Babylon 5, as the opening narration explains, was our last, best hope for peace, but it failed. Now it is our last, best hope for victory. 2260 is the year of the Shadow War, a year of building an alliance of forces to fight against the inevitable darkness that is to come. After two years of setting things up, Babylon 5's third season really starts paying off, bringing together story threads that were once separate and tying them in to the Shadow War.
Babylon 5's first out-and-out confrontation with Shadow forces does not come until "Shadow Dancing," the penultimate episode of the season. This demonstrates how much the season is devoted to gearing up for that first fight, building alliances, achieving small victories, and learning about the enemy. It begins in the first episode, "Matters of Honor," where Delenn presents Sheridan with the White Star, a powerful warship based on Minbari and Vorlon technology. This is a departure for the third season, giving Sheridan and the others a means to leave the space station. It also gives the stories more scope, with an opportunity to venture into other parts of the galaxy. In this first episode, the White Star takes its first stand against a Shadow vessel and wins by destroying it in a collapsing jumpgate. This sets up the nature of the conflict that is to come, a David-and-Goliath struggle against a powerful enemy that can be defeated only through tactical thinking.
The episodes that follow rarely allow the audience to forget what everything is leading to, with continual references to the Shadow threat. Sometimes it is a relatively minor part of the episode, like Marcus being told Shadows are gathering on the border of Centauri space in "Exogenesis," sometimes it is the main thread, such as the search for First Ones in "Voices of Authority." If it were just a slow buildup with a promise of action that is fulfilled only after twenty episodes, the audience would be justified in feeling frustrated. But that is not what Babylon 5 is about, as the creative force behind the show, J. Michael Straczynski, would doubtless argue. It is about characters and how they react to the war they are being drawn into. So it is about G'Kar feeling like an outsider and urging the others to let him become part of the War Council, the pressures that Sheridan faces in leading the alliance against the darkness, Ivanova refusing to accept defeat in her mission to persuade the First Ones to join the fight, and Delenn's feelings when she is asked to become a military leader by taking command of the Rangers. It is also about ideas, and in that regard "Ship of Tears" is a pivotal moment in the progress to-ward war.
"Ship of Tears" marks the gear change in Babylon 5's stand against the Shadows. Sheridan's final words in that episode, "We've got a weapon," represent a transition from being on the defensive to taking the initiative. The "weapon" he refers to is telepathy, a means to defeat the Shadows in one-to-one combat. Such an open confrontation would have been impossible prior to this point, and the shift in emphasis is underlined visually with the introduction of the war room. Babylon 5 is now very much the center of operations.
After "Ship of Tears," things begin to escalate. Sheridan persuades Kosh to bring the Vorlons into the fight in "Interludes and Examinations," which, in turn, convinces other races to join the alliance. The effectiveness of the telepathic weapon is tested by Lyta Alexander in the White Star in "Walkabout." And Sheridan realizes the Shadows are planning a major attack in the center of the galaxy in "And the Rock Cried Out, 'No Hiding Place.'" With all this information in place, "Shadow Dancing" delivers the confrontation--the space battle--that seemed inevitable. It is a fantastic light show, and after keeping the audience waiting all season for the showdown, Babylon 5 would have been remiss if it neglected to deliver such a battle among the stars. But more important than the light show is the context. Here is everything that had been set up, playing out in one giant arena. The telepaths being involved in the fight, the alliance of races joining together to defeat the Shadows, and at the center of it all, Sheridan and Delenn. The battle ends, significantly, with Sheridan and Delenn looking out at a starfield littered with pieces of broken ships, and their looks of sorrow at the destruction around them emphasize the cost of war.
The revelation that telepaths have a role in the war brings together a number of plot threads that had seemed almost entirely unrelated. This one fact suddenly resonates through the earlier episodes, revealing a purpose to many aspects of the Babylon 5 universe. Telepaths, a standard premise in science fiction, seemed just to be adding another bit of color to the series in the beginning. They provided an opportunity to tell a few good stories and, with the involvement of the Psi Corps, played a part in the conspiracies that were undermining Earth. With a rush of insight, the audience suddenly sees that they are much more. They were put there for a reason--to fight the Shadows--and they were put there by the Vorlons. This illuminates much about the Vorlons and how their manipulation of Humanity was partly to create telepaths. The key to finding out this information is G'Kar's Book of G'Quan. It explains why there are no Narn telepaths--in the previous war, they were wiped out by the Shadows--and this goes right back to the pilot when G'Kar was trying to persuade Lyta Alexander to help him breed Narn telepaths.
