The Telepath War and the Fate of Bester Explained | Babylon 5
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- Опубликовано: 2 май 2024
- The big unfinished story of Babylon 5 was the Telepath War.
But through spin-offs, books and unaired scripts we can find out what happened to Bester, the Psi Corps, Lyta, Garibaldi and Lennier.
#babylon5 #sciencefiction #b5 #walterkoenig
What do you think?
Did they do justice to the story?
Should this have been one of the TV movies?
Let me know in the comments.
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I think Lyta was very mishandled in the series. She is used and discarded. Additionally, Lyta is in fact far more powerful than Bester because of what the Vorlons did to her. Recall the scene where she is talking about the size of weapons and she reveals how strong she really is-p-she's a doomsday weapon. I think she could have easily taken care of Bester one v one
Lyta wasn't treated well by Sheridan at the end. She's a good example of the good person who got pushed too far and became evil.
agree, considering how the rest of the Babylon 5 crew treated each other like family and literally put their lives on the line to protect each other. They helped each other to overcome personal demons yet for some reason, they acted out of character by treating Lyta badly considering what she did for them. Think Sheridan and the others would have been more than willing to help her undermine Bester as they would have found more and more what his agenda was, so think I will just blame the writers on that, they drove Lyta down that route that was more plot driven that character driven.
Once Sheridan was a politician he had to tread carefully when it came to interfering in Earth affairs and the Psi Corps.
But kicking Lyta out of her apartment seemed a little ungrateful. She deserved some kind of stipend for helping them save the freaking galaxy!
Yes I was wondering why Lyta was not used to control Bester. She could have removed all his PSI ability or at least Blocked him from ever using them again. Then having her do it while Face to face with Bester & he could NOT do anything about it! ;-)
Sheridan was a terrible politician, and the way he handled Lyta is one example of this. He leaves the most powerful telepath in the universe to sink or swim on her own, which creates an opening for Bester woo her back to the Corps. Sheridan should have made sure Lyta's loyalties were to him, instead of yielding them to most evil PsiCop in existence.
Babylon 5 was THE BEST sci-fi series EVER!! JMS keeps getting screwed over and it pisses me off lol
That he does, its too bad he sold the rights to WB.
@@scotttild AFAIK WB only owns the rights to a television series, while JMS still own the rights to movies.
Bester as a literary critic is is a stroke of genius.
To me it seems that some of the personalities and side interests of the actors were brought up in the show - and Walter Koenig he has also written some stories so that means that he was into literature. Utilize the side parts of the characters.
Garibaldi had his episodes of alcohol problems. And Jerry Doyle who played Garibaldi passed from alcohol related problems a few years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually did have some alcohol issues already when it was filmed and those episodes were at least a way to shake up that for a while. Andreas Katsulas passed from cancer and he did smoke a lot - but was a great actor nonetheless.
This would have made a hell of an epilogue episode for B5.
I'd have watched it.
JMS introduced us to the tip of the iceberg. He or others could spend a lifetime on the rest of it.
Babylon 5 is why I spent fifteen years learning and writing. Now I have a sci-fi series of my own.
I’d like to know the title.
@@Rgoid The Starshatter book series.
Just had a look, will try these books out. I'm looking for books with the depth of Peter F Hamilton (which, for me are the sci fi equivalents of Steven Erikson's Malazan books).
Thanks for mentioning this.
@@tobyclayton2597 I read The Reality Dysfunction the week it was released. The wait for the 2 following books felt like an eternity.
@@tobyclayton2597 Thank you :) If you enjoy short stories, you can try one of my two anthologies. Both have big glossaries included to ease any new reader into the universe.
You skipped what I consider the most tragic part of the Paris story.
After Bester mindwipes the women he had fallen for he finally sees the portrait of him she had been painting and realizes that she had seen the truth of him. That she cared for him and would not give him up.
Then he destroys the painting.
Later at the trial, as he's telling the story painting himself as being correct, he sees the woman in the audience and she looks at him, her expression blank. She feels nothing for him. And he stumbles, finishing his story but with no real drive anymore.
That was the section that stayed with me - both the mindwipe, and the moment in the court.
Also, given the timeline, Bester was in his 60s during season one of the show, so Garibaldi was fighting an octagenarian in the final book.
