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Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Ceremonies of Light and Dark”
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Babylon 5 Rewatch
Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Ceremonies of Light and Dark”
The newly independent station mourns its losses, protects its own, and looks to the future.
By Keith R.A. DeCandido
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Published on May 28, 2025
Credit: Warner Bros. Television
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Credit: Warner Bros. Television
Over the weekend, Peter David—among many other things, the writer of three television episodes and several novels and novelizations in the Babylon 5 franchise, and also a friend of your humble rewatcher—passed away after several lengthy illnesses. This edition of the B5 Rewatch is dedicated to his memory.
“Ceremonies of Light and Dark”Written by J. Michael StraczynskiDirected by John Flinn IIISeason 3, Episode 11Production episode 311Original air date: April 8, 1996
It was the dawn of the third age… A mess of shuttles are leaving B5, some with NightWatch loyalists who are no longer welcome, some with people who just don’t want to be there anymore. Sheridan expresses concern about NightWatch personnel who have remained hidden on the station. The captain also refuses to wear his uniform jacket, quoting Mark Twain’s line about his hypocrisy only going so far, though he will make an exception for the memorial service.
They’re keeping comms locked down so EarthDome can’t use the comms to take over the computer, but Garibaldi has the master access codes, so he can change all the passwords. Once that’s done, they can reopen comms.
Sheridan makes rounds, against Garibaldi’s advice, as the captain is a target. But Sheridan says the whole point is to be out in the open. Sure enough, a sniper gets a bead on Sheridan while he’s out and about, but Boggs—a security guard loyal to NightWatch—stops the sniper from shooting. If they assassinate Sheridan, he becomes a martyr.
Delenn meets with representatives of the Minbari fleet that saved the day last episode. Lennier then informs her that the fleet captain, Lennan, wishes to tour the station, and Delenn agrees to conduct the tour herself.
Cole returns to the station, and surprises Delenn by having no great loyalty to Earth. As a colonial, he viewed Earth merely as a parasite that was taking their tax money, and damn little else. Delenn tells Cole that now would be a good time for the Nafak’cha—the Rebirth Ceremony. Cole thinks it’s a bad idea, as everyone is too focused on their own affairs right now.
That proves prophetic when it comes to Mollari and G’Kar, both of whom politely but firmly decline. So does Cole when Delenn formally invites him to attend.
There is a memorial service for those who died in the attack on the station, with their bodies sent into space toward the sun. As promised, Sheridan wears his dress uniform for that.
Credit: Warner Bros. Television
Mollari meets with Refa, who is annoyed at having to come to the station for this meeting. But Mollari has made plenty of trips to Centauri Prime, so Mollari felt it was Refa’s turn. The ambassador questions why the Centauri are fighting on so many fronts. Refa says they have to expand, but they are doing so at the expense of spreading the military very thin. Fighting on two fronts is ill-advised—fighting on twelve is insanity. Mollari then drops the other shoe: He knows that Refa is working with Morden and his associates. Refa denies it until Mollari reveals a recording of a conversation he had with Morden a ways back, at which point Refa cops to it. Mollari tells Refa that the Shadows will eventually turn on them, which will be easy to do with their forces so divided. Refa thinks Mollari is a silly goose, and why should he do that? Mollari replies that his patriotism should outweigh his ambition—and besides, Mollari poisoned Refa’s drink. It’s a two-part poison. The first part, which Mollari has introduced into Refa’s drink, will lay dormant in the blood until the second part is introduced… which Mollari will have his agents on Centauri Prime do, if Refa doesn’t cut ties with Morden.
The two NightWatch dudes we saw earlier meet with the remnants of NightWatch on the station. Boggs lays out the plan: kidnap Delenn, and use that to force the Minbari fleet to withdraw. That will leave the station vulnerable. The sniper from earlier, whom scripter J. Michael Straczynski is too lazy to name, says that a human killing a Minbari is what started the Earth-Minbari War, and maybe they shouldn’t do that? But Boggs says that the plan is to make it look like Sheridan is responsible. The sniper—who spent the aforementioned war torturing Minbari POWs—starts singing “Dem Bones” to make it clear that he’s completely binky-bonkers.
Garibaldi and Ivanova are able to reset the passwords and reboot the system. However, the latter reactivates a dormant AI program that they abandoned once it proved to be too annoying, as the program—nicknamed “Sparky”—sounds like a nudzhing father.
Cole accompanies Delenn to her meet-up with Fleet Captain Lennan, and the ambassador once again tries to convince the Ranger to attend the Nafak’cha. Cole explains his reasons for refusing: You’re supposed to give up something important to you. Cole doesn’t have anything left to give away. He no longer has a home, and all his worldly possessions are on his back. Delenn disagrees, as the memories of that loss are something he needs to let go. Cole politely disagrees.