It also demonstrates how the other races, and Humans in particular, have been caught up in the middle of a fight between the Vorlons and the Shadows. The Psi Corps was an organization used by the Shadows to undermine Vorlon plans for the telepaths, as Shadow agent Justin confirms to Sheridan in "Z'ha'dum." This makes sense of so much that has gone before, from the Psi Corps' fanatical control over telepaths to Morden's manipulation of Earth policy with the help of a Psi Cop as seen in "Matters of Honor." Such hints are confirmed in "Ship of Tears," with Bester's acknowledgment that the Shadows are influencing Earth president Clark. Also in "Ship of Tears," Bester helps Sheridan intercept a transport of telepaths en route to join the Shadow fleet and become the living central cores of their ships. The telepathic ability genetically engineered by the Vorlons is being turned against them by the Shadows, with Humans as the pawns in the middle.
The season, therefore, sees a turnaround in the viewers' perception of the Vorlons. What began as a mysterious race that gradually revealed its secrets over the course of the first two years becomes something much darker. At the end of Season Two, Kosh emerged from his encounter suit to rescue Sheridan, revealing his angelic form to a collection of races in the Zen Garden. This image of a religious icon, the epitome of goodness, is steadily worn away as the story progresses. Even in Season Two, there was a suggestion of a dark side to the Vorlons, with their decision to send a torturer to interrogate Delenn and Sheridan in "Comes the Inquisitor" and with Kosh's angelic appearance in the Zen Garden apparently a mental projection engineered by Kosh. Season Three adds to that, with the reaction of the First Ones that Ivanova finds in "Voices of Authority"; they are angered at the very mention of the word Vorlons. In "Dust to Dust," G'Kar's religious visions are manipulated by Kosh, and the Narn emerges from that experience ready to join the fight--a fight engineered by the Vorlons that they themselves are reluctant to enter.
The Vorlons' position comes to a head in "Interludes and Examinations," where Sheridan confronts Kosh and demands the Vorlons take a stand in the war. Kosh's reaction is a violent one, slamming Sheridan up against the wall almost to the point of killing him. Sheridan's remark, "the real Kosh shows his colors," expresses the final transformation in the audience's perception of these aliens. They may have appeared as angels, but they are far from angelic. They are capable of violence and of anger and are happy to let others fight their war for them. And yet, at the end of this episode when Kosh is killed, the audience feels a loss. After all that has gone before, this is an intriguing reaction. The episode, in many ways, provokes this response from the viewer. Kosh's reaction to Sheridan's demand may have been violent, but he relented in the end and showed emotions that appear very Human. That is accentuated when Kosh appears as Sheridan's father in his dream. He admits having Human frailties, having been wrong, having been afraid, and this endears the audience to him, even though he is manipulating Sheridan's emotions by choosing to appear to him as someone he cares about.
With the death of Kosh, a replacement Vorlon ambassador arrives, and the contrast between the two of them completes the change in the viewers' perception of these aliens. This second Kosh is an unforgiving, malevolent creature who sets the characters on the road to reversing any sympathies they may have had with his race.
As conflict escalates through the galaxy, a crisis brews for the Humans on Babylon 5 as they are forced to make a choice between obeying their superior officers back on Earth or following their consciences. Right from the very beginning, differences between the way Babylon 5 was being run and Earth policy created tension between the two. With the arrival of Sheridan and his covert operation to expose the assassination of President Santiago by incoming President Clark, the tension increased. Then, with the arrival of Nightwatch, Babylon 5 is set on a collision course with Earth.
