Gotta love Kosh, he figured out a way to cheat. When he helped Sheridan before this, he knew he wouldn't be able to help him later, yet in the end, he figured out way to do it anyway. he played the game, took the hit, but did so with his last gambit still in play. What a guy/squid/energy thing.
Yup, Kosh new Lorien was down there, deep in the heart of Za'ha'dum. He knew what was at stake and he knew above all else, Sheridan was the key to ending the endless cycle of the Vorlons and the Shadows warring with each other though other species. Sheridan to survive, whatever it took. So Kosh put a piece of himself inside John so he could guide John even as he went to into what they both knew would be a trap.
I believe that Kosh implanted himself into Sheridan when Sheridan stood upto him. When he telekinetically threw Sheridan up against the wall and called him imputent/insolent. When he said he couldn't help him when the time was right. That's when he implanted a part of himself into Sheridan. That or when be saved Sheridan from the shuttle explosion.
This is probably one of my favorite scenes of any television show. They really nailed it. The music was dark and building the whole time. The acting was impeccable. And they showed you just enough of everything, the Shadows walking behind her for a glimpse, the nuclear explosion for a split second, to give you a sense of how terrifying and cataclysmic it all is. And kosh reaching out to Sheridan. It's just amazing. Only downfall is I can't experience it for the first time again.
This was during a stretch of the show where I just could not get over the number of interesting plot developments and great character moments that I was seeing. So good. So good.
@@samsonguy10k I still remember the first time I watched, it was a Sunday 11PM, I couldn't sleep that night I always recorded in my vcr and watched again. Next day I had school and I couldn't keep my eyes opened.
Delenn's heartbreak; Anna's terror; Sheridan's uncertainty; Kosh no longer being cryptic Everything about this scene was superbly acted out, with the music and scene cuts building tension the entire time. *Nothing before or since compares to how B5 melded all these together!* Other shows have one part really good, maybe two, B5 was clocking it on all cylinders every episode.
I gotta say, it never occurred to me until I read your comment how big it was that Kosh actually said something straightforward. Aside, of course, from “You are not ready for immortality.”
@@frankgesuele6298 ROFL, whiny pricks threaten to burn the ex’s house down; but John brought two Nikes to make sure he took out her whole neighborhood.
In this case it really wasn't her fault. Anna Sheridan was part of an archeological expedition to Za ha dume under the mistaken notion that it was a dead planet only to awaken the Shadows with deadly consequences. Her story as well as Mordens's are explained in full in the Babylon 5 book "The Shadow Within".
@@deniseboldea1624 there is a horror and a sadness to her and john. All the good has been burnt from her and they've filled her with cold alien darkness. Depending on how you see it shes either your wife is dead and her body is infested with a vile spirit or the person you know and love has been twisted into a creature of supreme evil and they didnt even have agency in it. Can you imagine what it would do to you to see that happen to a loved one? If anything John's response is restrained as hell
Sheridan was really a hell of person. In an unfathomably old city, surrounded by a terrifying enemy, being confronted by a creature wearing the skin and using the voice of the woman he loved, with the certity of death nanometers away. It’d be enough to make average souls curl up in resigned terror.
@@loudman12 As Vorlons are all telepathically linked but they were unaware a part of OG Kosh was alive in Sheridon (the reason he could survive BTW when Lorien found him) it was likely the only time the 2 were ever alone. "Every one has a keeper", Kosh can't speak openly because he's never alone. It's feasible that as Vorlons seem to have mastered time travel he knew in advance where he needed to be.
What B5 lacked in budget it made up for in terms of storytelling. Must be 20 years old but still has awesome power. Just goes to show that special effects may age but great story telling is imortal.
Eoin Brennan hands down, best series I’ve ever seen. Best writing, Best acting, best character growth. Even now, all these years later, the Best Christmas gift I got in a long time was the complete series.
@@pickeljarsforhillary102 Every first season of Trek since TOS has been panned. DIS is more compelling than the Temporal Cold War, and none of the cast with spoken lines have given performances as bland as Bakula's Archer. Not that there's nothing wrong with it, but it's the usual level of wrong that all Trek has, e.g. "if you have replicators, why isn't every ship as good as the best ship?" or "why does it take so long to notice intruders and/or missing personnel when your sensors are good enough for transporters?" or "why send a boarding party to sabotage the ship when we've already seen transported photon torpedos?" or "if Voyager really can do Warp 9.975, shouldn't it only take 7 years to get home anyway?"
My heart breaks for Delenn, when she realizes John has gone on a suicide mission, because he has no other choice. The music reinforces the mood of a desperate act and tragedy.
Not to mention what she was feeling up until that message. The guilt, regret, and shame she felt over lying to Sheridan. And then relief that he had already forgiven her, and then the sorrow of losing Sheridan. She went through a rollercoaster of emotion that would put Six Flags to shame.
It was the end of the Earth year 2260, and the war had paused, suddenly and unexpectedly. .. All around us, it was as if the universe were holding its breath, waiting. All of life can be broken down into moments of transition or moments .. of revelation. This had the feeling of both. G'Quan wrote: 'There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain." -G'Kar
lordmech Or in Sheridan's case, jump off this balcony and nuke the planet from orbit. It's the only way to be sure... To make season 4 really interesting.
Okay, look. This is an emotional moment for all of us... all right? I know that. But let's not make snap judgments, please. This is clearly an important species we're dealing with here, and I don't think you, or I, or anybody, has the right to arbitrarily exterminate them.
Best part of this scene is Bruce Boxleitner and Melissa Gilbert were married during the production of Babylon 5. So, Bruce Boxleitner got to drop a space ship full of fusion bombs on his wife.
