In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum

Infobox Television episode
Title = In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum
Series = Babylon 5


Caption =
Season = 2
Episode = 16
Airdate = 10 May 1995
Production = 217
Writer = J. Michael Straczynski
Director = David Eagle
Guests = Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan)
Alex Hyde-White (Pierce Macabee)
Ed Wasser (Morden)
Episode list = List of "Babylon 5" episodes
Prev = And Now For a Word
Next = Knives

"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" is an episode from the second season of the science-fiction television series "Babylon 5".

ynopsis

Sheridan holds Morden in custody and learns what happened to the expedition on which his wife was lost.

Arc significance

* This episodes establishes Morden's relationship to Anna Sheridan.
* The Vorlons are revealed as being one of the "First Ones".
* Z'ha'dum is revealed to be the home of the Shadows.
* Vir reveals his desire to see Morden beheaded.
* The first mention of the Nightwatch.
* This episode establishes Sheridan's relationship to Delenn.

Production details

Cultural references

* Pierce Maccabee is the regional director of the Ministry of Peace, aka "Minipax" — a not-so-subtle reference to the organization of the same name — and nickname — from Orwell's "1984".
* Sheridan claims that during World War II, Winston Churchill refused to evacuate Coventry before its bombing during the Blitz because it would give away the fact that they had cracked the Enigma code. Churchill supposedly had a haunted look in his eyes as he toured the ruins, knowing that he could have saved the people who were killed, at the cost of endangering the war as a whole (November 14, 1940 and April 8 1941). The truth is somewhat less clear cut, and there is still some dispute about exactly what was known at the time. It is true that intelligence regarding a Luftwaffe attack at that date had been gathered by the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, however the target was assumed to be London. The true target was only determined on the afternoon immediately preceding the night of the attack, hence a warning could not have been sent without revealing the extent of the Allied codebreaking success. [http://www.fpp.co.uk/History/Churchill/Coventry_1411940/Mehta0304.html] It is possible that more advanced warning and careful planning could have enabled some mitigation of the effects of the bombing, however this idea is speculative at best.
* The name Z'ha'dum can be seen as a homage to Tolkien's Khazad-dûm (Moria) in Middle Earth. Just as Khazad-dûm has been abandoned for centuries (or millienia), and is now inhabited by an ancient evil; so too Z'ha'dum, once the home of a mighty civilization, is now the home of an ancient and deadly evil.

External links