For a low-budget show that would go on to 110 hour long episodes, it is practically a miracle that we never got a Babylon 5 clip show.  Clip shows are a producers dream, even cheaper than a bottle episode, and they can push a low budget production toward the numbers necessary for syndication, where a show can be sold over and over again to local stations and re-run endlessly.  Even though Babylon 5 avoided that, they had no choice but to do an episode made up of shorts, when they were unexpectedly given a new home on TNT after the demise of PTEN, their home network.  The episode is a bit of a mixed bag, but it has enough entertaining bits to be worth it, and it serves as a decent bridge to take us to Season 5.

The episode starts off triumphantly with the newly married Delenn and Sheridan arriving on Babylon 5 to a raucous reception organized by Franklin and Garibaldi.  Londo brings down the mood by explaining that celebrations like this are usually only organized for state funerals. He describes marriages as a ceremony that sounds an awful lot like the Festivus Airing of Grievances, much to the disgust of the human characters, and even G’Kar.  Delenn and Sheridan are a bit uncomfortable with how much everyone is celebrating them, but Sheridan insists that in a hundred years no one will even remember what they did.  

As the group moves down a hallway we get a news broadcast voiceover that breaks up and introduces us to the framing device of someone in the far future watching a historical record at least 1000 years in the future. 

The first segment takes place only weeks after “Rising Star”.  It is, horror of horrors, a panel news show discussing the recent events. The show starts with a field reporter introducing a biographical segment about Sheridan.  They then turn to the talking heads.  The conservative talking head jumps in first, and is really mad that “somehow” people are considering Sheridan to be a hero.  A presumably more liberal senator mocks him a little, and he goes off claiming that the new Interstellar Alliance(ISA) is doomed from the start. It is then pointed out that Clark’s political party, which includes the conservative shit head, are still around and active and are trying to discredit Sheridan to boost their own election prospects.  They end with most of the commenters thinking that the ISA is a good idea but cautious about the future. 

The next jump is 100 years into the future.  Instead of a current events program we get hit by a live stream of an academic debate.  Students ask a series of questions of a panel of academics, and the academics deliver universally snarky responses that doubt much of the real events from 2261.  They chalk Sheridan and Delenn as empty figure heads that allowed others to do the real work.  One of the academics at least appears skeptical of his two colleagues, arguing back against them accusing Sheridan of basically accidentally starting the Telepath War.  They then play a historical record of Garibaldi trying to negotiate with some people on Babylon 5 while he is a hostage.  Sheridan interrupts with a message to the hostage takers that he will not negotiate and the record cuts off with a gunshot.  They then debate whether Delenn is alive and there is an ugly undercurrent in their attitude about the ISA needing myths because they are weaker than they claim, which is disturbing coming from Earth characters.  Eventually an incredibly aged Delenn shows up to chastise the panel, presumably using Rangers to break into the building.  She defends Sheridan’s memory and then simply leaves. 

The next vignette is set in 2762.  A scientist with blatantly Nazi insignia, uses a holographic room to recreate Babylon 5, while spewing 1984 style babble that suggests that Earth fell to fascism again and is now chafing against the alliance.  He also outlines that the intent is to create fake historical records to ruin the reputation of the Babylon 5 crew.  The holograms initially are brought online in a version that is accurate to how they were, as a control sample but the scientist quickly also programs them with knowledge of the past 500 years.  The B5 group quickly figure out that Earth is on the verge of another civil war, this time between pro and anti Interstellar Alliance factions.  Before they can do anything, Sheridan is reprogrammed and thrown into a scenario where he delivers a speech to a group of scared civilians promising to not only execute them but their families as well.   Delenn, Garibaldi and Franklin begin trying to think of a plan, but Delenn is put in standby, and Franklin gets his own fake video where he dictates a medical log about the frustrations of vivisecting children in the hopes of forcing them to accept alien organs.  Garibaldi’s hologram eventually begins negotiating with Daniel, letting him know that he could help him get a promotion by advising him on some things he could bring to his superiors.  He gets Daniel to admit that the plan is a massive first strike against the enemy, specifically against their population centers.  Garibaldi lets the man know that even as a hologram he was able to hack the system and broadcast their conversation to the enemy, and that a counter-strike is already on its way. 

The final scenario is set in 3262, and takes the form of a hidden camera in a monk’s quarters on Earth.  He is about to make a report to camera when he gets interrupted by another younger monk that bursts in, very concerned with his faith.  The monks refer to “the Great Burn” 500 years ago, presumably the war that Garibaldi helped with.  The younger monk expresses frustration with their work preserving and rebuilding technology.  He also doubts the new legends that they are writing down, about Delenn and Sheridan, and the Rangers.  The older monk points out that if the Rangers were to return they would move in secret.  The older monk eventually comforts the younger one, and ushers him out of the room.  He then returns to the camera and finishes his report. He reports that they are close to recreating a gasoline engine, and they need to be able to “discover” some usable gasoline near the abbey in a few days.  He also criticizes the unseen superiors to make sure that the container they find it in looks old enough, invoking Valen to do so.  If that was not enough we then see him take out a Ranger uniform, confirming that he is one of the secret Rangers helping to rebuild the Earth. 

Finally we get a better look at the man watching all the records.  He orders the computer to send all records to New Earth, receives a report about the sun about to explod and then turns into a ball of energy and gets inside of what looks very much like a Vorlon encounter suit.  

We get one small final scene of Delenn and Sheridan in bed, talking about whether people will remember them in the future.  They are both doubtful, but unconcerned.  

With that we are closed out on Season 4.  This will mark my 88th straight recap, and only 22 more to go to finish out the series.  Hard to imagine that the finish line for this project is now in sight. 

Where do I know them from?

• Top billed for this episode is Roy Brocksmith as Brother Alwyn.  A long career but I know him best as Dr.Edgemar from Total Recall.
• Next up is Alastair Ducan as Latimere, a prolific voice actor, looking at his credits I know him best as several voices from Star Wars: Jedi Academy though he also appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• Eric Peirpoint as Daniel, I know best as the police chief from Parks and Recreation.
• Neil Roberts as Brother Michael, was the voice of Tadpoled Adventurer in Baldurs Gate III.

The Good

• I really enjoy the short story structure here, particularly with the hologram segment.  It was very Star Trek like for the holograms to turn on the programmer, but at least he was not in any danger of the safeties coming off. 

The Bad

• The panel show segments are the weak link overall, even if I liked how each one suggested that Earth was going to always backslide into fascism.  

Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)

• Not much to do with the arc on this one, aside from the minor spoiler about Garibaldi being taken hostage on Babylon 5 sometime in Season 5.
• We do get small mentions of the Telepath War which will not be shown, and a brief mention of there being a problem with Delenn and Sheridan’s son, which we found out about before when Sheridan became unstuck in time.