War Without End (Babylon 5)

Infobox Television episode
Title = War Without End
Series = Babylon 5


"Ivanova, Delenn, Sinclair, Marcus and Zathras prepare B4 for time travel"
Caption =
Season = 3
Episode = 16 & 17
Airdate = 13 May 1996
20 May 1996
Production = 316 & #317
Writer = J. Michael Straczynski
Director = Mike Vejar
Guests = Tim Choate (Zathras)
Time Winters (Rathenn)
Michael O'Hare (Amb. Jeffrey Sinclair)
Kent Broadhurst (Major Krantz)
Bruce Morrow (B4 First Officer)
Episode list = List of "Babylon 5" episodes
Prev = Interludes and Examinations
Next = Walkabout

"War Without End" is a two-part story consisting of the 16th and 17th episodes in the third season of the science-fiction television series "Babylon 5". They were broadcast first on May 13 and May 20, 1996 on the PTEN network in America. It marks the return of Michael O'Hare, who left the show as a regular after season 1, reprising his role as Jeffrey Sinclair for the character's final appearance on the show. The story resolves many of the threads from "Babylon Squared", which detailed part of what happened to the Babylon 4 space station.

ynopsis

Part One

At the start of the episode, Entil'Zha Jeffrey Sinclair receives an enveloped message on Minbar, which has been in a sealed case "for over 900 years". He immediately sets off for the Babylon 5 space station where Delenn has received a similar looking envelope. On Babylon 5, a message is received from sector 14, where Babylon 4 had disappeared. The message appears to be a distress call from Commander Ivanova, but details are unclear and the message is garbled. Garibaldi sets off in a Starfury to survey the sector. There he finds a temporal rift being sustained by a tachyon beam from Epsilon 3, home of the Great Machine. He is able to get a clearer version of the message which shows the fall of Babylon 5 due to an attack by Shadow vessels. The message is time-stamped to occur eight days in the future.

After Sinclair arrives at Babylon 5, Delenn escorts him, Marcus, Ivanova, Lennier, and Captain Sheridan to the White Star, and set off for the rift. En route, she explains that late in the last Shadow War, the great Minbari starbase was destroyed, and it seemed the war would be fought to a standstill or a defeat. In their hour of greatest need, a new station appeared; Babylon 4. She also shows them records obtained from the Great Machine from the period just before Babylon 4 vanished for the first time. The record shows the White Star saving B4 from a Shadow attack, and confirms that they are the ones responsible for stealing Babylon 4. Zathras, joins them to prepare the White Star and her crew for time travel. He issues time stabilizers to each crew member, to prevent them from becoming "unstuck in time." Before reaching the rift, Sinclair has Sheridan contact Garibaldi, and send him back to Babylon 5 without revealing his presence.

The White Star journeys six years into the past, and destroys a flight of Shadow fighters carrying a fusion bomb meant to destroy Babylon 4. However, a shockwave from the explosion reaches the White Star and damages Sheridan's time stabilizer. He becomes unstuck in time, disappears from the White Star, and finds himself seventeen years in the future, as a prisoner of the old Emperor (Londo Mollari) on Centauri Prime. Londo reveals that Sheridan's war resulted in the Shadow's defeat, but also reveals that their dark servants have come to Centauri Prime. Londo shows Sheridan the Centauri capital city through the palace windows, and it is in ruins.

The White Star docks with Babylon 4, and its crew disembarks to prepare the station to be transported through time.

Part Two

Marcus and Ivanova secure the area between the White Star and the fusion core by tampering with the sensor system to create a false reading indicating a hull breach, causing an evacuation of nearby B4 personnel, and sealing the pressure doors in that sector.

On the future Centauri Prime, Emperor Mollari sends away Sheridan to his cell, where he is met by Delenn. She tells Sheridan that she didn't tell them anything, and that their son is safe. Sheridan is confused, but Delenn tells him she loves him, and they kiss. He tries to explain to her that he doesn't belong in this time, and doesn't know what is happening, and she realizes by the look of innocence in his eyes that this is the future glimpse that he once explained to her.

They are taken back to Mollari, who apologizes for being drunk, but states that it is the only way to keep his Keeper asleep. In exchange for their lives, they pledge to free Centauri Prime. He sends them away to a ship to escape. G'Kar enters, who Mollari calls his 'old friend.' He tells him that his Keeper will awaken any second, preventing his released prisoners from getting out alive. Londo tells G'Kar that they have unfinished business, G'Kar starts to strangle him. At first, Londo accepts his fate, but the eye of his Keeper snaps open, and Londo fights back with vigor, and they strangle each other to death. Vir enters, discovers the bodies, and claims the imperial seal.

Before arriving at the shuttle, Sheridan is racked with pain as he is pulled back in time. Just before he vanishes, Delenn pleads with him not to go to Z'ha'dum. Back on B4, Sheridan rematerializes inside a space suit that Zathras has jury-rigged to help stabilize Sheridan in time. Together with Sinclair, Sheridan proceeds to the power core where they attach the equipment necessary to control the time shift. As they power up the equipment, a power surge causes Sheridan to become unstuck in time again, and inadvertently sends Babylon 4 four years into the relative future, to the time where it appeared in "Babylon Squared".

