 is having a party. Sheridan and Delenn watch as people dance and celebrate. However, Sheridan is worried about what comes next.

At Psi Corps HQ on Earth, Bester is being briefed by his boss. President Clark has apparently been rattled by something, and he’s targeting B5 for whatever reason. It’s resulted in a major program involving Psi Corps, EarthForce, Nightwatch, and Minipax. When Bester asks why they don’t just have EarthForce take B5 by force, the boss telepath says they tried that and it didn’t work. They need to discredit B5 first.

On Centauri Prime, Mollari prepares to leave for B5. He’s put a lot of noses out of joint with his freeing of Narn and he wants to go offworld for a while until things calm down.

Cartagia didn’t have an heir, and the Centaurum wants to deliberate much more slowly and carefully on who to make the new emperor. They have decided to give the position of Regent to Minister Virini, whose first thought upon assuming the keep-the-throne-warm position is to want to redecorate the throne room in pastels…

On B5, G’Kar is being examined in medlab, where Franklin offers him a prosthetic eye. G’Kar accepts, and is also frustrated by the phantom-limb-syndrome-induced itching in his missing eye.

Garibaldi receives a message in his quarters. It’s a weird test pattern, and after seeing it, Garibaldi deletes the message as well as any record of it. That’s not ominous at all…

Neither is what happens next: Garibaldi starts out a senior staff meeting by resigning. Everyone is stunned and tries to talk him out of it, but he rather sensibly points out that the whole point of the war they just fought was so that they could determine their own fate. Well, he wants to determine his.

Allan is going over procedure with security personnel. Mollari arrives and banters with Allan for a bit before boarding the station. (Weirdly, Mollari—who is now prime minister—doesn’t correct Allan when he calls him “Ambassador.”) Bester then arrives, escorted by two security guards. The Psi Cop says he needs to meet with the senior staff, and he assumes that his usual accommodations in the brig are available?

Allan leaves before anything else weird happens, and as soon as he departs a bunch of Elvis impersonators board the station.

G’Kar visits Garibaldi in his quarters as he’s packing. Garibaldi is scared to death that G’Kar is going to kill him, given that the Narn was captured by the Centauri and his eye ripped out. G’Kar, however, completely surprises Garibaldi by giving him a bear hug. Yes, he lost an eye and was tortured, but his people are free, and it was his search for Garibaldi that caused him to get captured and therefore be in a position to do the deal with Mollari. G’Kar is not angry at all. Garibaldi is grateful, and also more convinced than ever that G’Kar is nuts.

Sheridan promotes Allan to chief of security. Everyone agrees that Garibaldi has been acting weird since his disappearance, but there’s not much they can do about it. Sheridan has Allan fetch Alexander, as they want her telepathic mojo to keep Bester from scanning them.

ISN reports that President Clark has declared that there’s a travel ban to B5, and there’s an EarthForce blockade enforcing it.

Allan arrives at Alexander’s quarters, where she has a bunch of stuff on her bed. With the Vorlons gone, she is no longer beholden to their desire for her to live an ascetic lifestyle. She is, however, struggling with what to put where. When Allan asks her along for the meeting with Bester, Alexander plaintively asks why people only come to see her when they want something. No one just stops by to say hi. Allan says frankly that her connection to the Vorlons freaks people out more than a little bit. Alexander thanks him for the honesty. Allan then offers to come by when things calm down and help her organize her quarters—he’ll even bring pizza.

Mollari and G’Kar come across each other in the Zocalo. G’Kar says that his people are free and Mollari no longer exists in his universe. Pray they never encounter each other again.

Bester meets with Sheridan, Ivanova, Franklin, Allan, and Alexander. Bester objects to the latter’s presence; she’s a blip, so by rights he should arrest her, plus she’s only a P5 and not strong enough to block a scan anyhow. Sheridan tells him to go jump in a lake. Insults sufficiently traded, they get down to business. Having lost the Shadows’ support due to their buggering off, Clark is running scared, fearing what B5 is going to do. So he’s taking the initiative. Phase 1 is the propaganda war. Bester will only reveal Phase 2 if Sheridan takes Bester to Z’ha’dum. The Shadows are gone, but some of their tech may remain behind, and that may provide insight into rescuing Carolyn Sanderson and the other telepaths the Shadows took.

Sheridan agrees, and so Bester explains that Phase 2 is to frame B5 for murder. Some Black Omega ships will be sent to appear to be travelling to B5, be challenged by the blockade, and then destroy the ships running the blockade, claiming to be from B5. It’s lose-lose for B5, as either they’re framed, or they have to stop the Black Omega squad, in which case the blockade will still be there.

At one point, Bester tries to scan the others and is aggressively blocked by Alexander.

Allan goes to Garibaldi to get some codes he needs for his new job, and says that he thinks his erstwhile boss is making a mistake. Garibaldi points out that everyone told him he was making a mistake when he hired Allan. Allan says, “Touché” and leaves with the codes.

Sheridan and Delenn take Bester on a White Star to Z’ha’dum, along with Alexander. Following her block of his scan, Bester tries to convince Alexander to rejoin Psi Corps. She declines.

They arrive at Z’ha’dum only to find a mass exodus, which is quickly followed by the planet blowing up. Bester is devastated, but they all assume that the Shadows’ allies didn’t want people doing exactly what Bester wanted to do: pick over the Shadows’ remains.

Ivanova leads a team of Starfuries to stop the Black Omega ships, which they not only succeed in doing, but make it very obvious that the B5 crew saved the lives of the blockade.

Clark now has a PR nightmare on his hands, as Phase 2 has failed. Allan gives Bester time alone with Sanderson (still in stasis, obviously), where he monologues in exposition to her that he gladly sacrificed the Black Omega fleet in order to try to save her. At that point it becomes clear that Bester not only knew about the attempted frame job, he was in charge of it…

Sheridan goes to Alexander’s quarters where he makes it clear that he’s figured out that the telepath warned the Shadows’ allies on Z’ha’dum that they were coming. Alexander admits to nothing except some glee at the fact that Bester didn’t get what he wanted because he’s a piece of shit. Sheridan agrees that he’s a piece of shit and that in general the captain has no issue with the results of the mission—and understands that she couldn’t share this alleged plan with anyone for fear of Bester learning about it telepathically—but he also makes it clear that she’d better not pull this nonsense again or there’ll be hell to pay.

After Sheridan leaves, Allan shows up with pizza, as promised.

On Centauri Prime, the Regent is preparing for bed, only to find that he has a strange one-eyed creature on his shoulder…

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan is remarkably self-righteous and cruel to Alexander, even though everything she did helped them out. They fulfilled their promise to Bester without actually helping Bester, Shadow tech can’t fall into the wrong hands now, and Z’ha’dum is gone. But she did it on the down-low—which even he admitted was necessary because of Bester—and that annoyed him, apparently.

Ivanova is God. Ivanova is able to turn Phase 2 into a PR victory for B5 rather than for Clark. Because she’s just that awesome.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi is obviously not acting like himself, though his resignation and reasons for it make sense on the face of it. At one point, he draws an emoji in the fog of his mirror, but it’s not a smiley face, it’s just a bland expression, with the mouth a straight line across.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn points out to Sheridan that he likes it when things are chaotic, as it gives him problems to solve. Calm and peace don’t suit him.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari jokes with Allan that Cartagia told him that he could only leave Centauri Prime over his dead body. He also says that Allan said he could only come back to B5 over his dead body, but Mollari can, alas, only accommodate so many requests…

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar’s missing eye itches. That’s just got to be annoying…

He also explains to Franklin that he does not wish to lead his people, even though they offered it to him. He has seen what power does and what power costs, and he doesn’t like the ratio.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. It’s amusing to note that Bester knows more than his boss about what’s going on. Said boss only knows that Clark is spooked for some reason, while Bester is fully aware, thanks to his clandestine alliance of convenience with B5, of the Shadows’ role in Clark’s ascent.

The Shadowy Vorlons. As promised by Morden before his death, the Shadows have allies. They’re the ones who blow up Z’ha’dum, and they will take acts of vengeance on the Shadows’ behalf.

Looking ahead. Bester mentions that he has an ace in the hole. We’ll learn who and what that is in “The Face of the Enemy.”

And in terms of both looking ahead and behind, we get our chronological first look at a Keeper. One will be attached to Mollari a couple of decades in the future, as we saw in “War Without End, Part 2,” and the process that leads to that starts here with the Regent getting one.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Bester’s love for Sanderson is sufficiently strong that he’s perfectly willing to sacrifice Black Omega—a squadron he formed and recruited everyone for—in order to just have a chance to save her.

Welcome aboard. Back from “Ship of Tears” is Walter Koenig as Bester; he’ll return in “Moments of Transition.” Back from “Into the Fire” is Damian London as the minister who is now the Regent; he’ll return in “In the Kingdom of the Blind.” Victor Lundin is remarkably bland as the Psi Cop boss, Lauren Sanchez is the latest person to play an ISN anchor, and Robert Patteri plays the head of the EarthForce blockade.

Trivial matters. Bester’s alliance of convenience with B5 was formed when the crew promised to help the telepaths captured by the Shadows in “Ship of Tears.”

The psychedelic visual Garibaldi receives is very similar to that used on Abel Horn to activate him as a sleeper agent in “A Spider in the Web.”

The woman dancing with Franklin at the top of the episode is Richard Biggs’ then-fiancée Lori Gebers.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Ms. Alexander has no business being here. She’s a blip—by all rights, I should arrest her and take her back with me.”

“Oh, you could do that. And I could nail your head to the table, set fire to it, and feed the remains to the Pak’ma’ra. But it’s an imperfect world, and we never get exactly what we want.”

—Bester and Sheridan leading off their meeting by comparing dick sizes.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Trouble will come in its own time, it always does.” Three decades later, one of the things from B5 that has remained embedded in my brain meats is Sheridan’s line to Bester quoted in “The echoes of all our conversations” above. It’s a great line, delivered perfectly by Bruce Boxleitner, and it succinctly summarizes how, well, everyone feels about Bester.

It certainly works better than the other attempts at humor (the “three kings” bit when the Elvis impersonators show up and the Regent’s “pastels!” line both fall completely flat, at least for me). It’s one of two great moments in the episode, the other being the brief confrontation between Mollari and G’Kar in the Zocalo. After spending the episode being his usual bombastic self with both Allan and a Zocalo vendor, Mollari is suddenly completely quiet when facing G’Kar. Peter Jurasik relies instead on facial expressions, going from frightened to resigned to regretful to sad. Meanwhile, Andreas Katsulas’ quiet intensity when telling Mollari he no longer exists in his universe is devastating, especially in contrast to his gleeful exchange with Garibaldi.

This is very much a transitional episode in the most literal sense, as we have the characters recovering from and starting to move on from the Shadow War (and also starting to see some of its consequences), and also get back to the inevitable confrontation between B5 and Earth. The latter has been kind of back-burnered while we’ve dealt with Shadows and Cartagia and other family values, but now it’s back full force.

Watching the episode now, I find myself noticing plot holes I never really focused on before. For one thing, in the penultimate scene, Sheridan speculates about the Shadows’ allies and where they might go. Except he already knows where one of them will go: Centauri Prime. We know he remembers what happened when he popped to the future in “War Without End, Part 2,” because he cited it as his rationale for going to Z’ha’dum in “Z’ha’dum.” So why doesn’t he remember the one-eyed thingie on Emperor Mollari’s shoulder?

Also, Bester showed up on B5 in the midst of a travel ban (he came through customs and everything) right before B5 screwed up the plan that Bester was responsible for implementing. Seems to me that even a not-very-bright Nightwatch employee or fellow Psi Cop might put two and two together there.

And finally, there is absolutely no reason for Mollari to be back on B5 except that it’s a show called Babylon 5 and Peter Jurasik is a main character. He’s the prime minister, for crying out loud, he should be on Centauri Prime running things!

Next week: “The Illusion of Truth”[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Epiphanies” appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Into the Fire”

Sheridan makes aims to deal with the Shadows (and the Vorlons) once and for all…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on October 14, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Into the Fire”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Kevin James Dobson
Season 4, Episode 6
Production episode 406
Original air date: February 3, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… Ivanova is off trying to fetch First Ones, with Lorien’s help. Lorien preaches patience, a quality Ivanova is not overburdened with, but it pays off, as the First Ones that Lorien was expecting arrive.

Sheridan leads a fleet of White Stars to attack and destroy a Vorlon outpost, which will give their gigunda fleet the opening they need to gather at Coriana VI. Cole and Alexander discuss their mission, wondering why Centauri Prime wasn’t chosen as the rendezvous point, as that planet is also in danger at roughly the same time. Cole points out that Coriana has a larger population and is less technologically advanced. The Centauri, at least, can prepare some kind of defense.

Cut to Centauri Prime, where Prime Minister Mollari is trying to prepare some kind of defense. He is stymied by the period of mourning for Cartagia, but they only have twelve hours before the entire planet will need to be mourned after the Vorlons destroy it. Mollari also instructs that Morden be found.

On the White Star flagship, Delenn reports to Sheridan that Ivanova and Lorien have returned to B5 with a mess of First Ones. Sheridan tells her to haul ass to join the fleet.

On B5, Ivanova prepares to depart and has a conversation with Lorien on the subject of immortality, which prompts a lengthy infodump from Lorien about how his species were born immortal, but with a very low birth rate. Younger races had shorter lifespans.

On Centauri Prime, Durano, the minister of intelligence, meets with Mollari. He carried out an investigation into the death of Adira on Cartagia’s order, and when he finished the investigation, was told by the emperor to never reveal the results to Mollari as long as he was alive. With Cartagia dead, Durano is now free to inform Mollari that it was not Refa who ordered Adira’s death, but rather Morden. Mollari is livid and kicks Durano out of his quarters, which he then trashes in anguish.

Ivanova is hauling ass to Coriana, impatiently barking orders in broken Minbari before Lorien gets her to calm down.

Morden is brought to Mollari in the throne room. He’s fully healed from his injuries sustained on Z’ha’dum. Mollari wishes this conversation to be private, so he tells Morden not to move, while his guards move away. Then two other guards shoot and kill the Shadows that, um, shadow Morden all the time.

Mollari then orders Morden to have the Shadow vessels removed from Selini. Morden refuses, not believing that the Vorlons would destroy a world as populous as Centauri Prime (a belief not at all supported by reality). Morden also boasts that the Shadow ships can take on anything the Centauri can throw at them. Mollari counters that the ships are very impressive—in the air or in space. But right now they’re on the ground. Morden dismisses that, also. “What’re you gonna do, Mollari—blow up the island?”

After a sufficiently dramatic pause, Mollari says, “Actually, now that you mention it…” and pulls out a detonator.

Morden screams as Mollari blows up the island. Most of the Centauri were evacuated in the night. A few remained behind to keep up appearances, knowing it was a suicide mission. Morden is taken away, screaming bloody murder.

Everyone arrives at Coriana at about the same time: Shadows, Vorlons, and the Army of Light fleet.

At first, the Vorlons and Shadows get into it, ignoring the Army of Light. So Sheridan orders a bunch of nukes set off on asteroids to get their attention, at which point the battle becomes a big mess. Sheridan tries to get the Vorlons to talk via comms and again via telepathy through Alexander.

On Centauri Prime, Vir comes to the throne room to find a happy Mollari, as all Shadow influence has been removed. He also tells Vir to go into the garden, where there is a present for him.

Vir goes out to the garden to see Morden’s severed head on a pike. After a flashback to remind viewers of what Vir’s answer was to Morden’s perpetual question, “What do you want?” Vir then gives a jaunty wave to the disembodied head.

At Coriana, Sheridan is growing more frustrated, as the Vorlon planet-killer is approaching the sixth planet and the Vorlons are not talking. So Sheridan plays his trump card: calling in the First Ones, who make short work of the planet killer.

On Centauri Prime, Mollari proudly says that he’s informed the Vorlons of all he’s done—but then the planet-killer shows up. It’s left to Vir to point out that there is one bit of Shadow influence still on the world: Mollari himself.

The Vorlons call all their ships to Coriana in order to take on the First Ones. This turns out to be Centauri Prime’s salvation, as the planet killer buggers off before it has a chance to destroy the world—and before Mollari can convince Vir to kill him.

Just as Lorien comes on board Sheridan’s ship, the Vorlons and Shadows both use Alexander as a conduit and imprison Sheridan and Delenn in energy fields. A Vorlon avatar confronts Sheridan in an astral plane, while the Shadows confront Delenn via images of people she knows (Franklin, Lennier, Ivanova, Delenn herself). Our heroes ask why they haven’t struck at each other directly, and postulate that it’s because they want to show the opposing species that they were right. Can’t gloat if you’ve wiped out the person you’re arguing with…

Lorien is protecting Sheridan and Delenn and also broadcasting the stuff on the astral plane to everyone in the Army of Light. When the Vorlons and Shadows realize this, they free Sheridan and Delenn and send the Death Cloud at their White Star. However, other ships intercept the Death Cloud. The fleet is united with them and against both the Vorlons and the Shadows. Sheridan throws their usual questions of “Who are you?” and “What do you want?” back at them, and when they can’t answer Delenn says that they’ve become so consumed by their conflict they’ve lost their way. The younger races are tired of being manipulated by them. It’s time for them to go. Lorien speaks for the First Ones and says that it’s time for them all to move on beyond the rim and let the younger races fend for themselves. The Vorlons and Shadows agree, given the reassurance that all the remaining First Ones will go with them.

On Centauri Prime, Mollari is reluctant to celebrate, simply because every time he’s been happy, the universe has conspired to defecate in his trousers. Vir convinces him that the gods can’t begrudge Londo Mollari at least one night of celebration. And so Mollari celebrates.

The White Stars return to B5. Sheridan and Delenn ruminate on how this is the third age of humanity. The first age was when they were primitive and limited to a single planet. The second was when they explored the galaxy under the watchful eyes of the First Ones. Now they’re on their own…

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan and Delenn shout at the Vorlons and Shadows, and it makes them go away. Just in general, Sheridan is incredibly arrogant and high-handed in this episode, which is probably necessary to get the job done, but it ain’t a great look.

Ivanova is God. Ivanova is extremely skeptical of Lorien’s claims to be immortal and as old as he is, which prompts Lorien to speak in exposition for several minutes.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. In the latest edition of “Delenn thinks English is stupid,” she gives Sheridan a hard time regarding the phrase “haul ass.”

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari brings a very emotionally satisfying and cathartic end to his relationship with Morden.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Alexander is the key to getting the Vorlons and the Shadows to talk to them. She also has a great delivery of a line right after Sheridan orders some asteroids blown. “Captain? They’re pissed.”

The Shadowy Vorlons. The Shadows and Vorlons both go from incredibly powerful and manipulative forces to children being rebuked in the course of an episode. Sure.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Cole says there was only room for two people on the shuttle that took Lorien from Ivanova’s ship to Sheridan’s, so he came back, which makes absolutely no sense, so it’s obvious that Cole just wanted to be near Ivanova.

Looking ahead. Morden’s final words in the throne room are threatening Centauri Prime in general and Mollari in particular with retribution from the Shadows’ allies; we’ve gotten hints of that in the flash-forward in the “War Without End” two-parter, and we’ll see more starting in the very next episode, “Epiphanies,” and going all the way to “The Fall of Centauri Prime” in season five.

Welcome aboard. Several recurring regulars in this one. Ed Wasser plays Morden and also voices the Shadow representative; he’ll be back as Morden in “Day of the Dead.” Wayne Alexander makes his penultimate appearance as Lorien, returning to the role in the series finale “Sleeping in Light”; he’ll be back sooner as a Drazi in “Intersections in Real Time.” Damian London returns from “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?” as the Centauri Minister; he’ll be back next time in “Epiphanies.” And Ardwight Chamberlain makes his final appearance on the series as the voice of the Vorlon representative; he’ll be back in the movie In the Beginning as Kosh.

In addition, Julian Barnes is simply superb as Minister Durano.

Trivial matters. Adira was killed by Morden’s machinations, with Mollari believing it was Refa, in “Interludes and Examinations.” Morden was caught in the backwash of an explosion in “Z’ha’dum,” but survived, as established in “The Hour of the Wolf,” albeit badly injured. Vir expressed his wish for Morden’s head to be put on a pike in “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum.”

After Selini is blown up, Morden is seen clutching the necklace he wears. The significance of that necklace is explained in the novel The Shadow Within by Jeanne Cavelos which, among other things, details the journey of the Icarus, the crew of which included Morden and Anna Sheridan.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“You’re insane.”

“On any other day, Mr. Morden, you would be wrong. Today? Today is a very different day. One last time, remove your ships.”

“No. You don’t frighten me, Mollari. If you try to attack our forces, you’ll lose.”

“Yes, your ships are very impressive in the air or in space—but at this moment, they are on the ground.”

“Fine, they’re on the ground. But they can sense an approaching ship miles away. So what’re you gonna do, Mollari, huh? Blow up the island?”

—The conversation Morden and Mollari have right before Mollari blows up the island.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Consider it a gift.” I have generally avoided comparisons between this show and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as the absolute last thing I want to do is revive the dumbshit “war” that segments of fandom (and the creator of B5) kept trying to manufacture between B5 and DS9 in the late 1990s. I similarly avoided it in my DS9 Rewatch from a decade ago.

The exception was for DS9’s “Sacrifice of Angels,” which I mentioned in relation to this very episode, and I mention it again here for the purposes of symmetry, because both “Into the Fire” and “Sacrifice of Angels” have similar climaxes that signal the end of a major conflict: lead character(s) shouts self-righteously at powerful alien beings for several minutes, which convinces them to take actions that will put an end to the conflict in question. In DS9’s case, it was Sisko yelling at the Prophets to take action against the Jem’Hadar fleet coming through the wormhole. In B5’s it’s Sheridan and Delenn telling the Shadows and Vorlons off, saying we don’t need your help and go away, please.

And I don’t buy it. Not for a nanosecond.

Look, these are incredibly powerful aliens who have manipulated events and civilizations, and who also have the technological means to wreak tremendous havoc. While I like the revelation that they aren’t going all-out against each other because they ultimately each want to prove to the other they they’re right, so there, nyah, nyah, the fact that they accept Sheridan and Delenn’s self-righteous rebuke with anything other than destroying them with the flick of a metaphorical finger beggars belief. In particular, the contrite, humble, I’m-sorry-Mom-and-Dad-I’ll-be-good-from-now-on tones that Ardwight Chamberlain and Ed Wasser give the Vorlon and Shadow representatives at the very end is so wildly out of character from how both species have been portrayed up until now.

Now to be fair, I’m not sure there was a better way to do this. My first instinct would be to have the First Ones play a much larger role, have them come in and say, “What is wrong with you twerps?” Another thought is to have the Vorlons and Shadows finally go at each other and wipe each other out, leaving our heroes to pick up the pieces. Or maybe after Sheridan and Delenn basically reject both sides, we get a smile from both and they say, “Okay, now you get it,” and they leave on their own feeling accomplished instead of slinking away with the other First Ones.

Are these better? Well, as with everything it depends on the execution. Maybe with a different execution, this solution would have worked for me. And this particular execution might work just fine for others, but man, it just hit me the wrong way. It feels anticlimactic and weak.

Luckily, the episode itself is greatly redeemed by every single scene on Centauri Prime, which collectively form an absolute masterpiece.

Seriously, I can watch the Centauri Prime scenes in this episode over and over and over again, as they’re some of the absolute best work in the series, paying off three years of storylines involving the dance between the Centauri and the Shadows in general and between Mollari (and Vir) and Morden in particular.

There’s the payoff to Vir’s delightful answer to Morden’s question way back in season two. There’s the horror on Mollari’s face when he realizes that his presence on Centauri Prime means it remains a target, that horror matched by Vir when told he must kill Mollari. Vir is only just beginning the process of getting over killing Cartagia, to pile this on top of that is a burden he is absolutely not prepared for. Mollari being so very reluctant to celebrate, given how his life has gone.

And then there are the two best scenes, arguably two of the best scenes in the entire franchise. In every prior scene with Mollari and Morden going back to the latter’s first appearance in “Signs and Portents,” Morden is playing the ambassador like a two-dollar banjo. Morden always has the upper hand, always is in charge of everything that’s happening. When the prime minister brings the Shadows’ proxy to him in “Into the Fire,” however, for the first time, the positions are reversed. Peter Jurasik cranks up Mollari’s tropism for theatricality up to eleven, repeatedly and bombastically showing that he has the upper hand no matter how many times Morden tries to counter it. Then the crowning moment of the scene, which is also the simplest: removing a small remote from his pocket and pushing the button, with Morden having very generously provided a rhetorical opening. After that, Morden is carried off, the character showing true emotion for the first time ever, and Mollari very quietly promises far worse to be done to him.

As absolutely fabulous a scene as that is, it’s my second-favorite in the episode. The earlier scene when Minister Durano very calmly and professionally lays out the details of the investigation into Adira’s murder is a tour de force. Julian Barnes plays this magnificently, his cool, detail-oriented presentation in direct contrast to Mollari’s typical histrionics. I’m really sorry that this was Barnes’ only appearance as Durano, as he was superbly written and spectacularly performed. He exposes Mollari’s weakness without at any point diminishing or threatening the prime minister, instead simply presenting the evidence. Jurasik follows this with a beautifully anguished trashing of his quarters as he realized what a spectacular idiot he’s been—and also setting up his takedown of Morden shortly thereafter.

I used to do out-of-ten rankings of episodes in rewatches, which I hated, and this episode is a perfect example of why. The Centauri parts are among the show’s best, while the main plot disappoints on almost every level. It’s really hard to put a number on that, and I’m glad I don’t have to…

Next week: “Epiphanies”[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Into the Fire” appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Long Night”

Sheridan prepares for one final showdown with the Shadows, while Mollari and G’Kar plan to take out the Centauri emperor…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on October 6, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“The Long Night”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John Lafia
Season 4, Episode 5
Production episode 405
Original air date: January 27, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… Ivanova reports some rather brutal news to Sheridan: with the Vorlons attacking Shadow-influenced worlds, we’re now getting the inevitable response from the Shadows: they’re attacking Vorlon outposts.

On the Narn homeworld, Mollari meets with Vir and the other Centauri in on the regicidal conspiracy. A few of them take shots at the ambassador, pointing out that his and Refa’s plotting is what got them here in the first place. Mollari says that he’s sure he’ll pay for his crimes in due course—if not now, in the afterlife—but their focus now needs to be on taking out Cartagia before the Vorlons show up to destroy Centauri Prime.

On B5, Ivanova meets with Sheridan in the latter’s quarters. He wants her to revive her search for the First Ones, this time with Lorien along for the ride, which should make it all much easier. Sheridan also assures Ivanova that he’s proud of her and appreciates her.

On Narn, Mollari comes to the replica throne room, where Cartagia is being entertained by his court jester. At one point, Cartagia notices the jester mocking him directly, and everyone holds their breath until Cartagia laughs.

The emperor tells Mollari that he will bring him along when Centauri Prime burns, as every god needs a disciple. Mollari then goes to G’Kar, seeing that he has now had his eye plucked out. Mollari says that Cartagia will bring G’Kar to the throne room in chains. Mollari has arranged for the chains to be weakened, so G’Kar will be able to snap them and attack the emperor’s guard—but he’s not to attack the emperor, as a Narn killing the emperor will make it impossible for Narn to be freed after that. Mollari will use the distraction to whisk Cartagia away and then kill him in secret.

When Mollari returns to the throne room he hears weapons fire and then sees the corpse of the jester being carried away, with Cartagia lamenting at how subjective humor is.

Later, Vir meets with Mollari, having provided a syringe of a poison that will kill but leave no trace—but only if it’s injected directly into the heart. Then it will seem like a cardiac infarction.

They go to the throne room, where G’Kar is brought forth in chains. Cartagia comments to a crestfallen Mollari that he thought the Narn’s chains were a bit weak, so he had his people replace them. However, G’Kar is made of sterner stuff and breaks the chains anyhow. He takes on the Centauri guards with vicious abandon, as do the other Narns who were brought there to observe G’Kar’s downfall.

Mollari spirits Cartagia away. The emperor is livid, and backhands Mollari angrily, causing the syringe to go flying. Mollari is unable to even consider retrieving it, as Cartagia puts the ambassador in a headlock, angrily condemning him and everyone else. After tossing Mollari aside, he turns away—

—only to be stabbed in the chest with the syringe by Vir. Cartagia stumbles, says groggily, “I was to be a god, you understand?” Then he collapses, just as the guards enter. Mollari says that the emperor has collapsed, possibly due to his hearts, and to fetch a doctor right away.

A bit later, Mollari speaks before the assembled courtiers. The emperor has died of a cardiac event, no doubt stressed out by G’Kar’s attack. This is the second time in a row that an emperor has died when involved with the Narn, and it is an ill omen. The other nobles agree, and what’s more declare that Mollari should be prime minister, at least for the time being. Narn is left to their own devices—as one noble puts it, they have suffered enough—and they will return to Centauri Prime to get the Shadow vessels the hell off their world.

On B5, the council meets in the war room. Lennier reports that the Shadow vessels and Vorlon fleet are both doing hit-and-run strikes. White Star 14, commanded by a Ranger named Ericsson, calls in. They’re observing a Shadow Death Cloud in action. It sends a buttload of missiles down all the way to the planet’s core and detonates, destroying the planet from within.

Lennier says that the Vorlons are gathering in a sector that has only one inhabited planet: Coriana VI, which has six billion people. Sheridan tells Ericsson to stand by, as he’s about to receive some new orders.

On Narn, Mollari finds Vir completely drunk off his ass, the trauma of having killed someone being far too much for him to handle. Mollari says that Vir is a hero of the Republic, and sometimes heroes have to get their hands dirty. But he has a good heart, and that won’t change even with what has happened. Vir laments that he just wanted a good job, he didn’t want all this…

The Narn set off fireworks, celebrating the removal of the Centauri from their world.

On B5, Sheridan convenes a meeting of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. He needs their fleets to distract the Vorlon ships on other worlds. Meanwhile, the White Star fleet will head toward Coriana, as will Ivanova with the First Ones once she finds them.

He then reestablishes contact with Ericsson on White Star 14. He’s being sent information on a secret Vorlon base on Coriana VI—which is completely false. But he’s to take WS14 to a battle with the Shadows, and allow himself to be captured and destroyed, so the Shadows will believe the intel is legit. Reinforcements will be able to help him, and he should do what he can to cover their escape. Ericsson understands, says some final words to Delenn in Minbari, and then goes off for his suicide mission.

On Narn, the Centauri are gone, and the Narn are absolutely trashing the replica throne room. G’Kar thinks they’re being silly geese, more so because they want him to be their new leader. G’Kar says they didn’t get rid of one dictator to install another. He’s willing to be part of a new Kha’Ri, but he will not rule alone. It quickly becomes clear that he and the Narns on the homeworld are not remotely on the same page, and G’Kar wanders off, chortling like a lunatic.

On B5, Sheridan listens to the last transmissions of WS14 before they are destroyed by the Shadows. Delenn then tells him it’s time to join the fleet.   

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan is obviously reluctant to condemn an entire White Star crew to death, but it’s the only way to get the Shadows to Coriana.

Ivanova is God. Ivanova is only willing to hare off to find First Ones if Sheridan promises he won’t keep her out of the final big-ass battle. She’s had an aversion/fear of being left out of important things ever since her mother sent her to a friend’s house to play so she could commit suicide. Sheridan agrees.

The household god of frustration. Upon seeing the Shadow Death Cloud (which is the name of my next death metal band), Garibaldi is at a total loss as to how they’re supposed to deal with that.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Lennier is unfailingly polite, so he repeatedly lets himself be interrupted into the war room before finally getting the chance to tell everyone where the Vorlon fleet is gathering.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari’s plans to kill Cartagia manage to go completely awry in several ways and yet still succeed in the end, as Cartagia is dead from what appears to be natural causes, Mollari is prime minister, and Narn is free.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar tries to explain that the Narns didn’t free themselves, the Centauri imploded on themselves. The Narns respond that G’Kar hasn’t suffered the way they have, and G’Kar can only laugh.

We live for the one, we die for the one. To his credit, Ericsson doesn’t hesitate to accept the awful mission Sheridan gives him.

The Shadowy Vorlons. The Vorlons and Shadows are both playing whack-a-mole with the galaxy, taking out targets that are influenced by their enemies without any regard to collateral damage.

Looking ahead. Sheridan will fulfill his promise to Ivanova and make sure she joins the final battle—over the objection of Delenn—in the very next episode, “Into the Fire.”

Welcome aboard. Wortham Krimmer makes his final appearance as Cartagia. Ron Campbell returns from “The Summoning” as the Drazi ambassador, to return in “Rumors, Bargains, and Lies.” Carl Reggiardo and Mark Bramhall play two of the other Centauri conspirators, while Kim Strauss plays G’Lorn.

