Yep, it is that long ago.
With the Blu-Ray set out, feels right for a thread.
Have just started it up and it turns out the BR set has the later version of The Gathering, which I’ve never seen.
Babylon 5 – 30 years later
- This topic has 31 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 3 months, 3 weeks ago by
.
Viewing 31 replies - 1 through 31 (of 31 total)
Author
-
I’ve been rewatching it separate from the re-release actually. I just finished Ship of Tears earlier. Such a great show and some absolutely timeless themes and ideas. It’s been funny reading the Lurker’s guide along with the episodes and seeing so many people pushing back on JMS for how people on Earth go along with Clark’s propaganda and overreach and well… look at American politics this century
-
It’s interesting just how much difference the change of soundtrack makes and, while I haven’t seen it in a long time, pretty certain there’s some extra scenes in there. Since air recalling the Battle of the Line, Kosh greeting the Sinclair imposter as “Entil’Zha” being the stand outs.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
It’s interesting just how much difference the change of soundtrack makes and, while I haven’t seen it in a long time, pretty certain there’s some extra scenes in there. Since air recalling the Battle of the Line, Kosh greeting the Sinclair imposter as “Entil’Zha” being the stand outs.
There’s some more at the start – Sinclair and Garibaldi stopping a criminal trying to enter the station, Sinclair going up to a human talking to an alien sex worker and when the human gives Sinclair grief because it’s legal, he points out that the alien is from a black widow species that eats their mates. A few smaller things are added here and there – Dr. Kyle uses stims to stay awake, Takashima is secretly growing coffee (a bit that would later be used for Ivanova), Carolyn confronts Delenn about her vote. The bit where Sinclair brings Lyta through the Alien Zone is removed because JMS ended up hating it – they actually blew that set up for the corridor blast at the end of the episode.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Wow, they added loads.
Meanwhile, Midnight on the Firing Line and Soul Hunter still hit, both very differently.
The first is absurdly ambitious in what it seeks to do, but also succeeds. Still love that Sinclair ain’t there to fuck spiders, hits a load of Raiders, tells them to surrender or be destroyed, they don’t comply so he bloes one to crap. It has the Narn-Centauri, G’Kar-Londo relationships in the mix, Talia and Psi-Corps and ends with Delenn being introduced to Looney Tunes and popcorn!
The second is a wonderfully creepy piece that shows up how little Earth knows of the wider galaxy. But it also has Franklin joint the crew and advances the mystery around Delenn and Sinclair.
Both really show the advantage of episodic serial vs a single long arc that so many shows now do. But it also shows the difficulty of doing it, that you have this plot moving in the foreground, while others are moving in the background. A lot of shows tried to imitate B5 but crashed and burnt due to underestimating what it did and how.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
My Blu-ray set arrived yesterday and I’ve started watching. 3 episodes in, so far so good!
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
How’s the Blu-Ray vs the DVD’s?
I adore this show. Bought it all in VHS. Then on DVD. Can I justify a third time
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Well. I did triple dip.
DVDs struggle on 4K screens they were never designed for. They look OK but you can see 4K overloads them. BR reduces that.
Plus, it has the revised version of The Gathering which I don’t think got a disc release before.
It is becoming the SF version of Dad’s Army, you watch it while going “he’s dead, she’s dead, not yet dead….”
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Yeah. It’s tough re-watching this show when you think that so many of the core cast are no longer with us. So much of who I am, at a base, fundamental level, comes from this show (hitting, as it originally did at a very impressionable age for me) and the cast were a big part of that.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Plus, it has the revised version of The Gathering which I don’t think got a disc release before.
The Gathering special edition hadn’t had a home video release in the UK before this, no. The original version of The Gathering and In the Beginning got released as separate DVDs over here and Warners in their infinite wisdom decided to not include them in the Region 2 movies box set, which is where the special edition of The Gathering got released in the US…
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Yeah, this is growing on me.
And some nice guest stars!
Just saw David Warner, and then Jeffrey Combs is in the very next episode. Very cool!1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Born to the Purple is a quieter episode on Londo, with Centauri politics hanging over it all.
For all that it was deemed a weaker episode at the time, Infection does quite a bit. It weaves in Interplanetary Expeditions’ interest in bioweapon, living technology and adds in a purity aspect that was nowhere near as centre stage as it is now. That Sinclair talks a living weapon into killing itself is a killer scene. The scene with him and Garibaldi which addresses Sinclair’s survivor guilty is interesting too. Oh and Robert McCallum is quite a guest role.
