Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Babylon 5: The Road Home.
Summary
- The new Babylon 5 timeline in The Road Home introduces major differences and changes, including the absence of the Shadow War and an unawareness of the Shadows.
- Delenn has not become a human/Minbari hybrid in the reboot timeline, unlike in the original Babylon 5 series.
- Lyta Alexander is portrayed as a P5-ranked telepath again in Babylon 5: The Road Home, following some kind of code of ethics, unlike the rogue telepath she was in the original series.
The animated movie Babylon 5: The Road Home introduces a new reboot timeline with many differences and changes from the original Babylon 5 series. It is unclear if this new timeline will be the basis of the highly anticipated Babylon 5 reboot, which was on hold at The CW at the time of the film’s release. It might also lead to more animated movies in the same setting. In either case, it represents a new beginning for the classic series, which defied the conventions of both science-fiction and episodic television when it first aired in 1993.
The action of Babylon 5: The Road Home centers around John Sheridan, several weeks after he left Babylon 5 to become the first President of the Interstellar Alliance. After being exposed to tachyons at an experimental power plant opening, Sheridan becomes unstuck in time and is thrown through multiple alternate realities. Sheridan’s final time slip takes him to a familiar yet subtly different Babylon 5, where he is confronted by a younger version of himself. This is only the first of many signs that there are some major differences between the reboot timeline and the original and that some changes have been made as a result of Sheridan’s journey.
8 Sheridan Has Never Heard of The Shadows
Shortly after John Sheridan first meets his younger variant from the reboot timeline, he asks him how long he has been the commanding officer of the Babylon 5 station. The younger Sheridan replies that it has been almost two years. This stuns Sheridan, as his younger variant is also completely ignorant as to who the Shadows are. By that point in the elder Sheridan’s timeline, the Shadow War had begun in earnest. This is the first clue that the new Babylon 5 timeline has been changed dramatically, given the importance of the Shadow War in the original series’ history.
7 The Icarus Never Traveled To Za’Ha’Dum
The original John Sheridan begins grilling the younger variant for details on the new timeline introduced in Babylon 5: The Road Home. Sheridan describes the inciting incident of the Shadow War, in which a spacecraft owned by Interplanetary Expeditions, called Icarus, landed on the Shadow homeworld of Za’ha’dum. In Sheridan’s timeline, the archeologists on the Icarus accidentally reawakened the Shadows, kicking off the Shadow War. However, according to Security Chief Garibaldi, Interplanetary Expeditions went out of business 10 years earlier in the reboot timeline. This suggests that the Shadows are still dormant in the new timeline, or at least have not made contact with humanity or otherwise revealed their existence.
6 Delenn Has Not Become a Human/Minbari Hybrid
Once the original John Sheridan is returned to his timeline, the reboot Sheridan recalls the event to Minbari Ambassador Delenn. In the original Babylon 5, Delenn underwent a physical metamorphosis between Season 1 and Season 2, becoming a half-MInbari, half-Human hybrid as part of a prophecy regarding the return of the Shadows. This Delenn did not meet John Sheridan until after her transformation was complete. However, the Delenn of the reboot timeline is clearly a Minbari, being completely bald and possessing a full-bone crest. This makes sense, given the original Delenn did not transform herself until she was sure of the Shadows return.
5 Sinclair & Lochley Are Commanding Ships
John Sheridan is stopped by Captain Jeffrey Sinclair and Captain Elizabeth Lochley, who ask how long their ships are going to be prevented from taking off. In the original Babylon 5 timeline, Sinclair was the first commanding officer of Babylon 5, but he was reassigned to become Earth’s ambassador to Minbar. The fact that Sinclair is still captaining an Earthforce ship two years into Sheridan’s tenure as the CO of Babylon 5 is a major change from the history of the original series. Captain Lochley’s presence is also notable, as she had never traveled to Babylon 5 before taking over as CO from Sheridan in the original timeline.
4 Lyta Is a P5 Telepath Again
In the original Babylon 5 timeline, all human telepaths were required to register with the Psi Corps and wear gloves and badges indicating their telepathic status. Lyta Alexander rebelled against the PsiCorp and spent most of her time in the original Babylon 5 as a rogue telepath on the run from the Psi Corps. She also grew to become the most powerful human telepath in recorded history thanks to the manipulation of the Vorlons.
Things are quite different for Lyta Alexander in the reboot reality of Babylon 5: The Road Home. There is no mention of the PsiCorp, and Lyta is not shown to be wearing the gloves or badge required of Psi Corps members. Yet when she is called upon to scan the mind of the original John Sheridan, she asks him if he will consent to a telepathic scan. This is an important piece of protocol for telepaths under the original Psi Corps regulations.
Additionally, Lyta is seen playing a mind-reading game with Lennier at the end of the movie, during which she notes that she is a P5-ranked telepath. This matches the power level that Lyta was rated at when she first came to Babylon 5 in the original series. This doesn’t mean that she is once again a Psi Corps member, but it is interesting to note that she’s following some kind of code of ethics regarding her powers, when the original Lyta was more chaotic when it came to the use of her psychic abilities.
3 No Narn/Centauri War, But They Are Still Hostile
G’Kar and Londo Mollari are briefly seen arguing as they walk past Sheridan and Delenn in the casino. Their discussion is similar to the ones the two ambassadors often had during Babylon 5 season 1, sparring over disagreements between their feuding governments. These disagreements took a turn for the worst over the course of Babylon 5, as the Shadows manipulated Londo and other members of the Centauri government into renewing their war with Narn. With the Shadows apparently still dormant, it makes sense that there is no new Narn/Centauri War in the new timeline. However, this Londo and G’Kar still fight like cats and dogs, just like the originals.
2 Zathras Introduces Babylon 5 To The Great Machine
In the original timeline, the crew of Babylon 5 discovered the Great Machine on Epsilon III after its most recent caretaker began to die of very old age and the machine’s malfunctioning threatened the station. They also encountered a time-displaced Zathras, who disappeared as suddenly as he appeared. His connection to the Great Machine was not revealed until Babylon 5 season 3. In the reboot reality, Zathras reveals himself to the crew of Babylon 5, and offers to show them the Great Machine directly.
1 The Shadow War Hasn’t Started…Yet
The biggest takeaway from the reboot timeline of Babylon 5: The Road Home is that the Shadow War has yet to start in the new reality. It is possible that the new Babylon 5 timeline born from the animated movie could establish a new threat to the Third Age of Mankind. On the other hand, it is possible that the Shadows are waiting for the right moment to strike.