@@weejas Bester was born in 2189 so he was 69 when he came looking for Jason Ironheart. I always thought that it was an interesting choice to make the character that old, about 10 years older than Walter Koenig was at the time.
Going to say it again, the end to the President Clarke arc was horribly mismanaged, because the liberation of earth should not have been the end of it, it should have been a precursor leading into the Telepath war, revealing how Psi Corps was the power behind the throne, and season five being the culmination of that then leading into the Drakh war from season six onwards, with the story being wrapped up in _Call to Arms_ which would have transitioned into Crusade, had the studio not done it dirty. It remains one of the biggest missed opportunities in Sci Fi history.
All thanks to idiots cancelling the show prematurely. JMS did the best he could since there was no advance notice about TNT swooping in at the very last minute as the series finale had already been shot by that point.
You have to remember that they were not sure they were getting a season five so they wrote it in case it ended in season four…
JMS thought he wouldn't get a S05 so he had to wrap it in S04 just in case. Also, the reason behind his rise were the shadows, since Morden was talking to him in the call intercepted by The Great Machine.
The mismanagement of the Clarke arc was due to the unstable hands at the studio initially saying 'wrap it up, season four is the end' then changing their mind well in to the fourth season when it was too late to walk back some of the situations (e.g. Sheridan was already in custody). This is why the pacing in season 4 feels 'too fast' and we get things like Bester monologueing to Garibaldi about his evil schemes (when normally we'd get to see Garibaldi work it out himself over several episodes). It's also why season five rehashes old ground with new faces - the mad centuari emperor is now the mad centauri regent. The evil shadows are now the evil shadows of the shadows (Drakh), and why the telepath storyline came out of nowhere and used several episodes to clumsily wander around. As for Crusade, I tried watching it last month and oh wow it was a let down. There, the production was plagued by issues such as 1) The studio somehow alienated the company or key staff that did the prosthetics so there were basically zero B5 alien species until mid season (we saw the BACK of two minbari and one halloween costume quality looking Gaim in episode six...) 2) The company that did the CGI went under and the originals were lost so all the special effects looked really weird and even worse than what they had several years earlier until after mid season plus 3) The studio managed to misfile some paperwork that resulted in the sets being shredded so the one time they finally visited babylon 5 it was just cheap walls thrown up in a warehouse and obviously slapped together compared to the original sets. Add to this an awkward story start to the season, ultimately only having 3 or 4 episodes of good solid sci fi in there and it was painful. You can safely not watch Crusade and won't miss anything from the B5 universe. I wish they had got a chance to stretch their legs, but the start was sabotaged by the studio, circumstance, and weak initial scripts.
The Psi Corp were never the power behind Clarke's throne. That was established when they found all the telepaths being shipped to be shadow pilots in season 3. Earth had multiple factions vying for power and control.
the statue of bester outside his jail cell is such a cool fucking thing and I've always liked it from a story perspective. B5 always had such a fantastic story...
Yes, we’d all seen that statue outside PsiCorps since B5. The fact that it’s Bester but nobody knows was a great twist,
You forgot the lovely last laugh Bester got at the very end when he learned that he outlived Sheridan, who died just days before Bester did, and I recall he called Sheridan 'the one honest man' or something along those lines.
Bester assumes Sheridan would come and speak at his trial, even, and probably in his defence. Setting it after Sleeping in Light is an inspired choice because, honestly, I think Bester is right. I think Sheridan would be the kind of guy to get up there and do a Lee Adama on the stand.
Sheridan didn't die he went to beyond the rim with the others they assumed He never got the last laugh.
@@scotttild How different from death that is may be anyone's guess.
@@scotttild Yes, but basically nobody knows that, everyone assumes he died.
There is one story where Bester is dead and Burried. Garibaldi shows up that night, in the rain (of course), and stabs a knife into the grave.
I've wondered about this for literal decades. Thank you for the story.
You are very welcome!
One of the many things about B5 I appreciated and loved was how nuanced all the characters were. There were layers upon layers on flawed characters.
Compared to other contemporary shows (‘Star Trek’), it definitely was the precursor to the modern adult sci-fi show. Battlestar Galactica 2003, Expanse, etc, all can trace themselves to B5.
My favorite part of the book is at the end when Bester is buried, the French detective is there and see Garibaldi at the Graveyard with something in his hand - it's a wooden stake.
