Babylon 5
Movements of Fire and Shadow
TV Flash files “Movements of Fire and Shadow” as hour 105 of 110 in the TV Flash guide — Babylon 5 (1994–1998) on PTEN/TNT, season 5, episode 17, aired 1998-06-17, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E17: listed hour 105 of 110 in the Babylon 5 guide, hour 17 of 22 in season 5. It aired 1998-06-17 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder” (S05E16). Next is “The Fall of Centauri Prime” (S05E18).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
As Sheridan finally authorizes the White Star fleet to participate in the war, Delenn travels to Minbar to start a Minbari-Earth joint project to build a prototype White Star destroyer class ship. Elsewhere, Vir hires Franklin and Lyta to investigate why the Drazi don't return the bodies from destroyed Centauri ships.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Movements of Fire and Shadow sit in the Babylon 5 guide?
S05E17 is listed hour 105 of 110 — hour 17 of 22 in season 5, season 5 episode 17.
When did Babylon 5 S05E17 air?
Movements of Fire and Shadow aired 1998-06-17 and is listed at 60 minutes.
What is distinctive about its structure?
It was planned as a multi-year novel-like arc rather than mostly standalone episodes — five seasons designed as one composition.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Diplomats and soldiers on a massive station, plotted as a five-year novel when American sci-fi TV still defaulted to reset buttons. J. Michael Straczynski wrote the bulk himself: foreshadowing, payoffs, fascism, faith, and the forever DS9 comparison. Neutral ground until history refuses neutrality. Serialization with actual architecture.
The first useful thing *Babylon 5* does is refuse the reset button. Diplomats and soldiers aboard a massive space station navigate wars, prophecies, and alliances across a deliberately planned multi-year arc. J. Michael Straczynski wrote the vast majority of the series (1994–1998 on PTEN, later TNT association for continuation) as a novel for television — foreshadowing, payoffs, political sci-fi with unusual long-range architecture for 1990s American TV. Humanity's place among alien powers becomes a stage for…
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