Day of the Dead (Babylon 5)
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| “Day of the Dead” | |||||||
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| Babylon 5 episode | |||||||
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| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 8 |
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| Written by | Neil Gaiman | ||||||
| Directed by | Doug Lefler | ||||||
| Guest stars | Penn and Teller (Rebo and Zooty) Joshua Cox (Lt. Corwin) Bridget Flanery (Zoe) Fabiana Udenio (Adira Tyree) Harlan Ellison (Voice of Zooty) Marie Marshall (Pfc. Elizabeth 'Dodger' Durman) Ed Wasser (Mr. Morden) Jonathan Chapman (Brakiri Ambassador) Skip Stellrecht (Customs Officer) Ismail Kanater (Brakiri Salesman) |
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| Production no. | 511 | ||||||
| Original airdate | 11 March 1998 | ||||||
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| List of Babylon 5 episodes | |||||||
"Day of the Dead" is an episode from the fifth season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. It was written by science fiction and fantasy author Neil Gaiman, one of the few in the series not written by J. Michael Straczynski. The episode also features Penn and Teller, who portray comedians Rebo and Zooty. It is a break from the show's usual continuing story arc, though some events do have relevance to the rest of the series.
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[edit] Synopsis
The dead return for one night during a mysterious Brakiri religious festival: Garibaldi is visited by a ground pounder, Dodger, with whom he almost had a romantic fling three years ago (see Gropos), Londo cherishes a night with his lost love Adira Tyree (see Interludes and Examinations), Lennier tolerates the Shadows' associate Mr. Morden, and Captain Lochley is visited by a former friend for whose death she feels responsible. Kosh also delivers a message to Lochley for President Sheridan: "When the long night comes, return to the end of the beginning."
[edit] Arc significance
As a stand-alone episode it's hard to determine where this episode fits into the arc. The original broadcast order (and DVD order) place it after "Secrets of the Soul"; episode guides place it after the conclusion of the telepath crisis in "Phoenix Rising". As the episode takes place in only one night and does not involve any of the characters from "Secrets of the Soul", it could work just as well during the telepath crisis as afterward, but for one exception. At the end of the episode, Captain Lochley states that Mr. Garibaldi is blaming the telepaths for the events of "Day of the Dead". While he could be referring to any telepaths, he most likely refers to those telepaths living in Down Below, who would not be around after "Phoenix Rising".
The episode's significance though in foreshadowing Lennier's betrayal of Sheridan is viewed by most as its primary point of importance. There is also the message Lochley passed along to Sheridan from Kosh, i.e., "When the long night comes, return to the end of the beginning." This shapes Sheridan's eventual decision (in Sleeping in Light) to travel to the site of the last battle of the Shadow War, where the Shadows, Vorlons and all the remaining First Ones, with Lorien, left the galaxy.
[edit] Writing
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman was inspired to write this story when he heard of the Jewish concept of an eruv, a shared physical domain that allows Jews to carry objects from one household to another on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. According to a literal reading of the Torah (the five books of Moses) it would seem that one may not leave one's household on the Sabbath, which the rabbis found both impractical and not in the spirit of the holiday. Rabbinic literature records the development of the eruv as a legal device which allows Jews in a community to symbolically, or in many views literally, merge their separate domains into one shared domain, thus allowing carrying and travel on the Sabbath. The idea of sharing distinct domains for a religious purpose was taken by Gaiman and expanded upon: what if one legally borrowed a domain that is far from one's home world? What if this merging of domains was made manifest in a literal and physical sense? The episode's storyline develops from Gaiman's extension of this idea.
[edit] See also
- Day of the Dead (holiday)