And then we have our Robert Knepper moment, as I totally forgot that Bryan Cranston was on B5, before either of his famous roles in Malcolm in the Middle or Breaking Bad, appearing in this episode as the ill-fated Ericsson.

Trivial matters. Ivanova previously searched for First Ones (and found some) in “Voices of Authority,” and again (without finding any, as she was sidetracked by the Killer Vorlon Fleet of Doom) in “The Summoning.” G’Kar’s eye was plucked out at the end of the previous episode, “Falling Toward Apotheosis.” The previous Centauri emperor, Turhan, died just before the Centauri went to war with the Narn in “The Coming of Shadows.”

As with Caligula in the “Hail Who?” episode of I, Claudius, Cartagia’s final words are of his divinity.

Sheridan mentions that, when he took command of B5, someone left an Alfred, Lord Tennyson poem on his desk. Given that Sinclair, his predecessor as station commander, was established in “The Parliament of Dreams,” as a devotee of Tennyson, it was likely left there for Sheridan by Sinclair.

According to J. Michael Straczynski’s online postings, his intention was to have Mollari kill Cartagia right up until he was writing the scene in question, at which point he realized that it had to be Vir who did it.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“The next few days will either mark the beginning of a new age or the death of everything we’ve worked for.”

—Sheridan’s rather blunt appraisal of his immediate future.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “An empty eye sees through to an empty heart.” One of the things I particularly admire about this episode is that J. Michael Straczynski recognized that the standard pacing of an episode wasn’t going to work here. So rather than intercut between the tragic setup of the Vorlon-Shadow showdown with the sacrifice of White Star 14 and the cathartic conclusion of Emperor Cartagia’s reign over the Centauri Republic, each part stands more or less on its own, with the latter taking up most of the first half of the episode, and the former taking up most of the rest.

And it works beautifully. We’ve spent the last four episodes being given ample evidence of how absolutely awful Cartagia is, aided by a magnificently sneering performance by Wortham Krimmer. And in case, we’ve forgotten, we see plenty of the epically mercurial emperor here, from his murder of the jester to his turning on Mollari right before Vir stabs him.

I love the story Straczynski told online at the time of how it wasn’t until he was in the midst of writing the scene that he realized that it had to be Vir who kills Cartagia. I’ve been there myself, being in the midst of writing something and realizing that it has to go a much different way than it did when I plotted it, and that’s a case where you have to listen to what the characters and the situation are telling you.

And it’s perfect. Honestly, Mollari doesn’t deserve to be the hero of the Republic who rids them of the monster on the throne. Vir, though, the one who has been Mollari’s conscience, the one who tried to rescue Narns who were oppressed by the Centauri, the one who has, on several occasions, told Morden to fuck off, is the one who is a much more appropriate person to strike the blow.

There’s another reason, which we see in the later scene when Vir is drunk off his ass: if there’s anyone whose soul will manage to remain unstained—or at least not too badly stained—by having to commit this awful-yet-necessary act, it’ll be Vir.

Way back in 2011 when I started writing regularly for this site with the Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch, I started the “Robert Knepper moment,” named after my shock when I got to the first-season episode “Haven” and saw Knepper in a mullet. I had no memory of Knepper—whom I remembered fondly from such places as Carnivale and Prison Break and Breakout Kings—being on TNG back in the day.

Of all the Knepper moments I’ve had in my various rewatches since, Bryan Cranston’s appearance is particularly powerful. I had no memory of Cranston being on B5 because he wasn’t yet Bryan Cranston in 1997, as it was three years before he was Malcolm’s father Hal and eleven years before he was Walter White, a.k.a. Heisenberg. And, honestly, I had no memory of his role, either, overshadowed as it was in my recollections of B5 by Cartagia’s ouster.

As a result, I was particularly taken with the quiet dignity with which Cranston played the role of the warrior going to his death, knowing that it’s in a worthy cause, knowing that it’s necessary. It’s an easy performance to overlook—as I did three decades ago—with the over-the-top happenings earlier in the episode, and I’m glad that my going “hey, that’s Bryan Cranston!” enabled me to truly appreciate his performance.

(Tellingly, Straczynski, when praising his performance online, merely refers to him as “the actor playing Ericsson.” After all, nobody on the internet in 1997 knew who Cranston was, either…)

Next week: “Into the Fire”[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “The Long Night” appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Falling Toward Apotheosis”

Mollari prepares to depose Emperor Cartagia, and Sheridan confronts the Vorlon ambassador…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on September 29, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Falling Toward Apotheosis”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David J. Eagle
Season 4, Episode 4
Production episode 404
Original air date: November 25, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… Ivanova is now broadcasting updates to the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to update them on the Vorlons’ attacks and on possible refugee locations—one of which, of course, is B5. We cut to a massive throng of people, and a woman trying to find her husband and nearly getting trampled by the uncaring crowd—until Sheridan shows up, and people part, Moses-at-the-Red-Sea-like, and allow him to help her to her feet and get her to Allan to help her find her husband.

The woman speaks reverently of Sheridan, and asks Allan if he really returned from the dead; for his part, Allan says he doesn’t know what the hell’s going on anymore.

Sheridan goes off with Lorien; the latter reminds the former that he can’t save everyone, and Sheridan stubbornly says that he can damn well try.

Allan visits Garibaldi, who is surveilling Lorien, as he doesn’t entirely trust the First One. Garibaldi also bites Allan’s head off when his deputy asks if he’s okay, as he’s sick of being asked that question, especially since Sheridan came back from the dead, apparently, and nobody’s asking him if he’s okay 24/7. Allan then tells the chief that Franklin wants to do one more test, and then he can go back on duty. Garibaldi grouses about how Allan buried the lede there, and also expresses concern, because it feels like Sheridan’s been avoiding him. Before Z’ha’dum, Garibaldi thought he and the captain were in a good place.

On Centauri Prime, Morden—still covered in burns, but fewer of them now—joins Cartagia and Mollari in the garden. Mollari learns that the Vorlons are attacking places that have been influenced by the Shadows. Mollari’s solution is to get the Shadow vessels offworld ASAP, but Morden is convinced that the Vorlons won’t target so populous a world, and Cartagia agrees, simply sending a fleet into orbit to confront the Vorlons.

Once Morden is gone, however, Cartagia admits to Mollari that he has no intention of putting a fleet in orbit. Mollari is relieved, thinking that this means he’s putting the Shadow vessels offworld, but no—he intends to let the Vorlons destroy Centauri Prime, and Cartagia will emerge from that cataclysm as a god, at last.

Cartagia tells Mollari this while also revealing his secret room full of the decapitated heads of the members of the Centaurum and royal court that he has executed, referring to them as his “shadow cabinet.” Mollari is, obviously, appalled, but can say nothing.

On B5, Franklin is doing his final exam of Garibaldi. The last thing he checks for is the back-of-the-neck scarring that they found on the telepaths they rescued and on Anna Sheridan—there isn’t one. So Garibaldi can go back to work.

Sheridan enters medlab just after Garibaldi’s departure and the captain asks Franklin about test results.

Later, Delenn meets Sheridan in his cabin. He’s been watching Ivanova’s updates, and she seems scared, an emotion he’s never seen her express in the decade he’s known her. He also makes it clear to Delenn that he forgives her for her being cagey about Anna’s survival and also reassures her that the thought that kept him going, that enabled him to come back from the abyss, was her.

There’s a big meeting in the war room. Franklin suggests moving some refugees to Epsilon III, since it hasn’t been touched by the Shadows—or much of anyone else. (He doesn’t say this, but Draal would probably enjoy the company.)

Sheridan also wants the Vorlon ambassador gone. Garibaldi snidely asks what they’re supposed to do, ask him to leave, and Sheridan surprises everyone by telling Garibaldi that is exactly what he should do. Sheridan then explains that he’s been keeping Garibaldi in the dark about his real plan because the Vorlons are at least a little telepathic, and they can’t risk Garibaldi or his people giving away the cunning plan. Garibaldi is very unhappy about it, but carries out his orders.

After he leaves the war room, Lorien and Alexander enter, with the latter agreeing to help.

Garibaldi and a team go into the Vorlon’s cabin and ask him to leave the station. He refuses, and their attempts to remove him by force fail almost comically. None of their PPG shots strike the ambassador, as he seems to have a personal force field, and his own power is able to crack the faceplate on the team’s masks, forcing them to retreat so they can get back to an atmosphere they can breathe.

Sheridan is surprised to get a message from Mollari, asking if the rumors are true about the Vorlons striking worlds with Shadow influence. Sheridan confirms it, and also tells Mollari that the Vorlon fleet should reach Centauri Prime in seven or eight days. Mollari assumes that Sheridan has a plan to deal with them, and Sheridan allows as how he does—but there’s no guarantee it’ll work. Mollari thanks him.

Alexander comes to “warn” the Vorlon ambassador that he will be assaulted, which he dismisses as a thing that already happened. She also tells him that she’s figured out where Kosh left a remnant of himself: inside a human. Unsurprisingly, the ambassador finds this revolting, and wants Kosh removed from this human at once. Alexander leads him out of his cabin and into a cargo area, where the ambush is held. An electrostatic discharge is used to hold the Vorlon in place while security pummels him with constant PPG fire. Eventually, this cracks the encounter suit, and Ullkesh escapes in his true form.

The Vorlon ship is trying to leave Bay 13 on its own, and Ivanova says to let it go.

A security guard falls, and Delenn (whose reason for being anywhere near this firefight is left as an exercise for the viewer) moves to care for him. The Vorlon moves to attack her, and Sheridan jumps in the way, badly harming him. Lorien then frees the Kosh remnant from Sheridan’s mind, and the two Vorlons go at it. Their tussle takes them out of the station and onto the Vorlon ship, which is now moving freely through space.

Then it blows up.

Lorien feeds life force to Sheridan, which brings him back to life.

On Centauri Prime, Mollari comes to Cartagia with a grave concern: What good is a god without worshippers? He won’t have any when Centauri Prime goes boom. He suggests bringing G’Kar to Narn and holding his trial and execution there, so that the entire world of Narn—both the Centauri currently there as well as the subjected Narns—can see Cartagia in all his glory, and they will be able to continue to sing his praises after the Centauri homeworld is pulverized. Cartagia likes this plan.

As the fleet gathers at B5 to take on the Shadows and the Vorlons once and for all, Sheridan explains to Delenn that Lorien was able to replenish his life force up to a point. The longest he can live is twenty years, though he could die sooner, either because the life force is used up, or due to outside circumstances. Delenn is horrified, but Sheridan points out that it’s two decades they wouldn’t have had otherwise. He then proposes to Delenn.

 On Centauri Prime, Cartagia expresses annoyance at the way G’Kar is looking at him, and orders one of his eyes to be plucked out.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! We finally find out how Sheridan survived Z’ha’dum: Lorien gave him some extra hit points. But apparently this immortal being, who’s incredibly powerful and has been around for billions of years, can only give him enough hit points for twenty years. Sure.

Ivanova is God. Garibaldi expresses such supreme pessimism about their chances against the Vorlons and Shadows, not to mention still having Earth to deal with, that even Ivanova thinks he’s overdoing it.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi is even crankier than usual, tired of people keeping him in the dark and asking if he’s okay, plus he doesn’t trust Lorien in the least. The keeping-in-the-dark part, at least, is dealt with…

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. When Sheridan tells Delenn that he forgives her and loves her, she looks like she’s exhaling for the first time since the end of last season…

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… For the second time, Mollari sets up a Centauri politician he wants to see dead to be killed on Narn.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. When Cartagia gives the order to pluck out one of G’Kar’s eyes, the door closes just before the action takes place. TV convention would have us expect to hear G’Kar’s scream—but, of course, Narn don’t scream when tortured, and while G’Kar made an exception once, he’s hardly likely to do so again…

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Alexander is able to bluff Ulkesh, which is pretty danged impressive. It helps that the Vorlon doesn’t really take her seriously, which he doesn’t quite live long enough to regret…

The Shadowy Vorlons. There’s enough of a remnant of Kosh to be able to take on Ulkesh and blow them both up.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Sheridan and Delenn go from awkward to engaged. It’s very sweet.

Looking ahead. Sheridan’s twenty-years-left lifespan will pay off in the series finale, “Sleeping in Light.”

Mollari tells Sheridan that he owes him a favor. When the repayment of this favor occurs has been the subject of some debate, as some say we’ve already seen the repayment, in the time-jump in “War Without End, Part 2.” It’s also possible we’ll see it in “The Fall of Centauri Prime” in season five.

Welcome aboard. Ed Wasser is back as Morden from “The Hour of the Wolf,” while Ardwight Chamberlain, Wortham Krimmer, and Wayne Alexander are back as, respectively, Ulkesh, Cartagia, and Lorien from “The Summoning.” Krimmer will return next time in “The Long Night,” while Chamberlain, Alexander, and Wasser will be back in “Into the Fire.” In addition, Terry Cain plays the woman who’s nearly trampled.

Trivial matters. It was established in Sheridan’s time-jump in “War Without End, Part 2” that G’Kar will lose an eye, and that happens at the end of this episode.

One of Cartagia’s “shadow cabinet” is a minister named Dugari, who had a bad cough, which Cartagia “cured” by killing him. This is yet another riff on the portrayal of the Roman Emperor Caligula in the novel and TV series I, Claudius, as Caligula had his cousin Gemellus, who coughed a lot, killed, saying he finally cured the cough.

One of the heads in the “shadow cabinet” is the cast of G’Kar’s head, which apparently prompted Peter Jurasik to joke that Andreas Katsulas was stealing the scene again.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

Lorien trying to be realistic and Sheridan refusing delivery.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Let it burn.” It’s amusing, the episodes on either side of this one have very plain titles—“The Summoning,” “The Long Night”—while this has a much more portentious (and pretentious?) title, yet it’s a much more mundane episode.

That’s not entirely fair—the final removal of the Vorlon ambassador from the station is kind of a big deal—but it feels very transitional. “The Summoning” was big and bold, and both “The Long Night” and “Into the Fire” are going to have some serious shit going down. So this one feels a lot smaller.

Part of that is because there’s a lot of fallout from previous episodes and setting up of subsequent ones. It’s obvious that something’s up with Garibaldi, with even Ivanova thinking he’s being pessimistic, and the flashbacks we see are indicating that he remembers more than he’s saying. Mollari’s interactions with Cartagia are all in service of setting things up for the planned regicide which, thanks to the Vorlons, now is a ticking clock, as they have a quite literal deadline. Sheridan and Delenn finally solemnize their union, as it were, when he proposes. We’ve known since “The Coming of Shadows” that G’Kar is fated to lose an eye, and that finally happens (and of course it’s on a whim of Cartagia’s which, like all the mad emperor’s whims, is brutal).

And we finally find out how Sheridan survived Z’ha’dum, and it boils down to “a wizard did it,” and holy crap is it arbitrary and silly. This show’s commitment to “life force” as a real thing is bad enough, but the notion that Lorien can only give Sheridan twenty years’ worth of hit points is just ridiculous. Twenty years is less than an eyeblink to someone who has allegedly been around for billions of years—I can’t even imagine it as a span of time he can even think in terms of, anymore than I ever think in terms of picoseconds. It’s pretty much performative writing to the finale, and it’s never good when you can see the strings…

Next week: “The Long Night”[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Falling Toward Apotheosis” appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Summoning”

Ivanova and Cole go on a diplomatic mission, while Mollari tries to help G’Kar survive his imprisonment…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on September 22, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“The Summoning”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John McPherson
Season 4, Episode 3
Production episode 403
Original air date: November 18, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… Ivanova approaches Delenn, asking to borrow one of the White Stars to try to find some more First Ones. Delenn agrees, and sends Cole as her translator for the Minbari crew. Ivanova says she doesn’t need it, and demonstrates the Minbari she’s learned—which is not as fluent as she herself thinks. Delenn insists on letting Cole come along, as in the heat of the moment, it’s best to have a surer hand—or tongue—giving the orders. Delenn adds privately to Cole that if anyone laughs at Ivanova’s attempt at Minbari, they will answer to Delenn…

For reasons nobody bothers to explain, Delenn is in charge of CnC, and Allan approaches her to say they found a lead on Garibaldi, but can’t get in touch with G’Kar. So Allan’s gonna follow the lead himself.

On Centauri Prime, we see the royal court tormenting G’Kar, who is not only in chains but also wearing a jester’s cap. One aristocrat tempts G’Kar with a glass of water, but only if he begs for it—which G’Kar, of course, doesn’t do, and so the aristocrat dumps the water onto the carpet to gales of laughter.

Later, Mollari and Vir are discussing their conspiracy, with Vir wondering if there’s a less bloody way to achieve their goals. They’re interrupted by Cartagia and his entourage. The emperor’s hands are covered in blood. Cartagia laments that his torturers—or, rather, “pain technicians,” as they’ve insisted upon being called once they got organized—have had no luck in getting G’Kar to scream while being tortured. So Cartagia took over the torture himself, but no scream—and then he fell unconscious, so Cartagia had to stop. However, Cartagia must have a scream, and if G’Kar continues to not scream, the emperor will simply have to kill him.

After Cartagia and his entourage leave, Vir reverses his decision on the subject of regicide, as he is now firmly all for it.

Allan leads a convoy of Starfuries and shuttles to where they think Garibaldi might be—and there’s a ship there, which disgorges a lifepod. The ship then explodes. They pull in the pod, and there’s a comatose (and unshaven) Garibaldi inside. The pod computer intones that the program is starting, at which point Garibaldi wakes up. That’s not ominous at all…

They bring Garibaldi back to B5’s Medlab. Franklin congratulates Allan on a job well done, but Allan is suspicious at how easy and convenient it all was.

Delenn goes to Alexander to find out why the new Vorlon ambassador won’t return her calls. Alexander isn’t sure, but she suspects that there’s been a sea change among the Vorlons and they don’t care about the younger races anymore. She tells Delenn that she’ll try to learn more, though she can’t promise anything.

When she does query the Vorlon ambassador, he reacts poorly. (Alexander also complains that his removal of his essence from her is causing her pain, unlike when Kosh did it.) Alexander even tries to read his mind, and he retaliates by opening his mind to her so much that it causes her to scream in anguish.

Mollari visits G’Kar in his cell, urging him to just give Cartagia the scream he desires. G’Kar says if he does, he is no longer a Narn. Mollari counters that if he doesn’t, he’ll die, and not only will he no longer be a Narn, but his people will remain in bondage. G’Kar says Mollari doesn’t know what he’s asking, and Mollari angrily (and also sadly) counters that he absolutely knows what he’s asking, but it must be done.

On the White Star, Ivanova and Cole discuss what they will do when this craziness is over. They detect a fold in hyperspace, which is something they’ve never seen before, and could only be accomplished by someone powerful. Thinking it might be some First Ones, they’re both right and wrong: it’s a massive Vorlon fleet, including some ships that are larger than anything they’ve ever seen.

On B5, Garibaldi awakens in Medlab and tells Allan that he doesn’t remember anything since he left B5—which, he is shocked to learn, was two weeks ago.

Ambassador Lethke of the Brakiri visits Delenn to warn her that some of the other League ambassadors are organizing a rally to convince people not to join Delenn’s planned assault on Z’ha’dum. Delenn assures Lethke that she has no intention of stopping the rally—the freedom to express oneself is one of the things they’re fighting for, after all—but there’s nothing stopping Delenn from attending, either…

Lethke also mentions a ship is heading for the station through hyperspace. Delenn is unaware of it.

Mollari and Vir are awakened in the middle of the night and brought to a darkened room with Cartagia, G’Kar, and a Centauri soldier with an electro-whip. Cartagia says that forty lashes from this whip will kill a Narn. Cartagia will have G’Kar whipped until he either screams or dies.

Cartagia counts off each lash as it’s applied. More than once, Mollari mouths to G’Kar to scream. Finally, at the thirty-ninth lash, G’Kar lets loose with a scream, and Cartagia smiles happily.

The White Star returns to B5, with Ivanova ordering CnC to keep an eye on the sector where they found the fold. They also pick up a ship approaching the station—and getting on board using authorized codes. Ivanova immediately sends a security detail, which Garibaldi joins despite not being officially back on duty, and which Allan allows only because he can’t spare anyone to escort him back to bed.

The ship docks, and two people emerge. When Garibaldi and Allan see who it is, they’re both stunned.

The rally has started, and the Drazi and Hyach ambassadors are rallying people against Delenn’s planned attack on Z’ha’dum, calling it suicide. The Shadows have been quiet since Sheridan went to Z’ha’dum, and it could be another thousand years before they emerge again. Delenn tries to counter-argue, but is shouted down, with the Drazi ambassador emphasizing the truism that nobody ever returns from Z’ha’dum.

And then Sheridan shows up, with Lorien lurking in the background.

Everyone is, obviously, gobsmacked. When the Drazi ambassador weakly says that they all thought he was dead, Sheridan replies that he was dead—but he got better. He quickly and efficiently and charismatically turns the crowd around, rallying everyone to the notion of taking the fight to the Shadows and winning once and for all, emphasizing the fact that he came back from Z’ha’dum, so there, nyah, nyah.

A stunned Delenn approaches Sheridan, as they have an intense reunion, that’s probably restrained due to their being in public.

Sheridan meets with the war council in his office, along with Lorien. He tells them what he was told on Z’ha’dum about the history between the Vorlons and the Shadows, and how their initial friendly competition turned ugly over the millennia.

Garibaldi, however, is suspicious of Lorien, as he has no idea who he is. Sheridan insists he’s trustworthy, but Garibaldi doesn’t entirely like that. And nobody likes the news from Ivanova and Cole, which is verified by Alexander: the Vorlons have assembled a massive fleet and they plan to go after any world infected by the Shadows, and they don’t care who stands in their way.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Having channeled The Princess Bride last week by going from mostly dead to alive, this week Sheridan channels Monty Python and the Holy Grail with his declaration that he “got better” from being dead.

Ivanova is God. Ivanova continues her search for First Ones, and instead finds a big-ass Vorlon fleet.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi has a flashback to his interrogation in the featureless room from “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?” Right after that, he says he doesn’t remember anything after departing B5 in a Starfury; the flashback happened way after that, so this may be a lie…

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn laments that she has lost everyone she cares about, which is pretty mean to Lennier, who’s right there next to her, but whatever.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Cartagia proves himself to be sufficiently depraved that even the usually compassionate Vir is on board with killing him.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar has to weigh his (very deeply embedded) pride against practicality in his decision whether or not to scream. And he waits until the last possible second to do it…

We live for the one, we die for the one. While the Rangers are on board with Delenn’s let’s-invade-Z’ha’dum plan, it soon becomes clear that they’re the only ones—at least until Sheridan magically appears on the catwalk…

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Alexander has been forced by Ulkesh to remove everything but the bed from her quarters, and she had to fight to keep that.

The Shadowy Vorlons. The Shadows’ and Vorlons’ “guiding” of younger races has modulated from a friendly competition to not-at-all-friendly one over the millennia, and now has taken a turn for the nasty as the Vorlons seem to be declaring war on the Shadows and anyone they’re connected to.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Cole reveals that he’s a virgin, to Ivanova’s surprise, and Cole also makes reference to a woman he’s in love with whom he’ll hope to woo properly in calmer times. Ivanova has no idea that he’s referring to her, of course.

Looking ahead. We get our first look at what will eventually be revealed to be a Vorlon Planet Killer.

Welcome aboard. Recurring regulars Wayne Alexander (Lorien), Wortham Krimmer (Cartagia), and Ardwight Chamberlain (Kosh/Ulkesh) are all back from “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?” and will all be back next time in “Falling Toward Apotheosis.” Additionally, Eric Zivot plays the Centauri aristocrat who torments G’Kar, while the various League ambassadors are played by Ron Campbell, Jonathan Chapman, and William Scudder.

Trivial matters. Interestingly enough, this is the only regular episode in B5’s entire five-year run in which every person listed in the opening credits of the episode appears in the episode.

Ivanova initially went in search of First Ones—and found some—in “Voices of Authority.”

The scene with Ivanova asking for the White Star was filmed for “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?” but was cut for time, and used in this episode instead. In that same episode, G’Kar sent Cole back to B5 to gain more intelligence on Garibaldi’s whereabouts, which Allan gains, but is unable to contact G’Kar thanks to the latter being captured by Centauri.

It was established back in “The Parliament of Dreams” that a Narn would rather die than scream under torture.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“At least a dozen ships have reported seeing something rather godlike in the area, and since neither you nor I were there, it must be one of the First Ones.”

“You’re having delusions of grandeur again.”

“Well, if you’re going to have delusions, may as well go for the really satisfying ones.”

—Cole and Ivanova bantering.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “I was wrong—kill him!” The rock star of this particular episode is director John McPherson, because there are so many fantastic visuals in this episode, many of which have stuck with me since I first saw the episode twenty-nine years ago. This is the only B5 episode on his directorial resumé (most of his credits are as a cinematographer or director of photography, though he also directed episodes of Seven Days, Sliders, and Swamp Thing, among many others), which is a pity.

Let’s start with the most spectacular bit, Sheridan’s triumphant return to B5. It starts with the rally, the two ambassadors speaking passionately, Delenn trying to rebut from the crowd, the ambassadors looking down on her—both literally and figuratively—as they refute her points as the desperate hope of a woman trying to commit suicide. And then Sheridan calmly joins them on the catwalk, and it’s perfectly filmed, as we get the different reactions from the crowd, from Delenn and Lennier, and finally from the ambassadors as Sheridan joins them. And from that point forward, it’s all Sheridan, the focus either on him or on how people are reacting to him.

My favorite visual in the episode is a quick throwaway bit of business that was just perfect. When Cartagia is wiping the blood from his hands, and finishes with the rag, the servant at his side holds up his hand to take the rag from him. But Cartagia instead tosses the rag over his shoulder past the servant’s head. The servant’s facial expression barely changes, but there’s a bit of resigned exasperation there. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it bit, but it expertly encapsulates Cartagia’s personality.

And then we have the tour de force: G’Kar being lashed. Part of this is the editing, as the intercutting among the various closeups is very well done, but it’s the delivery and expressions that really sell it. There’s Cartagia calmly but intensely counting off each lash, his voice growing incrementally more enthusiastic with each number, as he knows that—one way or another—he’ll get what he wants by the time he stops counting. And his head never moves, as he intently watches G’Kar being lashed. There’s G’Kar, wincing in pain with each lash but keeping himself under control until the thirty-ninth—and then there’s the actual thirty-ninth when he lets loose with the scream that is very obviously cathartic for everyone in the room, albeit for different reasons. There’s Vir, looking increasingly nauseated, as he’s likely never seen anything quite this depraved in his life.

And then there’s Mollari. First we see him regarding Cartagia. He’s standing behind the emperor, so Cartagia can’t see the expression of purest disgust and contempt on Mollari’s face. Then he looks up, and we see the same devastation that Mollari had on his face in “The Long, Twilight Struggle” when he watched the bombing of Narn. He plaintively mouths, Scream! to G’Kar. And then the look of relief when G’Kar finally relents.

Just a masterpiece of a scene.

For all this, the episode has some flaws. For one thing, with Sheridan and Garibaldi both MIA and Ivanova off hunting First Ones, Delenn acts as if she’s in charge of the station, even being on duty in CnC, which makes absolutely nothing like sense. There should be a duty officer who’s actually part of the military hierarchy of the station in charge. Yes, that’s a bit muddled now with them breaking off from Earth, but still, that’s not something that would fall to a diplomat. Also, how do Sheridan’s codes for docking still work? All those would’ve been automatically changed once Sheridan went missing. And finally, as effective as Sheridan’s return is, it would’ve been more so without having to slog through the nonsense between him and Lorien last week.

These are, however, nitpicks regarding an otherwise brilliant episode.

Next week: “Falling Toward Apotheosis”[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “The Summoning” appeared first on Reactor.

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Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?”

“If you’re falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly—you’ve got nothing to lose.”

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on September 15, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Kevin James Dobson
Season 4, Episode 2
Production episode 402
Original air date: November 11, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… Franklin’s expository voiceover is interrupted by Lennier, who says that there’s something wrong with Delenn.

On Z’ha’dum, we cut from Sheridan floating in space, being held there by tendrils of energy, with said tendrils asking philosophical questions, to Sheridan waking up in the catacombs with Lorien, who claims to be, not just a First One, but the First One. Lorien also assures Sheridan that he is “quite quite dead.” As proof, Lorien offers that a) Sheridan has been here for several days but hasn’t eaten or drunk anything and b) he has no pulse. When asked by Lorien what the last thing he remembers is, Sheridan says jumping into the chasm. But he doesn’t remember hitting bottom. Lorien replies that that means either he’s still falling, he’s hit bottom and is dead, or he’s caught between the moments.

G’Kar’s search for Garibaldi has led him to a world where the weather sucks. G’Kar found an engine part that belonged to Garibaldi’s Starfury, and the Starfury itself was apparently salvaged by a guy named Isaac, whom he meets in a bar. Isaac, however, is tight-lipped about how he came across the Starfury, as it’s way too small for him to have just found by happenstance. When G’Kar gets physical to keep Isaac from leaving, Harry, the bar’s owner, asks G’Kar to leave, backed up by a bunch of thuggish types. Cole appears out of nowhere and says that G’Kar should finish his conversation, which leads to The Inevitable Bar Fight.

Cole and G’Kar win pretty handily and bugger off. Harry calls a Centauri soldier over, saying he may have something for him. The soldier shows Harry a bunch of images of various Narns, and he picks out G’Kar. The Centauri is thrilled, as he’s the last of the Kha’Ri still at large and there’s a reward.

On B5, Franklin visits Delenn, who has been fasting since they lost Sheridan. Delenn fobs off the doctor’s concerns, as Minbari can survive quite some time without food, but Franklin counters that she’s half-human now, and the body she actually now inhabits can’t handle the stress she’s putting on it. Delenn, however, is determined to continue the fast, even if it costs her own life, as her free-floating guilt feels she’s responsible for everything bad that’s happened.

Back on the rainy planet, Cole convinces G’Kar to let him track down Isaac and interrogate him, since the authorities are still looking very aggressively for G’Kar. Cole finds Isaac and learns where he found the Starfury, and that he was turned on to the location by Interplanetary Expeditions (them again…). While G’Kar is grateful for Cole’s assistance (and also has “pikal envy” over Cole’s weapon of choice, a very ancient Minbari pike), he needs to do this search for Garibaldi alone—plus he needs Cole to return to B5 to get information that can only be obtained there. Cole reluctantly agrees, and leaves, promising to get in touch once he gets some useful intelligence.

Shortly after Cole’s ship leaves orbit, G’Kar is attacked by a bunch of Centauri soldiers.

On B5, Franklin summons Delenn to Sheridan’s quarters. He’s been going through the captain’s things, putting some items in storage, sending others home to his family. He found a particular personal log—which Ivanova gave him the passwords to—that he thinks Delenn should watch. It’s from shortly after they broke away from Earth, and Sheridan is coming to terms with that, as well as his feelings for Delenn. This gives Delenn a confidence boost, and she immediately summons all the Rangers—they’re going to get as many of their forces together as they can and attack Z’ha’dum.

On Centauri Prime, Mollari is awakened in the middle of the night by the minister, who says the emperor wants to see him right away. Mollari takes the time to dress properly for an audience with the emperor, which leads to Cartagia castigating him for keeping him waiting. Mollari says the alternative would have been to appear in an improper state before his august personage—he was only thinking of Cartagia, as he carries the emperor in his heart, always. When Cartagia asks if that means he shouldn’t kill Mollari, the ambassador demurs, saying he wouldn’t presume to say, though, since Mollari carries a piece of Cartagia in his heart, it would be like killing himself.

Cartagia enjoys the verbal sparring, and then explains why he got Mollari up in the middle of the night: He has a present for him, to wit, a chained and bloody G’Kar. Before trundling him off to a dungeon, Cartagia asks if G’Kar has anything to say for himself. G’Kar asks a baffled Cartagia if any of them have seen Mr. Garibaldi.

Speaking of whom, we cut to a windowless, featureless room, in which an unshaven Garibaldi is being questioned by a voice over an intercom. Garibaldi angrily and frustratedly says that he doesn’t remember anything that happened after he went out in his Starfury, and he finally loses his temper and starts smashing the lights in the room. Gas is then pumped into the room, rendering him unconscious. After he’s out cold, the door opens to reveal a person in a Psi Corps uniform.