Delenn meets with Lennan and his aide, and all three Minbari are ambushed and kidnapped by Boggs and his crew.
Boggs contacts Sheridan and says that if the Minbari fleet isn’t gone in six hours, the Minbari will die. To prove he’s serious, he shoots Lennan’s aide. The comm is scrambled, but Sheridan tells Garibaldi to examine the communication itself to see if there are clues to their location.
For his part, Cole goes to downbelow and threatens the criminals who hang out in the bar he frequents. If somebody doesn’t talk, he says, in five minutes he’ll be the only one at the table left standing. Five minutes after that, he’ll be the only one in the bar still standing. Ten minutes later, he’s made good on that threat, but unfortunately, everyone in the bar is insensate, and there’s nobody left to answer his questions.
Lennier shows up, and winds up doing a part of the Nafak’cha: confessing a secret. In his case, it’s that he loves Delenn, a pure love that goes beyond romantic love. He also knows that she is fated for another and that his love is destined to remain unrequited. He will, nonetheless, always be there for her.
One of the thugs wakes up, and Cole is able to get information out of him: A member of security who is with NightWatch wanted black-market parts sent to Level 14. Meantime, Garibaldi has determined that the background noise in Boggs’ comm indicates that it’s in Grey Sector. Sure enough, a section of Grey 14 has been locked down, supposedly by Garibaldi’s order; an order the chief never gave. That’s probably where Delenn is.
Delenn and Lennan have a conversation in Minbari in an attempt to be covert, but the sniper speaks Minbari—he learned it while torturing prisoners.
Boggs is thrilled to see that the Minbari ships are retreating. But before he can signal Clark’s loyalists to jump into the Epsilon system, there’s an explosion and coolant starts leaking into the chamber. They have to evacuate, which they do—
—right into an ambush. The Minbari ships retreating was a bluff. In the ensuing melee, Ivanova shoots Boggs, Delenn is stabbed, and Sheridan nearly beats the sniper to death, getting out all his frustrations about NightWatch in general and Delenn’s injury in particular on the sniper’s face.
Credit: Warner Bros. Television
While Delenn will recover, her injuries preclude her hosting the Nafka’cha. Sheridan, however, decides to bring the ceremony to her. He, Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin each sacrifice something important to them—in each case, it’s their EarthForce uniform—and make a confession to Delenn. Lennier informs them that, having anticipated this, they each have a gift in their quarters: new uniforms that symbolize B5’s independence. They are each reborn, and they wear the new uniforms to CnC as Sheridan reopens full comms and says that B5 is open for business once again.
Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan’s Nafka’cha confession is that he has fallen in love with Delenn, which isn’t really a secret to anyone who’s been paying attention, but whatever…
Ivanova is God. Ivanova’s Nafka’cha confession is that she fell in love with Winters.
The household god of frustration. Garibaldi’s Nafka’cha confession is that he’s afraid of losing control.
If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn asks Lennier what he thinks of the changes on the station, and Lennier rather evasively defaults to trusting in prophecy. Delenn has to remind him that prophecy is not always a good guide…
In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… During the glory days of the Centauri Republic, poison was a common method of dealing with one’s enemies among the upper classes. Since Refa is trying to restore the glory days of the Centauri Republic, Mollari finds it fitting to use poison as a tool to manipulate his fellow aristocrat now.
Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar is too busy trying to continue to be indispensable to attend the rebirth ceremony. Besides which, he says, he was already born once, “and quite sufficiently, I think.”
We live for the one, we die for the one. Cole hangs out in a skeevy bar in downbelow, and he’s able to operate there because he has an agreement with the criminals that hang out there that they each leave the other alone. That agreement gets bent once Delenn is kidnapped, however…
No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Both Lennier and Sheridan confess their love for Delenn in this episode, while Ivanova confesses her love for Winters. Cha cha cha.
Credit: Warner Bros. Television
Welcome aboard. Don Stroud and Paul Perri play our NightWatch bad guys with speaking parts. (Stroud previously played Caliban in “TKO.”) Creative consultant Harlan Ellison does the voice of Sparky the computer, while Kim Strauss plays Lennan.
And we’ve also got recurring regulars William Forward as Refa (back from “The Long, Twilight Struggle,” next in “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”), Joshua Cox as Corwin (back from “Severed Dreams,” next in the first part of “War Without End”), and Ed Wasser as Morden (back from his uncredited vocal cameo in “Voices of Authority,” next in “Interludes and Examinations”).
