"Z'ha'dum" - Babylon 5 - Season 3 Episode 22 - Reaction

[@SSecularScholar]

Nothing says “Honey, I think we should see other people.” Like 2 nuclear warheads to the face.

[@oenrn]

"Consider it a divorce!"

[@nolimit7959]

(Kosh) “Jump, JUMP NOW “! Probably the Only time that Vorlon didn’t speak Cryptic or in Riddles!🤔

[@Muck006]

There are two more: - end of season 1 ... Delenn asks Kosh if the Shadows are back at Z'ha'dum ... and he says YES - [I forgot that one ... but it does exist]

[@Petrosman]

One of the greatest season finales of any scifi show. The mystery, the intensity, the fear for what is about to happen. It could go anywhere from now on. And then G'Kar's monologue in the end. Just shivers...

[@SSPerfectChaosRCT]

I will put this on par with TNG BoBW season finale.

[@Petrosman]

@@SSPerfectChaosRCT never seen ST so dunno

[@chet8682]

definitely one of my top 5 cliffhangers of all time

[@IvarChoiEspedalen]

Hear hear!

[@mattlinfante]

Imagine having to wait 5 or more months until the next season came out back in the 90s.

[@martintoggweiler2343]

Where I was in the 1990s the months long gap was after “Shadow Dancing”, which itself is a pretty darn good cliffhanger. Season 4 began showing the week after “Z’ha’dum” aired.

[@seanferguson6774]

I think the gap for me was after WWE. When it did return, there were several weeks in a row and it was fantastic!

[@Nikioko]

Or just the seven days from October 28th 1996 till November 4th 1996...

[@keithborders2375]

Or those of us who had to wait for the Season 4 DVDs to come out without giving in to look at spoilers on The Lurkers Guide.

[@ACIoannina]

Or those of us who lived in a country where they stopped the series with the end of season 3 and had to wait years to get the chance to see the whole thing!

[@tulinfirenze1990]

Sheridan's vision from season two: The man in between is searching for you. Justin: Think of me as kind of a "middle man".

[@neverwithit]

John 'Nuke 'em' Sheridan gets his decree absolute the only way he knows how.

[@jimcook1161]

G'Kar's monologue at the end is the cherry on the cake after everything that's just happened.

[@MegaReacts]

I loved it. I was happy I could leave it in without copyright issues.

[@hughjassol-0-]

@@MegaReacts It is this G'kar speech that lives, as my personal guest, rent free, for all time, in my head.

[@Muck006]

"G'Kar's [insert whatever]" is top notch entertainment/TV/wisdom ...

[@sharkdentures3247]

Mega - "On No! I'm gonna have to WAIT 7, 8, 9 DAYS!" Me (Gen Xer who watched this in the 90s) - "These spoiled kids today are too soft!" lol

[@MegaReacts]

I am just a Gen Xer who waited to long to watch B5.

[@martintoggweiler2343]

@@MegaReacts As I recall you started this journey as a dedicated longtime Star Trek fan with a somewhat dismissive attitude toward Babylon 5. At this point in your journey, if you could send an anonymous message back in time 20 or so years, what words might have persuaded your younger self to watch it then?

[@MegaReacts]

@martintoggweiler2343 Honesty I don't think my younger self would have appreciated B5 as much as my older self has.

[@sharkdentures3247]

@@MegaReacts Dangit Mega. Can't you just let me enjoy my "Get off my Lawn!" - 'old man' rant? (I need the practice.) LMAO

[@craiglortie8483]

@@MegaReacts i can't wait for brent watches to catches up to this point!

[@Nikioko]

The moment Sheridan realized that the Anna who he loved is really dead and that the Anna standing in front of him is just the organic shell of a Shadow puppet.

[@ChannelReuploads9451]

Remember what Ivanova said. Boom, There is always a boom, Boom Today, Boom Tomorrow, Boom Boom Boom.

[@miller-joel]

Or maybe in 20 years.

[@mooncalf_4534]

I want you in my room, let's spend the night together, from now until forever?

[@morganjohnson539]

I love this series. The best story ever put on the small screen. I've watched it through several times on video, but I remembered watching as a weekly television show when it came out. The effects seem dated by today's standards but at the time they were groundbreaking.

[@neverwithit]

Love Christopher Franke's score once Sheridan knows for sure that the real Anna is never coming back.

[@chrisfraser5088]

One of the best season finales ever imo. I can remember the wait for season 4 being agonizingly long. Buckle up, season 4 doesn’t disappoint.

[@miller-joel]

And then wait for the DVD sets. Torture.

