A recent article published by Sci-Fi Universe magazine listed the top ten Babylon 5 episodes of all time. It was a beautiful list, including the best of the highest quality episodes a fan would expect on such a list: 'The Coming of the Shadows', 'War Without End' Part 2, and the very "Morte D'Arthur"-ish 'Sleeping in Light'.

One episode noticeably absent from the list, however, was my personal favorite and what I consider to be one of the top five: 'The Deconstruction of Falling Stars', the fourth season finale and what what was meant to be the last episode of the series.

In the span of a single hour, it showed the audience the end result of all that had occurred in the last four seasons, and the outcome of the Interstellar Alliance, the newly formed galactic UN based on mutual trade and defense. This is not done, however, through brief flash-forwards of the next twenty years interspersed with snippets of narration, as one might expect of a "wrapping" episode.

Rather, the entire episode was shown as a series of ancient historical records -- 100 years from the end of the Earth Civil Wars, then 500 years, and finally 1000 years --- all being reviewed by a palish man with a distant gaze, the camera so close on him you cannot see his body or his surrounding environment.

This immediately intrigues the viewer with the prospect of being able to see the long term impact of the last four years -- did Sheridan truly leave a legacy to the history books? Would his name be remembered in 100 years? How about 1000? Are his deeds spoken of with reverence and beaming pride, or contemptibly whispered in the same hateful tones meant for Brutus or Benedict Arnold? And just who is this mysterious figure with the omniscient view of all?

The records begin in 2362, a century after the events in Season 4. The ISA is commemorating its centennial celebration with an introspective view of its history, led by a panel of two historians and a moderator.

Their topic of discussion: the Earth Civil War, ending 100 years ago, and the right and wrong of John Sheridan's insurrection against EarthGov. Eighty years after Sheridan's death, his legend has been warped and clouded. The generations that followed his own have remembered him not as a great leader who freed Earth from dictatorial tyranny, but as a traitor, and a figurehead used by the other alien races to undermine Earth's place in the galaxy.

This was a terrific touch by JMS; creating a cynical future in which, like our own history, the true heroes are slandered and their deeds forgotten because it is more convenient than to tell the whole, true story.

But, soon enough, the truth does reveal itself in the form of Delenn, now over 140 years old and still alive, who interrupts the world-wide Q&A session with glaring accusations directed at the historians, saying they twist and distort that which they know, that they lie about what they don't know, and that John Sheridan was a great man. Record #1 ends there in a sort of "cliff hanger" that is never resolved, but leaves you stunned at Delenn's strength and boldness, and sets the pattern for the next 400 years, so that what occurs in the next record seems almost expected.

Record #2 begins in 2762, in an enormous holographic laboratory on Earth. Here, a lone engineer-type person has reconstructed in exact detail the physical images, personalities, and memories of John Sheridan, Delenn, Michael Garibaldi, and Dr. Stephen Franklin into interactive holograms. Thus, the heroes of B5, now 500 years dead, are resurrected with cutting edge technology, but for a sinister purpose.

In just a matter of minutes, it is revealed that the engineer is actually a new-age spin doctor whose assignment is to use the holograms to rewrite the history of the Earth Civil War -- to make Franklin look like a Nazi-esque doctor, who performed immoral experiments on aliens and children, and to make Sheridan look like a blood thirsty dictator.

Holo-Garibaldi soon learns that it is a project, sanctioned by EarthGov, designed to justify Earth's withdrawal from the ISA, now 500 years old. The Alliance, the engineer reveals, has been standing in the way of Earth's territorial expansion, and now they want out.

But, Garibaldi, despite being only a sentient holo-recreation, tricks the engineer into literally revealing EarthGov's entire plot to the world -- over the Interstellar News Network.

Any viewer of the show and especially a fain of Garibaldi can appreciate this extreme irony. Garibaldi has always relied on his fists first and his mind second, and it's always gotten him in a heap of trouble.

Now, when it matters most, Garibaldi prevents the future of the ISA from being destroyed with his wits and his words. And he has one last chance to be a hero. Perfect. End record #2.

Record #3 begins in 3262, but not in a grand future setting or advanced metropolis as one might expect, but in the most unassuming setting of all -- a monastery, on Earth, where an aging monk activates a series of old security cameras and begins recording a report of some nature.

Slowly, grimly, the brother reveals the story of the Great Burn, a war to end all wars, that was waged four centuries ago, and destroyed virtually every trace of human progress for the last thousand years.

Humanity, for all intents and purposes, had been reduced back to the Dark Ages, and once again, monasteries are the only remaining receptacles of knowledge.

This is a shock, no matter what the viewer is prepared for in such a landmark episode. Again, through suitably vague and fully believable dialogue, we learn that the Babylon 5 legends have become revered myths -- stories of Delenn the Wise and Ivanova the Strong fill the manuscripts of the brotherhood. But no myth is greater than that of the Rangers, and the prophecies that they will one day return to bring humanity back to the stars.