The Parliament of Dreams is similarly multi-pronged, moving pieces for the Centauri, Minbari, Narns, while weaving in personal arcs for Sinclair and G’Kar. Katsulas really seems to be getting a sense of how to play G’Kar too, as is Jurasik with Londo.
Mind War really amps things up, with two strands – Psi Cops, with Mr Bester getting his debut episode. Meanwhile Catherine Sakai takes a trip to Sigma 957. It was hinted at for a while, but this episode emphasises the uneven nature of the galaxy. There’s Earth, the Centauri and Narns, then the Minbari, then the Vorlons. The walkers at Sigma 957? No one knows, but the scale and design of it remains excellent. Back on the station and Bester’s mini-me Kelsey gets offed, great to see Little Miss Psi-Fascist get erased.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Not the best episode but The War Prayer continues the plot of social discontent on Earth and we get more on Centauri society. Londo’s initial response to the couple wishing to marry for love being a case in point.
A Sky Fall of Stars, however, still hits very hard. It’s notable that few stories before or since have had humans utterly lose in the way Earth does the war with the Minbari. Most of the time there’s a final, plucky, against-the-odds escape or victory.
That doesn’t happen here. Sure, there’s a last battle but it’s doomed. Earth picking a fight in error with a galactic power centuries ahead of them could only end one way. Well, almost only ever end one way. And that sequence of Sinclair’s squadron being shot to pieces combined with Franke’s soundtrack is as effective as ever.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
While Lorcan’s got to the end, only just returned to this.
1.09 Deathwalker
This was a good ep that brought in more history, with the Dilgar war taking place 30 years earlier. A war Earth won, which likely left them over-confident in relation to first contact with the Minbari. Deathwalker is an excellent villain, who meets her end at the hands of the Vorlons.
Talking of, Kosh is more mysterious than ever in this ep. He hires Talia for a cryptic job that is never explained but is far more intriguing with knowledge of Talia’s future.
1.10 Believers
For that it tried to be an even-handed tale of science versus religion, the parents are infuriating in their desire to see the kid dead, while claiming to want him to live.
1.11 Survivors
This would have been a better ep if Kemmer had actually been competent and knew how to build relationships. Instead she’s after Garibaldi, hacks off both Sinclair and Ivanova along the way. It’s the drama model of “conflict!”, but the sell is lacking. The resolution of it being a Home Guard revenge plot worked, which contrasted well against the Presidential politics of inclusion.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
The Home Guard stuff in series 1 was a decent subplot that just sort of folded into the Nightwatch in series 2 and then fades away. Ivanova’s ex in (I think it was) Born to the Purple and Cutter in Survivors were decently conceived antagonists and there was a lot of space to do more with them.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
1.12 By Any Means Necessary
This is a clever episode that is built around sticking Sinclair in a pair of conflicts with no apparent easy resolution, only for him to find one. From a dockers dispute and an put-od-touch Senate to G’Kar and Londo’s latest punch-up, Sinclair finds himself threading a very careful and creative path through.
1.13 Signs and Portents
And here we go! Even 30 years on this episode works so incredibly well. It has Morden going around the station, asking that question, which impacts far more when you know where it is going. And the same is true for the other plots.
Kiro’s desire to be Emperor, the raiders being taken out by easily the scariest looking ship in all TV SF going, the way the story covers what happened with Kosh and Morden, it’s all laid put perfectly.
And then there is the raiders suicidal attack on the station, though they likely were not expecting Sinclair to annihilate their entire attack force with a three-way crossfire! They should have known better, Sinclair has 250,000 beings on B5, no way is he holding back. That the show let him pull the moves he does here was stunning in the 90s, and it still is now.
Oh and that ending, with that vision and soundtrack moment.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Returned to this and warched a quartet of episodes.
1.14 TKO
On the face of it, alien UFC and MMA is a pretty standard plot, but it is well executed.
1.15 Grail
A guy looking for the Holy Grail? That’s never going to fly, wait, that’s David Warner, that voice, yeah, this’ll work. Add in a cameo by Father Ted’s Bishop Brennan, wait, no, Jim Norton, and it’s an intriguing standalone.
1.16 Eyes
And here we have the latest contender for an Earthforce officer who thinks he can out-play Sinclair at poker. Which, of course, only ends one way. But it does draw on a number of earlier episodes in a clever way.