On Centauri Prime, Mollari visits G’Kar in his cell, quietly criticizing his choice to leave the sanctuary of B5. He then outlines what Cartagia and his merry band of torturers will do to G’Kar. (Oddly, he speaks of having seen torment that lasts months, even though he’s only been back on Centauri Prime for a week or two.) G’Kar bitterly asks if this fate pleases Mollari, and Mollari answers in a very firm negative. Even in the past, when his hatred for G’Kar was at its fiercest, Mollari would not have wished this fate on him—or, indeed, on anyone. There is, he says, a monster on the throne; however, Mollari plans to get rid of him, and G’Kar will be able to aid him. It will be difficult, and he will have to suffer some before they get to the point where they can, but it will happen.

As Mollari’s about to leave, G’Kar reminds him that he didn’t ask G’Kar’s price. When Mollari replies that he’s in no condition to bargain, G’Kar firmly points out that Mollari isn’t, either. G’Kar will help get rid of the monster on the throne if Mollari promises to get rid of the monster on his homeworld: Free Narn, and he will help Mollari’s regicidal plan. Mollari gives his word.

On Z’ha’dum, Sheridan is shocked to see that, despite having walked in a straight line, he’s back at the fire he made. Lorien continues to talk of Sheridan being caught between moments, between tick and tock. (How a billion-year-old entity who lives in a cave on a far-off world knows to make a metaphor related to a particular type of human timepiece is left as an exercise for the viewer.) But Sheridan refuses to choose death—he has too much work to do, too many lives are at stake.

Lorien admits that the Shadows return to Z’ha’dum precisely because Lorien is there. Lorien also detects the shard of Kosh in Sheridan, and thinks he may have met the Vorlon once, long ago. Lorien also explains that Vorlons put pieces of themselves in other lifeforms to enable them to travel discreetly (which explains what Kosh and Ulkesh are always doing with Alexander). Both Sheridan and Kosh are clinging to life, not wanting to die, but Lorien says that they’re not so much trying to live as avoiding dying. Lorien says he cannot create life, but he can blow on the embers, whatever that means, but Sheridan needs to have something worth living for. As Sheridan’s vision fades to black, he says that what he has to live for is Delenn…

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Westley Sheridan is only mostly dead, not all dead, and before reviving him, Miracle Max Lorien wants to know what he has that’s worth living for, and Westley’s Sheridan’s answer is true love.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi is apparently a prisoner of Psi Corps, though it’s still not at all clear how he got there, why the Shadows captured him, why they let him go, or what the hell is going on.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn rather irresponsibly doesn’t take her transformation into a Minbari/human hybrid into account when she decides to fast. Or, perhaps it’s more accurate to say that she doesn’t care about it.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Cartagia has taken a liking to Mollari—no doubt in part due to the fact that, while the ambassador shows respect to Cartagia and his office, he isn’t obsequious about it, nor is he defiant or mutinous (at least to his face). He gives G’Kar to him as a gift to play with.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar is willing to help Mollari kill Cartagia, even if it means a shit-ton of torture, if it means his people will be free, because that’s what matters most to him. And he knows that the welfare of the Centauri people is what matters most to Mollari, so he knows that he will agree to G’Kar’s terms…

We live for the one, we die for the one. Now that Delenn has a whole White Star fleet, she plans to use it, captained by Rangers, to attack Z’ha’dum.

Meanwhile, Cole saves G’Kar’s ass in the bar.

The Shadowy Vorlons. Lorien appears to have lived on Z’ha’dum for a very long time, and is the reason why the Shadows keep returning there, allegedly out of respect, though the reasons for that respect seem to have faded with time, at least according to Lorien.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Both Sheridan and Delenn are revitalized by their love for each other. It’s either sweet or nauseating, depending on how you look at it…

Welcome aboard. Back from “The Hour of the Wolf” are Wayne Alexander as Lorien, Wortham Krimmer as Cartagia, Damian London as the Centauri minister, and Ardwight Chamberlain as the voice of Kosh. Alexander, Krimmer, and Chamberlain will return next time in “The Summoning,” while London will be back in “Into the Fire.”

Lenny Citrano plays Isaac, Rick Scarry plays the Centauri soldier, and Anthony DeLongis—one of the finest stage swordfighters and fight choreographers around—plays Harry.

Trivial matters. In the original broadcast of the episode, Franklin’s opening voiceover stated that it had been 14 days since Sheridan’s went to Z’ha’dum and nine days since Garibaldi went missing. That was an admitted mental error on scripter J. Michael Straczynski’s part, and was fixed in later airings and home video/streaming releases to be nine days for both.

Sheridan’s personal log that Delenn watches would seem to have been recorded during the events of “Ceremonies of Light and Dark.”

Interplanetary Expeditions were the ones behind Hendricks’ find that went horribly wrong in “Infection,” digging up the Shadow ships on Mars, as established in “Messages from Earth,” and are the ones who sent the Icarus (with Anna Sheridan and Morden on the crew) to Z’ha’dum, as established in “Revelations,” “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum,” and “Z’ha’dum.”

Lorien asks Sheridan three questions. One is the common Vorlon question of “who are you?” One is the common Shadow question of “what do you want?” But he also asks “why are you?” Which is a) new and b) much harder to answer.

The engine part that G’Kar shows Isaac is an overthruster prop from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, which is just delightful.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

G’Kar being philosophical and Cole saying, “Bazinga!”

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “If you’re falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly—you’ve got nothing to lose.” Even if the rest of the episode was terrible, it would all be worth it for the magnificent scene in the dungeon between Mollari and G’Kar. Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas remain the best thing about this show, and their talk in the dungeon is a masterpiece.

Katsulas’ intensity is a wonder to behold, from his questioning of Isaac to his banter with Cole to his virtual hissing of his terms to Mollari. Jurasik’s sad recitation of the tortures that await G’Kar is a rhapsody in quiet devastation, while his interactions with Wortham Krimmer’s Cartagia are also spot-on, the perfect mix of deference and backbone.

As I said last week, the Cartagia plotline borrows a lot from the 1976 BBC adaptation of I, Claudius, specifically the episodes focusing on Caligula. But it’s not a one-to-one comparison, which is as it should be. The main difference is Mollari who—unlike Derek Jacobi’s Claudius, who was mostly just trying to stay alive—is stringing Cartagia’s delusions along as a holding action until he can kill him.

The rest of the episode is mostly adequate. Delenn’s coming around to doing something instead of moping is well handled, mostly due to Mira Furlan’s intense passion. The stuff with Sheridan and Lorien on Z’ha’dum is a lot of philosophical foofuraw that sounds like it’s trying very hard to be profound. But I spent most of those scenes a) wondering how Lorien knows anything about a specific type of human timepiece for his metaphor, b) wishing he would stop using that metaphor, as it was beaten pretty well into the ground, and c) realizing that it was feeling a whole lot like a pretentious redo of the Miracle Max scenes in The Princess Bride (mostly dead, not all dead, and Sheridan declaring true love as his reason for living). Although I do like that, while it’s filmed as if Sheridan is waking from a dream of being held in place by a powerful being of energy, in truth the stuff in the caverns is the dream and his being held in place by sparkly tendrils is the reality.

Next week: “The Summoning”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Hour of the Wolf”

Delenn struggles to keep the alliance against the Shadows together, and Mollari is summoned back to Centauri Prime…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on September 8, 2025

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“The Hour of the Wolf”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David J. Eagle
Season 4, Episode 1
Production episode 401
Original air date: November 4, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… It has been a week since Sheridan went to Z’ha’dum and, according to a voiceover from G’Kar, who is writing this all in his book, the universe seems to have paused. There’s been no sign of any activity from the Shadows. Delenn and Ivanova are both particularly devastated, the former fasting and holding vigil, the latter sleepwalking through her duties, while not actually sleeping at all.

Mollari has returned to Centauri Prime to become part of the emperor’s court. G’Kar muses that, on the one hand, he has everything he ever wanted, but on the other, he’s probably the loneliest person in the universe.

There are two questions, according to G’Kar: What happened to Sheridan at Z’ha’dum? Where is Garibaldi?

A meeting with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds goes badly, as Delenn, Ivanova, Lennier, and G’Kar are unable to convince the assorted ambassadors that B5 still needs protection. The Drazi and Brakiri and Gaim and the rest are all convinced that the Shadow War is over. Ivanova wants to press that advantage and send a fleet to Z’ha’dum, but none of the League reps want any part of that, accusing them of just wanting to rescue Sheridan—who is almost definitely dead. Nobody returns from Z’ha’dum. (Delenn’s counterargument that Anna Sheridan did come back falls on deaf ears.)

After the meeting breaks, Lennier points out that the Vorlon ambassador has not shown, and Delenn expresses her desire to find out why.

Mollari has arrived on Centauri Prime and is being escorted to his audience with the emperor by a minister, who is carrying on like trash about what a great honor it is for Mollari to be granted this audience. Cartagia—who keeps his hair scandalously short—obsequiously welcomes Mollari. He said he brought Mollari home for two reasons. One is because Mollari has experience of offworlders, and Cartagia needs that, as too many of the royal court are too provincial and know very little of the galaxy outside the Centauri Republic. The other reason is quite an ominous one: he was requested.

Before long, Mollari learns who requested him: a very badly scarred and burned Morden, who is not entirely there mentally, either. (It seems he had at least some distance from Sheridan’s explosion.) Apparently, the Shadows wish to work more closely with the Centauri, through Mollari and through Cartagia. Mollari is not thrilled about this, and is even less thrilled to learn that Cartagia has granted the Shadows an island on which to stash some of their fleet. They’ve done this in the past, and it’s necessary now after the damage Sheridan did to Z’ha’dum. Mollari can’t believe the Centaurum allowed this, but apparently those who voted against it simply disappeared…

Vir, meanwhile, has some news for Ivanova. Some of the Shadows’ agents pass messages to Mollari and when the ambassador is away, Vir gets the messages. Vir shares the events of “Z’ha’dum”: Sheridan crashed the White Star onto the surface, setting off a massive explosion. Sheridan himself was last seen jumping into a massive cavern. So the captain is almost definitely dead, but he very definitely did some major damage to the Shadows.

Delenn meets with the Vorlon ambassador and Alexander. The Vorlon doesn’t seem to give a damn that the League is falling apart, nor that he’s lost Delenn’s respect. Indeed, he is generally an ass before flouncing off, an apologetic Alexander in tow.

Allan investigates a break-in to Garibaldi’s quarters, but it turns out to be G’Kar, who feels that all the concern about Sheridan means that Garibaldi’s been lost in the shuffle. Allan assures him that is not the case, but nonetheless, G’Kar has decided to make it his personal mission to find Garibaldi.

Mollari is summoned to the sand garden. He, Cartagia, and a bunch of others watch as many Shadow vessels fly overhead, just like the vision Mollari had of his future. Mollari is appalled, and tries to convince Cartagia that this is a terrible idea, which will endanger the Centauri people. Cartagia, however, doesn’t care about that, he only cares about what the Shadows have promised him: to make him a god, like the emperors of old, many of whom are still worshipped.

To his dismay, Mollari realizes that Cartagia is completely insane. The minister admits that this is so, but anyone who has been foolish enough to say so out loud has subsequently disappeared without a trace. Rumor has it that Cartagia keeps all their heads on a desk in a private room. (Soon thereafter we see that rumor is true, as Cartagia visits his room of disembodied heads and tells them what a great day he’s had.)

After sucking his essence out of Alexander—and also ignoring her observation that this new guy’s essence is way darker than Kosh’s—the Vorlon ambassador lets her go bugger off on her own for a while. She immediately goes to Ivanova’s quarters. She thinks that her shared connection with Kosh means that she might be able to sense Sheridan, since Kosh left a piece of himself in Sheridan. Ivanova is willing to give it a shot.

Mollari summons Vir to Centauri Prime. Mollari needs allies he can trust for the conspiracy to commit regicide that he’s just formed, and Vir is pretty much it.

Ivanova, Delenn, Lennier, and Alexander take the White Star to Z’ha’dum. Alexander is able to fend off the Shadows while she searches for Sheridan telepathically. Lennier also tries to raise him by more traditional means. None of them are successful.

Then suddenly they all feel compelled to go to the surface—at least until the ship suddenly goes to hyperspace. Lennier—concerned that something untoward might happen to them—had set up a program whereby he had to touch a control at a regular interval, and if he didn’t, the ship would jump into hyperspace. Whatever it was that compelled them to go to Z’ha’dum kept Lennier from touching the control, so they’ve escaped.

But there’s no sign of Sheridan.

Back at B5, Ivanova still can’t sleep, but now she’s finally accepted that Sheridan’s dead and that her duty is to continue his work.

And then we cut to a cavern, presumably on Z’ha’dum, where we see a cloaked Sheridan, who is joined at a fire by an alien named Lorien.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan survived his leap into a chasm because he’s the lead in a TV show. Pity the rest of the crew didn’t know that…

Ivanova is God. Ivanova tells Alexander about the titular hour of the wolf: between three and four in the morning, when you can’t sleep and all the troubles of the universe are weighing down on you. Her father used to take a big drink of vodka during these times, “to keep the wolf away.” Then he’d take two or three small drinks, in case she had cubs. After slugging down a lot of vodka, Ivanova informs Alexander that it doesn’t work.

The household god of frustration. G’Kar asks if the picture of Daffy Duck over Garibaldi’s bed represents one of his household gods, and Allan allows as how that’s close enough for jazz.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn is pretty much rebuffed at every turn. The League disregards her warnings, the Vorlons no longer seem to want anything to do with her, and their mission to locate Sheridan fails.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… We finally meet Cartagia, and he’s completely bugnuts, cluck cluck, gibber gibber, my old man’s a mushroom, etc. He’s succeeded in cowing the royal court, leaving it to Mollari and Vir to start the revolution, as it were.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar feels indebted to Garibaldi because the security chief treated him with respect.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Alexander is only able to hold off the Shadows for about half a second when in orbit of their homeworld. And wherever Sheridan is, he’s beyond her ability to locate him from orbit…

The Shadowy Vorlons. The Vorlons apparently were thrown off by Sheridan’s trip to Z’ha’dum (even though Kosh, at least, seemed to know it was coming). They are planning something, but neither Delenn nor Alexander have the first clue as to what that might be.

Meantime, the Shadows are setting up a base on Centauri Prime, which is bad news for the Centauri people.

Welcome aboard. We get two new recurring regulars in Lorien, played by Wayne Alexander, and Cartagia, played by Wortham Krimmer. We also get three old recurring characters in Ed Wasser as Morden, back from “Z’ha’dum,” Damian London as the still-not-yet-named Centauri minister, back from “Sic Transit Vir,” and Ardwight Chamberlain as the voice of Ulkesh or Kosh 2.0 or whatever the hell the Vorlon ambassador is now, also back from “Z’ha’dum.” All will return next time in “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?” except for Wasser, who won’t be back until “Falling Toward Apotheosis.”

Trivial matters. After being mentioned several times, we finally meet Cartagia. In both name and portrayal, he’s obviously inspired by the legends surrounding the Roman Emperor Caligula, particularly John Hurt’s portrayal of the mad emperor in I, Claudius.

One of Mollari’s flash-forwards in “The Coming of Shadows” comes to pass here: he stands on sand, watching Shadows fly overhead. It appeared to be a desert in the second-season episode, but it’s established here as a sand garden. Also there’s an entire scene just before it with Mollari being unable to locate his coat, at which point the minister tells him that it’s being cleaned, and Mollari is forced to wear his old purple coat—which is what he was wearing in the flash-forward, as that was his current costume at the time. Just one of the unintended consequences of doing flash-forwards…

Rather than a single person doing the opening-credits voiceover, for this season, the entire cast gets in on the act, with everyone in the opening credits speaking a line discussing the year we’re about to watch.

By the time this season aired, the Prime Time Entertainment Network was on its last legs. Warner Bros. had formed its own network—the WB—which launched in 1995, as did the United Paramount Network. Chris-Craft Industries, which had been a partner with PTEN, instead became affiliated with UPN, thus leaving PTEN in the lurch on two fronts. By late 1996, all they had left was B5 and Kung-Fu: The Legend Continues, with no new programming on the horizon. The syndicated network would cease production after the fourth season of both those shows.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“I have met Cartagia three times before. Twice when he was an infant—he drooled most of the time. I wonder if he has continued the habit. And again when he was fifteen trying to peek up the dresses of some young women. I promise you, I will be just as impressed by him now as I was then, yes?”

“Ah, Mollari! Wonderful to see you again!”

“And you, Majesty. I could swear you have not changed since the last few times I saw you.”

—Mollari preparing to meet Cartagia and then doing so.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Initiating ‘getting the hell out of here’ maneuver.” For all that I enjoyed watching this episode again, I find I don’t have much to say about it, mostly because the episode is entirely setup, with a dollop of misdirection. The latter is getting the characters to a place where they finally accept Sheridan’s death and then revealing that Sheridan is still alive. I mean, we know he’s alive—if nothing else, Bruce Boxleitner’s face is still there in the opening credits. But still, the characters need to move on so they can be properly surprised when he returns to civilization, as it were.

We still don’t know what happened to Garibaldi, but G’Kar, at least, is on the case. And we’re all wondering what will happen with the Shadows, now that they’re regrouping, and what the Vorlons have planned.

The big plot here, of course, is the introduction of Emperor Cartagia. Wortham Krimmer does an excellent job of channeling 1976 John Hurt, which only makes sense, as this particular plotline follows pretty much all the non-gross beats of Caligula’s arc in I, Claudius five decades ago. (Also, if you’ve never watched that BBC miniseries, I enthusiastically and heartily recommend it. Absolutely great stuff.) What’s compelling about the storyline is Mollari’s attempt at redemption by ridding his homeworld of this particular cancerous emperor, with the aid of Vir. The exchanges between Mollari and Vir are priceless as always, with the usual mix of affection and abuse on Mollari’s part, with Vir’s continued goodness of heart and seemingly endless reserve of forgiveness for Mollari’s crimes.

It’s kind of funny, really. The fourth season was the most balls-to-the-wall of all the seasons of B5, at least in part because J. Michael Straczynski feared he wouldn’t get a fifth season with the collapse of PTEN, so he jammed a lot of the storyline intended for season five into season four. So I had kind of forgotten that this roller-coaster of a season had such a sedate and somber opening.

Next week: “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: Third Season Overview

A look back at the highs and lows of the third season of Babylon 5.

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on August 25, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

Babylon 5 Third Season
Original air dates: November 1995 – October 1996
Executive producers: Douglas Netter, J. Michael Straczynski

It was the dawn of the third age… The season starts with the officers of B5 dealing with the growing threat of the Shadows. Aiding in that is the assignment to the station of a Minbari-Vorlon hybrid ship the White Star—which by season’s end proves to be the vanguard of a fleet of powerful ships that can form their own jump points and at least hold their own against the Shadows. The White Star proves to be a valuable asset against the Shadows, helping keep a Shadow vessel unearthed in the solar system out of EarthGov’s hands and also bringing the fight to the Shadows. They also learn from the Book of G’Quan that telepaths are a weapon against the Shadows. To that end, the Vorlons deliberately genetically engineered humans to develop telepathy and the Shadows are trying to use telepaths to counter that disadvantage.

The Rangers are also now working more overtly, with a Ranger named Marcus Cole assigned to B5. The Rangers are the ones who learn how extensive the Shadows’ machinations are, setting nation against nation.

Meantime, creeping fascism on Earth is causing more and more problems. NightWatch is upping their enforcement of the more draconian laws. Earth even sends a political officer to B5, though she’s recalled when our heroes publicize footage taken by the Great Machine of Clark admitting to being behind Santiago’s death.

Eventually, the EarthForce personnel who are working against Clark under General Hague are targeted, with Hague himself killed, while several colonies declare independence, and ISN is forced to go dark—only to come back as an obvious propaganda tool.

There’s a showdown at B5 that only ends when Delenn shows up with some Minbari capital ships to support the station. This leads to B5 following the lead of those colonies and declaring independence. NightWatch is kicked off the station, with Narns loyal to G’Kar supplementing Garibaldi’s security staff.

G’Kar himself continues to fight for his people, while staying on B5 where he has asylum, though the Centauri make several attempts to get him to leave the station. He endeavors to make himself indispensable with the goal of being read in on the Army of Light, which Sheridan and Delenn only do after procrastinating, due to having to reveal to him that they knew the Shadows were behind the Centauri’s aggression against the Narn.

G’Kar also works with Mollari to take down Refa—the one who ordered the mass drivers to attack the Narn homeworld. Mollari is fooled by Morden into thinking that Refa had Mollari’s lover Adira killed (it was really Morden who did it), which also leads to him renewing his association with the Shadows. He also banishes Vir to Minbar as Centauri ambassador, mostly so he doesn’t have to put up with Vir being his conscience. However, Vir works to save Narns from suffering, which causes him to be recalled.

Sinclair returns long enough to fulfill his destiny: going back in time with Babylon 4 to become Valen and win the first Shadow War with the aid of B4’s from-a-millennium-in-the-future technology. This also explains why all of Valen’s prophecies came true. (That same adventure also sees Sheridan go two decades into the future, where we learn that the final fate of Mollari and G’Kar isn’t quite what we thought it was from Mollari’s premonitions…)

Sheridan and Delenn are able to build a coalition from what’s left of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to fight the Shadows. Sheridan even convinces Kosh to get the Vorlons to make an offensive strike against the Shadows, though the Shadows retaliate for this action by killing Kosh.

These losses concern the Shadows enough that they pull Anna Sheridan out of the Shadow ship she’d been bonded with, attempt to reconstruct her personality, and send her to B5 to convince Sheridan to go to Z’ha’dum. However, while Sheridan does go to Z’ha’dum, he doesn’t buy the Shadows’ line, and uses the White Star and some heavy weapons to do significant damage to Z’ha’dum—and seemingly to die, as he’s last seen jumping into a very deep abyss.

Sheridan’s visit to Z’ha’dum is simultaneous with the Shadows surrounding B5—but they retreat after Sheridan’s attack, though they do take a prisoner: Garibaldi.

Favorite Get the hell out of our galaxy! From “Passing Through Gethsemane”: Sheridan says his faith is eclectic and open-minded. Theo says he’s rudderless, directionless, and cast adrift without a compass on an ocean of ecclesiastical possibilities. Which he says right before he puts Sheridan in checkmate.

Favorite Nothing’s the same anymore. From “War Without End, Part 2”: Sinclair turns out to be Minbari Jesus Valen. This goes a long way toward explaining why Valen’s prophecies tended to come true…

Favorite Ivanova is God. From “Matters of Honor”: Ivanova already knew all about the Rangers and Sheridan, Delenn, and Garibaldi’s role with them. Sheridan is nonplussed to discover this, to which Ivanova says that he should start worrying when something happens on the station that she doesn’t know about.

Favorite The household god of frustration. From “Dust to Dust”: After Bester pretends to still be telepathic in the interrogation of Van Troc, Garibaldi angrily confronts Bester about still being able to use his psi powers, because Garibaldi apparently skipped the class about how to conduct an interrogation in security school and didn’t realize that Bester was bullshitting Van Troc. Seriously, lying to the perp to get a response is Interrogation 101, and Garibaldi should know that, and the only reason he didn’t is because the script needs to let the viewer know that Bester is lying. It would’ve been much better—and not made Garibaldi out to be spectacularly incompetent at his job—if Garibaldi very reluctantly complimented Bester on his technique, especially since Van Troc couldn’t possibly have known that Bester was on sleepers.

Favorite If you value your lives, be somewhere else. From “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”: Part of Delenn’s attempt to get Sheridan out of his funk is to discuss her search of the meaning of cranky, which led her to grouchy, which led her to crotchety. She expresses frustration with how words in English seem to just mean other words, plus she’s skeptical that “crotchety” even is a word. At one point, Sheridan shoots her a look, and she says, “Never mind—your face just broke the language barrier.”

Favorite In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… From “Dust to Dust”: Vir’s report is that the Minbari are a lovely people interested in culture and art, they have cities that are thousands of years old, and that they’re a deeply spiritual people.

Mollari’s counter to this is that they are decadent and soft, out to impose their views on everyone else, and their lack of new construction is a sign of their faltering economy, and it may make them aggressive. However, he says Vir should leave in the part about how they’re deeply spiritual—it always scares people.

Favorite Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. From “Ceremonies of Light and Dark”: G’Kar is too busy trying to continue to be indispensable to attend the rebirth ceremony. Besides which, he says, he was already born once, “and quite sufficiently, I think.”

Favorite We live for the one, we die for the one. From “Grey 17 is Missing”: The Rangers were run by the Warrior Caste back when Valen formed them, but they disbanded some time after the first Shadow War. At one point, Cole gives the Rangers’ mission statement: “We walk in the dark places no others may enter. We stand on the bridge and no one may pass.” (One hopes they’re better at guarding bridges than this guy…)

Favorite The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. From “Passing Through Gethsemane”: Alexander is, strictly speaking, a rogue, though the senior staff doesn’t turn her in to Psi Corps because Psi Corps is a bunch of big stinkies, and besides, they can use Alexander to do all kinds of unethical things now!

Favorite The Shadowy Vorlons. From “Z’ha’dum”: Justin and Morden spell out the history, at least from their perspective, of how the Vorlons and Shadows have guided and manipulated younger races for the last several hundred millennia.

Favorite Looking ahead. From “War Without End, Part 2”: Delenn has a flashforward to her watching Sheridan sleep, only to be interrupted by a woman’s voice. This scene will come to pass in “Shadow Dancing.”

We see the fullness of Mollari and G’Kar’s strangling of each other, first mentioned in “Midnight on the Firing Line” and foreseen by Mollari in “The Coming of Shadows.”

We have previously been told that Sheridan will die if he goes to Z’ha’dum, so Delenn’s urging of Sheridan not to go to there is understandable, though if he’s still alive seventeen years hence, he obviously doesn’t die—exactly. This will all be explained in “Z’ha’dum” and the first several episodes of season four.

The Keeper is of Drakh origin—we’ll see more of the Drakh in the future. Mollari’s acquisition of the Keeper will happen in very aptly titled season-five episode, “The Fall of Centauri Prime.”

G’Kar will lose his left eye in “Falling Toward Apotheosis.”

Favorite No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. From “Exogenesis”: At the end of the episode, Franklin tells Ivanova that Cole wants a second chance with her, which leads her to think that Cole is the one who left the flowers by her door. (Which was, of course, a lie by Corwin to cover that he brought flowers to a staff meeting.) Ivanova then tosses the flowers at Cole, saying, “Keep them.” Cole, naturally, thinks that Ivanova got the flowers for him, and believes that he has a chance with her again. Wheeee!

Favorite Welcome aboard. New recurring guests this season include Vaughn Armstrong as a never-named security guard, Jennifer Balgobin as Hobbs, Melissa Gilbert as Anna, Rance Howard as Sheridan’s Dad, Diana Morgan as a propaganda-drenched ISN anchor, Louis Turenne as Brother Theo (eschewing the Minbari makeup of Draal for the lack of makeup necessary for a human monk), and Time Winters as Rathenn.

Back for more are recurring guests Ardwight Chamberlain as the voice of Kosh (as well as another Vorlon, Ulkesh, and the First Ones in “Voices of Authority”), Kent Broadhurst as Krantz, the magnificent Tim Choate as Zathras, Joshua Cox as Corwin, Maggie Egan as Jane the ISN anchor, William Forward as Refa, the great Walter Koenig as Bester, Damian London as a Centauri official, Gary McGurk as Clark, Michael O’Hare as Sinclair, Robin Sachs as Na’Kal, John Schuck as Draal, Patricia Tallman as Alexander, Marshall Teague as Ta’Lon, the great John Vickery as Neroon, and Ed Wasser as Morden.

Some nifty one-off guests: Wayne Alexander (“And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”), Lewis Arquette (“Point of No Return”), Erick Avari (“And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”), Majel Barrett (“Point of No Return”), Thom Barry (“Grey 17 is Missing”), Ron Campbell, Jeff Corey ( both in “Z’ha’dum”), Brad Dourif (“Passing Through Gethsemane”), Robert Englund (“Grey 17 is Missing”), Erica Gimpel (“Walkabout”), Francois Giroday (“And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”), Matt Gottlieb (“Severed Dreams”), Dona Hardy (“A Late Delivery from Avalon”), Marva Hicks (“And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”), Michael Kagan (“A Late Delivery from Avalon”), Stephen Macht (“A Day in the Strife”), Kim Mayori, Bruce McGill (both in “Severed Dreams”), Aubrey Morris (“Exogenesis”), Phil Morris (“Severed Dreams”), Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow (“War Without End, Part 2”), Jim Norton (“Dust to Dust”), Tucker Smallwood, Kitty Swink (both in “Matters of Honor”), Cary-Horiyuki Tagawa (“Convictions”), Carmen Thomas (“Sic Transit Vir”), and Michael York (“A Late Delivery from Avalon”).

But by far the best guest turn this year is by Mel Winkler, simply superb as Rev. William Dexter in “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place.”

Favorite Trivial matters. Probably the one for “Sic Transit Vir,” mostly because I love being able to tell the story of Chiune Sugihara (as well as that of Oskar Schindler).

Favorite The echoes of all of our conversations. From “Severed Dreams”:

“This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection—withdraw or be destroyed.”

“Negative, we have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ships.”

“Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me—you are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else.”

—Delenn having her crowning moment of awesome against EarthForce, and providing the source of the Minbari category in this rewatch.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “If you go to Z’ha’dum, you will die.” Everything clicks very nicely into place in this third season, which is characterized by genuine progress and periodic setting of the status quo on fire. Ivanova’s opening voiceover for this year states that B5 has gone from the last, best hope for peace—at which it has failed, as there’s very little peace to be found in the galaxy at this point—to the last, best hope for victory. That is mainly due to B5 being the focal point of the coalition of people working for order against the chaos of the Shadows, particularly Sheridan and Delenn. It’s Sheridan who convinces Kosh to get the Vorlons to be more overt, which not only scores a major victory against the Shadows, but helps in recruiting people to the Army of Light. It’s Delenn who provides the White Star fleet, a major offensive weapon.

But they’re not working alone. G’Kar and the Narns on the station provide needed assistance in keeping the station secure. Garibaldi is the one who figures out that telepaths are the best weapon to be used against the Shadows, and Alexander is the one who tests that theory. Even Bester, of all people, gets into the act, as he views the Shadows as impediments to his own ambitions, so he is willing to work with our heroes to deal a body blow to the Shadows’ plans by retrieving the telepaths they kidnapped.

So many well-done storylines here. The NightWatch and Clark Administration plotlines that dominated the early half of the season are particularly striking to watch in 2025, and in general, writer/executive producer J. Michael Straczynski expertly shows the creeping fascism, from Kitty Swink’s senator in “Matters of Honor” to Vaughn Armstrong’s NightWatch toady in “Messages from Earth” and “Point of No Return” to Diana Morgan’s propaganda-spewing ISN anchor in “Ship of Tears.” Indeed, the NightWatch plot’s only misstep is the kidnapping of Delenn in “Ceremonies of Light and Dark.” Of particular note is Jeff Conaway’s Zack Allan, newly promoted to the opening credits this season, who is caught betwixt and between, not important enough to be read in on the Army of Light’s secret missions but also of sufficient unimportance to be used as a tool by EarthGov and NightWatch.

The season’s back half is dominated by the war against the Shadows, and that too is a thrill-ride, with everything building to Sheridan’s fateful trip to Z’ha’dum.

Of course, the best part is, as always the Centauri-Narn conflict in general and the Mollari-G’Kar dynamic in particular. The latter two go through quite a bit, from being trapped in a transport tube in “Convictions” to the futile attempt to replace G’Kar as the Narns’ representative in “A Day in the Strife” to G’Kar’s temporary telepathy giving him brutal insights into Mollari in “Dust to Dust” to the pair actually working together to kill Refa in “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place.” But the best is the brilliant revelation of their future in “War Without End, Part 2,” a masterpiece of unexpected foreshadowing.

While much of the acting this season is excellent—a far cry from the first season’s parade of wooden performances from both regulars and guests—the thespic glue that holds it all together is Bruce Boxleitner. An ensemble only works with a charismatic lead, and Boxleitner has the perfect mix of determination, tactical acumen, friendliness, openness to change, and stubbornness that a leader needs. Sheridan goes through a helluva lot in this season, particularly in its final few episodes, and Boxleitner nails every nuance, every emotion, and every line of dialogue. In “Z’ha’dum,” Justin calls him a nexus, and it very much feels like it.

The season is not perfect. Franklin’s addiction and recovery arc could charitably described as uninteresting, and I rewatched this season thinking that I would’ve been happy if his resignation in “Interludes and Examinations” was the last time we saw the character. And in general, the season—written entirely by Straczynski—has wildly inconsistent writing, with periodic bits of clunky exposition (e.g., several times in “Dust to Dust”), weak attempts at humor (“Ceremonies of Light and Dark,” “War Without End, Part 1”), and the occasional doofy-ass plotline (the titular portion of “Grey 17 is Missing”).

