Here's where the fun truly begins. The third season of Babylon 5 really was the Point of No Return, as the crises begun and foretold over the last two years came to a head and forced just about every major character to make life-altering choices. It was also the point where the scripts, production design and performances clicked like never before, and the result was thought-provoking, emotionally-stirring and exciting television that had me eagerly awaiting each new episode.

The third season's strength comes heavily from significant arc episodes like Severed Dreams and Z'ha'dum (which both feature commentaries by J. Michael Straczynski on this set), but stand-alone episodes like Passing Through Gethsemane and A Late Delivery From Avalon provided valuable breaks in the action that explored the series' central themes through smaller, more personal stories. More than any other season, it feels like the series got all the small details right. The lighting and color palette were a little brighter. The series added new sets, like the war room and the White Star; new costumes, like the uniforms the command staff dons in Ceremonies Of Light And Dark; and new characters, like Brother Theo and Marcus Cole - and they all worked. The series and the story expanded in scope, and there's no denying that energy came though on the screen.

More than that, I think the feeling of various characters coming together to form the backbone of the Army of Light, fighting unspeakable odds with enormous stakes, gave a solid emotional and dramatic core to all the science-fiction action. The war council sessions, the big reveal of the new uniforms, even the unspoken communication between Sheridan and Garibaldi in Z'ha'dum all contribute to that feeling. Severed Dreams, the high point for the season and probably the series, balanced all of these elements superbly in a single episode, where the all-out conflict outside and inside the station is balanced by the command crew's quiet resolve and Sheridan's conversation with his father. And I'm not sure there's a better expression of the series' central idea than the Reverend Dexter's line in And The Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place: "Folks have been conned into thinking they can't change the world, that they have to accept what is. I'll tell you something, my friends: the world is changing every day. The only question is, who's doing it?" I never get tired of that scene, or that episode.

The third season resolved a number of outstanding plot threads, from the mystery concerning President Santiago's death to the Walkers of Sigma 957 to exactly what the heck was going on on Babylon 4 back in Babylon Squared. For the most part, I found those resolutions satisfying, as well as the new plot threads that sprung from them. Michael O'Hare's return as Sinclair was about a good a job of tying up that loose end as you could hope for, and while time travel stories inevitably give me a headache, War Without End was about as good an example of the type as I could hope for. And it's hard to argue with a story that gives you two episodes' worth of Zathras quotes. (You could probably sum up most of the cast's response to some of these plot twists with, "Zathras understand. No. Zathras not understand. But Zathras do.")

The big reveal comes in Z'ha'dum, where we learn the true fate of Anna Sheridan, the meaning of Kosh's warning to Sheridan, and just why the Vorlons and Shadows have been having these little wars every few millennia. Transforming the conflict from a good-vs.-evil fight to an elemental battle between order and chaos with more than a few hints of a very nasty custody dispute between parents was a fairly gutsy move, and while it probably won't satisfy everyone, it did create an interesting new set of challenges for everyone to overcome in the first third of season four.

It does make one wonder, though - exactly what is it that the Shadows want the younger races to become? It's all well and good to say conflict builds strength, but strength for what purpose? Of course, given Straczynski's use of each race's central question, it might be argued that the Shadows haven't really thought that far ahead; that they're unconcerned with who the younger races really are, but only with helping the strongest of them get what they want. That's a fair point, but it makes their motivation a little less multi-dimensional than it could be. By contrast, the effort to add another layer of menace to the Vorlons is much more successful; even though Kosh went to such great lengths to establish the purity of Delenn's motives in season two's Comes The Inquisitor, it's pretty obvious that his Vorlon colleagues are almost as willing as the Shadows to let the younger races suffer if it helps them prove they're right.

The extras follow the same pattern as the previous season sets, but are a little meatier this time out. There's nothing new to say about Straczynski's commentaries - they're solid, and even had a tidbit or two that surprised me. The cast commentary on Interludes And Examinations is rather good, although Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Richard Biggs and Ed Wasser sometimes talk over each other. It's a little less jokey than the season two cast commentary, and the different cast members all have different perspectives on the series. The documentaries, meanwhile, focus on makeup and production design, and while they're still mostly interview-driven, the documentarians have added some photos and still footage of models, conceptual sketches, and sets under construction to provide more of a behind-the-scenes feel. A third, shorter documentary shows frequent guest star Marshall Teague getting in and out of his makeup as Ta'Lon with Optic Nerve's John Vulich; while short, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I'm a little disappointed, although not surprised, that no one from Foundation Imaging was interviewed about their work on the series' CG effects for the first three seasons; even if the DVD producers want to hold off on an effects documentary until the fourth or fifth sets, Foundation's design work was certainly vital to establishing the look and feel of the show.

Once again, these are the widescreen versions of the episodes, with all the technical caveats that entails. For the most part, the picture quality and composition is sharp, but there are a few noticeable exceptions. And once again, the stories are more than good enough to make me overlook any technical flaws.

Rating 4, only because I can't give it a 5.

Reviewed by Dave Thomer
theLogBook.com Assistant Editor