Episode by episode, Nightwatch's presence becomes stronger, infiltrating the space station with an increasing number of members, steadily undermining the authority of the command staff. The Ministry of Peace's attempt to install a political officer in "Voices of Authority" is averted when the crisis over President Santiago's assassination hits Earth, but it is only a temporary respite in their plans to exercise greater control over Babylon 5. The political officer leaves behind an ever-strengthening Nightwatch organization with instructions to uncover opposition to Earth, and all the foreboding resonances that has with the rise of Nazi Germany. At the same time, evidence surfaces of President Clark's associations with the Shadows. It is only a matter of time before Babylon 5 is caught in the middle.
The three episodes where the situation comes to a head--"Messages from Earth," "Point of No Return," and "Severed Dreams"--form a pivotal point in the center of Babylon 5's larger story. They see Babylon 5 break away from Earth in a move that was necessary if it were to take a decisive stand against the Shadows while Clark was still in power back on Earth. These episodes are effective because they put the characters' feelings at the heart of the story. This is a big wrench for them: many of them were born on Earth, have served Earth all their adult lives, and have always felt a sense of loyalty to their home planet. They come to realize they must reject all that if they are to follow the greater path.
Sheridan's personal crisis is dramatized when he takes the White Star to Earth's solar system to stop a Shadow vessel from falling into Clark's hands in "Messages from Earth." As he says in the episode, this is the closest he has been to Earth for a long time, and yet he is going in as an aggressor. He understands this is a path he must take, but it still troubles him emotionally; he finds it difficult to sleep on the journey there, and when he is faced with the prospect of firing on Earth forces for the first time, he freezes. In "Severed Dreams," just before announcing Babylon 5's independence, he takes time to call home. Here the subtext is laid bare as he talks to his father on an open channel, expressing the emotions of a man who knows it could be for the last time.
The way these episodes are structured heightens the drama, as events conspire to push Babylon 5 into a corner from which there seems to be no escape. Each time the station fights against interference from Earth, it achieves a small victory--the destruction of the Shadow vessel dug up by Earth archaeologists on Ganymede, the takeover by Nightwatch--but it is only delaying the inevitable. Even the secession from the Earth Alliance merely provokes a firefight for control of the station. This time it really seems like the end. Overwhelmed by the strength of Earth forces pitted against them, the battle appears to be lost, and only then does Delenn appear with a Minbari fleet to turn the tables and secure Babylon 5's freedom.
Another set piece for the third season is "War Without End," the two-parter that sees the temporary return of Sinclair. Sinclair had been linked into so many of the story threads that had been established in the first season that it was rewarding to see the character come back and tie them off. The questions raised by season one's "Babylon Squared," plus many other unanswered questions, made the story incredibly packed; but J. Michael Straczynski did a wise thing when he added yet more elements. The show had moved on since its Sinclair days and to have done a two-parter that concentrated only on him would have been looking backward. Instead, the episodes took the opportunity to look forward. They gave the audience a glimpse into Sheridan's and Londo's future, as well as ensuring that both the old commander--Sinclair--and the new captain--Sheridan--were given equal weight in the story.
The groundwork for Sinclair becoming Valen had been laid down since the beginning of the show, and it was fulfilling to see this plot line come full circle. It all makes sense in looking back at the earlier episodes, but few people saw it coming. The moment when it is revealed that Sinclair--the Human with the Minbari soul--is also the most influential figure to have emerged in Minbari society over the past one thousand years is a superb conclusion to the character's arc. It resolved the mystery over why Valen is referred to as "Minbari not born of Minbari," why the Grey Council released Sinclair with a twenty-four-hour gap in his memory and surrendered at the Battle of the Line, why Delenn became an ambassador on Babylon 5, and all the questions over what happened to Babylon 4. It refueled the debate among many fans over what might have happened if Sinclair had stayed, of course, but that is really a side issue. The story is as the story turned out, and "War Without End" provided the opportunity for loose ends to be tidied away. Babylon 5 could have probably continued quite happily without addressing these issues, but it is all the richer for having done so.
The glimpse of Londo in the future as an aged emperor controlled by a "keeper" on his shoulder and surrounded by his ruined home planet in "War Without End" indicates the tragic path that this character walks. He begins the season by making attempts to distance himself from Morden and turn the Centauri Republic to making its own way in the galaxy without the help of the Shadows. But all this seems for nought as events, once again, conspire to turn him into a tragic figure. When Londo turns Morden away, Refa merely takes his place, and although Londo makes inroads in separating Refa and Morden, he ends up back in the Shadows' lap himself when his beloved Adira Tyree is killed. He believes Refa is her killer, and in his quest for revenge, he goes running straight back to Morden.
