ORBzine Babylon 5 June 1999

Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for SFTV.

However, after the end of the Shadow War [mid-Season 4] things petered out; Season 5 was only confirmed at the last minute, and was mostly filler. The Fall of the Centauri arc was good, but it ended half-way through the Season and left the show to linger aimlessly.

Still, in the last episode JMS finally did the cameo he swore he would never do. Then he did a spin-off series, Crusade - which he likewise swore he would never do - but then cancelled it half-way through Season One when the Network took too much control. Alas!

So what can we learn from B5?

Well, to start with a 5-year story arc is too long; these days many shows only get a half-season [12-episode] run. A 3-year arc would be much more viable; B5 was dead for about half a Season before the show actually ended, and still managed to leave a number of very important loose ends.

Secondly, the Networks are bastards. But then we all knew that anyway.

       P- 1                22 Feb 93   The Gathering

Season 1

This is the first ep after the pilot, and it shows far more of everyday life on the station.

An armada of spaceships attacks a remote Centauri colony. This sets the tone for the emnity between the creepy Narn Ambassador G'Kar [Andreas Katsulas - ] and the Jovial, put-upon Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari [Peter Jurassik - ].

A damaged ship is salvaged, and a comatose survivor is rescued. Minbari Ambassador Delenn identifies him as a Soul Hunter - a being that collects souls, which defies the Minbari tradition of reincarnation!

Another Soul Hunter [Morgan Shepherd ] arrives.

The Station's docking facilities are site of a terrible accident. The facilities are inadequate, and the workers threaten to strike. The Government prefers to spend its funds on military expenses - although Garibaldi's riot squad don't even have helmets! This is a nice example of the show's cynicism about governments, and this is BEFORE the forthcoming election!

Meanwhile, G'Kar wants to obtain a special eggplant for a religious ceremony. Londo has the only one on the station, and refuses to give it over. Very childish, but it foreshadows future events.

Ivanova and the Station's fighter squadrons must protect freighters from space-pirates. The raiders's codenames are references to the TV show The Prisoner!

This is noteable as the core episode of Season One and the first appearance of ultra-smooth villain Mr Morden [Ed Wasser]. He visits the Station, and takes an interest in the Ambassadors. He interviews them, and asks What do you want?

Sinclair tells Garibaldi about the mysterious events at the Battle of the Line. He implicates Ambassador Delenn. Meanwhile, Delenn is building a strange giant pyramid in her quarters.

G'Kar argues with Londo - the Narn is now a comedy figure, no longer a pseudo-villain. Londo has visitors - an aristocrat, Lord Kiro [Gerritt Graham - Star Trek: VGR ] and his aunt, a seeress. She foresees the violent destruction of the station - but she doesn't know when this will happen!

The Station plays host to the galactic fight-to-the-TKO this week. Originally censored for gratuitously violent kickboxing scenes, this episode is now being shown alongside the other episodes in this rerun of Season One.

Jeffrey Coombs [ DS9 ] plays Psi-Corps agent Harriman Gray.

The Minbari General Neroon arrives on the station, and we discover that the Minbari leave their gun-ports open as a salute.

Meanwhile, Talia and Ivanova debate over a young Psi girl.

Delenn's friend the beardy Minbari arrives on the station. Meanwhile, Ivanova's crew investigate unusual activity on the planet's surface. Yes, this is the episode where the machine on Epsilon 4 is discovered.

This is the Arc-intensive episode that was not concluded until Sinclair's reappearance in the middle of Season 3.

This episode introduces the alien healing machine. The main plot concerns a serial killer who escapes before he can get a mindwipe.

 23.   2- 1        201      2 Nov 94   Points of Departure

Londo plots with Morden, Delenn emerges from the cocoon and Santiago's part in the death of his predecessor is further hinted at.

The Station is visited by Techno-Mages in one of the show's greatest episodes. The B-story; Green! - Purple! - yes, Ivanova meets the Drazi!