[@chrisfraser5088]

@@miller-joel oh, 100%. 😂

[@timbmusician]

My friends and I who watched this show originally always had a saying that the more sense a Vorlon makes, the more you should worry. It doesn't get much clearer than, "Jump. JUMP, NOW!" And G'kar's speech at the end? *chef's kiss*

[@gerstelb]

Jeff Corey (Justin) is another case of JMS getting an ace character actor on the show. 239 IMDB credits, going back to 1937. He was the villain of the original “True Grit,” and he was the Sheriff in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

[@JamesC1981]

i remember him from the cloud minders star trek episode

[@Muck006]

The best character actor cant do anything with a bland role ... but JMS knows how to make all of them interesting: by not making them black/white and having flaws OR "a point".

[@therealvector8955]

Wow, I remember watching this episode when it originally broadcast and having no idea if Sheridan survived. Sure, I thought Sheridan's return likely, but because of Sinclair's shocking departure (keep in mind, we had no idea of the behind the scenes circumstances that made it necessary) I had the nagging fear they could have really killed the character. You got to love a cliffhanger ending like that.

[@sdfried4877]

What I like about the argument is they are all telling the truth. Morden is 100% correct and his disgust at the thought of the Vorlons’ mental and physical manipulation is real. It shows that he’s not simply a mustache-twirling villain; he actually believes in the concepts and actions espoused by the Shadows. He buys into the concept of fighting our way to the stars, which is similar to the argument about the technological benefits of both world wars. If you can compartmentalize all that death and suffering, there are actually some positive side effects. Morden can do that. There is a reason and a back story to Morden, but it is not revealed during the series. The book The Shadow Within gives us more insight. Love the Loki quote at the end. 😂

[@hornorsilk2901]

This is also similar to Moorcock and his Eternal Champion series, and what you find with the Lords of Chaos.

[@ThePrytanis]

2:25 "Full on Conan mode." Sir, you are about to learn how f'n badass Sheridan is. Conan has nothing like Sheridan's kill count...

[@ThePrytanis]

14:30 And now you know.

[@Muck006]

Conan didnt have nukes ... compared to John "nuke 'em" Sheridan. Sheridan couldnt punch a camel unconscious. tl;dr It is the QUALITY, NOT the quantity that is most impressive.

[@wrorchestra1]

"The Man in-between is searching for you." You could call him the Middle Man or simply Justin. Kosh knows everything.......

[@JohnS-cg9nj]

"Anna" played by Bruce Boxleitner's real wife,Melissa Gilbert, and that was their Real wedding picture she was looking at.

[@mrnicebobby]

I decided to take a shot every time you said "I don't know" and nowwmy room tastttesfunny

[@hyloguy6847]

9:00 Yup, you guessed it! 17:30 Eight or nine days? We had to wait MONTHS! 😜

[@Nikioko]

Nope. Seven days. From October 28th until November 4th 1996. The big break was after War Without End.

[@relecor]

Another one of the pivotal "oh shit" moments that changes everything. Buckle up, season 4 gets even more intense!

[@miller-joel]

Nah. But it's still pretty good. Gotta resolve the war with the Shadows, and deal with Earth.

[@Nikioko]

@@miller-joel Season 4 is a bit rushed. Because JMS had to wrap up stuff early, as Season 5 was cancelled. That destroyed a lot of the pacing.

[@miller-joel]

@@Nikioko I didn't mind the pacing.

[@hornorsilk2901]

@@Nikioko I actually thought the pacing did what JMS said should happen, keep becoming more intense each season. I think the pacing actually helps make the season

[@michaelconnor1542]

Btw, Bruce snagged himself Laura Engles, and she was pretty hot in the nineties.

[@robert_bbiii]

One of the things you can say about B5 is they know how to end a season. Especially back in the day you had to wait for the new season.

[@quentinmichel7581]

You got to wait maybe a week or a little bit more to watch LMFAO - we had to wait for freaking MONTHS.

[@reverseBLT]

Ah, yes, I remember sitting in stunned silence in a room full of sci-fi fans, back in the day. So began one of the longest summers ever. We consoled ourselves through the wait with a ton of speculation, theories, and debates, and by hounding the series creator online. 🤣 Fun fact: this finale was on TV Guide's list of 25 greatest cliffhangers of all time. Looking forward to your reactions to S4.

[@jensscholz]

I loved the conversations with JMS at rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5

[@darthphayde508]

One heck of a season finale. Easily one of my top favorites in all the scifi shows I love.

[@Nanashicae]

John Nuke’em Sheridan does what he does best. Just be glad he wasn’t around during the Cold War. Also agree, Sheridan the Grey is gone.