What makes Londo such a tragic figure is that, at his core, he is a likeable character. This is emphasized early on in "Convictions," when Lennier saves him from an explosion that rips apart the customs area and Londo displays his gratitude by visiting him in Medlab. He does not really know what to do--in fact, there is little he can do but talk endlessly about nothing--but it is this selfless act that shows that he can care for others. That is why, when he teams up with the Shadows again, it is a tragic moment, because the audience sees that he has the potential to be a good guy.
As always, the interplay between Londo and G'Kar provides plenty of drama for the two characters. As they have effectively been separated by the war between their two peoples and G'Kar's expulsion from the Babylon 5 council, the show is forced to find new ways to bring these two together. In "Convictions," a mad bomber throws them together by trapping them in a transport tube. In "Dust to Dust," G'Kar confronts Londo inside his mind while under the influence of a drug called dust. And then, surprisingly, G'Kar and Londo move onto the same side for a brief moment to carry out Londo's plan to kill Refa in "And the Rock Cried Out, 'No Hiding Place.'" All this hints at the fu-ture path for these two characters that will end, as has been foretold, in death at each others' hands. But, as revealed in "War Without End," it seems they will die as allies and not enemies.
G'Kar's development in the third season is greater than in any other, and at the core of his transformation is his religious experience in "Dust to Dust." The telepathic gene within him is awakened when he takes the drug dust and his mind becomes open enough to be touched by Kosh. The visions in which he faces his dying father and figures he believes to be G'Quan and G'Lan turn him onto a new path. This warrior Narn whose first thought has been for revenge is told that he can have an important role to play in the future of the galaxy if he can put that thought aside. When he emerges from that experience, he is enlightened and ready to pledge the allegiance of himself and his fellow Narns to stopping the much greater threat of the Shadows.
G'Kar had always been moving in this direction. He had been prepared to accept the hand of peace in Season Two's "The Coming of Shadows," before it was snatched away again by the Centauri attack on a Narn outpost. He'd urged the other Narns to refrain from carrying out revenge attacks on the Centauri in order to secure help for their cause in "Acts of Sacrifice." In the third season, there is a sense that he is more than just a leader to the Narns on the station and something of a teacher, particularly in "A Day in the Strife." But it is "Dust to Dust" that tips the balance. He is thrown in prison and emerges from his incarceration with a new determination.
Almost every character has an intriguing arc that spans the third season, from Zack's association with and subsequent rejection of Nightwatch, to Vir's assignment to Minbar and his growing independence. But probably one of the more significant character arcs to be played out in the third year is that which involves Franklin. His battle with stim addiction, his attempts at self-denial and facing up to the problem, had been steadily bubbling over the second year, and it eventually surfaces here. But it is his solution to the problem, to go "walkabout," that generates the most interest because he comes to address two of the central questions of the show--"Who are you?" and "What do you want?"--on a very personal level. The feeling he expresses to Garibaldi, of having lost himself by becoming embroiled in his work, is a familiar concept to the twentieth-century man who has become lost in the rat race. The metaphor of physically meeting and having a discussion with himself--(made believable because Franklin is losing blood and going into shock) brings him face-to-face with the person he is. He rediscovers himself and comes to realize that what he wants is to "do it all again." That very personal journey told over a handful of episodes is, therefore, a reflection of the greater journey taken by the galaxy as a whole, as the younger races are brought to an understanding of who they are and what they want.
