BABYLON 5
Season 4

Available on DVD

Hour of the Wolf

Captain Sheridan is missing at Z'ha'dum, but his sacrifice has put the shadow war into a pause for the moment. Susan Ivanova is left looking after the station, but she can barely keep herself together. Ambassador Delenn is also shattered by the loss, but is determined to fight on, if she can get the Vorlon ambassador to engage in the conflict. On Centauri Prime, Londo Mollari meets the new emperor and quickly learns that the man is utterly insane and has invited the Shadows to take up residence on his homeworld. And everyone except G'Kar seems to have forgotten that Mr Garibaldi is also missing.

Following the apocalyptic ending to the last season (surely one of the all time great season finales) there's a period of calm, a period of mourning, a period without plot and about character. A period that lasts about half the episode before Londo starts to realise just how rotten the state of Denmark has gotten in his absence and determines to kill the Emperor and Ivanova, Delenn and Lyta Alexander stage a mission to Z'ha'dum to find out if Sheridan is alive. They get no response, but what is that shuffling through the shattered remains of the destroyed city?

It's a muted start, but it is already posing interesting questions that we are just itching to get answered.

Whatever Happened to Mr Garibaldi?

G'Kar decides that since nobody else in looking for Mr Garibaldi, he will go after him. A lead takes him to a small, backward planet, but there he falls foul of the local Centauri and is brought before the Emperor in chains. Mollari, sees in this prisoner, an opportunity to kill the mad head of state, but he must bide his time and G'Kar must endure. On Z'Ha'Dum, Sheridan encounters a strange being who calls himself Lorien and who appears to have a unique understanding of the Captain's predicament.

This episode is simply a continuation of the story and so does not stand on its own. The multiple plot lines continue and obviously the most interesting is that of Captain Sheridan. At the end of Season 3 he was seen falling into a giant pit with nuclear bombs going off over his head. There's no way that he could survive that and now it appears that he didn't - maybe. There's a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo about tic and toc and life and death and being the oldest being in the universe, but it's all just a smokescreen to allow the show to keep a popular and pivotal character.

The rest doesn't convince anywhere nearly as much. G'Kar being made a prisoner of the Centauri casts Londo Mollari in an interesting light as a character, but it is hard to see how having G'Kar chained and humiliated can be seen as an opportunity to do things he couldn't do otherwise. No doubt time will tell.

The Summoning

The Centauri Emperor is somewhat vexed that his tortures can't get a scream out of G'Kar and so Londo must persuade the Narn that his life is more important than his pride. Delenn is hard pressed to rally support to the cause for the assault on Z'Ha'Dum until John Sheridan suddenly appears with a new friend in tow. Mr Garibaldi is also recovered, but in very mysterious fashion. Ivanova goes in search of the First Ones, but instead discovers a huge Vorlon fleet.

More of the slow building of the plotlines gives way abruptly to a revelation that changes everything that has gone before it. The Vorlons, mysterious allies since the first, are revealed to be almost as big a part of the problem as the Shadows with their fleet destroying a whole planet and millions of lives for a victory against their ancient enemy. There are now two giants battling in the land and the other races are caught between them. This is the kind of dramatic and brave plotting that has made this show such a pleasure to watch. Just when you think you know where it's going it pulls out a twist that is completely shocking, but utterly in synch with the established mythology.

Mr Garibaldi's recovery makes no sense at all. Suddenly, word comes of where he's being transported and the ship carrying him blows itself up just after jettisoning him in an escape pod? There is clearly more to this than meets the eye or it is a very bad piece of plotting. As for Sheridan's return, that takes the show in a new direction (he now is the new Messiah) that brings the show's spiritual dimension a bit more to the fore.

Falling Towards Apotheosis

With the Vorlons rampaging through space, wiping out every planet with any trace of Shadow influence, Sheridan decides that it is time to remove the new Ambassador Kosh, but how do you deal with one of the greatest of the elder races? On Centauri Prime, Londo learns the very depth of the Emperor's insanity.

This episode takes a long time to get around to where it's going. The big confrontation comes at the end with the emergence of a surprising ally who might just explain a few things about Sheridan's return from the dead.

Londo's travails on Centauri Prime are somewhat repetitive (he's mad, we get it), but the revelation of his ultimate plan is both chilling and ridiculous at the same time.