Garibaldi puts the stake in the dirt over Bester's grave - right where his heart would be located. Mr. Garibaldi can hold a grudge with the best of them.
Love the little touch at the end of the last book. Garibaldi at Bester's grave.
He drives a stake through it right?
@@ianwright4255 Yeah. I always thought that was weird.
@@cugamer8862 He was treating Bester like a vampire.
Gotta make sure he doesn't come back!
That's... actually a pretty cool synopsis of how it all ended. I can accept that as a good story. Thank you for the telling of it.
You're very welcome!
Definitely worth a tv movie. It's a great story! They should do the Centaury Trilogy too.
The Technomage Trilogy following Galen was brilliant as well, and helped to weave the B5 story more, considering their beginnings and leaving the shadows behind.
@@JonBowe I got that too. But I somehow am not able to finish it. It just cant keep my attention. Which is sad. :(
Bester hinted that the Psi Corp fleet was destroyed by the Vorlons after they accidentally attacked a Vorlon
Loved Babylon 5, but I was so peed off that we never ever got to see Bester get his just deserts in the series.
These B5 videos have been great. And Damn these books are hard to find now.
If you dig around a bit you'll find them floating around on the internet.
Try googling 'Babylon 5 Psi Corp books pdf' and you might find them on the Internet Archive site.
@@Phintasmo Thank you, found those one!
Bester. A prime example of someone you would love to toss off a cliff. The character (who once was everyone's favorite helmsman) made for some really interesting episodes. B5. No.1. Peace
Pretty good Bester video. I really enjoyed watching it this morning. Thank you.
Glad you liked it!
The Psi-Corp books were great, giving a history of the corp and teeps, Then what happens in the end of the series. It was so heartbreaking what he had to do to try to survive.
I am very sad that these books are all out of print now. I didn't get to read them all back in the day.
my beloved just gave me these three books! *Dark Genesis, Deadly Relations,* and *Final Reckoning*
Enjoy!
@@martincoiner971 they are well woth the Read
Remember loving the Psi-Corp trilogy when I read then after a watch through of the whole B5/Crusade saga many years back, Bester is such a great character, a real shame his Crusade appearance was not to be 😕
I always assumed that the explosion that destroys the Psi Corp HQ is Lyta herself.
NGL I hate Lennier dying in the end of the Telepath Crisis; personally it makes more sense for Lennier to make the ultimate sacrifice whilst rescuing Sheridan, Delenn and David from Centauri Prime; probably in a fight with pursuing Drakh forces. It also makes sense as Lennier and Vir were close friends and having them reunite to work in the Centauri resistance would be cool (JMS if you read any of this and want to change it, you have my permission to do so ;) )
The Psi Corp trilogy of books are excellent (as are the Centauri Prime and Technomage trilogies) and well worth a read, if you can find them.
Seven words to make algorithms love you.
Considering our own situation over privacy, I always thought our timeline was pretty ripe for a Psi-Corp story. Even if it retread stories from the books or gave us a clearer picture about the end of the "Crisis," I would enjoy it.
Wow, that brings a lot back, thanks for tying it all together.
I very much wish they had filmed this, Bester was such a perfect adversary and one of the characters really bringing the series a depth.
I think adapting the man hunt for Bester with flashbacks to his origin story would have been a great TV movie!!
That's absolutely the way to adapt it!
Walter Koenig is on record preferring B5.
i truly enjoyed this character driven show. I loved that if you missed a single episode, something three episodes later pops up. Extremely well written and acted.
Battlestar Galactica was like this too.
We don't have shows like this now, because of the Collectivist stain on everything beautiful or creative.
That was a good one. And its consistent with the characters and how they think. I always thought that Lyta died in a tragic manner when G'kar talks about her as his travel companion who is no longer here it was always delivered with great sadness and regret. But I didn't think Lenier would be there with here in the last moments seem that even if he shamed the name of the Rangers well he made up for it still trying to the best to keep the peace but he did chose a side to work with.
Hmm, I only now realized how the Psi-Corps symbol is derived from the hammer & sickle, them being literal thought police too should have been an obvious hint.
This sounds like an interesting prospect for a B5 tv movie, but it'd required a budget that usually isn't available for B5 . Also, Bester's actor Walter Koenig is much to old to play the part .
