The battle for Earth concludes as Sheridan leads his forces to Earth to confront Clark's forces in an all out battle. Meanwhile Marcus learns of the alien device Franklin used to heal Gariba... Read allThe battle for Earth concludes as Sheridan leads his forces to Earth to confront Clark's forces in an all out battle. Meanwhile Marcus learns of the alien device Franklin used to heal Garibaldi when he was critically injured. But to save a person's life, someone else must die.The battle for Earth concludes as Sheridan leads his forces to Earth to confront Clark's forces in an all out battle. Meanwhile Marcus learns of the alien device Franklin used to heal Garibaldi when he was critically injured. But to save a person's life, someone else must die.
- Vir Cotto
- (credit only)
- Zack Allan
- (credit only)
- G'Kar
- (credit only)
- Londo Mollari
- (credit only)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRichard Biggs asked if he could do his own stunts for the fight when Franklin, Garibaldi and Lyta all enter the bunker. They granted his request. When they filmed it, he accidentally knocked the stunt person out and he immediately bent down to check on him. He felt he had ruined the shot by bending down, but the producers told him that they thought it was okay, since it would seem like Franklin was checking on an injured person. He apologized to the stuntman for the accidental contact.
- GoofsPresumably without knowing when the planetary defense grid was programmed or the program activated, the Senator seems to know that they will fire "in ten minutes."
- Quotes
[last lines]
Ranger Marcus Cole: [as he's giving up his life energy to save Ivanova] I love you.
- ConnectionsFeatures Babylon 5: Revelations (1994)
I know there will be those who place the cult that is the 'Star Wars' franchise above all of these in the sci-fi firmament. I cannot criticise these films myself, since I early developed an instinctive aversion to that saga. But I suspect that if I did bother to expose myself to the entire length of 'Star Wars' I would only end up arriving at the very same negative judgement on the subject as that made by a senior member of 'sciforums.com', writing under the very apt moniker 'Killjoy' in 2005.
I hope this person does not mind my quoting their view, as follows:
' - - - my vote goes to Babylon 5 for it's dealing with moral dilemmas more intricate than the nigh-infantile level of Star Wars, better character development, (and) a better plotline - - -'
The dire 'Star Trek: Discovery' has already widely been derided as closer to this juvenile 'Star Wars' universe, than to the far deeper and more interesting constellation it has both radically departed from, and parodied.
There have been many fine sci-fi sagas on TV, such as 'Farscape' (startlingly inventive, with fully-characterised alien beings), 'The Invaders' (producing some of the same paranoia as cinema's 'The Body Snatchers,' but developing a fascinating underground politics of resistance), 'Earth, Final Conflict' (with its aliens often more sympathetic than the humans, and portrayed as more tragic than diabolically evil, as well as having an interesting 'ancient aliens' back-story rooted in Celtic mythology), and 'Star Gate 1' (which, unlike the camp original series of 'Battlestar Galactica,' managed the imaginative feat of making spacefaring Ancient Egyptians seem believable, through sheer good writing!). And all of the 'Star Trek' family - before the misbegotten 'Discovery' - had episodes of real distinction (though they became rather too cosy, which may be what tempted the makers of 'Discovery' to go for edgy, the only drawback being it turns out they couldn't write to save their lives!).
Charles Chilton's original radio sci-fi for the BBC, his 'Journey Into Space' serials, and their sequel, 'Space Force.' are quaintly dated and therefore cannot be expected to compete with the more modern speculative imaginings for visual media, although they are nevertheless very effective adventures in the genre, and can still be appreciated as a well crafted 'alternative reality' for the medium of radio. They certainly annoy me less than the too-often whimsical 'Lost In Space' type of surreal 'science-fantasy' seen in the 'Doctor Who' canon , but I wouldn't want to deny that this long-lived BBC children's series did produce a number of fine dramas over the years, but mostly it was a sort of cosmic fairy-tale with little dramatic heft.
The great Nigel Kneale's work for TV, The 'Quatermass' Trilogy, and the truly Lovecraftian Horror-Sci-Fi story 'The Stone Tapes', is of legendary reputation, and is, in terms of consistent excellence, probably unmatched. Kneale was lucky to find his home at the BBC, a public service broadcaster that tended, once any writer had an idea green lit for production, to keep faith with their creative talents. By contrast, Straczynski, writing 'Babylon 5' for Warner, suffered the production interference typical of financially nervous big American studios. However, to their credit Warner did not cancel the slow-burn first series, and also later relented on cancellation after the fourth to allow a final series. But when unhindered by such restrictions, and also working at peak inspiration in the later series, Straczinsky is at his best and creates scene after scene as magnificently realised, as full of convincing characters and as compelling and memorable as anything in Nigel Kneale's opus. Probably, though, Straczynski has the edge because of his deep, abiding commitment to a moral universe: 'Babylon 5' seems at times almost like a re-imagined version of Milton's metaphysical literary epic-in-outer-space, 'Paradise Lost.'
To my mind, none of the actual science-fiction discussed comes close to the sublime operatic grandeur envisaged in 'Babylon 5' - of which, as I say, this episode is a towering example. We are lucky indeed that the entire saga is available now on DVD.
- philip-davies31
- Mar 22, 2018