The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

Deconstructed by..erm, I mean, REVIEWED by, Anchorbeing Na'Pryn

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And, for a special behind-the-scenes look at our own dear Vir Cotto, as a HUMAN (?!) directing Franklin and Garibaldi, (okay, okay, Stephen Furst directing Richard Biggs and Jerry Doyle), click HERE.

With an incomprehensible name like "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" you KNOW this episode is going to be weird. And it does not disappoint in that regard. This is another one of those episodes that departs from not only the normal tone, but the normal STRUCTURE of B5 itself, like the ISN ones--only much stranger. It is composed of a series of vignettes that take place in the years 2262, 2362, 2732, 3262, and finally, one MILLION years into the future (Wow!), talking about how Sheridan and Delenn's legacy and the Interstellar Alliance survived in the minds of mankind's future descendants. It ultimately has a message of hope at the end, but overall, this episode is...odd.
Since the episode itself is broken into parts, this review will simply review the different vignettes in order. Starting with the introduction, taking place in present day, that is to say, early 2262 NOT 2261 (as the credits still say--you understand, this was originally going to be a FIFTH-season episode but they bumped it back when they realised that they WERE going to get to make the fifth season after all, or something like that--don't look at me, it's a very long, complex story and every time I think about it my head hurts.) We see the triumphant--and profoundly embarrassed--"first couple" of the new Interstellar Alliance, PRESIDENT John J. Sheridan and the First Lady/Ambassador (I THINK she still has her title...right?) Delenn, coming back onto the station amid huge crowds of Humans and aliens, balloons, confetti, and noisemakers. Nice to see a LITTLE bit of fuss made over them, but I still wanted to SEE THE WEDDING! Sorry, don't mind me...anyway, Garibaldi's line about "one...hell...of a PARTY!" was not only funny, it was reassuring--the first real evidence we've gotten that the OLD Garibaldi, the one we used to LIKE, is now firmly back in place. Franklin was being very relaxed and happy, too. And then there is Londo and G'Kar. The "odd couple". It was very interesting getting to know a little more about Centauri customs (they do their weddings DEPRESSING, so that the marriage will HAVE to be better--kinda like the Human custom of invoking good luck by saying something that's bad luck--like "Break a leg" to someone in the theatre does NOT actually express a desire for said person to badly injure themselves, strange as that may sound.) and then that bit, "Was it something I said?"
G'Kar to Londo: "Perhaps it is EVERYTHING you say."
Now, how long have they been married again? (heh heh)
Then the record breaks down and we skip to an ISN show--a political commentary show that is almost an EXACT take-off on "The McLaughlan Group" right down to the "predictions" at the end, screaming, annoying interruptions, and EVERYTHING. As a scene it's a bit irritating, even though it is informative, but as satire, it's HILARIOUS. I HATED that smug little bald guy, I wanted to punch his face. But I liked Senator Elizabeth Metarie. She must be a Democrat. (heh heh you didn't hear that....moving right along...) The three panelists go on about whether Sheridan has a chance to pull the alliance together and make it really work, or not, yelling and interrupting each other constantly. Amusing. My favourite part was when they showed old childhood pictures of Sheridan. You could TELL that those were of Bruce Boxleitner--by G'QUAN, that guy looks EXACTLY like himself no matter HOW old he is! You can look at a picture of him at age THREE and say, "Hey, look, it's Sheridan!" Amazing. Anyway...loading next sequence...please stand by...
2362--one hundred years in the future. Another discussion/talking heads program, this one done with all the members being live and in the same room, a huge, empty, cavernous, almost completely dark, rather depressing kind of place. I rather liked the guy playing the host, he was kinda cool in a very quiet way. When I first say "Dr. Takashi" I almost freaked, because the actress reminds me SO strongly of Rosalind Chao, who plays Keiko on DS9, that for a moment I though it WAS her. Very similar face, same voice, same hairdo, same type of clothes Keiko usually wears, etc. Uncanny. Anyway, on this talk show, it's apparent that "after a hundred years", people DO still remember Sheridan and Delenn and the alliance--which is evidently STILL together!--even though Sheridan thought that people wouldn't remember them. But they remember them in a BAD way. These snoot-ball intellectuals, completely twisting things around and using big words just for the sake of using big words (in other words, this is another bit of satire) reduce Sheridan to the role of a PSYCHOPATH and Delenn to a passive stander-by who just "let" things happen around her. They show a video of Garibaldi being held hostage from later in 2262--yes, "our" year--presumably by the renegade telepaths that Sheridan allowed to have a colony on the station that was mentioned earlier--and discount the myth of Delenn still being alive. "Oh, no Minbari lives to be 140! Come on!"
A better cue you couldn't ask for--preceded by chime-shaking monks, in hobbles Delenn herself! 140 years old and still as moral and strong-willed as ever. As they all stare in awe and shock, she comes right up to the camera, right behind their desk, and says, "John Sheridan was a good, and kind, and decent man."--and walks away again.
"Delenn--" says one of them in shock, "you came all this way, just to say THAT?!"
"You have just as far to say less." is her comeback. Atta girl, Delenn. In this sequence, she easily outclasses the entire room. I give her a "thumbs-up". A couple of random notes--I see the Internet will still be around in 2362--and what WAS "that incident involving their son"?! Hmmn...