This centuries old prediction haunts a younger brother, who seeks wisdom from his superior, the monk operating the cameras hidden throughout the room. The monk tells his pupil to have faith -- that when the Rangers do come to return humans to their place in the galaxy, they will come quietly, a few at a time, not in a grand show of force.

When the younger brother leaves comforted, the monk reclines, gives out a sigh of relief and utters "I thought he'd never leave."

Carefully stepping across the book littered room, the monk opens the door of his wardrobe, revealing a distinctive black cloak and checkered sash adorned with a glittering medallion that could only belong to the Anla-Shok.

And so it finally becomes clear. The Rangers have returned to Earth to bring humanity back to space, not by handing them a fleet of WhiteStars, but by assuming the role of teacher and helping them help themselves.

The Ranger/Monk speaks into the camera, reporting that humans are finally ready to rediscover gasoline powered engines, but that the Rangers will have to provide the gas, since none is left on Earth.

This was a wonderful idea. While it is greatly disturbing to learn that all of Earth, including all the great accomplishments of B5 on Earth, have been destroyed and forgotten for centuries, it is the best possible way for humanity to ultimately succeed -- by starting over.

Rather than go with the more predictable plot of having goodness prevail before chaos and destruction come, and making the next millennium all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows, JMS dared to acknowledge that the good guys don't always come though at the last minute. Sometimes, it takes a war that nearly levels Earth to bring the good guys back on the right track.

This third record had wonderful touches, including glimpses at manuscripts filled with Middle Ages-style artwork depicting Sheridan, Delenn, and the Anla-Shok (one who looked a hell of a lot like Marcus) and the use of Roman numerals in the corner of every different camera angle, implying the extent of human knowledge lost, by having to revert to ancient numerical forms rather than modern ones.

Another point of interest: the Ranger was human, implying that at least a small contingent of humans avoided the Great Burn entirely. But if this episode has a true pinnacle moment, a grand Shakespearean revelation that makes it truly one of the best, it is in the last five minutes.

Record after record, the palish man has been watching these accounts replay, unfolding a shocking, even grim "history". As the last of the three records ends, a computer voice speaks to him, telling him that all records from one million years from the original scanning date are complete.

As soon as I heard that, I had figured out who this man was, or more accurately WHAT he was... I kept watching to be sure.

"Transfer all records to New Earth," he orders the computer. The computer warns him that the Sol supernova is approaching, but he seems not to care. At last, the view zooms back to reveal an enormous room with a bridge suspended in midair, where the man stands. He is surrounded by 3D computer images and futuristic artifacts. Finally, he shuts down his equipment with a single vocal command, then turns upward, as if gazing at the stars like a curious child.

"This is the way the world ends," he says. "Swallowed in fire, but not in darkness. You will live on. The voice of all our ancestors. The voice of our fathers and our mothers to the last generation. We created the world we think you would have wished for us. Now, we leave the cradle one last time."

With that, the pale, white-robed man turns and walks across the hovering bridge. In mid-stride, his body suddenly begins to glow like harnessed lightning, then reshapes itself into a ball of pulsating energy, which flies forward... and closes itself into an encounter suit.

The last image we see of this vastly distant future is a ship -- a human ship -- covered in organic armor escape through a jump point, just as the sun -- our sun -- detonates with the force of a billion hydrogen bombs and obliterates Earth.

And at last comes the moment of revelation.

The Anla-Shok succeeded in their quest to return human kind to the stars, better than anyone could have guessed, and now a mere one million years after John Sheridan loomed over Earth with a massive allied fleet and ended the Civil War with the simple words "We are here to place President Clark under arrest," humanity has matched the Vorlons on the evolutionary scale, becoming beings of pure energy.

Our sun is red and old and has turned in on itself before exploding in one of the greatest cataclysmic conclusions on TV, but humanity no longer has to worry. We have New Earth on which to live, a place to store all the treasures of our past, and now we must assume the role of teacher to the younger races -- a lesson learned from the Vorlons.

The last five minutes of 'The Deconstruction of Falling Stars' had me holding my breath with anticipation. I'd be hard pressed to think of a better conclusion to such a surprising, dynamic, and thoroughly well-written episode.

It had a tremendous sense of optimism and inevitability, as mankind goes though hell to emerge the greatest of all the races, as the Vorlons and the Minbari always expected. It ties in with the aforementioned notion that humans would bridge the gap between themselves and the Minbari, when Jeffrey Sinclair becomes Valen.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that this episode was meant to be the last in the series. Remembering that will enhance the appreciation derived from it, and put the last four seasons in a much greater perspective. Simply put: fantastic.

As much as I would like to urge Sci-Fi Universe to reconsider 'Deconstruction' as one of the ten best, I realize it is not really necessary. The list was already perfectly legitimate, and in the end, it is the opinion of each individual viewer that matters most.

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John Paige
2.22.1999