The side plot has Lennier helping Garibaldi in building an antique motorbike, but goes a bit further than Garibaldi expected.
Oh yeah, a drunk guy tries hitting on Ivanova in the casino, so she decks him and everyone else.
1.17 Legacies
Neroon’s first appearance, and as expected, he’s being an insufferable arse. This also establishes the conflict between him and Delenn, especially when she practically steamrolls him at the end.
Alongside this there’s a plot involving a new telepath, who becomes involved in a tug-of-war between the Psi Corps, the Narn and the Minbari.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
I’ve been making my way through the spinoffs and movies over the last week or so, and they remain a mixed bag.
In the Beginning is the best of the TV movies and it’s not even close, but even then… Remember the early episode of the Venture Brothers where they’re at the funeral of a college buddy of Rusty’s and it turns out they went to college with Pete White, Brock and Baron Underbheit? And even Hank is incredulous at that point? There’s a bit of that here as Sheridan, Franklin, Londo, G’Kar and Delenn’s paths all cross to some degree by the end of the movie. And like, it all makes sense to some level but it becomes a bit much. It doesn’t help that Michael O’Hare didn’t come back to shoot new scenes as Sinclair (but it’s understandable), so every character who’s had a speaking role to that point but Delenn (and londo in the framing device) vanishes from the last act of the movie. But it’s pretty cool to see Sheridan take down the Black Star, and to see a bit more of Delenn and Dukhat, and Londo’s monologue about magnificent death is fantastic.
Thirdspace is very OK, it feels like an episode of the show stretched to 90 minutes – or a short arc like the Minbari Civil War one but it got excised and condensed to a movie. As such it’s utterly inessential but it’s nice to see Ivanova for the last time, has some nice creepy moments and some good action and effects, plus this is the point which solidified the Johnny “Nuke ’em” Sheridan fan nickname. Wayne Barlowe’s designs for the Thirdspace Aliens and their technology remain a highlight.
By comparison, The River of Souls is very not OK. Again it feels like an episode stretched to 90 minutes, but not a good one. That you’ve got a B plot which is thematically related to the A plot but only tangentially part of it is a sign this isn’t gonna be a good time. A movie should be an event, and this very much isn’t. There’s some good moments here – Lochley and Garibaldi bounce off each other wonderfully, and her friendship with the Soul Hunter is very sweet even though Martin Sheen’s decision to play the Hunter as haltingly getting better at English ends up hurting his performance. But overall a big meh.
A Call to Arms suffers in other ways. It’s meant to be a pilot of sorts for Crusade, but also a Babylon 5 story and as such sits awkwardly between the two. The plot is fine, it works well, the action looks good… But Galen and Dureena are the only characters that carry over from this to Crusade. And Galen takes no part in the action, he manipulates and directs from a distance. Dureena is largely there to say “no, shoot there” in the final sequence, so the movie spends a lot of time introducing her so you know here for Crusade.
I’ve gone back and forth on my opinion of Crusade itself, but I think I’m settling on largely liking it. Or at least concentrating on the good over the bad. There’s a lot of teething problems that the show never had the chance to get past, the effects weren’t good enough to pull off a lot of what they tried to do, but there’s some fantastic performances – I love Max so much, Gideon and Galen are fantastic, and every one else ranges from good to great at points. There’s a couple of excellent episodes in there as well, Appearances and Other Deceits is probably the standout for me.
And then Legend of the Rangers is one where I can’t concentrate on the good over the bad. It’s one of the better-looking B5 productions, and we’ve got Chris Franke back on the music, and all that, but this story fits in between the end of Babylon 5 and A Call to Arms and they’re facing an ancient threat older than the Shadows? The Rangers, meant to be a force of scouts and infiltrators never retreat from battle? It just doesn’t fit right. I’ll always take an attempt to do something new even if it fails over playing it safe, but even with that caveat this just doesn’t work overall. Maybe they would have ironed out those kinks if it made it to series but we’ll never know.
Still have to watch The Lost Tales and The Road Home, might do them tomorrow.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Another quartet:
1.18 A Voice in the Wilderness Part 1
The first two-parter and it’s a banger. It also lays a major piece of the story to come with the revelation of the Great Machine on Epsilon 3.
