PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Babylon 5 S3D6

It only took a couple of days to get back to Babylon 5's last disc of season 3. It's only got 2 episodes, each season was 22 episodes. Since it always seems to be feast or famine feast around here when it comes to new things to watch, it seems so easy to stop and start a series I've seen before. J Michael Straczynski wrote the last two episodes and he wraps up the season with a huge cliff hanger. Two main characters are missing. I'm not much of a fan of the cliff hanger. At least when I'm re-watching the show I already know what happens after the end credits roll on the last episode of the season and don't have to wait months and months before I know what happened at Z'Ha'Dum.

Shadow Dancing  October 21 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Kim Friedman

Delenn asks their allies to supply a big fleet of warships to attack the Shadows in Sector 83. Sheridan believes the Shadows have been pushing refuge ships into the Sector. Once there are enough ships in the area Sheridan thinks the Shadows plan to attack them to demoralize their enemies. Since the attacks by the Shadow fleet have stopped near Sector 83 Sheridan thinks the attack might be happening soon. The allies have agreed to send ships to attack the Shadows at Sector 83.

Sheridan sends Ivanova and Marcus to scout the area. They get spotted, attacked and damaged. The White Star has self repairing technology but the enemy is 20 minutes away and things aren't looking too good. Don't worry the fleet is near enough. They pop out of hyperspace at the signal and the battle is on. The White Star finishes it's repairs and joins the battle. The Shadows are driven off but there's heavy damage to the allies fleet. Med lab is filled with patients at the end of the episode.

Cut in with the other events going on Doctor Franklin gets stabbed while looking for himself on Walkabout. He finally meets himself and it's him who's been keeping himself back. He winds up in med lab. He'll be alright. He's just a hard learner when it comes to lessons. At the end of the episode Anna Sheridan comes aboard the station. She's supposed to be dead, killed on Z'Ha'Dum. Sheridan and Delenn had started another Minbari ritual that night. The couple spends the night together and the woman watches the man. If she likes what she sees while he sleeps, then they proceed to the nest ritual. It's complicated on Minbar and it's complicated when your dead wife shows up no matter what you were doing.

Z'Ha'Dum  October 28 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Adam Nimoy

Anna Sheridan fills her hubby in on her new life on Z'Ha'Dum. The Shadows are misunderstood and she wants to tell him the truth but only if he comes to Z'Ha'Dum. Kosh told Sheridan "You will die  if you go to Z'Ha'Dum". Knowing it's a trap Sheridan has Mr Garibaldi empty the White Star of it's crew and put a couple of big ass nukes in the hold. He sends a message to Delenn and leaves with Anna in the White Star. 

On Z'Ha'Dum with Anna, Sheridan meets with Justin who's played by Jeff Corey. He explains he's the man in the middle and he fills Sheridan in on what the Shadows want out of life. The Shadows want Sheridan to join them and not fight against their plan. They want to advance the races by making them fight to gain strength through adversity. It doesn't matter that the weak race might get wiped out. They don't want to kill Sheridan, he'd be replaced and thought a martyr. Sheridan has smuggled a gun in with him and he blasts the Shadow that shows up while Justin is telling Sheridan to do what he's told. Sheridan had upset the group when he said that Anna wasn't his wife. She'd been in one of the Shadow ships acting as a human CPU. Once you've been plugged into a Shadow ship you're never the same again. They could restore memories but not the personality.

Sheridan escapes only to find himself at the edge of a huge deep hole in the ground. He sets the White Star to ram into the planet and arms the nukes. Just before it crashes Anna and some Shadow guys show up. She tries to talk him into surrendering but he's not having that. Kosh tells him to jump and he does. The ship blows up real good. Back on B5 Ivanova knows something has happened. Everyone is sad, then they learn that Mr Garibaldi's Star Fury didn't come back to the station.

That's the end of the season which I thought finished with a couple of crackin' good episodes. How's Sheridan going to get out of that one, huh? I'll also want to know what happened to Mr Garibaldi. Now it's onto the 4th season. The Shadow war will continue and there will be plenty of new characters and interesting things forthcoming.

Babylon 5 S3D5

 

Poor Babylon 5 keeps getting pushed aside by the other shiny discs that keep coming my way from Netflix and the library. I don't mind, I like seeing new things more than the old stuff sometimes, and I can pick up the story right where it left off pretty easily. J Michael Straczynski continues to write the episodes and they are still some good ones. All the directors are regular ones and they all do a fine job.