Still, when he’s on, Straczynski can definitely bring it, from the nicely nuanced EarthGov official played by Tucker Smallwood in “Matters of Honor” to Sheridan’s powerful speech announcing their independence from Earth in “Severed Dreams” to Justin’s almost-reasonable-sounding description of the Shadows’ MO in “Z’ha’dum,” as well as G’Kar’s closing voiceover in that episode.

Best of all is one of the series’ best episodes, “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place,” which is a masterpiece by Straczynski: From the friendly-abuse banter between Louis Turenne’s Theo and Mel Winkler’s Dexter to Mollari’s holographic verbal evisceration of Refa before setting the Narn on him to the magnificent late-night conversation between Dexter and Sheridan to Dexter’s powerful sermon to that stunning climax intercutting the gospel singing with Refa’s murder.

The season builds beautifully to the climax of “Z’ha’dum,” and leaves you really really really wanting to know what’ll happen next, with Sheridan having seemingly jumped to his doom, with Garibaldi missing, and with nobody knowing quite what will happen with the Shadows now…

Next week: We’re taking the week off for Labor Day and for your humble rewatcher to go to Dragon Con 2025. In two weeks, we’ll kick off season four with a look at “The Hour of the Wolf.”[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: Third Season Overview appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Z’ha’dum”

Anna gives Sheridan an ultimatum — come to Z’ha’dum with her, or never hear what she knows about the Shadows.

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

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Published on August 18, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Z’ha’dum”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Adam Nimoy
Season 3, Episode 22
Production episode 322
Original air date: October 28, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… Delenn provides a voiceover that discusses human and Minbari clichés about how the past is prologue (the Minbari one is that the past sometimes predicts the future, which is the same thing, though Delenn talks as if it’s a different aphorism when it really isn’t…). While that voiceover goes on, we rerun Anna walking in on her watching Sheridan sleep interspersed with flashbacks to Sheridan watching a letter from Anna to her sister, the Icarus going to Z’ha’dum, Sheridan questioning Morden about the Icarus, and Delenn explaining to Sheridan about the Icarus.

Cut to Sheridan, now awake and utterly devastated at the sight of Anna, who seems surprised that Sheridan thought her to be dead. “You mean she didn’t tell you?” she says, referring to Delenn, who quickly departs. Anna agrees to take whatever test he wants, and she’ll explain everything to him—but only if he returns to Z’ha’dum with her.

G’Kar shows Ivanova a fresh cache of weapons he has acquired from the Gaim: undetectable bombs that deliver a devastating yield, the equivalent of several hundred megatons.

Franklin gives Anna a detailed examination, and every test proves that she’s really-o-truly-o Anna Sheridan. Franklin releases her, but promises to do more tests. Sheridan confronts Delenn, asking if she knew that Anna was alive. She says she didn’t, but they just assumed that Anna was dead because they figured she wouldn’t work with the Shadows willingly. However, the conversation doesn’t make Sheridan feel much better, since she keeps talking in terms of manipulation: allowing him to know things, keeping things from him, and such. Sheridan angrily tells her how he has developed feelings for Delenn, which was incredibly hard for him, because he still wasn’t entirely over Anna’s death. And now he feels he can’t trust her. Delenn tells him that, no matter what else he may or not believe about her, he should believe this: she loves him.

Mollari is getting drunk and reveals to Vir why: he’s been promoted. Emperor Cartagia has elevated him to the royal court, where he is to advise on matters of planetary security. Vir thinks he should be thrilled, as it’s what he always wanted. Mollari agrees—it’s what he wanted decades ago. Now, though, it feels like a reason to keep him close because they’re more than a little frightened of him, thanks to his association with Morden and the Shadows.

A messenger (who has apparently been told by the director to look and act as much like Ed Wasser as possible) buys Mollari another drink and advises him very strongly to leave the station ASAP.

Franklin notices some minor scarring on the back of Anna’s neck that looks familiar—it turns out to be an exact match for the scarring on Carolyn Sanderson’s neck.

Sheridan confronts Anna, saying that he’ll accompany her to Z’ha’dum, but not until she tells him exactly what happened to the Icarus. She does so, explaining that the Shadows—which isn’t what she calls them or they call themselves, simply referring to them as “the aliens” and explaining that their name for themselves is ten thousand letters long—are doing important work, and she’s helping them. They just want Sheridan to come to Z’ha’dum to hear their side of the story. If he won’t come, she’ll just go back alone and he’ll never know the truth.

Anna explains that the Icarus was sent to Z’ha’dum because Interplanetary Expeditions put a tracker on the Shadow vessel they discovered on Mars. They awakened the Shadows, who were supposedly vulnerable, and so the crew helped them. But then most of the crew was killed in what Anna says was a terrible accident. Anna insists that Sheridan has been lied to by the Minbari and the Vorlons about what the Shadows are really about. The technology they have access to can improve humanity’s lot by quantum leaps. She also apologizes for being away so long—time works differently on Z’ha’dum. But if he comes back with her, it’ll all make sense, and he’ll finally know the truth.

Sheridan agrees to go—and then we pan over to Franklin’s report about the scarring…

Garibaldi reports to Sheridan a bit later, with the captain telling the security chief to process the crew of the White Star and give them all indenticards. It wasn’t something they’d bothered with, but Sheridan thinks it’s important to do so. He also has another instruction for Garibaldi that’s written down. Garibaldi is rather shocked, but Sheridan asks him for trust. He admits that when Sheridan first reported to this post they didn’t really know or trust each other, but Sheridan has come to rely on Garibaldi and he hopes that the reverse is true. Garibaldi agrees, and Sheridan says the next time they see each other they’ll talk about the weather.

Sheridan arms himself with two PPGs, one in its standard holster and one in a backup ankle holster. He sees Kosh in the mirror telling him again that if he goes to Z’ha’dum he’ll die. Nonplussed by this vision, Sheridan nonetheless records a time-delayed message for Delenn.

He and Anna head for the White Star. Encountering Garibaldi along the way, the latter mentions that they may get snow in New York, by way of telling Sheridan that he did what he was asked.

The Sheridans pootle off on the White Star. Anna expresses concern about him operating it alone, and apprehension about the Vorlon technology on board. Indeed, she fears that Vorlon technology even touching Z’ha’dum would do damage, so Sheridan assures her that they’ll take a shuttle down. (Apparently the shuttles are pure Minbari tech…) Sheridan is affable and friendly to Anna, but the minute she looks away, his face falls. That’s probably for a reason.

On B5, Franklin asks Ivanova about the captain leaving the station. Ivanova herself only just heard about it, and Franklin is confused, because he showed Sheridan the report…

The White Star shuttle lands on the surface. Anna leads Sheridan through the Icarus archeological site into a building that has an Earth-normal atmosphere and gravity; she also tells him to surrender his sidearm, which he does. Anna brings him into a room with two other folks: Morden and an older gentleman with a cane, who introduces himself as Justin. He claims to be one of the “them” who decide what length hemlines will be, what the borders are, when the workday is, and all the other stuff that, he says, happens transparently. (He meant opaquely; but then, those are things that actually are decided by regular people, generally politicians, so he’s talking completely out of his ass here.)

They chat over tea. Justin and Morden explain the full backstory of the universe. Way back in the early days, after most of the oldest races evolved beyond the galaxy, two stayed behind to guide the younger races. At first it was a friendly rivalry. The Vorlons acted as parents, guiding and instructing and making sure everyone is on the right track. The Shadows prefer to work through conflict—setting sides against each other, and gaining strength through victory. Or, as Sheridan acidly points out, dying, which Justin understates by saying is regrettable. Morden adds that all of humanity’s best developments came out of conflict—which is also demonstrably not true, though many developments did.

Justin says that Sheridan is a nexus point. He’s the one who’s built the coalition that is standing against the Shadows, so they need him to step back. They can’t just kill him—that would make him a martyr. But he can agree to help them instead of the Vorlons. To accentuate the point, they detail how the Vorlons have manipulated humanity, including creating telepaths specifically to combat the Shadows.

On B5, Corwin detects disturbances, and suddenly the station is surrounded by Shadow vessels. Ivanova orders fighters launched, but tells them not to engage until she gives the order. At first, they just sit there. Ivanova tries to contract Draal, but communications to the planet are jammed. Ivanova asks G’Kar if they can use the Gaim weapons, but (a) the Shadow vessels are too close and detonating them will also destroy the station, and (b) two of them are missing.

On Z’ha’dum, Sheridan makes it clear that he’s not going to play along—and he also knows that that isn’t really his wife. They were able to re-create her DNA, her voice, her body, but not her personality. He also mentions the telepaths they rescued, who have the exact same scarring on their necks that Anna has.

Justin admits that Anna’s personality was lost when she became a thrall to the Shadows, which happened when she made what Justin calls the wrong choice—which belatedly restores Sheridan’s faith in his wife, as he’s said all along that she never would’ve gone along with the Shadows. Justin explains that they removed her from the ship she was piloting when they realized who she was in relation to Sheridan and were hoping she would be able to convince him to play ball. A couple of Shadows then enter the room. Sheridan turns and fires his backup weapon at them.

On B5, Delenn plays the time-delayed message from Sheridan. He speculates that his going to Z’ha’dum after future-Delenn’s warning when he jumped forward in time might prevent that future from happening—which makes no sense, but neither does time travel, so whatever. He also tells Delenn that he loves her.

We see Sheridan, bloody and bruised, stumbling onto a balcony. There’s a glass dome above him and a deep abyss below. He enters commands into his link, and the White Star starts to plummet down toward the surface from orbit. Inside the ship’s cargo hold, the two Gaim devices that had gone missing arm themselves.

“Anna” comes out onto the balcony trying one last time to convince Sheridan to join them, saying that she can love him the way Anna did. Sheridan looks at her with great sadness and pain, then looks up to see the White Star careening through the atmosphere.

Kosh’s voice sounds in his mind, telling him to jump.

He jumps.

The White Star crashes through the dome. Anna screams as the devices detonate.

On B5, the Shadows all disappear. Corwin can’t raise Sheridan or the White Star. Ivanova seems sure that Sheridan is gone. Also one Starfury didn’t report back to B5 after the Shadows retreated: the one piloted by Garibaldi, whose Starfury we later see inside one of the Shadow vessels.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan goes through emotional hell, but ultimately sticks to the mission, as it were, at least in part because the Shadows don’t do such a hot job of re-creating Anna.

Ivanova is God. Ivanova does everything she can to defend the station, but luckily it doesn’t need much defending. It’s also possible that her latent telepathy is enough for her to sense Sheridan’s apparent death.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi puts the Gaim bombs on the White Star, setting up Sheridan’s final attack on Z’ha’dum. He also is apparently kidnapped by the Shadows in order to create extra suspense for season four…

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Anna makes it sound like Delenn deliberately kept the fact that Anna was alive from Sheridan. Delenn has been manipulative enough that this is actually plausible, not helped by Delenn herself admitting that they assumed that Anna was dead, not so much that they knew for sure.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari has been promoted to the royal court, which is also by way of setting up his storyline in season four.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar gets to provide the weapons that Sheridan uses against the Shadows and do the final voiceover.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. According to Justin and Morden, the Vorlons specifically engineered telepathy in humans to make them better weapons against the Shadows.

The Shadowy Vorlons. Justin and Morden spell out the history, at least from their perspective, of how the Vorlons and Shadows have guided and manipulated younger races for the last several hundred millennia.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Although they’ve already smooched, this is the first time that Sheridan and Delenn tell each other that they love each other. Of course, Sheridan waits until he’s out the door on a suicide mission to say it…

Looking ahead. Sheridan’s fate, Garibaldi’s being missing, and Mollari’s new position on Centauri Prime will all be multiple-episode plotlines at the top of the following season.

Welcome aboard. Back from “Shadow Dancing” are Melissa Gilbert as Anna and Joshua Cox as Corwin. Back from “Interludes and Examinations” is Ed Wasser as Morden. Back from “Walkabout” is Ardwight Chamberlain as the voice of Kosh. Cox will return in “No Surrender, No Retreat.” Wasser and Chamberlain will return in “The Hour of the Wolf.”

Ron Campbell plays the Morden-ish messenger; he’ll be back several times in seasons four and five as the Drazi ambassador, starting in “The Summoning.”

And then we have our Robert Knepper moment, as I’d forgotten that longtime character actor Jeff Corey (whose roles range from Superman and the Mole Men to the original Star Trek’s “The Cloud Minders”) played Justin.

Trivial matters. The teaser includes several flashbacks, the first of which is a reshoot of the letter Anna wrote to her sister that was seen in “Revelations,” now with Melissa Gilbert instead of Beth Toussaint. Gilbert filmed the entire letter, and producer J. Michael Straczynski considered inserting it into future reruns and home video of “Revelations,” but decided that that wasn’t fair to Toussaint and so didn’t do it. Only a short bit of it is used here.

The other flashbacks in that teaser are all scenes from “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum.” Later in this episode, Sheridan hears Kosh repeat the words he said in the earlier episode: “If you go to Z’ha’dum, you will die.”

Kosh’s threat to Sheridan in “Interludes and Examinations” that he would not be with Sheridan when he goes to Z’ha’dum proves to be not entirely the case…

The discovery of a Shadow vessel on Mars was previously revealed in “Messages from Earth.” This episode links it to the Icarus mission, as seen in “Revelations” and “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum.”

When he jumped two decades into the future in the “War Without End” two-parter, before he jumped back to the present, Delenn warned Sheridan not to go to Z’ha’dum.

The B5 crew liberated several telepaths who’d been enslaved by the Shadows to run their ships in “Ship of Tears,” Carolyn Sanderson among them.

J. Michael Straczynski has said online that Justin is the “man in-between” that Kosh warned Sheridan about in the dream he sent him in “All Alone in the Night,” but he’s also said online that Sheridan himself is the man in-between, for reasons that will be clear at the top of season four. So who the hell knows…

The wedding photo of the Sheridans in the captain’s quarters is a photo from Bruce Boxleitner and Melissa Gilbert’s wedding.

This is the only one of Ron Campbell’s handful of roles in the franchise where he isn’t completely covered in alien makeup.

Straczynski wrote every single episode of this season (and will do so again for the next season). This is not the first time it’s happened—indeed, not the first time it’s happened on a science fiction show portraying a dark, cynical future, as Terry Nation wrote all thirteen episodes of the first season of Blakes 7. But it doesn’t happen very often…

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“The war we fight is not against powers and principalities—it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril, we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition. No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.”

—G’Kar’s verbal coda to the season.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Jump—now!” After all the buildup, it’s kind of hilarious that the promised journey Sheridan makes to Z’ha’dum results in four people sitting in a room having a chat over chamomile tea.

And so much of that chat is the purest horseshit. Justin’s claims that he’s with the “them” who dictate things like fashion and the time of the workday and such is just ridiculous and makes it impossible to take him seriously. (So is the fact that he uses “transparently” when he means “opaquely.”) And the whole notion that the only way to advance is via conflict is also nonsense, though that, at least, is a viewpoint coming from the nominal villains of the piece.

What makes the episode shine, though, are the various performances. While most of what he’s saying is nonsense, Jeff Corey does a good job with Justin, giving him a down-home mien that makes you feel like you’re hanging out with a favorite uncle. Ed Wasser is his usual fantastic self, and it’s amusing also seeing Ron Campbell do an Ed Wasser impersonation in his brief scene with Mollari and Vir. Mira Furlan magnificently sells Delenn’s anguish, as she realizes that she’s played her cards badly with Sheridan, not aided by the fact that she has (I’m sure completely unexpectedly when he first came to B5) fallen in love with the guy.

And then we have the married couple at the heart of the episode, and they’re the ones who really kick ass. Bruce Boxleitner expertly handles the emotional roller-coaster Sheridan goes on here, from his agonized expression at the beginning and the end, the first and last time he sees Anna in the episode, to the fraught conversations with Delenn to the determined conversations with Garibaldi, Franklin, and Anna when he’s bargaining with her, to the professionalism with which he carries himself once he goes on the mission. Throughout, we don’t know which way he’ll go, as we know from “Revelations” and especially from “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum” that the subject of Anna is a raw wound that hasn’t completely healed.

Meanwhile, his then-wife gives a bravura performance. Melissa Gilbert pulls the same trick that Wasser has been pulling all along: her affect is just a little bit off. There’s that odd head-tilt, the almost-monotone, and especially the vacancy in the eyes. It’s clear that she’s cosplaying as a person with human emotions, and it’s obvious that Sheridan comes to that conclusion once he can get past his own emotional baggage on the subject.

Part of me is disappointed that this wasn’t Sheridan’s last appearance. I know that the notion of him going all Gandalf the White and coming back from Khazad-dum Z’ha’dum is important going forward, but I’m also just really tired of people going on suicide missions and not dying. Besides, Sheridan very obviously didn’t intend to come back from this trip, given that he went with two big-ass bombs in his cargo hold. Although one wonders what would’ve happened to his brilliant plan if the Shadows had, say, scanned him for a second PPG….

It’s a strong finale, I’ll give it that, but I remember being grateful for PTEN’s preference for airing the final episodes of a B5 season right before the new season started, so we only had to wait a week, as there was a lot left hanging here, even if there wasn’t a formal cliffhanger, and making viewers wait three months would’ve been cruel.

You, though, have to wait two weeks…

Next week: An overview of the third season.[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Z’ha’dum” appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Shadow Dancing”

With the Shadows next target known, a massive counterattack is prepared…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on August 11, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Shadow Dancing”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Kim Friedman
Season 3, Episode 21
Production episode 321
Original air date: October 21, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… The opening caption reads, “Z Minus 7 Days.” It’s like it’s one week to the finale or something…

Delenn and Lennier plead with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds for help with a joint strike against the Shadows. However, the two Minbari are parsimonious with specifics, not saying where this strike will be and only hinting at the huge-ass White Star fleet they now have. It’s necessary for security reasons to keep those details under wraps, but that also makes it hard for the League representatives to agree.

Meanwhile, Sheridan sends Ivanova and Cole with a White Star to Sector 83 as a scout. As soon as the Shadows strike, they’re to send a signal, but not engage unless fired upon. Sheridan is up-front that there’s only about a 50-50 chance of survival if they engage the enemy.

Delenn returns to the meeting room to find only the Drazi ambassador present. At first, she’s crestfallen, thinking that this is bad news, but the ambassador says he’s been asked to speak for everyone: they’re in, the others are all back talking to their governments. Delenn is visibly relieved.

Allan and Garibaldi have a conversation whose sole purpose is to remind viewers that Franklin is on walkabout after admitting that he has a stim addiction. Garibaldi is worried that he didn’t do enough to help the doctor. We then cut to the doctor in downbelow, seeing a family of tourists who are exploring the area for some stupid reason. When their daughter runs over to say hi to Franklin, her mother makes her get away from him, because they don’t know where he’s been.

“Z Minus 6 Days.”

Sheridan thinks the League is holding back, not sending all the ships they possibly can. Delenn agrees, but there is little they can do—they need to defend their own worlds, after all. Sheridan is also not sure Delenn should join the fleet, since so much of the war council is going on this mission, but Delenn insists. She also informs Sheridan that, after the battle, they will spend the night together—but not that way. Minbari tradition is that when a couple gets close, the man sleeps and the woman watches him to see his true face. If she likes what she sees, the relationship deepens. If she doesn’t, they go their separate ways, no hard feelings.

Franklin comes across two thugs beating up some dude. Franklin moves to intervene, and gets stabbed for his trouble. When he asks the dude he helped for assistance, the dude says he’d get arrested and buggers off, leaving Franklin bleeding on the deck.

Ivanova and Cole discuss the latter’s fluency in Minbari, then she goes to get some sleep. She struggles to sleep on Minbari beds, and finally finds a way to be comfortable—at which point Cole calls her to the bridge: a Shadow scout ship has arrived. The White Star manages to jam their attempt at a transmission, but they also can’t get their own signal out. There’s a brief firefight, and the White Star manages to destroy the scout, but their jump engines are offline, meaning they’re sitting ducks.

Sheridan and the rest of the fleet jump into the fray just as all the Shadow ships show up, and the battle is joined. Sheridan and Delenn stands in a holographic chamber that shows him the entire battlefield and allows him to be in touch with every allied ship. He directs the battle from there. Ivanova and Cole are able to join in once their engines are fixed. Eventually, the Shadows retreat rather than continue. It’s a victory, though it came at significant cost.

Back in downbelow, Franklin is going into shock and delirium and he hallucinates himself in uniform. His imaginary self is snotty and obnoxious, calling him out for his tendency to run away from things. He ran away from his father’s desire for him to enter the military, he ran away from residency, being an itinerant doctor instead, he ran away from his responsibilities during the Earth-Minbari War, destroying his research, and he’s running away now. Franklin drags his bleeding ass through the corridors to where there are people, at which point help is called and he’s admitted to medlab.

The fleet returns to B5. Sheridan is grateful when he hears that Franklin got medical attention in time and will survive. Garibaldi is happy about the victory but worried about what the Shadows’ next move will be now that they got spanked.

“Z Minus 4 Days.”

Franklin, still recovering, is unofficially directing traffic in medlab. Sheridan comes and offers him his old job back. (No mention is made of poor Dr. Hobbs, who is, frankly, a better and more ethical doctor, and also doesn’t have a history of drug use, but hey, Jennifer Balgobin isn’t an opening-credits regular, so screw her.)

Sheridan, Ivanova, and Delenn discuss what the Shadows’ next move might be, though they’ve done nothing in the past couple of days. Sheridan discusses the dream Kosh sent him back when he was a prisoner of the Streib. Some of it, he knows what it meant—like Ivanova’s not knowing who she really is, which related to the revelation that she’s a latent telepath. But then there’s the warning about “the man in between.” Delenn speculates that it might be his counterpart among the Shadows.

A ship is disgorged from a Shadow vessel in hyperspace and travels to B5. Its passenger disembarks, and her ID sets off a flag. Allan immediately contacts Ivanova: it’s Anna Sheridan.

Anna goes to Sheridan’s quarters, where Delenn is watching Sheridan sleep, as promised. While Delenn is looking at a snowglobe on Sheridan’s desk, Anna comes in. Delenn drops the snowglobe in shock, and it shatters on the deck.

“Z Minus 2 Days.”

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan wins a major battle against the Shadows, moves forward in his relationship with Delenn, and then his supposedly dead wife shows up. Quite the eventful episode for him, and this is just a warm-up for next time…

Ivanova is God. Unlike her CO, Ivanova cannot sleep on the angled Minbari beds. She finally is able to get comfortable when she takes the pillows off all the beds and arranges them on the deck.

Oh, and she also holds her own in command of the White Star, taking on the Shadow scout.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi castigates himself for not doing more to help Franklin. It’s actually very sweet of him to be that concerned about his fuck-up friend, mostly because Garibaldi’s the same kind of fuck-up…

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn and Lennier plead passionately for the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to help out. Her passion and Lennier’s calm do a lot to sell it.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Each of the ships in the fleet have telepaths on board, which is a big part of how the Shadows are routed.

We live for the one, we die for the one. At one point, when they’re about to join the battle, Ivanova rhetorically asks, “Who wants to live forever?” Cole rather passionately replies, “I do, actually.”

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Cole tells Ivanova in Minbari that she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, but he chickens out when asked for a translation, just saying that it’s a simple greeting.

Also, Sheridan and Delenn take a step forward in their relationship, Minbari-style, which involves the woman watching her partner sleep, which probably isn’t creepy.

Looking ahead. Delenn speculates that “the man in between” from Sheridan’s Kosh-induced dream might be Sheridan’s own counterpart among the Shadows. Sheridan will meet that person in the very next episode, “Z’ha’dum.”

Welcome aboard. The big guest is the end-of-the-episode appearance of Melissa Gilbert as Anna, taking over the role from Beth Toussaint, who played the part back in “Revelations.” Toussaint wasn’t available for this and the next episode, so they re-cast with Gilbert, who was Bruce Boxleitner’s real-life wife at the time (they divorced in 2011).

In addition, Mark Hendrickson and Jonathan Chapman play the Drazi and Brakiri ambassadors, respectively, while Nicholas Ross Oleson, John Grantham, and J. Gordon Noice play the folks fighting each other in downbelow, and Shirley Prestia, Doug Cox, and an uncredited little girl play the family of tourists. Plus, recurring regular Joshua Cox is back from “War Without End, Part 1” as Corwin; he’ll be back next time in “Z’ha’dum.”

Trivial matters. Sheridan and Delenn figured out that the Shadows were herding ships and refugees into Sector 83 in “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place.” Kosh sent a prophetic dream to Sheridan in “All Alone in the Night.” Franklin’s hallucination reminds him of his backstory as established in “And the Sky Full of Stars” and “GROPOS.” The very last scene is what Delenn saw in her “flash forward” in “War Without End, Part 2.”

Corwin says that Ivanova is on Channel 4—this is a tip of the cap to the channel in the United Kingdom that aired B5 in that country.

This is the only B5 episode directed by Kim Friedman, who directed some truly great episodes of both Deep Space Nine and Voyager. She later was nominated for an Emmy for directing an episode of L.A. Law.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“I just hope you found what you were looking for out there.”

“I don’t know. I guess I found what I—what I needed, not what I wanted.”

“Which was?”

“Short, sharp kick to the head.”

“Oh well, hell, I could’ve done that for you—all you had to do was ask.”

“Yeah, well, you would’ve enjoyed it too much.”

—Garibaldi and Franklin bantering.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Take responsibility for your actions, for crying out loud.” There’s a serious disconnect going on here. We keep intercutting between a really tense battle between the allies and the Shadows and Franklin having his Superman III moment. J. Michael Straczynski has said that what Franklin went through was him working through a similar incident that happened to him when he was living in San Diego, which he himself didn’t even realize while he was writing it. That, at least, explains why he thought (if even subconsciously) that it was of the same importance as the big-ass battle. However, while watching it, I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching two wildly different episodes being smashed together unconvincingly.

It doesn’t help that the “meet yourself” moment (a) is horribly clichéd and stupid (hot tip: don’t remind your audiences of Superman III), and (b) involves Franklin, who’s annoying and uninteresting.

Every time I’ve done one of these rewatches here on Reactor, I’ve found myself reexamining something that I felt from the initial viewing. (As an example, I came away from my Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch intensely disliking the character of Geordi La Forge.) For this rewatch, it’s become clear that I really don’t like Franklin at all, which is a surprise, because I have good memories of him from my first watch, though I suspect some of that is colored by my friendly acquaintance with Richard Biggs (and sadness at his too-young death in 2004).

But I watched this episode and spent the time with Franklin yelling at himself like the crowd in Monty Python shouting, “GET ON WITH IT!” Plus at the end, when Sheridan offered him his job back, I kept asking why. All the evidence points to Hobbs being way better at the job than her erstwhile boss…

I was far more invested in the rest of the episode. Delenn and Lennier’s attempts to get the League on their side was fascinating, because on the one hand, I understand the need for security, given that the Shadows have agents all over the damn place. (We’ve seen that they have people in Garibaldi’s security force, for one thing.) But man, it’s got to be annoying that they keep withholding important information, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the League’s governments held back ships just out of spite.

I’m always happy to see Ivanova-Cole banter—the on-screen chemistry between Claudia Christian and Jason Carter is superb—plus the tension of their confrontation with the scout ship was beautifully handled by Straczynski’s script, the performances, the excellent direction by Kim Friedman, and fine work by the special effects crew. The limitations of B5’s nascent CGI effects are minimized here mostly by keeping everything moving fast, by intercutting with the human action inside the ships, and also by the fact that the ethereal Shadows are better served by the style of effects. (Until around 2010, CGI was always crap at conveying mass, but that’s not an issue in certain cases—like, say, the acrobatics of Spider-Man and Daredevil, or the insect-like Shadows.)

I also like the idea of the holographic strategy center from which Sheridan can direct the battle.

In the end, though, this episode is mostly setting us up for the big-ass finale next week….

Next week: “Z’ha’dum.”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”

Sheridan struggles with figuring out the Shadows’ tactics while Mollari plots to kill G’Kar…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on August 4, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David J. Eagle
Season 3, Episode 20
Production episode 320
Original air date: October 14, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… We open with a literal countdown to the season finale, as a caption reads, “Z Minus 14 Days.” So it’s two weeks to that finale, which is entitled “Z’ha’dum”…

Over a log by Ivanova, we catch up on things: Garibaldi is sending telepaths to various ships to fight the Shadows. Franklin is still on walkabout. (Richard Biggs justifies his place in the opening credits this week by walking down a corridor and having no dialogue. Nice work if you can get it.) Sheridan is spending all his time in the War Room, and he looks absolutely fried. Ivanova also sings the praises of Brother Theo and his monks, who have had a calming influence on the station.

The log entry ends in G’Kar’s quarters, with G’Kar urging Ivanova to let each of the telepaths being sent off to fight the Shadows have a Narn bodyguard. (Whether or not that request is fulfilled is unknown, which is kind of annoying…)

Mollari and Vir and share a meal, and Mollari announces that they need to do something about G’Kar. Vir thinks this is a bad idea, as (a) G’Kar is safe as long as he stays on B5 where Sheridan has offered him sanctuary, and (b) they have bigger problems. Mollari insists, however, and he says Vir is going to help him, which makes Vir even more apprehensive than usual.

Ivanova and Theo greet four new arrivals on B5: four religious folks from Earth, a Baptist minister (William Dexter), a Jewish rabbi (Leo Meyers), a Buddhist monk (Mr. Chong), and a Muslim imam (Rashid Abdul). Dexter and Theo are each full of friendly abuse for the other.

Delenn comes to the War Room, at Ivanova’s request, to pry Sheridan out of there. Sheridan is struggling to figure out the logic behind the Shadows’ rather illogical attack patterns. Delenn says that the religious folks he was waiting for have arrived and Delenn has agreed on Sheridan’s behalf for him to have dinner with them. Sheridan says he can’t, he’s got too much work to do, but Delenn says she already said he’d be there, and it would dishonor her if he forced her to lie. Sheridan reluctantly agrees, saying that Delenn fights dirty.

Refa arrives on the station with Minister Virini. Refa has brought the minister to B5 in order to show him how far Mollari has fallen. Virini says that Emperor Cartagia doesn’t care who’s right and who’s wrong, all he cares about is that the feud between House Mollari and House Refa must come to some kind of end, by whatever means are necessary.

Vir comes to tell Mollari that Virini is on the station, which Mollari already knows, as he’s on his way to greet the minister. Vir will meet him there: first he must go to G’Kar with a message. His former aide Na’Toth has, he says, been found on the Narn homeworld—where she happened to be when the world was conquered—and captured. Vir is to tell G’Kar that she is being kept in the catacombs beneath the Kha’Ri’s former headquarters. As the last surviving member of the Kha’Ri, G’Kar knows his way around those tunnels like no one else, and Mollari is sure that G’Kar will go to rescue her. He’ll believe it coming from Vir, who helped so many Narns in his role as Centauri Ambassador to Minbar. When Vir refuses to send G’Kar to his death like this, Mollari says that if he doesn’t, Mollari will reveal what Vir did on Minbar, which will viciously disgrace his entire family.

Vir goes to share this “intelligence” with G’Kar, while Virini tells Mollari the same thing he told Refa: the feud must end by whatever means necessary. Mollari assures him that he will do so in a manner that will be final.

Sheridan, Ivanova, Delenn, and Theo share a meal with Dexter and Meyer. (Chong and Abdul don’t join them because they’re played by extras who would have to get paid more if they had dialogue.) Dexter hands to Sheridan a collection of data chips that were gathered by all four of them, coordinated by Theo. (When Dexter gives Theo credit for this, Theo is mock-stunned. “He said something nice about me! I must write this day down in my diary…”) It provides some real information about Earth—as opposed to what ISN is providing in their new role as propaganda arm for the Clark Administration. Dexter and Meyer assure Sheridan and Ivanova that the resistance is alive and well on Earth, despite what Clark would prefer. They also say that the B5 crew is being painted as pirates and renegades collaborating with aliens to destroy Earth’s way of life.

After dinner, Dexter offers to hold a service on the station, as he feels the more energetic style of a Southern Baptist ceremony might be more enjoyable to the station’s personnel than the more staid services offered by Theo. Sheridan agrees, to Theo’s annoyance.

Vir is kidnapped by some Centauri and put in a room with Refa and a telepath. The telepath is able to find out what Mollari is planning, to Vir’s shame and regret.

Dexter is having trouble sleeping and he wanders the station. Passing Sheridan’s office, he sees the captain there, also unable to sleep. The pair talk over tea, with Dexter discussing his time as a chaplain during the Earth-Minbari War. He says that the good officers were the ones who had someone to talk to. The ones who kept it all to themselves were the ones who lost themselves—and people stopped coming to them, because they could see that the officer’s worry tank was full, as it were. Dexter specifically recommends that Sheridan use Delenn as a confidant, at which point Sheridan shuts down the conversation, as Delenn has enough shit in her life right now without him adding to it.