There’s some interesting details in here too: The malaise in the Minbari which Draal talks of, Starfuries being purely space fighters and can’t enter atmosphere in the way shuttles can, the entire Mars plot.
1.19 A Voice in the Wilderness Part 2
By now, you’d think everyone in Earthforce knew not to try it on with Sinclair, enter Pierce, in Ivanova’s words, “the worst case of testosterone poisoning” going.
Then there’s the small point of the planet going up, taking B5 with it. Oh and a violent bunch of alien outcasts, with a big warship, with a lot of guns, turns up.
It all culminates in a major firefight, which ends when Draal takes control of the Great Machine. Of course, there’s always those who don’t listen to anyone, thus the alien bastards get annihiliated.
1.20 Babylon Squared
Time travel stories hard to understand, Zathras tell them, but no one listens to Zathras. Larger tale, much larger story to be told but Zathras cannot tell it. Not today. Tomorrow, Zathras can tell the tale.
Even when you know the later pieces of it, this is still a very clever episode, scattering plot pieces everywhere. Imcluding the arc of Delenn and the Grey Council.
1.21 The Quality of Mercy
A quieter episode but one that introduces the alien healing machine that goes on the back burner for a long time, along with the concept of mindwiping as an alternative to execution.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
The Quality of Mercy also notable for showing us one of Londo’s penises
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
I really have to talk the wife into watching this with me. I need a rewatch.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
I liked the episode “Dust to Dust”, the one where G’Kar takes a substance and gets some temporary telepathy.
He was tearing into Londo’s mind, but the Vorlon stepped in G’Kar’s mind as his dying father and gave counsel and advice.2 users thanked author for this post.
-
1.20 Chrysalis
At this point in my life I know how the end-of-series episodes go, lots of events, cliffhanger etc. Yet this one has a real sense of charge to it from the off, of events spiralling out of control, with others boosting the chaos.
I can’t be entirely sure, but in the BR presentation, they’ve managed to make the Shadow ships even creepier. The assault on Quadrant 37, the total slaughter and orbital bombardment shows how to do a lot with compact effects, but those ships looked scarier.
The ep brings together numerous plot points with all the races: the Narn and Centauri, Earth and Minbar, Kosh and Morden, Psi Corps and telepaths. What also makes it stand out are the major events in it are not at the end. They are placed so we see the ripples and impacts from them afterwards.
2.01 Points of Departure
This episode wears many hats: Series opener, Sheridan’s intro, holding tale in an unofficial trilogy. It juggles them well.
We also get new ships, hyperspace and some seriously petty Minbari. Oh and some other new pilot character, Keffer. Huh, wonder what’s going to happen to that guy?
2.02 Revelations
This is a fast moving episode that does a lot with the time it has: G’Kar’s quest to find the Shadows, as Londo becomes more involved with them; the first mention of Z’ha’dum, Garibaldi rumbling his aide, Sheridan having a dead wife, Delenn exiting the chrysalis – all in 40 odd minutes.
And it does work well. Z’ha’dum’s design remains a creepy system, which is a perfect match for the Shadows.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
2.03 The Geometry of Shadows
It’s easy to forget just how many great guest stars B5 got for one-off episodes. This time it’s Michael Ansara, leading the Technomages, who prove, for stories, less can be more. In another’s hands, Elric’s dialogue might not work but Ansara absolutely nails it, especially his final scene with Londo.
It’s also a good showcase for Vir, who might well be the stronger of the two. The episode also introduces the crapbag that is Lord Refa. Elsewhere Sheridan decides to be a bad boss to Ivanova by dumpi – delegating a Drazi problem.
2.04 A Distant Star
For a standalone episode built around a familiar concept, this does some surprising things. It has Keffer seeing a Shadow dreadnaught, while years before it was talked of, Sheridan is dealing with imposter syndrome.
2.05 The Long Dark
Another standalone, but with neat links to the plot of the Shadows gathering forced, summoning ancient technology scattered across the galaxy, back to Z’Ha’Dum.
2.06 Spider in the Web
Also standalone, this one is all about the ongoing Earth and Mars conflicts. Turns out Sheridan has a level of interest in conspiracies that Fox Mulder would respect. It’s a good enough ep, but one that I don’t think ever got followed up on.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
It’s quite amazing just how much better Season 2 is at flowing from episode to episode.
2.07 Soul Mates
This was a quirky episode with Talia’s ex turning up, along with developing her relationship with Ivanova.