War Without End Part 2  May 20 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Michael Vejar

Sheridan, caught in a time slip, travels into his future and learns that he has a son with Delenn. The son is safe but his parents aren't so safe. They are locked up on Centauri Prime and it looks like it the end of them. Emperor Londo calls them to his chambers and shows them his keeper. Sleeping now, the result of just enough alcohol in Londo's system, so lets them go. As they leave G'Kar comes in and confronts Londo, they strangle each other, Vir finds their bodies and true to prophecy becomes Emperor. Vir will be a much better Emperor than Londo ever could have been. It seems to me that there are some novels that deal with that time in Londo and Vir's lives.

On Babylon 4 Sheridan eventually comes to rest and we all learn that Sinclair is really Valen, a Minbari not born of Minbari. Sinclair takes B4 a thousand years into the past, turns into Valen with the help of the Tri-luminary, and gives the station to the Minbari of the time. A good ending for the Sinclair character. I liked Michael O'Hare from the start and have continued to like him in my repeated viewing of the series. A good solid episode with a nice revelation at the end.

Walkabout  September 39 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Kevin G Cremin

The new Vorlon ambassador arrives on Babylon 5. He's also called Kosh. He's got a much darker and more demon like environment suit than the previous Kosh. He'll turn out to be pretty much a prick. Lyta tells Sheridan that the Vorlon are upset that one of them died.

We get back to Dr Franklin who's wondering around in Downbelow. He gets involved with a singer who has an illness. He tells Mr Garibaldi about the concept of walkabout and how he needs to be less bothered by the people in the command center. Mr G takes the hint.

Sheridan recruits Lyta Alexander to test out his theory that telepaths can cause problems to Shadow ships. She agrees to go along. They  have a hard time getting the other races to go along. Even the commander of the Narn ship they helped earlier in the season isn't willing to help, wanting to save their ships to help Narn itself. Mr Garibaldi yells at G'Kar and they rally a bit of an armada. The telepath test works well and Lyta stops the ship, learning at the same time that a part of Kosh resides in Sheridan. I like the fighting the Shadows part over Dr Franklin's soul searching.

Grey 17 Is Missing  October 7 1996

Written by JMS and directed by John C Flinn III

Mr Garibaldi is looking for a missing service tech when he finds that deck Grey 17 had somehow been missed when they built the station. There's a group of men trapped there by a Zarg. They've all become psychotic under the leadership of Jeremiah, played by Robert Englund, and they believe the way out is through the Zarg. Mr G kills the big monster and gets back to work.

Delenn is being appointed head of the Rangers and Naroon doesn't think she should have the job. It should go to him and the Rangers should fall under the control of the Warrior Caste. He intends to attack Delenn but Marcus learns of it and fights him long enough for the ceremony to take place. Naroon learns a lesson and Marcus takes a good beating. Another episode where one thread of the story is better than the other. I like the Delenn and Naroon scenes a whole lot and the business between Naroon and Marcus is even better. The missing floor is just a bit more goofy than it could have turned out. J Michael thought it was rather weak and he didn't care for the Zarg at all.

And The Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place  October 14 1996

Written by JMS and David J Eagle

Lord Refa comes to the station and Londo sets him up for a fall. Past friends, Londo and Refa, they are bitter rivals now and the Emperor is sick of their feud. He wants it ended. Londo tricks G'Kar into going to Narn on a rescue mission. Refa gets it out of Vir with the use of a telepath and he heads to Narn to capture G'Kar. Londo's plan works well and soon Lord Refa has been hacked to death by vengeful Narns.

Religious leaders from Earth come to the station and meet with Sheridan. They are part of the resistance movement back on Earth and they've brought news from Earth. One of the men, Rev Dexter, a Protestant minister, gives some advice to Sheridan. Dexter holds a service and invites everyone. They all sing the  "No Hiding Place Down Here" which gets cut with the Narns chasing Lord Refa to his death. No one's going to miss that guy, he's much worse than Londo could be.

Delenn takes Sheridan out to see the new White Star fleet and he's so excited he kisses her right on the command deck. The ships will come in handy, the Shadows have their own fleets being built by the races on their side. One of my favorite episodes. I have quite a few. I think I'll watch the last two episodes of the series tomorrow.

Babylon 5 S3D4

 

J. Michael Straczynski wrote all 4 of the episodes on this disc and they are a good lot of stories. The Shadow War is going to get some people killed, we meet some old friends, and learn some secrets.

A Late Delivery From Avalon  April 22 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Michael Vejar

Micheal  York shows up at the station claiming to be Arthur, King Of The Britains. He really isn't. He really was one of the gunnery men in the Earthforce battle ship that fired the first shots in the Earth-Minbari war. He's been carrying the guilt around for 10 years and it turned him into King Arthur.

He wanders the ship at first. Finding an old woman in down below that had been robbed by some scum bags he sets out to get her gold frame with the picture of her dead husband in it. He makes short work of the villains but they have pals. G'Kar had come along in the middle of the fight and he jumps in when the pals show up. Together they defeat their foes and share a drink.