[@Tiggermk4]

One of the fun things was that the actress playing Anna was Bruce Boxleitners wife at the time.

[@Nikioko]

Yes! This is the pinnacle of the show.

[@miller-joel]

That would be Severed Dreams.

[@Muck006]

@@miller-joel Severed Dreams, War Without End, Z'ha'dum, the "revelations and readjustment of Sheridan" from Lorien over the next few episodes, Into the Fire, the interrogation of Sheridan, ...

[@miller-joel]

@@Muck006 That's not what pinnacle means.

[@kurtjk01]

This wasn't just a cliffhanger ending; it was a cliff-dropper ending. I wish I could credit the guy who commented, "Yeah, that's how I wanna go: falling into a bottomless pit, flipping off my ex-wife while a couple of nukes go off in her face." The speculation, the summer after this aired, was rampant and non-stop. Lots and lots of re-watching from all the seasons to back up arguments; that sort of thing. Fun times. And, every time I've hosted a viewing of this show for someone new, I *always* make 'em wait a while after this episode . . . Call it a bit of fraternity hazing, if you will; "if I had to wait, so do you!"

[@JRcomments]

Jeff Conaway will always be known to me as Bobby Wheeler on Taxi.

[@SSecularScholar]

Those of us back in the day had to wait the summer.

[@Nikioko]

7 days. The summer break was after War Without End.

[@SSecularScholar]

@@Nikioko Where I was at, the next season was at best in the middle of shooting, it was months for me.

[@Nikioko]

@@SSecularScholar Then you didn't watch the original run.

[@SSecularScholar]

@@Nikioko I watched as it aired in the 90’s.

[@gallendugall8913]

Oh cool. I never noticed how the color red tied the episode together.

[@ninak.5283]

Sweet summer child.... We waited A YEAR to find out what happened. We had no nails left to bite.

[@jokerz7936]

John "Nuke Em" Sheridan.

[@Muck006]

"We wouldn't have gotten this far if we hadn't been at each other's throats" ... queue Harry Lime's quote from "The Third Man" about "500 years of peaceful Switzerland vs. 50 years of poison and murder under the Borgias".

[@mayra3277]

That ending monologue. The episode is already great... but B5 has a way of choosing the last words in any given season carefully. Remember the other season finales? We had "nothing is the same anymore" for season 1, and Ivanova's "Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for peace. By the end of 2259, that hope had failed." Now we got G'Kar. What a show.

[@stevetheduck1425]

Kosh: 'Jump. Jump NOW!' and Sheridan waits a full six seconds before he jumps, with a ships approaching at hypersonic speeds. He might have not been dead if he'd fully trusted Kosh, eh?

[@NZBigfoot]

Was definitely one of the best season endings at the time when I watched it on broadcast... it spun you around and then ended with so much unknowns and not really knowing where it would go felt a bit stunned for a good hour afterwards. Id still hazard to say, that to experience B5 properly you should have a mandatory break period of a few months between seasons lol... since as others have mentioned, its what we watching it back in the 90's had to go through, definitely made the week leading up to the following seasons return exciting. For me in NZ, at this point we'd caught up and the episodes were only a few months behind the American broadcast rather than a whole year or more out of sync... which was surprising given it was airing at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon, and it wasnt id have assumed the most watched show... hell i think i was probably the only one watching (and taping every episode) of it in the entire country lol. Thing is season 4 started only a couple of months latter which REALLY surprised me, and we where only about a month behind from there on out, almost missed the start of season 4 too, since I expected a good 6+ months and only just noticed it listed in the TV guide one day by accident a week out from its air date.

[@KevynJacobs]

Sheridan The Gray is dead, having fallen into the chasm at Z'ha'dum. Long live Sheridan The White!

[@Nikioko]

Yes. Z'ha'dum is a reference to Khazad-dûm, the Dwarven name of Moria.

[@vze2fz2c]

You do know that "Anna" was Bruce Boxleitners REAL Wife when they were filming this episode.

[@simonoleary9264]

I sympathise with your holiday dilemma, but when it aired we had to wait about 6 months to get the next episode... Talk about being on tenderhooks for S4!

[@Nikioko]

Those 6 months were only 6 days, which felt like 6 months. 😆

[@simonoleary9264]

@@Nikioko In the UK it was about 6 weeks, but it definitely felt much longer 🙂

[@Nikioko]

@@simonoleary9264 In the UK it aired more than a month earlier than in the US, but it was also just a week to wait between Shadow Dancing and Z'ha'dum. The big break (in the UK case 4 months) was between War Without End and Walkabout.