The Station is visited by Russ Tamblyn [ Twin Peaks ], Sheridan's former commander on the Agamemnon. This marks the beginning of poor Keffer's obsession with the Shadows.

B5 is visited by Dwight Shultz, fresh from Starfleet duty in Star Trek TNG. He plays a GROPO who had a close encounter with an invisible alien in the Minbari war and is now a half-crazed prophet of doom

This is an Andrea Thompson episode. Someone wants to kill B5's telepath - the main suspects are Free Mars terrorists, but as ever there's a conspiracy afoot ...

The guest-star is Adrienne Barbeau [ Escape from New York ] - damn, she looks different with her clothes on.

The station is visited by Talia's ex-husband, a trader who sells an ancient artefact to Londo's youngest wife. The artefact is boobytrapped and puts Londo in med-bay - convenient for his wives, for he threatens to divorce 2 of them.

In a subplot, Delenn asks Ivanova for advice on human biology. Yes, this is the one where she mentions her menstrual cramps, and thus we learn of her human reproductive system!

This starts with Earth Alliance's decision to charge Sheridan and Ivanova rent for their quarters. Bester arrives on B5, his mission - to locate the base of the Underground Railroad, a group of renegade human psychics who want to evade the Psi Corps. Ambassador Delenn takes Sheridan out to dinner, so she can find out what it is to be human; yes, this is the episode where she wears THAT dress!

B5 is visited by the Centauri Emperor, who brings round his would-be assassin G'Kar to the ways of peace. But by the end of the episode, Mollari had made a similar change in the opposite direction.

 32.   2-10        210      9 Feb 95   GROPOS
 33.   2-11        211     16 Feb 95   All Alone in the Night

The war hots up between the Narn and the Centauri. G'kar runs around trying to get the other races to intervene, but with predictable results. Worse, Narns and Centauri aboard the station begin to fight. The Centauri kick ass with their space-age kung-fu! Na'Toth has a couple of lines, but Mary Kay Adams is weak and squeaky-voiced compared to the original actress, Julie Caitlin Brown.

Meanwhile, Ivanova has a diplomatic mission of her own. She has to negotiate with a new species. The new ambassador mentions that his people do not get involved in events concerning inferior species, simply leave them to their fate. This mirrors Earth's attitude toward the Narns. Finally, the ambassador requests that Ivanova seal the deal with him ...

The Command Crew is put on alert for the President's doctor, who has become a fugitive. Bernie Casey guest-stars.

Sheridan continues his interest in the mysterious ambassador Kosh. This time we get to see the Vorlon's ship, too.

Sheridan: What do you want?
Kosh: Never ask that question!

This is another one of the handful of scripts by Peter David. Sheridan kills a Minbari in self-defence, but gets accused of murder. His lawyer is the babelicious Julie Caitlin Brown . If and when the case goes to trial, Sheridan will have to step down as CO of B5 - probably permanently.

Ivanova is assigned to sort out the B5 merchandising stand. Londo complains - his action figure is not anatomically correct!

 37.   2-15        214      4 May 95   And Now for a Word
 38.   2-16        217     11 May 95   In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum

Sheridan is troubled by a psychic beastie that came through the temporal rift left by B4 in Babylon Squared, which Garibaldi says was last year. And Londo kills his best friend in a duel, because of Londo's association with Reefa.

The station is hit by a deadly plague that has crossed the species gap. Yes, the 250,000 humans and aliens are now at risk from an unknown and incurable disease! But don't worry - just like in Star Drek the good guys will find a cure by the end of the episode and everything will go back to normal. Won't it???

The show nears the end of Season 2 - yes, we have come to the Final Four!!! Lyta Alexander [ Patricia Tallman ] returns, with a message from the Mars Resistance. Psi-Corps has a deep-cover agent among the prime movers of the show's cast, and only Lyta can uncover the spy!

There are 2 major revelations in this episode. The first is that Ivanova and the blonde psi had a crush on each other. The second - that Patricia Tallman [with her hair changed from the dreadful cut in the B5 pilot episode] is a babe! Unfortunately in 1999 she was married to the guy who played Kosh, but as C-3PO always says it's my lot in life to suffer.

