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2005-02-07 Entry: "Lots Of B5 (And No Football)"

More B5 (no, I'm not watching that football game that the rest of the country seem to be obsessed with) and they open with Garibaldi showing that he's still a nice guy, even if he has a difference of opinion with the Captain. Mysterious stranger is still watching him. "Conflicts Of Interest" sees the Captain wanting Garibaldi's link, gun and badge back, and Edgars sends someone to be smuggled onto the station... someone who Garibaldi knows... welcome back Lise Hampton...

The Captain tries to get G'Kar and Londo to work together, in agreeing to let the White Star fleet and the Rangers patrol the border zones to keep the Drakh and other dangers away.

Garibaldi has to rescue Lise from a firefight in Down Below. Ivanova has to go to Epsilon 3 to get the power to allow the Voice Of The Resistance to broadcast to Earth... and there's another 9 or so Zathras-es...

In "Rumours, Bargains And Lies" the Minbari Civil War starts, with fighting in the capital city. And Sheridan tries to get the League worlds to sign on to his defence policy with the White Star fleet... and he's come up with a cunning plan to get them to agree without having to persuade them... either that or he's gone crazy.

Delenn meets with Neroon, acting all mysterious and high-handed again... can this woman do anything that isn't completely melodramatic and over the top? Okay, they're just going to try and work together to end the war without either the Warrior or Religious Castes winning.

Meanwhile, the Captain tells G'Kar and Londo not to talk about the White Star ships, and he sends Marcus out to blow up a few rocks... and the Drazi Ambassador is suitably confused by all of this... especially after Franklin asks for more blood supplies from each of the League worlds.

Unfortunately, Delenn's subterfuge makes the rest of the Religious Caste on board think she's selling them out, so they decide to sacrifice themselves and the ship. Fortunately, Lennier is around to resolve the problem.

Ivanova is asked to mention that absolutely nothing happened in a particular sector of space during her Voice Of The Resistance broadcast. So of course, the Ambassadors think that there's an invisible enemy out there that only the White Stars can see.

"Moments Of Transition" sees Lyta out of work... she can't get a job as a telepath as she's not in Psi-Corps. The Minbari Warrior Caste have decided to end the war by destroying the city where the Religious Caste are holed up.

Bester comes back to the station. Lyta is struggling for money and has been asked by the station to move to smaller quarters. She finally gets a job with Garibaldi.

The Religious Caste agree to surrender, and they hold it in some old sacred temple. But Delenn has a cunning plan... Using the Starfire Wheel to choose a new leader, as traditions dictate... or at least traditions before Valen formed the Grey Council... Shakiri tries to back out of the necessary sacrifice, but Neroon uses his own words against him, and so he too steps into the Wheel.

Edgars forces Garibaldi to fire Lyta... so she's back out of work... and back in Bester's clutches. Bester is also manipulating Garibaldi, but we don't yet know why...

And Delenn forms a new Grey Council... just not in the usual 3x3 formation as of old.

Earth crosses the line... killing civilians at Proxima. Sheridan makes the decision to fight back.

So the war starts in "No Surrender, No Retreat." Sheridan declares the mutual protection treaties between the League worlds and Earth null and void. So they can only render humanitarian aid while he fights to free Earth and its colonies from Clarke's rule.

Proxima 3 has to be rescued before they surrender - they're blockaded by a number of Earth cruisers. Sheridan wants Franklin to start defrosting the telepaths... he's obviously got a plan. And the Earth cruisers have to be given a chance to surrender before they start destroying them. It's going to get messy out there...

Proxima 3 is liberated. And Garibaldi goes to Mars... and he isn't coming back...

So then, with Garibaldi back on Mars, he's worried that it'll get him killed this time, as it nearly has the last three. Sheridan's war fleet continue freeing colonies on their long march to Mars and Earth. "The Exercise Of Vital Powers" sees Franklin trying to do more work on the telepaths, but the implants are determined to kill the patient if you try and tamper with them. Fortunately Lyta turns up and manages to make contact with the implanted telepath.

Garibaldi gets to meet William Edgars, and he's let in on some of the plots and shenanigans that've gone on back home. He just doesn't tell him everything... like what he's doing with a bunch of sick telepaths.

Sheridan informs Franklin what he's planning to do with the telepaths... and Franklin realises quite how much Sheridan has changed since his trip to Z'ha'dum. He and Lyta are going to Mars...

And Garibaldi agrees to set up Sheridan for capture...