No, he'd wear it while jumping in 😂😂😂...but get teleported back in a ship without wearing the ring at the absolute last second ❤❤❤ and recieve a Hero's welcome back on Deep Space Ni--, I mean Babylon 5...whew 😂😂😂❤❤❤
I dont think people relaise how awesome the FX were. This was a TV programme with effects that matched what the movies could produce at the time. As other people have said, for this episode the sound, the pacing, the editing, the plot, were incredible. B5 is a forgotten gem of Sci-fi, I think its ignored due to S1, where the main commander had tragic off screen issues, and S5, which was lacking in drive (again for off screen issues). One final thought. My prayers to all the incredible cast members who have passed. I can't belive so many people who should be lauded for this programme have died so very young.
Like the original Jurassic Park, they were extremely clever in how they never let you get a good look at anything. They made it dark and moody wthout turning it into one of the ill-lit monstrosities of today, and I'm sure it concealed a multitude of problems and saved them millions.
"There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, ever put in a trap. .. Me."
@@celebrim1 I think he kinda is - Kosh left a part of himself in Sheridan. That part survived when Kosh was killed by the Shadows and came out to fight Kosh 2. This part spoke there, I think.
i like to think that his re-vivified wife was screaming, not in anticipation of nuclear destruction, but at the far greater offense of a vorlon craft in the center of their city
Don't forget, when the ship crashed through the glass dome, it opened the shaft to the surface atmosphere, and the main part of the blast, took the path of least resistance to the surface, like a fireworks shell in a steel pipe, or a mortar. Who knows how much pressure, or heat effects he was exposed to, down in the side tunnels, with LORIEN protecting him as best as he could. Don't forget, he was told, "Tick, you're alive, Tock, you're dead."
Well... It's no secret that neither outrunning nor out-falling an explosion is a feasable thing outside of movies... But sometimes one has to cheat a little bit to tell a compelling story :D
@@robertnett9793 Sheridon has a McGuffin protecting him in this scene, Kosh's life force is flowing through him. Even then it takes Lorien adding in some of his life force to extend Sheridon's physical life for 20 years before he becomes the second Human to transform into a First One.
@@CharlesUrban That lady was, in body at least, Anna Sheridan, John's wife, whom he thought was dead for years. Turns out she was taken prisoner by the Shadows on Za'ha'dum (the planet they're on) and given a choice. Serve willingly, or die. In fact there was a 3rd option. Shadow vessels use living beings as CPUs and Anna was stuck inside one of their ships as a living core and, in doing so, her personality was destroyed. When the Shadows realised who she was and who John Sheridan was destined to be they pulled her out of the ship but her personality had gone. Nevertheless they sent her to B5 to try and get Sheridan to join the Shadow's side by which they deliberately sew chaos throughout the galaxy in order to promote evolution, whereas the Vorlons (essentially their diametric opposite) favour evolution through Order. It was discovered on B5 that "Anna" had implants in her brainstem which could only be from being exposed to a Shadow vessel so John knew it was almost certainly a trap and that's why he rigged the White Star with 2 500-megaton thermonuclear bombs and, if all else failed, the plan was to use the opportunity to do as much damage to the Shadows as possible. As it turns out, that's exactly what happened. Sheridan refused to cooperate and, knowing the consequences for refusing a Shadow offer, he "pulled a Sheridan" and dropped over a gigaton of thermonuclear ass-kicking on his wife and the main Shadow capital city.
I wasn't the biggest fan of this originally. Then I caught random episodes and liked it. Now watching it from stem to stern and I am NOT disappointed. Only in that it took me so long to appreciate and love the storyline and story telling!
1:02 "there's nowhere to run." me: oh, you have no idea. you are about to faceplant into a wall made of irony. and also nukes. lots and lots of very ironic nukes.
_"No greater love hath a man than the life he lay down for his brother. Not for glory, not for fame, not for millions, but for just one person, in the dark, alone, where no one will ever know or see..."_ - Sebastien.
@@samsonguy10k All the more impressive considering the Vorlons as a whole seemed to have written off the Narns as a lost cause, but Kosh saw something worth saving and took action.
Loved the way how Lorien just said it so casually. Then again, when you actually are the first sentient being in the whole universe, I guess there's no need for being dramatic.
This episode is incredible. The first time i saw it i was biting my nails the entire show. I can't recall another episode of television that had me crying and cheering at the same time.
remember how long UK tv viewers back in 92 had to wait for the next season. I was having horrific surgery to try & get rid of a bone tumour & a friend was recording hours & hours of vhs tapes of sci fi to aid my recovery. I'm not ashamed to admit I became addicted to B5. it's the best show ever made
@@radagastaddams3703 Star Truck stole and copied the script (they were forced to settle the case with JMS) and turned out the "no, we have Babylon 5 at home" show DS9 as a result.
OMG.I just watched the entire series in the last 3 months.All five years worth but this is one of the episodes I will watch again and again.The emotional rollercoaster sacrifice,love anger,betrayal,and sadness is so gripping.This some good a-- TV and some of the best Sci-fi ever.
"Alright, that's the trade-off. If you want to with hold your help when the time comes, that's fine, I'll go it alone." "You do not understand, but you will."
'I will not be there when you go to Zha'ha'dum.' Yet Kosh Naranek found a way, just the same. He got the job of ambassador on Babylon 5 'cos, even though part of the Vorlon hive mind, he still thought differently and valued the lesser species for who and what they were. What a guy; almost an angel.
@@stevetheduck1425 kosh meant that if he initiated a direct physical conflict with the shadows that he would be dead, so sheridan would not have his protection when he went to zahadum. The shadows and vorlons fought proxy wars, kosh attacking with the vorlon fleet made it a real war between them. If that attack never happened kosh would habe physically been there and the shadows would not have tried to stick a critter on his neck.
To be fair, Kosh was unneccessarily confusing. "Look John - it's easy. You know the Shadows are around since quite a long time. As are we. We butted heads since longer than your race even existed and in all this time things, let's say unwritten rules, have emerged. Especially considering involving ourselvs into things. Ok, so far? Good. If I help you now - the Shadows will try and murder me for sure - and, ah! don't speak - your tec is a few million years short. You can't even imagine the things you need to do to help me out, let alone manage to stop them. I help you - I will not be around later. That's the deal. Take it or leave it'. I know, less grandious - but get's the point accross a bit better.
