The Long Night (Babylon 5)

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“The Long Night”

Babylon 5 episode

Emperor Cartagia

Episode no.

Season 4
Episode 5

Written by

J. Michael Straczynski

Directed by

John LaFia

Guest stars

Bryan Cranston (Ericsson)
Wortham Krimmer (Emperor Cartagia)
Ron Campbell (Drazi ambassador)

Production no.

405

Original airdate

27 January 1997

Episode chronology
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"Falling Toward Apotheosis"	"Into the Fire"

List of Babylon 5 episodes

"The Long Night" is an episode from the fourth season of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5.

1 Synopsis
2 Arc significance
3 Production details
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Londo and Vir plot the assassination of Emperor Cartagia. Meanwhile, Captain Sheridan sets into motion his plan to bring the conflict between the Vorlons and the Shadows to a resolution.

[edit] Arc significance

Vir assassinates Cartagia.
Londo is the new Prime Minister of the Centauri Republic.
Narn is liberated, through in no small part for G'kar.
Sheridan is luring the Shadows and the Vorlons into a final confrontation.
The Shadows launch their own planet killer, the Death Cloud. Unlike the Vorlon planetkiller, though, which completely obliterates a planet, the Shadow's weapon is more conservative and slow, akin to their nature of spreading chaos. Whilst the Vorlon weapon is seen as a sign of "divine retribution" that it both "swift and complete," the Shadows' planet killer first envelops a planet, thus preventing escape, then begin bombarding the planet with missiles that burrow deep into the planet, right into the core, and detonate, causing massive massive earthquakes and destruction of the planet's structure without actually destroying the planet. The Cloud then proceeds to "suck" the geothermal energy from the planet's core. By the time the Cloud is finished, a cold and lifeless world incapable of supporting life is left behind. If there are to be survivors on the planet (or around it), it is because they are the strongest ones (another facet of the Shadow's extreme Darwinian philosophy).

[edit] Production details

The Death Cloud was the work of the creative mind of Harlan Ellison.
The parading of G'kar bound to a large (and extremely heavy) wooden plank, his stumbling down, and his conversation to his fellow Narns is an obvious reference to the Way of the Cross, wherein Jesus Christ also endured the humiliation of being paraded across Jerusalem onto Golgotha. G'kar here also acts as the "savior" of all Narn when his deal with Mollari ensured that his homeworld will finally be liberated once Emperor Cartagia is killed.
G'kar, who has been repeatedly beaten, starved, had his eye plucked out, and was forced to carry a heavy piece of wood across the city of G'khamazad was still strong enough to break his chains (made of the supposedly unbreakable solid kirilium) and knock out his guards. This highlights G'kar's (and the Narn's) strong and unbreakable will and desire to be free (both figuratively and literally).
The Imperial palace built on Narn is an almost exact replica of the actual palace on Centauri Prime. So exact that Londo's room there is exactly the same as his room back on his homeworld. This is first referenced in the episode "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place" by Lord Antono Refa. The only noticeable difference is the red tint of the lights outside the palace, due to Narn's Mars-like atmosphere.