While such great questions are being explored, a simple love story is unfolding between Sheridan and Delenn. This is one of the more accessible elements of Babylon 5, which is likely to appeal to a casual viewer. It plays with the audience with its constant teasing of when the two are actually going to realize they are fated for each other. This moment is symbolized by the kiss, forever suggested and always put off until another time ... until "War Without End." And then what do we get? A kiss in a flashforward that may be Sheridan's first time but certainly isn't Delenn's, and the audience doesn't know whether to be satisfied or frustrated. This episode also reveals that the pair will have a son, adding another intriguing element to the love affair. The way the relationship plays out is skillfully handled, giving the audience just enough to keep viewers hooked but no more. It is an innocent love affair and, perhaps, an idealistic one but nonetheless effective for that. With so much of the show being concerned with war, conspiracies, and interpersonal conflict, it often comes as a welcome breather and helps to deepen Sheridan and Delenn's characters.
This is particularly helpful in keeping interest in Sheridan. So often the lead character is there to provide exposition and to propel the story forward and, in Sheridan's case, to be a solid military leader. That ability and his tactical mind are displayed when he encounters the Shadow vessels in "Matters of Honor" and "Messages from Earth," as well as in other situations like his confrontation with the Babylon 5 bomber in "Convictions." But even though he has this great responsibility in the third season with the encroaching Shadow War, his humanity is never far away. His relationship with Delenn, the weight of responsibility that bears down on him, and scenes like his call back home to his father all combine to keep him interesting as a character. Babylon 5's break from Earth is a personally trying time for him, but the crisis moment for Sheridan really comes in "Z'ha'dum."
The arrival of his wife shatters everything. He had put his faith in Delenn and in Kosh, and now it seems they lied to him about his wife. Not only is Anna alive and standing in his quarters, she has made a home on the Shadows' Homeworld and seems to be on the enemy's side. Sheridan had finally come to accept his wife's death, to love Delenn and make a stand against the Shadows, and it is all thrown back in his face. It emerges, of course, that Anna Sheridan has been robbed of her personality by having been placed in a Shadow ship and had previously refused to cooperate with them. Nevertheless, it marks a moment of doubt in Sheridan's mind and an important one in his development. Previously, he had accepted everything Delenn told him. Now, as he explains to her in the heat of the moment, how can he ever trust her again?
Then Sheridan, despite all the warnings, goes with Anna to Z'ha'dum. This is a defining moment for him because he almost certainly believes he will not return. He records a message for Delenn in which he explains that he is probably walking into a trap and loads the White Star with nuclear weapons that he has every intention of using. Even his last words to Garibaldi appear to be from a man who is facing death. Then, on Z'ha'dum, he follows through with his plan, bringing the White Star crashing down to the planet and exploding the nuclear weapons to devastating effect.
It would seem that Sheridan has committed the ultimate heroic act, sacrificing himself to destroy, or at least cripple, the Shadows. There seems no way he could have survived the nuclear blast, and if by some miracle he escaped by jumping off the parapet, the fall was certainly enough to kill him. This is, of course, the ultimate cliff-hanger on which to end a season. The audience is left wondering if Babylon 5 could really have killed off its lead character. This is, after all, science fiction, and in science fiction, almost anything is possible.
EPISODE 1: "Matters of Honor"
Cast
Energy weapons fire at a small ship as it races away from a battle raging above Zagros 7. A shot strikes its left engine. The ship falters but manages to make it to the jumpgate intact. Inside the cockpit, Marcus Cole diverts as much power as possible from life support to the engines and heads as fast as he can to Babylon 5.
Earth has sent Mr. Endawi to the space station to find out what the other races know about a huge and powerful black spidery ship that has been seen in hyperspace. Ambassador Delenn denies any knowledge of it but afterward tells Sheridan it is a Shadow ship. "Remember it well," she says. "That is the face of our enemy."
Meanwhile, Ambassador Londo Mollari wants nothing more to do with Mr. Morden and his associates who helped the Centauri conquer the Narn. Morden agrees, on condition that Centauri forces restrict themselves to one sector of the galaxy. There is only one world on the border that Morden's associates are interested in, Zagros 7. He has asked Lord Refa to secure it for them. "Refa?" says Londo, in surprise. He suddenly looks worried.
Marcus escaped from Zagros 7 to ask Sheridan for help. He is a Ranger, one of a group of people trained to fight the Shadows, and Zagros 7 is one of their training bases. He tells Sheridan the Centauri blockade has to be broken if the other Rangers are to escape. "We have the means," he says, "if you have the will."