When Sheridan reveals that his return from the dead isn't permanent, the effect is somewhat muted by the fact that he's got twenty years or so. Not exactly next week is it?

The Long Night

Having lured Emperor Cartagia to Narn and with the Vorlons days away from the total annihilation of Centauri Prime it is time for Londo Mollari to act in order to save his homeworld. The Shadows' planet killer is revealed and Sheridan uses it to gather together all the species for one big strike against the Elder Races.

The story of Centauri Prime's mad Emperor comes to an end in suitably satisfying manner with this episode that mixes suspense, action and character. Mollari and Vir must carry out dark deeds whilst G'Kar must risk his life once more in the service of his people. This is intricate stuff and it leads to strong performances from Peter Jurasik as Londo and especially from Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar. His response to being challenged as to what he has suffered is a brilliant piece of acting with a face covered in latex.

Into The Fire

The target for the Vorlons next attack is identified and Sheridan has set a trap for both them and the Shadows. With the two combatants finally ranged directly against each other at last, a giant space battle rages, but it's not a fight that Sheridan wants. With the help of Lorien, he intends to get to the bottom of the cycle of violence and end it once and for all. He might, however, be too late to save Centauri Prime from the Shadows.

Wow! Now this is an episode and a half. Giant space battles, courtly intrigues, ruminations on the nature of evolution and the culmination of a plot arc that has been three years in the setting up. By then end, you're so punch drunk by it all that it takes a while to realise that it has any faults at all.

On Centauri Prime, Londo finally gets the monkey off his back with a brilliant piece of subterfuge (not mention a trio of nuclear weapons). That he pulls this off in front of the smug Mr Morden, shortly after meets his deserved end, is only icing on a very satisfying cake.

Even better, though, is what happens in space. The face off between the Vorlons and Shadows with the alliance fleet in the middle pushes the nascent CGI effects to the limit and they stand up to it. This is probably the first time such a battle on this scale has ever been created for a TV sceen. It's not all flash, bang, wallop though. Sheridan's plan isn't about force, but about psychology, about getting to the heart of the matter and resolving it once and for all. It's a victory for intelligence over might and it's breathtaking.

Admittedly, afterwards the more you think about it the less likely it is (the two Elder races being treated like naughty children in the schoolyard with Sheridan as headmaster?) and it does come with some poor dialogue ('will you come with us?', 'get the hell out of our galaxy'), but at the moment that it takes place it matters not a damn. This is exciting, clever, original science fiction doing what science fiction at its best should - astonishing us and making us think.

There is one caveat to all of this; we're only on episode six and the central plot arc is resolved, along with quite a few smaller ones (the fate of Narn for example). How can the rest of the series be anything other than a crushing anticlimax?

Epiphanies

Following the end of the Shadow War, Londo and G'Kar return to Babylon 5. Sheridan is looking for some quiet, but the arrival of Psi Cop Bester on the station triggers a trip back to Z'ha'dum.

As predicted, following the apocalyptic events of the last episode Epiphanies is a total letdown. It's not particularly bad, it's just rather dull, especially considering what preceded it. With the main plot resolved, new ones have to be set up and they continue intrigue on Centauri Prime and the conflict with President Clark of Earth.

The main attraction here would be the presence of Walter Koenig as Bester, the always fun but never believable Psi cop. Unfortunately, his story here is so slight as to not warrant the effort. Add to that the fact that the skirmish between Babylon 5's forces and those of the bad guys compares pitifully with last week's giant space battle and this was always destined to be a disappointment.

Only Mr Garibaldi's abrupt resignation after receiving a video signal has any real interest.

The Illusion of Truth

Sheridan sees a chance to counter the barrage of Earth's propaganda when a journalist comes aboard wanting to tell the true story. The story that emerges is far from the truth.

This episode fails on so many levels that it is hard to know where to start. The message of the episode, that news, truth and propaganda are only a subjective hairsbreadth apart is obvious even before it is rammed home with all the subtlety of a broadside of cannonfire. Whilst on the subject of subtlety, the final report as broadcast is so utterly inept that it wouldn't convince a three year old.

Also unconvincing are the usually reliable special effects. Whenever a human exists near to a CGI background things get all fuzzy and murky.