The station is visited by Draal again - only this time he is played by Herman from The New Munsters. The problem with the character's new cheery, jovial look is not the fault of the actor; his guest-appearance in NYPD Blue proved he had no limitations in that respect. No, it appears to be a deliberate [and foolish] choice by the producers. But it does even out the episode's very dark tone.

The Narns attack a Centauri supply depot, but are ambushed by Londo's Shadow allies. On-station, the Narns start a bar-room brawl with the Centauri - and the big- haired goofs kick their scaly buts with space-age Kung-Fu! And Londo? What of Londo? As he watches the Centauri mass-drivers pummel the defenceless Narn homeworld he realises the horror of what he has done.

The Earth-news reports of Centari bombings and civilian casualties are so frighteningly reminiscent of the reports from Chechnya currently being shown on the other channel. After East Timor, and Kosovo, and Bosnia ... Since the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the era of peace so much blood has been shed ...

And to save the galaxy from itself, Sinclair's Rangers are now given over to Sheridan [equal authority with Delenn] ...

Final Four? Yes, these episodes are the high point of the whole Babylon 5 arc.

Zathras? Zathras? Blast him, he's never there when you need him!

43.   2-21        221     26 Oct 95   Comes the Inquisitor
44.   2-22        222      2 Nov 95   The Fall of Night

Babylon 5 [Season 3, Episode 4] Passing Through Gethsemane
Second Week, March 2000

This features guest-star [and genre veteran] Brad Dourif. This is a one-off episode, not part of the Story Arc. In an odd coincidence, this episode was discussed by the panel at the SF Convention. David Wingrove mentioned it as an excellent example of SF insofar as science [in this case, the mind-wipe] plays a central role in the plot!

 49.   3- 5        304      1 Feb 96   Voices of Authority
 50.   3- 6        306      8 Feb 96   Dust to Dust

Ivanova voice-over about 2260 - The Year of the Shadow War Marcus and Zach are both in the credits.

Corwin gets promoted to Lieutenant - Sheridan orders Ivanova to find out if he is trustworthy enough to involve in their conspiracy.

A parasite [similar to the Tingler] is smuggled aboard the station and used on a human test subject. The subject dies, the body discovered by Security and taken to med-lab for an autopsy. Meanwhile, the conspirators behind the parasite's induction are involved with Marcus' underworld contacts.

Typical JMS ambiguity; are the parasites really evil?

Viir is back from his posting on Minbar. The episode starts with Londo re-writing Viir's report to Centauri Prime, to remove excessive facts. It is revealed that Lady Morella, the late Emperor Turhan's third wife, is due to stop by the Station.

Earth Alliance declared Martial Law. The elite guard attacked the Senate, and a Russian Senator urges citizens to form a living barrier around the building.

General Hague tried to organise a counter-strike.

The guest-cast is notable for 2 reasons, both linked to Star Trek.

Bruce McGill arrives at B5, followed by the Earth Fleet. The station must stand and fight, or fall to Clarke ...

The Earth Fleet is defeated, but the Nightwatch still has secret units still in operation. They plot to attack Delenn; without her, Sheridan will lose the support of the Minbari, and will thus become vulnerable.

Marcus beats up all his underworld friends and contacts to find a lead. Lennier shows that Minbari may look like you [humans], but we are not you by lifting Marcus off the ground one-handed - then confesses his affection for Delenn.

Londo slips Reefa the first part of a binary poison; yes, even the snakes are fighting.

The end is a Minbari ceremony of rebirth; the command crew each tell Delenn their innermost secret, and in return she gives them new uniforms. The station also gets a new insignia.

Ivanova turns up for her shift naked - but it's only a dream. :( Vir Cato is on Centauri Prime, to deliver his reports from Minbar. The Chancellor advises him to use his own judgement, and not to let Londo

Back on the station, the command crew are in Delenn's new black jim-jams. Londo's quarters are infested with insects. Vir's [soon-to-be] wife turns up.