Marcus and Delenn take Sheridan to one of a new class of Minbari warships. It is the White Star, a small but powerful ship that has the ability to form its own jump point, unlike most ships of its size. Sheridan takes command and heads for Zagros 7.
The planet is worryingly quiet. There is no sign of the Centauri, and the White Star has no problem destroying enough mines to give the Rangers a chance to escape. But they are spotted by an incoming Shadow vessel. The White Star evades its energy weapons and heads for the jumpgate, with the Shadow ship in pursuit. As it tracks them through hyperspace, Sheridan considers the possibility of opening a jump point inside a jumpgate. No Earth Alliance ship that has tried it has survived because it releases a staggering amount of energy. "It's suicide," Ivanova protests, but Sheridan is prepared to put his faith in the White Star.
The White Star heads back into normal space through a jumpgate. "Punch it!" orders Sheridan, and Lennier fires the jump engines. The two energy fields clash, sending ripples of energy through the jumpgate as the Shadow vessel follows them out of hyperspace. The energy catches the black vessel and pulls it backward, crushing it in the collapsing gate. Shock waves radiate out and catch up to the speeding White Star. Power surges run through its instruments, and sparks shower over the crew. They are thrown to the floor but survive.
Mr. Endawi returns to Earth and reports his findings about the Shadow ship to an official back on EarthDome. The only information he has is from a thousand-year-old Narn legend. Once Endawi has left, Morden enters, pleased by what he has overheard. He suggests that EarthGov dismiss the sighting as an isolated incident. But a representative from the Psi Corps sees an advantage in perpetuating the idea of a threat to planetary security. "There's no reason we can't use this situation to speed up the program here at home," he says.
Captain John Sheridan: Bruce Boxleitner
Commander Susan Ivanova: Claudia Christian
Security Chief Michael Garibaldi: Jerry Doyle
Ambassador Delenn: Mira Furlan
Citizen G'Kar: Andreas Katsulas
Ambassador Londo Mollari: Peter Jurasik
Dr. Stephen Franklin: Richard Biggs
Lennier: Bill Mumy
Marcus Cole: Jason Carter
Lyta Alexander: Patricia Tallman
Vir Cotto: Stephen Furst
Guest Stars
Drazi Pilot: Jonathan Chapman
David Endawi: Tucker Smallwood
Morden: Ed Wasser
Large Man: Nils Allen Stewart
Senator: Kitty Swink
Psi Cop: Andrew Walker
The season begins with the familiar Babylon 5 pattern of reminding the audience of some of the main players in the game and setting things in place for the coming year. For the third season, this means the escalating conflict with the Shadows, which provides the background to the personal traumas of the main characters. The Shadow threat lies at the heart of "Matters of Honor," which sees Sheridan face one of their powerful ships for the first time. It also brings Sheridan's relationship with Kosh into focus in a small scene where Sheridan asks him about his dramatic rescue in the Zen Garden. Meanwhile, Londo makes his first attempt to sever ties with Morden, and a couple of new characters are introduced.
British actor Jason Carter was brought in to play Marcus Cole, the Ranger who comes to Babylon 5 for help and ends up being stationed there. His first taste of working on Babylon 5 was filming the scene in Sheridan's briefing room. "It was my first day, and it was a big group scene," Jason remembers. "The master shot was done, and then they were doing close-ups, and I was the last one to have my close-up done out of seven people. Most everybody screwed up on their lines for some reason or other, so by the time it got to me I knew my dialogue really well. It was easy for me, and I did it in one or two takes. It was nice of the cast--especially Bruce Boxleitner--to make me feel so comfortable, to know that I couldn't really fail if I could just speak my lines. It was particularly good because there was no starry attitudes going on, none of that ego power play. There was a lot of sport and joking about, which was also comfortable. I hadn't been in a working environment in America before where everyone was so nice."
Introducing a Ranger as a cast regular helped one sec-tion of the story make the transition from being in the background to being in the foreground, as writer and creator J. Michael Straczynski explains, "I thought, instead of the Ranger of the week, let's have an ongoing presence there. Marcus was meant to be that ongoing presence, as a constant reminder of who they are. If you bring in someone on an episode-by-episode basis, they are only there for the plot. With Marcus there on a permanent basis, you could do other kinds of stories and, in the process of this, learn more about what the Rangers are and what they can do."