How stupid must Sheridan be to think that the outcome of his decision to allow the filming could be anything different. The script makes a point of seeing what Earthgov's worst is, but it's a decision of such epic stupidity that it undermines the character totally. Michael Garibaldi's sudden switch from loyal fan to Sheridan-hater is altogether too severe and doesn't convince for a second.

This is a poor episode not even taking into account the heights that the show has taken us to already this season. It's a gimmick in search of a plot and not even a very good.

Atonement

Delenn is recalled to Minbar to explain her actions in becoming genetically compatible with humans and taking a non-minbari as a mate. To prepare for the inquisition she enters into a ceremony known as The Dreaming, which reveals sequences from her past and secrets that she would not wish to become public knowledge.

BABYLON 5 has a record of coming up with plot twists that are so bold and surprising that they take the breath away. Whilst this is nothing on the same level as the origin of the Minbari legend Valen, the Vorlons' switch to bad guys or what happened when Sheridan went to Z'ha'dum the revelation that it was Delenn who gave the order to start the Earth/Minbari war is both shocking and incredibly clever writing. The potential consequences of this news are staggering.

Sadly, this revelation is far better than the rest of the episode deserves. Without that shock this would merely be filler.

Racing Mars

Sheridan is forced by Ivanova to take a day off and chooses to use it to get into a fight with Garibaldi. Dr Franklin and Marcus the Ranger head to Mars to make contact with the resistance there, but find that they are taken to be Earthgov assassins.

when Marcus said that the trip to Mars was going to take two weeks we didn't think it would actually feel like it. This episode is all filler. The situation between Sheridan and Garibaldi gets out of hand, but the speed with which the ex-security chief falls in with the enemy is far too quick to be believable, mind control or not.

The special effects are also suffering. When the CGI exteriors are on then everything is fine, but when humans and CGI are combined its like looking at the screen through serious soft focus and it's very offputting when there isn't enough story to keep your mind off it.

Lines of Communication

On Mars, Dr Franklin attempts to bring the message about Babylon 5's plans to the leaders of the rebellion. Sheridan makes plans to combat the misinformation from Earth and Delenn goes in search of raiders only to find the Drakh, servants of the shadows with their own agenda.

Despite having multiple stories going on, the focus of this one is on Delenn's trip to challenge the raiders. The Drakh are interesting aliens in the way that they are depicted, slightly out of phase with the rest of the world. It's a strange special effect, but certainly an effective one. This story also gives us a battle between the Drakh and the White Stars which makes up for the fact that the rest of the episode is so dull.

Conflicts of Interest

Ivanova goes down to Epsilon 3 to organise the power for the Voice of the Resistance broadcasts and meets an old friend, sort of. Michael Garibaldi is given a job by his mysterious new benefactor of smuggling someone through customs only to find out that it is the love of his life. Delenn becomes aware of a brewing civil war on Minbar between the warrior caste and the religious caste.

The focus switches back to Michael Garibaldi for a while. It's actually more of the same as he has to give up his gun and his badge (a few months late) and this irritates him. Everything seems to irritate him lately and his behaviour is so irrational that it's hard to take even when we know that some sort of brainwashing is behind it. His situation does, at least, provie the only action in this episode. His growing contempt for authority is all well and good, but his love life situation is far from either. The last time that we saw Lise she was telling Michael that she was married and had a child. Now she is married to someone else, just because the plot needs her to be. It's manipulative and completely unbelievable.

Ivanova's trip to the planet and the Great Machine is played for laughs and does prove to be amusing.

Rumours, Bargains and Lies

Sheridan tries a double bluff to get the League of Non-aligned worlds to agree to having White Star ships patrol their borders. Delenn brings a member of the warrior caste on board a ship in the hope of finding a way of avoiding war.

Politics doesn't usually make for good science fiction, but BABYLON 5 is a show that has managed to make an asset of the political landscape it is set against. It does this by painting the background of the major races in such richness and depth that when politics rears its ugly head the audience is invested in the situation already and wants to follow the story. The civil war on Minbar between the warriors and the religious caste has been coming for a long time and now that it is here hints of it can be found all the way back to the start of the show.

It also helps that even the more minor recurring characters on the show are so fleshed out that they are interesting in their own rights. John Vickery's Neroon, for example, has popped up regularly throughout the show's history, usually in conflict with Delenn, but always more than just a paper villain. When he comes in as a member of the warrior caste that Delenn can't trust, but can respect it makes for a complex, but believable situation.

