"Babylon Squared" discussion [spoilers]

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episodes 1X20, "Babylon Squared". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:

Babylon 4 reappears.

Extra reading:

The article for "Babylon Squared" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

Actually I think the flash forward was supposed to be the destruction of Babylon 5, where Sinclair and Delenn and baby David escaped at the last moment. From the original storyline. I think the shuttle the Centauri prophetess saw escaping the station's destruction was their shuttle too.

But I really like Jeff and Mike bonding over the Food Riots on Mars.

That's a good point about Zathras. I'm trying to work it out, but it's making my head ache. All good time travel stories do...

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

Oh, I realise what it's meant to be - but since that ended up not happening, and the explanation in War Without End doesn't make much sense (If they fail to send B4 back in time, there's no Valen, in which case Sinclair shouldn't have ever been commander, assuming B5 would exist in the first place...), I think an alternate explanation is needed.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

It's one of the challenges of writing AUs in this verse. Everything is so tightly wound that pulling one thread out tends to take you on a wild ride, especially if you're trying to pull it back together at the end.

Also do you think the problem with Zathras going back to 2258 would be that there would be two of him outside the time distortion? I don't think that applies to anyone else (Sinclair and his double are inside the distortion).
Except for Sheridan in WWE, who seemed to 'go' to the future where he already existed. You can use the 'Sheridan is a Nexus and a Special Case' out, of course. The one time I tried to explain it in a story, I invoked the 'Vorlon ex Machina' clause instead.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

Well, Sheridan's time travel seems to be a closed loop, same as Valen - Delenn warns him not to go to Z'ha'dum, but he went there because he was warned not to go there by Delenn. I'd go with just it's a lot easier and safer to ensure closed loops remain stable than to cause changes - and Zathras leaving B4 in 2258 would be altering the timeline, not keeping it as it was.

(For that matter - Zathras could be involved in a closed loop himself. It could be the only reason anyone thinks he'd die if they left B4 ahead of schedule is because Sinclair heard Zathras say that here - and maybe he warned Zathras of that later, and Zathras had no reason to doubt the One...)