Ambassador Sinclair returns to pull Babylon 4 through time ([[Babylon Squared]].) Part 2 of 2.
####Overview
####Guest Stars
Michael O’Hare as Ambassador Sinclair. Tim Choate as Zathras. Kent Broadhurst as Major Krantz.
####Lurk
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/synops/061.html
####Plot Points
Sinclair and Zathras travelled back in time with Babylon 4. Since the Minbari would never accept a station commanded by a human (a race they hadn’t encountered yet,) Sinclair entered a chrysalis using the same kind of device Delenn used to become half human. His transformation was complete, though, not halfway; to all appearances he became a Minbari. When he arrived in the past, he was accompanied by two Vorlons. He introduced himself to the Minbari as Valen, and went on to lead the war and form the first Grey Council.
Later, he wrote himself a note describing what was to come, and what he would have to do. He also wrote a note to Delenn.
Sinclair’s transformation caused the start of the migration of Minbari souls to human bodies by linking the two species. Delenn’s transformation in the other direction was, in part, an attempt to restore the balance that had been upset. (See Notes)
“The One,” explains Zathras, is really three: Sinclair is The One who was, Delenn is The One who is, and Sheridan is The One who will be.
The three are a whole, consistent with the Minbari tendency to divide things into threes. (Or, perhaps, The One is responsible for that tendency somehow, maybe due to Sinclair’s teachings.)
Sheridan and Delenn, in at least one possible future, will have a son named David.
Londo, as emperor of a wrecked Centauri Republic seventeen years after the start of the Shadow War, will be made to wear a “keeper,” a creature of some sort attached to the side of his neck. It’s visible only when asleep. When it’s awake, it forces him to do its bidding, apparently on behalf of the Shadows. In the end, he will ask G’Kar to kill him before the keeper forces him to betray Sheridan and Delenn.
But the keeper will awaken as G’Kar strangles Londo, and the two will die at each other’s hands, leaving an astonished Vir to pick up the imperial emblem.
####Unanswered Questions
Who was at the door in Delenn’s flashforward? (See Analysis)
Was one of the Vorlons accompanying Sinclair Kosh? Was the other the Vorlon who later spoke to Rathenn on Minbar in part 1? The two encounter suits were the same as that Vorlon’s.
Why was there an explosive discharge when Sinclair touched Delenn’s suited hand?
What became of Zathras? Did he have a hand in the planning of the Great Machine?
Is Sheridan’s vision of the future inevitable?
What is the price of victory over the Shadows, and why was Delenn so dismayed about it?
####Analysis
How did Sinclair get the chrysalis machine? Did the Vorlons supply it? It seemed to do a much more thorough job on Sinclair than it did on Delenn; in appearance, at least, Valen was a pure Minbari, not half-human.
An odder explanation is that Sinclair got it from Delenn, who got it (indirectly) from Valen; in that case, the machine was never actually invented.
When and how did the Vorlons board Babylon 4? There were two Vorlon ships next to the station when the Minbari cruisers approached it; did they come back in time with Sinclair, or did the Vorlons of a thousand years ago know where and when B4 would appear? Perhaps Sinclair called them.
Delenn’s transformation took several weeks. Presumably Sinclair’s was comparable. Did it take that much subjective time to travel back 1000 years, or did the station sit unnoticed in the past until Sinclair was ready? If the former, then the Vorlons must have boarded the station while it was in transit through time (assuming they gave Sinclair the machine.)
Why did Sinclair choose to call himself Valen? Was it simply because of the contents of his letter? In that case, nobody ever actually invented the name; it was chosen because it was the name he ended up using.
Did the Grey Council realize that they’d captured Valen at the Battle of the Line? Most likely not, or Delenn’s counterpart wouldn’t have ordered her to kill him if he remembered what happened ([[And the Sky Full of Stars]].)
On the other hand, if Delenn’s transformation was really in part an attempt to restore the balance upset by Sinclair’s change a thousand years earlier, then Delenn must have known about Valen’s true nature for quite some time. Perhaps she alone recognized Sinclair’s true identity at the Line, but couldn’t tell the rest of the Council, who almost certainly would refuse to believe what she’d discovered.
Why did the machine transform Delenn into a hybrid human and Minbari, while Sinclair (from all outward appearances) was transformed into a full Minbari? Did Delenn choose to only transform herself halfway? If so, has she truly restored the balance between humans and Minbari, or is there still something left to do?
Besides Delenn and the people on the White Star bridge, how many others know Valen’s true identity? If it became widespread, the information might seriously alter the face of Minbari religion; learning that their greatest spiritual leader was actually a member of a race many of them hold in contempt would probably test the faith of many Minbari.
Sinclair flashed back to the Soul Hunter telling him that he was being used, presumably by the Minbari ([[Soul Hunter]].) Exactly what did he mean by that? Perhaps there was a Soul Hunter present at Valen’s death, and Sinclair was familiar to them already. Or maybe the Soul Hunter found out about Sinclair’s eventual identity when he peered into Delenn’s mind.