Delenn experiences a brief future 'time flash', of a woman in a doorway greeting her, in her suprise she lets go of a snowglobe letting it fall to the floor and shatter. Sinclair returns from the power core, and removes his helmet, appearing greatly aged. He explains that, because he was previously exposed unprotected to a time field in "Babylon Squared" that he now ages at a greater rate the closer they come to their own time, which is the reason he didn't want the similarly exposed Garibaldi to join the mission.

Zathras goes off to fix Sheridan's time stabilizer, but is captured by Babylon 4 guards in the process, and is introduced to the Garibaldi and Sinclair from the time of "Babylon Squared". Ivanova goes to B4's C&C and, after it has been cleared of personnel, sneaks in to adjust the power levels and prevent any further power surges. Delenn sees Sheridan appear and gives him her own stabilizer, taking his suit, causing her to become unstuck in time.

The past Sinclair and Garibaldi, together with Zathras, see a blue suited figure appear in the central corridor, who Zathras identifies as "The One." Sinclair attempts to touch the figure's hand, but he is thrown back. In the confusion, Zathras gives his fixed time stabilizer to the figure, who promptly vanishes. Repeating the events from "Babylon Squared". As they are evacuating, a beam falls from the ceiling trapping Zathras. Unwilling to leave him to die, Sinclair attempts in vain to free him, but Zathras tells Sinclair that the station is about to disappear and that they must leave. The previous Sinclair and Garibaldi flee the station, leaving Zathras behind. As their shuttle departs, the present-day Sinclair tries to send a message to Garibaldi to "watch (his) back" but the message fails to reach the shuttle. Returning to Zathras, the blue suited figure approaches him, and removes its helmet, revealing Delenn.

The crew prepares to depart the station, but Marcus observes that someone must remain to pilot Babylon 4 back to the past, and that Sinclair has been withholding this from them. Marcus volunteers to stay with the station, but Sinclair tells him that he must take the station back, because he has always taken the station back. As they depart, Sinclair pulls Sheridan, Delenn, and Zathras aside. He tells Zathras that he is confused, because initially Zathras identified Sinclair as "The One" but later, stated that Delenn was. Zathras explains that Sinclair is "The One who was" Delenn is "The One who is" and Sheridan is "The One who will be."

The White Star debarks Babylon 4, and returns to its own time, having averted the destruction of Babylon 5 as seen in the future distress call. As the crew wonders what will become of Sinclair, Delenn states that the Minbari of one thousand years past would not have accepted Babylon 4 if a human had been aboard. Marcus exclaims "My God! A Minbari not born of Minbar." Back aboard Babylon 4, Sinclair activates a triluminary device to enter a chrysalis, as Delenn had done.

One thousand years in the past, Minbari cruisers approach the station, and two Minbari board it. They are greeted by Zathras who leads them to two Vorlons outside of their encounter suit hovering over Sinclair, who now looks like a Minbari. He introduces himself as Valen, and announces that they have great work ahead of them.

Arc significance

* The fate of Babylon 4 is finally revealed. Babylon 4 was taken into the distant past, and became the base of operations for the Minbari and the Vorlons during the last war with the Shadows.
* The ultimate fate of Ambassador Sinclair is revealed - Sinclair has become one of the holiest figures of Minbari history, Valen, who will lead them to victory during the first Shadow War, form the Grey Council, and found large parts of their societal structure. As well as this, we see flashbacks from season one which relate to Sinclair's Minbari nature.

Inconsistencies with "Babylon Squared"

* In B², Major Krantz says that Zathras suddenly appeared in the middle of a conference room after a time-flash. Here, Zathras is caught by security guards while rummaging through a box of equipment.
* The B² scene where Delenn puts her hand on Sinclair's shoulder and says that they have to go, shows her wearing a red robe. In this episode, she is wearing dark brown. Also, the computer voice announcing "Present time atmosphere now breathable" does not appear in WWE's version of this scene. (We never find out what the computer was talking about in B² when it mentioned the atmosphere being breathable.)
* When 'The One', clearly wounded, appears at the end of B², there are grunts of pain coming from its suit - in a male voice. In WWE, we learn that this is Delenn, and so we should have heard a female voice.
* In B², according to Zathras, Babylon 4's motion through time was stopped by The One so that the station's original crew could evacuate. However, in WWE, the station appears in 2258 accidentally, when Major Krantz orders the powering up of the fusion reactor. Also, the idea of faking a reactor accident to get the crew away was Ivanova's, not any of the versions of The One.
* WWE shows that Major Krantz knew of the explosion of the Shadow fusion bomb, and the presence of possibly hostile intruders aboard his station. He does not mention any of this to Sinclair in B².
* Another inconsistency to consider is if Babylon 5 is to be destroyed by the Shadows 8 days from War Without End, then how can Garibaldi have the hair that he had in season 1 when most of it was lost by season 3?

External links

* [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/060.html Lurker's Guide Episode Page] (Part 1)
* [http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/061.html Lurker's Guide Episode Page] (Part 2)