Thie episode ranks, hands down, as the best episode of any science fiction television show, ever. There's no question. Nobody before or since has surpassed it.... I suspect nobody ever will. (Edit: Top scene of any television show of any kind, ever. Period.)
Doesn't get much better than NUKING MORDOR and in the process destabilizing the status quo. It helps that our protagonist has to choose between "death" and "very probably death" and makes the sensible choice ^_^
I'd nominate Severed Dreams for a good rival. Just watch that episode for the editing and storytelling. Not one frame of fat. Not one wasted line. Pacing perfect. Music amazing.
+Nangleator22 Severed dreams is GREAT. It's perfect. So is Z'ha'dum. But Z'ha'dum is one of those episodes that leaves you going "holy sh*t" afterwards. Especially after G'kar's speech at the close. After watching this, none of us could move for almost five minutes afterwards. With Severed Dreams we turned the TV off and then talked about how incredible an episode it was for half an hour or more. I think there are different grades of perfect, just like there are larger infinities than others. (E.G. There are infinite numbers, and there are infinite even numbers. But there are more numbers than even numbers. Both are infinite, but the set of numbers is greater than the set of even numbers.) The show itself is one of the best ever made, and certainly the one that changed EVERYTHING. Almost all shows now have a continual story arc, and that's thanks to Babylon 5, who proved that it COULD WORK. (I love Twin Peaks, but although they HAD a long-term arc, they failed to show that it could actually work.)
John Sheridan handled this situation maturely. But John Crichton would have Laughed in Anna's face, taunted her with an Earth saying that she didn't understand, tongue kissed one of the Shadows, then jumped backwards over the railing with both middle fingers up.
"There was a 500 megaton nuclear blast. Captain Sheridan was last seen falling into a 5 mile deep chasm, they believe he's dead" ... HOW . the . HELL did Stephen Furst keep a straight face?
There I was, holed up on this balcony when the Shadows came nosing around. They were getting closer-- closer! And? I threw a nuke at em! * Blank stare * It was a big nuke.
I remember watching this when it first came out. It was so groundbreaking. Without B5 we'd have never had some of the amazing 'slowburn' TV we've had since then. What an incredible cliff hanger to a series.
Two Shadows out of the blast radius see the explosion. Shadow 1: “I TOLD you that he was called John “Nuke ‘Em” Sheridan for a reason, Steve. Remember when I told you that there was a REASON they called him that?” Shadow 2: “Fuck off, Ralph.”
I just loved the forewarning that "Anna" gave him before they arrived, The Shadows feared what would happen if any part of Vorlon tech was to touch their home world never mind a Vorlon.
Theres actually a fan theroy that the gigaton of nukes actually didnt harm any shadows as they are incomporeal like the vorlons. However the ship making physical contact with the planet unleashed vorlon nano/bio tech which is what actually harmed them
@@ASlaveToReason Considering that later on the Shadows could be gunned down by Londos guardsmen, I assume they were coorporal enough to get slightly inconvenienced by a nuke.
@@ASlaveToReason Nah. Londo killed two of them in the Palace on Centauri prime (Well the Palace Guards did), "I will have to have that painted over I suppose", RIGHT before he nuked a whole island to destroy the shadow ships.
@@girlgarde she wanted that power she want the dick and in the end she got the nuke instead. Remember no hiding place The Rock cried out to your face no hiding place
One of the best and unexpected cliffhangers of Babylon 5 's season finale . Melissa Gilbert and Boxleitner are actually husband and wife in real life .
In the Babylon 5 universe, souls have been proven to be real, otherwise why would the Soul Hunters even be a thing? Therefore, although the Shadows programmed a new personality in Anna Sheridan, her soul was still there, therefore the real Anna was still in there somewhere. That is, until her husband summoned a 500mt nuke to vaporize the Shadow city (and Anna). Some part of that scream was the real Anna Sheridan.
I agree. The Shadows may have greatly altered Anna's personality or given her a new one, the very core of her original self, the part that loved John Sheridan was still there. At least with the nuking of the Shadow city, the real Anna can finally find peace in death.
@@cledgefenrir5681 Different mind, different person, not the same sins. Remember Voyager, when the Doctor fixed some neural pathway degradation on a convicted killer (Billy Drago), and Seven said he is fundamentally not the same person? You go poking around somebody's melon, they are not gonna be the same.
The Soul Hunters are using an more ancient technology to record great people; essentially their 'souls', but then they are put on a shelf somewhere. - as seen in Crusade. I wonder if their business was started by the Vorlons? An empathic ability to sense who will die, who is worthy, and using a limited supply of pokeballs to keep the snapshot. The 'why' may have been lost over the centuries.
There are two actresses who had iconic child roles: Melissa Gilbert (as Half-Pint in Little House on the Prairie) and Megan Follows (as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables). When we grew up those two would go on to play roles which would terrify me.
"John, honey... you wouldn't hurt me, would you, sweetheart? Sweetheart, be reasonable. After all, we're married!" _"Consider this a divorce!"_ *jumps*
Does anyone know what the name of the music is that starts at 01:30? I have heard it before and know that it is one of the Babylon 5 suites and that it even lasts for around 6 minutes but I just can't find it on youtube any more or remember the name.
This is apocryphal, but a friend who is a fan of the show told me that Anna wasn't screaming at the end: that that was a thing of the Shadows, linked to one of their ships, and it's "screaming" was in fact it reflexively trying to fire its weapons.
