This is a brilliant scene. The first time you see it, everything Zathras says seems incoherent. But when you see it again in a latter episode from Zathras' perspective, he makes perfect sense.
_"Yes. Yes. Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life. Probably have... very sad death. But... at least there is symmetry."_
"... so Zathras talks to walls ... talk to ceilings, but dirt is closer. Dirt is used to have everyone walk all over it ... just like Zathras. Also dirt has insects in it. Not so good for ... conversation, but much protein for diet "
Kinda when you think about it. The actor died in a Motorcycle accident in 2004. he deserved an award for this portrayal. Zathras and his brothers Zathras are one of the best things in the show.
This is the most amazing long-distance setup I've ever seen in a Sci-Fi series. It blends almost perfectly with the "War Without End 1&2" episode that came out a couple of years later.
+Catzilla It wasn't planned that way. At the the time when JMS make shootings for Babylon Squared it was planned that Michael O'Hare/Sinclair will be still a part of the show in the next seasons; originally that was a setup for Season 5 (!) after Babylon 5 was destroyed; but because of Michael's O'Hare illness the whole scenario have to be re-write as he left, still JMS great writing skills allow him to make beatiful ending of Sinclair arc in War Without End 1&2.
@@stescooter100 Yeah, according to JMS he had "trap doors" for every character, even trap doors for the female characters to exit and come back should any of the actresses ever gotten pregnant during the show's run. Talia for example, her trap door, was the constructed personality, but the trap door back in, was the crystal that Kosh had that Abboud make during his "business meeting". That crystal had triggers that would have allowed Talia's real personality to resurface and defeat the militant psi corp one.
Here's an interesting fact: According to Wikipedia, Zathras's speech patterns were inspired by those of JMS's grandmother, a Polish immigrant who initially spoke English poorly.
Zathras sounds similar to slovak "zatras" which would be imperative of "to shake". There are fairytales about "oslik zatras sa!", about a donkey you would shake and he would spit(?) Golden coins. So zathras reminds me of this fairytale. You need to shake him to get what u need.
My theory on what happened to the first 3 stations is that Zathras tried it before with the first 3 stations and failed due to complications and made it look like sabotage, but was successful with B4
It was explained that Shadow agents recognised the design of the Babylon stations from the previous shadow war 1000 years previously and destroyed them to prevent any of them being sent back in time.
The crazy thing is I can only imagine the actor was told to say the lines exactly. No playing with the lines. Every word said by Zathras had meaning. One misspoken word and it could have had huge impacts to the Zathras story line. It wouldn't surprise me if more thought was put in Zathras' lines then were put into entire earlier episodes of this series. JMS had great buildup and delivery. So did Star Trek: The Next Generation. Especially with Worf and Data. Their story arcs took years to play out.
Maybe Zathras was making food ....food from oven ... tasty food ... insects ....num num na noo nom! .... maybe Zathras wa at the end of a shift ... but no-one listen to poor Zathras!!!
Its funny how we don't really understand why Zathras reacts like that when he sees Sinclair, until we see the next B4 episode and find out he told Zathras to NOT refer to him as "The One".
+SirCraigius Yeah, I always liked those episodes -- spread apart by several seasons. Nowadays, shows aren't planned for an entire run, they just hope to somehow get funding for the next season and don't much care about anything else.
@@flybeep1661 Yeah, I watched the first two episodes or something like that, saw a splatter-show with no plot, and dumped it right away. It just wasn't my thing.
@@flybeep1661 You are clearly referring to the first 4,5 seasons when the show could rely on the books to provide arcs and story, as the shows later seasons were just shit.
JMS did the B5 time travel arc good. There are two types of stories when they use time travel; scripts that should have been canned, and academy award winners. This is one of them.
Loved this character ... sadly the actor died in a motorcycle accident (2004, aged 49) .... it seems that Babylon 5 had a lot of deaths amongst the cast!
Wtf he also, In September 2004, he was on his way to a rehearsal for a play in Los Angeles when a van failed to yield at an intersection and struck his motorcycle; he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. A public memorial service was held the following October, on what would have been his 50th birthday, at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood attended by his many friends and fans.
the longest lived are the ones who were established stars before the show…Boxleithner, Scolari, Mumy: they had been known even if not A-List. Furst was the only one who had consistency outside of B5 but even so it was just one movie not anything else
Yeah, it was a very good arc, and when you see the 1st part in season one, you know it will happen soon, because the scene at the end, when old Sinclair is revealed, and you hear Delenn's voice.
Great ending of Sinclair arc. Amazing JMS writing skills, especially after found out that it wasn't planned from the very beginning /Michael's O'Hare departure was the reason to re-write the whole scenario/.
6 лет назад
One of the very few time travel (to the past) plots that I can bear to watch too, it was so cool, I gave it a pass.
I was very disappointed when season 2 came around and it wasn't O'Hare... but the trap door was very satisfactory. And everyone did a great job. It is amazing writing... all the more so for those who are patient enough for the original run, because we actually have to wait.
