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Editor’s note: Matt’s work appears under our open editorial policy, which provides for the expression of all viewpoints, no matter how misguided or uninformed. In this case, however, the editor has reserved the right for immediate rebuttal to contradict the fallacies inherent in Matt’s hypotheses (he is welcome to think the final episode was "boring," but most of his other complaints are unfounded). Other responses are also encouraged.

With the last episode of B5 in the can, so to speak, the Holy Order begins to look ahead to Mikey’s next Crusades. But before we jump too far into the past we should first look at the future – 20 years into the B5 future.

One HOQ member said he’d never been so sad at a TV show. I agree, but I suspect for somewhat different reasons. I suppose if one had spent five years getting to know these characters, a sappy Hollywood ending like we got Saturday night at the Gauss Haus might seem apropos. But for those who are only involved in B5 skin-deep. The saddest part about the program was how boring it was – even with a great orange fireball.

The fact that 20 years has gone by is not a problem so much as what JMS decides to do with his characters that distance into the future. Why does everybody in the cast have to have achieved the highest rank in their field?

Delenn, for instance, does a Bono and becomes the elected official after her husband’s death. Where else but California? What does the story lose by making Delenn a grieving widow without a job at all? Nothing.

On the other hand, having her be the elected political leader draws attention to itself and away from the true point of the story – or it would have if there was a point, which there wasn’t. And I thought the final episode of M*A*S*H was self-indulgent. Sheesh!

General Ivanova. Sheesh squared! How stupid do they think we are? Enough said.

Or it would be if it weren’t so preposterous and laughable. Even not having seen every episode of the three (sic) seasons in which the little witch appeared, just listening to others speak of her makes her becoming a general implausible to the point of disbelief.

But again, why does she have to be a general or leader of the Rangers? What does the story gain from this little device?

The story – such as it was – would have been the same if Ivanova was a fortune teller on old Beale Street (listen to Hejira by Joni Mitchell).

Ditto Franklin and Garibaldi. Making Garibaldi a rich entrepreneur investor with a tennis champion daughter means nothing to the story and again stretches the water-like skin of believability and drowns us in the show’s self-aggrandizement.

What’s wrong with making Franklin a doctor in a clinic somewhere? Why not a general, run-of-the-mill family physician? Not honorable enough? No, simply not Hollywood enough and bah humbug and ho hum to that.

Coming close to concluding, I will say that speaking about these characters in this fashion is a testament to the show’s ultimate success. One bad episode does not a story-arc ruin.

Finally, I would note that having attended the B5 convention in California and having seen Mira, Claudia, Bruce, Jerry and the gang perform onstage gives me a peculiar insight into the episode.

At the convention, each actor mentioned that the last episode had been filmed but there was little energy surrounding the announcement and no hints given – it was almost as if they all knew there was nothing to say about the show’s final transpiration. I agree. And now I see what they weren’t talking about. There would have been little to say that wasn’t merely hot air.

Some of us – meaning those who have watched more than two episodes of Babylon 5 –feel Joe Straczynski (those who pay attention before spouting their "facts" know the Man goes by his first name, not his second) provided an eloquent swan song for his epic achievement, all of which tied into the foundation he spent four years building.

("Sleeping in Light," the final episode, was actually filmed at the end of the fourth season, before he knew there would be a fifth.)

What Matt fails to understand is that the B5 characters were high profile even as the series started. This has nothing to do with endings, Hollywood or otherwise.

Delenn, for instance, was Satai, a member of the Grey Council, the nine-person ruling body of Minbar, before she came to B5. Later she became Entil’zah, head of the Rangers.

Those of us paying attention during the final episode learned that she became president of the Interstellar Alliance sometime prior to Sheridan’s death, while he served as Entil’zah: they switched jobs.

Sheridan held the presidency from its inception in 2261 (the end of Season 4) apparently until sometime before the events of the final episode. He had already been succeeded by his wife, who was eminently qualified for the position on her own merits, before his death.

Ivanova was always career military, and a competent officer capable of command. Early in 2259 (Season 2) she was promoted from lieutenant commander to commander, so there is no reason to assume she wouldn’t continue to climb through the ranks over the next 20 years. It’s only Kirk who remains a captain for life.

(Incidentally, Ivanova and Franklin’s appearance on Earth kind of eliminates the suspense from Crusade: obviously Earth survives the Drakhs’ biogenetic plague.)

And it’s important Ivanova be named Entil’zah because this is a storyline deeply imbedded in B5. The first Entil’zah was Sinclair, followed by Delenn, followed by Sheridan. So the story gains a sense of closure, assurance that the Rangers will carry on in the intended tradition.

Garibaldi became a rich entrepreneur in 2262 (Season 5) when he married Lise Hampton Edgars, a woman from his past who was first mentioned in the second season.

By then she was married to Williams Edgars, owner of one of the richest corporations on Mars. Garibaldi worked briefly for Edgars during the tumultuous fourth season, which allowed him to reconnect with Lise. (Details can be viewed on fourth-season tapes, which obviously not everyone has seen.)

And if I’m not mistaken, Franklin held the same position for 20 years, according to the final episode.

It sounded to me like he was still doing what he left B5 in the fifth season to do: compile a comprehensive database on alien biogenetics. He was offered the job when his mentor left the position and recommended him, due in no small part to Franklin’s work with aliens on B5.

So really, when talking about ruining a story arc, Matt was way off base, because every character’s conclusion sprung directly from the arc.

"Peculiar insight" seems to describe Matt’s opinion just about right.

What he seems to have not heard in California is that the final episode had been filmed about a year and half prior to the con, and none of the actors were sure which episodes had yet to air at the time of the con, and were leery of spoiling the shows for the few of us present.

I’m pretty sure there’s a saying that goes: People who don’t own TV’s (but sneak up to their mother’s apartment to watch hers while telling their children they can’t watch any TV at all) shouldn’t throw stones through the screens of those who do, lest they never get invited to significant cult events again.

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