#z'ha'dum
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One Drawing Per Week: Fifteen
SUBJECT: (Don't) Visit Z'Ha'Dum Travel Poster (Babylon 5)
MEDIA: Rebelle 3 and GIMP on Microsoft Surface Pro.
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Digital backgrounds from BABYLON 5 THE ROAD HOME (2023)
#babylon 5#the road home#animated movie#minbar#earth#z'ha'dum#sci fi#space opera#it was the dawn of the third age
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#doctor who#Babylon 5#j. michael straczynski#david tennant#10th doctor#river song#z'ha'dum#hey who turned out the lights
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yknow how sometimes male bugs will fight over who gets to mate with a female bug. the shadows do this with morden
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babylon 5
season 2 episode 15: in the shadow of z'ha'dum
#is it still considered foreshadowing if it plays out *exactly* as he describes#babylon 5#b5#vir cotto#mr. morden
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B5 S03E22 Z'Ha'Dum
previous episode - table of contents
Flashback central - Anna talking about signing onto the Icarus. Kosh saying "Z'Ha'Dum," Delenn and Sheridan talking about the Icarus landing on Z'Ha'Dum, Morden being a dickbag.
Anna doesn't seem very sincere, and I don't buy her "I'm an open book, but DELENN didn't tell you...no, I shan't say..." schtick.
I know I made all those predictions about how this will play out, but I really don't know how this is going to play out. Will the future be subverted and the prophecies less than self-fulfilling? I don't know!
Partner: "Do you think these guys did like, late-night interviews in the 90s or was it not popular enough?"
Me: "Hm let me consult my extensive memories of being 0-6 years old in an anti-technology cult in the 1990s."
Anna: "I'm your wife."
Dr Franklin: "That's your wife."
Sheridan: "If that's my wife, then what was all my years of grief-processing for?"
Excuse me Sheridan, take your hands off Delenn. Don't shake her just because you're emotionally overwrought.
I am on Delenn's side in this argument. Delenn said clearly that anyone who wouldn't have served the Shadows would have been killed. Therefore, Anna was either dead, or completely opposed to the life and wellbeing of every living thing in the galaxy.
yeah yeah Sheridan, you have big emotions. But don't be a dick.
Londo's political maneuvering has resulted in a promotion and he's bummed because he can't be satisfied with anything. He's a voracious pit of longing that can never be filled. When he's made an ambassador, he rages because they're sending him away. When he's given a prestigious advisor position, he's mad because he deserved it twenty years ago.
Mr Morden Jr is here. Sounds like there's about to be an attack on B5.
Looks like Dr Franklin just found something in his scans on Anna Sheridan.
Anna is refusing to answer any questions about anything unless John goes with her to Z'Ha'Dum to hear the answers there. Not even why she stayed and let herself be declared dead and all her loved ones grieve her death.
Aaaan he agrees to go to Z'Ha'Dum if she explains why she stayed. Against future!Delenn's pleas.
Anna says - IPX found a Shadows ship buried under the surface of Mars. As soon as they unearthed it, it sent a message. IPX took some parts and put a homing device inside. When another ship turned up and took the first one, they tracked it. (didn't the second ship also kill a fuckload of people? She doesn't mention anything about that.)
The Icarus went to the coordinates and found the Shadows. In a pit. Very foreboding. She says it was an accident that the crew was killed, and also destroyed the comm system. She says they portrayed themselves as vunerable coming out of hibernation and cut a deal that they could stay and study their tech if they didn't try to contact their homeworld(s).
It would be a cool plot twist if Anna was telling the truth and he really was about to find out he's been on the wrong side this entire time. However, I don't think that's the case. The Shadows haven't been taking out governmental heads, they've been displacing populations, causing genocides, anmd spreading suffering.
I do wonder what this secret task he's given Garibaldi is.
It's incredibly foolish to run off to the ACTUAL HOMEWORLD of your mortal enemies. But there goes John Sheridan! trot trot. Well, they did hit him where he's most vulnerable. The wound of losing a loved one never really goes away.
They're taking the White Star - what a fucking security vulnerability! Also, so funny that Sheridan is taking the White Star when he's only SEEN the Minbari pilot it. Aviation law must have gotten lax in the future.
Z'Ha'Dum doesn't have a breathable atmosphere. He goes off, alone, with his formerly-dead wife. To the enemy's planet. With no breathable atmosphere. And just nods and hands over his gun. And doesn't even keep his oxygen mask at hand!
