Why only live for 20 years?

[stormy]

The Place where no shadows fall !!!,Definetly,my favorite episode !!!,did you know that it was taped at end of 4th season,when they did not know there was going to be a 5th season ???.

[jds1982]

No one's pointed out that Sheridan is a Messianic figure yet. lol.

JMS has said as much that one of the main influences for B5 was the bible. Sheridan is the architypal mythological hero. He dies, he is reborn, and ascends.

It creates a mythology around him, much the same way as Valen. Valen died and was reborn again in a less literal way, Sinclar died and was reborn as Valen, after the last Shadow War he was taken beyond the Rim the same as Sheridan. "Some of the Minbari say he'll come back, but I never saw him again in my lifetime"

he's basically "Star Jesus"

that last episode has me in tears EVERY TIME I WATCH IT! lol

It was also a very Arthurian concept.

[stormy]

Very well put !!! ,Being a old soldier,I love your -Dinobot-Code of hero quote,awsome !!!

[valen_sinclair]

Nope. Kosh didn't have to say that.

And the death still could have been revived and indefinite.

my god why do you watch television!?

Why did the cylons go on the attack in Battlestar Galactica, why did the ancients build the stargates? why did lister bring a cat onboard red dwarf, why did sylar have the ability to steal powers.
It happened cause it was scripted that way, it was better for it...the final episode of babylon 5 is heart wrenching stuff. It is probably the greatest story ever made for television and you feel you need to question JMS's decision to not make sheridan live forever? The arrogance is mind blowing.

Life doesn't have a happy ending, everyone dies...

[Coremae]

B5 is not a Stargate. He took him beyond the rim

They do use the term evolve alot. like the well of souls, when those people was about to evolve to energy beings and they're inprisoned by the soul keepers at the moment of transition.

[Zalenka]

Maybe it was only 20 years as lorien wanted to get on with exploring the universe. He was down in that hole for thousands of years and now he wants to get on with exploring the universe beyond the rim. However, he has a problem, he's got to take Sheriden with him. He's prepared to wait, but not for long, so he gives Sheriden 20 extra years of life after failing to catch him properly when he jumped down the hole.

I can't understand why he couldn't catch him properly and save his life completely.

[nx01a]

Lorien can't create life, he could only do so much, restore so much 'life'.
As for 'catching' Sheridan... "Oh, look. A fleshy thing falling." Lorien had to bring Sheridan to an understanding of his mortality before going forward with his/their mission. Saving him wouldn't have let Lorien know if Sheridan was worthy of his help, much less able to do what's necessary with that help.

[Zalenka]

Would dropping off a cliff have not brought him into touch with his mortality?

[P-90_177]

Would dropping off a cliff have not brought him into touch with his mortality?

yeah but there wouldn't have been much time for him to contemplate it really.
Lorien also needed to know that Sheridan wasn't just going to quit. He needed to know that Sheridan had something to live and fight for so he could get through the struggle. Which was Delenn.

[Stewart5]

OK, OK, I'm ashamed to say that only in the last few months that I got around to watching B5, through friend's recommendation - and I call myself a sci-fi fan...

Anyway, I watched the final episode of season 5 last night. I'll be honest, it tore me apart. The 20 years thing has always been nagging on my mind and to actually jump 20 years for the last ep to show it happen - well, seeing what Sheridan and Delenn had and see it go is literally heart-breaking.

But this brings me back to a very simple question: why did JMS decide that he had to only live 20 years? Why couldn't he have just been given his life back, end of story?

This not only prevents any series taking place after the events of this episode if you want Sheridan in them, but it just feels wholly unnecessary - almost perverse in fact.

Anyone got any insight?

Yeah,
The end of the series would have been no where near as poignant or heart rending if he had simply meandered into senility and finially croaked. We became attached to a character, then we found out he had, more or less, a terminal condition with a limited time frame. It made his every act more important, and when the end came, it brought out emotion in the veiwer. I personally think the ending would have been poor if it was simply "oh, look the world is perfect, I saved it, and now I'm going to slowly slip into decay...."

Oh, and it's JM's story. That's why.

No one's pointed out that Sheridan is a Messianic figure yet. lol.

JMS has said as much that one of the main influences for B5 was the bible. Sheridan is the architypal mythological hero. He dies, he is reborn, and ascends.

It creates a mythology around him, much the same way as Valen. Valen died and was reborn again in a less literal way, Sinclar died and was reborn as Valen, after the last Shadow War he was taken beyond the Rim the same as Sheridan. "Some of the Minbari say he'll come back, but I never saw him again in my lifetime"

he's basically "Star Jesus"

that last episode has me in tears EVERY TIME I WATCH IT! lol

Nobody wanted to point it out because when you start connecting sci-fi to various religious events and trying to find parralells, your really wasting the show.
Lets not forget that anyone who dies and then resurects could theoretically be linked with numerous relgious beliefs, eg Christianity. Why do people have to try and find even deeper meanings than the ones already in these shows????