Dr Franklin confronts Arthur with the truth and things don't go so well. Delenn becomes the Lady In The Lake and takes the sword from Arthur freeing him from his guilt. He leaves the station and joins the Narn resistance. It's a beautiful story and one of my favorites. It's a nice part for Michael York and he was really good in the role. It's episodes like this that make the series so good.

Ship Of Tears  April 29 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Michael Vejar

 

Bester returns to the station and Ivanova slaps him one across the face. It draws blood. Bester asks Sheridan for help. Bester's lover is a telepath and she's been given to the Shadows by the PsiCorp. He wants to get her back. Sheridan takes Bester in the Whitestar to attack the ship. They find a ship full of telepaths that have been augmented by Shadow technology. They are going to be installed in Shadow ships. They will blocked the pilots from being blocked by telepaths in attacking ships. Dr Franklin wakes one of them up and it turns out to be a bad thing. He can't undo the damage so he has them frozen. Bester isn't happy when he leaves. He's a bastard that guy. Near the end of the episode the Shadows start attacking openly. I like this episode a lot too, not as much as the previous, but it's a nice bit of background on the Shadows and their style.

Interludes And Examinations  May 6 1996

Written by JMS and Jesus Trevino

Dr Franklin comes to realize he's addicted to stims after Mr Garibaldi observes the doc acting outint he Medlab. Londo is expecting his old girlfriend Adira and he's ignoring Mr Mordon. Mordon has her killed and Londo suspects Lord Refa.

Sheridan argues that the Vorlon's should get involved in the war but Kosh disagrees. Sheridan pushes him and the Vorlon strikes back, slashing his face. The Vorlon agrees to start fighting. After the Vorlons help the Brakiri fight off the attacking Shadow ships Mordon and some Shadows attack and kill Kosh.

Mr Mordon gets Londo back in his clutches again. Sadly some of my favorite characters make such tragic and fatal flaws. Another really good episode, lots of nice dialog and some action. There's a good advance to the Shadow war and the loss of an interesting but troublesome character. The new Kosh will not be as nice.

War Without End Part One  May 13 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Michael Vejar

On Minbar Ranger One gets a letter from Valen from 900 years ago. It's been in storage for all that time, waiting to be delivered to him on that certain date. Ranger One is Jeffrey Sinclair who is played by Michael O'Hare. He reads the letter and heads to Babylon 5 where he joins with Invova, Delenn and Sheridan. They stop off at Epsilon 3, the planet near the station, and pick up a Zathrus and some gear.

They travel to Sector 14 where they encounter Babylon 4. It's the same story told in the episode Babylon Squared but told from a different angle. On route to Sector 14 Delenn tells them that they are going to steal the station and send it back in time to the previous Shadow war nearly a thousand years in the past. Passing through the time rift, held open by the Great Machine on Epsilon 3, the Whitestar goes back in time 6 years and kicks the ass of the Shadow ships sent to blow it up. Sheridan has some time travel adventures. I always have liked that this story is connected to a story that happened 2 years ago. JMS does well with the time travel part of the story. It was nice to see Jeffrey Sinclair back, though only briefly.

Another good disc of stories. That will tide me over until I get to the next disc.

Babylon 5 Season 3 Disc 3

Things are heating up on the station as the Earth Government goes nuts and starts killing citizens. G'Kar comes to realize that Sheridan and the Humans are the key to the future. J Michael Straczynski wrote the lot for the season and they are a nice bunch of stories.

Point of No Return  February 26 1996 

Written by JMS and  directed by Jim Johnston

The Ministry of Peace sent an order for the Nightwatch to take over control of the Station and Sheridan has to try to figure out what to do about that. He can't very well continue building the alliance with the pro Clark Nightwatch breathing down his neck.

Lady Morella, the late Emperor Turhan's 3rd wife, comes to the Station at Londo's request. He wants to use her psychic ability to for see Londo's future. She tells him that he will be the Emperor and he could save himself from damnation by following her vague advice. She says Vir will be Emperor too. Vir laughs but Lady Morella isn't joking. Majal Barrett plays Lady Morella.

G'Kar gets let out of jail early and finds Ta'lon waiting for him. G'Kar reveals a bit of what he was working out while locked up. Sheridan figures out how to take out the Nightwatch with the help of G'Kar. Sheridan brings G'Kar and Zack into his circle. 

Severed Dreams  April 1 1996

Written by JMS and  directed by David J Eagle

This episode won the 1997 Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation. You can see the Hugo in a later episode.

