Babylon 5: "Moments of Transition"

Babylon 5: "Moments of Transition". Season 4, episode 14 (19 May 1997).[1]

Covered briefly in Frank Garcia's "Babylon 5 Episode Guide," Cinefantastique 31.12/Vol. 32 No. 1 (June 2000): 95. See Babylon 5 entry for link to locations on line where the relevant Cinefantastique issues are likely to be archived.

See for ritual of the Star Fire Wheel. As annotated on the Babylon 5 fan wiki, "The Starfire Wheel is located in the Temple of Varenni on Minbar. The device dates back to the time before Valen arrived, and was used to determine matters of dominance among the castes before the Grey Council was formed. The idea was to prevent unnecessary bloodshed by instead challenging the convictions of the leaders of the disputing castes in a trial by ordeal. Any leader can send others to die in battle for them, but only the greatest leaders are willing to give up their own lives."[2] So, here, "whoever is willing to die for their caste, wins dominance over it," with the death apparently from a beam that, in one sense or other, induces burning: if not literally, still enough to kill (Cinefantastique 95).

RDE, finishing, 5Sep22