JMS on CompuServe (Sep 17, 1996) * FINAL FIVE SPOILERS *
Brent Barrett
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Tue Sep 17 16:25:59 EDT 1996
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following posts DO contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
**********************************************
This SPECIAL section of "JMS on CompuServe"
posts contains spoilers for the Final Five
episodes of season three.
**********************************************
Continue at your own risk.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
P
R
O
T
E
C
T
I
O
N
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE
RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE
REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED
PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.
Note that JMS has expressed his public permission
that all of his messages may be reproduced freely.
I give permission for my summaries to be reposted in
any form, however I reserve all rights to them and
the right to revoke this permission at any time.
**********************************************
This SPECIAL section of "JMS on CompuServe"
posts contains spoilers for the Final Five
episodes of season three.
**********************************************
Archives of this material may be found at:
ftp://ftp.speedlink.com/pub/bbarrett/cis/
- or -
http://www.speedlink.com/bbarrett/b5/
**********************************************
[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #578229-<<Shadow Dancing>>
Sb: #578343-<<Shadow Dancing>>
Sb: #578271-<<Shadow Dancing>>
Sb: #578555-"And the Rock Cried Out"
Sb: #578616-<<Shadow Dancing>>
Sb: #578608-Shadow Dancing
Sb: #>> Z'HA'DUM <<
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
P
R
O
T
E
C
T
I
O
N
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[ Summary: A relatively new U.K. viewer wants to thank JMS for Babylon 5. ]
#: 578467 S7/Babylon 5 in the UK
16-Sep-96 17:19:55
Sb: #578229-<<Shadow Dancing>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks, glad you decided to join the family....
jms
[ Summary: Wonders if Sheridan is the "man in the middle," as he's now
between Anna and Delenn. ]
#: 578469 S7/Babylon 5 in the UK
16-Sep-96 17:19:58
Sb: #578343-<<Shadow Dancing>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, Sheridan isn't the man in the middle...the man in the middle is the
one out there who sent Anna. As Ivanova says, his opposite number.
jms
[ Summary: Upset that in "Walkabout," Lyta was supposed to say "Burn,
you bastards!" when the Shadow ship was destroyed, but Channel 4 cut
it out of the aired episode. ]
#: 578480 S7/Babylon 5 in the UK
16-Sep-96 17:59:20
Sb: #578271-<<Shadow Dancing>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
They cut that? How curious...I didn't know that. From what I'd seen of
British TV, some shows use the word bastard like I use a comma, they're
ubiquitous....
jms
#: 578555 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
16-Sep-96 21:20:35
Sb: #"And the Rock Cried Out"
Fm: DAVID KUHN
JMS,
Wonderfull episode!! Just saw it tonight on tape. Near the end when the
cospel music kicked in when a certain somebody turned to run was very funny.
Perhaps I shouldn't have laughed during that scene, but the music was perfect!
I don't know if that was intended to be comical or not; but I sure like it!!!
Excellent episode. Thank you!
Dave
#: 578586 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
16-Sep-96 22:28:59
Sb: #578555-"And the Rock Cried Out"
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. It's comical...and it ain't comical...it's designed to elicit
conflicting emotions, between what you *are* feeling, what you *should* be
feeling, and so on. I like uneasy laughter....
jms
[ Summary: This U.K. viewer is glad that JMS is handling the end of season
differently than most television shows, with the big effects episode
second to last. ]
#: 578635 S7/Babylon 5 in the UK
17-Sep-96 02:40:44
Sb: #578616-<<Shadow Dancing>>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. With "Shadow" my hope is really to erase most (though obviously
not all) suspicions or predictions on how the last one will go. If we already
had our big EFX battle, it won't be that...Anna's here, so it can't be
that...it can't ever be a return to tabula rasa, an empty slate, but by doing
what's normally done in the season closer one episode prior to that, it may
help ease the way for a different tonality to come in.