The EAS Alexander, under command of Major Ryan, arrives at the Station for repair. Ryan and his crew aren't supporting Clark and his cronies. He brings news that the Earth Colonies are refusing to go along with the martial law order which prompts Clark to start bombing Mars.

Delenn leaves B5 to confront the Grey Council for doing little to prepare for the upcoming Shadow War. She breaks the Council and leaves with the Religious and Worker castes. Another friendly Earthforce ship arrives with news that Earthforce is coming to take B5. Sheridan decides to break away and make a stand. The can barely hold off the first wave and are saved from the second wave by Delenn's posse arriving in the nick of time. It's one of my favorite scenes in the series. Her speech scares away the Earthforce ships when they tell her they don't want to fight with her.

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

Ceremonies of Light and Dark  April 8 1996

Written by JMS and  directed by John C. Flinn III

Scum bags in the defunct Nightwatch kidnap Delenn and the pilot of the Whtestar. They want things back the way they were but they just mostly die. Stupid of them to try something on B5 but that's dumb scum bags for you.

Londo poisons Lord Refa in order to get him to pull back from all the wars the Centauri are waging on 12 fronts. He wants Refa to drop his contact with Mr Mordon. That's going to be harder than it seems. Londo won't come out of this as well as he hopes. Lord Refa will have it worse in the future.

Sic Transit Vir  April 15 1996

Written by JMS and  directed by Jesus Trevino

Vir's wife comes to the Station and Vir is as surprised as the viewer. It's an arranged marriage and it's the first he's heard of it. He's not too keen on it, especially when he finds out she's a monster. She had helped her father "cull the herds' on Narn. They killed anyone who put up any sign of resistance and one of the survivors is on B5 gunning for her. Vir had been busy on Minbari, helping Narns to escape with false papers. It all comes out and Londo is pissed. It does help get out of his arranged marriage.

Ivanova has a dream where she arrives in C&C naked. Sheridan cooks dinner for Delenn. He cooks flarn, a Minbari dish, and it isn't good but Delenn doesn't say anything. She's so nice. Ivanova takes over Vir's underground railway to sneak more Narns out of harms way.

Babylon 5 Season 3 Disc 2

J Michael Straczynski pens the whole season and each show has many nice enjoyable moments. The side of light starts gathering allies for the up coming Shadow War. The Shadows have their claws deep into the Earth Government of President Clark.

Voices of Authority  January 1 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Menachem Binitsky

 

Sheridan has to deal with the arrival of a political officer. She's quite a pushy one, popping out her clothes to try to seduce Sheridan into going along with the program of lies and misinformation. The Nightwatch is creating tension with their constant poking and snooping. They will need dealing with in the future.

Sheridan sends Ivanova to visit Draal and the Great Machine. She pops into the driver's seat and takes her brain out for a spin around the galaxy. She encounters the Shadows lurking and nearly gets caught. On her escape she picks up a bit of proof that Clark arranged the late President Santiago's assassination. He's a sack of shit that Clark. Plenty like him in the history of this planet.

Ivanova and Marcus make contact with a race from the remaining First Ones. Ivanova has to stand up to them and they bend to her will. Well, really, who wouldn't. She has a problem with Marcus, not understanding what their relationship is. He will explain, in his fashion. The clip of Clark Ivanova found is leaked to the news. It creates quite a stir.

Dust To Dust  February 5 1996

Written by JMS and directed by David J Eagle

Psi Cop Bester is back and Sheridan makes him take a drug that inhibits his telepathy. Bester is there after a dealer in Dust. It's a psychotropic drug that makes the users crazy. It was secretly developed by the Psicorps to bring out telepathic powers in mundanes but it didn't work. Not that the Psicorps cared that lives were ruined and people died. It will take a while but the Psicorps will fall and Bester gets his.

G'Kar tries some Dust and winds up beating Vir Koto and Londo Molari pretty badly. He sees into Londo's mind and finds out how heavily the Centauri was involved in the war with the Narns. Kosh comes to G'Kar in his psychic state and helps move him forward on his path to enlightenment. G'Kar accepts his 60 day jail sentence with good cheer. It's there he begins to write the material that would turn into The Book Of G'Kar. The Narn continues to be one of my favorite characters.

Exogenesis February 12 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Kevin G Cremin

Marcus is working in down below gathering info and informants. One of them moves on and Marcus wonders why. It leads him to a group of humans with Vindrizi in them. The Vindrizi are a race parasitic aliens that have been gathering info for half a million years. They aren't interested in sharing their knowledge or the up coming war. They plan to leave and not get involved.

Sheridan has Ivanova feel out Lt Corwin to see if they might be able to trust him. Poor Corwin thinks it might be a date and he wastes money on fake roses. Ivanova thinks he won't fit in and she sends him home, only slightly confused. Later she tosses the flowers at Marcus. He thinks she's giving them to him, not knowing their origin.