Probably of less significance, Sinclair’s other memory was of Neroon ([[Legacies]],) who eventually ended up on the Grey Council. What impact, if any, that had on Sinclair’s tenure on Minbar is unknown. Given Neroon’s dismissal of the reason for the Minbari surrender at the Line ([[All Alone in the Night]]) it seems any respect he had for Sinclair was short-lived, and that if the Council did know of Sinclair’s true identity, Neroon didn’t believe it. Neroon was also Sinclair’s prosecutor in comic issue 3, “In Harm’s Way.”
Now that Sinclair has travelled back in time, the accuracy of Valen’s prophecies is probably at an end. Valen could predict the start of the Shadow War, and the breaking of the Grey Council, because he’d lived through it, but anything after his departure to the past is a complete unknown to him (unless, of course, the Vorlons have some way of telling him.)
The appearance of two Vorlons next to an unfamiliar Minbari might not have been such a shock to the Minbari warriors who found Sinclair. In “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum”, Delenn claimed that the previous Shadow war marked the last time the ancients walked openly among the younger races. So it’s entirely possible that the appearance of a Vorlon was, if not commonplace, then nothing resembling miraculous.
On the other hand, the two Vorlons were flying above encounter suits; maybe they’ve been secretive all along, and even when they walked openly among the other races, always hid behind masks. That would make sense if they wanted to maintain the illusion of angelic appearance, since as Kosh said in [[Matters of Honor]], maintaining that appearance in front of a lot of people is a great strain on a Vorlon.
Did Babylon 4 travel through space as well as time, or did it appear in what would later become Sector 14? If the latter, does its appearance there have anything to do with the location of the Great Machine?
What is Londo’s “keeper?” Who gave it to him? What exactly is it forcing him to do, and why? The fact that it’s invisible when awake suggests that it’s associated with the Shadows, who have mastered the art of invisibility.
Does Morden have a keeper too? Is that why the Shadows treat him as an equal — because they know he’ll never betray their cause?
Or maybe the Shadows are being controlled by some other party, though that seems unlikely.
“We all have our keepers,” Londo says. Does that include Sheridan and Delenn? Perhaps there’s a connection between Londo’s guest and the dream sequence in [[All Alone in the Night]], in which Ivanova and Garibaldi both have birds on their shoulders.
By granting a reprieve to Sheridan and Delenn, Londo may be fulfilling one of his chances for redemption ([[Point of No Return]].) Morella told him he must not kill the one who is already dead; perhaps that refers to Sheridan — who certainly qualifies as “the one” now in another context. Londo’s greeting in part 1, “Welcome back from the abyss, Sheridan,” tends to support this possibility, though of course it’s not clear what Londo meant by that.
Kosh’s warning to Sheridan in “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum” and [[Interludes and Examinations]], “If you go to Z’ha’dum, you will die,” probably also ties into this, especially since, judging by Delenn’s plea, it seems that Sheridan has gone to Z’ha’dum at some point in the intervening seventeen years. The “death” Kosh referred to may simply be the death of innocence as noted by Delenn, and not literal physical death.
Londo’s death at G’Kar’s hand may also be the last part of Morella’s prophecy; death may be Londo’s greatest fear, or perhaps death with the knowledge that he hasn’t righted his wrongs.
Londo’s dream in [[The Coming of Shadows]], in which he sees a fleet of Shadow ships flying overhead while he stands alone in a desolate wasteland, may be a vision of the Shadows’ minions coming to Centauri Prime as he says they did.
Kosh’s prediction to the Centauri Emperor in [[The Coming of Shadows]] appears to be literally true: For Centauri Prime, the war has ended in fire.
What were the Centauri, or perhaps someone else, trying to get out of Delenn? She refused to answer their questions, she says; what were they trying to learn? It appears the Centauri captured her, which implies there’s still a conflict of some kind going on, even after the Shadows have been driven off. The presence of Londo’s keeper makes it unclear that the Centauri were the ones trying to question her.
“We created something that will endure for a thousand years,” Delenn tells Sheridan. What will they create? And what happens in a thousand years — will the Shadows return again and break up their creation, much as Valen’s creation, the Grey Council, has recently been destroyed?
In the Centauri cell, Delenn tells Sheridan, “Our son is safe. Nothing else matters.” Why is David in danger, and what has Delenn done to ensure his safety?
What could possibly happen to G’Kar in the intervening seventeen years to cause Londo to refer to him as an “old friend?” Londo, of course, may simply have been speaking facetiously — but in that case, what was G’Kar doing in the Centauri palace?
Is death at G’Kar’s hands Londo’s greatest fear, and thus his final chance for redemption ([[Point of No Return]]?) Or is his fear more abstract than that, the fear that his death dream will come to pass as he’s envisioned it?
