Zathras

Babylon 5 is one of my favorite shows. It was written and produced by J. Michael Straczynski. I was rewatching the two parter 'War Without End' the other day.

And as usual, I'm asking the reader to go to Wikipedia and type in Babylon 5. There is too much info for here.

Jeffrey Sinclair was Commander of Babylon 5 space station. He left to become Earth's Ambassador to Minbar, a world that had warred with Earth.

For this note, I'm talking about not just Sinclair, a grat man of bravery and honor, but his assistant, Zathras. Among others Zathras helps rig the previous station Babylon 4 to go back in time as a base of operation to fight 'on side of Light' as Zathras says.

It turns out Sinclair becomes Valen a Minbari not born of Minbari. The Minbari would never have accepted the station otherwise. Zathras accompanied him to assist.

Michael O'Hare was Sinclair/Valen. He's a fine actor and great guy btw. Tim Choate was Zathras. Terrific performances by all the cast as well.

Sinclair is a great leader. He is indeed courageous to travel back and go through the conversion process. Zathras kept things running while Sinclair was in hibernation. They compliment each other well. Two guys are never less alike. Sinclair the tall eloquent leader and Zathras the strange looking alien who is clumsy and speaks in stilted language. But they are very alike when it comes to duty, honor and even tech knowledge.

The whole point here is though this is science fiction, it well represents the price people are willing to pay for Freedom. It is a great study of our own struggles here on Earth. I recommend the entire series for a better perspective.

Zathras is a hero in his own way as Sinclair. Sometimes the 'supporting players' get lost in history. So many have died here and will never be known. Yet they put as much on the line as the 'acknowledged' heroes, including the ultimate sacrifice.

I urge all to watch the show and think. What's coming for real here? We can all play a part.