Then I stupidly took a break to watch "Jason X" - it's pretty much the only one of the Friday The 13th series I've seen, so I've no idea what the backstory is. It's just fun to see Romy and Becka from Andromeda having switched roles.

Then back to B5, and the war is heating up, Garibaldi is setting up the capture of Sheridan, and Franklin and Lyta are doing stuff on Mars. "The Face Of The Enemy" sees Number One and Lyta at odds on Mars - she obviously doesn't like telepaths.

Sheridan gets word from Garibaldi that his father has been captured, so obviously the Captain goes running off to Mars where he gets tranq-ed and captured (well, after an over-the-top stylish punch up in a bar, with strobe lighting and heavy rock soundtrack... what was the director thinking?!).

Ivanova takes over the fleet, just as IsN announce his capture (intercut with his torture).

In return for the capture, Edgards lets Garibaldi in on his plans for the telepaths - a virus that only Edgars Industries has the antidote for... one that they can carefully control to keep the telepaths in line. Fortunately, Garibaldi finds nothing wrong with the plan. Unfortunately, Lise overhears the whole conversation. Oh, and Garibaldi has a transmitter embedded in a fake tooth.

Which leads back to where all this started - Bester. The Shadows had come to B5 and Sheridan had gone to Z'ha'dum. They knew only three people could replace Sheridan... one of which being Garibaldi, who they thought they could adjust to serve them. The telepaths were called in to help with that process, and Bester intervened.

And then it's the "two men in a room" episode - "Intersections In Real Time" where an Earth interrogator uses every trick in the book to break the Captain and force him to sign a confession.

Oh, and Wayne Alexander doesn't make a very convincing Drazi.

Then, more torture in "Between The Darkness And The Light" but this time they've altered the Captain's perceptions so he thinks he's talking to Franklin after having escaped.

Garibaldi tries to get in touch with the resistance - to tell them his side of the story - but he's fortunate that Franklin wants to hear his tale before killing him. And that Lyta is there to scan Garibaldi to verify the truth, and is capable of transmitting it to Number One so that she believes it.

Meanwhile, Ivanova's war is going reasonably well - they're cutting through the Earth Cruisers that keep getting thrown in their path. Eventually they're going to get to Mars though...

G'Kar and Londo have managed to get the League to agree that they should help Sheridan in return for his help to their worlds during the Shadow War. So they're lending warships to Ivanova's fleet.

Garibaldi, Franklin, and Lyta, along with random resistance member (who's been a guest star on every show in existence... Melinda Clarke) go to rescue Sheridan.

Ivanova finds out about an ambush Clarke is planning with some new design of warship with crews completely loyal to Earth. So she decides to engage solely with the White Star fleet to prevent the remaining Earth destroyers in the fleet from being destroyed.

Unfortunately, Earth has adapted Shadow tech and integrated it into their new warships... this can't be good. And, although they manage to defeat them, Susan is critically injured when a chunk of debris impacts her ship's bridge. So she's dying, she's got maybe a week to live... and Marcus will move heaven and Earth to save her...

There appears to be someone reenacting the football game in real-time above my bedroom, so I'm going to have to watch the last episode on this disc rather than go to bed...

Ivanova is being moved back to B5 ahead of the attack on Mars. And we find out what Sheridan has planned for the frozen telepaths - one per destroyer in the Earth fleet surrounding Mars. Garibaldi is scouting some installation on the Martian surface - presumably we'll get a hint of what it is eventually. So here we are in the "Endgame" and Garibaldi is taking Earthforce installations - well, the perimeter guardposts for some base anyway.

Lyta's taking a big risk, having to go outside to contact the telepaths.

Marcus is obsessed with finding a cure for Ivanova, and Lennier is hedging about whether there's anything that could help her. It doesn't look like Marcus is going to leave the subject alone though.

The telepaths do their job pretty well, disabling most of the fleet, and allowing Sheridan to continue on to Earth. Meanwhile, Marcus has discovered the alien healing device that was used to heal Garibaldi after he was shot in the back... this isn't going to end well...

Clarke takes his own life, but not before leaving a very worrying message - Scorched Earth - that turns the defensive batteries on Earth itself.

Oh, and all I can say is it was a good job his attempts at stopping the Mars fleet weren't entirely successful!

ISN finally comes back on the air with the truth, and Franklin tries to get outside the jamming range so they can stop Marcus... it would have been nice if Claudia Christian had given earlier notice that she wouldn't be back for the next season, so they could have kept Marcus around...