Until they pulled her out for this, Anna was a control component in one of the shadow ships. So under the tutelage of the Great Eye her personality was slowly stripped away and replaced with a compulsion and desire to deal out destruction and death. So that _is_ her screaming, but she is probably not be screaming out of fear, but as you say, it is reflexive screaming to try and fire the shadow ship weapons. Like a retired cop reaching for the gun holster at their hip that is no longer there, she comes up empty and can do nothing because she is no longer in a ship. Perhaps you misunderstood what your friend meant (or you agree with what I said, and I misunderstood what _you_ meant). The book _The Shadow Within_ and the _Passing of the Technomages_ book trilogy go more in to her time inside a shadow ship.
Gotta love Kosh, he figured out a way to cheat. When he helped Sheridan before this, he knew he wouldn't be able to help him later, yet in the end, he figured out way to do it anyway. he played the game, took the hit, but did so with his last gambit still in play. What a guy/squid/energy thing.
Yup, Kosh new Lorien was down there, deep in the heart of Za'ha'dum. He knew what was at stake and he knew above all else, Sheridan was the key to ending the endless cycle of the Vorlons and the Shadows warring with each other though other species. Sheridan to survive, whatever it took. So Kosh put a piece of himself inside John so he could guide John even as he went to into what they both knew would be a trap.
I believe that Kosh implanted himself into Sheridan when Sheridan stood upto him.
When he telekinetically threw Sheridan up against the wall and called him imputent/insolent.
When he said he couldn't help him when the time was right. That's when he implanted a part of himself into Sheridan.
That or when be saved Sheridan from the shuttle explosion.
Kosh has infact saved multiple characters, multiple times if you think about it.
@@Fnord23GnosisKosh was inside Sheridan in season 2.
If you have to go, calling down a warship hauling 1-1.2+ gigatons of death on an ancient evil to your position is a pretty epic way to go.
There was 2 nukes on that ship.
I can't think of a better way to go!
And he didn't go...well, not really.
@@napoleonsolo5929 he thought he did and that made all the difference in the world.
"Call for fire on my position! Danger close, danger close, danger close. I accept full responsibility."
The best acting that Bruce Boxleitner has ever done... and he didn't say ONE WORD!
This is probably one of my favorite scenes of any television show. They really nailed it. The music was dark and building the whole time. The acting was impeccable. And they showed you just enough of everything, the Shadows walking behind her for a glimpse, the nuclear explosion for a split second, to give you a sense of how terrifying and cataclysmic it all is. And kosh reaching out to Sheridan. It's just amazing. Only downfall is I can't experience it for the first time again.
First time I ever remember screaming at my TV to JUMP! I never got so into a show until Babylon 5
Reruns are good with a failing memory!!!
@@tjnunez2031 Why it's good to take a break between binges.
This was during a stretch of the show where I just could not get over the number of interesting plot developments and great character moments that I was seeing. So good. So good.
@@samsonguy10k I still remember the first time I watched, it was a Sunday 11PM, I couldn't sleep that night I always recorded in my vcr and watched again. Next day I had school and I couldn't keep my eyes opened.
"He must not be allowed to escape."
"Escape is not his plan!"
"I must confront him alone"
"Escape? Escape is not his intention. Now he is hunting you."
Delenn's heartbreak; Anna's terror; Sheridan's uncertainty; Kosh no longer being cryptic
Everything about this scene was superbly acted out, with the music and scene cuts building tension the entire time.
*Nothing before or since compares to how B5 melded all these together!*
Other shows have one part really good, maybe two, B5 was clocking it on all cylinders every episode.
The best thing I ever saw till the present day!
I gotta say, it never occurred to me until I read your comment how big it was that Kosh actually said something straightforward. Aside, of course, from “You are not ready for immortality.”
J. Michael Straczynski is completely a writing genius! This whole season that led up to this was brilliant!
Also that was one Hell of a divorce!😈🤣
@@frankgesuele6298 ROFL, whiny pricks threaten to burn the ex’s house down; but John brought two Nikes to make sure he took out her whole neighborhood.
Hell of a way to file a divorce.
Oh gee I wonder why it's never the woman's fault
Technically, they were already divorced. Anna Sheridan, just like Morden was declared dead in absentia 3 years earlier.
In this case it really wasn't her fault. Anna Sheridan was part of an archeological expedition to Za ha dume under the mistaken notion that it was a dead planet only to awaken the Shadows with deadly consequences. Her story as well as Mordens's are explained in full in the Babylon 5 book "The Shadow Within".
🤣👌🏼
@@deniseboldea1624 there is a horror and a sadness to her and john. All the good has been burnt from her and they've filled her with cold alien darkness.
Depending on how you see it shes either your wife is dead and her body is infested with a vile spirit or the person you know and love has been twisted into a creature of supreme evil and they didnt even have agency in it.
Can you imagine what it would do to you to see that happen to a loved one?
If anything John's response is restrained as hell
Sheridan was really a hell of person. In an unfathomably old city, surrounded by a terrifying enemy, being confronted by a creature wearing the skin and using the voice of the woman he loved, with the certity of death nanometers away. It’d be enough to make average souls curl up in resigned terror.
Not the skin, sir. Her whole body.
That’s why there was the saying that nobody returns from Z’ha’dum the same as they went. Terrifying place
Well, that's a strange turn of events; Kosh speaking coherently.
Maybe the part he left for Sheridan was the real being. Th one that didn’t have to tow the line
@@loudman12
As Vorlons are all telepathically linked but they were unaware a part of OG Kosh was alive in Sheridon (the reason he could survive BTW when Lorien found him) it was likely the only time the 2 were ever alone. "Every one has a keeper", Kosh can't speak openly because he's never alone. It's feasible that as Vorlons seem to have mastered time travel he knew in advance where he needed to be.
Yes
What B5 lacked in budget it made up for in terms of storytelling. Must be 20 years old but still has awesome power. Just goes to show that special effects may age but great story telling is imortal.
Eoin Brennan hands down, best series I’ve ever seen. Best writing, Best acting, best character growth. Even now, all these years later, the Best Christmas gift I got in a long time was the complete series.