And thanks again...you definitely won't be disappointed.
jms
[ Summary: Loved "Shadow Dancing" and goes on to say: "And lastly let
me congratulate you and the rest of the team for a very professional
and excellent look into the future." ]
#: 578636 S7/Babylon 5 in the UK
17-Sep-96 02:40:46
Sb: #578608-Shadow Dancing
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks. What matters for me is that it should feel like a real future,
that this is happening somewhere, and these are a series of reports back from
that place. It's certainly real enough in my head some days....
jms
[ Summary: The original message was removed, apparently, but this is the
synopsis to which JMS is referring. Apparently a poster spoke out about
the revealing nature of this synopsis of the season finale (which,
apprently the synopsis author screened early?), and JMS followed-up on
that outcry. ]
W A R N I N G
W A R N I N G
W A R N I N G
W A R N I N G
W A R N I N G The following message is the last message in this
W A R N I N G compilation. If contains a *detailed* run-down of
W A R N I N G the season three final episode.
W A R N I N G
W A R N I N G If you don't want to know what happens, then you
W A R N I N G can stop reading now and not miss anything else.
W A R N I N G
W A R N I N G
W A R N I N G
W A R N I N G
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
P
R
O
T
E
C
T
I
O
N
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Season Finale: Z'HA'DUM
Written by JMS Directed by Adam Nimoy
As Delenn looks over Sheridan, black and white images flash forward, events of
the past, of when the ship Icarus went forward to search for the "Ancient
Civilisation" and of the annoucement of Anna's "death". Anna Sheridan enters,
Delenn drops the snowdome.
John and Delenn face Anna in disbelief, surely this cannot be her ! Delenn
can take no more and rushes from his quarters. Anna apologies for her
absence, but John can no longer accept her and pushes her away. She voices
his suspicious... she IS human and will take any test to prove it.
Anna swears to tell John about all that has happened over the last five years,
but only if he can follow her to Z'ha'dum.
G'Kar takes Ivanova on a tour of their newly accuired weapons... thermonuclear
mines of around 600 megatonnes each and almost undetectable, the perfect device
to lay in trap for any Shadow ship which dares to strike out.
In Med-Lab, Franklin confirms Anna's human identity, he and John discuss the
difficulty of having her back... Franklin mentions some strange markings on the
back of her neck.
In her quarters, Delenn is confronted by a very angry Sheridan, she wasn't sure
that Anna was alive and even if she had known for certain... Delenn and Kosh
might still not of told him, for they cannot allow him to ever go to Z'ha'dum.
Londo is getting drunk, he tells Vir of his promotion... Advisor to the
Emperors High Court.
He isn't happy, this should have been given to him 20 years ago. Now he feels
that is a conspiracy and this is just another way for them to keep track of his
actions, perhaps even to kill him.
A man appears and tells Londo he has a message from their "mutual associates".
Londo *must* leave the station NOW !
Franklin runs a comparison scan on the markings he found on Anna's neck... he
has found a match and is now highly concerned.
John faces Anna again over her where she has been... but she can only tell him
on Z'hu'dum.
They only want to tell him their side of the story. He agrees to go, if only
to find out about the fate of crew of the Icarus. Anna explains to him about
a buried ship found on Mars. After it was been partially dug up and the sun
hit it, it started to emit a beacon. They placed a homing beacon on board,
the ship of Shadow design was collected... by a Shadow escort vessel.
They tracked the ship of Z'hu'dum and followed an energy source, the Shadows
had finally emerged from hibination. The crew of the Icarus was killed in an
accident, the survivors were asked for their silence and they exchanged science
and technology with them, enough to radically change the Earth for the better.
Sheridan agrees to go with her, but suspicion is in his eyes as he looks back
at a medical scan given to him by Doctor Franklin.
Sheridan meets with Garibaldi, he wants the crew of the White Star taken and
processed through Babylon 5's security network. He hands Garibaldi a datapad,
he wants him to take "care" on something. Micheal looks at him... "Son of a
bitch !" he knows what Sheridan had planned.
Sheridan arms himself... twice. As he looks into the mirror, he is faced by a
vision of Kosh... if John goes to Z'ha'dum, he will die. Directly after this,
Sheridan begins to record his final message to Delenn.
As Anna and John leave for Z'ha'dum, Garibaldi passes on a coded message which
John knows only too well. They say their goodbyes and the White Star departs.