Messages From Earth  February 19 1996

Written by JMS and directed by Micheal Vejar

Dr Kirkish comes to the station with news of a Shadow ship buried in the sands of Mars. She had been there when a Shadow ship had been uncovered. Shortly after a second ship came and took it away. A tracking device in the ship lead IPX to Za'h'dum. Kirkish was told to keep the Shadow ship a secret and she had. At least until another Shadow ship was discovered on Ganymede. This time Earthforce plans to activate it themselves. She came to warn Sheridan and he takes the Whitestar to Mars to destroy the Shadow ship.

Zack has some trouble with the Nightwatch who want him to cosy up to Mr Garibaldi and learn where the Captain went for 4 days. Zack isn't at all happy with his position. He'll prove to be an asset to the Conspiracy of Light in the future. News of the attack on the Shadow ship from Earth makes it look like the Whitestar attacked the base on Ganymede. Clark declares martial law to put an end to the inquiry of Santiago's assassination.

Babylon 5 S3D1

 

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.

Babylon 5 S2D6

I'm so inundated with tv right now it's hard to stick to the same series for any length of time. That could be my mind but there's always a stack of dvds on the edge of my work table seeking attention. The piles are like the waves of the ocean, always churning, surging and retreating, I watch the drift wood that washes up on the beach. Videos borrowed from the library and NetFlix gets top priority. Purchased videos can sit on the To Watch Shelf for ages or be gobbled up immediately.

Both of the episodes were directed by a couple of the better directors on the series. Janet Greek started directing in 1984 and stopped in 2003. She directed a couple of episodes of Max Headroom but not much else I would find of interest. She does a great job on this episode of B5 as well as the other 11 episodes she directed. Mike Vejar started directing in 1979 with episodes of Fantasy Island. He directed 187 TV episodes and a hand full of tv movies until he stopped in 2005. If you've watched the various Star Trek series, you've probably seen his work. He directed 3 episodes of The Incredible Hulk, 1 of The A-Team and 17 of MacGyver. He directed 14 episodes of B5 and 3 of the B5 TV movies.

Comes the Inquisitor  October 25 1995

Written by J. Michael Straczynski and directed by Mike Vejar

As the Narns on the station question G'Kar's leadership the Vorlons send an Inquisitor to see if Delenn and Sheridan are ready for the up coming War with the Shadows. He says his name is Sebastian and he's one of the only known Human's to have been to the Vorlon homeworld. He's proof that the Vorlons have been to Earth in the past.

G'Kar stands up to the rest of the Narns, with a bit of help from Sheridan and the Rangers. They get an important message into Narn and back out again. the Rangers are cool and they will start making more of an appearance. Delenn and Sheridan stand up to their tests and they are declared the right people for the job.

We learn that the Inquisitor was once Jack The Ripper. He tells Sheridan he was a man with a mission but the Vorlons came and showed him the error of his ways.

Sebastian: Good luck to you in your holy cause, Captain Sheridan. May your choices have better results than mine - remembered not as a messenger. Remembered not as a reformer, not as a prophet, not as a hero, not even as Sebastian. Remembered only... as Jack.

Wayne Alexander plays the Inquisitor and he does a marvelous job. Even though he is from California the UK audiences thought his accent was British. He will return as various aliens through the series including Lorien. I really liked Lorien. It will be nice seeing him again.

The Fall of Night  November 1 1995 

Written by JMS and directed by Janet Greek

Here's another really interesting and exciting episode. It opens with Lennier and Vir meeting to sigh at each other. They would be better leaders than the ones they work for but they aren't in the right place yet. The Centauri are expanding their empire and Londo tells everyone they are only stabilizing their borders. G'Kar asks Sheridan for help from the Earth Government to stop the Centauri aggression.

The Ministry of Peace sends a couple of guys to cause everyone some trouble. Roy Dotrice plays one of the men and he comes tell Sheridan that the Earth has signed a non-aggression pact with the Centauri. So Sheridan can't do anything to help the Narn. Trouble is Sheridan has already given aid to a Narn warship which is hiding on the other side of the planet. Sheridan doesn't tell Roy that the Narn ship is there but he tells G'Kar that Earth won't help. G'Kar is disappointed but Sheridan and his team will prove to be good allies in the future. It's a hard time for G'Kar but he will only grow stronger.