The same can't be said for Sheridan's double bluff. The way that the alien ambassador's behave is supposed to be light relief, but it undercuts the reality that the show has been trying to achieve for so long.

The star, though, is Bill Mumy's Lennier who nearly dies saving Delenn and his fellows from their own plot. His final speech to them is well-written but the manner in which he delivers it shows how much this character and performer have grown since the start of the first season.

Moments of Transition

On Minbar, the warrior caste has surrounded the city that is the last stronghold of the religious caste and demanded their total surrender or annihilation. Delenn has to agree to this, but the meeting is arranged in a temple with a very specific resonance for the Minbari people and Delenn is willing to show just how far she is willing to go for her beliefs. Lyta Alexander is made an offer she can't refuse by Bester of the psycorps.

The Minbari civil war remains the focus of attention as Delenn proves once again what a consummate strategist she really is. It is a credit to J Michael Straczynski and Mira Furlann that the events depicted in this story are utterly believable, dramatic and compelling. The solution may be a bit deus ex machine, but it is completely credible that Delenn would have manipulated circumstances from apparent defeat to victory in this manner. Great, almost brilliant, stuff.

Not credible is the situation that Lyta Alexander finds herself in. Considering what the telepath went through for the allies in the Shadow War it is inconceivable that she would be just abandoned by Sheridan. A place on his staff and a steady income would be the least of her rewards, so to see her brought so low rings hollow. It is, however, always a pleasure to see Walter Koenig as the utterly unbelievable, but immense fun psycop Alfred Bester.

No Surrender, No Retreat

Following the murder of thousands of innocent civilians by forces loyal to President Clark in the Proxima system, Sheridan decides that the time for waiting is past and sets off with the White Star Fleet to break the blockade. He is outnumbered and outgunned, but will all the Earth ships follow Clark's illegal orders?

Fully a third of this episode is dedicated to the space battle for the Proxima 3 earth colony and is another of this season's big space battles. Sure, it doesn't measure up to big one that ended the Shadow war in Into the Fire, but it has the added twist of hinging on the loyalties of those on the other side. The morality of it all is a bit black and white, but it least gives a human aspect to the CGI destruction.

A more human (or alien, at least) aspect is given by the meeting between Mollari and G'Kar. Londo attempts the first step in reconciliation in the full knowledge of his own terrible errors and it is a fine performance from Peter Jurasik that really brings the character into relief. It wouldn't mean much, though without Andreas Katsulas being on the receiving end of it. His stoic hatred, tempered with recent religious enlightenment is less showy, but perfectly complements that of his fellow performer. For all of the flashy computer effects it is this interaction that remains in the memory.

Exercise of Vital Powers

Michael Garibaldi travels to Mars and is finally introduced to his secretive employer William Edgars. During the course of one eventful weekend, Edgars learns a lot more about his employee, including his relationship with his wife, and Garibaldi finally learns what the price of being involved in Edgars' plans really is.

Filler, filler, filler. With the war against Earth underway it is a surprise to find the whole plot coming to a screeching halt to observe Michael Garibaldi having a chat with his new boss who is, surprise surprise, a bit dodgy to say the least. That and Dr Franklin being a bit upset about Sheridan wanting him to sort out the Shadow-altered telepaths in a hurry could easily have been dealt with in a few minutes rather than being stretched out to fill and entire episode.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr is the mysterious Mr Edgars and whilst he has the necessary charm to make you believe that his young wife might actually love him, he doesn't have the necessary sinister edge that clearly the character was meant to possess.

The Face of the Enemy

Michael Garibaldi sets in motion the plan to trap Sheridan for Edgars, thus removing the figurehead from the fight to free Earth from President Clark's regime. His reward is to learn the truth about Edgars and his plan for all human telepaths. Edgars, however, is not the only one who is making plans.

Poor Michael Garibaldi. Everyone, it seems, thinks it's OK to manipulate him. Unfortunately, they also seem to think that it's OK to explain their plots in long chunks of clunky exposition. There is so much to pack into this season that it's as if there wasn't enough time to do it properly.

Edgars' plot to end the telepath war before it begins by infecting them with a gene-targeted virus for which he controls the regularly administered cure is as grand in scale as everything else in this show, but before he's even finished mentioning it, practically, another force has stepped in finished his finishing of the war.