The station sees the arrival of a man who is apparently King Arthur, played by Michael York [who was also the villian in Season 3 of Seaquest DSV ].

Bester arrives on the station, and requests help in ambushing a Shadow convoy transporting weapon parts.

 59.   3-15        315      9 May 96   Interludes and Examinations

This is the long-awaited sequel to Babylon Squared, and features the return of a much-loved character from Season One. No, not Sinclair - though he does pop up - this reviewer is referring to the fact that we finally get more Zathras! Continued Next Week.

Continued from Last Week.

20 years in the future, we learn:

Kosh is dead, long live the new Kosh - a new Vorlon ambassador arrives on the station, and treats Vorlon-adapted human Lyta Alexander [ Patricia Tallman ] like dirt. He is angry that the previous Kosh did not leave a soul fragment in her before the Shadows killed him; Lyta suspects that Sheridan got the fragment instead.

The Doc's stim addiction has been long revealed; he resigned, and now Garibaldi discovers that he went walkabout.

The Narn warship that B5 sheltered in Season 2 returns. Sheridan needs military support to attack the Shadows. Garibaldi returns G'Kar's book.

Zach is having trouble recruiting enough telepaths to fight the Shadows. Ivanova locates Dr Franklin, still on walkabout, so she can contact the Telepaths' Underground Railroad.

Now that Sinclair is gone, Delenn takes over as head of the Rangers. Neroon, the Minbari General, objects - he challenges her right to lead a military organisation, and threatens violence. Lenier gets Marcus the Ranger to help by delaying Neroon until the ceremony has begun.

Garibaldi is cleaning a S&W .38 from Grandma Garibaldi's Boston PD days. Zach tells him about a recent disappearance of a maintenance man in Grey 17 and Garibaldi goes to investigate. Down there he finds a missing level, and guest-star Robert Englund [ V ]. The handgun-friendliness of this episode is strange, considering JMS' supposed anti-gun views.

 64.   3-20        320     17 Oct 96   And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place
 65.   3-21        321     24 Oct 96   Shadow Dancing

The show starts with Delenn coming face to face with Anna Sheridan. We get a series of flashbacks [re-filmed with Melissa Gilbert]. She reveals that her expedition was sent to Za'Ha'Dum by IPX and EarthForce [New Technologies Div] as a result of the discovery of the Shadow ship on Mars.

We get lots of foreshadowing. When Sheridan looks in the mirror, Kosh tells him If you go to Za'Ha'Dum, you will die. Sheridan also recounts to Delenn the events of the future scene in the Sinclair episode, when 20 years in the future Delenn tells him Do not go to Za'Ha'Dum!

Sheridan disobeys the advice, and lets Anna take him there. He meets Morden [Ed Wasser], along with a Fixer who controls tiny facets of everyday life from behind the scenes. Indeed, he mentions that he and the Shadows work with the help of the Psi-Corps!

They explain that the conflict is not Good versus Evil but rather Lawful Evil vs Chaotic Evil! However, the human Shadow-helpers are Fascists, just as bad as they accuse the Vorlons of being.

The end? Sheridan dives into oblivion as a 1000 megaton blast goes off overhead. Garibaldi goes MIA in a Starfury. G'Kar gives the final monologue.

Babylon 5 [Season 4, Episode 7] Epiphanies
Shown Third Week, October 2000

The Shadow War is over, but Sheridan still has other worries. Psi-cop Bester is given President Clark's directive - Shut down Babylon 5! The main method is to undermine Alien support.

Garibaldi gets a strange vid-phone message, and decides to quit his job and go freelance.

Londo, tired of Court intrigues, is back on B5. G'Kar gets on the NHS list for an artificial eye. However, although Londo went out of his way to help the Narns, G'Kar is in no way grateful towards him.

