"Babylon 5"
Rising Star (1997)

Director:

Tony Dow

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski (writer)

TV Series:

"Babylon 5" (1994)

Original Air Date:

20 October 1997 (Season 4, Episode 21)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | War

Plot:

Earth is now free from Clark. Sheridan must now face the new President for his actions. He's forced to resign...

Plot Keywords:

Transformation | Space Opera | CGI | Garden | Bizarre

Cast

Bruce Boxleitner	...	President John Sheridan
Claudia Christian	...	Capt. Susan Ivanova
Jerry Doyle	...	Michael Garibaldi
Mira Furlan	...	Delenn
Richard Biggs	...	Dr. Stephen Franklin
Bill Mumy	...	Lennier
Jason Carter	...	Marcus Cole
Stephen Furst	...	Vir Cotto
Andreas Katsulas	...	G'Kar
Peter Jurasik	...	Londo Mollari
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
J.J. Boone	...	Med Tech
Joey Dente	...	Luko
Maggie Egan	...	Jane / ISN Anchor
Denise Gentile	...	Lise Hampton Edgars
Rance Howard	...	David Sheridan
Walter Koenig	...	Mr. Bester
Julie Ow	...	Med Tech
Michael Potter	...	General Foote
Beata Pozniak	...	President Susanna Luchenko

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where President Luchenko is giving her speech, before Sheridan sits down at the start, he has nobody on his left or right. During her speech, there are two people - on his left, a grey haired man, and on his right, someone who looks just like Luchenko - same clothes and earrings and hairstyle - even though she is really at the podium talking. When he gets up to speak, the woman on his right is clearly gone, and Luchenko sits down in that place, where her "continuity double" had been sitting while she was speaking. The man on his left is either absent, or the camera angle makes him appear further away.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jane: We can confim now that President Clark took his own life at 2:53 a.m. EST rather than face trial for his actions. The body has been left in place for examination and documentation by the Justice Department. After the battle Sheridan surrendered to Earthforce authorities who will now decide whether or not charges will be pressed for his actions...

A combination of great cynicism and triumph in one package!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This was an interesting episode but I am sure that many felt a bit of a let-down because the previous episode had been so dramatic and had wrapped up the long struggle between the evil forces of President Carter and Sheridan's alliance. Coming just after the final war of this struggle was a tough thing, but this episode had plenty in it to recommend it. Most of this probably is because I love how human nature is to wonderfully exposed and the guilty want to "sweep the past under the rug" and go back to "business as usual". Think about those who were deeply involved in horrible activities during the Holocaust or Civil Rights struggle in American and how when it was all over, practically no one would admit their involvement! In this case, the new President (who MUST have been a strong supporter of Clark) and the other top government officials just want Sheridan to go away and pretend that this costly war never happened. And, because some of the guilty are "uncomfortable" around Sheridan, they decide the best thing to do is force Sheridan out of Earth Force! Despite this being VERY unfair, Sheridan is forced to agree because they threaten to prosecute his followers even though what they did was right!! Talk about seeing human nature from a cynical point of view!!! Now although I have revealed a decent amount of the plot, there is a lot more to it than that. And, how all this is worked out is pretty interesting and well worth seeing. Excellent writing and a good look at social psychology make this one a keeper!