Does anyone know what the point of this episode was? It seemed to be a JMS "ooh, aren't I clever, I've worked out the next million years of human history" bash.

On another note, when the blokie who's been reviewing history (and let's forget for a moment the technical difficulties with keeping records that good for more than a few thousand years) changes into robot mode ("Transformers - Robots in Disguise"... sorry, couldn't resist it), what's with the fast zoom on the robot's face? Are we supposed to recognise it or something?

Okay, that's it. Omer, due to you multiple violations of the secondary directive of the guild, every last one of your posts is to be removed by me ASAP.

with respects, Brian, it seems that you are taking the second directive a little bit to seriously. The point was not to nag people who arent intrested in nitpicking. I'm mearly expressing my opinion. If you'll take a look at The Nitpicker's Guide to the X-Files, and to the Brash reflections of Voyager's seasons 3 & 4, you'll see far worse sorts of expressions. and I marely expressed my agreement with Alasdair's point.

Y'know what the point of this episode was, Alasdair? It was fun. It was giving die-hard fans of the show like myself a look into the future of the B5 episode. It had nothing to do with Straczynski's ego, as you seem to claim. Rather, it was simply a story of how what Sheridan and Delenn built will last a thousand years, and that Humanity will evolve to a purer being before it blows itself up.

As to the "blokie" (man, British slang is odd) that man is a million years in the future, with technologies we could not even comprehend. I have no problem believing he could find records from that long ago. Can't humans today find drawings on caveman walls? If those records survive, I have every belief that tachyon-enhanced records of the lives of two of the most prominent figures of the Third Millennium would also last.
The guy is not turning into a robot. He first turns into a ball of light, as I assume is the natural form of humans at that time. That thing is not a robot, either. It's an encounter suit, like the Vorlons use. His ship is also Vorlon-ish.

So there you go, blokie.

Not sure I've ever heard "blokie" used in Britain, and I'm British!

I was wondering - was the guy at the end related to Jason Ironheart in any way? He told Sinclair he'd "see him in a million years".

Someone should show JMS 'Living Witness' - then we might be spared from this kinds of tragedies

Odd show--some parts I liked, some I didn't get at all.
Liked: Old Delenn showing up at that scholarly panel. The Garibaldi hologram. The old monk who is really a Ranger.

Because of the time changes, it seemed a bit disjointed.

"The Blessed Sheridan, Delenn the Wise, Ivonava the Strong"--I kept thinking, ok, what is Marcus's new name?

Marcus the Pure?

A nit here. How come Sol was due to go nova in one million years in the future. The
sun is only halfway through its life and has about another 4 billion (I think) years of life left. Anyhow the sun is to small to explode in a supernova cataclysm, it would simply expand and the outer layers would drift into space leaving a white dwarf. good ep though.

Before it blew the computer said something about "adnormal activity" with the sun, suggesting that their may have been some outside force that caused it.

One thing I seem to recall in a JMS interview in the U.K, a couple of years ago,when he was asked this question, his answer was someone/somebody was delbrately opening Jumppoints inside the Sun, to induce a Nova (As a Weapon)in order to destroy Earth, & there could be effectively another "Shadow War", with the Rangers versus another, unknown Power or Race...

Some (Irrevalent) titles for the "Episodes" within the story ?
1) "Looking Through The Archives"
2) "Wedding Bells ?"
3) "What happens Next...?"
4) "Year 3,Module 2,Block 5 - (The Factors Influencing The Formation & Early Years Of The Interstellar Alliance A.K.A "History Today")
5) "Newspeak for Beginners - Version 3.11 ?"
6) "A Cantacle For Sheridan ?"
7) "A Celebration on New Earth"
8) "Wedding Bells - Reprise"

What with "things not what they seem to be" theme of the series, I always wondered if it was the humans themselves who were causing the sun to go nova to deliberatly destroy the Earth for some unknow reason. It's a safe bet that human kind was moving to the old Vorlon Homeworld. Lyta herself forshadowed it by saying their world would be ready, in a million years.

Either that.... or we are now at war with the Minbari.

While I'm sure that JMS had other reasons, the reasons I see for this episode are to:

1. JMS didn't spend time stretching out the suspense (and possibly hurting the overall flw of the drama to retake Earth) with another episode. Thus, he was left with an episode to spare.

2. Highlight that Sheridan did what he did because he should do it, not for glory. Sort of a reference to the Jack the Ripper test.

3. To provide a conclusion to what happened to certain people. Ivanova etc.

4. To provide a hint at what's coming in season 5 since the entire first 4 seasons were about the shadow war and Clark's power trip. I haven't watched any commentaries yet nor have any articles and the like to reference, but I'd make the case that B5 (the series) could be concluded after season 4. The objective of the first 4 seasons have been wrapped up, and the objective of the intsteller alliance could be left up to the viewers to imagine. Sort of like Kirk's line at the end of Star Trek the Motion Pictue. "Let's see what's out there..." By having this episode, the producers were advertising what's to come, and why people should stay with the series even though the objectives of Seasons 1 through 4 have been met.

There is a bit of a story here to tell. Here's the short form of it:

Babylon 5 was planned and scripted to be a 5 year story. Near the middle of the 4th year, however, the sydicator that was distributing Babylon 5, PTEN, announced it was going out of business, leaving Babylon 5 to end after the 4th season. JMS decided at that time to move things along slightly faster than planned, so that if a 5th season didn't come, the story didn't end on a cliffhanger.

After production was wrapped on the final episode of the 4th season production order, Sleeping in Light, TNT (owned by Warner Brothers, the studio that financed Babylon 5 and partner in PTEN) ordered a 5th season. JMS moved Sleeping in Light to the end of Season 5 and filled it with the 1st episode of the 5th season production order, Deconstruction of Falling Stars.

You are right that it was intended as a hint of what was to come in Season 5, as well as a look at the way history tends to look at people and events through the lens of time. Closure for Ivanova came in at the last minute because Claudia Christian wasn't returning for season 5.

According to JMS, had he known the 5th season was a go, the 4th season would have ended with Sheridan's torture, so not much story was compressed to fit the schedule.