The episode demonstrates that there is more to Marcus than being a token Ranger. Dr. Franklin's diagnosis when Marcus first arrives is that he will not be going out of Medlab for some while, but as soon as his back is turned, Marcus regains consciousness and is gone. He reveals some of his personal background, telling Ivanova how his brother was killed in the service of the Rangers and how he joined up to finish what his brother had begun. He also shows his capabilities with the Minbari fighting pike, when he extends the tube with a shake of his wrist and the help of computer graphics. "I'm particularly dextrous with it," says Jason. "I hold the pike--the short one--I take it out and continue the acting, focusing on whatever it is. Shake it. Freeze. Drop it without moving your hand, the other one gets put into place [by a member of the crew], and then carry on. Then they'll put in the extension or even throw in an edit if necessary, just to cover the stationary few moments."
The fight scene where Marcus, Delenn, and Lennier are set upon by a pair of thugs was originally going to be more elaborate, but it was cut short because of a lack of filming time. Nevertheless, it gave a rare chance for Delenn to show that Marcus is not the only one who can handle a Minbari fighting pike. "I was practicing with that stick they gave me." remembers Mira Furlan, who plays Delenn. "That's hard. I don't feel like an action heroine in any way. I was never into action movies, I'm embarrassed to say. I came from a totally different kind of background, but it's fun. I have to open myself to that. It's always fun to do onstage or in film stuff that you have problems with in life. In a way you can absolve yourself from your clumsiness in ordinary life."
In many respects, the second character to be introduced at the beginning of the third season is the White Star. Delenn gives it a big buildup as she leads Sheridan and Ivanova down several corridors before taking them onto the bridge. Sheridan and Ivanova are clearly impressed. "I figured it was cool; it could do some nifty stuff," says Joe Straczynski. "The problem with it for most of the third season was it was never quite right on the inside. If you look at episodes where you see it being used and take those scenes and line them up, the layout keeps changing on the interior of the White Star. It was never quite what I had in mind. I wanted it to be more organic looking and less prosaic."
Part of the problem with the set was that it was erected in the space reserved for the main guest set of the week. It had to be built so it could be taken down and replaced with something else whenever the need arose. (That changed in the fourth season when the White Star was given an overhaul and its own personal space on the soundstage.) Kevin Cremin was the director for "Matters of Honor," and he, like many who followed him, found the White Star problematic. "First times in prominent sets are always trouble," he says. "They're real hard on directors because you learn the little ins and outs and the best way to put a camera in after you've been in there a little while."
Kevin had been production manager for the previous two years and was used to being present at early production meetings. He had moved onto other projects by the third year and found it strange to come back as a freelance director. "I only came in a week and a half ahead of time because that's all the prep that a director gets, and I really felt left out of it because a lot of conversations had taken place that I wasn't present at. So, out of all the people there, I had the least idea of what this White Star was. I kind of garnered a little bit of information about it as we got going, but I don't think that it was a completely gelled idea yet. If I knew then what I know now, I would probably have tried to do some things a little bit differently."
The first outing for the White Star puts it directly in the firing line when it unexpectedly comes up against a lone Shadow vessel. Sheridan uses strategy rather than brute force to defeat it, evoking parallels to his destruction of the Black Star in the Earth-Minbari War. "I wanted to start showing why Sheridan got where he is," says Joe Straczyn-ski. "He's fast on his feet. Whereas the Minbari might not be able to find a way to stop this thing, Sheridan is totally nuts and willing to take chances that the Minbari--being more rigid--would not necessarily take."
The episode ends with a final twist, where it is revealed that the Shadows have powerful friends on Earth. Three prongs of conspiracy are bought together when Morden and a Psi Cop discuss the Shadow vessel with a senator in EarthDome. The threat is tripled, and the audience's suspicions are confirmed. "You can only tease an audience for so long," says Joe. "At some point you have to put your cards on the table and say, 'Here's what's actually happening,' otherwise it gets frustrating. I thought, okay, lets take these cards and put them straight up on the deck and see what the reaction is."