These are all episodes well worth watching for various reasons to do with the Minbari.

SEASON 1

  • SOUL HUNTER

'What is one of the great leaders of the Minbari doing here playing Ambassador?'
- Soul Hunter to Delenn

The first clue that Delenn is more than she appears - and that she is up to something. What that is we don't find out until much later on - at the point where (conveniently) we have forgotten. Some minor insights into Minbari spiritual beliefs as well (regarding the disappearance of souls).

  • PARLIAMENT OF DREAMS

Although primarily an episode based around G'Kar and a would-be assassin, this episode covers many of the main races spiritual and core beliefs. It is an episode of reflection (for the characters) as they all partake in the first Minbari Rebirth Ceremony on the Station.

  • LEGACIES

'You talk like a Minbari, Commander'
- Neroon to Sinclair

This episode provides us with the Minbari side of things in the Earth-Minbari war. Up till now we have only seen what happened to Sinclair, now we see the Minbari side of things - as shown by Neroon of the Warrior Caste. (I often wonder what Neroon would have thought if he'd discovered who Sinclair actually was).

  • BABYLON SQUARED

Delenn is provided with a dilemma when she is offered leadership of the Grey Council. Should she turn accept it, lead her people and leave Babylon 5 for good or should she become the first ever to decline in the hope that she is part of prophecy and should watch over the Humans on Babylon 5? We see in this episode that she has some true friends regardless of what she decides - not only will they still stand by her but they will also help her in the cause that she believes is right.

SEASON 2

  • POINTS OF DEPARTURE

Finally! We find out the reason why the Minbari surrendered on the eve of their victory. Sinclair leaves to become the Earth Ambassador to Minbar (but not even that is all it seems). When the new Captain arrives on Babylon 5 and the Minbari find out, trouble is imminent in the form of a ship that wouldn't accept the surrender at the end of the Earth-Minbari war.

  • ALL ALONE IN THE NIGHT

Does this title relate to Delenn or Sheridan? More likely a combination of both... Again we see the Grey Council at work - deciding that Delenn is wrong to believe in prophecy. As a result she is expelled from the Grey Council. We see by her transformation that she has become distrusted by both the Minbari and the Humans despite the fact she wanted to become a bridge between them both.

  • THERE ALL THE HONOUR LIES

Captain Sheridan is lured into a trap and forced to kill a Minbari in self-defense. When a witness comes forward it leaves Sheridan charged with murder. With the help of Delenn and Lennier all ends well when the truth is discovered and that certain minbari wanted revenge for Sheridan's part in the Earth-Minbari war.

SEASON 3

  • SEVERED DREAMS
 1/2
'Only one human has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me.
You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else.'
- Delenn

A classic example of Babylon 5 at its greatest. This sees the start of the Earth Civil War as well as Delenn following prophecy and breaking the Grey Council no matter the cost - because she believed it was right, and because she knew that her help would be needed to protect what was right for the Humans.

  • WAR WITHOUT END (Parts 1 and 2)

'The war is never completely won.
There are always new battles to be fought against the darkness.
Only the names change.'
- Delenn

The final episodes that we see Sinclair in - and we discover his destiny to be much more than we'd ever believed. Not only does he have a much bigger destiny, he also has a lot more to do with the prophecies that Delenn believes in - hence furthering the belief that she must be right about many things.

  • GREY 17 IS MISSING
 1/2
'I am a Ranger. We walk in the dark places no others will enter. We stand
on the bridge and no-one may pass. We live for the One, we die for the One.'
- Marcus Cole to Neroon

Although not a good episode at all with regards to the silly monster on the missing station level, there's an amazing fight between Neroon and Marcus who defends Delenn's position as Entil'zha.

SEASON 4

  • ATONEMENT
'Strike them down! Follow them to their base and destroy them,
all of them... do you understand me? No mercy!'
- Delenn to Morann

This episode is about Delenn back on Minbar justifying her impending marriage (to Capt John Sheridan) to the rest of her Caste and Clan and also provides fascinating insight as to how the Earth-Minbari war began, as well as showing us that nobody is perfect - not even Delenn, hereby lending us the vision that the characters in B5 could be as real as ourselves. We've always seen Delenn as being the perfect person, above the rest and never capable of doing anything wrong. I love this episode, from the blue feel of 'the Dreaming' to the way Lennier still sticks by Delenn even after he sees what she's trying to atone for. Not only that, I found it to be an intensely emotional episode almost swallowing back the tears when Delenn calls for the death of the entire Human race. It just goes to show that everyone does things they aren't proud of.