Would dropping off a cliff have not brought him into touch with his mortality?

Yup. But would he have been able to contemplate it, though?

[Whitestar]

B5 is an amazing series. It didn't need to have this aspect.

I'll never watch the last episode of season 5 ever again. Stories don't have to have a sad ending to have meaning.

Well, if its any comfort, here is a direct quote from Straczynski who publicly stated the following on the B5 Lurker's Guide regarding the final episode:

Pretty much everybody cried. I came home to a message on my machine from Mira, who was almost unable to speak, and another from Claudia who said she was honored and proud to be a part of this, and the script had made her cry. Bruce, Richard, big beefy guys on the crew...all said the same thing. And there I have to concur; I lost is several times as I was writing it, due to the content; there's one scene in particular...you'll know it when you see it...that put me away for an hour when I finished writing it.

But here's the thing...*every single person* who cried at the script, ended it feeling that it was not a sad script in the end, or a down ending...that it left them feeling proud, and tall, and *positive*...that life goes on...that it was a reaffirmation of life itself, on its most primal level. They felt good about the ending. And that was a great relief for me, because I was trying something *very* difficult from a writing perspective, and at first blush it looks as if I've pulled it off. (Now I get to go in as director and *totally* screw it up.)

Only one fan has read the script...someone whose opinion I trust. Because I was curious about the reaction from that side of the screen. And the reaction was *exactly* the same.

So how do I think people will react?

I think a lot of people will cry.

But by the end of it, I think it will come around, and be all right...and mainly, that people will then look back at the whole story, through all these long years, and say, "It was a good story." And close the cover, and put it on the shelf with the other books that will be reread again down the years, and turn off the lights, and go to bed feeling that the time was well spent.

Which is the most any writer can ever ask for. To tell a tale worth telling To make people cry. To make people laugh. And even, once in a while, make them think about things, and see the world just a little differently than when they began.

And then they can centerpunch me on the freeway, or throw a plane at me, and I won't even mind. Because everything I set out to prove, I proved. Everything I set out to say, I said.

I've carried this story like a hermit crab carries its shell for five long years, counting the pilot. It's been an *awfully* long and difficult road, and no one will ever really know just how hard this show was to make. Nor should they, because it isn't the difficulty that makes the story, the *story* makes the story. But one way or another, aired as 522 or 422, when it airs the burden is off at last. Then it no longer belongs to me. It belongs to you. As should be.

And, in the end, I think you'll be pleased.

See link:
http://www.ntua.gr/lurk/guide/110.html


And here is another quote from Straczynski on the finale:

The sad truth is that we die. That is not a happy ending, not a sad ending, simply a fact. Whether we die alone, or die among friends and family; whether we die in the pursuit of happiness or at the end of a life of frustration, we die.

The question is what we accomplish during the days and months and years preceding; do we leave the world a better place or a worse place? If we have left the world around us a better place, as these characters did, then it's a happy ending.

Because what constitutes a happy ending? If a character dies happily, among loving friends, but pulled an Enron on the rest of the planet, is that truly a happy ending? Or is a happy ending the man who frees a nation at the cost of his own life? Is the end of Bravehard a happy ending? Or is it the story of a man who lived deeply, fought bravely, kept faith with his dreams and achieved something of note thus that happy doesn't enter into it?

The poem "Ulysses" by Tennyson crops up a lot in B5, and some have made it a point to note the last few stanzas. But that poem is, to me, the summation of the power of human will. Its ideals echo through the B5 storyline. It's one of the bravest pieces of writing I've ever read, and its effect on me was profound. Still is. Read it here, below, and think of B5, and you will see the resonances in terms of theme and the end of our story.

Ultimately, for me, the end of B5 is neither a sad ending nor a happy ending; it's not an ending at all, since the universe carries on. But if I were to describe what kind of ending it was, I'd say it was a graceful ending, a dignified ending, an ending that said individuals can effect profound change, if they are willing to put their own lives and happiness on the line; not happy, not sad, but a testament to the idea that you have used your time here well.

Everything else is ephemera and coffin-cloth.

JMS

See link:
http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-16676&topic=comics


Straczynski summed it up best: the ending of B5 is not a happy ending or a sad ending, it was a graceful ending and I'm inclined to agree. Our heroes set out to do everything they said they would do and ended up two inches taller. What more can anyone ask?

[m_wendy_r]

As much as the last episode tears me to shreds when I watch it, it couldn't have ended any other way. I just thought I'd resurrect this old thread just to raise my hand and say that whilst he didn't have to die, if he hadn't, this episode wouldn't have had the impact that it does.