Column Babylon 5 Rewatch Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Objects in Motion” G’Kar prepares to leave Babylon 5, while Garibaldi receives word of an assassination plot. By Keith R.A. DeCandido | Published on July 13, 2026 Credit: Warner Bros. Television Comment 1 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Television “Objects in Motion”Written by J. Michael Staczynski and Harlan EllisonDirected by Jesus TreviñoSeason 5, Episode 20Production episode 521Original air date: November 11, 1998 It was the dawn of the third age… A familiar-looking woman is having trouble at customs. Her name is Tessa Halloran and she’s from Mars, but the system isn’t registering her identicard. Franklin, however, recognizes her as “Number One” from the Mars resistance and vouches for her to Allan. She’s here to bring a message to Garibaldi, and also possibly to talk to Sheridan. Franklin takes her to Garibaldi’s quarters, where he’s going through the DTs, and Halloran informs him that there’s a contract out on him and Lise. The new government on Mars is very interested in possible corruption in Earth-based businesses on Mars, including Edgars Industries, and that has made both Lise and Garibaldi a target. Halloran also casually mentions that they’ll both be returning to Mars soon, which catches Franklin off guard. G’Kar goes to Alexander with his proposal of the two of them going off exploring together, since they are both unable to remain on the station or go home, albeit for wildly different reasons. Alexander accepts, though she assumes a more cynical reason for G’Kar wanting to keep her close. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Allan comes up with a plan to deal with the potential assassin: Lise and Garibaldi will relocate to temporary quarters and stay there until Sheridan holds a going-away party for both G’Kar and Garibaldi, where security will be ready for the assassin. Garibaldi also finally tells Sheridan that he plans to marry Lise and return to Mars with her to help her run Edgars Industries. He knows he can’t be trusted with a position of authority in the IA. Sheridan gives his blessing. A man kills a security guard and takes his link, replacing it with a replica. He then works with micro-tools to allow him to access the link, bypassing the DNA filter that would only allow the person he killed to use it. Halloran visits Sheridan, and explains the difficulties Mars has had. Earth has done everything they can to stall or delay Mars’ ability to be independent—the incident she had at customs is just one example. On top of that, internecine tensions that were set aside for the common goal of freeing Mars are now coming to a boil. Sheridan offers to set up a diplomatic post for Mars on Minbar that will allow them to function independently of Earth with IA support. A Narn approaches G’Kar asking why he’s leaving, especially since he spent all his money to come here and learn at G’Kar’s feet. He’s also the one who made the G’Kar action figures. G’Kar dismisses him and tells him he wasted his time and money and he should go home. Allan is going through the dead guard’s effects, and is surprised to see that the link is stuck to the bottom of the box. The links have genetically coded adhesives that only stick to the skin of the user. If this link is fake, then the assassin must have his real link. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Sheridan hosts the going-away party, giving a brief speech about how much they’ll miss both Garibaldi and G’Kar. Allan has a loud signal sent to the dead guard’s link, which reveals the assassin when he doubles over in pain. Allan’s people are able to arrest him— —but there’s another would-be assassin in the crowd, as the Narn groupie that G’Kar castigated thinks that G’Kar has betrayed them all and tries to shoot him. Allan tackles G’Kar, but the shot goes wild and hits Lise. Franklin is able to save Lise. While she recovers, Garibaldi asks Allan for five minutes with the assassin, which Allan reluctantly grants. Garibaldi brings the assassin to Alexander. Garibaldi knows that a scan would be inadmissible in a court of law, but he could give a damn about that, he just wants answers. The assassin is trained in techniques to resist telepathic scans, which would probably work against someone less powerful than Alexander, but she plows right through and learns that he was hired by the Edgars Industries board of directors. Garibaldi thanks her; Alexander reminds him of their deal, and promises to make Garibaldi a vegetable if he doesn’t live up to his end. Sheridan goes to G’Kar’s quarters to say goodbye. G’Kar was going to wait until Delenn returned from Minbar, but the attempt on his life shows that he should leave sooner rather than later. G’Kar waxes rhapsodic about how everyone who departs leaves a piece of themselves behind, and the pair exchange a final handshake. G’Kar then dictates a message to be delivered after he departs. Lise awakens, and Garibaldi informs her that he’s summoned a priest—not for last rites, to her relief, but so that they can be married right away. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Two guards bring Alexander to the dock where G’Kar’s ship is. G’Kar demands that the shackles be removed, but Alexander telekinetically shatters them before the guards can do anything. They head off together, Alexander disappointed that nobody came to see them off. However, Allan is watching from a distance.     