Dummy.
And Morden's here. AND Anna gives HIM John's gun! goddddddddddd
Poor Delenn, she looks wrecked. John's message to her talks about his time jump and Delenn's plea to not go to Z'Ha'Dum. He says he went because maybe in that future, he listened to her and DIDN'T go, so he's going in case it changes the future.
Well.
ok
Justin on Z'Ha'Dum says that most of the higher races left this part of the universe, and the Vorlons stuck around to be parents. Clean your room, behave, etc. The Shadows, though, want to release their potentials...through conflict. "Those who survive are strong, better," Justin says. And Morden says if you knock over an anthill, the future generations get better at building anthills.
hm.
"...but I love my mom and dad," - noted parents-guy John Sheridan, hopefully.
"A few get lost along the way," Justin says. Yeah. Like the Narn got directly targeted and attacked repeatedly until they lost their telepaths, then almost lost everything? Literally they were T A R G E T E D. It isn't a neutral "they got lost," they were pummeled into near-oblivion.
Oop, the Shadows have arrived at B5.
Morden would have us believe that sonnets came from wars. Bullshit - sonnets came from the Italian courtly style and was developed in order to flirt better. (per Partner's masters of poetry)
Ahhh, the Shadows are hanging out over B5 as the hammer over Sheridan's head. Sheridan's too good at diplomacy, so he's preventing the species' growth through warfare. boooooo.
I could go through and rebut the things they're saying point by point but ehhh. It's a lot. But it's 99% bullshit and 1% mispresented.
Sheridan drops a bomb: Anna has been altered in the same way as the people who were being sent to become components in the Shadows ships.
Whoop, Shadow incoming. And gun incoming! John Sheridan had TWO GUNS. badadadada
oof, poor Sheridan. He's arming the White Star to detonate, and Anna's turned up saying that Anna is dead, but she can love John as well as Anna ever did.
"I want you to know that I love you, Delenn. Bye." he says, in the video message.
And there's the Kosh fragment! Sheridan jumps into the pit of doom in the center of Z'Ha Dum as the White Star bursts through the central dome.
Anna didn't like that!
Kosh said he couldn't help Sheridan if he helped then. And then he helped anyway. lol
I like the G'Kar voice-over. Andreas has such a marvelous voice and he really knows how to use it.
One of the fighters is missing - piloted by Garibaldi! And the marvelous CGI depicts it floating in a Shadows ship. Well. At least we won't run out of plot anytime soon. :P
season 4 awaits!
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Was reminded that Garibaldi is gay(bi) and homophobic, and he really is - for Sinclair.
Garibaldi left Lise to follow Sinclair to Babylon 5. Garibaldi ghosted Lise again to stay on Babylon 5 with Sinclair. If he had known in time, Garibaldi would have gone back in time with Sinclair and become a Minbari for him, and the Minbari warrior caste would have been obsessed with bagna cauda and Daffy Duck. Lise probably pursued Garibaldi in S5 because she knew Sinclair was out of the picture and there was no way she could compete.
If O'Hare had never left the show, Garibaldi's mind whammied choice would have been to turn in Sinclair, which would have hit so much harder than Sheridan. It's hard to imagine him betraying Sinclair like that in the timeline we got - perhaps Bester tweaks his paranoia as well as his unprocessed jealousy and betrayal over Sinclair marrying Sakai (before she dies at Z'ha'dum) and not himself. He's never Sinclair's first choice and that has to sting.
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vimeo
I've gone through The Road Home and compared the recreated shots from the original series (and a couple of other scenes that were more "loosely evocative" than direct remakes). I also cataloged all the shots seen in thumbnail on the display screen on Epsilon III (I skipped the ones that were scenes from elsewhere in the TRH itself, which were 15 of the 29 images show).
Some interesting choices in the montage. In series order:
"Signs and Portents" has two scenes, the first of which is Londo and G'Kar are arguing in front of a transport tube. Interestingly, the human caught between them is replaced by a Llort, of all things (pretty much all the other discrepancies are down to the redesigned sets, or not making alternate character models with different clothes for two seconds of postage-stamp-sized footage). Then there's a selection of shots from the battle scene later on, with Garibaldi flying against the Raiders, Sinclair giving orders from CnC, and Kosh confronting Morden for the first time. There are a few other sequences that are re-edited for recognizability as a quick flash, but this was the most egregious.