Franklin and Ivanova meet, Franlin in concerned over why Sheridan left the
station... he had read the report, something is seriously wrong with Anna.
"There is a problem."
A shuttle from the White Star lands on Z'ha'dum. Anna and John walk into an
underground complex, they unsuit and she immediately asks for his gun which he
reluctantly hands over.
They proceed to the "human quarters" where John is faced with Morden and a
cryptical old man by the name of Justin.
Delenn begins playing Sheridan's message. He tells her about his jump into
the future aboard Babylon 4 - he has now gone to stop the Shadows *and* to
prevent the fall of the Centari empire.
Justin recounts the history of the universe according to the truth of the
Shadows and the split between the Shadow and Vorlon races... equal parts at one
time.
Security notices a disturbance and suddenly Babylon 5 is surrounded by Shadow
ships.
Red Alert is sounded and all Star Fury's are launched.
Morden begins talking about the way of the Shadows, and how they must have wars
to advance. He points out the leaps in technology after every major conflict.
The Shadows must succeed if the universe is to go forward. The Vorlon has
manipulated the galaxy, it was the Vorlons who had *created* telepaths to use
against them. The Vorlons want to maintain their hold over the universe, only
the Shadows stand in their way.
The Star Fury's maintain position, the Shadow ships appear to be waiting for
something and they are not attacking the station.
Sheridan is told to work with the Shadows, not against them, and to let go of
the other races and planets that he has to support. John plays his hand... he
knows that Anna is not the wife he knew. Justin tries to explain, John slowly
reaches for his second gun. From behind him, a Shadow advances. John turns
and shoots.
Aboard the station G'Kar informs Ivanova that they cannot dispatch the nuclear
mines, they are too close, it would destroy the station. There is something
else... two of them are missing.
Sheridan claws his way through a cave and onto a balcony... he looks over the
edge and into a vast abyss. He looks up and signals.
The White Star arms it's two nuclear mines and begins a course directly for the
surface of Z'ha'dum.
Anna has caught up with him, there is nowhere for him to run, he has no option
but to join them.
Delenn catches the final part of the message. John says his goodbye and tells
her that her loves her. Delenn collapses on the floor, crying.
The Shadows, Anna and Justin have him cornered. Sheridan looks towards the
huge smoked glass ceiling of the human quarters... the White Star is closing
in. A disembodied voice is heard, telling him to jump. He does. Things
move in slow motion as John plummets downward and Anna looks up... she screams
as the White Star crashes through the ceiling and the complex is destroyed in a
nuclear fire.
As suddenly as they arrived, the Shadow ship surrounding the station vanish.
Garibaldi looks upwards in horror and awe as a dark image is cast over his Star
Fury.
Ivanova senses Sheridan's fate from the station.
Delenn mourns the loss of her beloved, "The war has been paused..."
Ivanova is now told of their single loss... Garibaldi's Star Fury has not
returned.
A Shadow ship navigates it's way through hyperspace... trapped inside it is
Garibaldi's ship.
"NO ONE KNOWS THE SHAPE OF THE FUTURE..." - ???
-----------------
Okay ? Ya understand all that, 'cause it answered loads of questions for
me and started a few hundred more.
The one who was, the one who is, and the one who will be.
I can't WAIT for the next season... thanks JMS for one of the BEST series'
I've ever had the fortune to watch.
Rogan Keel.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Ex_Cathedra/
You'll have to forgive all the spelling mistakes... it's 02:30am
here and I'm bl**dy shattered !!!
#: 578637 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
17-Sep-96 02:44:36
Sb: #>> Z'HA'DUM <<
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I was gonna say something to that effect, but last time I did, everybody
jumped funky on me, so now I just nod in at the window, like a black and
frosted rose left over from the spring (to paraphrase Christopher Fry).
jms
-***
-*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages in this list go to the list
-*** maintainer, <b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu>. If you want to reply
-*** elsewhere, adjust the "To" field. The best way to reach JMS is to post
-*** to rastb5m, which can be done by sending email to <rastb5 at solon.com>.
More information about the B5JMS
mailing list