2.08 A Race Through Dark Places
Bester returns, in a story that reveals a lot about the Psi Corps but also various characters glimpsed in Downbelow.
2.09 The Coming of Shadows
A stunning episode that doesn’t lack impact even when you know where it is going. It brings Londo and Refa closer together, as Londo plunges the Centauri into war with Narn. Yet, at the same time as it all goes off the rails, the Rangers make a quiet debut, as does their leader.
The Shadow attack on Quadrant 14 is ever bit as vicious as their previous attack and is an excelleng demonstration of how a little effects work goes an awfully long way.
One of the things done well in the first series was having major events happen at the two thirds mark then having the consequences roll out from them. And this is a masterpiece of how to do that.
2.10 GROPOS
A relatively quieter episode, with a focus on Stephen’s background, including his relationship with his general father. It also sees the station get a defence upgrade.
2.11 All Alone in the Night
Sheridan gets kidnapped by aliens, teams up with a captured Narn to escape. At the same time the Grey Council continues its descent into timidity and pettyness, by sacking Delenn and replacing her with Neroon.
The episode also brings in General Hague and Sheridan’s old ship, the Agamemnon. They get a tip off from a severely hacked off Delenn that their enemies are the Streib. Cue a space battle and rescue.
Woven through this is Kosh’s interest in Sheridan, including a mind link, with Kosh later agreeing to teach Sheridan.
2.12 Acts of Sacrifice
An episode on the Narn-Centauri war, mixed with a less than great first contact story. G’Kar seeks aid against the Centauri, while Londo finds himself isolated by his own actions.
2.13 Hunter, Prey
This returns to the Earth plot, with President Clark’s doctor on the run. It plays out similar to earlier episodes with overbearing earth VIPs, with Sheridan in the place of Sinclair.
2.14 There All the Honour Lies
This is a Minbari conspiracy episode, where it turns out various Minbari are still hacked off that their shooting fish in a barrel war saw the fish successfully shoot back once.
2.15 And Now, For a Word
Time has not been kind to this episode built around a fly-on-the-wall documentary concept, but comes across more as crap-stirring by journalists, all professing to be oh, so even handed.
2.16 In the Shadow of Z’Ha’Dum
This all kicks off when Sheridan recognises Morden as a member of the Icarus. Cue various interrogations as Sheridan tries to get to what Morden knows. At the same time, the Ministry of Peace and the Nightwatch makes its debut.
It all builds to a finale where Kosh and Delenn give Sheridan what he seeks. In response Sheridan asks Kosh to teach him how to fight the Shadows, as he will go to Z’Ha’Dum, cue:
“Sheridan, if you go to Z’Ha’Dum, you will die.”
2.17 Knives
This mixes a tale of Centauri politics, of Londo finding out exactly who he has allied with in Refa, with a riff on alien possession with Sheridan.
2.18 Confessions and Lamentations
In a world of Covid, this one hits even harder than before. It was always a hard hitting story, but after these last few years? Hits a lot harder still, yet it is also excellent. Showing the extinction of an entire race of beings, in part due to their own hand.
2.19 Divided Loyalties
In effect, this is a write-out story because they got another role elsewhere, but it really makes that work for it in an episode that touches on a good few running plots.
2.20 The Long, Twilight Struggle
The Narn-Centauri war reaches an end, with Londo utterly complicit in an atrocity that could be said to bring about Elric’s prophecy about him. The two effects sequences here, the Narn assault on Gorash 7 being particularly ambitious, plus the Centauri bombardment of Narn, again raise the bar.
And this time, while still a sickeningly uneven massacre, the Narn fleet does manage to maim a Shadow dreadnought, though it took the combined fire of three ships to do it.
Once more, the big events are mid-episode and while Londo clearly wished to humiliate and kill G’Kar, an impromptu Earth-Minbar-Vorlon opposition foils it, with G’Kar then dropping one hell of a speech.
As ever, there’s a really clever balance between the agency of the heroes and villains. Sure, the latter has the edge, but this is not an evil-is-smart, good-is-dumb story. It has Sheridan getting Draal as an ally and finding out about the Rangers.
2.21 Comes the Inquisitor
The main story here has Kosh effectively deciding to have Jack the Ripper torture both Delenn and Sheridan, as some sort of leadership trial. It does develop neatly the ambiguity around the Vorlons. Remaining First Ones they may be, but good ones? Possibly not entirely.
