"Signs and Portents" begins the foreshadowing that sets Babylon 5 apart from most other shows on television, especially those in science fiction. Foreshadowing, as a narrative technique, suggests structure: looking forward implies something to look forward to; the creators must have something planned.

And this episode is we start to see what they've got planned for Babylon 5.

"Signs and Portents" is really the audience's first encounter with the series' legendary story arc: the war between the Vorlons and the Shadows.

You Really Want To Know?

"You really want to know what I want? You really want to know the truth? I want my people to reclaim their rightful place in the galaxy. I want to seethe Centauri stretch forth their hand again and command the stars. I want a rebirth of glory, a renaissance of power. I want to stop running through my life like a man late for an appointment, afraid to look back or to look forward. I want us to be what we used to be. I want . . . I want it all back, the way it was.Does that answer your question?"

-- Londo Mollari, 2257 AD

The plot is deceptively simple. Morden, the Shadows' representative and human face, poses an enigmatic question -- "What do you want?" -- to three of the ambassadors on Babylon 5. Their answers are telling ones, anticipating and actually causing later events in the series.

The emphasis, as G'Kar tells Morden, is on justice. G'Kar wants to do to the Centauri what they have done to him and to his world. He wants the Centauri home world to be ravaged as the Centauri have ravaged his own world.

Throughout this conversation, Morden keeps pushing G'Kar to go further, to develop his vision in a direction he can exploit. However, G'Kar fails to do so. He runs out of ideas of how to punish the Centauri, and that is when he sets a condition on the bargain -- he wants to "completely, utterly erase" the Centauri only as long as Morden will "guarantee" the Narns' home world's safety.

Morden moves on.

Delenn's encounter with Morden differs from the other visits in several key ways. She does not ask who has sent him to her, but instead tries to put his question into a larger context, searching for answers from him before she gives one herself.

And then she stops herself. At the end, she gives him no overt reply, but simply tells him to get out.

She knows more than either G'Kar or Londo. In particular, as she notes to herself after Morden is gone -- "They're here" -- she recognizes that Morden represents something larger than himself, and she has some suspicion of just who or what that may be.

Because she recognizes the entities Morden represents, Delenn knows better than to answer his question.

She knows these things, presumably, because of the Vorlon influence on Minbari culture. As a people, the Minbari have been shaped by the Vorlons more than the other alien races we encounter and at this point in the series, Delenn is also the one closest to Kosh, who remains a mystery to the others.

We the audience, cut off from Minbari wisdom, will have to wait for the first-season finale "Chrysalis" to see Delenn ask Kosh what all this means, and for third-season episode "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" to get a definitive answer.

Londo, who is at this point something of a comic representative of a fading race, almost seems surprised that Morden truly wants to know what he wants, and even pushes Morden away several times, calling him "a very persistent young man" whose question is "silly."

While he says he wants to be left alone, that response is a bit of a smokescreen. What the Centauri ambassador really wants is something vast. Once started, he can elaborate in great detail exactly what he wants. He talks in grand gestures, about his people's "rightful place" and issues of control.

This vision differs from G'Kar's. It's not just for his people, for Londo -- he wants things for himself, too, to be a man of importance. He wants to stop running. He wants to stop being afraid. Londo wants things to change for himself, just as they change for his people.

Interestingly, it's also a "renaissance of power," not a new creation. Londo's dream is built from nostalgia for the glorious days of Empire, a glory that was probably never real in the first place.

Morden does not even have to ask Kosh what he wants. Morden and Kosh almost meet in the hallway earlier in the episode, but Morden hides until the pair's confrontation at the end of the sequence.

It is not until later in the series that we understand why Morden never asks the question. Kosh knows just who Morden is and whom he represents. The Vorlons and the Shadows are enemies, each approaching the younger races in different ways.

The Shadow question "What do you want?" contrasts with the Vorlon question "Who are you?" The Shadows focus on desire and ambition first, using it to shape character, while the Vorlons focus on identity first, allowing desire to be caused by it. One is a matter of becoming, the other, being.

When the two meet, Kosh warns Morden off. His words are quick, sharp and even direct -- "Leave this place. They are not for you" is one of the larger strings of phrases we have heard from Kosh. There is no room for Morden to respond; the scene is a short one.

By "you," Kosh is addressing all of the Shadows through their lackey, and "they" refers to all the races aboard Babylon 5, especially the humans.

Kosh has just claimed us as Vorlon property.

We later learn that Kosh's encounter suit has been "damaged." Placed where it is, this comment may lead us to think that Kosh has been injured in the battle with the raiders, but we know better. The Vorlon has met something that it can talk to -- and perhaps fight -- as an equal.

"Signs and Portents" highlights the years of war ahead, both expected and otherwise.

By this point, we expect the historical struggle between the Centauri and Narns to worsen, as G'Kar's and Londo's responses to Morden demonstrate.

Each wants power to humble the other. However, G'Kar only wants revenge. Londo wants enough power to keep his people from being humbled ever again.

And he gets that power. In the course of his relationship with Morden and "his associates," Londo learns the cost of getting what he asked for, but in the short term, he will become uncomfortably comfortable with offhandedly asking the Shadows to do things like "eliminate the whole Narn homeworld."

Beyond these "lesser races," the off-screen skirmish between Kosh and Morden's puppetmasters reminds us that another war, a Shadow War, is coming.

Kosh trains John Sheridan "to fight legends," but Sheridan himself leads the final questioning of both Vorlons and Shadows alike down the road.

Who are the Vorlons? What do the Shadows want? Sheridan does not get an answer to either question. Neither side wants to answer. Neither side can answer. They believe what they believe, trusting in either order and discipline or else chaos and battle. There is no middle ground.

When Sheridan and Delenn reject the interference of the two elder races, humans, Minbari and all the younger races win the freedom to find that middle ground, their own way.

Of course, that event is the climax of the series. "Signs and Portents" is the first hint of what is to come. Call it a blueprint. A set of suggestions. Some questions to ponder.