B5 got screwed from all sides, and it's still getting screwed -- with the fans who would like some ship merch getting screwed right along with them .
Yet I'm not sure that they're any worse off than the current iterations of Trek .
You missed one detail. In an article or story, the cemetery keeper where Bester is buried stares in disbelief as Garibaldi strides over to the grave, raises a hammer and pounds a wooden stake into Besters heart.
the books were excellent. i read them years ago, it was a good conclusion to bester's story arc.
When I found out Mira and Jerry had passed away .. It felt like I had lost a family member . REALLY sad . Brought so much to the SCI-FI family . Will be sorely missed . 💖😢
Yes...they need to complete the series. Why do the studios always screw up science fiction shows?
Because Sci-Fi shows are usually intelligently written and not geared toward the average television audience, and the series are shorter because ratings are more important than an intellegent audience. As an example: "Limitless"
Yes, I think it would have been an excellent series. And an excellent story based on that character. A series and a story's set and a sci-fi setting, not based in huge space battles. But in a cyberpunk, ask type of fugitive on the run and detective drama. Was a touch of terrorist activity thrown in. It would have been a perfect series.
On top of that, the book's story, the plot line, leaves a lot of information there that you can use for what if scenarios for those individuals who like fan fiction. After all the psychic Gustavo's life could have taken a radical turn at any point. His entire history could have been changed with something as simple as a sentence or a realization and acceptance of his own past. The entire telepath war could have been altered by a key placed individual who was in control of a small fleet sitting in hyperspace. He could have gone from one of the settings, worst villains to 1 of its greatest heroes with just a sentences, and a little bit of cognitive realization.
A potential Bester TV series/miniseries feels a bit like the follow-up "Kessler", to the BBC's seminal "The Secret Army" TV series from the late 1970s. In the follow-up we meet again the original series' main villain, Ludwig Kessler, now living in exile in Argentina or maybe some other south american country (I don't quite remember, this was a very long time ago now.) He has built himself a new life, he has a family who know nothing of his past, and as the episodes progress the past starts to catch up with him.
Bester was a phenomenal villain, so expertly written by JMS, and played, by Walter Koenig. The Gods of Sci-Fi demand, I think, that this incredible character be given the sendoff he so well deserves.
It's a twisted version of The Fugitive. When I heard about JMS's plans for Bester's future I can't help but think of the Nazies that escaped to Argentina. I doubt that's a coincidence.
If there was ever a series that deserves a reboot, it's Babylon 5. Hell, I'd be happy with just an update to the CGI. The characters, indoor scenes, and overall plot are excellent by themselves. Just update the space battles and special effects, then re-release it as a Blue Ray set (yeah, I'm old) and I'd be throwing my money at it!
Thank you for this - My uncle turned me on to B5 during the second season, he lived long enough to see the finale but not the spinoff. No clue how this ended up in my YT feed but B5 remains an underrated gem of scifi
This was jolly fu*king riveting! My ticker solidly wound!
I'd love to see more of Bester. One of the best characters ever. From any show. Unfortunately though I dont see anyone but Walter Koenig playing him so it would take some wizardly casting to pull it off.
The way you explained works for me.
Not sure how the would have filmed it or if they could have gotten from Monster to misunderstood orphan.
🤔😎🤔
Excellent video! And a great touch to use scenes from other movies to stand in for the Bester Movie that never was.
I never read any of the B5 books, and I wasn't aware that there was a series that finalized the saga of Bester. So, thanks for the synopsis!
I would have loved to see a movie or mini-series around this subject. And like Khan's story in Star Trek, Bester went from a position of almost ultimate power to defeat brought on mostly by his own hubris. And it's nice to know there was a conclusion, even if it was "only" in book form.
By the way, is the book series worth reading?
So glad you liked the video!
I re-read the books for the first time in years for this video. They are fun reads! Garibaldi and Bester feel very authentic and the author knows how to keep things moving.
Book one is a good back story of how Earth reacts to the emergence of Telepaths.
Book two reads like a series of interlinked short stories marking key moments in Bester’s life up until his first visit to B5.
The third book is the best - it takes us beyond the events of the series and deals with a tighter, more contained narrative.
All well worth a read!