Mr Welles is the other Earth Gov man, he's in the Nightwatch, and he's played by John Vickery. That's John on the right above. John has been in the show already, playing the Minbari Neroon. He's great in both parts. That's always been one of my favorite things about the series. They picked, and got, great actors for their guest rolls. The other guy on the left is Zack Allen, security guard, who's played by Jeff Conaway. He had joined the Nightwatch last season for the 50 extra Credits a week but he hasn't been putting in his reports. Mr Welles points it out and Zach is uncomfortable when he presses him for more info on the locals. Welles tries to recruit Ivanova to the Nightwatch but she refuses on ethical grounds. She's made of sterner stuff than Zack. The Nightwatch are pretty scummy, they will be more of a problem in the future.

The Narn Warship is recharging it's power supply and can hardly maneuver. A member of the Nightwatch reports the ship to Roy and he's livid. Roy tells Sheridan he has to turn the ship over to the Centauri when they arrive. Sheridan refuses and the Centauri open fire on everything in sight. They are blown out of the sky by the station's big new guns. There's a big hubbub over that but it's not nearly as big as the one that happens when Kosh pops out of his encounter suit to save Sheridan. A Centauri had put a bomb in the transport shuttle and Sheridan jumped out to escape being blown up. He's now floating in the middle of the open part of the station and he's only got a few seconds before he hits the ground. It's rotating at 60 miles an hour and he'll be killed.

What a way to end the season. There'll be all sorts of trouble now that all the races have seen a Vorlon. Well, except the Centauri, I guess they weren't ever touched by the Vorlons. They've been touched by the Shadows and when that happens all you can see is trouble. Everyone else who saw the Vorlon saw the same floaty shape but the face was of one of their race. Londo didn't see anything and he's not too happy. The story will get more interesting and exciting next season when the war starts to run the show. I'll get there when I get there.

Babylon 5 S2D5

The fifth disc of the 2nd season has another 4 episodes and all of them are darn good. None of them move the War with the Shadows along much but they all have great scripts, one by Lawrence G Ditillio and three by J Michael Straczynski. The show continues to have a great story line with lots of interesting characters and plot devices. Same with the sets and props and most of the CGI.

Knives  May 17 1995

Written by Lawrence G Ditillio and directed by Stephen L Posey

In one story line Londo's old pal Urza Jaddo comes calling. Ursa's got a problem, he's not on the same side as the new Centauri government. Ursa's about to be called a traitor to the Republic. Londo is unhappy and he calls Lord Refa for some help. Ursa has a party where he starts a fight to the death with Londo. Poor Ursa, he gets stabbed. Later Londo tells Vir that it was his old friend's way to prevent his house from being taken by the Emperor. As the winner of the duel Londo inherits Ursa's house and he'll be able to take care of Ursa's family. Londo is such a mixed up guy, he keeps falling deeper and deeper into the trap he's set for himself.

In the second story thread Captain Sheridan finds a dead Markab. The alien grips the Captain's face and some flashing lights play across his skin. From then on Sheridan keeps seeing things that aren't there. Doctor Franklin's scans can't find anything wrong. It'll all work out, Sheridan gets the alien in him back through the rift in Sector 14 where it belongs.

Confessions and Lamentations  May 24 1995

Written by JMS and directed by Kevin G Cremin

There's a deadly plague running through the Markab race and they are trying to cover it up. Dr Franklin finds out and confronts the Markab doctor on the station. It doesn't go well for the Markabs, they pretty much all die. There are just the latest in a long line of dead races in the B5 universe. There will be more to come. There's a quote from JMS on The Lurker's Guide Episode Guide that I liked. It's a bit topical for us today. The whole point of the episode is NOT political; it says that if you make a disease political on either side, you're gonna die.  You have to set aside all that crap and just Deal With The Problem.  The only "side" this episode took was in advocating compassion for those afflicted.-JMS

Sheridan goes to dinner at Delenn's quarters. Poor Lennier had to work two days to cook the special dinner. The Minbari have too many rituals. I wouldn't like it too much. Fury pilot Keffer has been looking for evidence of a shadow ship. Sometimes a guy should learn to mind his own business.

Divided Loyalties  October 11 1995

Written by JMS and directed by Jesus Trevino

Patricia Tallman returns as Lyta Alexander. She had been the station's resident telepath in the pilot. She had scanned the poisoned Ambassador Kosh and when the series started we find out she had been called back to Earth. Psi Corps have kept her out of circulation ever since. She escaped and headed for Babylon 5. She's learned that there's a traitor on the station. The Psi Corps have programmed someone with a new personality and she has the trigger to let the mole out. She wants to push the trigger into the minds of the command staff to reveal the mole.