Garibaldi contacts the Edgars Industries board of directors. They pretend to express relief that he and Lise are okay, and they say that they’ve found the guilty party: the company’s security chief, who confessed in his suicide note. Garibaldi, however, doesn’t buy it, and proceeds to mention various dirty little secrets of several of the board members. He then introduces his replacement as head of IA covert intelligence: Halloran. Having the infamous “Number One” in that position could make their lives very difficult. Garibaldi makes it clear that their resignations should be on his desk by the time he arrives on Mars. He’s also set aside 500,000 credits in a secret account. If he or Lise die of anything other than old age, contract hits will be put on each of them for 100,000 credits each, which is well over the going rate. Franklin and Halloran share a meal at the Zocalo, expressing surprise at how quickly things have moved. Franklin is also disappointed that she’s coming to the station just as he’s about to leave. But they do have time for one night together… Delenn returns just in time for Garibaldi and Lise to leave. Garibaldi thanks them both for supporting him and being the family he never expected to have. He hugs them both and then goes off. Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan gets heartfelt goodbyes with both Garibaldi and G’Kar. He doesn’t bother with one for Alexander, even though she saved his ass on multiple occasions. The household god of frustration. Garibaldi is already better at being the head of Edgars Industries than he ever was as a security chief, a PI, or the head of covert intelligence. Mostly because being unethical and extralegal and cutting corners is far more beneficial to a corporate CEO. Credit: Warner Bros. Television If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn suggests that, before they leave the station, she and Sheridan walk the entire five-mile length of the station. It’s a very Delenn thing to suggest. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar is disappointed a lot in this episode: by Alexander’s cynicism, by the Narn groupie’s idiocy, and by his having to leave the station. The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Allan comes the closest to saying goodbye to Alexander, but he only does it from a distance and out of her line of sight, so she doesn’t know he’s there. No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Alexander says that she kept the shackles on, even though she could’ve removed them any time with the power of her mind, because she found she enjoyed wearing them. Wah-HEY! Looking ahead. G’Kar’s recorded message will be played next time in “Objects at Rest.” Welcome aboard. Back from “The Wheel of Fire” is Denise Gentile, making her final appearance as Lise. Back from “Endgame” is Marjorie Monaghan as Halloran; she’ll be back next time in “Objects at Rest.” James Hornbeck plays the assassin and Neil Bradley plays the Narn groupie. Trivial matters. This is Alexander’s final appearance. The character was intended to appear in Crusade’s “The Path of Sorrows,” but Patricia Tallman had a scheduling conflict, so it didn’t happen. G’Kar came up with the notion of going off with Alexander, and Garibaldi made his deal with her, last time in “The Wheel of Fire.” The assassin runs songs through his head to try to block Alexander’s scan. This is a similar technique to that used by the protagonist to avoid being scanned by telepathic cops in Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man, which was a major inspiration for Psi Corps. It is unclear what Harlan Ellison’s contribution to the story was to earn him a co-story credit. The echoes of all of our conversations. “Go anywhere in the station when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while, you will hear the echoes of all our conversations—every thought and word we’ve exchanged. Long after we are gone, our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains.” —G’Kar providing the title for this section. Credit: Warner Bros. Television The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Now is all we have.” The endless denouement continues! This is pretty much Garibaldi’s swan song, and it’s fitting that he finally found his niche as the head of a corporation defined by dubious ethics. He lies, he manipulates, he performs hilariously unethical acts, he blackmails, he extorts. Yup, that’s a CEO, all right! And best of all, he’s not in an influential position in the IA anymore, which is better for everyone. I couldn’t really put my finger on what my issue with these last few episodes was until I read a comment by CriticalMyth on “The Wheel of Fire’s” rewatch entry from last week: the Drazi and the Narn attacked Centauri Prime, which was the latest in a series of missteps and screwups involving the nascent IA, and we’ve seen no examination of the consequences. A lot of what went wrong with the fight against the Centauri was due to Garibaldi’s drunken incompetence—not to mention Sheridan putting Garibaldi in a situation where his drunken incompetence could do the most damage—and we’ve seen precisely zero of what that means for the IA. We’ve focused so much on what the characters are doing as the show rides into the sunset that the plot consequences are glossed over. It is good to see Number One again, and find out what her actual name is, though her getting Garibaldi’s job makes me wish she’d gotten it in the first place. But it’s always good to see Marjorie Monaghan, and I like the fact that Mars’ independence is having expected problems with Earth being buttheads. It’s very fitting that G’Kar’s final in-person appearance on the show (he only will appear next time in a recorded message, and “Sleeping in Light” will take place after his death) includes the latest in a series of eloquent speeches by the Narn. It’s not his best speech, but it’s a good one, and Andreas Katsulas delivers it with his usual brilliance. While this episode is less draggy than “The Wheel of Fire” was, and actually is paced decently, it doesn’t feel like an hour’s worth of plot actually happened in it. Next week: “Objects at Rest.”[end-mark] The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Objects in Motion” appeared first on Reactor.