The side story is the Rangers being deployed to support G’Kar’s authority with the Narn.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Gone through series 2 a lot faster than series 1.
2.22 Fall of Night
Some episodes back the station got defence upgrades, up to a level of being able to take out a battleship. Well, there’s always a Centauri motherfucker trying to iceskate uphill and test that out.
Other plots are Earth sending a pair of VIPs, Lance and Wells, one a delusional fool and the other far more sinister. The latter brings into focus the sinister edge of the Nightwatch.
Add in a fleeing Narn heavy cruiser and the stage is set for a volatile confrontation when a Nightwatch toady tips off the Centauri. Rather than pursue the matter outside of B5 space the Centauri attack, inflicting damage sufficient to warrant a full and fatal counter-attack.
In the wake of that, Sheridan gets forced into a hollow apology, which gets derailed by a shuttle bomb, which in turn forces Kosh to reveal himself to save him. It’s notable that all but Londo see a holy figure they recognise, suggesting that belief in the Centauri pantheon is either hollow or false.
Later, a Narn and a Drazi are talking of what they saw. Neither race is known for diplomatic disagreement yet in what they each saw of Kosh, they are relaxed about it.
One of the things that set B5 apart was in how its effects and space battles had a sharp edge. It is so here, with the impact of both the Centauri attack on B5 and the fire from the station that rips the ship apart.
Oh yeah, Keffer’s search for a Shadow ship is very, very, fatally successful. And recorded footage of it ends up with ISN….
3.01 Matters of Honour
This sees the introduction of Marcus Cole, one of the Rangers, who is seeking aid against an expected attack on a blockaded Ranger training camp. At the same time Earth is investigating the Shadow ship footage.
It turns out that there’s a new resource available to break that blockade – a Minbari-Vorlon hybrid cruiser, the White Star. Long story short: Sheridan loves his new toy.
They get in over their heads when a Shadow dreadnought turns up. Cue a very risky strategy involving an overloaded jumpgate, the explosion of which is enough to take out the Shadow ship. There’s a neat touch of the ship exiting hyperspace, noticing the overloaded and about to blow jumpgate, as if to say “what the fuck?”, but too late. Boom.
A pair of plot bombs, with various detonation fuses are seeded too – Morden and Londo’s relationship, Morden and Psi Corps being involved with what’s going on with Earth.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Returned to this and at the end of Severed Dreams.
This half of series 3 really hits a lot harder these days.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Series 3 of B5 really goes for it, there’s a small interlude set of episodes, all various riffs on the tangled history between the various powers, then it all kicks off.
Shadow “weapon components” and Bester, Vorlons versus Shadows, a time heist on Babylon 4 followed by one hell of a plotbomb that both aligns to what preceded it but also reconfigures it.
Then it’s all about taking on a Shadow dreadnaught, something that until this point, had been deemed a quick way to die. Oh yeah, Delenn’s now running the Rangers, and there’s a fleet of White Stars…
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
The run of episodes of Shadow Dancing all the way to Into The Fire is one very assured run. It takes the Shadow War from a galactic conflict to an apocalyptic one, with a stunning death toll along the way.
Before that there is the first full on fleet engagement between the Shadows and B5’s alliance. An absurdly ambitious and well executed battle follows, with more Shadow ships than has been seen before.
In the aftermath, the Shadows issue an invite to Sheridan, to Z’Ha’Dum. However, they both underestimate Franklin’s due diligence and skip over Sheridan’s history with nuclear weaponry. Of course it’s a trap, but no one saw Z’Ha’Dum getting nuked.
The first three eps of series four address the fall-out of all that, but also set up the Vorlons going overboard. To the degree of rolling out planet-killers, you done business with the Shadows? Your planet’s going bye, bye.
The next three send it all spiralling, with the Vorlons on a galactic demolition spree and the Shadows showing off their own, even scarier, planet-killer.
As that’s all going off, a Vorlon ambassador gets taken out, a huge fleet assembled, then one last battle, against both the Shadows and Vorlins, but with some help from the First Ones.
In all of this, Lorien, the First One, is an intriguing character, who never entirely loses that sense of mystery. It is Lorien who is key to enabling the end of the war, but that has to be done by the younger races.
In the aftermath of that, Epiphanies is both epilogue and prologue. It sets up Earth as the main threat, takes Z’Ha’Dum off the board and shows up Bester’s nature. Namely that he sees everything in cold, transactional terms. His first inclination is to assume everyone is sneering at him when out of sight.