Two sequences from "Babylon Squared," first where Sinclair, Garibaldi, and Zathras see "the One" appearing in the corridor, and when Sinclair tries to free Zathras after he's pinned under some debris, but Zathras tells him he has a destiny and should leave him to die.
Sheridan and Ivanova talking in the corridor just after he first arrives on Babylon 5 in "Points of Departure." Fun fact, the reason he's pointing emphatically at that moment is that he's asserting which color of plum is the good kind. Sheridan is such a foodie.
From "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum," Delenn and Kosh explaining to Sheridan what really happened to the Icarus.
Three scenes from "The Fall of Night," Sheridan telling G'Kar about the Narn ship hiding behind Epsilon III, Sheridan and Ivanova warning the Narns they've got to leave, and Sheridan activating the defense grid after the Centauri ship shows up.
Garibaldi flying to the time-rift in a Starfury in "War Without End, Part I"
Delenn meets Sheridan in his quarters to talk about how many ships they have for their first attack on the Shadows from "Shadow Dancing"
G'Kar and Ivanova discuss the fusion mines they've just received in "Z'ha'dum."
Two scenes from "Into the Fire," one of Marcus and Lyta talking with Sheridan on the bridge of the White Star, and another of the final confrontation with the Vorlons and Shadows. These are different shots than were used for the newscast at the beginning of the film, it seems to specifically be the exchange where the Vorlons and Shadows decide that they can put a stop to everything just by killing Sheridan and Delenn in front of everyone else, and then are humiliated by the other ships protecting them.
From "Movements of Fire and Shadow," Sheridan and Lochley discuss the possibility of a Centauri attack on Babylon 5's jumpgate.
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Babylon 5: The Road Home
So, it's been well over a week since I was able to watch The Road Home and these thoughts are still living rent free in my brain:
One of the Minbari refers to Delenn as Satai Delenn. Now, this could very well be a slip on JMS' part, but maybe like presidents, Delenn is always referred to as Satai? Or - even better - is The Road Home actually an AU to the actual series and in this version, Delenn is still Satai Delenn?
John Sheridan, zipping through time, ends up on Z'ha'dum with the Icarus and we do not even get a mention of Anna. Now, I know this is most likely JMS' attempts to placate new fans without the mention of John's other wives but come on. John spent two years fighting off a part of himself every time he thought about Delenn due to Anna Keller. This just makes me so happy and I hope John has since had therapy about the damage that marriage did because jfc.
THE PARALLELS BETWEEN YOUNG JOHN AND YOUNG DELENN. Both getting lost at such formative ages. John was able to return home through his faith in love and his family. Delenn, instead, was left cold and alone and open to being manipulated by the Vorlons through her faith. Yet it is this faith that allows the Vorlons to manipulate them both into their roles as the One: sacrifices to the greater good.
I am also insanely excited for this backdoor pilot towards the end of the movie. I have long been fascinated by a world where the Shadows didn't exist or the Shadow War didn't happen. I love that John is crushing on his own actual wife - that makes me so happy. As for whether Anna exists - how far do we unspool this reel? IPX didn't wake up the Shadows - great. Now Delenn is not transformed, which likely means she hasn't gone to Kosh to ask about the Shadows (in fact, do we see Kosh at all). Which could mean that the Shadows are not waking up, so the Minbari don't go to Z'ha'dum, which means the war doesn't happen and John doesn't gain an emotional support wife.
Overall, I would rather have a 1000 of these movies than the live action reboot (unless JMS goes back on re-casting Delenn, G'Kar, etc.). So much fic inspo!
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Finished my rewatch of #Babylon5 , 10 years (-ish?) apart from the last time I watched it (thank you Mr. Straczynski and HBO 😎) and all I could think of is "I need more B5 memes".
Here goes a post to try to convince you of watching it.
Through this rewatch, there were many laughs and some tears.
I NEED to find nice Z'ha'dum memes or at least a fun compilation of all the times everybody said "Do not go to Z'ha'dum" to #Sheridan.
Must say I loved the scripts' consistency, quite remarkable! The overall care for the characters' arc and layers 👌🏼 And the guest writers (cheff kiss). I mean; Neil Gaiman's ep? Absolutely stunning 😁
Guest stars were fun to catch too.
Londo battling bugs is me battling bugs at home. Exact same exaggeration 🤭😂 Great Maker !!
It got a little "too military" for me at some points but I truly watched it for the philosophic/religious/comic/life-centric tone and the non-human centric approach. I always got a nice sense of diversity and (linguistic / gender) representation from this series, even the first time I watched it many years ago. -Within the boundaries of the time and the network- Well done 💟
"Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your life, BE somewhere else!". (Delenn).