I would second reading the books. Each one tells a self-contained story, and together they span about two centuries. We get to meet Lyta's maternal line, too.
If you like B5 backstory, there's also a trilogy around Galen - "The passing of the techno-mages". It covers their origins, why they left, and why Galen stayed around to help. It's a bit grim in places, but still entertaining. If you're familiar with the Wheel of Time, there's a decent overlap in that in both series, those wielding this awesome power have very little idea how to do so, and are barely tapping the surface until they learn it properly.
Please do a overview of the centari prime trilogy of novels
And the Technomage Trilogy please. For completeness 😊
Definitely plan to do these at some point.
Just come across your channel, love the videos - thank you so much, great production values and really well researched.
I read the book and thought it was pretty good. It explains much of Besters motivation.
I've only read six books more than twice. This trilogy amounts to three of them. Bester is a villain who doesn't see himself as a villain and truly believes in his cause. I just loved how it let you know his thoughts and made it pretty clear that he's as much of a victim as everyone he uses or killed. You just can't deny that despite his horrific actions, he really was a human. I teared up when he wiped his girlfriend's memory because they were together for years and he did love her. His needs outweigh his morality often. He's a tragic character because in your head, you hope he'll do the righteous thing but doesn't. Finally I always got the impression that a higher up telepath who wasn't evil necessarily, had created Bester to wipe out rogue teeps but ended up dead around the time of the shadow war and Bester no longer had another person in charge of him who knew his programming. Basically someone did to him as a child what he did to Garibaldi in the show! This person messed up and when they died, there was no telling what Bester was capable of. This person had to have been an architect in the telepath plan to rule us mundanes.
Is that the Psicorp founder guy? He was Bester’s secret grandfather. He didn’t exactly manipulate Bester’s life, but he was responsible for the whole situation of Psicops hunting down rogues.
I read the Bester books (paperbacks) He knew at the end he would die, Interesting circular karma recognizing the monument to his parents and himself as the infant.
Thank you for refreshing my interest in this wonderful story
Bester was written perfectly and played perfectly by Walter Keonig, in his mind and from his viewpoint he is the Hero who is simply doing what must be done, he doesn't do things because he is evil, he doesn't laugh maniacally... He is not evil, he does evil things because he considers them justified, he is wrong, very wrong ...
Yes, absolutely. I have read the book series and it was great. I have found all 3 of the book series to be fantastic. The telepath one is really the story of bester and it's pretty brutal. I would read that series first then the technomage series it follows Galen and answers some major questions from B5 in general. Then the Centari series it's fricking crazy Vir gets up to some shit. Those books do some serious justice to the B5 universe.
Great Summary! Thank you!
Very interesting, I certainly like the whole concept.
The Psi Corp Trilogy was an amazing read
Great recap I always wondered…
This cobbled together conclusion reflecting the depth of the Babylon 5 universe is exactly why I would love to hear that J. Michael Straczynski was writing a new Star Wars trilogy!
Q. What's the difference between a pitbull and Michael Garibaldi?
A. A pitbull eventually lets go of you.
Need more b5 content in my life
Thank you for this! I always wondered but never tracked down any of the books to find out. #highfive
This was one of my favorite sci fi series of all time, Make this into a movie for sure!!!!
Good Stuff... thanks.
I was hoping to see Bester trapped in one of those river of soul globes on Garrabodi's desk, with him given the ability to make the internal world anything he wanted. But hey, JMS is the master, not I.
I've got to get the books and read them !!
That would have been great to see.
A fantastic video.
Should have been a whole series
You'll never catch Checko!
In one word....YES !!!!
you missed the best line!
"I knew this stuff was dangerous!"
Two things. First, what happened to the Drakh who invaded Centauri Prime after Londo died and Vir took over? Second, how was the Drakh plaque on Earth cured? The B5 movie A Call To Arms showed the Drakh unleashing a plaque on Earth, and the Spin-off series Crusade ended before a cure was found. So, how was the plaque cured?
“… find his fist is unclenched, a sign he’s finally found some peace…” 😂😂, Of course laughing to the grave at the mundanes erecting an ironic monument to your birth would give this monster some semblance of peace.
It sounds like a fitting end for Bester. Even down to the realization that the monument was about him. Was his fate just? Perhaps, perhaps not. But if it wasn't, then he disserved that last reward.