I wish it to be visually remastered for VR in the future, without any story changes.
Budget doesnt make the show. Story telling does. That is why Star Trek TOS remains popular while STD is failing.
@@pickeljarsforhillary102 Every first season of Trek since TOS has been panned. DIS is more compelling than the Temporal Cold War, and none of the cast with spoken lines have given performances as bland as Bakula's Archer. Not that there's nothing wrong with it, but it's the usual level of wrong that all Trek has, e.g. "if you have replicators, why isn't every ship as good as the best ship?" or "why does it take so long to notice intruders and/or missing personnel when your sensors are good enough for transporters?" or "why send a boarding party to sabotage the ship when we've already seen transported photon torpedos?" or "if Voyager really can do Warp 9.975, shouldn't it only take 7 years to get home anyway?"
Eoin Brennan tell me about it! The writing for this show was brilliant!
My heart breaks for Delenn, when she realizes John has gone on a suicide mission, because he has no other choice. The music reinforces the mood of a desperate act and tragedy.
For me, THAT is the most emotive scene I've ever seen on television.
Delenn don't like it when somebody fucks with her man
B5 had the most dramatic soundtrack in the television sci-fi series ever.
Not to mention what she was feeling up until that message. The guilt, regret, and shame she felt over lying to Sheridan. And then relief that he had already forgiven her, and then the sorrow of losing Sheridan. She went through a rollercoaster of emotion that would put Six Flags to shame.
It was the end of the Earth year 2260, and the war had paused, suddenly and unexpectedly. .. All around us, it was as if the universe were holding its breath, waiting. All of life can be broken down into moments of transition or moments .. of revelation. This had the feeling of both.
G'Quan wrote: 'There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain."
-G'Kar
Sheridan's battle plan:
1) Try and talk sense into them, if that fails, go to #2
2) Nuke it.
3) If that fails, see #2.
i say we take off and nuke the planet from orbit only way to be sure.
lordmech Or in Sheridan's case, jump off this balcony and nuke the planet from orbit. It's the only way to be sure... To make season 4 really interesting.
Ripley would be proud.
Okay, look.
This is an emotional moment for all of us... all right? I know that. But let's not make snap judgments, please.
This is clearly an important species we're dealing with here, and I don't think you, or I, or anybody, has the right to arbitrarily exterminate them.
@@OOTurok Cant hear you! Smiting!
Best part of this scene is Bruce Boxleitner and Melissa Gilbert were married during the production of Babylon 5. So, Bruce Boxleitner got to drop a space ship full of fusion bombs on his wife.
You marry Duke Nukem, you accept the risks that come with that decision.
@ LOL!
@ No such line. This episode aired in 1996, Gilbert and Boxleitner divorced in 2011.
@@brownro214 did you intentionally miss the joke?
I bet Bruce could have actually done this to Melissa after the divorce
If Sheridan carried the ring to mount doom.... he'd have threw it in.
AFTER nuking Barad-dur!
No, he'd wear it while jumping in 😂😂😂...but get teleported back in a ship without wearing the ring at the absolute last second ❤❤❤ and recieve a Hero's welcome back on Deep Space Ni--, I mean Babylon 5...whew 😂😂😂❤❤❤
@@morgancook5000 I like how you think!
I dont think people relaise how awesome the FX were. This was a TV programme with effects that matched what the movies could produce at the time.
As other people have said, for this episode the sound, the pacing, the editing, the plot, were incredible.
B5 is a forgotten gem of Sci-fi, I think its ignored due to S1, where the main commander had tragic off screen issues, and S5, which was lacking in drive (again for off screen issues).
One final thought.
My prayers to all the incredible cast members who have passed. I can't belive so many people who should be lauded for this programme have died so very young.
Like the original Jurassic Park, they were extremely clever in how they never let you get a good look at anything. They made it dark and moody wthout turning it into one of the ill-lit monstrosities of today, and I'm sure it concealed a multitude of problems and saved them millions.
"There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, ever put in a trap.
..
Me."
Epi Endless num. 11.
Omg that works for both characters LOL
One makes things better and the other nukes the shit out everything that moves..
Saying goodbye to Delenn was foreshadowed by an earlier episode in which Sheridan confessed to his sister he regretted not saying goodbye to Anna.
He wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.
"Man...I really wish Kosh would be specific sometimes."
Not Kosh that is speaking.
@@celebrim1 I think he kinda is - Kosh left a part of himself in Sheridan. That part survived when Kosh was killed by the Shadows and came out to fight Kosh 2. This part spoke there, I think.
@@celebrim1 Where did you get the idiotic idea that it wasn't?
@@celebrim1 It absolutely is Kosh.
Christopher Franke's score for B5 is his masterpiece.
He fights for the Users.
Greetings programs!
Oh, a Tron reference, I almost forgot he was in that movie.
So is Londo's actor.
Against an evil Half-Pint . . .
Greetings program
after all these years...I STILL get goosebumps at this scene
i like to think that his re-vivified wife was screaming, not in anticipation of nuclear destruction, but at the far greater offense of a vorlon craft in the center of their city
Don't forget, when the ship crashed through the glass dome, it opened the shaft to the surface atmosphere, and the main part of the blast, took the path of least resistance to the surface, like a fireworks shell in a steel pipe, or a mortar. Who knows how much pressure, or heat effects he was exposed to, down in the side tunnels, with LORIEN protecting him as best as he could. Don't forget, he was told, "Tick, you're alive, Tock, you're dead."
Well... It's no secret that neither outrunning nor out-falling an explosion is a feasable thing outside of movies... But sometimes one has to cheat a little bit to tell a compelling story :D
And if you do both, you are banned from government phones.
@@robertnett9793
Sheridon has a McGuffin protecting him in this scene, Kosh's life force is flowing through him. Even then it takes Lorien adding in some of his life force to extend Sheridon's physical life for 20 years before he becomes the second Human to transform into a First One.