After apologizing and getting up to leave, Dexter tells one final story: when he and his future wife were dating, she would come and help him clean his home. He asked her why she did that when her own place was a mess, too, and she said cleaning her home was just doing something for herself, but helping clean his house gave her more satisfaction, because she was helping him. For his part, he really did enjoy the company…

A caption says, “Z Minus 13 Days” as we head to the Narn homeworld. With the aid of Garibaldi, G’Kar has made it onto Narn and meets with G’Dan. He is appalled at how hard it is to breathe; according to G’Dan, it’ll be ages before the particulate matter all returns to the ground, and it’s always cold. (In a nice touch, G’Kar keeps a kerchief in front of his face, but G’Dan, who’s used to this by now, doesn’t.)

Refa meets with Drigo in a room on Narn that has been redecorated to look like the throne room on Centauri Prime, so Cartagia will feel like he’s home when he visits, and so the production staff doesn’t have to pay to build a new set. Refa asks for seven guards to accompany him to the catacombs, where he will capture G’Kar and bring him in chains to the emperor, along with Mollari’s head on a silver platter (a bit of imagery that comes from the human Bible, but what the hell). This is followed by a cackle from Refa, and I’m hugely disappointed that the captions didn’t read, “[DIABOLICAL LAUGHTER].”

Sheridan invites Delenn to join him in the War Room, and they discuss the Shadows’ weird strategy. But then they realize that the Shadows are leaving one area completely untouched—in fact, they’re going out of their way to leave it untouched. Delenn says that refugees are going to that system precisely because it’s been untouched. Sheridan fears that the Shadows are doing that on purpose: in essence, herding people there for a big strike later.

Mollari rescues Vir from his imprisonment, and seems unconcerned about Vir’s admission that they telepathically scanned him to find out Mollari’s plan.

G’Kar leads some Narn through the catacombs beneath the Kha’Ri headquarters, and are confronted by Refa and the seven Centauri guards. Refa orders the guards to arrest G’Kar; when they don’t move, Refa asks what they’re waiting for. G’Kar pulls out a holographic projector and says they’re waiting for this…

Once activated, the projector plays a prerecorded message from Mollari. He explains that he set Refa up, including bribing Drigo ahead of time to lead Refa on.

Back on B5, Dexter gives a powerful sermon, talking about how the enemy isn’t the alien, because we’re all aliens to each other—rather, it’s fear and ignorance and the people who tell you that you must hate what’s different, because that hate will turn on you and destroy you.

On Narn, the guards wander off, while G’Kar places a data crystal in Refa’s pocket and says to leave the head intact for identification purposes.

We then intercut the Narns chasing a frightened Refa through the catacombs with the folks at Dexter’s services singing “There’s No Hiding Place Down Here.” Refa does not survive.

Mollari later reports to Virini that, according to the data crystal found on his dead body, Refa was playing both ends against the middle, trying to recruit G’Kar to commit terrorist attacks that Refa would use for his own propaganda purposes, and to enable him to move his own people into positions of power—and Virini was one of his targets. Refa is now disgraced, his House ruined. The feud is, as the emperor hoped, over.

Vir is livid that Mollari used him this way, and stomps off in a huff, somehow not comforted by Mollari’s assurance that he’s not important enough to have been killed by Refa. (Besides, unimportant people are often the easiest for awful people to kill.)

Sheridan and Delenn take a ride in the White Star through hyperspace to a system that is full of White Stars. Delenn explains that the White Star was never intended to be a single ship, but rather the vanguard of a fleet. Sheridan rewards this revelation with a passionate kiss.

A caption reads, “Z Minus 10 Days.”

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Ever since Kosh’s death in “Interludes and Examinations,” Sheridan hasn’t been sleeping well. This is probably related to what Alexander saw in his mind in “Walkabout.”

Ivanova is God. As with “The Fall of Night” and “Interludes and Examinations” (and, indeed, the opening credits of each episode this season), an Ivanova voiceover helps set the stage for what’s to come.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi is who G’Kar goes to in order to facilitate his return to Narn. Because he’s just that awesome.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Part of Delenn’s attempt to get Sheridan out of his funk is to discuss her search of the meaning of cranky, which led her to grouchy, which led her to crotchety. She expresses frustration with how words in English seem to just mean other words, plus she’s skeptical that “crotchety” even is a word. At one point, Sheridan shoots her a look, and she says, “Never mind—your face just broke the language barrier.”

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari skillfully orchestrates Refa’s downfall, creating a scenario that he would be unable to resist and manipulating events and people via canny work and lots of money and a forged data crystal to get revenge on Refa for a crime he didn’t actually commit.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. We see the first stirrings of the semi-détente between Mollari and G’Kar that we saw in the future of “War Without End, Part 2,” as Mollari and G’Kar work together to achieve a goal they share: destroying Refa.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Apparently Allan’s interviews from last week have borne fruit, as the episode opens with Garibaldi sending a mess of telepaths out to ships belonging to the tattered remains of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to fight the Shadows.

We live for the one, we die for the one. Delenn and the Rangers have been working ’round the clock to build an entire fleet of White Star ships. For reasons the script never bothers to provide, Delenn keeps this from Sheridan until they’re all ready to go.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Sheridan and Delenn smooch at last! Well, okay, they smooched in “War Without End, Part 2,” but this is their first kiss from Delenn’s perspective, and also their chronologically first one…

Welcome aboard. Two great actors play the two visiting religious folks with speaking parts: Erick Avari as Meyers and Mel Winkler as Dexter. (A couple of extras play the Muslim and the Buddhist.) Recurring regulars Louis Turenne (Theo, back from “Passing Through Gethsemane”) and William Forward (Refa, back from “Ceremonies of Light and Dark”) make their final appearances.

Wayne Alexander, last seen as Sebastian in “Comes the Inquisitor,” returns in his second of half a dozen roles as G’Dan; he’ll be back in “Hour of the Wolf” in his most prominent of those roles, Lorien.

We’ve also got Marva Hicks as the gospel singer, Francois Giroday as Virini, and Paul Keith as Drigo.

Trivial matters. Adira was killed, and Mollari was fooled into thinking Refa was responsible for it, in “Interludes and Examinations.” G’Kar was granted sanctuary on B5 by Sheridan in “The Long Twilight Struggle.” Vir was assigned to be Centauri Ambassador to Minbar in “A Day in the Strife,” and used that position to help imprisoned Narns until he was found out in “Sic Transit Vir.” This is the first indication of what happened to Na’Toth, who hasn’t been seen since “Acts of Sacrifice,” though we won’t learn her true fate until “A Tragedy of Telepaths.”

The episode’s title comes from the gospel song sung at the episode’s climax, “There’s No Hiding Place Down Here,” which is an old spiritual of indeterminate origin. The song was popularized by the Carter Family in 1934. Interestingly, the line quoted in the episode title is also used in the Les Baxter/William Holt song “Sinnerman,” which was popularized by Nina Simone in 1965.

Louis Turenne and Mel Winkler are old friends, and they both apparently thoroughly enjoyed the caustic banter their characters exchanged throughout the episode.

Reportedly, after getting the script and seeing that his character was being killed, William Forward was worried that he’d done something wrong. J. Michael Straczynski had to assure him that it was for important story reasons that Refa was being killed, and if Forward had done a bad job, he wouldn’t have bothered to kill him off, he just wouldn’t have brought him back.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“I tell you, in fifty years of living and forty years of serving the Lord, I have never met a sorrier soul than Brother Theo here.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say—”

“Thank you, but I’d prefer to leave judgments as to the state of my soul to someone better qualified—and perhaps a bit less loud.”

“But it says in the Bible to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.”

“I’ve heard you sing, Will, and take my word for it—that is not what the good Lord meant when he said ‘a joyful noise’.”

“Hello?”

“Neither is that.”

—Theo and Dexter doing their Groucho-and-Chico act, while Ivanova plays Margaret Dumont.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “The enemy is the one who tells you that you must hate that which is different.” From one of B5’s lesser episodes to one of its best. This is a superlative thrill-ride of an episode.

For one thing, this has some of J. Michael Straczynski’s best dialogue. Straczynski’s ear for conversation sometimes fails him, but it’s on the nose here, from Mollari’s line to Vir about how small problems become big problems (“You plant them, water them with tears, fertilize them with unconcern—if you ignore them, they grow”) to Theo and Dexter snarking at each other to Delenn’s colloquy on the meanings of cranky, grouchy, and crotchety to Dexter’s conversation with Sheridan to Mollari’s epic prerecorded speech to Refa to Dexter’s sermon.

Truthfully, this episode is owned by guest Mel Winkler. Straczynski shows an excellent understanding of how to write religious characters (something the show has been excellent at generally, notably with Rabbi Koslov in “TKO” and Theo), and Dexter is magnificent here. It’s hard to say which bit of his is best, his declaration that it’s better to do something instead of nothing at dinner; or his excellent sermon (that applies to the U.S. of 2025 as much as it does the Earth Alliance of 2260) about how fear, hate, and ignorance are the enemy, not the other; or his great late-night conversation with Sheridan.

It’s probably the latter, just because Dexter so perfectly reads Sheridan. And when he crosses a line by telling Sheridan that Delenn loves him (which is blindingly obvious to everyone, truly), he backs off and finds a different approach. I especially like that, when Sheridan—more than a little snidely—asks if Dexter is saying that Sheridan should turn his problems over to God, Dexter’s dry reply is: “When God comes knocking at your door, you won’t need me, or anyone else, to tell you what that sound is.” He’s not proselytizing. The best religious leaders are also communityleaders, and you get to be that way in part by being able to read people, and in part by understanding people. Dexter gets what Sheridan is going through, partly because of his experience as a chaplain in a war. Though it takes an anecdote about his relationship with his wife, rather than his time on the front lines, to get through to Sheridan.

And then there’s the barn-burner of a service, with not just that great sermon, but the energetic singing. Seeing Sheridan, Delenn, Lennier, Theo, and Meyers all singing along, even though none of them are of the faith in question is a joyous moment. And, truly, one of the most compelling visuals in B5’s history is the alternate scenes of people singing “There’s No Hiding Place Down Here” and a mess of Narns playing Brutus to Refa’s Julius Caesar.

The Mollari-G’Kar dance continues in entertaining ways. In particular I love the way we see Mollari in this episode. At first we, like Vir, think that he’s setting G’Kar up for a fall. Then we find out that he’s set Refa up for a fall instead, and the instinct is to cheer—partly because we like G’Kar more than Refa, partly because it’s actually quite clever. But that cheer catches in the throat because in order to accomplish this, he had to lie to Vir, threaten Vir, and set Vir up to be telepathically interrogated, which is pretty icky, especially because we like Vir more than we like G’Kar (or Refa or Mollari, for that matter). Plus, while Refa is undeniably a piece of shit, Mollari isn’t doing this because Refa spearheaded the horrific bombing of Narn, he’s doing this because he’s too stupid to realize that Refa had nothing to do with Adira’s death. (Sorry, it still bugs me that Mollari jumped straight to Refa as a suspect in Adria’s death when Morden was right there, even threatening him earlier in the episode…)

My only issue with the episode is the very last scene. Not the kiss—that’s long overdue, as the superlative chemistry that Bruce Boxleitner and Mira Furlan share make that kiss mostly just inevitable—but the lead-in to it. Sheridan is the main tactician for the Army of Light. His job is to figure out military strategies for fighting the Shadows. Yet Delenn never once tells him that she’s building an entire fleet of White Stars for him to use. This completely changes his entire mode of thinking in how to fight this war, and makes several strategies he’s worked on useless because he didn’t have this rather important piece of information.

One of the tired hallmarks of this show has been the withholding of information until long past when it should’ve been revealed, and while sometimes it’s to good effect (e.g., the reasons for Delenn, Kosh, et al keeping the Shadows’ return under wraps until they were prepared so the Shadows themselves wouldn’t know that they knew), oftentimes it isn’t, and this is perhaps the most egregious example, as Sheridan should have known about this from the moment Delenn brought him to the White Star (or White Star 1, really) back in “Matters of Honor” at the top of the season.

Next week: “Shadow Dancing.”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Grey 17 Is Missing”

Delenn accepts the role of Ranger One, causing conflict with the Minbari Warrior Caste…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on July 28, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Grey 17 is Missing”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John Flinn III
Season 3, Episode 19
Production episode 319
Original air date: October 7, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… Allan is interviewing telepaths who are applying for the job of person-who-can-stop-Shadow-ships. Unfortunately, he has to deal with one jackass who isn’t actually telepathic, but needs the work, and apparently doesn’t understand that this work involves combat…

Sheridan and Ivanova discuss the possibility of using the underground railroad of telepaths that Franklin ran as a resource. Ivanova tracks him down somewhere in downbelow, but he’s going through withdrawal and is cranky and irritable. He promises to provide the backup he made of his files on the subject on the proviso that everyone leaves him the hell alone from now on.

On Minbar, Delenn, Lennier, and Rathenn are going through Sinclair’s things. He doesn’t have much, and Delenn instructs that they be sent to his family on Earth. Rathenn then brings up the fact that they need a new Entil’Zha. Delenn thinks that Rathenn would do great at it, but Rathenn insists that the new Ranger One be Delenn herself—indeed, that there really isn’t anyone else the Rangers will follow. Delenn points out that the Rangers train on Minbar, but Rathenn counters that they trained on Minbar because Sinclair was on Minbar. If Delenn takes over, they’ll move to B5.

A maintenance worker is dealing with an issue in Grey 16, and then is suddenly attacked and dragged down to the level below. His boss reports him missing. Allan mentions it to Garibaldi and the chief decides to check it out himself. He talks to the tech’s boss, who is baffled by the whole thing. She also casually mentions that Grey Sector has only 29 levels, not 30 like ever other sector. This rather confuses Garibaldi, so he goes to a transport tube and goes to each level in Grey Sector, starting with Grey 1. It takes three seconds to get to each level—except to get from Grey 16 to Grey 17. That takes six seconds.

He forces the door and discovers another level between 16 and 17. The place looks messed up and deserted, and then he sees a doll that makes noise and renders him unconscious with gas.

Sheridan gives his support to Delenn taking over the Rangers, both philosophically and as commander of the station, as he promises to find a space to have the ceremony on B5. Sheridan goes off to meet with Ivanova, and then Neroon arrives to confront Delenn. The Warrior Caste was willing to let the Religious Caste have their fun with building ships and resurrecting the Rangers, even letting humans in and letting Sinclair train them. But fun-time’s over now, as far as Neroon is concerned. Delenn has already destroyed the Grey Council. Now a religious zealot wants to have military and political power? That never ends well, and Neroon makes it clear he will stop her from running the Rangers by any means necessary.

Lennier arrives, distracting Delenn long enough for Neroon to pull a Batman and disappear. Delenn fills Lennier in, and the aide goes into a spiral of worry. Delenn points out that no Minbari has killed another in a millennium, but Lennier doesn’t think that “by any means necessary” means he’ll stop at harsh language. Delenn makes Lennier promise not to tell Sheridan. This an internal matter, and they must handle it themselves.

Lennier bends the rules of his promise by telling Cole about it. He’s not in the chain of command, and he’s a Ranger, so he (a) won’t tell Sheridan, thus keeping Lennier’s promise and (b) will defend Delenn. Lennier charges him with delaying Neroon from reaching the ceremony. Once the ceremony is done, there is nothing Neroon can do. Cole unhesitatingly says that he’s in.

Garibaldi wakes up and finds himself surrounded by some lunatics who live on the “missing” level, led by a bespectacled fellow named Jeremiah. He babbles some nonsense about the universe being alive. They also say they don’t believe in violence, but Garibaldi finds the tattered remains of the tech’s clothes. Eventually, Garibaldi learns that there’s a Zarg on the floor also.

A mess of Rangers arrive at the station for the ceremony. Between shuttle arrivals, Delenn tells Sheridan some about her childhood.

As the ceremony begins, Neroon approaches, but is intercepted by Cole, who challenges him to a duel to the death. (Why the Minbari have a codified duel to the death when no Minbari has killed another in a thousand years is left as an exercise for the viewer.) Cole fights valiantly, but he’s no match for Neroon, who kicks his ass all over the corridor. Neroon even offers him a way out, saying he can withdraw the challenge with no issue, as he’s a human and needn’t be bound by the Minbari tradition. But Cole refuses to give up, saying he’s fighting for Delenn, that he’s a Ranger who lives for the one and dies for the one—and he even invokes Valen.

Delenn is officially made Entil’Zha. Sheridan is confused as to why neither Garibaldi nor Cole are present at the ceremony. Neroon shows up, tossing his bloodstained pike onto the deck. He admits that the humans in the Rangers would probably not die for him, but they would obviously die for her. So he takes his leave after calling her “Entil’Zha.” Delenn is relieved; Lennier dashes out to find Cole, who is unconscious and bloody on the deck.

Garibaldi is able to keep the Zarg at bay temporarily with a steam pipe, but PPGs are ineffective against it. He is able to throw together a makeshift rifle (a “slug-thrower”) that does kill the creature.

Delenn castigates Lennier for putting Cole in such danger, and Lennier respectfully points out that this type of thing—people defending her—is going to happen now and she needs to get over her big self. Neroon shows up and asks to speak to Cole alone. Delenn points out that he’s still unconscious and won’t hear him, to which Neroon replies, “Then I’ll be brief.”

Neroon informs Cole that their duel was to the death—what died were Neroon’s preconceptions. Hearing a human invoke Valen and be willing to die to defend a Minbari, while he himself was on his way to break a thousand years of tradition to kill a fellow Minbari made him realize that his was not the right position. He is starting to come around to Delenn’s notion of humans and Minbar having shared souls.

Cole, it turns out, was half-conscious during that, and makes a snotty remark, which prompts laughter from Neroon.

Garibaldi comes to Sheridan’s office and starts to explain to a gobsmacked Sheridan just what he’s been going through…

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan encourages Delenn to take the Ranger One job, and is also trying very hard to recruit telepaths to whammy the Shadows.

Ivanova is God. Ivanova is able to track Franklin down, because she’s just that awesome.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi’s grandmother was a Boston cop, apparently, and Garibaldi still has her service weapon. He takes it out for nostalgia purposes, as he’s feeling a bit homesick since they broke off from Earth. Officer Grandma’s “slug-thrower” gives him the idea on how to take out the Zarg.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn opens up to Sheridan about her childhood, sharing memories of her father, particularly the day that he sadly informed her that she was too big for him to carry her. That was when she realized that things change and things end. Her father died of a broken heart when the Earth-Minbari War started; her mother joined the Sisters of Valeria.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar is in the episode for only a few seconds, a dialogue-less role attending Delenn’s ceremony. For this, Andreas Katsulas sat in a makeup chair for hours…

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. In order to have weapons against the Shadows, B5 is recruiting telepaths. Based on the opening scene, they’re not that picky about who they’ll interview…

We live for the one, we die for the one. The Rangers were run by the Warrior Caste back when Valen formed them, but they disbanded some time after the first Shadow War. At one point, Cole gives the Rangers’ mission statement: “We walk in the dark places no others may enter. We stand on the bridge and no one may pass.” (One hopes they’re better at guarding bridges than this guy…)

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Sheridan is so very pleased at Delenn’s promotion, and the two of them are just adorable when they’re together…

Welcome aboard. The big guest is Freddy Krueger his own self—Robert Englund, playing Jeremiah. Katherine Moffat plays the supervisor and Eamonn Roche plays the idiot pretending to be a telepath.

Back from “War Without End, Part 1” is Time Winters making his second and final appearance as Rathenn. John Vickery is back as Neroon from “All Alone in the Night” (having in the interim played Welles in “The Fall of Night”); he’ll be back as Neroon in “Rumors, Bargains, and Lies.”

And we have a Robert Knepper moment, as Thom Barry plays the ill-fated tech. Best known for his role as Detective Will Jeffries on Cold Case, he also brilliantly played Rep. Mark Richardson in two episodes of The West Wing.

Trivial matters. Franklin’s running of the underground railroad for telepaths was established in “A Race Through Dark Places.” He resigned his position as head of medlab in “Interludes and Examinations,” and was established as being on walkabout in, erm, “Walkabout.” Sinclair stopped being Entil’Zha when he went back in time to become Valen in “War Without End, Part 2.” Delenn shattered the Grey Council in “Severed Dreams.”

J. Michael Straczynski has apologized for this episode more than once; in particular he is disappointed with how the Zarg turned out.

Straczynski had also been playing a long-term prank on Jason Carter, spreading rumors that Cole was going to be killed in this season. In the script for this episode, specifically in the scene where Cole wakes up in medlab to talk to Neroon, Stracyznski wrote in the scene description, “You can relax now, Jason.”

Neroon’s off-camera laugh was apparently not scripted, but happened when Carter made a joke and John Vickery laughed at it heartily. Straczynski decided to keep it.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“I’m trying to avoid breaking a promise by breaking a promise. I promised Delenn that I would not speak of this to the captain or let him know. She did not mention you by name, but that was implicit. If I tell the others in the chain of command, then Sheridan will find out and I will have broken the promise. But if I break my promise by telling you, since you are not in the chain of command, he may not find out about this, and I will not have broken the promise.”

“I’m in awe, Lennier. The way you can take a straightforward, logical proposition and turn it inside out so that in the end it says what you want it to say instead of what it actually means. Did this come naturally, or did you attend some special martial arts class for the philosophically inclined?”

—Lennier engaging in verbal gymnastics and Cole calling him on it.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Am I going too fast for you?” For the second week in a row—and for the third time on the show, the other one besides “Walkabout” being “TKO”—we have an episode with a plot that ties to the title and a plot that doesn’t, and the latter is way way way more interesting than the former.

This episode has a reputation as one of B5’s worst, but—as with “TKO”—that’s purely due to the silly titular plot, but that does a horrible disservice to a most excellent other plot.

First of all, you’ve John Vickery being awesome as Neroon. I especially like that his argument against Delenn gaining more power is one I agree with in principle: a religious zealot gaining military and political power is a recipe for disaster. We know as viewers that Delenn doesn’t have the ambition Neroon accuses her of, but her actions are very easy to interpret that way. 

Then you’ve got Bill Mumy beautifully playing Lennier’s loyalty, as he does everything he can to save Delenn and also save face. That’s matched by Jason Carter’s dedicated Ranger. Carter’s performance here is phenomenal, modulating from amusement at Lennier’s convoluted justification for coming to him to righteous indignation and determination as soon as Lennier makes it clear that Delenn’s life is in danger. Cole’s dedication to the cause is thorough and complete, and Carter sells the character’s willingness to do the second half of the Ranger credo regarding the one.

Mira Furlan also nicely shows Delenn’s naïveté. She is appalled by the notion of anyone dying for her, but Lennier gently reminds her that that’s part of what being a leader is.

And the closing scene between Cole and Neroon is classic, a strong coda to the episode, showing Neroon’s growth and realization that he was going to go too far.

I have some small issues with that half of the story. For starters, as I said in the plot description, why does a culture in which the very notion of killing someone of the same species is anathema even have a to-the-death ritual fight? And why does most every fight to the death on television not actually end up with anyone dead? Neroon’s death-of-preconceptions speech obviates that a bit, at least, but still…

Plus, of course, we have the idiotic Grey 17 plot, about which the less said the better. It’s an utter waste of Jerry Doyle’s talents, of Katherine Moffat’s talents, of Thom Barry’s talents, and a most especially a spectacular waste of Robert Englund’s talents. Plus there’s that ridiculous doll that gasses Garibaldi, which was just embarrassing…

This episode is absolutely worth it for the Delenn-Neroon-Lennier-Cole plot, and should not be condemned for the title story. Even though the title story is really terrible.

Next week: “And the Rock Cried Out No Hiding Place.”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Walkabout”

Sheridan plans a new attack against the Shadows, and Dr. Franklin spends some time in Downbelow…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on July 21, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Walkabout”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Kevin G. Cremin
Season 3, Episode 18
Production episode 318
Original air date: September 30, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… Mollari is upset because one of the ships providing defense for B5 is a Narn heavy cruiser. By the terms of the treaty between the Centauri Republic and the Earth Alliance, any Narn vessel should be turned over to the Centauri. Garibaldi tartly points out that B5 is no longer part of the EA and he can go pound sand.

Alexander arrives on the station and goes to medlab, asking after Franklin, but getting Hobbs, who says that Franklin is on an extended leave of absence. Alexander asks if anyone was with Kosh when he died.

Ulkesh, the new Vorlon ambassador arrives, though he does not identify himself as such, insisting that he be called Kosh in order to maintain continuity and keep Kosh’s death on the down-low.

G’Kar hosts the captain of the Narn cruiser, Na’Kal, who tells him that they are slowly assembling the tattered remains of the Narn fleet. Na’Kal wants to know when they can strike back at the Centauri, but G’Kar says the time for that isn’t right, and at the moment, defending B5 is the priority.

Garibaldi tracks down Franklin, who hasn’t used his quarters in several days. The doctor explains that he’s on walkabout. The concept comes from Australian aborigines, and it’s when you just start walking until you meet yourself. Garibaldi thinks it’s silly, but respects his wishes.

Alexander meets with Ulkesh, wanting to know if Kosh left a piece of him with Alexander, but she wasn’t on the station at the time. Ulkesh says that means she failed. She doesn’t know if anyone else was with him or not, but promises to try to find out.

She then meets with Sheridan, discussing Kosh’s death. Alexander mentions that it’s been a very long time since a Vorlon died. She also starts to suspect that Spock Kosh may have left his katra a piece of himself in McCoy Sheridan. The captain also has a difficult favor he wants to ask her…

In the War Room, Sheridan explains the favor and his plan. With the revelation in the Book of G’Quan that the Shadows are vulnerable to telepaths, they need to test this notion in the field. Sheridan wants to take Alexander in the White Star and ambush a Shadow ship—but they’ll need support, as well as some backup telepaths. Delenn promises the latter with some Minbari telepaths to back Alexander up. As for the former, folks are a bit reluctant.

G’Kar asks Na’Kal to provide support for the White Star on this mission, but Na’Kal considers it to be a fool’s errand, and far too risky. They need to stay safe for the eventual retaking of the Narn homeworld from the Centauri.

In downbelow, Franklin goes into a bar and sees a woman named Cailyn James singing. He finds himself completely captivated by her, more so when she comes to join him for a drink after her set, having noticed how intently he was watching her performance. They eventually wind up back at her quarters for a night of passionate nookie-nookie. At one point, Franklin asks if there’s anything he can do for her, and she asks for metazine, as she’s running low. Franklin can’t bring himself to do that so soon after admitting to his stim addiction.

The White Star goes into hyperspace, with a Minbari support vessel accompanying them. As they wait for news of a Shadow attack, Sheridan and Alexander talk about Kosh, and the captain mentions the dream about his father that was a final message from Kosh.

Garibaldi storms into G’Kar’s quarters in the middle of the night, angrily returning the Book of G’Quan to him. He’s pissed that after everything Sheridan did for the Na’Kal and his crew when they came to B5 for sanctuary, that they’re sitting this out. Garibaldi reminds G’Kar that he can see the big picture where Na’Kal can’t. He then leaves in a huff.

Lennier picks up a distress call from ships being attacked by a Shadow vessel. The White Star leaves hyperspace, leaving the Minbari ship behind in reserve.

Alexander tries and fails to telepathically engage the Shadow vessel. Sheridan grabs her hand to try to get her to focus, and she sees into Sheridan’s mind—including how Kosh died. That pisses her off and she attacks again, this time succeeding in freezing the Shadow vessel, though the effort makes her eyes bleed. Unfortunately, the White Star’s weapons are only powerful enough to take out the Shadow when Lennier takes the jump engines offline to increase power to weapons.

While Franklin is sleeping, James steals his identicard in order to get her hands on some metazine.

Before the jump engines can recharge, four more Shadow vessels show up. The Minbari vessel joins the White Star, but they only have three telepaths on board, so only three of the Shadow vessels are frozen—Alexander is too wiped to handle the fourth.

Then a jump point opens, and the Narn cruiser comes through, its firepower combining with the White Star and the Minbari ship to take out the fourth Shadow vessel. Then G’Kar comes through leading a flotilla of League ships. The other three Shadows retreat.

Franklin wakes up to find James passed out on the deck. He takes her to medlab, assuming she overdosed on metazine and pissed that she used his identicard to feed her addiction. However, Hobbs explains that she’s suffering from terminal neuro-paralysis. She only has a limited time to survive, and the metazine helps manage the symptoms. After her diagnosis, she decided to live in downbelow and bring joy to the folks in that not-so-great part of the station with her singing. Franklin, abashed, sets up to get her as much metazine as she needs for as long as she lives.

Alexander reports to Ulkesh that she thinks Kosh may have left a piece of himself in someone on the station…

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Apparently Kosh left a piece of himself in Sheridan’s mind when he sent the captain the dream of his father.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi has a fun episode: he gets to snark off Mollari and bitch out G’Kar, and between those be a vehicle for exposition on what Franklin’s up to.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. This is the second time that Delenn has pulled telepathic Minbari out of thin air when the plot has required it.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari is not pleased that there’s a Narn cruiser in orbit of B5. Sucks to be him.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. Apparently, breen is a Narn delicacy that is exactly the same as Swedish meatballs. G’Kar says that every civilized culture has the equivalent of breen/Swedish meatballs, which calls into question just how civilized they are, but whatever. (No, your humble rewatcher isn’t a huge fan of Swedish meatballs and always found this particular gag more puzzling than funny.)

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Alexander is only able to use her telepathy to hold a Shadow vessel in place when she’s really really pissed off…

The Shadowy Vorlons. Ulkesh insists on being referred to as Kosh even in private amongst folks who know that Kosh is dead. When questioned on this by Sheridan and Ivanova, Ulkesh simply says, “We are all Kosh.” (It is possible that the name Ulkesh is derives from “all Kosh,” though that would be too cute for words.)

Looking ahead. The likelihood that Sheridan has a bit of Kosh in his brain meats will pay off at season’s end in “Z’ha’dum.”

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Franklin spends James’ entire set watching her with goofy eyes and an appreciative ear. She notices this, and the two hook up in rapid succession…

Welcome aboard. The big guest is Erica Gimpel of Fame fame (sorry) as James. We’ve also got four recurring regulars: Robin Sachs, making his second and final appearance as Na’Kal after “The Fall of Night”; he’ll be back in “Movements of Fire and Shadow” as a different Narn and in In the Beginning in his Minbari Grey Council role. Ardwight Chamberlain as the voice of Ulkesh, back from “War Without End, Part 1”; he’ll return in “Z’ha’dum.” Jennifer Balgobin returns from “Interludes and Examinations” as Hobbs; she’ll be back in “Objects at Rest.” And finally, Patricia Tallman returns from “Passing Through Gethsemane” as Alexander, her last appearance as a guest star; she’ll return at the top of season four as an opening-credits regular.

Trivial matters. Franklin went on walkabout and Kosh was killed in “Interludes and Examinations.” Na’Kal and his cruiser asked for sanctuary at B5 in “The Fall of Night.”

J. Michael Straczynski wrote the lyrics to both songs sung by James in the episode, with the music provided by the show’s composer, Chris Franke.

Metazine is the same drug that was used to keep Sinclair unconscious in “And the Sky Full of Stars.”

Meant to put this in the “War Without End, Part 1” rewatch, but the name Ulkesh comes from the novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows by Kathryn M. Drennan.

This episode was written to come immediately after “Interludes and Examinations,” but with the airing schedule set to hold the final five episodes for the fall of 1996 to lead into season four, the production schedule was rearranged so that both parts of “War Without End” would air in May instead of making people wait four months for Part 2.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“And what guarantee will you give me that the cruiser will not open fire on a Centauri vessel as it approached Babylon 5, hm?”

“The same guarantee I gave you when I said that none of the other Narns would break into your room in the middle of the night and slit your throat.”

“Mr. Garibaldi—you have never given me that promise.”

“You’re right. Sleep tight.”

—Mollari bitching about the Narn cruiser at the station and Garibaldi not giving a damn.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Burn, you bastard!” The least interesting part of this episode is the titular segment with Richard Biggs making goo-goo eyes at Erica Gimpel.

After watching the episode with my wife, I remarked to her that it’s amazing that, even when he’s not being a doctor, Franklin makes bad medical decisions. That’s not entirely fair—James’ behavior pretty much screams “addict looking for a fix,” so it’s not a huge leap for him to think that, even though it’s so totally wrong. I like James’ wanting to spend her remaining days bringing joy to people who don’t have much of that, and no one ever went wrong letting Gimpel just sing and be awesome, but Biggs’ limitations and Franklin’s general incompetence make it hard to get one’s arms around this particular plotline.

