Sleeping in Light

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Twenty years after the Shadow War, only Zack remains on Babylon 5, waiting to fulfill his promise to be there when they turn the lights out. Garibaldi and Lise run their corporation, and their family includes a daughter. Franklin continues his xenobiological research from EarthDome. Ivanova is a respected, but tired, General in Earthforce. Emperor Vir Cotto has helped Centauri Prime recover from its devastation. The Rangers seek them all with a message from Delenn, now president of the Alliance... as Lorien predicted, Sheridan's life is coming to an end. But even as they gather to commemorate his imminent passing, there is still a place for the hope of new beginnings.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot, character development, or ending details follow.

Doctor Franklin, now head of Xenobiology at EarthDome, assesses Sheridan's health when he arrives on Minbar, but still cannot understand what kept Sheridan alive, and does not know now what is failing him. No matter: Sheridan has just days to live. Franklin's diagnosis only confirms what Sheridan and Delenn already knew.

The original Babylon 5 survivors can easily sit around a small table. Vir's recollections of Londo's foibles, coupled with his realization that "in spite of all he did... I still miss him" generates the sentiment expressed by Sheridan, "To absent friends, in memory still bright." Several names are mentioned; several are left out.

After evening's festivities, Delenn sounds out Ivanova to be the next Entil'Zha. Political missions accomplished, John heads to bed, leaving Delenn to set up his next statement: he leaves for space the next morning, to die out there. Dying planetbound has no appeal for him: he is a spaceman above all else. And such an indefinite end will send a powerful message. Delenn, in tears, agrees.

Sheridan awakens early, and dons for the last time his old black Resistance uniform. Stepping out into the corridor, he encounters Delenn, dressed in brilliant white Minbari funeral regalia. They embrace a final time, and Sheridan heads off to his ship.

He travels to Babylon 5, only to discover that it is about to be destroyed as a hazard to navigation. He discovers Zack Allan, the remaining Babylonian not accounted for earlier, is again the security chief.

Sheridan then follows the advice given him by Kosh via Captain Lochley, and goes to Coriana 6. There, he again meets Lorien, and... he goes beyond the rim.

Ivanova Narrates: "An expedition to Coriana space found Sheridan's ship a few days later, but they never found him. All the airlocks were sealed, but there was no trace of him inside. Some of the Minbari believe he'll come back some day, but I never saw him again in my lifetime."

Ivanova, Delenn, Garibaldi, Franklin, Allan, and Vir have assembled for the final moments of Babylon 5. They say their goodbyes, and launch on a last shuttle while a jumpsuited figure (JMS in a cameo) turns out the lights (a sign of finality...).

As their shuttle leaves, saluted by the assembled fleets of the Interstellar Alliance, the station is wracked by a series of explosions that slowly, to the tune of the B5 theme in orchestral mode, rip the station apart. After twenty-three years of service, Babylon 5 is no more.

Susan Ivanova speaks the epitaph: "Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. There would never be another. It changed the future, and it changed us. It taught us that we had to create the future, or others will do it for us. It showed us that we have to care for each other, because if we don't, who will? And that strength sometimes comes from the most unlikely of places. Mostly, though, I think it gave us hope that there can always be new beginnings, even for people like us."

The saga ends with Delenn sitting on a bench outside her home on Minbar, dreaming of a sunrise with Sheridan. Again, Ivanova narrates:"As for Delenn, every morning for as long as she lived, Delenn got up before dawn and watched the sun come up..."

[edit] Main Plot

  • The year is 2281, twenty years after the end of the Shadow War.
  • John Sheridan is dying, as Lorien had earlier predicted.
  • Sheridan prepares to bid the remaining Babylon 5 crew a final farewell.
  • Sheridan and Delenn summon their surviving wartime friends for a farewell get-together.
  • Human Rangers are dispatched to all corners of the galaxy to bring them together one last time.

[edit] Backstory

[edit] Characters

Lorien, Commander Nils

[edit] Starring

[edit] Also Starring

[edit] Notes

  • "And now, for those of you that have been archiving this ISN Special Documentary, the people responsible... (pictures of entire crew). Funding for this program was made possible by grants from the Anla'shok memorial fund." -- Voiceover at the end of the episode.
  • J. Michael Straczynski played the maintenance worker who turned off the station.
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Objects at Rest 		B5 Episode Guide Series Finale
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