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2762--FIVE hundred years in the future. Now is when it starts getting interesting. Well, okay, it was before, but two talking-head things in a row was a bit much... This guy, dressed in something that looks like it came almost STRAIGHT out of one of those cheap, hokey old science-fiction movies from the '50s (for pete's sake, he had LIGHTING BOLTS on his uniform!) is making holograms of people on B5, the founders of the alliance--which is STILL together--Sheridan, Delenn, Franklin, and Garibaldi--with the intent of making false videos of them as propaganda. Now, this part was SOOOOOO 1984. I swear, we are talking almost direct quotes. "Goodfacts" vs. "realfacts" and "infospeak"--that is almost EXACTLY like "doublespeak" and "goodthought" and "sexcrime" and etc, the language style of George Orwell's classic SCARY anti-utopian novel copied practically wholesale. Anyway, this was a very fun sequence. The Buck-Rogers guy wants to make these videos to convince others that their breaking off from the Interstellar Alliance is the right thing to do, by making it look as if the Alliance was secretly evil all this time. Earth is on the brink of another civil war, and things are rather bleak. He makes the hologram Sheridan rant and rave and pace in front of a bunch of helpless people just before ordering a firing squad to kill them--while in the background, Delenn, Franklin, and Garibaldi, who are still themselves, or rather, programmed with their original personalities, watch helplessly but are still aware enough to feel that what is happening is horribly wrong. Then he makes Franklin do this absolutely FIENDISH recording about how they are experimenting with alien organs in Human bodies, on CHILDREN. Yick. Then...Garibaldi gets the upper hand. Buck-dude is about to turn him off when Garibaldi says that hey, wait a minute, if you're going to get into a war real soon, you might want to keep me around, because I used to be Sheridan's main tactical advisor, eh? So then he gets the guy to say his whole plan--they're going to do a preemptive strike, and they are targeting only CIVILIAN targets on PURPOSE to demoralise the enemy. (YUCK!) "So, what would you advise?" Buck whispers to Garibaldi.
"I would advise that you bend over, tuck your head between your legs, and kiss your ass goodbye!" is the answer. See, being of the computer, Garibaldi-hologram has figured out how to CONTROL the computer. He just broadcast their ENTIRE conversation to the enemy base, and the missiles are already on their way!
YES! Good ol' Garibaldi. Even dead, he's cool to the last. "NOOOOO!!!" screams Buck, running desperately out of the simulated room.
Heh heh heh.
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3262--one THOUSAND years into the future. You'd expect everything to be SUPER-advanced-looking by now, but, no. Evidently, that civil war that was touched off 500 years ago caused a LOT of damage--it completely wiped out civilisation itself, except for vague memories! (The culture, I mean, not the people. People are obviously still alive but I'm willing to bet nowhere near as many.) Earth is, essentially, in another DARK Age! Depressing. Very very depressing. That they could come so far and then lose it all...AGAIN. These two monks--like you're surprised, it was, after all, monks who kept the old knowledge alive during the last Dark Age--are arguing about whether these mythical heroes named things like "Lorien the First", "Ivanova the Strong", "Delenn the Wise", and "Sheridan the Blessed" actually existed or not. I rather liked both the dorky and unsure-of-himself Brother Michael AND the main dude, the fat little Brother Alwyn. (played by...oh, I forget his name, but he was in "Star Trek: The Next Generation", and "Total Recall", and "The Hudsucker Proxy"--I've seen him LOTS of places). He was a cool character. "Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet--you can go farther with BOTH than you can with just ONE!" They argue about whether the legendary Rangers will ever come again. Brother Alwyn tells Brother Michael that if the Rangers WERE to come again, they would move about us in secret and you wouldn't even KNOW they were here, then shoos Michael out of the room to finish illuminating his book.
Then he promptly looks into what is obviously a CAMERA, says that they have almost built a working gasoline engine (geez...) and asks for some gasoline to be "found" near the abbey, and PLEASE to make it look like an OLD container this time, then goes to the closet and pulls out...a Ranger uniform.
Yes, this dorky, fat, middle-aged monk is a Ranger! Cool, huh? He signs off his report by calling himself "Brother Alwyn MacComber, Anla'Shok, We live for the One, we die for the One." A depressing sequence, but it ends on a note of hope. Loading ending...please stand by...
Then we back out with the camera and see just WHO has been watching this all this time--it appears to be a relatively normal (albeit creepy-looking--for some reason, he reminded me of one of the villians from the second "Superman" movie...) Human. He tells the computer to send all the information he just got to New Earth (?!). We are now one MILLION years in the future. The computer sends the information and then warns him that the sun is just about to go nova. He makes this speech about "this is how it ends...swallowed in fire, but not in darkness"--then turns into a ball of light, flies into what looks like a variation on a VORLON ENCOUNTER SUIT!!--and gets into an ORGANIC ship with a RANGER symbol on the side, and flies away!
Wow! You can't ask for a more complete ending than that!
Yet, the series is not over; there's still the details of what happens in 2262 to worry about--Sheridan and Delenn's kid, Londo becoming Emperor, the heavily-foreshadowed "telepath war", whether Garibaldi is going to live on Mars or not, and just who is this "Captain Lochley" person that they mentioned in the "old" video from 2262 that was shown on the 2362 discussion program, to name just a few. The fat lady has not sung YET.
And so the season ends...swallowed not in darkness, nor in fire, but in STRANGENESS...

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