Trivial matters. Garibaldi’s arm is now in a sling, due to an injury suffered by Jerry Doyle during filming of “Severed Dreams,” but which was filmed after the final scene in which his only injury was to his legs. The retcon is that Garibaldi said he initially refused the sling, but it got worse, so Franklin insisted.
Ed Wasser’s role in this episode is either a redo or an alternate take of one of his scenes with Mollari in “Matters of Honor,” which is seen here as a holographic recording.
Sheridan’s closing line about the station being back in business echoes Takashima’s line at the end of “The Gathering.”
The Nafak’cha was first mentioned, and partly seen, in “The Parliament of Dreams.”
When Cole is mentioning things he’s lost, one thing on the list is “a woman I was quite fond of.” According to the B5 novel To Dream in the City of Shadows by Kathryn M. Drennan, which dramatizes Cole’s backstory on the Arisia Mining Colony, that woman was Hasina Mandisa, the colony’s chief of planetary forecasting.
When Delenn and Cole are talking while waiting to meet Lennan, there’s a 1990s yellow “wet floor” sign behind them which probably wasn’t supposed to be on camera…
Credit: Warner Bros. Television
The echoes of all of our conversations.
“I see they trained you well, back home.”“Well, they said I was carrying around a lot of repressed anger.”“And?”“I’m not repressed anymore.”
—Lennier and Cole discussing the latter’s taking out of everyone in a bar.
The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Bugger, now I have to wait for someone to wake up!” Almost anything would be a letdown after “Severed Dreams,” and much of this episode sadly lives down to that expectation. The main culprit for the disappointment is, once again, bad guest casting, as Dan Stroud and Paul Perri are absolutely wretched as the NightWatch thugs. Stroud sounds like a cheesy villain in a bad Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the 1960s, and Perri conveys absolutely no sense of menace or craziness in a role that requires at least one of those things, and preferably both. It kind of takes the wind out of the sails of the kidnapping plot.
One of the reasons why NightWatch has been effective is that it’s been portrayed as reasonable sounding, with many of its representatives beautifully portraying the blandness of evil, sounding just like people trying to do their job properly, and played by actors who embody that nicely—Alex Hyde-White, John Vickery, Shari Shattuck, Vaughn Armstrong—so Stroud doing his Snidely Whiplash act just does not work.
The rest of the episode is okay. Lennier’s confession of his pure love for Delenn gives me an oogy feeling watching it now for some reason. I dunno, it just feels unnecessary—can’t he just be loyal to her because he admires her and believes in her? I mean, it works for Cole…
The less said about the computer’s dormant AI coming to life the better, as beyond giving the late Harlan Ellison a chance to do his borscht-belt schtick, it serves little purpose except as comic relief that isn’t actually all that funny. To be fair, that’s the fate of a lot of the attempts at comic relief in this franchise. Casual conversational humor tends to work better in this particular milieu than more direct attempts at humor (like G’Kar’s line about having already been born the once).
Credit: Warner Bros. Television
I was very happy to see the memorial service. Just because all the people who died weren’t actual characters on the television show Babylon 5, in-universe they were personnel assigned to Babylon 5, and their deaths absolutely should have been mourned. However, while I was happy to see that multiple ethnicities were represented in the names that Ivanova reeled off of the deceased, I was also disappointed that the script did a better job of diverse casting than the casting department has ever been able to manage. There were more people of Italian, Latin, and/or Asian descent in that casualty list than there have been with speaking parts. (That may not be 100% accurate, but it sure feels that way…)
While the concept of the Nafak’cha is a good one, the execution leaves a bit to be desired. I remember being mostly confused by Ivanova’s confession thirty years ago, as that seemed like a huge leap from what little we saw of Ivanova and Winters together before the character was written out, and watching it now, I was just rolling my eyes at the pointlessness of it. Garibaldi’s confession started out promising, when he said he was always afraid, but then after a pause, he keeps talking and clarifies that it’s losing control he’s afraid of, which is much less interesting.
At least Franklin was kind enough to finally admit that he has a stims problem, contrary to his assurances in “A Day in the Strife” that he was fine, no really, honest. And the only possible response to Sheridan’s confession of love for Delenn is, “DUH!” That’s been obvious for a while, dude…
Where this episode shines is as a vehicle for Jason Carter, as Cole is delightful here. In particular, I like that he sticks to his guns and doesn’t participate in the Nafak’cha, even after multiple implorings by Delenn. And just in general, it’s fun to watch him kick ass and snark off.
Next week: “Sic Transit Vir.”[end-mark]
The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Ceremonies of Light and Dark” appeared first on Reactor.
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