[@Carl_Gustav_Häyhä]

The real reason why John was so shocked was that Anna looked totally different than on that video which John's sister gave him at the early S2 🙄

[@joeychicago6436]

You once said Babylon 5 was close to being your favorite Science Fiction program, has it now crossed that threshold to being the favorite? If you have something that rates higher, tell me, I'm a SciFi junkie, & I need a fix!

[@MegaReacts]

That is a complicated question I am not ready to answer yet. I must finish B5 first.

[@fubarpie]

​@@MegaReacts a wise answer

[@thedisneylandkid]

Anna is definitely a far cry from Laura ingalls Wilder from Little House on the prairie. I was wondering when Melissa Gilbert was going to show up, seeing as at this time she was married to Sheridan in real life.😅

[@Muck006]

The "three nights" are not continuous ... they already spent one night on the White Star while traveling to Jupiter to destroy the second Shadow vessel and one other night as well (IIRC).

[@oenrn]

Talk about ending on a cliffhanger... literally!

[@miller-joel]

Cliff jumper.

[@hornorsilk2901]

This one raises all kinds of questions, and of course, I think the way to really begin to understand them is to think of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series, with his take on law and chaos.

[@geoffharper8650]

So does Sheridan go splat ....stay tuned for season 4. At least we wont have to wait 4 or 5 monthes.

[@miller-joel]

We didn't see a splat. So there was no splat.

[@michaelconnor1542]

If you go to Za'Haduum,....

[@miller-joel]

...bring sunscreen. 1,000,000 SPF.

[@Orchestration1983]

May I ask why you use the singular term "shadow" rather than the plural "shadows" when refering to the shadows?

[@MegaReacts]

I look at them as almost a singular group not individuals. A faction of evil (chaos). Anyone who helps them or is part of their kabal are part of the Shadow. Just how my mind works I guess. I know it drives people crazy.

[@miller-joel]

@@MegaReacts If you really want to annoy people, you can call them The Shades.

[@elaine_of_shalott6587]

For once you actually have to wait longer than we did. In the US this episode aired on October 28th and the first episode of season 4 aired on November 4th.

[@Nikioko]

Yes. The big break was between War Without End and Walkabout.

[@TheFireMonkey]

How many minutes were you able to wait before watching the next episode? 🐵

[@MegaReacts]

Over a week. I went on a family vacation right after filming.

[@Nikioko]

@@MegaReacts Tough guy. 🤣

[@TheFireMonkey]

@@MegaReacts Yes, after I wrote the question and saved it, you commented that you were going on vacation - so I guess the question becomes, how long after you got back? I remember how long the week between the end of season 3 and the start of season 4 seemed [yes, "week" - not a mistype, Z'ha'dum aired Oct 28, 1996 and The Hour of the Wolf aired Nov 4, 1996 - but that week felt like it was months long!]

[@MegaReacts]

It was the first thing I watched when I got back.

[@sdfried4877]

Z minus 3 days 😆

[@MegaReacts]

Ok to hell with waiting. It drops tomorrow.

[@robertcartier5088]

Or, will Sheridan be the Locutus of B5's Shadow-Borg?! No. Because JMS doesn't *need* to plagiarize a goddamn thing! ;-]

[@Nikioko]

Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros...

[@Colin4763]

Be seeing you

[@juriskrumgolds5810]

Z MINUS 0 DAYS HURRAY!

[@therealvector8955]

Z Minus 2 Days.

[@MegaReacts]

Ok to hell with waiting. It drops tomorrow.

[@therealvector8955]

@@MegaReacts I couldn't wait either. You are the man, Mega!

[@Yonatan_Max]

I can't help but feel like Sheridan was way too trusting of Anna. Way too quick to believe her. In the end it shows he knew, but I still feel this is out of character, after all he's been through with Delenn

[@hemmojito]

Laura Ingals everybody

[@davidb1565]

All revolves around 3 and 50:50 is very binary.....just saying.

[@Nikioko]

The Triluminary. The One who was, the One who, and the One who will be... Oh, now I have to watch Dark again, thank you. 😆

[@davidb1565]

@Nikioko "But being speakers are the best And you don't have to guess De La Soul posse consists of three And that's the magic number". De La Soul. Three Feet High and Rising, 1989.

[@damonbryan7232]

Definitely not a Star Trek episode

[@robwilliams6753]

You need to do better, your face is only taking up 1/3 of the video. Gotta make the people want to see the show!

[@3dtexan890]

Your face is blocking the video!!!

[@MegaReacts]

Things one must do to avoid copyright issues...

[@hughjassol-0-]

Z minus 0 days! You are spectacularly here!