Bester arrives at B5. Patricia Tallman is summoned for security. The newly-promoted Zach offers to help her redecorate and buys her pizza. Bester makes Sheridan take him to Za'ha'dum. The planet is being evacuated by Allies of the Shadows - a foreshadowing of Crusade.

Sheridan worries about his father.

The station is guest to a reporter from ISN. The second half of the episode is the ISN broadcast

Marcus and the Doc take a trip to Mars, with interesting fake IDs. They find that nobody there knows about the Shadow War! Marcus tells someone I'm a Ranger, and gets the reply You're a long way from Texas. In a reference to The Prisoner, the Resistance leader [ Marjorie Monaghan ] is named Number One.

Back on B5, we see Alien Gands in the background - a reference to Neil Gaiman's work before he was approached to write an episode. Ivanova talks with smugglers, and gets chatted up. Sheridan and Delenn discover each others' pleasure centres. Garibaldi is confronted by an anti-Sheridan group. This is the main arc plot, kept to the b-story.

 76.   4-10        410     24 Apr 97   Racing Mars
 77.   4-11        411      1 May 97   Lines of Communication

Garibaldi is set his first mission by the conspirators. Because Sheridan had Zach retrieve his Security-issue gear, Garibaldi has no objection to going up against his former comrades. However, the mission involves his Martian ex-GF from Season 1.

Ivanova has set up a broadcasting station called Voice of the Resistance, However, the transmitter needs extra power to make Interstellar broadcasts. She heads down to Epsilon 3, and meets a certain Tim Choate character!

 79.   4-13        413     15 May 97   Rumors, Bargains and Lies
 80.   4-14        414     22 May 97   Moments of Transition
 81.   4-15        415     29 May 97   No Surrender, No Retreat
 82.   4-16        416      5 Jun 97   Exercise of Vital Powers
 83.   4-17        417     12 Jun 97   The Face of the Enemy
 84.   4-18        418     19 Jun 97   Intersections in Real Time
 85.   4-19        419      9 Oct 97   Between the Darkness and the Light
 86.   4-20        420     16 Oct 97   Endgame
 87.   4-21        421     23 Oct 97   Rising Star
 88.   4-22        422     30 Nov 97   The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

Babylon 5 [Season 5, Episode 22 - Finale] Sleeping In Light
Shown Sept 2000

It is 20 years after Sheridan went to Za'ha'dum, and he has his Rangers send Deathday cards to all his friends. The show's survivors have all risen to the top of their professions - but only 1 of them [apart from Sheridan] has a child! They all look a LOT older, except Delenn.

Sheridan pays one last visit to the station, which is just about to be shut down itself. This is just a load of self-indulgent crap.

JMS makes the cameo appearance he swore he would never do, as the tech who switches B5 off for good. The scene where the station itself is destroyed is far more moving than the whole Sheridan is dying thing.

This show is a monument to JMS' vision, a story arc that took up 5 years of so many peoples' lives; actors, production staff, not to mention the viewers. However, JMS went back on his promise to limit the story to 5 years. He churned out a stack of made-for-TV movies like Thirdspace , and the disappointing Crusade.

Babylon 5: Crusade [Season 1, Episode 1] War Zone
Shown Second Week, July 2000

The opening credits are incredibly lacklustre. The music is particularly uninspired. The plot introduction is blase: Galen asks Gideon Who are you? What do you want? Where are you going? Who do you serve, and who do you trust?

Earth has been attacked by the Drakh and seeded with a biogenetic plague. Captain Matthew Gideon [Gary Cole - American Gothic ] singlehandedly [and bare-fistedly] puts down a mutiny.

Tim Thomerson [Scanners] guest-stars as a Senator. He informs Gideon that the plague will destroy all life on Earth within 5 years - and Gideon is assigned to find the cure.

Meanwhile, the story is set up for Gideon to discover a Drakh ship that was shot down. Cue lots of really wooden acting from supporting actors. Of course, the Drakh themselves are quite wooden - just men in masks, not the impressive SPFX creatures we saw in the original series.