Walter Koenig did such a great job with Bester. Hated him so much even if some admiration at his strategies came through.
Yes it did well with Bester and the rest. I did not keep up with things after the original series ended but I would love to know if Sheridan ever returned. He was of course my favorite.
Fabulous story. Exquisitely detailed and exhaustively researched. How many hours did you pour into this production? I never really liked Garibaldi afte his treacherous Psi Corp time. It seems like Bester got off easy.
Thanks! I really went down the rabbit hole with this one - had a lot of fun doing it!
The trickiest/most time consuming part was figuring out how to tell it visually. I wanted it to feel like you’d kind of seen this Bester movie that never existed.
You were a bit incorrect in the 'clubfist' info... the reason for Bester's Club Fist... He sought a death dive - a telepathic link to a dying man to retrieve information... it turned out to be his father... as he died, he left a note in Bester's fist, but bester followed him into the realm of death itself for the info he wanted... he felt judged and felt souls trying to rend him, then he returned, but his fist was closed permanently around the note, and he had lost a bit of his soul... as mentioned by Lyta in her recollections of working with psi-cops... everything else you spoke of is accurate except for the last part... excellent video...
I love that the block is what outed him to Garibaldi. Even though it was worse than a useless stump to Bester.
you did good, now do some on galin
Final Reckoning might not be a bestseller but still a very well readable novel. Not something I have considered waste of time. Unfortunately I cannot find the book after a couple of decades.
I thought a spin off dealing with the Psycorp efforts to attain power prior to the events of the series.
This is the tv movie I wanted
Well, we could revisit the storyline in the new Babylon 5 series that is going to come out at some point that JMS is producing. But I don’t think it’s going to air on the CW though I think it’ll air on Max.
KOSCH is my favorite on Babylon 5
I just wish Lyta had left a trap for Bester in Garabaldi's brain!
All three of Keys books should have been made into a "made for tv" production - and to tilt to another windmill - Crusade should have been given time to grow and hopefully run a few seasons.
Yes yes i hop that can make the movie one day.
These books were brilliant and well worth the read.
I'd watch the hell out of this...
Yes, I think they should've made this movie.
Not "Heat", it's the other Robert DeNiro movie from the latter 90s, "Ronin". Ronin was set in France and DeNiro's character is shown as an ex-government agent on the run but secretly hunting for an IRA terrorist. BTW, years past I did a review of that book. I made the dry comment, "This book reminds me of the old Clint Eastwood movie, "The Outlaw Josie Wales'. A Union officer says that "Wales isn't a hard man to track. He leaves dead men where ever he goes."
I have a faint memory of reading a story of Bester's death. As he is dying he sees a portal opening and is pulled toward it. But unlike Sheridan when his time runs out, Bester's portal is a black void and instead of going into the light he is going to suffer for his actions. Does this sound right?
Thank you.
You are very welcome!
IT would have been nice to have this all as a second series. But for various reasons, pretty much every Sci Fi series ends up leaving loose threads. Another one that really ticked me off was Enterprise. Lots of questions there too. But, the book series for Babylon 5 filled in most of the gaps, including what happened when Vir took on the Drakh and ended up as Emperor. So I guess i can be satisfied with that. One other thing, I've been reading Fan Fiction for years, (kept me sane on many an endless shift) and there are a lot of really well written stories that answer other questions.
Just curious where you found good bab5 fanfic. I found most underwhelming.
Recall that the sleepers slowly drain the spirit out of you. Bester's last years would be filled with a yearning to take his own life. But unlike Ivanova's mother, he would be prevented from doing so.
Good review. Way to gather up every thread!
Thanks!
I never followed into the books and the only spin-off I saw was Crusade.
I must admit it sounds like some good ideas were there to continue. It's shame they waited so long to consider doing any of it...
That book trilogy was fantastic. I'm sure a movie trilogy would have been just as amazing, but I don't feel I've missed anything by reading it instead of watching it.
Agreed, the books are really fun reads.
A great story and entirely in keeping with Bab 5 universe ad the way it works.
I like to think Ivanova might have had a hand in destroying the Psi-Corps fleet. She’d want to get her two cents in taking the Corps down and destroying their fleet sure is one way to do it.
Very plausible. It felt like they were going to fold the old B5 characters back in to the story if Crusade had continued.