RIP Mira Furlan, what a great actress she was. And what a life. Many B5 actors and actresses have gone beyond the rim, sadly, but I really felt Mira's recent passing :(
You can read a bit about Mira's life and what B5 meant to her, here.
youtube
What I like about this series is that it tells us a deep story about values, imperfect beings, human and non-human alike. Life is the center value, but in the struggle there is a lot of death, darkness, treasons, wars and horrible deeds conducted by governments or corporations to peoples; or among individuals.
We get some nice ideas on life, death, language, culture, politics, loyalty, religion, philosophy, technology, and social (in)justice.
The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of the future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain. — J. Michael Straczynski.
G'Kar: I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and part of us remains. Go anywhere in the station when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while, you will hear the echoes of all our conversations, every thought and word we've exchanged. Long after we are gone, our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit that the part of me that is going will very much miss the part of you that is staying. — J. Michael Straczynski
We get to know some very interesting characters, like Zathras. No-one listens to poor Zathras, but us the viewers get a privileged view-point 🤭😁 I think Zathras must be one of the most beloved side charcters of B5.
We got reintroduced to one sci-fi actor we already knew from Trek. In this case, a nice, complex and cold psi-villain👨🏻✈️
A final note on Straczynski, Michael O' Hare and mental health struggles >> here. RIP Michael.
Hoped you liked this post and that you consider watching it 😄😁
#babylon 5#Zhadum#sheridan#delenn#funscripts#politics#greatmaker#harlan ellison#j. michael straczynski#B5#Youtube
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One Drawing Per Week: Sixteen
SUBJECT: Centauri Prime Travel Poster (Babylon 5)
MEDIA: Rebelle 3 and GIMP on Microsoft Surface Pro.
☟ Notes and variation below ☟
*Note: this was trickier with the busy nature of the scenery and the text isn't as readable as I'd like, but the variations I came up with weren't in a consistent style with the other travel posters so far... needs tweaking still... Also, this was the most complex/intense/detailed one to draw yet. (But I think Z'Ha'Dum will be my favorite in the end).*
*Extra Note: I'm loving how many B5 fans are out there on Tumblr! And I am going to work on getting this adjusted/tweaked for stickers, postcard prints (which I can do in house with my own equipment) and maybe posters (have to tweak them and then run tests/samples with local printshop). But I've been loving the reactions! Thank you!*
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i never thought, i didn't think twice
ship: viv/morden
word count: 990
summary: viv and morden and how their relationship is in two of the timelines seen in bab.ylon 5: the road home. spoilers for that movie!! these characters are a little evil
[ao3 link]
i.
They win, as expected.
There are a few moments where ze thinks it is all over as ze watches at his side, from the interior of their ship — in the battle before the victory and in the historical pathway leading up to the battle. John Sheridan dropped a bomb on their planet's capital city when ze was off-world, and ze wasn't even there to—-
There are a few moments where ze feels that hopelessness ze felt on Earth slither into place again. The Army of Light calls in the other First Ones as backup, but they have been away for so long that they've grown softer, they've been gone for so long that they've forgotten the way the Shadows work, their strategies and methods in battle.
Even with the Vorlons, they were always going to win. That is evident, now.
Viv exhales. Watching the space around them on the ship's screens, debris of destroyed vessels floating around the Shadow ships like sick inverted halos, ze turns and watches Morden soak up their victory. He looks invigorated, only energized by the destruction they've witnessed -- entranced by it, almost, captivated by the suspense and relief. It has a certain beauty to it, ze thinks, and then: maybe that's not the right word, maybe that's the worst word possible to attribute to this kind of attitude, this affinity for decimation, but ze shed all tethers to morality long ago. Now, in the moment, ze can only feel hir fondness as ze witnesses him at the peak of his power.
On the other hand, ze knows, he never doubted their ultimate victory. Morden has - hm - an egotistical confidence in his efforts, but apparently it's not an unrealistic self-obsession. They won. Chaos prevailed. They brought themselves here, together, embracing in an eternal spar. They calculated their moves to the perfect algorithm, played the game against itself, secured their position in victory with their minds weaponized. It wouldn't have been this way without Viv and Morden.
He smiles when he sees Viv's gaze. Still it is a smile drenched in his power-drunkenness, but that's irrelevant now; he pulls Viv closer, kisses hir with a passion that could strip hir of every layer of flesh and muscle, kisses hir in a way that howls I NEVER DOUBTED. They're sharing their victory, passing it between the void where their souls should reside.