Luckily, we have the rest of it. This is the logical next step after Garibaldi found the passage in the Book of G’Quan about telepaths, and the scene where they fight them is genuinely suspenseful and exciting and full of shots of Patricia Tallman staring intently, something she does particularly well.

I also loved Garibaldi taking the piss out of both Mollari and G’Kar. It’s obvious from his telling off the former that whatever vestiges there were of their friendship are totally gone now. Then he does a lovely job of hoisting the latter on his petard, interrupting his sleep to give the Book of G’Quan the way that G’Kar interrupted his to give it to him in the first place.

Next week: “Grey 17 is Missing.”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “War Without End, Part Two”

While Sheridan is unstuck in time, the others continue with their timey-wimey plans on Babylon 4…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on July 14, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“War Without End, Part Two”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Michael Vejar
Season 3, Episode 17
Production episode 317
Original air date: May 20, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… After a summary of Part 1, we open in 2278 with Sheridan in the throne room of Emperor Mollari seeing the capital city of Centauri Prime burning. Mollari coughs raggedly, and orders Sheridan back to his cell with instructions to make peace with whatever deity he worships.

In 2254, Ivanova and Cole—after being ambushed by a couple of B4 personnel and dispatching them—stumble across an access panel and start on Ivanova’s plan to sabotage the station.

Sheridan becomes unstuck in time, briefly fading in near Zathras in 2254 before winding up back in the Centauri cell in 2278, where he is joined by Delenn. She says she hasn’t told the Centauri anything and that their son is safe. This intelligence rather surprises Sheridan…

In 2254, Ivanova creates a fake hull breach alert, which gets the entire deck evacuated, allowing the B5 crew to work in peace.

In 2278, Sheridan explains that he’s from the past, and Delenn—remembering what happened in 2260—says she understands, and says only that they built something great, but at a terrible price. But the only way to avoid paying that price is to let the Shadows win, which would be, y’know, bad. They’re then taken to Mollari, they assume to their deaths.

However, they are brought to a darkened throne room and a very drunk Mollari. It turns out that his super-villain act from the end of Part 1 was just that: an act. He behaved that way for the benefit of his Keeper—a parasitic creature, belonging to allies of the Shadows, who control and monitor Mollari. The only way to put the Keeper to sleep is for Mollari to drink heavily. However the time it stays unconscious gets shorter with each binge. Mollari allows Delenn and Sheridan to escape, on the condition that they and their allies work to free his people.

After they leave, G’Kar, with his left eye covered by a bandage, enters. Mollari calls him “old friend,” and urges G’Kar to kill him before the Keeper can wake up. However, the Keeper awakens while G’Kar is strangling Mollari, forcing the emperor to return the favor.

As they’re being led to their escape vessel, Sheridan becomes unstuck in time again. Before he fades back to the past, Delenn urges him, “Do not go to Z’ha’dum!”

Vir walks into the throne room and finds the corpses of Mollari and G’Kar on the floor. He picks up the emperor’s medallion…

In 2254, Ivanova, Cole, and Zathras are bringing equipment from Epsilon III over to B4 from the White Star. Zathras rigged up a space suit for Sheridan to wear when he reappears in the hopes that it will help stabilize him. To Ivanova and Cole’s shock, this works, and Sheridan reappears in the suit.

Sinclair is also in an EVA suit, and he and Sheridan go outside to install some of the components. Ivanova triggers a fake fusion reactor overload, but the B4 crew’s response to that is to increase power, which causes a surge, which sends B4 into a time rift.

They come out in 2258—right when B4 appeared last. Zathras manages to stabilize everything, but they need to work quickly. Sheridan has become unstuck in time again and Sinclair looks like he’s twenty years older. He explains that, because he went through the time field once before, it’s still affecting him, even with the stabilizer. It’s why he didn’t want Garibaldi here, it would have affected him as well.

Sinclair works on the power core. Zathras looks for equipment to fix Sheridan’s stabilizer, but is captured by B4 security. He’s brought to Major Krantz, and then “meets” Sinclair and Garibaldi, who have just arrived from B5, answering the distress call.

Ivanova sneaks into CnC to boost the power and speed along the evacuation.

A figure in a space suit appears. Zathras gives the figure the repaired time stabilizer (just like we saw in “Babylon Squared”), and then the figure fades away.

Cole is shocked to see Sheridan—without his suit. He came back, and now has an intact stabilizer. It turns out that, when Sheridan reappeared, Delenn gave him her intact stabilizer and she took his busted one and put on the EVA suit.

Ivanova’s sabotage starts to take effect, and the Sinclair and Garibaldi of 2258 start leading the evacuation of B4. Debris falls on Zathras, and Sinclair tries to rescue him, but Zathras urges him to go and save himself so he can fulfill his destiny. After everyone’s gone, Delenn rescues him.

While doing his bit when EVA, Sinclair tries to send a message to the Garibaldi of 2258, but he’s out of range.

Sinclair reenters the station and takes his helmet off, and we get the scene we saw in “Babylon Squared” again, except we see Delenn this time.

In B4’s CnC, Sinclair tells everyone to head back to the White Star. He’ll set everything up and rejoin them. Cole refuses to accept that, because if it was automatic, he wouldn’t have to stay behind. He plans on going to the past and not coming back. Sinclair confirms that, and Cole says he’ll go instead, but Sinclair says it has to be him. He reveals that the letter he got at the top of Part 1 was in his own handwriting from 900 years previous. He has to go because he’s already gone.

Zathras then speaks to Sheridan, Sinclair, and Delenn alone. He’s referred to all three of them as “the one” at different points, and Zathras explains that in Minbari culture, everything is in threes—three castes, three languages, the Grey Council is nine (three times three), etc.—and that includes the one. Sinclair is the one of the past, Delenn is the one of the present, and Sheridan is the one of the future. They form the beginning, middle, and end of a great story.

Sinclair and Zathras stay on B4 while everyone else disembarks to the White Star. Using a triluminary, Sinclair undergoes a transformation while remembering several past incidents that hinted at this.

On the White Star, which goes through the time rift to 2260, Delenn explains that human and Minbari souls became intermingled a thousand years ago—and her own transformation was to restore the balance. But Sinclair couldn’t present B4 to the Minbari as a human, because the Minbari of the past wouldn’t accept that.

Cole figures out the rest of it: Sinclair transforms himself into a Minbari and brings B4 to the fight a thousand years previous, accompanied by Zathras and two Vorlons, and identifying himself as “Valen.”

Nothing’s the same anymore. Sinclair turns out to be Minbari Jesus Valen. This goes a long way toward explaining why Valen’s prophecies tended to come true…

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan disappears completely from the White Star, but then reappears in the future—but inside his future self’s body. It’s unclear what happened to the Sheridan that was already there in the future.

Ivanova is God. Most of the damage done to B4 that forced the evac in “Babylon Squared” turned out to be by Ivanova. Go her.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi only appears in this episode in archive footage from “Babylon Squared.”

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn’s actions since the start of the show all come into focus here, as she is a major mover and shaker toward Sinclair going back in time to become Minbari Jesus Valen.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… As predicted by Lady Morella in “Point of No Return,” Vir is seen to be taking on the mantle of emperor after he finds Mollari and G’Kar’s dead bodies.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar and Mollari appear to be friends now, or at least not mortal enemies. They kill each other, as predicted, but not at all the way we expected…

We live for the one, we die for the one. In a lengthy exposition dump that’s mainly there to show how J. Michael Straczynski adjusted his storyline once he lost his male lead at the end of season one, Zathras explains who, exactly, “the one” is—er, well, that is, are.

The Shadowy Vorlons. Two Vorlons accompanied Sinclair-as-Valen when he introduced himself to the Minbari, which probably helped sell the whole thing.

Looking ahead. Delenn has a flashforward to her watching Sheridan sleep, only to be interrupted by a woman’s voice. This scene will come to pass in “Shadow Dancing.”

We see the fullness of Mollari and G’Kar’s strangling of each other, first mentioned in “Midnight on the Firing Line” and foreseen by Mollari in “The Coming of Shadows.”

We have previously been told that Sheridan will die if he goes to Z’ha’dum, so Delenn’s urging of Sheridan not to go to there is understandable, though if he’s still alive seventeen years hence, he obviously doesn’t die—exactly. This will all be explained in “Z’ha’dum” and the first several episodes of season four.

The Keeper is of Drakh origin—we’ll see more of the Drakh in the future. Mollari’s acquisition of the Keeper will happen in very aptly titled season-five episode, “The Fall of Centauri Prime.”

G’Kar will lose his left eye in “Falling Toward Apotheosis.”

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Sheridan and Delenn will have a son. This rather surprises Sheridan. Also we get our first Delenn-Sheridan kiss, though it’s really only Sheridan’s first time kissing Delenn because time travel…

Welcome aboard. Back from Part 1 are Michael O’Hare as Sinclair, Tim Choate as Zathras, and Kevin Fry as the Centauri guard. Back from “Babylon Squared” is Kent Broadhurst as Krantz, while Bruce Morrow plays Krantz’s second-in-command. Choate will return in “Conflicts of Interest,” while O’Hare will return (via archive footage from “And the Sky Full of Stars”) in the movie In the Beginning.

Trivial matters. This obviously continues from Part 1, and also finishes telling the other side of the story told in “Babylon Squared.” Indeed, large chunks of this episode consist of footage from that first-season episode, mixed in with new material.

Sinclair sends a message to the Garibaldi of 2258 to watch his back, a reference to Garibaldi being shot in the back in “Chrysalis,” an event still in the security chief’s future.

Before his transformation, Sinclair remembers the Soul Hunter telling him that the Minbari are using him and Delenn saying that the Minbari were right about him, both from “Soul Hunter,” and Neroon telling him he talks like a Minbari in “Legacies.”

We first heard Valen described as a Minbari not born of Minbari—and also that no one knew where he came from—in “Passing Through Gethsemane.”

There are many inconsistencies with “Babylon Squared.” Delenn is wearing a different-colored outfit from the one we saw on her sleeve in the prior episode. The B4 crew’s capture of Zathras does not match what Krantz described in the prior episode (this was a conscious choice, as filming the scene as described would have added three minutes to an already-overcrowded script, so J. Michael Straczynski just bagged it). In “B²,” Krantz never mentions the explosions of the Shadow ships and subsequent EMP that we saw in Part 1, which doesn’t really track. The moaning of the EVA-suited figure in “B²” was definitely male, though this episode has it be Delenn in the suit. No mention was ever made in “B²” of two of B4’s personnel being taken out by two people in black outfits.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Come on, grab what you need—we’re running out of time.”

“Cannot run out of time. There is infinite time. You are finite, Zathras is finite, this—is wrong tool. No, not good. Never use this.”

—Ivanova trying and failing to rush Zathras.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “No one ever listens to Zathras.” One of the difficulties with aggressively plotting out a five-year storyline for television is that sometimes changes happen due to circumstances beyond your control, like actors leaving the show. In particular, J. Michael Straczynski’s storyline was given a punch in the solar plexus by Michael O’Hare’s departure at the end of season one. Not all of Sinclair’s role in the overall storyline—most particularly his going back in time to become Minbari Jesus Valen given how much of that was seeded in season one—was something that could be just transferred to another character.

This two-parter is an attempt to get the storyline’s breath back following that gut-punch (he says, abusing the metaphor). On the one hand, you can see that some of the fixes are wielded with a very large hammer; on the other, you gotta admire the fact that Straczynski mostly pulled it off.

His solution to Sinclair no longer being “the one” all by himself, since both he and Sheridan can’t be “the one” is very Catholic. (While he is an atheist, Straczynski’s family is Catholic, and he was likely raised in that tradition.) By throwing Delenn into the mix, we get a three-as-one thing, which is very Creator-Child-Spirit (not to mention the “rule of three” that is a truism in writing). And Minbari culture has already, as Zathras said, been established as doing lots of things in threes. You can still see the spackle, but at least it covers the hole.

The solution to the much older Sinclair seen in “Babylon Squared” is very elegant, since the possibility of being rapidly aged by the temporal rift was seeded in that first-season episode with the death of that poor never-named Starfury pilot. So that part, at least, works out, though the whole, “It happened just the way I remembered it” thing doesn’t really make much sense from only two years on the way it would have from two decades on.

And then we get the always-intended revelation that Minbari Jesus Valen is a time-displaced (and chrysalis-transformed) Sinclair, finally paying off all the hints we got throughout season one.

But the best part of this whole two-parter is the revelation of the full story behind Mollari and G’Kar killing each other. It’s absolutely brilliant, since everything we know about these two in general and Mollari’s premonition in particular points to the two of them ending their years of acrimony with a final double-murder. So to reveal that it’s a mercy-killing on G’Kar’s part to free Mollari, and that Mollari’s violent response is solely due to the reason for the mercy-killing is a masterstroke. It’s completely unexpected, especially as it starts with Mollari referring to G’Kar as his old friend. While the revelation in Part 1 that the good guys will win the Shadow War is a bit of a spoiler, this apparent rapprochement between two old enemies is a magnificent bit of foreshadowing, adding still more complexity to an already-complex dynamic between the two most interesting characters on the show.

On the one hand, saving these dual revelations for the last episode would’ve made for a banger of a finale. On the other hand, putting it midway through like this (a) means we don’t have to wait until four years after he left the show to find out Sinclair’s final fate, and (b) is a great tease for the future of the Mollari-G’Kar dynamic, which will get so much more interesting in season four. (B) works so much better as a bit of dramatic foreshadowing than it would have as the culmination of the storyline.

Next week: “Walkabout.”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “War Without End, Part One”

Ivanova gets a strange distress call from herself, eight days into the future…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on July 7, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“War Without End, Part One”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Michael Vejar
Season 3, Episode 16
Production episode 316
Original air date: May 13, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… We open on Minbar, where Ambassador Sinclair—a.k.a. “Ranger One,” a.k.a. “Entil’zha”—is approached by Rathenn with a box. The box has been in storage for 900 years, with instructions not to open it until today. Rathenn hands it to Sinclair, who is rather surprised to see an envelope that says “Jeffrey David Sinclair” in his own handwriting inside the box.

B5 gets a distress call from Sector 14, the area where Babylon 4 disappeared and reappeared. The distress call is from Ivanova saying that B5 is under attack, which confuses Ivanova, as she never sent that call. However, the computer verifies that it’s her voice. Garibaldi theorizes that it’s from the future, based on the trip he and Sinclair took to B4 two years previous. Sheridan agrees to let Garibaldi take a Starfury to Sector 14 to check it out.

Rathenn asks Sinclair what is in the note, but the ambassador can only say it’s for his eyes only and that he must depart immediately. He thanks Rathenn for his help in putting the Rangers together, and also for being the first Minbari to truly accept his presence. Rathenn’s response is just that where Delenn points, he follows. After Sinclair’s departure, a Vorlon, Ulkesh, wanders in, and Rathenn confesses that he has the feeling he’ll never see Sinclair again. Ulkesh says that Sinclair closed the circle and he’s going back to the beginning. Rathenn, and the viewer, have no idea what this means, as is typical for Vorlon utterances.

Sinclair shows up at B5 to the surprise of Allan, who welcomes him aboard. Lennier goes to Delenn’s quarters to say that Sinclair has arrived, and Delenn says she knows. She, too, has a letter with her name on it in Sinclair’s handwriting.

Delenn arrives in the war room, where Sheridan and Cole are discussing strategy, and that the Shadows seem to have paused after the Vorlons’ actions last time, though Sheridan assumes that they’ll be back in force and nastier soon enough.

Sinclair enters the war room, to everyone’s shock—except Delenn. Delenn says they all, as well as Ivanova, have to board the White Star. When Sheridan asks why, Delenn says only that this is the time when they are to board it.

Garibaldi contacts them from his Starfury. He’s not at Sector 14 yet, but scans show that there’s a tachyon beam that’s hitting the temporal rift, widening it. The beam is coming from the Great Machine on Epsilon III. This is confirmed for the viewer by cutting to Zathras and Spragg on Epsilon III expressing concern about the energy spike, but Zathras won’t let Spragg tell Draal, as he’s too busy controlling the Machine and keeping things steady to be distracted.

The gang take a couple of shuttles to the White Star. Meanwhile, Garibaldi arrives at Sector 14 and is able to get a visual on the distress call: it shows a disheveled and injured Ivanova surrounded by broken equipment.

Once they’re on the White Star, Delenn starts, I kid you not, a slideshow. First we see footage from the first Shadow War a thousand years previous, records that were sealed by the Grey Council. After the Shadows destroyed their base of operations, the Army of Light got a new base: Babylon 4. They knew from their last trip to B4 that the base was to be used for a war, but they’d all assumed it would be in the future. Instead, it was in the past. In addition, Draal has provided another visual for them: B4’s disappearance. Several ships, allies of the Shadows, went to destroy B4 before it could go into the past, but they were stopped by the White Star. Everyone is shocked to realize that B4 was stolen—by the White Star. They need to be the ones to send it back in time to a thousand years earlier. If not, B5 will be destroyed in the near future. Without B4’s presence in the past, the Shadows will be much more powerful in the present and they will destroy B5. That’s the future that they’re hearing Ivanova’s distress call from (and also Sinclair’s flash-forward in “Babylon Squared”).

Zathras rendezvouses with the White Star. Sinclair is surprised to see him, remembering him from being on B4 a couple years earlier. Zathras has never met him, though, and Sinclair urges Zathras not to say anything when he does meet Sinclair in his own future.

Sinclair also urges Sheridan to order Garibaldi back to B5 and not to let him know he’s here on the White Star. Sheridan agrees, even though he doesn’t know why, and Sinclair won’t explain. Privately, though, Sinclair is determined to make sure that the flash-forward he saw of B5 being destroyed while Garibaldi holds the line (which we see again) does not come to pass.

Zathras gives them all stabilizers that will keep them from getting unstuck in time. Ivanova recalls that the Starfury pilot they sent to Sector 14 when they first got B4’s distress call died of old age.

They head into the rift.

Garibaldi returns to B5 and is stunned to be told by Allan that Sinclair came to the station and then buggered off on the White Star. He didn’t leave a message with Allan, but when Garibaldi returns to his quarters, he finds that there’s a password-protected message from Sinclair. Eventually he figures out that the password is “Hello, old friend,” and he gets the message from Sinclair, who says he isn’t coming back from this mission, and if Garibaldi came along, he wouldn’t come back either.

The White Star goes back six years to 2254. The Shadow ships are approaching B4 with fusion bombs. The White Star destroys them, the EMP from the explosion temporarily blinding B4’s scanners. Unfortunately, Sheridan’s stabilizer is damaged, and he becomes unstuck in time. Delenn wants to rescue him, but Sinclair immediately takes charge and has them continue the mission.

Sheridan finds himself on the Centauri homeworld eighteen years in the future, prisoner of a now-silver-haired Emperor Mollari. Mollari blames Sheridan and his allies for the destruction of Centauri Prime following the Shadow War; Sheridan is shown to a window where he sees the capital city on fire.

The White Star attaches itself to B4 and burns a hatch through. Sinclair, Ivanova, Delenn, Cole, and Zathras begin their work.

To be continued…

Nothing’s the same anymore. Sinclair is still technically Earth’s ambassador to Minbar, though he implies that he hasn’t gotten much by way of diplomatic assignments from EarthDome lately. He also has been running the Rangers, as we learned in “The Coming of Shadows.”

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan is more than a little taken aback by the nature of their mission, finally deciding to do so after recalling the sign on the wall when he joined EarthForce: “The greatest adventure of all.” 

Ivanova is God. Ivanova is nonplussed by the whole thing, from hearing her own voice give a distress call she has no memory of to the entire time-travel insanity, which leads to her replying to Sheridan’s query as to whether or not she believes all this with, “I’ll be in the car.”

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi does a greatest-hits of every conversation he’s ever had with Sinclair when trying to figure out the password to Sinclair’s message.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn blows everybody’s minds with her revelation of the true final fate of B4 and their own role in it. Her matter-of-factness about it is in direct contrast to Sheridan’s are-you-fucking-kidding-me lack of belief.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… We see Mollari as emperor eighteen years hence, and we’re told that the good guys won the Shadow War, which strikes me as a bit of a spoiler, but whatever. Mollari also talks exactly like a super-villain (or a Bond villain) when he threatens Sheridan’s life.

We live for the one, we die for the one. Cole obviously holds Sinclair in high regard, as the head of the Rangers. At one point, he says to Sheridan that nobody ever got a straight answer out of Ranger One, and the only way to understand his replies was to hold it up to a mirror while hanging upside down. Either you’ll get it, or pass out from blood draining to your head…

The Shadowy Vorlons. The Shadows were apparently previously defeated by technology from a thousand years in their future. Also there’s a Vorlon hanging out with the Rangers on Minbar, whose job seems to be to say cryptic things.

Looking ahead. We once again get the flash-forward of the station’s destruction, which we’re now told is only eight days in the future, even though Garibaldi has way more hair in that flash forward than he does now. Supplementing it is a distress call from Ivanova from the same event. This is now firmly established as an alternate future, and the consequence if they fail in their mission as opposed to a legitimate prophecy.

We also see Mollari as the emperor of the Centauri Republic eighteen years hence, something previously predicted in “The Coming of Shadows” and “Point of No Return.”

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. At one point, as they’re about to go through the rift, Delenn and Sheridan hold hands. Sinclair sees this and smiles.

Welcome aboard. The big guest is the return of erstwhile series lead Michael O’Hare as Sinclair, back from “The Coming of Shadows.” We’ve also got Tim Choate as Zathras, back from “Babylon Squared,” Joshua Cox as Corwin, back from “Ceremonies of Light and Dark,” and Ardwight Chamberlain, last heard as Kosh in “Interludes and Examinations,” as the voice of Ulkesh. Plus we’ve got Time Winters as Rathenn, Kevin Fry as the Centauri guard, and Eric Zivot as Spragg.

Cox will be back in “Shadow Dancing,” Chamberlain will be back (as Kosh) in “Walkabout,” Winters will be back in “Grey 17 is Missing,” and O’Hare, Choate, and Fry will all be back in Part 2 next time.

Trivial matters. This two-parter tells the other half of the story from “Babylon Squared.” Sinclair now has a scar on his cheek to match the one that he had as an older man in that episode. Its provenance is never explained, though one assumes it happened during some form of Ranger training…

Rathenn previously appeared in the first issue of DC’s Babylon 5 comic book by J. Michael Straczynski, Michael Netzer, & Rob Leigh as Sinclair’s liaison on Minbar, a role Sinclair mentions in this episode.

Sheridan and Sinclair mention that they last saw each other during the Mars Riots. This, as well as the two’s other prior meetings, were dramatized in the novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows by Kathryn M. Drennan.

In “Babylon Squared,” Ivanova said that the next time B4 appears, she’ll go and Garibaldi will stay behind, which is exactly what happens here.

While John Schuck does not appear in the episode, Draal is mentioned several times and plays an important role in the story.

Finally, this story was originally intended to be the series finale, taking place two decades in the future. It was changed to the middle of the third season due to Michael O’Hare’s departure from the cast; it was possibly specifically done a year-and-a-half sooner than intended due to O’Hare’s mental health issues that caused him to leave the show in the first place, though that’s not entirely clear, since the truth about O’Hare’s departure was kept secret until after his death in 2012.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Ready?”

“Why is it that your people always ask someone if they are ready right before you are about to do something massively unwise?”

“Tradition.”

—Sinclair and Delenn bantering.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Very sad life; probably have very sad death—but at least there is symmetry.” Most of my thoughts about the storyline in this two-parter really need to be saved for my look at Part 2 next time, so here I’m just gonna focus on a couple of specific script and performance issues.

First of all, Tim Choate remains a treasure. He’s even more fun in this one than he was in “Babylon Squared,” and his babble is a true delight, one of the few ways in which J. Michael Straczynski’s humor lands perfectly, aided by Choate’s perfectly timed delivery.

And that “few ways” is brought into sharp focus here, as we get some really cringe-y attempts at humor, from Sheridan’s eye-rolling, “As my great-grandfather used to say, Cool!” to Garibaldi reminding us of past awful dialogue in his attempt to find a password to Ivanova’s awkward “I’ll be in the car” in a setting in which we’ve never seen a car to Sinclair’s comparisons to him and Sheridan (“Butch and Sundance, Lewis and Clark, Lucy and Ethel”).

That last one is not aided by a truly somnolent performance by Michael O’Hare. Knowing now about O’Hare’s mental health struggles, that somnolence is, at least, understandable, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s being acted off the screen by everyone around him. His stilted line readings stand out, especially when he’s standing next to Bruce Boxleitner’s relaxed charisma, Jason Carter and Claudia Christian’s snark, Mira Furlan’s intensity, and Choate’s loopiness.

O’Hare does have his moments—his exchange with Delenn that ends the episode (quoted in “The echoes of all our conversations” above) is nicely done—and the moment when he pulls off the hood to reveal himself at the top of the episode is beautifully done.

Finally, beyond the hit-and-miss humor, the script does have the unintentionally hilarious moment when Delenn provides the big revelation that B4 was the Army of Light’s secret weapon a thousand years ago with a really-o-truly-o slideshow. I was trying really hard not to flash onto Rimmer’s slideshow chronicling his ten-day hike through the combustion engines in the Red Dwarf episode “Justice.” (“Can we please take a break, sir? I believe my intelligence circuits have melted.” “I’m not sure we’ll get through it all if we take another break, Kryten.” “Sir, that’s a chance I’m willing to take.”)

It is fun, however, to see the other side of “Babylon Squared,” but most of that truly happens in Part 2, so more about that next week…

Next week: “War Without End, Part 2.”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Interludes and Examinations”

Sheridan’s first victory against the Shadows comes at a price…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on June 30, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Interludes and Examinations”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Jesus Treviño
Season 3, Episode 15
Production episode 315
Original air date: May 6, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… We get voiceover narration from Ivanova bringing us up to speed: the Shadows are now fighting overtly, attacking worlds on the rim; they’ve hired more security, but without Earth’s resources, it’s harder to vet them (to prove that point, we see one security guard sneaking Morden onto the station in exchange for gemstones; said guard winds up dead shortly thereafter); the senior staff is handling things well, at least (to prove her wrong, we see Franklin taking stims); there’s been no sign of Kosh (which worries Ivanova greatly); and Mollari is still Mollari.

We see Mollari being fitted for a new suit and informing Vir that he wants to rent the largest suite on the station: Adira is returning! Mollari is happy for the first time in forever because the woman he loves is coming back to him as promised.

Sheridan meets with representatives of the Brakiri—who have been badly damaged by the Shadows—and the Gaim—who haven’t. Sheridan can’t promise protection from Earth, as B5 has broken away. The Gaim refuse to provide assistance to the Brakiri because the Shadows have ignored them until now and they have no wish to draw attention to themselves. However, the Gaim might change their mind if they know that the Army of Light has a chance against the Shadows.

Later, Sheridan is brooding in the war room, telling Delenn that they need some kind of serious victory against the Shadows to prove that there’s at least a chance of victory. Without that, everyone’s going to be like the Brakiri (victims) or the Gaim (staying the hell out of it until the Shadows inevitably target them). Delenn says that in that case, they need a victory, and she’s sure he’ll think of something. After she leaves him to it, Sheridan grumbles that everyone’s starting to sound like Kosh, which then prompts an idea…

There’s chaos in medlab, as Franklin and Dr. Lillian Hobbs disagree on a diagnosis. Franklin gives the wrong instructions to the medtechs working on an alien, nearly killing the patient, then snaps at Garibaldi, who brings in one of his people to be worked on. Franklin explodes in near-hysterical anger.

Morden confronts Mollari regarding the fact that Refa isn’t returning his calls. Mollari accepts credit for convincing Refa to do so. Morden reminds the ambassador that they carved up the galaxy together, but Mollari doesn’t see that it’s any of Morden’s concern how the Centauri handle their portion, and Mollari would prefer not to overtax their military on multi-front wars. Morden’s counter that they need those multi-front wars fall on uninterested ears, as do Morden’s threats, as Mollari doesn’t see that there’s anything Morden can threaten him with at this point. After the ambassador leaves in a huff, Morden tells the Shadows that they shouldn’t kill him yet, they can still use him.

Garibaldi confronts Franklin in his quarters, expressing concern that he’s overextended himself and that maybe he’s back on stims. Franklin tells him to fuck off, and Garibaldi reminds him that he went to him as a friend first.

Garibaldi’s next stop is the Zocalo to talk to Hobbs. He wants access to the regular blood tests that all medical personnel undergo regularly due to constant exposure to alien biologies. Hobbs refuses on privacy grounds. Garibaldi points out that he can do it through channels as security chief, but that brings a lot more people in on it, and he wants to spare Franklin that. Hobbs does at least tell him where in the system the blood tests can be found. Unbeknownst to either, Franklin sees the two of them talking.

Vir is going over all the stuff that’s to go in Adira’s suite. After taking his leave, he bumps into Morden. After Vir tells him to screw off and die, Morden goes back to the merchant and pretends to be a friend of Vir’s in order to find out what Vir and the merchant were talking about.

Garibaldi goes to medlab and starts the process of retrieving Franklin’s blood samples, but then decides against it at the last minute. Franklin walks in, surprised that Garibaldi chickened out. However, Franklin did his own blood test, to prove Garibaldi wrong. Except he didn’t—the levels of stims in his blood is way too high, past the addictive stage. Garibaldi leaves it to Franklin to decide what to do next.

Sheridan asks Kosh for help. If the Vorlons can just make one big strike against the Shadows, show that there’s a chance, it’ll help. Kosh refuses, as the Vorlons are too few in number, at which point Sheridan loses it. Kosh has been great at manipulating things and staying behind the scenes, but now the Shadows are destroying entire worlds, plus Sheridan’s own government is out to kill him. He’s got nothing to lose, and no way to fight this war without Kosh’s more overt help. Kosh gets sufficiently angry, calling Sheridan “impudent,” and telekinetically knocking him around. But eventually he accedes, with the caution that he will not be with Sheridan when he goes to Z’ha’dum. Sheridan already has been told that if he goes to Z’ha’dum, he’ll die, and if that’s the price he has to pay, so be it.

Another Shadow attack in Brakiri space is thwarted by a Vorlon fleet that wipes them out.

Mollari and Vir wait for Adira to disembark, but the final passenger comes out saying there’s no one behind him. (That same passenger meets with Morden and is given a bag of gems.) Then Hobbs wheels out a corpse, which turns out to be Adira. There’s no sign of trauma on the body, and Mollari—remembering his poisoning of Refa—tells her to search for poison in the autopsy.

Ivanova informs Sheridan that the various worlds in the League of Non-Aligned Worlds are backing him now. Sheridan wants to thank Kosh in person, but it’s two a.m., and he gets some sleep, planning to thank Kosh in the morning.

Morden breaks into Kosh’s quarters and watches as the Shadows tear Kosh apart. Meantime, Sheridan has a very vivid dream of his father, but it soon becomes obvious that this is Kosh communicating with him. He apologizes for getting angry, but he knew what the inevitable result of this attack would be, and he didn’t want to face it. He agrees that it’s time for Sheridan to fight the war his way. Kosh/David’s final words to him: “As long as you’re here, I’ll always be here.” Thus Kosh ends his life the way he lived it: cryptically.

Garibaldi reports that Kosh’s quarters look like it’s been through a war. But there’s no sign of a body, just a very badly damaged encounter suit. Delenn says there won’t be a body. The Vorlons do not wish to reveal Kosh’s death publicly; they will send another ambassador, who will pretend to be Kosh. Delenn requests that Kosh’s encounter suit and belongings be placed on his ship, which is alive and bonded to Kosh, so it too must die. It flies into the sun.

Franklin resigns his position as chief of staff of medlab. He needs to get his shit together. Sheridan is stunned, but accepts the resignation.

Mollari meets with Morden. He wishes to renew his association with Morden. The rest of the galaxy can burn for all he cares. But he wants his revenge on Refa for killing the only thing he loved. Morden says he is the ambassador’s humble servant.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan confronts Kosh once and for all, speaking one of his iconic lines (quoted at the top of the review segment).

Ivanova is God. Ivanova provides exposition, and probably saves Sheridan’s life by telling him to wait until morning to talk to Kosh, since if he’d gone before going to bed, he probably would’ve been there when Morden and the Shadows showed up and been collateral damage.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi does everything he can to get Franklin to confront his stim addiction without actually doing any paperwork on it. Luckily, Franklin realizes that he’s an addict before Garibaldi gets to the point where he has to make it an official report.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn plays the role of helpmeet to Sheridan, encouraging him and supporting him while he tries to figure out how the hell to fight this war…

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari’s threat to Refa apparently worked. Luckily for Morden, he had a way to get Mollari back into the Shadows’ thrall….