That doesn't go over so well, especially with Ivanova. She doesn't want anything telepathic going into her head. Everyone is worried that they are the traitor and with good reason. Sheridan and his team are investigating the death of the President and the new President and his cronies won't like hearing about that too much. Their lives are in danger. Poor Ivanova suffers a good bit when it is revealed that Talia Winters is the mole. Poor Talia is gone and Ivanova misses her friend. Lyta takes it on the run but not before going to see Kosh. He pops out of his environment suit for her. We still don't see him but we will. We'll also see Lyta return in the future and I'll be glad of that. I think she's a much more interesting character than Talia.

The Long, Twilight Struggle  October 18 1995

Written by JMS and John C Flinn III

Draal makes himself known to Captain Sheridan and invites him down to the planet by the station. Draal is now played by John Shuck and it's a wonderful performance. Draal has been in the drivers seat of the Great Machine for a year and he's getting pretty good at it. He offers Sheridan his help in the upcoming Shadow War. The Captain will need it. W Morgan Sheppard returns to the series, this time as a Narn Warleader. He's leading a group of ships that are going to attack an important Centauri supply planet.

The Centauri are planning an attack too. They're going to attack the Narn home world with mass drivers. That's big rocks dropped from space. Mass drivers have been outlawed by treaty but the Centauri are going down a different road now that Lord Refa is in the drivers seat. Emperor Cartargia is prety much a puppet head. He'll be a problem later on. Londo has the Shadows attack the Narn fleet that attack the supply planet while he watches the destruciton of the Narn home world. The Narn surrender and the Centauri step up their empire gathering and "liberate" some other planets. You know, for a buffer zone, to keep the peace. Londo insists that G'Kar be kicked off the Babylon 5 Council. Sheridan offers G'Kar whatever help he can. The two of them will work well together in the future.

The last episode is another favorite. There's so much going on as they build to the end of the season. The nice thing about the series, at least for me, is I have been able to watch it repeatedly over the years and still enjoy it.

Babylon 5 S2D4

Disc 4 of the second season has 4 more episodes, all are good and the last one is really good. Things are starting to heat up at the station. Left to right across the bottom of the picture we have Mr Garibaldi, Captain Sheridan and Susan Ivanova. In the second row we have Talia Winters, G'Kar, Delenn, Londo Molari and Dr Franklin. The Vorlon Kosh is in the back.

Hunter Prey  3/1/95

Written by JMS and directed by Menachem Binetski

Earth Force Intelligence tells Mr Garibaldi to find or kill Doctor Jacobs. He was the late President Santiago's doctor and he's supposed to have stolen some secrets and gone on the run. He does turn up on the station but he gets kidnapped by Richard Moll playing a criminal in down below. Captain Sheridan gets a visit from General Hague's messenger. The news from Earth isn't too good. Earth Force Intelligence is under direct control of President Clark. He was the Vice-president when Santiago died in the explosion of the Presidental Spaceship. 

Jacobs has some evidence that Clark wasn't sick when he left the ship before it exploded. We've already know about the plot that Mr Garibaldi uncovered and this is just more evidence. Captain Sheridan meets with Ambassador Kosh and the Vorlon tells him he will teach Sheridan about himself. Kosh hides Jacobs in his ship so the EFI can't find him. Once the EFI leaves they get him off the station to safety.

There All The Honor Lies  4/26/95

Written by Peter David and directed by Mike Laurence Vejar

When Sheridan kills a Minbari there are some big problems. Delenn gets some disrespect from another Minbari when she and Lennier investigate the killing. Kosh's lesson for Sheridan is one moment of perfect beauty. Vir is going to be replaced until Londo sticks up for him. Vir will have quite a ride during the rest of the series. The truth comes about about the Minbari who was killed. It was all a plot to discredit Sheridan Starkiller. They really hate him.

And Now For A Word  5/3/95

Written by JMS and directed by Mario DiLeo

Interstellar News Network comes to the station to poke around. A big fight breaks out between the Centauri and the Narn. There ships blast each other pretty darn close to the station. There's always something exciting on that station. The ISN reporter is pretty much a douchebag when she interviews Delenn. Back on Earth there are factions in the government that don't like the cost of the station and the being out among the aliens.

In The Shadow Of Z'ha'dum  5/10/95

Written by JMS and directed by David Eagle

Mr Mordon finally comes to Captain Sheridan's attention. Mr Mordon had been on the Icarus  same spaceship that Sheridan's wife Anna had been on when it exploded. Sheridan locks Mr Mordon up and questions him but he's not getting any answers he likes. Mr Garibaldi tells him he can't hold him for no reason and quits when Sheridan won't back down. Delenn and Kosh fill Sheridan in on the Shadows and their recent awakening. They urge him to let Mr Morden go. After letting Mr Morden go Sheridan goes to ask Mr Garibaldi to come back to work. The two men work well as a team and while they will have their issues they both will help the other get through the up coming troubles.

