Monday, July 4, 2011

Sleeping in Light

Jeff Conaway died a while back.

It got me thinking about the role I remember him most for. Many remember him from Grease, but for me, he'll always be Zack Allen on Babylon 5. And that brings me to one of the finest final episodes ever made: Babylon 5's Sleeping in Light.

While other epic science fiction shows have tried, and failed, to deliver the goods in their final episodes, Babylon 5 figured it out back in 1998. This was thanks in part to J. Michael Straczynski, the writer behind it all. JMS (as he often goes by) didn't simply make it up as he went along, he already had the endgame in mind, which is one of the reasons why the Babylon 5 series finale still holds up.

The basic rundown of the finale is this: (SPOILER ALERT)