We get introduced to the new crew along the way. Tracey Scoggins plays her B5 character. Other babes include Marjean Holden [the african-american doctor] and Carrie Dubro [an expert thief from some near-human alien species]. Gideon's first officer is a Korean telepath [who doesn't wear black gloves!] who is also his best friend.

Gideon's ship is the Excalibur, 1.25 miles long. It seems to use Minbari artificial gravity technology - there are no rotating sections. While on their first test-run they are redirected to the Drahk crash-site; somehow they just happen to be the nearest ship! The Captain leads the Away Team [!!!] - there is a brief firefight with the Drakh, and Galen the techno-mage reveals his presence to Gideon.

Galen the Techno-Mage is present not a crew-man but as a hanger-on. This time he is in the form of Peter Woodward. He does the Kosh mysterious babble - well, he quotes a lot of the better lines from the original series. Galen saved Gideon's life 9 years previously [in Gideon's cliched personal involvement backstory].

The episode starts with Capt Gideon working out in the Excalibur's basketball court. The set is massive, especially when compared to the tiny Throne Room in the Centauri palace.

Gideon is called to investigate reports of a Golden Dragon. EarthForce are strip-mining the planet of a mineral that kills viruses, and may be a potential cure for the Drakh plague. However, there is resistance to their mining efforts.

The locals are a regressive culture - their technology is limited to medieval hand-tools and agriculture. The EarthForce troops, in comparison, wear what appears to be a variation of the USCMC uniforms in the film Aliens. Edward Woodward evens the odds - he guest-stars as Alwyn, a renegade techno-mage.

This was written by Fiona Avery, not JMS. However, it shows certain JMS touches, and no dubt he gave a strict outline.

PsiCorps has been disbanded, and replaced with the Bureau of Telepath Integration . The ship's resident Psi is visited by a new-model Psi-Cop. Of note to those awaiting the Psi war, the Excalibur has enough sensory ability to detect hyperspace shielding.

Galen the Technomage persuades Gideon to take the ship to somewhere called The Well of Forever, a mystical place somewhere in Hyperspace. On their way they meet some Hyperspace Jellyfish who get fresh with the ship. The end involves some JMS-style Personal Questions being answered.

This episode was written by JMS himself. The crew recover a strange alien creature that feeds off their memories. It gives flashbacks into the characters past lives; but instead of using bits of previous episodes, it gives real background to the characters.

We get a good look at the Shadow-type vessel that destroyed Gideon's ship 9 years previously. We also see Gideon win something called an Apocalypse box - an artefact that can tell the future, but seems to bring its owner a dark fate.

The Korean Psi has a flash-back to his time in the Psi-Corps. Gary Graham [Alien Nation] pops up as a villainous Psi-Cop

The team's archaeologist gets a message from his superiors in IPX, demanding a profit margin.

Gideon takes the ship to a remote planet, in search of 30 fugitives who got off Earth before the quarantine was enforced. It seems the fugitives [led by Brian Thompson - X-Files ] have brought the plague with them, and it is killing off the natives.

Gideon uncovers a typical B5 conspiracy involving EarthForce bio-weapons experiments.

Marjean Holden pops up [finally!!!] as the ship's doctor, and actually has an important part to play in the story. Tracey Scoggins is still in the credits, and STILL hasn't appeared in any episodes!

Dureena, the near-human thief, discovers a lost tribe of her own people - and she had thought herself to be the last!

Finally we get ALL the regular cast together in one episode. The exception is Galen [the technomage], who has been in every other episode but is now strangely absent.

Captain Lochley [ Tracey Scoggins ] finally turns up, as head of Security for a conference about the Drakh plague. The problem is that the conference is being targetted by a lunatic Doomsday Cult called Sacred Omega. The madman leading it hears voices - he thinks that Joan of Arc is telling him to kill people!

GideonYou are my new hero.
LochleyWho was your old one?
GideonJohn Sheridan.
LochleyReally?
GideonWere you ever under him?
Lochley spits her drink out.

Eilerson [the archaeologist] and Dureena [the thief] seem to be developing a relationship as well.

