History Recap / BabylonFiveS03E16WarWithoutEndPart1

->''He is the closed circle. He is returning to the beginning.''
-->-'''Vorlon on Minbar about Sinclair'''

In the temple in Minbar, Sinclair, with the letter still in his hand, is waiting for his ship to Babylon 5. Rathenn announces that it is ready and offers his help if Sinclair would confide in him, but Sinclair tells him that this was meant for him alone. He thanks Rathenn for being the first to trust him after he came to Minbar, then gets up. As Rathenn watches Sinclair leave, somehow sensing that they will never meet again. The Vorlon Ambassador to Minbar joins Rathenn and tells him that Sinclair "is the closed circle" and "is returning to the beginning". "The beginning of what?" he asks, but the Vorlon just leaves. Even a Minbari can't make heads or tails of anything Vorlons say.

On the ''White Star'', Delenn shows everyone an old recording from the time of the last great war against the Shadows, 1000 years ago. Things had not been going well for them, as a Shadow attack had destroyed their primary staging base. Just as all hope seemed to have been lost, their salvation appeared out of nowhere: Babylon 4. With it, the Minbari were able to rally and much of the Shadow fleet was destroyed and the Shadows themselves driven from Z'ha'dum. Six years ago, the allies of the Shadows recognized B4 as it neared completion and sent a nuclear device to destroy the station (coinciding with Babylon 4's initial "disappearance"). Before they reached it, however, the fighters were destroyed by...the ''WHITE STAR''??

On the ''White Star'', Delenn shows everyone an old recording from the time of the last great war against the Shadows, 1000 years ago. Just as all hope seemed to have been lost, their salvation appeared out of nowhere: Babylon 4. With it, the Shadow fleet was destroyed and the Shadows were driven away from Z'ha'dum. The Shadows, shrewd as they are, recognized B4 as it neared completion and sent fighters to destroy the station six years ago (coinciding with Babylon 4's initial "disappearance"). Before they reach it, however, the fighters are destroyed by...the ''WHITE STAR''??

Garibaldi returns to Babylon 5 where Sgt. Allan tells him of Sinclair's visit, to Garibaldi's utter shock. He goes to his quarters and checks his messages, discovering one from Sinclair, but it is password-encoded. Garibaldi is trying to find the password unsuccessfully until it hits him: "Hello, old friend". The message from Sinclair is a Goodbye, as he will not be coming back from Babylon 4, and if Garibaldi had gone there as well, he would not return either.

* CallBack: To "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E20BabylonSquared Babylon Squared]]" obviously. It's also revealed that the destruction of Babylon 5 seen by Lady Ladira in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E13SignsAndPortents Signs and Portents]]" was in the alternate future avoided by going back in time here.

* ContinuityNod: Garibaldi's attempted passwords. "Peekaboo" is Garibaldi's personal password ("[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E16Eyes Eyes]]", "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS03E11CeremoniesOfLightAndDark Ceremonies of Light and Dark]]"). "Socks," "fasten," and "zip" are taken from a SeinfeldianConversation between Sinclair and Garibaldi in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E20BabylonSquared Babylon Squared]]". Lastly, "hello, old friend" was Sinclair's opening line in his previous message to Garibaldi ("[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E09TheComingOfShadows The Coming of Shadows]]").

On the Minbar homeworld, a Minbari, Rathenn, is shown delivering a box to a hooded figure. Rathenn explains that he and his fellow priests are obeying its instructions written nine hundred years prior, to open it exactly today. The figure reaches and looks inside and sees an envelope addressed to Jeffrey David Sinclair. He removes his hood, revealing himself as Ambassador Sinclair(!), also known as the Entil'Zha, or leader of the Rangers. Rathenn wonders aloud how "he" knew where Sinclair he would be in 900 years. How, indeed...

In the temple in Minbar, Sinclair, with the letter still in his hand, is waiting for his ship to Babylon 5. Rathenn announces that it is ready and offers his help if Sinclair would confide in him, but Sinclair tells him that this was meant for him alone. Rathenn watches Sinclair leave, somehow sensing that they will never meet again. The Vorlon Ambassador to Minbar joins Rathenn and tells him that Sinclair "is the closed circle" and "is returning to the beginning". Whatever ''that'' means. Even a Minbari can't make heads or tails of anything Vorlons say.

Zack Allen is having quite a time trying to process the identicards of those in the station's docking bay, but while he is overlooking them, he comes across a very interesting one -- that of Ambassador Sinclair. Zack welcomes Sinclair back to the station, and asks him if he plans to be staying long. Sinclair says that is a more interesting question than Zack knows, and disappears into the crowd.

Lennier enters Delenn's quarters and finds her troubled and praying. "He is here", she tells Lennier, close to tears. Lennier replies that it "must be done", or the consequences will be dire. On the table by the candle, we see that Delenn received a letter, as well.