The Shadowy Vorlons. We get our first Vorlon-Shadow confrontation, as the Vorlons make short work of the Shadows invading Brakiri space.

Looking ahead. Kosh says that he won’t be with Sheridan when he goes to Z’ha’dum. This will turn out to not entirely be the case…

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. It’s obvious that Mollari plans a great deal of debauchery with Adira, as most of what he requests for her suite consists of booze and lingerie.

Welcome aboard. Jennifer Balgobin debuts the recurring role of Hobbs; she’ll be back in “Walkabout.” Rance Howard officially becomes recurring, returning as the image of David Sheridan from “Severed Dreams” (though, truly, he’s playing Kosh cosplaying as Sheridan’s Dad); he’ll return as the real David in “Rising Star.” Meanwhile, we have other recurring regulars Ed Wasser as Morden, back from “Ceremonies of Light and Dark,” to return in “Z’ha’dum”; and Ardwight Chamberlain as the voice of Kosh, back from “Dust to Dust.” He’ll return as the voice of another Vorlon, Ulkesh, in the very next episode, “War Without End, Part I,” and return as Kosh in “Walkabout.”

Trivial matters. Kosh is killed in this episode, though “Walkabout” will establish that he’s only mostly dead, not all dead. Franklin resigns his position, and will remain a civilian doctor until he’s reinstated in “Shadow Dancing.”

Mollari blackmailed Refa via poison to cut off communication with Morden and the Shadows in “Ceremonies of Light and Dark,” as we see in flashbacks to that episode.

The Gaim, whose encounter suit design is similar to the helmet worn by Dream of the Endless in The Sandman comic book, are named after that comic’s writer, Neil Gaiman. Gaiman will later write an episode of the show in season five, “Day of the Dead.” (One suspects that J. Michael Straczynski regrets that particular bit of nomenclature these days…)

While Adria plays a large role in the episode, Fabiana Udenio only appears in flashbacks to “Born to the Purple.” The actor will return in the aforementioned “Day of the Dead.”

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“I’m sorry, I can’t talk—I have things to do.”

“Well, apparently so. Anything I can do to help?”

“Short of dying? No, I can’t think of a thing.”

—Vir and Morden bantering.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Unless your people get off their encounter-suited butts and do something, I’ve got nothing to lose!” Something that bothered me about this episode when I first watched it in 1996 and which bothered me even more in 2025: why does Mollari go to Morden in the end? Yes, Refa is definitely a suspect in Adira’s murder, but he’s hardly the only one. What about Morden himself? Mollari knows as well as anyone how devious Morden is and how powerful the Shadows are and how much Morden wants Mollari back in his thrall. Yes, Refa has a powerful motive and the means, but so does Morden. The fact that Mollari never even suspects Morden of committing this crime doesn’t make any kind of sense, and it makes even less sense because the viewer is shown quite clearly that Morden is the one who had Adira killed. It’d be different if Morden did something—anything—to more aggressively frame Refa. The use of poison by itself isn’t enough.

And it’s too bad, because in the grand scheme of things, this is an important moment for Mollari. He’s lost the only thing that brings him joy, which makes him far more dangerous. And I love the way Morden is written in his interactions with Mollari, in particular how he addresses him. When he confronts him in the corridor about Refa’s sudden silence, he calls him “Mollari” with the same dismissive tone that G’Kar uses. When Morden “learns” of Adira’s death, he refers to him as “Londo,” acting the sympathetic friend. And once Mollari reengages in his deal with the devil, Morden respectfully refers to him as “Ambassador,” pretending to be his humble servant when he is, in fact, neither.

It’s also an important moment for Franklin and for Sheridan. The former finally confronts his addiction, which he’ll continue to deal with going forward. And Sheridan finally gets to put his coalition together, using the Vorlons to carry a big stick.

For all that the yell-at-the-person-until-they-beat-you-up-and-then-do-what-you-wanted-in-the-first-place scene is a tired cliché, it’s sold by Bruce Boxleitner’s desperation and Ardwight Chamberlain’s ability to put a great deal of feeling into just a few words. (Just saying, “Impudent,” at Sheridan is pretty devastating.)

Franklin’s storyline is less compelling, partly because Franklin himself is just not a very good or nice character, and partly, with all due respect to the memory of Richard Biggs (who was an absolute sweetheart in real life), because the character isn’t very well acted. His breakdown in medlab is incredibly mannered and not very convincing, ditto his screaming at Garibaldi in his quarters. To his credit, he does sell the character’s quiet self-revelation to Garibaldi and his resignation speech to Sheridan.

Next week: “War Without End, Part I.”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Ship of Tears”

Bester comes to Babylon 5, this time seeking help against a common enemy…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on June 23, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Ship of Tears”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Michael Vejar
Season 3, Episode 14
Production episode 314
Original air date: April 29, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… ISN is going back online. Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin join a bunch of folks in the Zocalo to watch their return airing, hoping that this means things are getting better on Earth.

Those hopes are dashed pretty much instantly. ISN has a new anchor and is now a propaganda machine for the Clark administration, claiming that the studio was taken over by insurgents (not Clark’s troops), and also making mention of the incredibly popular martial law declaration.

Sheridan didn’t join the viewing party, as he’s busy leading the test flights for the new Starfuries they inherited from the Churchill. B5 picks up a distress call, which Sheridan decides to investigate himself, since he’s already out there. He sees the Omega symbol of the Psi Cops on the Starfury that sent the call, and so keeps his distance, as telepaths need line of sight to scan someone.

The Starfury is piloted by Bester, and he sent the distress call for fear that B5 would shoot him down if he just approached. Sheridan points out that he could shoot him down now, too. Bester counters that he has a proposal for them, one that would be mutually beneficial, so much so that, Bester opines, it would be far more satisfying than the brief satisfaction he’d get from blowing Bester out of the sky. After an uncomfortably long pause, Bester gets a bit of panic in his voice, when he prompts Sheridan for a reply. The captain, channeling Jack Benny, says, “I’m thinking it over.”

Eventually, Sheridan decides to escort Bester to the station, keeping out of line of sight the whole time.

G’Kar confronts Ivanova, who apparently blew off a meeting they were supposed to have. G’Kar says his patience is infinite, then later says he’s running out of patience. When Ivanova reminds him of the first thing, G’Kar replies that the universe is curved, and so the infinite eventually comes back around on itself. G’Kar told Sheridan he wanted in, and so far, he’s not in, even though he’s responsible for the Narn-bolstered security force on the station. Some of those Narn died….

Bester is greeted by a fully armed and armored security detail and put in detention. Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin discuss what to do with him. Franklin points out that their concern last time, that he would learn their secrets, is pretty much moot now that they’ve broken off from Earth. Speaking of that last time, Bester has said that he needs his full telepathic faculties for what he’s proposing.

Privately, Sheridan asks Ivanova if she’ll talk to Bester. If he tries to scan her, she’ll detect it, an ability Bester doesn’t know that she has. Ivanova doesn’t like it, but sees the logic. She goes to Bester, who makes a passing reference to “The Cask of Amontillado,” and then gets down to business. He knows that the Clark administration, and parts of Psi Corps, are being manipulated by aliens of unknown origin and provenance. Bester doesn’t know who those aliens are but (a) their existence is counterindicated to his own rather lofty ambitions, and (b) he’s pretty sure the B5 crew knows way more than him about them. Ivanova betrays nothing to Bester one way or the other, but says they’ll get back to him.

Sheridan passed G’Kar’s crankiness on to Delenn. The problem—and the reason why they’ve been procrastinating on reading G’Kar in on the Army of Light—is that doing so will reveal to him that the Minbari and the Vorlons knew about the Shadows even as they were suborning the Centauri and helping them conquer Narn.

Delenn determinedly says that she’ll talk to G’Kar. It’s her responsibility.

Bester explains to the command staff that the aliens—whom he believes are called “Shadows”—are carrying a cache of weapons. Bester can find the ships in hyperspace—for whatever reason, hyperspace amplifies telepathy, enabling psis to find other minds more easily. Sheridan says he’s never heard of this ability before, and Bester allows as how the Corps has kept this ability from mundanes, to keep telepaths from being used by the military.

Sheridan and Ivanova take Bester onto the White Star and head into hyperspace. Bester is able to detect the Shadow convoy and tells Lennier the heading to take.

Bester also sits in the command chair until Sheridan angrily tells him to get his ass out of it.

Delenn tells G’Kar the whole truth, including why they kept quiet about the Shadows’ return. If the Shadows knew that their return was widely known, they wouldn’t be as subtle and low-key as they have been. Instead of helping the Centauri conquer Narn, they would have wiped Narn out completely.

G’Kar—remembering the words from Kosh regarding sacrifices that would need to be made—understands. And some day he may even be able to forgive Delenn—today, though, is not that day.

The White Star takes out the smaller escort ships and brings the transport on board. A larger Shadow ship approaches, but then retreats, behavior nobody expected or understands.

The transport ship is filled with humans in cryogenic tubes labelled with the Psi Corps logo. There are about a hundred telepaths, all of whom were screaming in agony when they were frozen. Sheridan confronts Bester, who says that his initial information was that the Shadows were transporting weapons—only later did he learn that they were telepaths, and he has no idea why they were described as weapons.

Franklin unfreezes one telepath, who starts screaming as soon as she is able. Franklin sedates her and brings a bracelet she was wearing to Sheridan. They show the bracelet to Bester, who identifies it as belonging to a “blip”—a telepath who refuses to enlist in the Corps or take suppressant drugs. Even as he’s explaining this, Bester realizes to whom the bracelet belongs and demands to see her immediately.

However, the woman wakes up and starts telepathically bonding with the systems in medlab—and physically doing so as well, as various bits of equipment form a kind of armor around her. When she sees Bester, she attacks—up until then, she was being purely defensive. Testing a hypothesis, Garibaldi tosses Bester’s Psi Corps emblem to the floor, and the woman zaps it. Bester scans her, and sees aliens experimenting on her. Then they both collapse, but not before the woman calls Bester, “Alfred.”

Bester reveals that the woman is Carolyn Sanderson. She was a blip, taken to the Mars Reeducation Center, and Bester fell in love with her. When Sheridan points out that he’s married with a family, Bester counters that that was a genetic match made by Psi Corps. What he feels for Carolyn—who is pregnant with their child—is the first time he’s felt love in his life. He’d do anything for her, and he promised to keep her and the kid safe—and it’s the only promise he’s ever made in his life that he gives a damn about keeping.

Bester leaves Carolyn and the other telepaths in B5’s care, though they do not promise that they’ll be able to help them, as the technology is way way way beyond anything they’ve ever seen. But they will try. And Bester says that from this point forward, he is absolutely an ally for them against the Shadows.

The Army of Light has built a war room on B5, and Delenn brings G’Kar there.

Garibaldi has been reading the Book of G’Quan that G’Kar gave him, and he comes across something that blows his mind. He gathers the others in the war room and asks G’Kar to read a relevant part: the ancient enemy eliminated the mindwalkers. The Narn gene for telepathy has never re-developed after all their telepaths were wiped out. Garibaldi thinks that the Shadows did that because they’re vulnerable to telepaths. That was why they retreated from the White Star: they sensed Bester, a very powerful telepath, and refused to engage.

This is useful information in the battle against the Shadows, and which justifies G’Kar’s faith in Garibaldi when he gave the latter the Book of G’Quan.

Ivanova also reports that the Shadows have attacked Brakiri space openly. It’s the most public they’ve been…

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan gets to test some Starfuries, annoy Bester, lead a mission to the rescue some telepaths, worry about Delenn, annoy Bester some more, and welcome G’Kar into the Army of Light. Busy guy….

Ivanova is God. Bester tries to endear himself to Ivanova in his usual horrible way, by reminding her that her mother committed suicide, which wasn’t at all Psi Corps’ fault (yeah, right), and also that Ivanova has her mother’s eyes. This prompts Ivanova to slap Bester, which is, if anything, a restrained response…

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi actually finds useful intel in the Book of G’Quan. Looks like G’Kar giving him the book wasn’t as ridiculous as it looked at the time. (It was totally ridiculous, but it is a fun moment for him when he reveals the truth about Narn telepaths.)

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Sheridan expresses concern about Delenn being the one to tell G’Kar the dirty truth. Delenn allows as how she doesn’t want to be the one to tell him, but she has to be, and she has to do it alone.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar is not happy about being put off, nor is he happy about the Minbari and Vorlons keeping secrets. But he is happy about being let into the Army of Light, finally, ditto his gifting of the Book of G’Quan to Garibaldi bearing fruit. So he comes out mostly ahead…

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Bester has very specific ambitions, ones that are not compatible with Psi Corps being manipulated by the Shadows. While he quotes the cliché that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, everyone knows that he’ll betray their asses the moment it’s convenient.

Welcome aboard. Walter Koenig is back from “Dust to Dust” as Bester. He’ll return in “Epiphanies.” Joan McMurtrey plays Carolyn, while Diana Morgan makes the first of three appearances as ISN’s new propaganda-drenched anchor. Morgan will be back in (fittingly) “The Illusion of Truth.”

Trivial matters. ISN went dark after their studio was attacked by Clark’s forces in “Severed Dreams”; that episode is also when the EAS Churchill was destroyed, with B5 inheriting their now-orphaned Starfuries. G’Kar demanded to be let in on the Army of Light in “Point of No Return.” The Shadows’ influence on the Clark Administration was shown in both “Matters of Honor” and “Voices of Authority.” Kosh told G’Kar—when the latter was in a Dust-induced fugue state—that sacrifices would need to be made in “Dust to Dust.” G’Kar gave Garibaldi the Book of G’Quan in “Voices of Authority.” That Narns have no telepaths was established in “The Gathering.”

This episode establishes that Bester’s first name is Alfred, which means he was really and truly named after the author of The Demolished Man, the novel from which the entire structure of the Psi Cops is taken. J. Gregory Keyes’ B5 novel Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps establishes that the character was born with the name Steve Dexter, but renamed after the author of a science fiction book about telepaths, bringing the tribute full circle.

While this is Carolyn’s only onscreen appearance, she is mentioned in several other episodes, as well as in Keyes’ novel Final Reckoning: The Fate of Bester.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“‘Some must be sacrificed if all are to be saved.’ Now I understand that is as much about how we got here as where we are going. I think that one sentence is the greatest burden I have ever known.”

—G’Kar realizing that Kosh’s words to him in “Dust to Dust” are more complicated than he realized.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Try not to drool on the controls.” One of the problems with incredibly charismatic villains is that you find yourself wanting to find ways to keep them around. But you can’t keep having them show up and lose because they lose their effectiveness as villains. And you can’t keep having them show up and win, because if they win, the story’s over, because they’re nasty-ass villains, and our heroes will be total toast if the villain wins.

So you have to come up with a reason to keep the character coming back without spoiling his effectiveness. On Buffy the Vampire Slayer they put a chip in Spike that kept him from harming humans. On Farscape they had Scorpius implant a version of himself in Crichton’s head, so the character could be in every episode in some form or other. In X-Men comics, they made Magneto the head of Xavier’s School for a while.

And on B5, they gave Bester a person to be in love with who, combined with his own outsized ambitions, puts him firmly against the Shadows in a way that means he’ll cooperate with our heroes, at least for a while.

I honestly thought making Carolyn into someone Bester is in love with was a bridge too far. I just didn’t buy it. Walter Koenig has done such a good job of portraying Bester as someone who can’t even fake real human emotions convincingly—mostly because he doesn’t give enough of a shit to try—that the concept of him being in love doesn’t entirely track. And I honestly didn’t believe Bester’s insistence that Carolyn was his lover on an emotional level at all.

Besides which, it wasn’t even necessary. Just the fact that the Shadows (a) are in the way of Bester’s own lofty ambitions to rule all of Eternia, and (b) are using other human telepaths and torturing them is enough. His commentary throughout about the importance of telepaths—that they’re not expendable, that they’re much more valuable than mundanes—makes it clear that he would view the abuse of any telepaths dimly. The love interest doesn’t add anything that isn’t already there, and, again, it’s just not convincing.

Aside from the declarations of love, however, Koenig’s performance is magnificent as ever. So many lovely touches: his brief moment of panic when Sheridan doesn’t answer his query about boarding the station; his brief knowing smile before he walks up to the army of security guards who greet him on B5; casually plopping himself down in Sheridan’s command chair on the White Star; his “duh!” response to a question as to how he gained the intelligence he’s brought to B5 (“I’m a telepath—work it out”).

I like that the delay in reading G’Kar in on the Army of Light is purely cowardice on Delenn and Sheridan’s part: they don’t want to tell G’Kar the truth, because it’ll piss him off and they both know that his piss-offedness will be in all ways justified. It’s human (and, apparently, Minbari) nature to put off unpleasant confrontations.

But I’m glad he’s finally in, and I’m glad that Garibaldi’s rather ridiculous enforced read of the Book of G’Quan is bearing fruit.

Seeing ISN turn into a pure propaganda tool is also very well handled. There’s a sliver of hope in our heroes as they go to watch the first broadcast back, a desperate bit of optimism that things aren’t as bad as they feared. And instead they turn out to be worse. The ISN report is such complete horseshit, and points to J. Michael Straczynski for the letter-perfect bullshit being spewed from the new anchor.

Next week: “Interludes and Examinations.”[end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “A Late Delivery From Avalon”

A mysterious man comes to Babylon 5, dressed in chainmail and armed with a sword he calls Excalibur…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on June 16, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“A Late Delivery from Avalon”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Michael Vejar
Season 3, Episode 13
Production episode 312
Original air date: April 22, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… The Asimov arrives, a passenger liner, apparently the first non-military ship to formally dock at B5 since they broke off from Earth. Sheridan and Ivanova muse about the need for them to be self-sufficient right now, and their desperate need for more ships like the Asimov to show up and pay docking fees. Sheridan also wants to propose a treaty with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to help with the defense of B5 so it isn’t all on the Minbari.

Garibaldi is rather shocked to learn that he has to pay a hundred credits to get his package of yummy Italian foodstuffs from Earth, the last such he’s likely to get for some time. The postmaster patiently—and more than a little snidely—explains that it’s much more difficult and expensive for mail to make it from Earth, hence the tripling in price. Garibaldi refuses to pay it, and so the postmaster refuses to release the package.

Franklin is in downbelow, treating an outbreak of Banta flu, which Cole detected. Franklin is impressed with Cole’s observational prowess, as it’s hard to detect Banta flu until it’s started to spread. But Cole knows one can get it from mixing certain alien foods with certain human foods, and he saw one lurker going through a garbage can looking for food. Cole accompanies Franklin to medlab to observe the treatment, and the two discuss various things about the Rangers so the viewer can learn more about them.

One of the passengers on the Asimov is a person having nightmares. He disembarks and is stopped by security because he’s holding a sword. When security tries to confiscate it, its wielder brandishes it, objecting to being called “Mister,” appalled at the lack of respect. He identifies himself as Arthur, King of the Britons. Cole and Franklin happen by, and Cole offers to talk him down, with Franklin—and his position in the station hierarchy—vouching for him to security.

Cole kneels and acts as a supplicant, saying they weren’t informed of his arrival. He offers to bring him to the other Knights of the Round Table, but “Arthur” grows angry at that: he apparently knows that it’s no longer the sixth century, and further that his knights are all long dead. Cole convinces Arthur to (reluctantly) go to medlab to be examined.

A meeting of the war council that’s supposed to be about the new treaty instead devolves into Arthurian neepery, with Franklin pointing out that he can’t possibly be from the sixth century, because he’s speaking modern English, which didn’t exist then. Cole, however, seems very invested in the notion that he could be the real Arthur, though Garibaldi points out that there is no real Arthur.

The fanboy discussion is interrupted by medlab reporting that Arthur has escaped.

Wandering downbelow, Arthur comes across an old woman who is crying. Some thieves took the only picture she had of her husband, a fellow lurker who died shortly after they arrived on B5 in the mistaken belief that they’d be able to start a new life here. The picture was in a gold frame that is very valuable, but she could never bring herself to sell it. Arthur promises to retrieve it.

Upon tracking the thieves down, Arthur—now wearing chainmail—takes on the thieves, who are beating up another lurker. G’Kar, who is nearby obtaining messages from home from the postmaster, joins him in remonstrating with the thieves. They recover the picture and return it to the old woman, then they share a drink or twelve to celebrate their victory. G’Kar is thrilled at having been involved in a scrap where there are no moral quandaries, no shades of gray, just good guys beating up on bad guys. Arthur discusses the ideals of the Round Table, and knights G’Kar.

Garibaldi and one of his subordinates goes to break into the post office to get Garibaldi’s package. He promises to pay the old rate for the package, but he will get his mail, dammit. He shoots off the lock, and then is confronted by the postmaster, who says that it’s an additional twenty credits for the lock.

Cole finds Arthur and G’Kar in their drunken revelry and says that Arthur really needs to come back to medlab, as Garibaldi is very cross indeed. G’Kar dismisses this—Garibaldi is always cranky about something—but Arthur does agree to come with Cole. For his part, G’Kar passes out…

Sheridan and Ivanova present the Babylon Treaty to what’s left of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. (There are many empty seats.) They offer the station’s various services in exchange for protection.

Franklin has run his patient’s DNA and learned that “Arthur” is really a former EarthForce gunnery sergeant named David McIntyre. He served on the EAS Prometheus, the ship that fired on the Minbari ship Valen’Tha and killed Dukhat, the catalyst for the Earth-Minbari War. Later, McIntyre volunteered for the Battle of the Line, the final battle of the war, of which he was one of the few survivors. It is currently the fifteenth anniversary of the former event, which is probably what led to his psychotic break.

Cole urges Franklin not to share this with his patient. Franklin, however, sees no alternative. He goes to McIntyre and gets him to admit who he truly is, which only works a little bit. Unable to handle the agony of remembering the war, a war he feels guilty for helping cause (he was a gunnery sergeant, so he was one of the ones who fired on the Valen’Tha fifteen years previous) and for surviving when so many others didn’t. He falls into a catatonic state.

Ivanova happily reports to Sheridan that many League members have signed the Babylon Treaty.

Franklin and Cole discuss Arthurian legend, trying to figure out what McIntyre was trying to accomplish, and why he came to B5 specifically. Cole mentions that before Arthur went to Avalon, he urged Sir Bedivere to return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake.

So they send Delenn to medlab. She takes the sword from McIntyre, who awakens and smiles and comes back to himself.

Garibaldi shows up and pays the hundred credits for his package. (No mention of the twenty for the lock he shot.) The postmaster gives him a package that has been badly damaged, then bursts out laughing at Garibaldi’s crestfallen expression and gets the real one. The security chief then asks who’s paying for the postmaster’s quarters and the use of the mail delivery facility? Not Earth anymore. The postmaster allows as how nobody actually is, and Garibaldi says he’s willing to overlook it, as it’s important to morale to get mail. So he says that the postmaster must pay a one-time fee of 101 credits. (Apparently, a pound of flesh costs one credit…)

G’Kar recruits McIntyre for the Narn Resistance, saying they could use someone who could rally the troops to a noble cause. Franklin sees them off, then Cole joins him after McIntyre leaves, as Cole doesn’t like goodbyes. He and Franklin banter about the notion of their crew being analogues for the Round Table, starting with Kosh as Merlin…

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan solves one of his security problems by getting various races to help defend the station in exchange for the station still doing all the cool things it can do.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi struggles to get his last shipment of mozzarella, pepperoni, and other Italian yumminess from the post office.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn doesn’t say a word when she takes Excalibur, she simply takes it from McIntyre and smiles.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar gets to beat up some reprobates and become a knight. Afterward, he declares joyously that the thieves made “a very satisfying thump” when they hit the deck.

We live for the one, we die for the one. Cole explains the Ranger pin for Franklin (and the viewer): the jewel in the center is called “Isil’zha,” On either side of it is a human and a Minbari. The literal translation of the jewel’s name is “the future.”

Looking ahead. Cole assigns Arthurian roles to many of the main castmembers, with Kosh as Merlin, Sheridan as Arthur, Franklin as Percival, Ivanova as Gawain, Morden as Mordred (though he doesn’t identify him by name, though it’s pretty heavily implied), and Cole himself as Galahad (because he, too, has supposedly led a sinless life). As we fade to black, he wonders who Morgana Le Fay would be; the obvious candidate will be revealed in “Z’ha’dum” at season’s end, when Anna Sheridan appears. (Something J. Michael Straczynski himself apparently confirmed on Twitter in 2021.) The episode itself established Delenn as the Lady of the Lake.

Welcome aboard. The big guest, of course, is the great Michael York as Arthur/McIntyre. In addition, Michael Kagan plays the postmaster, Michael Francis Kelly and Jerry O’Donnell play the two security guards with speaking parts, and Dona Hardy plays the old woman.

Trivial matters. B5 broke off from Earth in “Severed Dreams,” and the Minbari fleet has been protecting them ever since. It was established in that same episode that the Shadows have been manipulating several members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds into going to war with each other. That the Earth-Minbari War started when EarthForce ships fired on Minbari ships that approached with their gun ports open was established in “Legacies.” That event will be dramatized in the fourth season’s “Atonement” and in the movie In the Beginning. The Battle of the Line was established in “The Gathering” and dramatized in “And the Sky Full of Stars.”

Cole references the Vorlons’ kidnapping of Jack the Ripper and keeping him on ice until needed, as established in “Comes the Inquisitor,” by way of theorizing that McIntyre might really be King Arthur, similarly conscripted by the Vorlons.

Michael York has appeared in two other King Arthur productions, both very loose adaptations of Mark Twain’s 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. He played Merlin in A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court prior to this in 1995, and in 1998 he played the actual King Arthur in A Knight in Camelot.

The Asimov is obviously named after the science fiction grandmaster and scientist Dr. Isaac Asimov.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be much worse if life were fair and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?’ So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.”

—Cole waxing philosophical.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Yeah, but this is the post office—this could get us in real trouble.” One of my favorite episodes of M*A*S*H is a fourth-season episode entitled “Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?” In it, a patient is brought into the 4077th identifying himself as Jesus Christ. It eventually comes out that he’s a bombardier who couldn’t handle the stress of war, and so retreated into the identity of Christ.

“A Late Delivery from Avalon” has the exact same plot. The B5 episode also has a much happier ending, which is not what you’d expect comparing an episode of this show to a sitcom, even that sitcom…

Honestly, this episode has less substance than the shorter one from 1975, because the PTSD aspect of it doesn’t really show up until we’re most of the way through the episode. Mostly it’s spending a lot of time with McIntyre’s delusion, with Michael York spouting random bits of Mallory et al, and Cole and G’Kar enabling the delusion.

To the episode’s credit, it never tries to seriously sell us on the idea that McIntyre is the real Arthur. (Cole presenting his “the Vorlons coulda done it like they did Jack the Ripper!” theory is mostly there to cut off fan arguments on the Internet at the pass.) But it’s also to the episode’s detriment that we spend so much time on McIntyre-as-Arthur that the PTSD story gets short shrift.

It’s not too terribly much of a detriment, though, because it’s Michael Fucking York, and he’s an absolute joy to watch playact at being the King of the Britons. He completely throws himself into all three roles he’s called upon to play: King Arthur, a soldier in a denial so heavy it sends him into catatonia, and David McIntyre. Honestly, I could just watch an entire episode of him and Andreas Katsulas as a drunk, adrenaline-soaked G’Kar babbling at each other over mead. On top of that, Jason Carter’s at the top of his game here, giving us a Marcus Cole who really really really wants McIntyre to be King Arthur because after all the shit he’s been through, a real hero would be a nifty thing.

The ending is a bit glib. He hands the sword over to Delenn and now he’s going to (checks notes) go lead a revolution? That doesn’t seem like a healthy thing for somebody whose recent medical history includes identity disorder and catatonia. (The M*A*S*H episode ends with Chandler, still thinking he’s the Messiah, being taken to a psychiatric hospital.)

Also, shouldn’t they have picked a Minbari who actually looks like a Minbari? It would be perfectly plausible for McIntyre to have opened his eyes and wondered why this obviously human woman put a bone on the back of her head…

But, again, Michael Fucking York. Playing King Arthur. It’s fun to watch. So, by the way, is Garibaldi’s banter with Michael Kagan’s postmaster, which is a delight. I especially love Garibaldi’s subordinate who’s incredibly frightened of the possibility of messing with the postal service. And justifiably so, as it turns out…

Next week: “Ship of Tears.”[end-mark]

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Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Sic Transit Vir”

Vir returns to Babylon 5, where he meets his fiancée for the first time…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on June 2, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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“Sic Transit Vir”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Jesus Treviño
Season 3, Episode 12
Production episode 313
Original air date: April 15, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… Ivanova has the classic walk-into-work-completely-naked-and-not-realizing-it-until-way-too-late dream, from which she wakes up screaming.

On Centauri Prime, Vir is told by a minister that his report on Minbar is well-received by Emperor Cartagia, though they detect Mollari’s editorial commentary in the report, which Vir admits to being the case. The minister first tells Vir to be more honest in his reports and not let Mollari’s tendency to tell them what they want to hear guide him. Then he shares a Narn joke with Vir, who politely laughs before taking his leave—only to find himself being greeted by a large number of Narns in his quarters…

Ivanova talks to Sheridan about her dream over breakfast, though she doesn’t give specifics regarding the nudity. Sheridan figures it’s her subconscious’ way of dealing with the uncertainty of their lives since they broke off from Earth. And hey, he says, it could be worse, you could be dreaming that you show up to work naked…

Mollari is stalking the vermin in his quarters. Maintenance is backed up, so he’s on his own. His bug hunt is interrupted by the arrival of Lyndisty, a beautiful young Centauri woman, who is Vir’s fiancée. Vir arrives at B5, not greeted by Mollari as expected. When he goes to Mollari’s quarters, the ambassador gleefully introduces Lyndisty.

Because things are quiet for the moment—on Earth, Clark is consolidating his power base and dealing with issues there, so he’s leaving B5 alone for the nonce, and there are no other crises looming—Sheridan asks Delenn out to dinner. She happily accepts.

Vir is nonplussed by the notion of a betrothal. He would prefer to marry for love—he’s silly that way—but Lyndisty refuses to accept that and insists that he will grow to love her as she does him, even though she only just met him. Her dedication to their impending marriage is intense, so much so that Vir starts to buckle.

Allan goes to Ivanova in CnC—his first time there, as it happens. Once Ivanova gets him to stop gaping at the view, he shows her a report he has of some Narns moving through the station. Their transit papers are sponsored by a Centauri official named Abrahamo Lincolni, and they were done through the office of the Centauri ambassador to Minbar.

Vir goes to Ivanova to explain to her about Abrahamo Lincolni, and he’s surprised to see that she already knows about it. He explains that he’s trying to get Narns off the homeworld to work camps. The work camps aren’t great, but they’re way better than being on the Narn homeworld right now.

Sheridan cooks Delenn a Minbari meal, resulting in a truly messy kitchen and flarn that is desperate need of more flavor. Delenn gamely eats the meal, surreptitiously adding a ton of salt and pepper to it in order to make it edible.

Vir and Lyndisty are ambushed by a Narn who says he has found the murderer. There is a fight, and a security alert. Sheridan interrupts dinner to deal with it, along with Allan, who is forced to shoot the Narn with his PPG when he won’t lower his weapon. His last words are a declaration of a blood oath.

Lyndisty treats Vir’s injuries. Ivanova learns that the Narn’s pouch-brother is also on the station, which means the blood oath will transfer to the brother. Ivanova shares this with Vir, but he’s mostly thinking about Lyndisty, and he asks Ivanova for advice on dealing with her, advice Ivanova is in no position to give, both as a non-Centauri and as someone whose own love life is something of a mess.

Further research reveals a connection between Vir and the Narn who attacked him: he’s related to some of the Narns Vir provided transit papers for. However, Ivanova has also discovered that all the Narns Vir gave transit papers to are listed as dead. While Mollari is thrilled to see that Vir is killing Narns by the truckload, Sheridan and Ivanova are disgusted.

However, Vir says that they’re not dead, he just had them declared dead so they’d be safe. They’re civilians who were in need of medical treatment. By getting them off the Narn homeworld and declared dead, they could be treated and sent elsewhere. Now Mollari is disgusted.

Lyndisty finds a depressed Vir, and offers to cheer him up: she has captured a Narn! The Narn’s pouch-brother has indeed attacked, and it turns out he wasn’t attacking Vir—he was attacking Lyndisty. Her father was in charge of culling Narns, and Lyndisty helped him with it. She gleefully talks about all the Narns she’s killed, and offers this Narn to Vir to kill.