That's one way to finalize a divorce.
Remember, sometimes when the voices tell you to jump, it IS a good idea.
I take it that that lady didn't have Sheridan's best interests at heart? What was up with her?
@@CharlesUrban That lady was, in body at least, Anna Sheridan, John's wife, whom he thought was dead for years. Turns out she was taken prisoner by the Shadows on Za'ha'dum (the planet they're on) and given a choice. Serve willingly, or die. In fact there was a 3rd option. Shadow vessels use living beings as CPUs and Anna was stuck inside one of their ships as a living core and, in doing so, her personality was destroyed. When the Shadows realised who she was and who John Sheridan was destined to be they pulled her out of the ship but her personality had gone.
Nevertheless they sent her to B5 to try and get Sheridan to join the Shadow's side by which they deliberately sew chaos throughout the galaxy in order to promote evolution, whereas the Vorlons (essentially their diametric opposite) favour evolution through Order.
It was discovered on B5 that "Anna" had implants in her brainstem which could only be from being exposed to a Shadow vessel so John knew it was almost certainly a trap and that's why he rigged the White Star with 2 500-megaton thermonuclear bombs and, if all else failed, the plan was to use the opportunity to do as much damage to the Shadows as possible.
As it turns out, that's exactly what happened. Sheridan refused to cooperate and, knowing the consequences for refusing a Shadow offer, he "pulled a Sheridan" and dropped over a gigaton of thermonuclear ass-kicking on his wife and the main Shadow capital city.
@@Boomer2k6 Nice. Duke Nukem doesn't take kindly to people screwing with him.
@@Boomer2k6 damn man what a way to go killing your ex wife with a nuke fucking unbelievable so much for alimony but it got to be done so big
I'm reminded by the people who decided to jump instead of being roasted alive. What a harrowing choice.
I wasn't the biggest fan of this originally. Then I caught random episodes and liked it. Now watching it from stem to stern and I am NOT disappointed. Only in that it took me so long to appreciate and love the storyline and story telling!
1:02 "there's nowhere to run."
me: oh, you have no idea. you are about to faceplant into a wall made of irony. and also nukes. lots and lots of very ironic nukes.
"There's nowhere to run."
"Well spotted. There IS a place to jump, though!"
What gets me every time is the White Star coming in at re-entry speed. It is burning up but it served it task.
Brotherman the white star was trying to get there
Like the wrath of God, the White Star, first of it's name, brought judgement to the ancient enemy.
Mimbari engineering: when you absolutely, positively, have to wipe out every Shadow in the city, accept no substitutes.
They look like angels.
...
I thought you said they looked like plucked chickens?
I love how Sheridan fulfilled the prophecy that if anything Vorlon touches the planet surface, they would die.
One of the greatest scenes in tv history
Speaking as a writer, this scene is the most heroic moment i've ever seen or heard about.
_"No greater love hath a man than the life he lay down for his brother. Not for glory, not for fame, not for millions, but for just one person, in the dark, alone, where no one will ever know or see..."_ - Sebastien.
JUMP JUMP ..NOW this sounds to me like a father worrying for his child
ghfun1 you don't know how close you are. When kosh died he appeared as Sheridan's father.
he also probably appeared as G'kar's dad
@@ziggymcdougal Loved that part. Especially finding out that Kosh cared so much for G'kar he would go that far to get his head straight.
@@ziggymcdougal He did.
@@samsonguy10k All the more impressive considering the Vorlons as a whole seemed to have written off the Narns as a lost cause, but Kosh saw something worth saving and took action.
"hey, did you know you have a vorlon inside of you?"
Sheridan: 0_o
Loved the way how Lorien just said it so casually. Then again, when you actually are the first sentient being in the whole universe, I guess there's no need for being dramatic.
Last time I checked, erm....yes.
This episode is incredible. The first time i saw it i was biting my nails the entire show. I can't recall another episode of television that had me crying and cheering at the same time.
remember how long UK tv viewers back in 92 had to wait for the next season. I was having horrific surgery to try & get rid of a bone tumour & a friend was recording hours & hours of vhs tapes of sci fi to aid my recovery. I'm not ashamed to admit I became addicted to B5. it's the best show ever made
@@radagastaddams3703
Star Truck stole and copied the script (they were forced to settle the case with JMS) and turned out the "no, we have Babylon 5 at home" show DS9 as a result.
OMG.I just watched the entire series in the last 3 months.All five years worth but this is one of the episodes I will watch again and again.The emotional rollercoaster sacrifice,love anger,betrayal,and sadness is so gripping.This some good a-- TV and some of the best Sci-fi ever.
0:24 That guitar sting STILL gets me. Looking back, this must be where I got my love of operatic vocals combined with meedily-meedily riffs.
Nothing says "It's over" like 2 500 mega ton fusion bombs
Every morning when I get up I hear Kosh voice in my head: If you go to work you will get tired 😐
As Ivonova said "No boom yesterday... Boom today!"
No boom, No Boom Today, Boom Tomorrow, There is always a BOOM Tomorrow...
Have never seen this show. Enough clips keep turning up recommended that I might have to give it a shot.
If you like epic SciFi, you won't be disappointed. Still one of the best shows I've ever seen.
I envy you. To experience the journey for the first time.
I remember this cliffhanger. I seriously thought Sheridan was dead. But Kosh was right he lived but he paid a terrible price
The moment Anna Sheridan walks to him, slowely, with the music playing in the background... Truly one of the greatest scenes in history of SF
"Alright, that's the trade-off. If you want to with hold your help when the time comes, that's fine, I'll go it alone."
"You do not understand, but you will."
'I will not be there when you go to Zha'ha'dum.'
Yet Kosh Naranek found a way, just the same.
He got the job of ambassador on Babylon 5 'cos, even though part of the Vorlon hive mind, he still thought differently and valued the lesser species for who and what they were.
