Sleeping in Light
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Agreed. That's one of the really wonderful aspects of this one IMO too.
Yes. The two die killing each other. It's pretty heavily implied in the episodes where we see it happening, but it's made abundantly clear in the Legions of Fire novels.
This is one of the bigger disappointments of the entire franchise IMO. You're right--we don't find out what happened to him in this one. And since it was filmed prior to what happened several episodes previous, I'm not even convinced that JMS had decided to have him betray Sheridan/Delenn at the time SiL was written. Worse, his fate isn't especially well-addressed in the novels. It's mentioned, and we do find out what happens to him. And it is a redemption of sorts, but it's told in retrospect by another character so you never actually get to see/read it play out.
It will most certainly help, though not all issues are resolved; while other new problems are introduced that never get proper resolution due to cancellation or not being ordered to series.
And then there's the novels which are considered part of the show's canon. For every one of them, JMS outlined stories that he wanted to see happen in his universe and then let other writers do the novelization of it. There's three trilogies and a standalone that are in this category:
Let me try to address/help....
Originally posted by magictrick
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Originally posted by magictrick
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Originally posted by magictrick
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Originally posted by magictrick
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- Thirdspace and River of Souls are totally standalone stories. The first is set approximately during 4.09 and is stated to be between the end of the Shadow War and before the civil war. The second is set in the year after Season 5
- Legend of the Rangers is kind of the black sheep of the franchise. It was made as a backdoor pilot for a potential series on Sci Fi, but its ratings were pretty bad and it was generally savaged by fans of the franchise. Frankly, it really sucked. If you're to skip just one thing in the entire franchise, I'd recommend this be it.
- A Call to Arms is another backdoor pilot, except it was spun into the TV series Crusade, which is set 5 years after the end of Season 5 (regular season 5, not SiL). You then have Crusade with its own story, varying opinions as to its quality, and ultimately cancellation before it could either get rolling or resolve the problem introduced in CtA
- Finally, there was Lost Tales, which is just all-around rather unfortunate. It's set in 2271 (4 years after Crusade, or 9 years after B5 S5), assumes the stories of Crusade are resolved, and was SUPPOSED to be the start of a series of direct-to-DVD movies focusing on each of the universe's main characters. But it never panned out and we only got the one release of two stories; JMS blamed it on low budget not allowing him to achieve what he wanted. Some fans (of whom I am one) point, rather, to the shoddy writing
And then there's the novels which are considered part of the show's canon. For every one of them, JMS outlined stories that he wanted to see happen in his universe and then let other writers do the novelization of it. There's three trilogies and a standalone that are in this category:
- The Psi Corps trilogy: Book 1 begins in the show's distant past, when telepaths first emerged on Earth in the 2100s, and is concerned with the birth and evolution of the Psi Corps into what we know it as from the show. Book 2 follows a young Bester growing up in the Psi Corps institution, from childhood until shortly before Season 1 of B5. Book 3, disappointingly, skips over the Telepath War entirely and picks up in 2271 when he's in hiding as a wanted war criminal
- The Techno-mages trilogy: This might sound a little puzzling since they were only in one episode (and two of them appeared in Crusade), but it really is a gem of a trilogy and IMO the best of all the B5 books. It follows the Techno-mages as they make their decision to go into hiding when the Shadows return, and focuses on Galen (a Crusade character) as he wrestles with his conscience regarding hiding from the war. Oh, and the other important thing? His investigation into the tech of the Techno-mages, and what their connection is to the Shadows themselves. The whole trilogy takes place concurrently with Seasons 1-4 of the show, and occasionally shows stuff from the show from the point of view of other characters
- The Legions of Fire trilogy: By far the biggest letdown of the franchise IMO. It tells what should be the most interesting story of the franchise put to print--what's going on with the Centauri and the Drakh, starting at the end of The Fall of Centauri Prime and continuing right up till that fateful end for Londo and G'Kar. Unfortunately, the author really sucks. You can almost point directly to the plot points JMS specified, since the writer does almost no storytelling in between. It jumps around a lot, the characters are written badly, and is just awful at keeping its dates straight. For a show so focused on being exact with its dates, this is really jarring. You routinely have to subtract x number of months or years whenever you see a date header on a page, or else just outright guess at when this should be happening
- Finally, there's the standalone novel The Shadow Within, which occupies a really strange place in continuity. It's half canon. That is to say, it tells two simultaneous parallel stories: Sheridan when he first takes command of the Agamemnon and is adjusting to his new command, and Anna aboard the Icarus on its voyage to Z'ha'dum. The Anna/Icarus story is considered canon, the Sheridan/Agamemnon story is not
RIP Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas and Jeff Conaway.
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