As the attempt to bring Babylon 4 back through time continues, Sheridan and Delenn see visions of their future. Meanwhile, Sinclair relives his previous visit to the time-lost station and undergoes a transformation that will change the course of galactic history.

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Michael Vejar

A Stitch in Time

IVANOVA: How'd you know they were coming?    More Stories The Name of the Place: SPACE.com's Babylon 5 Nexus Babylon 5 - 'War Without End (Part One)' Babylon 5 - 'Interludes and Examinations' Babylon 5 - 'Ship of Tears'    Related Links SPACE.com's television coverage Babylon 5 The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 MARCUS: Didn't, but right now would be the worst time to be discovered, so it was logical it'd happen now.

IVANOVA: C'mon, c'mon. Find what you need and let's get out of here. We're running out of time. ZATHRAS: Cannot run out of time. There is infinite time. You are finite. Zathras is finite. This...is wrong tool.

GUEST STARS

Tim Choate - Zathras
Kent Broadhurst - Major Krantz
Bruce Morrow - B4 First Officer
Michael O'Hare - Ambassador Jeffrey Sinclair

ANALYSIS

One road ends and another begins. Sinclair's story is over. Or perhaps it is just beginning -- when it comes to time travel, questions of sequence become awfully difficult to resolve. Whether his trip into the past is a beginning or an ending, the circle of Sinclair's destiny is now complete.

Why did the Minbari find Valen's soul in Sinclair's human body? Because Sinclair was Valen. He was not Valen reincarnated as the Minbari believed, but rather Valen in the state into which he was born prior to his transfiguration. From this simple fact spring the solutions to all the mysteries that Sinclair left in his wake during his tenure aboard Babylon 5.

While Sinclair-Valen's trip into the past puts the mysteries of his existence into the proper context, "War Without End" offers new mysteries in exchange for the old. As is par for the Babylon 5 course, we viewers are offered a set of facts here; what is missing is a clear indication of what these facts mean.

Thus, while we know that Sheridan's Alliance will indeed win the Shadow War, it will take nearly half a season to learn how that victory comes about. It takes even longer to learn the full cost of that victory -- how will Sheridan's triumph lead to the conditions he sees on Centauri Prime during his time jump?

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Having this information at his disposal could have helped Sheridan avoid making mistakes, but don't count on it. Even without Delenn's warning about the cost of trying to change the course of history, it's one thing to know the future. It is something else entirely to know what the future means.

COMING UP NEXT

"Walkabout"

Torch songs and pilgrims
Franklin tries to find himself
New Vorlon in town.