What a guy; almost an angel.
@@stevetheduck1425 I mean, others did see an angelic figure in him when he saved Sheridan, so that's not really inaccurate ;)
Kosh had every intention of being there. He knew Lorien was there, and that Lorien would help.
@@stevetheduck1425 kosh meant that if he initiated a direct physical conflict with the shadows that he would be dead, so sheridan would not have his protection when he went to zahadum. The shadows and vorlons fought proxy wars, kosh attacking with the vorlon fleet made it a real war between them. If that attack never happened kosh would habe physically been there and the shadows would not have tried to stick a critter on his neck.
To be fair, Kosh was unneccessarily confusing.
"Look John - it's easy. You know the Shadows are around since quite a long time. As are we. We butted heads since longer than your race even existed and in all this time things, let's say unwritten rules, have emerged. Especially considering involving ourselvs into things. Ok, so far? Good.
If I help you now - the Shadows will try and murder me for sure - and, ah! don't speak - your tec is a few million years short. You can't even imagine the things you need to do to help me out, let alone manage to stop them. I help you - I will not be around later. That's the deal. Take it or leave it'.
I know, less grandious - but get's the point accross a bit better.
Sheridan: There's no problem too big that a well-placed nuke can't solve!
Well, there are a few, but that's why he brought an extra nuke.
@@gnaskar There's not 'too much problem' there's just 'temorarily not enough nuke'
Thie episode ranks, hands down, as the best episode of any science fiction television show, ever. There's no question. Nobody before or since has surpassed it.... I suspect nobody ever will. (Edit: Top scene of any television show of any kind, ever. Period.)
+John Landon Its the music as well. The music adds such depth to this scene
Doesn't get much better than NUKING MORDOR and in the process destabilizing the status quo.
It helps that our protagonist has to choose between "death" and "very probably death" and makes the sensible choice ^_^
I'm sure that no orcs were hurt in the production of this scene?
I'd nominate Severed Dreams for a good rival. Just watch that episode for the editing and storytelling. Not one frame of fat. Not one wasted line. Pacing perfect. Music amazing.
+Nangleator22 Severed dreams is GREAT. It's perfect. So is Z'ha'dum. But Z'ha'dum is one of those episodes that leaves you going "holy sh*t" afterwards. Especially after G'kar's speech at the close. After watching this, none of us could move for almost five minutes afterwards. With Severed Dreams we turned the TV off and then talked about how incredible an episode it was for half an hour or more. I think there are different grades of perfect, just like there are larger infinities than others. (E.G. There are infinite numbers, and there are infinite even numbers. But there are more numbers than even numbers. Both are infinite, but the set of numbers is greater than the set of even numbers.)
The show itself is one of the best ever made, and certainly the one that changed EVERYTHING. Almost all shows now have a continual story arc, and that's thanks to Babylon 5, who proved that it COULD WORK. (I love Twin Peaks, but although they HAD a long-term arc, they failed to show that it could actually work.)
Sheridan Certainly Knows how to finalize a divorce.
Saves on lawyer fees.
John Sheridan handled this situation maturely. But John Crichton would have Laughed in Anna's face, taunted her with an Earth saying that she didn't understand, tongue kissed one of the Shadows, then jumped backwards over the railing with both middle fingers up.
Maxim 20: If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win.
Z'ha'dum goes boom
"There was a 500 megaton nuclear blast. Captain Sheridan was last seen falling into a 5 mile deep chasm, they believe he's dead" ... HOW . the . HELL did Stephen Furst keep a straight face?
Listen, Vir had to put up with a TON of crap and we haven't even gotten to Season 4. It had to have come naturally.
"Sorry Half-Pint, I've got to go."
🤣
If you go to Z'Ha'Dum, you will jump.
Single best scene from one of the best Sci-Fi series ever thought of.
This was the great set-up to Vir's straight delivery punchline "they believe he may not have survived" (not exact, I know.)
Words can't describe how strong this scene is. I remember watching it for the first time, it just stunned me.
I still get the chills every single time I watch this
this is amazing scene writing acting music editing epic moment in SCFI TV!
She come a long way from the little house on the prairie!
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
That's how you go out your way, wiping out as much evil as you in the bargain
I rewatched this episode today...Damn I forgot about the goosebumps...
ikr. its so good.
There I was, holed up on this balcony when the Shadows came nosing around. They were getting closer-- closer!
And?
I threw a nuke at em!
* Blank stare *
It was a big nuke.
Ivanova would just have said, "Boom !"
RIP Ambassador. :(
the moment where the whole series flipped on its head. brilliant television.
I remember watching this when it first came out. It was so groundbreaking. Without B5 we'd have never had some of the amazing 'slowburn' TV we've had since then. What an incredible cliff hanger to a series.
This, and J'kar's final words made it one of the best season finales in TV history.
There’s something really off about the way Anna walks toward him, like half-drunk, it’s fucking creepy
Well, it is a corpse being remote controlled by the Shadows. The woman that body belonged to has been dead for years by this point.
Two Shadows out of the blast radius see the explosion.
Shadow 1: “I TOLD you that he was called John “Nuke ‘Em” Sheridan for a reason, Steve. Remember when I told you that there was a REASON they called him that?”
Shadow 2: “Fuck off, Ralph.”
Jump....Jump now!.
Goosebumps every time.
I just loved the forewarning that "Anna" gave him before they arrived, The Shadows feared what would happen if any part of Vorlon tech was to touch their home world never mind a Vorlon.
Theres actually a fan theroy that the gigaton of nukes actually didnt harm any shadows as they are incomporeal like the vorlons. However the ship making physical contact with the planet unleashed vorlon nano/bio tech which is what actually harmed them
@@ASlaveToReason Considering that later on the Shadows could be gunned down by Londos guardsmen, I assume they were coorporal enough to get slightly inconvenienced by a nuke.