This episode is another of my favorites. There's a good bit of the story arc revealed, nice scenes with Sheridan and Mr Morden, and all that Shadow information from Delenn and Kosh. I love the complexity and variety of the aliens in this universe and they all seem to have plenty of backstory. The last Shadow war was a thousand years ago. The Minbari were in that one, along with the Vorlons. There are even older races, we saw one when Catherine Saki's ship got to close to Wolf 357, and the Vorlons and Shadows are part of the group called the First Ones.

Babylon 5 S2D3

The 3rd disc of the second season has 4 more episodes. JMS is ramping up the impact of the story arc, more and more dangerous things are happening. We've got a good variety of stories on this disc and all but one are written by JMS. Pretty soon it will be just him writing everything. He used to post on the internet about writing the episodes and answer questions people had about the series. I read some of the posts after 2000 had past. I don't know if they are still up in that format but some of the material got transfered to The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. Each of the 110 episodes gets a whole web page and parts of Joe's posts are copied there.

The Coming Of Shadows  2/1/95

Written by J Michael Straczynski and directed by Janet Greek

The Centauri Emperor comes to Babylon 5. He's old, tired, sick and played by Turhan Bey. G'Kar plans to kill him but the Emperor collapses just after he arrives at the station. Kosh visits the Emperor in Medbay. When the Emperor ask Kosh how it will end the Vorlon tells him "in fire." The Emperor dies shortly after and that sends Lord Refa and his home world pals on a murder spree so they can put their guy in the Emperor's spot. Londo has Mr Mordon kill off a Narn colony. G'Kar nearly kills Londo but Sheridan stops him. This is another of my favorite episodes. I really like seeing Turhan Bey as the Emperor. I'd enjoyed him in 2 or 3 movies from the 1940's. His Hollywood career ended in 1953 when he returned to Vienna. He returned to Los Angeles to recieve an award and woundup appearing in several tv shows. He will return as a Minbari in a future season.

Gropos  2/8/95

Written by Lawrence G Ditillio and directed by Jom Johnston

A transport of Earth Allienace Marines, or ground pounders, comes to stay at the station forcing the Earth Force crew to host some of them in their quarters. We get to know a bunch of the gropos before they push off to their secret mission. We know they are going to a hell hole because the General is at B5 to see Sheridan. The General turns out to be Doctor Franklin's father and they don't get along too well. It's not one of my favorite episodes and I find myself fast forwarding through the sad parts. At the end all the gropos we've met are dead. I find that all sad.

All Alone In The Night  2/15/95

Written by JMS and directed by Mario DiLeo

Captain Sheridan is out space in a Star Fury. He's with a fighter group checking up on a ship being attacked by an unknown alien. His ship gets blasted by the aliens and he's brought aboard their ship. They torture him and make him fight other aliens with a control implant. He helps a Narn named Ta'Lon get uncontrolled and they escape in a life pod. Delenn gets kicked off the Grey Council and finds out they replaced her with Naroon. He's Warrior Caste and that gives them 4 members on the council. Valen set up the council as 3 each from the three castes. This imbalance will cause some issues for the Minbari in the future. Delenn is left as Ambassador and heads back to Babylon 5. She finds out that Sheridan has been captured and recognizes the ships as the Stribs. They know where they live and head there. Yay, the Captain is rescued.

Acts Of Sacrifice  2/22/95

Written by JMS and Mario LiLeo

G'Kar is seeking help from Earth in the Narn-Centauri war. Sheridan is told he can't get involved. Sheridan asks Delenn to help but now that she's not part of the Grey Council she's not got as many resources as she used to ahve. They offer what they can to G'Kar. He's really sad and kind of hopeless. It's the turning point for G'Kar. He'll manage to come out of this as a much better person but it will be a trail. Ivanova gets the task of getting the Lumati to sign an alliance with the Earth. Part of the Lumati tradition is to have sex to seal the deal. Poor Ivanova has to get out of that somehow. It's a nice balance with Ivanova's comedy and G'Kar's tragedy. JMS has talked about his sense of humor and how he likes to use it to blunt the tragedy. Tavelling with the Lumati is a second alien, played by Paul Williams, who acts as the voice of the person he's with. The Lumati don't like to talk to inferior races. The seem like dicks to me.

All in all another fine batch of episodes, I like them all, even Gropos, because they share a common trait. They're all well written. There's nearly no waste, every scene and bit of dialog is setting up the situation, pushing you along quickly, and filling out the  characters. I liked the gropos that we meet and I feel really sad when they don't come home. I find the sad scene with Mr Garibaldi and Dodger so real I don't want to see much. I like Mr Garibaldi, his pain is real to me. He's still the kind of guy I'd want on my side. Jerry Doyle does a great job bringing that guy to life.