The following ep, The Illusion of Truth, is a rare stinker in the series.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Finished the rest of series 4.
Atonement is an interesting greying up as it were of Delenn, while revealing an aspect of her heritage even she didn’t know.
Rising Mars is a quieter, preparation episode but one that shows the Shadow’s servants are also involved with Clark’s regime.
Lines of Communication does two things. It gives a name to the Shadow’s servants, the Drakh. It also pays off and develops further Atonement’s revelations, that the Minbari are going off the rails, while Delenn is wary of repeating her error at the start of the Earth-Minbari war. Though, after the Drakh demonstrate their nature, they get wiped out.
Conflicts of Interest is a preparation episode aimed at fracturing the Sheridan-Garibaldi relationship and introducing William Edgars.
Rumours, Bargains and Lies returns to the Minbar plot. It also brings back Neroon, who seems to have reconsidered his earlier opposition to and conflicts with Delenn. They both have fanatics in their castes though.
Moments of Transition does tend to emphasise what a waste of space the Warrior Caste are. They’re the swaggering lot who show up to a Level 10 fight, with Level 100 gear, and brag about their victory. As soon as the Shadows show up, gear +1000, they’re nowhere to be seen. And so it proves here, as Shakiri, apparently Neroon’s boss, is shown to be a hollow braggart. In contrast, Delenn is willing to die to end the conflict, but Neroon decides that he can’t permit it, so takes the hit and gifts the win to her, which is used to create a new Grey Council.
No Surrender, No Retreat kicks off the Earth civil war, as 10,000 civilians get slaughtered. In response Sheridan breaks the blockade of Proxima 3. It’s a well-executed battle, possibly a bit too idealistic but that’s a weakness of the arc too.
Exercise of Vital Powers is another preparation ep, that brings in Edgars. It also sees Garibaldi descending further by telling Edgars to get to Sheridan by using his father.
Face of the Enemy sees another battle, this time with the Earthforce having been told they’ll be executed if they suŕrender. Sheridan then meets with Garibaldi, gets screwed over. Garibaldi then gets the full story from Edgars, whose account explains why he had Garibaldi fire Lyta earlier. It’s all about the Psi Corps. Garibaldi then triggers something and is later met by Bester, who has been behind all of it. For all he claims he had no other option, Bester deliberately opts for the nastiest means.
Intersections in Real Time is a messed-up episode that is all about Sheridan’s capture and torture.
Between the Darkness and the Light has two strands – undoing Garibaldi’s predicament then breaking Sheridan out, the other sees Ivanova leading the fleet and being tipped off to a fleet of advanced destroyers loyal to Clark.
Of course those destroyers turn out to be Earthforce-Shadow hybrids. What follows is one of the series best battle sequences, with the White Stars having to hit the things with a serious amount of firepower to take them out.
Though, at the end, a piece of debris takes out Ivanova’s ship, influcting mortal injuries to her.
Endgame is, as you’d expect, the big pay-off episode, with Sheridan commanding from the Agamemnon, with support ships from, well, everyone. It also sees the telepaths be used to disable the fleet at Mars, allowing Sheridan to hit Earth. Cue Clark topping himself and a battle with an out of control defence grid.
Rising Star cements into place the Interstellar Alliance while demonstrating all Earth politicians are bastards. It also picks up the pieces from Marcus’ saving of Ivanova, at the cost of his life, while Bester rather stupidly thinks Sheridan killed his girlfriend.
Deconstruction of Falling Stars is a weird episode that flips between journalist TV presenter and talking heads being patronising bastards, academics being smug bastards, a scientist 500 years hence being a far right bastard, before getting more interesting with a homage to A Canticle For Leibowitz. Yet, despite those road bumps, one million years later humans have become similar to the Vorlons, at least in technology terms.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
I feel like the Minbari Civil War is the biggest casualty of the near-cancellation during series 4. At least three episodes are cut for Endgame/Rising Star/Deconstruction of Falling Stars, and one or two of those could have gone to spending a bit more time setting up or ramping up the Minbari conflict.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Yeah, we would have had four more eps if s5 had been locked in, with Intersections in Real Time as the seaskn finale, plus four eps of s5 to wrap up the Earth plot.
2 users thanked author for this post.
Viewing 31 replies - 1 through 31 (of 31 total)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.