Marcus and Sheridan are in the War Room discussing the latest reports. It seems that the Shadows have ceased their attacks now that the Vorlons are kicking their butts, but it won't last long. Delenn interrupts and asks Sheridan to join her on the ''White Star'' immediately; that's Sinclair's cue to enter through the back door. The two legends exchange pleasantries (and a private joke about running this god-forsaken station), but before Sheridan can ask how Delenn knew about Sinclair's visit, a communication comes in from Garibaldi: the temporal rift in Sector 14 is twice as big as usual, and that this is caused by a powerful tachyon field generated by the Great Machine on Epsilon 3.

Sheridan argues with Delenn that they should be going to Epsilon 3 to find out what is happening there, but Delenn tells him that there is not time for that, and that she will explain everything once they're underway. As their shuttle embarks for the ''White Star'', a skeptical Sheridan muses that Sinclair's timing is uncanny, to which Sinclair replies that There Are No Coincidences. Marcus tells Sheridan to quit while he's ahead, since "Ranger One" has a reputation for seldom giving straight answers. (There's a lot of that going around, old bean.)

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Both Sinclair and Delenn receive letters from an anonymous source (later revealed to be
Valen) instructing them to deliver Babylon 4 to the past. As revealed in part 2, Valen is actually Sinclair, reincarnated as a Minbari and transported 1000 years into the past, where he aids in the original overthrow of the Shadows (Hence "a Minbari not born of Minbari"). This also explains the Vorlon's cryptic statement regarding Sinclair as "the circle".

* WriteBackToTheFuture

Meanwhile, a deeply confused Sheridan is handcuffed and facing an unhappy-looking Londo Mollari in full imperial regalia, right before he's thrown down onto the floor and kicked by the imperial guardsman. Sheridan recognizes the Emperor on the throne as Londo, who looks quite a bit older than Sheridan remembers him.

The ''White Star'' moves to grapple onto a stable area of Babylon 4. Delenn has been deeply disturbed by Sheridan's disappearance. Sinclair insists that he will be all right, and, to her stunned surprise, tells her in fluent Minbari that he knows what is coming. Sinclair confides to her that he always sensed something was amiss with his existence, but that now, his path is clear.

Back in the future, Mollari rants about how Sheridan and his allies drove the Shadows away, but that the Shadows' servants wrought vengeance on Centauri Prime, and Sheridan allowed it to happen. Sheridan is dragged to a window, where he looks out upon the burning, smoking city around him.

On the ''White Star'', Delenn shows everyone an old recording from the time of the last great war against the Shadows, 1000 years ago. Just as all hope seemed to have been lost, their salvation appeared out of nowhere: Babylon 4. With it, the Shadow fleet was destroyed and the Shadows were driven away from Z'ha'dum. The Shadows, shrewd as they are, sent fighters to destroy the station six years ago (coinciding with Babylon 4's initial "disappearance"). Another archive video shows the ''White Star'' traveling back in time to prevent their attack. Unless Sheridan sticks to the script, the Shadows would win the war against the Minbari, or at least force a stalemate, and therefore much of their military might would still be intact in the present. This would enable them to destroy Babylon 5 in just eight days.

-->'''Sinclair:''' Besides, I think we'll work well together. Like Butch and Sundance. Lewis and Clark. [[ILoveLucy Lucy and Ethel]]. [Sheridan looks nonplussed with that last one.]

** The Centauri Prime of 2278 has seen better days. Emperor Mollari is irate at Sheridan and his allies for allegedly throwing the Centauri homeworld under the bus. Subverted in that [[spoiler:Centauri Prime's destruction is a fixed point in history, and won't be averted]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Both Sinclair and Delenn receive letters from an anonymous source (later revealed to be [[spoiler:Valen]]) instructing them to deliver Babylon 4 to the past. [[spoiler:As revealed in part 2, Valen is actually Sinclair, reincarnated as a Minbari and transported 1000 years into the past]], where he aids in the original overthrow of the Shadows (Hence "[[spoiler:a Minbari not born of Minbari]]"). This also explains the Vorlon's cryptic statement regarding Sinclair as "the circle".

* HalfTruth: Sinclair backs up the testimony given by Delenn, claiming the information came from "a ''very'' reliable source". (i.e. [[spoiler:himself]])

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The exposition duties were meant to be shared between Delenn and Draal, but John Schuck wasn't available so poor Mira Furlan had to handle it on her own. The original script is included in the official script volumes.

* LostTechnology: The time stabilizers are a deus ex machina, courtesy of Draal and the Great Machine.

* IntertwinedFingers: Sheridan and Delenn do this almost unconsciously on the arm of his command chair. [[ShipperOnDeck Sinclair seems to approve.]]
** Sinclair approving was on purpose...him being a ShipperOnDeck makes the lack of fulfillment of HIS UST with Delenn more reasonable.

->He is the closed circle. He is returning to the beginning.

