Sleeping in Light 

Nearing the end of his 20 year life extension, Sheridan bids his farewells to all his friends and family, while the now obsolete Babylon 5 is prepared for decommissioning.

Director:

J. Michael Straczynski

Writers:

J. Michael Straczynski (created by), J. Michael Straczynski

Stars:

Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Boxleitner	...	President John Sheridan
Claudia Christian	...	Gen. Susan Ivanova
Jerry Doyle	...	Michael Garibaldi
Mira Furlan	...	Delenn
Richard Biggs	...	Dr. Stephen Franklin
Bill Mumy	...	Lennier (archive footage)
Jason Carter	...	Marcus Cole (archive footage)
Stephen Furst	...	Vir Cotto
Jeff Conaway	...	Zack Allan
Patricia Tallman	...	Lyta Alexander (archive footage)
Andreas Katsulas	...	G'Kar (archive footage)
Peter Jurasik	...	Londo Mollari (archive footage)
Wayne Alexander	...	Lorien
Romy Rosemont	...	Publicist
David Wells	...	Commander William Nils

Storyline

20 years after he visited Z'Ha'Dum, Sheridan knows his time is short and gathers his old comrades together. Afterwards he takes personalized White Star to Babylon 5 where it's going to be decommissioned shortly. The final leg of his journey takes him to Coriana 6 where they ended the Shadow War, and meets with one last person. The old command staff gather on Babylon 5 to watch its decommissioning.

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Plot Keywords:

series finale | death of main character | reunion of old friends | 23rd century | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Did You Know?

Trivia

When the maintenance worker (executive producer, J. Michael Straczynski) shut down the lights, everyone on the set was in tears.

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Goofs

During Sheridan's last supper, Emperor Vir comments that the Pak'ma'ra have beautiful singing voices to which Sheridan sounds surprised. However in "There All the Honor Lies" Ambassador Kosh shows Sheridan 'one moment of perfect beauty' which is a choir of singing Pak'ma'ra on Babylon 5 as part of his training for the oncoming Shadow War.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Michael Garibaldi: [voiceover] The Interstellar Alliance, based on the Homeworld of the Minbari Federation, was founded in the Earth year 2261 shortly after the end of the Shadow War, 20 years ago. Twenty years of history. Those of us who survived have seen it all and those of us who understand have been waiting and dreading the arrival of this day.

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Crazy Credits

The closing credits for the final episode, "Sleeping In the Light", include shots of all the major characters as they are when the episode took place (20 years after the events of the series), whether or not they are present in the episode. Ranger Marcus Cole, who sacrificed his life to save Ivanova, is represented by the control and information panel on a "coldsleep" hibernaculum -- presumably where his body is being kept until he can be revived.

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Connections

References Babylon 5: Day of the Dead (1998)

User Reviews

Logical, but boring as hell.

I see here only one not glowing review and this is why I would like to chime in. While the episode does provide a logical conclusion to the series, it is barely watchable. It is trying to milk you for tears and nothing of interest happens. Granted, in real life a similar story would have likely had an ending like that, this is not a real life. This is science fiction, which should shed an original light on a human nature while inspiring us and making us say "wow". And for 5 years it did. However, only now, after watching the Babylon-5 finale, I do fully appreciate what SG-1 writers did with their finale "Unending". While individual stories and arcs were not always as great as some in Babylon's, SG-1 finale was far superior and incomparably more watchable. Adventures still happened, and they ended going towards another day of work - possibly another adventure, with hope and with a message that life goes on and there are still things to do and future to make. Babylon people just got sad and got on with their lives. Their lives after the series were not by all means boring, but the ending dwelled on the sad and made me only yawn. Don't get me wrong, I am not against sadness, I am for better writing about the sad things. This was a huge disappointment, after 5 brilliant seasons - just a boring blip trying to manipulate you into squeezing a tear.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 November 1998 (USA)

Box Office

Budget:

$900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Babylonian Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1