Babbling on (2+3=5)
Freeing my mind from narrow terms that the creator and fandom (largely) talked about B5, I see interesting influences.
The antagonist of And The Sky Full Of Stars describes his VR as a shadow play. Abbut (in Deathwalker) claims he is a “23″. Readers of Promethea (Alan Moore, JH Williams) and The Invisibles (Grant Morrison, et al) would recognise these and the references to reflection.
I think keeping comparisons with Moore and Morrison in mind while watching B5 are a good way of forgetting what you think you know about the series and learning more.
Hmm. At the end of And The Sky Full Of Stars, the fried antagonist reports that a voice in his head says he and Sinclair are both still inside. He seems to name the episode’s sub-genre (that would explode six years later with The Matrix) when he asks, what is reality? This twist seemed weak at the time, more so now that the sub-genre has burnt itself out. But…
Babylon 5 defines its reality with its perfectly fitting details. This fictional reality is dismissive of the reality offered by a few small scenes (as I’ve argued about the Buffy season 6 episode Normal Again). However (as in Buffy) perhaps rather than the larger reality dismissing the smaller, the smaller affirms the larger. As Sinclair learns, the pain in both worlds is the same pain, and pain defines reality. When the antagonist thinks they are still inside, he is correct… they are still inside the reality created by the Grey Council when the Minbari ceased hostilities at the Battle of the Line.