@@erikawhelan4673 but did he write a Trapdoor to poor Zathras?! (smack, pop) no no no! Nobody think of poor Zathras, they think he will just come along, no matter what happens.. Oh poor Zathras.
When I first saw Zathras, he reminded of the old Universal idea of a WEREWOLF. After all, he has all of the facial hair of a werewolf, so can you blame me?
They really had to tie themselves in knots to make this make sense after O'Hare left. It's just lucky they managed to get him back for that two-parter.
Wow, this is the first time I picked up on the extent of the last Shadow War - they wanted to end all life a thousand years ago, not just knock over some ant hills.
WOW!!! I didn't know that. But after seeing your post I had to see what happened. My wife his bouts of that. It's amazing how all these famous people are starting to die young again. I always like Andreas Katsulas in Star Trek too.
Would love to see members of the non aligned worlds as members of the main cast, like the Drazi or pak'ma'ra. Watching the series for the first time, I'm about half way through season 4. Even though I still have season 5, the movies and Crusade I'm sad its almost over.
"Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. There would never be another." The last lines in Babylon 5, Sleeping in Light, as spoken by Ivanova. Excepting that tiny text bit from the newscaster. Here are the rest of her lines: It changed the future… and it changed us. It taught us that we have to create the future, or others would do it for us. It showed us that we have to care for one another, because if we don't, who will? And that true strength sometimes comes from the most… unlikely places. Mostly though, I think it gave us hope - that there can always be new beginnings… even for people like us. As for Delenn, every morning for as long as she lived, Delenn got up before dawn and watched the sun come up.
Hey, did anyone else catch what Zathrus said? He said he warned, but nobody listened. Could Zathrus be a paradox; in that, he continues to live the same 1000 years over and over and over and over again?
@@MrAlumni72 No. There were 12 Zathras brothers, but only the one went through time. The rest stayed on Epsilon 3, helping Draal with the Great Machine.
I just realised watching this clip that of the four people in this scene only Kent Broadhurst (Major Lewis Krantz) is still alive and he's now 83 according to the IMDB.
Babylon 2 fell into the wormhole. Babylon 3 fell into the wormhole. Babylon 4 burned down, imploded, and then fell into the wormhole. But Babylon 5…well we’ll see.
I uploaded the scene from Babylon 4 immediately prior to this one, where Sinclair and Garibaldi have the flash forward scene where Babtylon 5 is under heavy attack and is about to explode. I would encourage the uploader of this video to add Zathras to the search tags.
Actually, it was Frank Poole jogging around Discovery's carousel. Interestingly enough, however, I've read that the spacesuit the One wears in this scene is one of the actual costumes from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The black device in the scene DOES make me think of the monolith... I guess this scene might, indeed, be a wink and a nod to the Greatest Science Fiction Movie of All Time.
This episode is one of my 3-5 favorites. The 2nd part is up there with this one. As well as the one where they show the future of the earth and we all evolved to the same level as the Vorlon's. I also liked the one with Jack the Ripper.... And further more Dr. Sheldon Cooper, you are WRONG about Babylon 5. It was an AWESOME show. The New "Battlestar Galactica" is the one that sucks. No, the wench will NEVER be Starbuck.... No matter what she thinks or says. But I digress.
-- Ivanova and Zathras in Babylon 5:"Conflicts of Interest""Let's try this again." "As you wish." "Zathras came with us to Babylon 4." "Yes." "Zathras stayed in the past with Valen." "Yes." "You are Zathras." "Yes." "Therefore, you went into the past." "No, that was not Zathras, that was Zathras. There are 10 of us, all of family Zathras, each one named Zathras. Slight differences in how you pronounce. Zathraas, Zathras, Zathras.. You are seeing now?" "There are ten of you?" "Yes! Well, nine now." "And Zathras?" "Zathras gone! Zathras warned Zathras, but Zathras never listened to Zathras. Zathras was quiet one in family. SO! What can Zathras be doing for you?"
I have the feeling something else would have appeared that would still enable it to all come together. The Fates in this episode were so tightly wound together there was no way it would not have worked out somehow.
@@ethenallen1388 because others decided. he had absolutely no free choice. pawn in others game. Id rather let galaxy burn. To hell with these so righteous all knowing Minbari.
@TomeOfBattle Yes, you can. If Minbari were so stupid they needed mutated Human as a leader, they deerved to lose war. And don't lecture about innocent lives: Minbari almost wiped out entire species just because one unfortunate border incident caused by incompetent commander. They were genocidal murderers themselves.
@@FalconRS It seems to me that someone who would rather let a galaxy filled with countless worlds inhabited but uncounted billions of being burn rather than accept a part in something greater than oneself, regardless of how that part came about, is a slave to their own spitefulness and ego. Ever that or they'd make a perfect puppet for the Shadows. I'll let you choose which.
I thought so. When I first saw the show I made that comment. I'd also like to know how George Lucas got the copy-write for Droids. He didn't invent them, he stole them from "Silent Running".