And then there's Mr Bester, who pops up and explains exactly what has happened to Michael since the end of the Shadow war and why because there's no time for him to find it out for himself. It's a story that deserved a better telling.

Intersections in Real Time

John Sheridan, saviour of an entire galaxy, is alone and beaten in a cell. In steps an interrogator who calmly states that it is his job to ensure that Sheridan co-operates with his captors. So begin a series of sessions that will test Sheridan's will, mind and body to the very limits of breaking.

This is BABYLON 5's homage to the great 1984. No vicious beatings of sharp instruments of torture here. No this is more subtle torture, starting with loss of dignity, water and food deprivation, disassociation with time and place and reality. It's cleverly written, well-played and utterly chilling. One of two of the tricks played are a bit obvious, but then the audience hasn't been shot up with drugs and starved for a week.

Bruce Boxleitner is given a chance to play something other than the morally upright figurehead and he takes the chance with both hands, convincing as a man suffering serious deprivations, but still trying to cling on.

This is a startling change of pace and once again the show completely wrongfoots us.

Between the Darkness and the Light

Michael Garibaldi makes contact with the Mars resistance, who decide to kill him for betraying Sheridan. Telepath Lyta is there to verify his story, however, and he leads a small team into the place where Sheridan is being held in a desperate raid to get him back. Ivanova takes the White Star Fleet up against Earth ships modified with Shadow technology.

Following the really excellent Intersections in Real Time this is a real disappointment. John Sheridan, the greatest threat to Earth security is freed from a hugely fortified base by three people? It's just ridiculous on every level.

Fortunately, the second plot strand that sees the White Stars take on the modified Earth ships is much more interesting and comes up with perhaps the greatest twist that the show has come up with Commander Sinclair turned into Minbari war leader Valen. And a real body blow it is too.

Endgame

It's time to take the fight to Earth and that means nullifying the battle fleet in Mars orbit. It's the biggest challenge yet for Sheridan's fleet, but he has an ace up his sleeve that could mean the difference between success and failure. Meanwhile Marcus, the ranger in love with Ivanova, comes up with a desperate plan to save her life.

The plan to take Earth is a clever one that utilises ground forces and space fleets and shadow-cursed telepaths in a hugely satisfying strategy. It perhaps denies us the greatest space battle that the show has yet produced, but there are still plenty of spaceships on fire and enough action to keep anyone satisfied.

The human dimension is provided by Marcus, never the most realistic of minor characters, and his search for the answer to Susan Ivanova's fatal condition. It harkens right back to The Quality of Mercy in Season 1 and is enough to make you wonder if this is what Straczynski had in mind for that episode all along.

Rising Star

The war to free Earth is over, but the peace has only just started. Sheridan faces a trial for treason and his crew with him. Bester of the Psy-Corps wants to know if his girlfriend was one of the shadow telepaths used against the Earth fleet and Delenn has something up her sleeve.

Wars don't just end, they leave a whole mess behing and kudos to BABYLON 5 for showing that, but take the kudos away again for making it so dull. The politics are neither simple enough, nor complex enough to really engage and the woman playing the Earth President doesn't convince for a second.

The more personal stories, such as Garibaldi searching for the woman who slipped through his fingers twice and Ivanova coming to terms with the sacrifice that Marcus has made for her are more satisfying in their brief moments than all the politicking.

The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

And so the story has ended, but what will anyone remember of the station and the events that took place there in a hundred, a thousand, a million years?

The story is over, finished and yet there's an episode left over so The Deconstruction of Falling Stars is an episodic coda of short stories that hope to illuminate the significance of the BABYLON 5 story arc. Thus we get ill-informed academics doubting the motives of the heroes and getting a telling off from a 140 year old Delenn, holographic recreations of the heroes manipulated into propaganda spokespeople, the far future of the Rangers and finally the possible truth about the Vorlons.

It's an unusual way to end the series and has little merit standing up alongside the rest of the meticulously plotted show, but the stories vary from the tedious to the fun and the final shot of the humans leaving Earth for the very last time is one of those hallelujah moments that the show does so well and takes the very breath away.

If this is the end for BABYLON 5 then it has at least tied up all the loose ends, but it is a faintly unsatisfying way for the show to go out.