  • LINES OF COMMUNICATION

Delenn investigates attacks on the allies of the Minbari only to discover that there is another race out there - one that isn't happy with the Shadows leaving them behind and blames the others for the outcome. It also becomes apparent that the Minbari have major problems. Since the Grey Council have split the Warrior and Religious Castes have become more and more uneasy with each other and want to return to the old ways before the time of Valen.

  • RUMOURS, BARGAINS & LIES

'Delenn does not walk in the same world that you and I walk in...
In her world we are better than we are...
I much prefer her world to that of my own and I will not allow anything to threaten that.'
- Lennier

Whilst Delenn forces a meeting between the Warrior and Religious Castes so that she can speak with Neroon, Lennier risks his life to save everyone on the ship after the Religious Caste decide they all want to become a monument to the rest of the Minbari race by committing suicide/genocide of all people on the ship.

  • MOMENTS OF TRANSITION
'I think of my beautiful city in flames...and I wonder...
Did I do this?'
- Delenn

If you love the Minbari race this is an episode not to miss! Here we see the conclusion of the Minbari Civil War in all its glory and sacrifice. The Starfire Wheel scenes are superb - if nothing else - and Neroon will be remembered for a long time by fans of the Minbari. Yet, in true JMS style, the surprises don't end there - we also see the reinstallation of the Grey Council with a marked difference... It's an episode that swallows you up in the Minbari's 'third principal of sentient life' - a concept introduced all the way back in the first season.

  • THE DECONSTRUCTION OF FALLING STARS

Although this episode has almost nothing to do with the Minbari, it has a lot to do with Delenn. We see how a few people made a difference - not for just a thousand years - but for ever. What Babylon 5 did, changed everyone forever. Nothing was ever as it would have been without it.

SEASON 5

  • LEARNING CURVE

This episode shows us just what the Rangers have to undergo as part of their training. A young trainee is beaten by thugs on Babylon 5 (in down below) but overcomes all his fears and gets his revenge as insisted by his teachers and by Delenn.

MOVIES

  • THE GATHERING

'We have files on the Vorlons. Very large files.
There's nothing in them, of course.'
- Sinclair

As well as setting the scene and establishing the characters we get snippets of history and teasers of whats to come - even from the very beginning. It's just that we don't know it until we go back and watch it after watching the first couple of seasons. A plot to kill the newly arrived Vorlon Ambassador unfolds and turns out to involve a strange mixture of groups.

  • IN THE BEGINNING

'I know what is in Dukhat's sacred place!
What is in Dukhat's sacred place?
Isil'zha!(The Future)
- Sheridan to Delenn

This movie presents us with more insight into the Earth-Minbari war. It finishes what the episodes 'Atonement' (S4) and 'War without End' (S3) began. It tells us exactly who was responsible for what, there's no secrets in this one - and its more than you'd think. Out of the four movies I would say that this one is my favourite (that's if you even count 'The Gathering' as a TV movie.)

NOVELS & COMICS

  • TO DREAM IN THE CITY OF SORROWS (Novel)
'Maybe that's why Valen stressed the need for delight,
because he knew how transitory it is...'
- Sinclair to Marcus

This is one of the better novels in my opinion - and is considered by JMS to be part of the B5 story - unlike some of the others. It deals with Sinclair's rise through Ambassador to Entil'zha and finishes up after he leaves to become Valen. It's a pretty straightforward (although well-written) story with only a few surprises but it fills the gaps made by Sinclair leaving the station and we do get to find out what happened to Catherine Sakai and Marcus Cole as well.

  • IN VALEN'S NAME (Comic)
'We had lost our base. We had lost our leaders. We had lost hope.
In that moment the universe returned to us all three.'
- Nukenn

This six-part comic appeared first in the B5 magazine by Titan. It's the story of Babylon 4 AFTER its use by the Minbari in the last Shadow War. It reappears in the present and the B5 crew (Ivanova, Sheridan, Garibaldi & Delenn) get stuck on B4 in a rapidly decreasing orbit towards a planet after an unknown race blows up their ship. The parts I found particularly interesting were the records that Delenn found on B4. There's some good, solid Minbari history about Valen and the last Shadow War in this one as well as a few surprises including a whole new race. The story ends with an emotional record left by Valen - and a piece of surprise happiness.