The Shadow war comes out of hiding in the 3rd season of Babylon 5 and things really start to heat up. J Michael Straczynski pens the whole season by himself and he's on fire. There's so much going on, with plenty of new characters arriving and leaving. Some are on the side of light, some are on the side of dark, many are greatly interesting. The level of story telling is rising and I think it's a really great season. If I had to pick it's probably my favorite season. And that doesn't mean that it's bad that there are two more seasons to follow.
Matters of Honor November 6 1995
Written by JMS and directed by Kevin G Cremin
Earthforce Special Intelligence Agent David Endawi makes a trip to B5 to see if anyone knows about the Shadow ship that was recorded by Lt Warren Kiefer last season. Poor Kiefer took one for the show, JMS said in a commentary that the network asked for a hotshot pilot and he didn't care for that very much, so he killed him off. Endawi asks around but he gets little info, no one who knows what the Shadows are will admit knowing what Kiefer saw. G'Kar, not in the Sheridan-Deleen loop yet, tells Endawi that he has heard of these ships before. They're in the book of G'Kwan, written by his religious leader a thousand years ago. Sure enough, there's a drawing. A thousand years ago, that was the time of the last Shadow war. When Endawi returns home we find that Mr Mordon has been keeping company with President Clark's people. That mad grab for power lead Clark on a road to destruction.
A battered pilot comes to B5 with a request for help. It turns out to be Ranger Marcus Cole, who will become a regular character. He needs some help from Captain Sheridan. The Ranger training station on Zagros 7 is being blockaded by the Centauri. He needs Sheridan to help chase the Centauri away so the Rangers can escape in their small ships. Garibaldi says they don't have the fire power to go up against that many Centauri warships. Marcus takes them to see the first White Star and Sheridan kicks some Centauri ass. I like Marcus, he's an interesting character who adds a nice bit of humor to the story.
Londo tries to sever is ties with Mr Mordon but that will prove to be nearly impossible. Like a lot of Londo's life, there isn't much joy. The station's a place where important things are happening and there isn't much joy either. One of the things I like about JMS's style is he doesn't just feed you a relentless stream of bad things without some humor to balance it. My complaint about the popular zombie tv show is that there is little humor. It's just grim and all the people are useless. In Babylon 5 even the worst plot elements get some balance with some throat clenching hero moments that can bring a tear to the eye. I've seen the series so I know no matter how awful Mr Mordon is Vir will get his wish someday. There's hope.
Convictions November 13 1995
Written by JMS and directed by Mike Vejar
Someone's setting off bombs in the station and poor Lennier has gotten hurt while saving Delenn and Ambassador Londo Molari. While Lennier is in a coma Molari tells him a joke that JMS got from the internet. "How many Centauri are needed to change a light bulb? Just one, but in the old days of the Republic a hundred servants would jump to change a thousand light bulbs at the slightest whim." It made me laugh. Mr Garibaldi gets some help this episode from Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa who plays Morishi. Sadly he was only in one episode.
Londo and G'Kar get trapped in an elevator after a nearby explosion. G'Kar won't lift a finger to help Molari, in fact, he hopes Londo will die. With the current Centauri foot squarely planted on the throat of the Narns five hundred Narns will be executed for the killing of any Centauri. But if Londo will die from natural causes it won't bother G'Kar and no one will be punished. Eventually they get saved.
Aliens are coming to B5 because of the Kosh sighting last season. The Drazi like touching anything that might have been near the event. Brother Theo and the monks from New Melleray arrive at the station but they aren't there because of Kosh. According to the Lurker's Guide Mellaray is a real abbey. I did not know that. Brother Theo's order is collecting the names of God and the station seems like a good choice to see what the other races might have to say. To help pay their way they are looking for work. They have plenty of tech skills and lots of CPU time. Mr Garibaldi finds them a job, scanning the security footage for suspicious characters. They find the bomber pretty quickly but it's a bit of a struggle to catch him.
A Day in the Strife November 20 1995
Written by JMS and directed by David J Eagle
An alien probe comes calling. It has a test and the winner gets all sorts of technological advancements. If they don't answer in 24 hours they get blown up. It's a struggle to get all the info, especially for Doctor Franklin, who goes ballistic on an Earth scientist's aid. I have to admit I would get mad at someone who, once told that the station is facing destruction, stonewalls access to the vacationing scientist. Franklin has been sticking stims into his body to keep up with his demanding job. Mr Garibaldi sees the signs of stim addiction and confronts the Doc about it. That doesn't go over very well. When the time limit on the probe is up the Captain plays a hunch and doesn't send the answers. At least until it gets far enough away to eliminate damaging anything. Boom! He's a clever man that Sheridan.
G'Kar has some trouble when the Centauri puppet Narn arrives from his homeworld. The Centauri want G'Kar to surrender and be taken back to Narn where he will certainly be killed. If G'Kar doesn't return to Narn the homeworld families of those living on the station will be harrassed and tortured. In so many ways the Centauri prove to be such amazing douchebags. Londo sends Vir to be the Centauri liason on Minbari. He wants to put Vir out of harms way and this isn't a bad idea. In the real world Stephen Furst had another sitcom on Fox he was working on. It didn't last long and Vir returns to the station later.
Captain Sheridan gets reaquainted with Ta'Lon, the Narn he rescued from the spaceship in the first season. Ta'Lon turns out to be an interesting character. He will turn up again. One of the few featurettes in the DVD set is about the make up that Marshall Teague goes through to become Ta'Lon. They have a nice group of aliens on the show.
Passing Through Gethsemane November 27 1995
Written by JMS and directed by Adam Nimoy
Lyta Alexander makes a return to Babylon 5 in the spaceship of the new Ambassador Kosh. The Vorlons are all Kosh but this Kosh is a bit of a dick. Lyta says that the Vorlons are rather upset that Kosh was killed, hardly any of them ever dies, and she's pretty close mouthed on what she's seen on their homeworld.
Brad Dourif guest stars as Brother Edward, he's part of Brother Theo's monks, and he's got a secret. It's so secret even he doesn't know about it. He's an murderer who'd been caught and brain wiped. The death of personality is the punishment for capital crimes. The wiped person is reprogrammed to want to help society. Brother Edward wound up as a gentle monk but his past has caught up with him. A Centauri telepath, various messages and symbols push him to look up the Black Rose Killer and he discovers it was him. Various family members have found the BRK and one of them beats him to death. That guy gets mind wiped and reprogrammed. Captain Sheridan learns a lesson in forgivenness from Brother Theo.
This episode is directed by Adam Nimoy, son of Leonard, and he told JMS that he thought it was his best work ever. It's a darn good episode, one of my top 5 favorites, and Brad Dourif is a wonderful actor in a great part. I've come to really like Brother Theo. I wish he had a larger role to play in the series but there wasn't enough time.
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