Mollari is able to minimize the damage to Vir’s career, but he is recalled from his ambassadorial post and brought back to B5. Minbari influence is said to be the cause of his problems. Because of the loss of prestige, the marriage to Lyndisty is postponed, though Lyndisty promises to wait for him.

Ivanova fleshes out “Abrahamo Lincolni,” giving him a visual profile that is basically Sheridan as a Centauri. Mollari doesn’t know about “Lincolni,” so Ivanova plans to use that cover to smuggle more Narns off the homeworld. It may not be possible to do it, but even getting one Narn to safety would make it worth the effort.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Delenn expresses concern over Sheridan’s tendency to jump into dangerous situations, as she is blissfully unaware that he’s the lead in a TV show and therefore must do that sort of thing.

Ivanova is God. Ivanova confesses to Sheridan at the end of the episode that she enjoys being a sneak, and so Sheridan proclaims her to be B5’s official sneak-in-residence, a position she accepts gleefully.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. While Minbari supposedly don’t lie, they will lie in order to save face—their own or someone else’s. Which explains why Delenn lies like a cheap rug when Sheridan asks her how his homemade flarn is and she says it’s good….

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari’s quarters are overrun by bugs. At one point, he swears that they’re evolving before his eyes, and urges Vir and Lyndisty to keep their eye out for them, as he needs to kill them before they develop language skills.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. Vir has found a way to save some Narn lives, and Ivanova finds a way to keep it going even after it’s been exposed.

Looking ahead. Vir’s longing stare at the emperor’s throne is at least in part due to the prediction made by Lady Morella in “Point of No Return” that Vir would one day be emperor, an ascension that we will see before the show’s conclusion.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Lyndisty does a decent job of seducing Vir right up to the part where it turns out she’s a psychopath. Meantime, the Sheridan-Delenn pairing continues apace with a lovely, if barely edible, dinner in the captain’s quarters.

Welcome aboard. Damian London officially makes his Centauri official recurring, as he returns from “The Quality of Mercy.” He’ll be back in “The Hour of the Wolf” at the top of season four, and will eventually be named Milo Virini.

Carmen Thomas plays Lyndisty.

Trivial matters. The episode was obviously inspired by the actions of Oskar Schindler and especially Chiune Sugihara during World War II. Schindler, an industrialist, and Sugihara, a diplomat, were able to save the lives of many Jews living under Nazi rule by employing them in factories that were safer than the concentration camps (Schindler) or giving them transit visas that enabled them to travel through Japan-controlled territory to safety (Sugihara). Schindler’s actions were dramatized in the 1982 novel Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally, which was adapted in 1993 by Steven Spielberg into the movie Schindler’s List.

Jerry Doyle was given this episode off to allow the broken wrist he suffered during the filming of “Severed Dreams” to heal. Garibaldi was the only character to have appeared in every episode of B5 to date, a streak broken by this episode.

We saw Mollari editing Vir’s reports on Minbar in both “Dust to Dust” and “Point of No Return.”

Lyndisty is never seen or referenced again, not even in the “Legions of Fire” novel trilogy by the late great Peter David that centered on the Centauri Republic.

While the final fate of Lyndisty’s Narn prisoner is never revealed onscreen, scripter J. Michael Straczynski said online that there was a line of dialogue from Ivanova that the Narn was recovering in medlab, which wound up being lost in editing.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“I heard a new joke! What is more dangerous than a locked room full of angry Narns?”

“I don’t know—what is more dangerous than a locked room full of angry Narns?”

“One angry Narn with the key!”

—The minister telling a joke to Vir.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “If kisses could kill, that one would’ve flattened several small towns.” When Steven Furst initially appeared as Vir way back in the first season, it was mostly just, “Oh, look, it’s Flounder as a Centauri.” In particular his sitting in the meeting room playing video games in “Born to the Purple” was, to say the least, embarrassing, and didn’t speak highly of Vir as a character.

But the character has been permitted to evolve beyond his Animal House-ish origins. As Mollari has fallen further and further into the darkness, Vir has had the unenviable role of his conscience. It’s a thankless role, and one that shows very little sign of working, but it’s one the viewer can appreciate, even if the ambassador can’t.

The plot of this episode stems from a particularly powerful scene back in “Comes the Inquisitor,” when Vir found himself stuck in an elevator with G’Kar. Vir desperately wants to apologize to G’Kar, but nothing he can say would be of interest to the Narn, who cuts himself and screams, “Dead!” every time a drop of blood falls to the deck. In the ensuing months, Vir has come up with a way to make up for the horrible crimes of his people.

Unfortunately, he is betrothed to a psychopath. Carmen Thomas does a wonderful job of portraying Lyndisty’s bland sincerity, giving the same earnest tone to her description of Vir’s kind face that she does to her description of how she helped her father commit mass murder. But of course, she doesn’t view the Narns as people. I was going to say she views them as animals, but that’s not even fair, because you just know that Lyndisty would be kinder to an animal. (There has been no character on B5 more likely to own a puppy than Lyndisty.)

The rest of the episode is fine. The Sheridan-Delenn pairing continues to be charming, Vir trying to ask Ivanova for advice on sexual relations is a rare case of a humorous scene in B5 actually being funny (in direct contrast to the opening scene of Ivanova’s naked-to-work dream, which was just tired). And Mollari’s ongoing battle against bugs is a delight, magnificently played by Peter Jurasik.

Next week: “A Late Delivery from Avalon.”[end-mark]

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Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Ceremonies of Light and Dark”

The newly independent station mourns its losses, protects its own, and looks to the future.

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

|

Published on May 28, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Over the weekend, Peter David—among many other things, the writer of three television episodes and several novels and novelizations in the Babylon 5 franchise, and also a friend of your humble rewatcher—passed away after several lengthy illnesses. This edition of the B5 Rewatch is dedicated to his memory.

“Ceremonies of Light and Dark”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John Flinn III
Season 3, Episode 11
Production episode 311
Original air date: April 8, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… A mess of shuttles are leaving B5, some with NightWatch loyalists who are no longer welcome, some with people who just don’t want to be there anymore. Sheridan expresses concern about NightWatch personnel who have remained hidden on the station. The captain also refuses to wear his uniform jacket, quoting Mark Twain’s line about his hypocrisy only going so far, though he will make an exception for the memorial service.

They’re keeping comms locked down so EarthDome can’t use the comms to take over the computer, but Garibaldi has the master access codes, so he can change all the passwords. Once that’s done, they can reopen comms.

Sheridan makes rounds, against Garibaldi’s advice, as the captain is a target. But Sheridan says the whole point is to be out in the open. Sure enough, a sniper gets a bead on Sheridan while he’s out and about, but Boggs—a security guard loyal to NightWatch—stops the sniper from shooting. If they assassinate Sheridan, he becomes a martyr.

Delenn meets with representatives of the Minbari fleet that saved the day last episode. Lennier then informs her that the fleet captain, Lennan, wishes to tour the station, and Delenn agrees to conduct the tour herself.

Cole returns to the station, and surprises Delenn by having no great loyalty to Earth. As a colonial, he viewed Earth merely as a parasite that was taking their tax money, and damn little else. Delenn tells Cole that now would be a good time for the Nafak’cha—the Rebirth Ceremony. Cole thinks it’s a bad idea, as everyone is too focused on their own affairs right now.

That proves prophetic when it comes to Mollari and G’Kar, both of whom politely but firmly decline. So does Cole when Delenn formally invites him to attend.

There is a memorial service for those who died in the attack on the station, with their bodies sent into space toward the sun. As promised, Sheridan wears his dress uniform for that.

Mollari meets with Refa, who is annoyed at having to come to the station for this meeting. But Mollari has made plenty of trips to Centauri Prime, so Mollari felt it was Refa’s turn. The ambassador questions why the Centauri are fighting on so many fronts. Refa says they have to expand, but they are doing so at the expense of spreading the military very thin. Fighting on two fronts is ill-advised—fighting on twelve is insanity. Mollari then drops the other shoe: He knows that Refa is working with Morden and his associates. Refa denies it until Mollari reveals a recording of a conversation he had with Morden a ways back, at which point Refa cops to it. Mollari tells Refa that the Shadows will eventually turn on them, which will be easy to do with their forces so divided. Refa thinks Mollari is a silly goose, and why should he do that? Mollari replies that his patriotism should outweigh his ambition—and besides, Mollari poisoned Refa’s drink. It’s a two-part poison. The first part, which Mollari has introduced into Refa’s drink, will lay dormant in the blood until the second part is introduced… which Mollari will have his agents on Centauri Prime do, if Refa doesn’t cut ties with Morden.

The two NightWatch dudes we saw earlier meet with the remnants of NightWatch on the station. Boggs lays out the plan: kidnap Delenn, and use that to force the Minbari fleet to withdraw. That will leave the station vulnerable. The sniper from earlier, whom scripter J. Michael Straczynski is too lazy to name, says that a human killing a Minbari is what started the Earth-Minbari War, and maybe they shouldn’t do that? But Boggs says that the plan is to make it look like Sheridan is responsible. The sniper—who spent the aforementioned war torturing Minbari POWs—starts singing “Dem Bones” to make it clear that he’s completely binky-bonkers.

Garibaldi and Ivanova are able to reset the passwords and reboot the system. However, the latter reactivates a dormant AI program that they abandoned once it proved to be too annoying, as the program—nicknamed “Sparky”—sounds like a nudzhing father.

Cole accompanies Delenn to her meet-up with Fleet Captain Lennan, and the ambassador once again tries to convince the Ranger to attend the Nafak’cha. Cole explains his reasons for refusing: You’re supposed to give up something important to you. Cole doesn’t have anything left to give away. He no longer has a home, and all his worldly possessions are on his back. Delenn disagrees, as the memories of that loss are something he needs to let go. Cole politely disagrees.

Delenn meets with Lennan and his aide, and all three Minbari are ambushed and kidnapped by Boggs and his crew.

Boggs contacts Sheridan and says that if the Minbari fleet isn’t gone in six hours, the Minbari will die. To prove he’s serious, he shoots Lennan’s aide. The comm is scrambled, but Sheridan tells Garibaldi to examine the communication itself to see if there are clues to their location.

For his part, Cole goes to downbelow and threatens the criminals who hang out in the bar he frequents. If somebody doesn’t talk, he says, in five minutes he’ll be the only one at the table left standing. Five minutes after that, he’ll be the only one in the bar still standing. Ten minutes later, he’s made good on that threat, but unfortunately, everyone in the bar is insensate, and there’s nobody left to answer his questions.

Lennier shows up, and winds up doing a part of the Nafak’cha: confessing a secret. In his case, it’s that he loves Delenn, a pure love that goes beyond romantic love. He also knows that she is fated for another and that his love is destined to remain unrequited. He will, nonetheless, always be there for her.

One of the thugs wakes up, and Cole is able to get information out of him: A member of security who is with NightWatch wanted black-market parts sent to Level 14. Meantime, Garibaldi has determined that the background noise in Boggs’ comm indicates that it’s in Grey Sector. Sure enough, a section of Grey 14 has been locked down, supposedly by Garibaldi’s order; an order the chief never gave. That’s probably where Delenn is.

Delenn and Lennan have a conversation in Minbari in an attempt to be covert, but the sniper speaks Minbari—he learned it while torturing prisoners.

Boggs is thrilled to see that the Minbari ships are retreating. But before he can signal Clark’s loyalists to jump into the Epsilon system, there’s an explosion and coolant starts leaking into the chamber. They have to evacuate, which they do—

—right into an ambush. The Minbari ships retreating was a bluff. In the ensuing melee, Ivanova shoots Boggs, Delenn is stabbed, and Sheridan nearly beats the sniper to death, getting out all his frustrations about NightWatch in general and Delenn’s injury in particular on the sniper’s face.

While Delenn will recover, her injuries preclude her hosting the Nafka’cha. Sheridan, however, decides to bring the ceremony to her. He, Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin each sacrifice something important to them—in each case, it’s their EarthForce uniform—and make a confession to Delenn. Lennier informs them that, having anticipated this, they each have a gift in their quarters: new uniforms that symbolize B5’s independence. They are each reborn, and they wear the new uniforms to CnC as Sheridan reopens full comms and says that B5 is open for business once again.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan’s Nafka’cha confession is that he has fallen in love with Delenn, which isn’t really a secret to anyone who’s been paying attention, but whatever…

Ivanova is God. Ivanova’s Nafka’cha confession is that she fell in love with Winters.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi’s Nafka’cha confession is that he’s afraid of losing control.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn asks Lennier what he thinks of the changes on the station, and Lennier rather evasively defaults to trusting in prophecy. Delenn has to remind him that prophecy is not always a good guide…

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… During the glory days of the Centauri Republic, poison was a common method of dealing with one’s enemies among the upper classes. Since Refa is trying to restore the glory days of the Centauri Republic, Mollari finds it fitting to use poison as a tool to manipulate his fellow aristocrat now.

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar is too busy trying to continue to be indispensable to attend the rebirth ceremony. Besides which, he says, he was already born once, “and quite sufficiently, I think.”

We live for the one, we die for the one. Cole hangs out in a skeevy bar in downbelow, and he’s able to operate there because he has an agreement with the criminals that hang out there that they each leave the other alone. That agreement gets bent once Delenn is kidnapped, however…

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Both Lennier and Sheridan confess their love for Delenn in this episode, while Ivanova confesses her love for Winters. Cha cha cha.

Welcome aboard. Don Stroud and Paul Perri play our NightWatch bad guys with speaking parts. (Stroud previously played Caliban in “TKO.”) Creative consultant Harlan Ellison does the voice of Sparky the computer, while Kim Strauss plays Lennan.

And we’ve also got recurring regulars William Forward as Refa (back from “The Long, Twilight Struggle,” next in “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”), Joshua Cox as Corwin (back from “Severed Dreams,” next in the first part of “War Without End”), and Ed Wasser as Morden (back from his uncredited vocal cameo in “Voices of Authority,” next in “Interludes and Examinations”).

Trivial matters. Garibaldi’s arm is now in a sling, due to an injury suffered by Jerry Doyle during filming of “Severed Dreams,” but which was filmed after the final scene in which his only injury was to his legs. The retcon is that Garibaldi said he initially refused the sling, but it got worse, so Franklin insisted.

Ed Wasser’s role in this episode is either a redo or an alternate take of one of his scenes with Mollari in “Matters of Honor,” which is seen here as a holographic recording.

Sheridan’s closing line about the station being back in business echoes Takashima’s line at the end of “The Gathering.”

The Nafak’cha was first mentioned, and partly seen, in “The Parliament of Dreams.”

When Cole is mentioning things he’s lost, one thing on the list is “a woman I was quite fond of.” According to the B5 novel To Dream in the City of Shadows by Kathryn M. Drennan, which dramatizes Cole’s backstory on the Arisia Mining Colony, that woman was Hasina Mandisa, the colony’s chief of planetary forecasting.

When Delenn and Cole are talking while waiting to meet Lennan, there’s a 1990s yellow “wet floor” sign behind them which probably wasn’t supposed to be on camera…

The echoes of all of our conversations.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Bugger, now I have to wait for someone to wake up!” Almost anything would be a letdown after “Severed Dreams,” and much of this episode sadly lives down to that expectation. The main culprit for the disappointment is, once again, bad guest casting, as Dan Stroud and Paul Perri are absolutely wretched as the NightWatch thugs. Stroud sounds like a cheesy villain in a bad Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the 1960s, and Perri conveys absolutely no sense of menace or craziness in a role that requires at least one of those things, and preferably both. It kind of takes the wind out of the sails of the kidnapping plot.

One of the reasons why NightWatch has been effective is that it’s been portrayed as reasonable sounding, with many of its representatives beautifully portraying the blandness of evil, sounding just like people trying to do their job properly, and played by actors who embody that nicely—Alex Hyde-White, John Vickery, Shari Shattuck, Vaughn Armstrong—so Stroud doing his Snidely Whiplash act just does not work.

The rest of the episode is okay. Lennier’s confession of his pure love for Delenn gives me an oogy feeling watching it now for some reason. I dunno, it just feels unnecessary—can’t he just be loyal to her because he admires her and believes in her? I mean, it works for Cole…

The less said about the computer’s dormant AI coming to life the better, as beyond giving the late Harlan Ellison a chance to do his borscht-belt schtick, it serves little purpose except as comic relief that isn’t actually all that funny. To be fair, that’s the fate of a lot of the attempts at comic relief in this franchise. Casual conversational humor tends to work better in this particular milieu than more direct attempts at humor (like G’Kar’s line about having already been born the once).

I was very happy to see the memorial service. Just because all the people who died weren’t actual characters on the television show Babylon 5, in-universe they were personnel assigned to Babylon 5, and their deaths absolutely should have been mourned. However, while I was happy to see that multiple ethnicities were represented in the names that Ivanova reeled off of the deceased, I was also disappointed that the script did a better job of diverse casting than the casting department has ever been able to manage. There were more people of Italian, Latin, and/or Asian descent in that casualty list than there have been with speaking parts. (That may not be 100% accurate, but it sure feels that way…)

While the concept of the Nafak’cha is a good one, the execution leaves a bit to be desired. I remember being mostly confused by Ivanova’s confession thirty years ago, as that seemed like a huge leap from what little we saw of Ivanova and Winters together before the character was written out, and watching it now, I was just rolling my eyes at the pointlessness of it. Garibaldi’s confession started out promising, when he said he was always afraid, but then after a pause, he keeps talking and clarifies that it’s losing control he’s afraid of, which is much less interesting.

At least Franklin was kind enough to finally admit that he has a stims problem, contrary to his assurances in “A Day in the Strife” that he was fine, no really, honest. And the only possible response to Sheridan’s confession of love for Delenn is, “DUH!” That’s been obvious for a while, dude…

Where this episode shines is as a vehicle for Jason Carter, as Cole is delightful here. In particular, I like that he sticks to his guns and doesn’t participate in the Nafak’cha, even after multiple implorings by Delenn. And just in general, it’s fun to watch him kick ass and snark off.

Next week: “Sic Transit Vir.”[end-mark]

The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Ceremonies of Light and Dark” appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Severed Dreams”

Sheridan secedes from the Earth Alliance, and the station prepares for an attack…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

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Published on May 19, 2025

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“Severed Dreams”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David J. Eagle
Season 3, Episode 10
Production episode 310
Original air date: April 1, 1996

It was the dawn of the third age… The EAS Alexander is in a firefight with the EAS Clarkstown. Major Ed Ryan is in command, and his second, Bill Trainor, is trying to convince Ryan to either jump or really open fire on the Clarkstown. Ryan isn’t willing to do the former with their fighters still out in space, and he isn’t willing to do the latter on principle. However, the Clarkstown isn’t following that principle, so Ryan relents. The Clarkstown is destroyed. As the Alexander jumps, Ryan says that Hague introduced him to the captain of the Clarkstown, who has a wife and three kids. That, he says, is the problem with this particular war: they know the people they’re killing.

The Alexander sets course for the only safe haven they’ve got: Babylon 5. When he hears of their imminent arrival, Sheridan orders Garibaldi to put a kill switch on comms channels, leaving only one discreet channel for the command staff, and the ISN feed, which is the only source of information from Earth. It needs to be radio silence otherwise, to keep the Alexander’s arrival under wraps from Earth.

ISN then provides the latest bit of that information: Mars has refused to comply with Clark’s martial law order.

Lennier brings Franklin to downbelow, where a Minbari Ranger is hurt. Delenn can’t risk bringing him to medlab, but Franklin insists. Delenn isn’t sure who on the security force can be trusted, but then G’Kar appears and says he knows which ones can, and he picks the Ranger up and carries him to medlab, where Franklin cures him and he provides intelligence about the Shadows’ latest shenanigans. When Delenn asks what the Grey Council’s response is, she’s disgusted to hear that it’s that the affairs of aliens are not their concern.

The Alexander arrives at B5, and Sheridan hits the cutoff switch. Sheridan explains to the staff in CnC that Clark’s orders are unconstitutional and B5 will render humanitarian aid to the Alexander. The crew goes along with that.

Ryan comes on board, and we find out that Hague was killed in the fight with the Clarkstown. He reports about what’s happening on Earth: many senators are in hiding, and a lot of high-ranking EarthForce personnel who are enforcing martial law are Clark loyalists whom he has put into power over the previous year. There are troops everywhere. The people on Earth are mostly okay with this—or at least aren’t being overt in their disapproval—mainly because crime is at an all-time low.

As they talk, the Alexander reports that EarthForce is bombing Mars. We cut to Mars where a Starfury bombs a civilian target.

Delenn buggers off to the Grey Council’s traveling headquarters to give them a piece of her mind. She bitches them out for ignoring prophecy in general and her warnings in particular, as the Shadows are doing everything expected, and the council has done nothing to curtail them. She grabs the staff of office and breaks it in twain, and leads all the Religious Caste members of the council out of the room.

An ISN report is interrupted by the anchor’s boss, who hurriedly explains that there’s a lot of news they haven’t given—like the fact that the Earth colonies on Orion VII and Proxima II are also defying martial law—but troops are storming the ISN building in Geneva.

And then ISN goes dark.

The EAS Churchill, who is on the good guys’ side, arrives. Captain Sandra Hiroshi reports that a fleet is en route to B5 to capture the Alexander. When Ryan offers to run away to keep B5 safe, Hiroshi explains that that ship has sailed, as the fleet was already en route to B5 to take over the station.

Ryan and Hiroshi return to their ships. Sheridan and the command crew agree to fight rather than surrender. He then orders Ivanova to get every Starfury ready for battle, tells Franklin to clear medlab as much as possible, as there will be casualties, and tells Garibaldi to arm everyone on his staff and have them prepare to repel boarders—this includes arming the Narns. Sheridan is then able to get a call through to his father, who is pleasantly supportive and loving, and reminding him of the best advice he can give: don’t ever start a fight, but always be ready to finish it.

Using Draal’s holographic system on Epsilon III, Sheridan makes an announcement to the entire station: as of now, B5 has seceded from the Earth Alliance, until such a time as Clark is out of power. After doing so, he gives everyone in CnC a chance to walk out before he gives orders they’re not comfortable obeying. One person does leave.

The EAS Agrippa and EAS Roanoke arrive through the jumpgate and order B5 to stand down and prepare to be boarded. Sheridan urges them to not follow Clark’s incredibly illegal orders. They don’t listen. Sheridan orders everyone to launch fighters, but not to fire first.

Soon enough, the battle is joined. In addition to fighting in space, a platoon of Marines board the station, repelled by Garibaldi’s security personnel.

The Churchill is lost, but Hiroshi takes out one of the enemy ships by ramming it before she goes boom, with the other ship also taken care of by B5 and the Alexander. However, two more capital ships arrive to take up the cause.

Then four jump points open over the station: the White Star and three Minbari capital ships, with Delenn in command announcing that the station is under Minbari protection. The EarthForce ships try to posture, but Delenn bluntly reminds them of how overmatched EarthForce was against Minbari vessels a decade ago, and that the only human ship captain to get the better of them is on her side. The EarthForce ships beat a hasty retreat.

Ryan and Sheridan have a conversation in the latter’s quarters. Ryan offers Churchill’s Starfuries to B5 to replenish their losses. The major plans to take the Alexander out to find other ships loyal to their side—and also stay away from B5, so that Clark has to split his search parties. Sheridan reiterates that they’re always welcome back here if needs be. Sheridan also refuses to put his uniform jacket back on, as he doesn’t feel comfortable wearing EarthForce insignia right present.

Both Garibaldi and Ivanova are injured—the former from the boarding party, the latter from a collision in space that she was barely able to eject from—and the general feeling on B5 is one of happiness, as the command staff gets a round of applause from the patrons of the Zocalo. In addition, many people are leaving, some by choice, others—like all the ones still loyal to NightWatch—by force. Sheridan tells Garibaldi that he’ll need to be on the lookout for sabotage, as there will likely be NightWatch folk still on board.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan finds out his friend is dead, has a fraught but loving conversation with his father, secedes from Earth, and wins a fight against his own people—barely.

Ivanova is God. Ivanova insists on leading the Starfuries in space, pointing out that it’s important for morale. These guys are being ordered to fire on their fellow EarthForce people, so one of the people giving those orders needs to be out there with them, putting her life and career on the line with them.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Before going in to scold the Grey Council, Delenn bullies her way past the acolyte trying to block her entry by reminding him that she was the chosen successor of Dukhat, the Minbari leader whose death was the catalyst for the Earth-Minbari War, and that he died in her arms. She then shatters the council, which was apparently foretold in prophecy.

In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… At the top of the episode, Mollari is on a very long line waiting to gain ingress to the station. It’s backed up because of the number of people going on and off the station, and while on line, Mollari bitches that it’s because the humans are using Narns for security, and they’re not very efficient. Then he gets to the front of the line and there’s a Narn on duty, who says that the computer doesn’t recognize his indenticard. The Narn tells Mollari that it could just be that he isn’t very efficient, but could he step aside, please? This will all be settled in a couple hours….

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. When asked if he should arm the Narns in security, Sheridan is unhesitating in saying yes, because G’Kar has fulfilled every promise he’s made and done everything they’ve asked of him. And he also helps Delenn get a Ranger safely to medlab. Before heading off to scold the Grey Council, Delenn expresses her admiration for how much G’Kar has changed since she first met him.

We live for the one, we die for the one. The Minbari Ranger has been traversing the various members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, and they are now fighting amongst themselves. The Shadows have approached them, and promised to assist them the way they assisted the Centauri. Most have accepted, preferring the recent history of the Centauri over the recent history of the Narn. And now, emboldened, they’re making war on their neighbors.

The Shadowy Vorlons. The Shadows have sown the seeds of chaos throughout the galaxy. It started with their manipulation of the Centauri to bring them into conflict with the Narn, and the recording in Draal’s archives that they found in “Voices of Authority” shows that they were also involved in Clark’s rise to power. Now we know that they’re doing this all over the place…

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. When Sheridan and Delenn talk at the end of the episode, with Sheridan thanking Delenn for saving his ass, the sparks between them are such that you could put a match between the two of them and it would light on its own.

Looking ahead. Delenn mentions that the Shadows’ return and the shattering of the Grey Council were both predicted in prophecy. The revelation of who Valen is in the upcoming “War Without End” two-parter will explain how Valen knew that this stuff would happen…

Welcome aboard. Kim Miyori and the great Bruce McGill play, respectively, Hiroshi and Ryan. Matt Gottlieb plays the ISN news director and James Parks plays the Minbari Ranger.

We introduce a new recurring regular in Rance Howard as Sheridan’s Dad—he’ll be back in “Interludes and Examinations.” Plus there’s Joshua Cox as Corwin and Maggie Egan as the ISN anchor, both back from “Point of No Return.” We’ll see Corwin next in “Ceremonies of Light and Dark,” while Egan—whose character’s name, we learn in this episode, is Jane—won’t be seen again until “Endgame.”

And we have our Robert Knepper moment, as I totally forgot that the great Phil Morris was in this as Trainor. Morris—the son of Mission: Impossible’s Greg Morris—has played several roles on the various Star Treks between 1966 and 1999, done a ton of voiceover roles, starred in the 1980s revival of M:I (with his Dad guest starring in one episode), and had recurring roles as J’onn J’onzz in Smallville and Silas Stone in Doom Patrol.

Trivial matters. The part of Ryan was written originally for Robert Foxworth to return as Hague, but Foxworth was already committed to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine two-parter “Homefront” and “Paradise Lost” (ironically also a story in which the declaration of martial law is a major plot point), and so was unavailable. J. Michael Straczynski decided to kill the character off, mostly—according to his own online posts—because he was pissed that Foxworth took the other gig after already being committed to B5.

In one of the outtakes from the episode, Bruce McGill said that General Hague’s agent double-booked him to also be on DS9, so he couldn’t be there.

When he learned that Foxworth wouldn’t be available, Straczynski wanted Everett McGill to play Ryan. But he couldn’t remember his first name, so he asked the casting department for “that McGill guy,” and they thought he meant Bruce, which Straczynski didn’t learn until the first day of filming. Oops. (Apparently, the casting department were bigger fans of Animal House than they were of Quest for Fire…)

This episode won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1997, beating out DS9’s “Trials and Tribble-ations,” and the movies Star Trek: First Contact, Independence Day, and Mars Attacks! It was the show’s third nomination in four years, and its second straight year winning the award. The show would only be nominated one more time, two years hence, for “Sleeping in Light,” which it would lose to The Truman Show.

At one point, Sheridan tries to get the Roanoke to surrender, but the external shots that correspond are all of the Agrippa. A bit of miscommunication between the FX department and everyone else…

Jerry Doyle broke his arm during filming, and will be seen with a cast on that arm in subsequent episodes. However, the scenes at the end of this episode with him using a cane and his arms perfectly fine were already filmed before he broke the arm, so that injury will technically be a retcon…

This is the last time we see Maggie Egan’s ISN anchor until after the Clark Administration is out of power, where her return to the ISN desk will be symbolic of a return to order and justice.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection—withdraw or be destroyed.”

“Negative, we have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ships.”

“Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me—you are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else.”

—Delenn having her crowning moment of awesome against EarthForce, and providing the source of the Minbari category in this rewatch.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “We won’t start this fight, but by God, we’ll finish it.” I really love it when a show just sets the status quo on fire, and this is a particularly fine example of the breed. All the tensions, all the worries, all the fear of the last batch of episodes comes to a nasty head here. The stakes are high, the danger real, and the pathos is heartfelt.

Having said that, the episode has some minor flaws that I’d like to mention up front. One is that the speech Ryan gives to Trainor about how they know the people they’re fighting sets things up nicely for the climactic confrontation. But then that confrontation just has uncredited voice actors playing the captains of the Agrippa, Roanoke, and the other two ships, a seriously blown opportunity. It would’ve been much more effective to give those captains a face, to make real what Ryan was talking about. (The show will do better with this in “No Surrender, No Retreat” next season.)

Also, while Delenn’s scolding of the Grey Council is well played by Mira Furlan, I didn’t buy the scene for a single nanosecond. There is nothing in their appearances in “Legacies,” “Points of Departure,” and “All Alone in the Night” that indicates to me that either Hedronn or Neroon would remain quiet—well, ever, honestly, but certainly not in this circumstance. That scene should have ended with the start of an argument, and cut away to cover the fact that Robin Sachs and John Vickery aren’t in the episode, but still show that the two of them (and the rest of the council) would have something to say in response to Delenn’s provocative words. True, it would have cost us the visual of the Religious Caste members leaving the room, but a bunch of extras with their faces covered leaving a dark room isn’t all that effective a visual anyhow.

And having the Japanese captain do a kamikaze run? Really? Especially given the paucity of Asian characters on the show generally? Sheesh.

But the rest of the episode is stellar. Bruce Boxleitner is a true leader here, as the burden is very much on Sheridan, but we also never lose track of how many lives are at stake, and how many people are affected by what’s going on. Boxleitner sells every scene, every emotional beat, from the confidence he projects when talking to the troops in CnC (and over the holographic communicator) to the love he shows for and the fear he’s willing to allow to be seen by his father to his obvious frustration when talking to the command staff about what they have to do.

Robert Foxworth taking the DS9 gig actually works in the episode’s favor, because losing Hague means something. He’s been a solid, steady background presence, plus he was very effective in his two on-camera appearances. He’s someone we actually know and care about and view as an important part of the Army of Light’s resistance against the darkness. His death is a reminder that not everyone will necessarily make it out alive.

One of my favorite scenes in this is ISN going dark. Up until now, it’s been obvious that ISN isn’t reporting everything, though they’re still providing plenty of news, but you wonder what they’re not being told—or not being allowed to tell. When the news director breathlessly shows up on camera and starts word-vomiting as much truth as he can before they go offline, it’s chilling. Good job by Maggie Egan showing her anchor going from steady, almost bland news reader to sheer panic at both what her boss is saying and what is happening outside the building—and then inside the building. ISN hasn’t been kept in the dark, they’ve been gagged, which is way worse. And now they’ve been eliminated. It’s a chilling, devastating moment.

And then there’s Delenn’s Mighty Mouse moment as the White Star and three Minbari capital ships show up to remind everyone who the baddest mothers on the block are, and it ain’t EarthForce.

The secession is also quite the big deal, and will remain so going forward. This is a major shift in the dynamic of the entire show, and one that shows the difference between what the Shadows want—darkness, divide and conquer, isolationism—and what is needed to defeat them—unity and collaboration. The humans on B5 come out ahead here primarily because of the help from the Minbari, in the form of Delenn bigfooting the entire battle, and the Narn, who bolster the forces fighting the boarding parties. Indeed, G’Kar’s general support is highlighted here, as he continues to make himself indispensable to our heroes, trying to get them to read him in on what’s really happening.

Overall, this is a tour de force, one of the show’s strongest episodes, and one that sets an exciting tone for the rest of the season.

Next week: “Ceremonies of Light and Dark.”[end-mark]

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