* CameraAbuse: Future Ivanova switches the viewscreen to transmit from one of B5's external cameras, proving beyond a [[IncrediblyLamePun shadow of a doubt]] that The Shadows are slated to destroy the station in eight days. A Shadow vessel clips the camera, cutting the feed.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Jerry Doyle has a vocal dislike of Michael O'Hare, evidently due to their differing acting styles. Rumor had it that Doyle refused to share any scene with his former co-star for this one, which necessitated a plot in which Sinclair continually dodges Garibaldi.

* ContinuityNod: Garibaldi's attempted passwords. "Peekaboo" is Garibaldi's personal password ("[[Recap/BabylonFiveS03E11CeremoniesOfLightAndDark Ceremonies of Light and Dark]]"). "Socks," "fasten," and "zip" are taken from a conversation between Sinclair and Garibaldi in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E20BabylonSquared Babylon Squared]]". Lastly, "hello, old friend" was Sinclair's opening line in his previous message to Garibaldi ("[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E09TheComingOfShadows The Coming of Shadows]]").

-->'''Zathras:''' Draal gave Zathras list of things not to say. This was one. No-- Not good. Not supposed to mention "One", or "The One". ...[[TheFool You never heard that]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Both Sinclair and Delenn receive letters from an anonymous source (later revealed to be [[spoiler:Valen]]) instructing them to deliver Babylon 4 to the past. [[spoiler: Valen is actually Sinclair, reincarnated as a Minbari and transported 1000 years into the past]], where he aids in the original overthrow of the Shadows (Hence "a Minbari not born of Minbari"). This also explains the Vorlon's cryptic statement regarding Sinclair as "the circle".

* GoodScarsEvilScars: Sinclair now sports an L-shaped scar on his left cheek, the origin of which is unmentioned.

* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: The Shadows apparently got wise to the Minbari's plans for Babylon 4, sending fighter ships through the time rift in order to destroy the station in the past. However, we know that the ''White Star'' intercepted their plan and guided Babylon 4 to safety, because Draal has an ancient recording of it.

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Sinclair and Delenn's mission to deliver babylon 4 safety through the temporal rift.

* TheBusCameBack: Sinclair makes him triumphant return in this two-parter, though he's previously been seen on wall monitors.

In the temple in Minbar, Sinclair, with the letter still in his hand, is waiting for his ship to Babylon 5. Rathenn announces that it is ready and offers his help if Sinclair would confide in him, but Sinclair tells him that this was meant for him alone. Rathenn watches Sinclair leave, somehow sensing that they will never meet again. The Vorlon Ambassador to Minbar joins Rathenn and tells him that Sinclair "is the closed circle" and "is returning to the beginning". Whatever ''that'' means. Even a Minbari can't make heads or tales of anything Vorlons say.

Sheridan orders Garibaldi to return to Babylon 5 while a small vessel carrying Zathras docks with the ship. Draal has sent Zathras to deliver equipment that is crucial to sending Babylon 4 back in time, including a homing device that must be placed on the central power core. Sinclair recognizes him as the strange alien he encountered onboard Babylon 4 last time, and Zathras greets him as "The One". Sinclair, wary of any more paradoxes, warns Zathras not to divulge any future information when they meet again in the past. Zathras is totally confused (he's not alone), but since he is good at doings, not understandings, it's all good. Before they proceed, Sinclair takes Sheridan aside to asks him not to mention his presence to Garibaldi.

* BadFuture: A bloodied Invanova pleading for help as the Shadows attack B5, moments before the station explodes.

* CallBack: To "Babylon Squared" obviously. It's also revealed that the destruction of Babylon 5 seen by Lady Ladira in "Signs and Portents" was in the alternate future avoided by going back in time here.

* ContinuityNod: Garibaldi's attempted passwords. "Peekaboo" is Garibaldi's personal password ("Ceremonies of Light and Dark"). "Socks," "fasten," and "zip" are taken from a conversation between Sinclair and Garibaldi in "Babylon Squared". Lastly, "hello, old friend" was Sinclair's opening line in his previous message to Garibaldi ("The Coming of Shadows").

-->'''Sinclair:''' Besides, I think we'll work well together. Like Butch and Sundance. Lewis and Clark. [[ILoveLucy Lucy and Ethel]]. [Sheridan looks nonplussed with that last one]

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Jerry Doyle has a vocal dislike of Michael O'Hare, evidentially due to their differing acting styles. Rumor had it that Doyle refused to share any scene with his former co-star for this one, which necessitated a plot in which Sinclair continually dodges Garibaldi.

* StableTimeLoop: Sinclair telling Zathras ''not'' to let on to his past self (the Sinclari from "Babylon Squared") that they've met already.

* CallBack

* DoYouTrustMe: Delenn asks this of Sheridan before they depart for Babylon 4. It's supposedly the single "most important question" she has ever asked him.