When Londo sees himself strangled by G’Kar in his dream, does he know that it’s at his own request? How much of the context of his death does he know already?
In [[Babylon Squared]], the crewman who sees the blue-suited figure appear in the hallway tells Krantz, “It’s back.” Presumably the B4 crew had seen Sheridan appearing and disappearing, since Delenn had only recently switched places with him.
Delenn appears in the hallway in the present time (or rather, the same timeframe she’d reached via the White Star,) so in that specific instance there was no time-shifting, just movement through space. How did she do that? Perhaps, as she implied in Part One, the Minbari have the technology for rudimentary time manipulation, so she used something from the White Star.
The woman at the door in Delenn’s flashforward causes her to drop the snowglobe in shock. Very few people would cause someone as poised as Delenn to do that. One of them, though, and one whose arrival has been foreshadowed, would be Anna Sheridan.
Why does Delenn urge Sheridan to avoid going to Z’ha’dum? If he has already gone there by the time she is thrown into the cell with him, then Kosh’s prediction about Sheridan dying if he goes there is wrong, or at least not as immediate as it originally sounded. On the other hand, the fact that they have a son is good evidence the two of them will become much closer; perhaps the arrival of Anna Sheridan (if that’s who’s at the door in Delenn’s flashforward) will complicate their relationship, and it’s to avoid finding out about Anna that Delenn tells Sheridan to stay away from Z’ha’dum.
Are the flashforwards completely random, or might there be something guiding people to visions of certain events? The Vorlons appear to have some perception that extends beyond time; perhaps they are manipulating that perception when it appears, even briefly, in others.
The assumption at the end of the episode seems to be that by successfully pulling Babylon 4 back in time, the crew has averted the Shadow attack on Babylon 5 in eight days, in which Ivanova sends out the distress call heard in part one. Does that mean that Sinclair’s flashforward to the firefight aboard B5 has also been averted? What about Lady Ladira’s vision of the destruction of Babylon 5? ([[Signs and Portents]]) If all those glimpses of the future are no longer true, how much validity do the remaining ones have? Each of them could be from a completely different possible future, none of which will end up ever taking place.
Was Zathras supposed to tell Sheridan, Delenn, and Sinclair about The One? Were Draal’s instructions simply to not reveal anything until prompted by Sinclair?
Where did he come up with the term, and with its definition? If he knows Sheridan is The One who will be, he must have been using the Great Machine to peer forward in time (not unreasonable, given its obvious time-bending abilities.) Will Draal be able to do the same and offer insights into the events to come? Zathras implies that perhaps he can do things even Draal can’t, and that may be one of them.
The distinction between the three members of The One echoes the migration of Minbari souls. Sinclair, after his transformation, appears to be fully Minbari, and is The One who was. Delenn is halfway between human and Minbari, and is The One who is. Sheridan is completely human and is The One who will be. Perhaps it’s symbolic of a shift of power from the Minbari to humanity.
####Notes
####Inconsistencies with [[Babylon Squared]] (B2). See also jms speaks.
- Not an inconsistency per se, but in B2, there was no mention by Krantz of the explosion of the Shadow bomb or the presence of possibly hostile personnel on the station, which he definitely knew about in WWE2. If it’s not an inconsistency, why didn’t he mention it to Sinclair?
- In B2, Krantz told Sinclair that Zathras was first seen in a conference room. “There was a flash, and there he was,” Krantz said. In this episode, Zathras was discovered in a supply room by security guards.
- Zathras tells Sinclair and Krantz that The One has stopped B4’s motion through time to let the crew get off. But in WWE2, the station appears in 2258 by accident after Major Krantz unexpectedly powers up the time equipment. And the idea of faking a power drop in the fusion reactor to cause the crew to evacuate was Ivanova’s, not any of The One’s.
- In B2, when The One appears in the corridor, there are audible grunts of pain; they’re clearly in a male voice, not a female one. When Sinclair returns to the station and removes his helmet, the B2 version of events includes a computer voice intoning, “Present time atmosphere now breathable.” No such voice is heard in WWE2, though arguably Delenn was meeting him just inside an airlock, and the suit computer was referring to the fact that there was no longer a vacuum outside.
- Delenn puts her hand on Sinclair’s shoulder in B2, and her arm is draped in a red robe. But in WWE2, she’s wearing much darker colors.
Another possible inconsistency: Delenn claims that Sinclair’s transformation began the migration of Minbari souls to human bodies that ultimately led to the end of the Earth-Minbari War. However, in [[Points of Departure]], Lennier claims that the soul migration has been going on for roughly two millenia, twice as far back as Sinclair took Babylon 4.
The voice at the door seems to be that of Bruce Boxleitner’s real-life wife, Melissa Gilbert, though of course that doesn’t imply anything about which character she’ll be playing on the show. However, she’s been announced as a guest star in the season finale, so the flashforward may well have been only a month or two ahead.
CarneyWeb 