As Sheridan and Ivanova try to gain recognition of the station's new status among the alien governments, a traveler arrives with an unbelievable story out of distant legend.

Relying on a large number of races for the station's defense may turn out to be a logistical nightmare. Ivanova will have to deal with questions like the structure of the chain of command (does she have the authority to order a Vree ship to fire?) and what to do about races who've agreed to participate but whose enemies haven't, which could lead to a situation like the one in "The Fall of Night." Still, as a simple show of force and a deterrent, the arrangement may well end up being sufficient.

The Drazi ambassador now speaks for the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, whose membership seems to have gotten much smaller than a year ago. Perhaps many of the races have been taken over by their neighbors already, with Shadow help ("Severed Dreams.")

I first thought this episode was going to be just plain silly, but it revealed how the Earth-Minbari war started. Pretty cool.

I don't understand, however, how the obviously inferior Prometheus destroyed two Minbari cruisers and crippled a third (killing Dukhat). Even if it was a "surprise" attack, the Minbari ships had approached with gun ports open - they should have been able to fire back quickly and restrict their losses to the first ship fired upon. I guess that will be explained in "In The Beginning".

The whole “gun ports open” is, if you think about it, quite silly. It relates back to the days when war ships were made of wood and they fought with cannonballs.

Best not to dwell on it – it’s just a very minor plot device. Else you’ll be wondering how the doors on Trek know just when to open...

Originally posted by xVladx
Well, if they can manage it at the local grocery store, I think that they could pull it off on a futuristic starship

Originally posted by xVladx
Well, if they can manage it at the local grocery store, I think that they could pull it off on a futuristic starship

OK. You stand in front of the door with NO INTENTION of going in -- just inches away -- and see if it waits until you actually decide to go in.

Originally posted by Wizdar
I still wanna know how the SG-1 wormhole will stay open, like, forever, until the last person goes thru.

There was a TNG episode in the last coupla days where Riker walks to the door, stops, turns and has a line or two of dialogue. The door doesn't open until he turns back to leave.

Originally posted by Wizdar
The whole “gun ports open” is, if you think about it, quite silly. It relates back to the days when war ships were made of wood and they fought with cannonballs.

BTW, all away teams have a constant transporter lock on them. Just in case.

Bester finds himself at odds with others within the Psi Corps and seeks Sheridan's help, offering information about the Shadows in return. G'Kar presses for admission to the conspiracy of light.

The mere presence of Bester stopped the Shadow warship from attacking the White Star (assuming it didn't stop to avoid risking damage to the "weapons components.") Was that because it couldn't get close enough to attack without Bester interfering with its pilot's bond? In any case, the effect is consistent with Talia's experience in "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum," in which she was able to sense, even see, the Shadows without consciously probing for them.

A telepath who consciously chooses to disrupt a Shadow ship might be even more dangerous to them, though that isn't clear.

Is detecting other ships in hyperspace something peculiar to human telepaths? If not, do other races use telepaths for that purpose? It seems odd that the ability would remain a secret for so long if all races with telepaths can use them to scout in hyperspace. On the other hand, each race who's discovered the effect might consider it a military advantage and thus keep it under wraps.

Does Ivanova's latent telepathy provide any protection against attack by a Shadow ship? Ivanova has only encountered a Shadow ship once, in "Matters of Honor," and it fired at the White Star -- but it didn't hit the White Star. Perhaps Sheridan was wrong about why the Shadows missed. On the other hand, given the behavior of the Shadow ship in this episode, it's unlikely the ship in the previous encounter would have pursued the White Star like it did.

Originally posted by Wizdar
But can we use the leather restraints this time? The metal handcuffs leave marks that are hard to explain to my wife.

Sheridan tries to rally support for his cause as direct confrontations with the Shadows begin in earnest. Friction increases between Londo and Morden.

Londo's new pact with Morden may foreshadow the loss of his second chance for redemption ("Point of No Return.") With Londo's poison coursing through his veins, Refa certainly qualifies as "the one who is already dead," and now Londo has vowed to kill him. Along similar lines, Kosh qualifies now too; Londo may attempt to kill Kosh's replacement, not realizing it's another Vorlon entirely.

What do the Shadows want? Delenn seems to know more than she's telling. Morden's keen interest in the Centauri's continued aggression may provide a clue, but it's ambiguous at best. If they simply want a constant state of chaos in the galaxy, their current strategy will eventually backfire; there won't be anyone left to carry on fighting.

The fact that the Shadows attacked Kosh immediately after the Vorlon victory over the Shadow fleet smacks of the notion that there was a deal of some sort between the two races: the Vorlons stay out of the fighting, and the Shadows leave them alone. If that's true, one sobering interpretation is that both races consider the war something of a game. On the other hand, the truth could be just the opposite; the Shadows may not have wanted to touch Kosh for fear of causing Vorlon retribution.