Excalibur docks at B5, and the crew take shore leave. Eilerson, the archaeologist, is hanging out with the Doc - Dureena is nowhere to be see. He has personal reasons for being there; he meets up with his ex-wife. She took a huge loan from a loan-shark, who is now stalking her.

Gideon and Lochley try to get the Brakiri Ambassador's permission to land on a planet colonised by a Brakiri client-race, the Lorcans. The Lorcans are religious fanatics who do not want their world to be defiled by unbelievers. Gideon will land on their world whether they like it or not; the Lorcans know this, and try to assassinate him.

Gideon and Lochley have dinner again - a second date, and then go for a stroll in Down Under - a third date.

This episode was written by JMS himself, and it shows. EarthGov has sent a couple of bureaucrats along to interfere with the mission. This is obviously Straczynski complaining about intereference by TNT execs. One is an interior decorator who thinks the ship's colour scheme does not illustrate power. The other is the Night Watch schemer played by John Vickery in the Babylon 5 series.

The Excalibur discovers a giant ship operated by an unknown species. The crew are dead, apparently by their own hand - the exception is in stasis. He is retrieved, but dies inexplicably in med-bay. The archaeologist tries to decipher the alien language.

There are many clues to the alien invasion taking place. The med-bay's brain scanner detects multiple brain-wave patterns. Also, the aliens' written language seems different from its spoken language. Eventually the truth is dscovered, and we are given a Pod-people squeal straight from Body Snatchers

This episode was written by JMS himself. It starts with Gideon and the Earthforce Fleet promising the Drazi they will fire on Earth ships that break quarantine. Starship Excalibur is the last, best hope for Earth.

This episode is noticeably CGI-intensive. The heroes discover a mysterious civilisation, but as they explore it some mysterious force starts killing off the crew. Eilerson wants to patent the scientific formulas he has discovered, but Gideon is only interested in getting a cure to the plague.

The ship's internal monorail pops up again - they are obviously re-using the set from Mars and B5. There is another cameo by Gideon's Armageddon Box.

This episode was written by JMS himself.

The crew discover the remains of a mysterious civilisation that was destroyed by something or someone unknown.

Galen warns that nobody who has visited the planet has ever survived - even Technomages! He refuses to visit the planet himself: yes, this time the super-powerful being card is not in play.

Dureena [Carrie Dubro, the show's token T&A] goes exploring among the skyscrapers - on the rooftops, where for some reason there are no air currents!

Doc-babe Marjean Holden develops a virus screen that can give temporary immunity to the Drakh virus. Gideon's Apocalypse Box pops up at the end again.

Gideon takes aboard an alien refugee. The alien is an artist - the Government of his species wants to destroy all culture and retain only functionality. The Captain wants the alien to hand over a cure for the plague, but it delivers something else - hope.

We finally get a year for this series - 2267. This episode was written by JMS, and looks like one of the better ones. It is an excellent satire on a certain US TV show first released at the same time as the original B5 series!

The Excalibur discovers a disc-shaped starship floating derelict in space. They salvage and search it - and find a couple of aliens with green skin and tentacle-things on their heads. The aliens speak English - they learned it somehow, though there is no record of the humans encountering their species. It turns out that they were investigating a conspiracy on their world, to cover up UFO sightings, crop circles [the Stars & Stripes] and the face on Mars [err, Mount Rushmore!]. And they're being pursued by the Cigarette-Smoking Alien!

The tame telepath is still a tight-ass about using his powers, though he does come in useful.

The Excalibur is on a mysterious mission, awaiting contact with an unknown messenger. The messenger is Lance DeGault, and he orders the ship to return to Earth.

Meanwhile, a Starfury from B5 is floating dead in space. The pilot? Captain Lochley!

B5 fans will also be pleased to hear that Dr Franklin also pops up. Franklin discovers that the virus is decompressing, like a zip file - a reference that Internet users will understand.

Yes, there is a bit of action at the end. The Drach learn of the plot, and intervene.