They can rebuild on Z'ha'dum. Nothing lasts forever -- most things don't last forever.
There's shrill Shadow discussion in the background, and when they pull themselves away long enough to parse it, the passion melts into desperation:
”Did they just say---“
”I can't believe they'd do that,“ Morden says, his disbelief shattering itself on the ship's floors. Of course they would do this. ”It's Earth. Billions of people. Even more than Centauri Prime.“
Viv puts hir arm around him. “They're being pathetic,“ ze offers. ”Like children who can't handle losing a game.“ Ze pats his shoulder. ”At least we won.”
Morden shrugs. “You're being awfully nonchalant about the Vorlons destroying Earth.”
“Nothing there for me anymore,” Viv responds, hir eyes darting to the side, studying the ship's paneling, studying the view of space again, studying everything except the reality. “Unfortunate that we'll be losing our allies, I guess.“
Viv hears him draw out a long, stressed sigh. ”No,“ he says. ”Nothing left on Earth for me, either.”
“Collateral damage.”
ii.
Viv puts down hir paintbrush, places it gently into hir cup of mud-brown paint water. He's calling hir again; it's the second time this week.
The first call had been - neutral. He had been informing hir of something he found when reviewing old research, an ancient language from a world with coordinates suspiciously near where ze remembered Curcul had been. The examples Viv provided had a lot of similarities, and he wanted Viv to be aware of it. He smiled the entire time as he went through slides, his voice smooth as he pronounced each word, and there's no way in hell Viv got even half of what he was saying. Which isn't conducive to completing the project, obviously, but at least he's sending a data crystal.
Viv tries to make hir appearance into something even slightly resembling composed, and then ze answers the call. Dr. Morden's face floods onto the screen, a bright patch of sunlight peering out from behind him.
“Well, hello,” Viv says. “What's going on?“
His expression is warm, but the exact mechanics of it are indecipherable; if ze had to guess, ze would say he looks almost nervous, but that isn't quite right, either.
“I'm sorry to bother you---”
“Never a bother.”
“---Right. Well. Looks like my data crystal got lost in the mail.”
Viv frowns. “Oh, how'd that happen?”
“They're calling it an 'unexplained mistake.'”
“Of course they are.”
He laughs. “But I thought this information might be important, so I was wondering if you'd like to meet me somewhere and I can give a new one to you in person?”
Viv feels hir face heat up, which is stupid. He's just being thorough, there's nothing else behind the gesture. But ze answers a bit too quickly: “Of course, I'd love that.”
“You can update me on, ah, your project, too. It's very interesting.”
“Thank you. I've dedicated most of my life to it, as you know, so I'm glad at least someone else out there cares.”
“You know, if you wanted, I could help get some of your work published. It really is rather impressive, and I'm sure other people would agree.”
“I... I'll think about it. It's really just something I'm doing for myself, but I've never really thought about any of that before... Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.”
He smiles again, again. “I'll send you the address and time. Let me know if it works for you.”
“I will.”
The screen flickers off.
It's starting to feel like there's something else behind the gesture.
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Podcast for And Now For a Word, trying to guess what the next one (In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum) is going to be about:
You just gave me hope that actually Londo might come to his senses and come back by the end of this because if this Narn-Centauri thing is like a precursor to the [great] war and not the war itself, then, you know, they're gonna resolve this war and then the new thing is gonna kick off because of it. At least we get Londo and G'Kar acting nicely together or ... being frenemies.
Evidence on the subject of "just how far off can you be based on all the right premises".
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impersonation:
well, if no one else is going to fuck morden, i guess I'll just have to hijack a ship, go to z'ha'dum, and do it myself (walks away waving my hands about, pretending to be put out by the whole ordeal, while underneath? pure horniness for morden)
LMFAOOOOOO yeah that's me. i am not ashamed
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yeah so it was actually bester all along. it was bester who remember is the psi cop who helped to uncover that the shadows were merging telepaths with the technology in their ships and is played by walter koenig who played chekov in star trek the original series. so it was him who orchestrated garibaldi's abduction after the battle against the shadows while sheridan was on z'ha'dum. the psi corps actually modified his personality, making him into a sleeper agent of sorts and leading to his distrust of sheridan and ultimately his betrayal. now back at the station they don't know any of this nor does sheridan who is still in custody, being beaten and tortured.
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