@@ASlaveToReason Nah. Londo killed two of them in the Palace on Centauri prime (Well the Palace Guards did), "I will have to have that painted over I suppose", RIGHT before he nuked a whole island to destroy the shadow ships.
Laura Ingalls had a different type of experience on the Prairie here.
She wasn't Laura Ingalls anymore she became a worldly woman thanks to the Shadows in hollyweird
"The Long Nuclear Winter."
LOL! Yep! She'd gone from being on the Prairie to being a servant of spider-like aliens to being a resident of nuke city!
@@girlgarde she wanted that power she want the dick and in the end she got the nuke instead. Remember no hiding place The Rock cried out to your face no hiding place
One of the best and unexpected cliffhangers of Babylon 5 's season finale . Melissa Gilbert and Boxleitner are actually husband and wife in real life .
@The SandMan Nuclearreconcilable differences?
They were.
House in the prairie
One GT of thermonuclear goodness dropped right into the downtown headquarters of Evil Inc.
The temptation was never going to work. Sheridan is from a society where Death of Personality is a thing.
Healthy set of lungs on her.
That probably was the only thing healthy on her I heard the stuff between her legs require The Biohazard suit
If you realized you were about to get obliterated, you'd be screaming, too.
That's about the only thing the Shadows didn't suck out of her
John Sheridan will soon meet Lorien. 😮
"Do you know you have a Vorlon in your head?"
In the Babylon 5 universe, souls have been proven to be real, otherwise why would the Soul Hunters even be a thing?
Therefore, although the Shadows programmed a new personality in Anna Sheridan, her soul was still there, therefore the real Anna was still in there somewhere.
That is, until her husband summoned a 500mt nuke to vaporize the Shadow city (and Anna).
Some part of that scream was the real Anna Sheridan.
They also had the monk that was a serial killer that had his mind reprogrammed that had issues with that. Different mind, same soul, same sins
I agree. The Shadows may have greatly altered Anna's personality or given her a new one, the very core of her original self, the part that loved John Sheridan was still there.
At least with the nuking of the Shadow city, the real Anna can finally find peace in death.
"SOUL" ?
@@cledgefenrir5681 Different mind, different person, not the same sins. Remember Voyager, when the Doctor fixed some neural pathway degradation on a convicted killer (Billy Drago), and Seven said he is fundamentally not the same person? You go poking around somebody's melon, they are not gonna be the same.
The Soul Hunters are using an more ancient technology to record great people; essentially their 'souls', but then they are put on a shelf somewhere. - as seen in Crusade.
I wonder if their business was started by the Vorlons?
An empathic ability to sense who will die, who is worthy, and using a limited supply of pokeballs to keep the snapshot.
The 'why' may have been lost over the centuries.
This is one of the greatest series in existence
Nuclear Launch Detected.
Where is the red dot? WHERE IS THE RED DOT?!!!
This gave me a jolt of atavistic, primeval fear. Now... I am awake. For the forseeable future.
There are two actresses who had iconic child roles: Melissa Gilbert (as Half-Pint in Little House on the Prairie) and Megan Follows (as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables). When we grew up those two would go on to play roles which would terrify me.
She came a long way from being "Half Pint."
As were Jerry Doyle (Michael Garibaldi) and Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters) married in real life from 1995 to 1997.
this is one of 2 movies i know of that was complete. meaning it had an ending and we got to watch it.
Alternate episode title: LITTLE HOUSE PORCH ON THE Z’HA’DUM!🏡👩🦰🚀💥🌔 Or: CAPTAIN SCARECROW AND MRS SHERIDAN !
Shadows should have installed serious planetary defences to their homebase planet. Those arrogant and ruthless vorlon minions could try to use WMDs.
Duke Nukem strikes again!
That’s one way to sign the divorce papers
Ironically, Bruce (John) was married to Melissa Gilbert (Anna) at the time, they had been married around a year. They divorced in 2011.
Yeet ad Leet my face is about to meet da street!!
Yes Rico...Kaboom!
He did all that to get away from his exwife. I wish I had used nukes for mine.
"John, honey... you wouldn't hurt me, would you, sweetheart? Sweetheart, be reasonable. After all, we're married!"
_"Consider this a divorce!"_ *jumps*
The second part has to be said with a thick Austrian accent. That's the law.
Its amazing this guys can be nuke, and they still come back.
Kosh : If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die. Capt. John Sheridan : Then I die, but I will not go down easily, I will not go down alone!
Nice piece of editing. After the zoom into the bomb at 1:33 it cuts to Sheridan... "Finally..." in proper military style before breaking into emotion
Does anyone know what the name of the music is that starts at 01:30? I have heard it before and know that it is one of the Babylon 5 suites and that it even lasts for around 6 minutes but I just can't find it on youtube any more or remember the name.
This is apocryphal, but a friend who is a fan of the show told me that Anna wasn't screaming at the end: that that was a thing of the Shadows, linked to one of their ships, and it's "screaming" was in fact it reflexively trying to fire its weapons.
Until they pulled her out for this, Anna was a control component in one of the shadow ships. So under the tutelage of the Great Eye her personality was slowly stripped away and replaced with a compulsion and desire to deal out destruction and death. So that _is_ her screaming, but she is probably not be screaming out of fear, but as you say, it is reflexive screaming to try and fire the shadow ship weapons. Like a retired cop reaching for the gun holster at their hip that is no longer there, she comes up empty and can do nothing because she is no longer in a ship. Perhaps you misunderstood what your friend meant (or you agree with what I said, and I misunderstood what _you_ meant). The book _The Shadow Within_ and the _Passing of the Technomages_ book trilogy go more in to her time inside a shadow ship.
so, unimaginame advanced Shadows did not jammed all transmissions during that.. visit.. just in case? Ok
Shows how arrogant they were.
I never get bored watching these repeatedly!
Just noticed something ... When Anna looks up and screams ... she doesn't take a big lungful of air before the scream like most actors.