I was reading a different topic on Babylon 5 on this forum, and noticed that someone made a stray comment about wondering how the series would have gone, or wanting to see it have gone on with Jeffery Sinclair remaining a part of the cast. Firstly, I must warn that I myself, have not seen the entire series, I have yet to see season five and the telemovies (excluding The Gathering, which I have seen), so I cannot mention anything from that point onwards, as I do not know it.
Moving onward, the episodes 1x13 "Signs and Portents" and 1x20 "Babylon Squared" play a big part here (So does season three two parters, "War Without End" to some extent), as they were foreshadowing either possibility, what we were originally going to see, and what we did see in the series. In 1x13 "Signs and Portents", (a significant episode for many reasons, it begins what I just mentioned, in addition to introducing Mr. Morden, and foreshadows the Shadow War), a Centauri woman by the name of Lady Ladira arrives to the station. Lady Liadira, just so happens to be a prophetess, and has a vision: the destruction of Babylon 5. More specifically, she warns that she sees death and destruction in addition to fire and pain. Later on in the same episode, she shows Commander Sinclair Babylon 5's destruction. This is a further foreshadow to either path the series was able to take, again from the combination of how early it was in the series (thereby being intentionally done so), and the extensive planing that had gone into the story arc. In 1x20 "Babylon Squared", the crew of Babylon 5 discover that Babylon 4 has suddenly reappeared after it had mysteriously disappeared, and several of the crew go to investigate and are able to evacuate the crew from the station (discovering along the lines this was being done intentionally, to allow the evacuation), and during this time Sinclair and Garibaldi meet Zathras, who seems to recognize Sinclair but refuses to say very much beyond "not the one". The duo also experiences flashes in time, with Sinclair seeing a hopeless battle that is being fought and lost and Garibaldi mentions that he has 'rigged the reactor' while pleading for Sinclair to leave. In addition to all of this, there is an unseen figure in a blue suit appearing throughout the station which Zathras seems to imply is "the one" and at the end of the episode after everyone has left, the figure removes his helmet and it is none other then Jeffery Sinclair, but older. He says out loud that he has "tried to warn them" but that it was "happening as it did before (or something along those lines)".
The season three two part episode "War Without End" (3x16/17) showed that what we, the viewer were seeing, was Babylon 5 itself under attack by the Shadows eight days from the time period the 'present' was in that episode (somewhere in 2260, I think). In this particular episode, the crew receives, and in Garibaldi's case views a clearer video of, desperately calling for help, saying the captain is dead and that they were "killing us!". Susan, in one of her final acts as she pleas for help focuses the remaining station's power to record the attackers (viewers should take note that she's wearing the uniform gifted by Delenn), which are revealed to be shadow vessels. A timestamp investigation revealed it to be eight days later from the episode's present (as I had mentioned earlier), and the crew is able to confirm the fall of Babylon 5.
Moving on, and quite to the point of this topic now (and I must apologize for the long winded intro), had the series continued on with Jeffery Sinclair as part of the cast of characters, the Shadows would have attacked, and destroyed an unprepared Babylon 5 (or it was as such by Garibaldi's tampering, that much isn't made specifically clear). This would have forced Sinclair to eventually steal Babylon 4 somehow moving through time (thus explaining his older look in "Babylon Squared" and his lines of 'I tried...I tried to warn them') to use as a base of operations similar to how it was seen at the end of "War Without End". The series moving in this direction, or intended for this direction is alluded to by Susan's line "We assumed it went into the future" when asked what happened to Babylon 4 (by Sheridan, I believe it was). I believe the reasoning behind this was, Babylon 4 was given heavier armaments and able to move around and use jump points, which would have kept it moving (thus allowing it to be protected from the Shadows) but that part is second hand information I had heard, but I trust the source. I hope that this gives an answer, or an idea that people were looking for, and if it didn't, I must apologize.
In a somewhat related, but different matter Talia Winters was to have a story arc that lead to a transformation into a Psi-Corps secret agent, and have been spying on the command staff and their actions and the events on Babylon 5. When the actress portraying her, had decided to leave, this revelation was used as one of the so called 'trap doors' in episode 2x20 "Divided Loyalties" to drop the character from the show. However, in episode 1x09 "Deathwalker", Talia Winters oversees very a very strange meeting between Ambassador Kosh and an individual named Abbut. It is revealed that Abbut had copied Talia Winter's personality (I think Kosh mentioned something about insurance, I can't remember), and the plan was after the revelation of the sleeper personality (which I believe was supposed to happen along similar events, only later on), Kosh would have used this 'copy' (or back up I think it was actually termed) to restore her to the proper personality. Obviously, with the character being dropped this became somewhat moot, but I found it interesting that it was set up in season one for a potential departure/sticking with the planned storyline with a plausible return in place for either scenario.
I must again apologize for it being so long winded, I didn't really intend for that to happen.
Moving onward, the episodes 1x13 "Signs and Portents" and 1x20 "Babylon Squared" play a big part here (So does season three two parters, "War Without End" to some extent), as they were foreshadowing either possibility, what we were originally going to see, and what we did see in the series. In 1x13 "Signs and Portents", (a significant episode for many reasons, it begins what I just mentioned, in addition to introducing Mr. Morden, and foreshadows the Shadow War), a Centauri woman by the name of Lady Ladira arrives to the station. Lady Liadira, just so happens to be a prophetess, and has a vision: the destruction of Babylon 5. More specifically, she warns that she sees death and destruction in addition to fire and pain. Later on in the same episode, she shows Commander Sinclair Babylon 5's destruction. This is a further foreshadow to either path the series was able to take, again from the combination of how early it was in the series (thereby being intentionally done so), and the extensive planing that had gone into the story arc. In 1x20 "Babylon Squared", the crew of Babylon 5 discover that Babylon 4 has suddenly reappeared after it had mysteriously disappeared, and several of the crew go to investigate and are able to evacuate the crew from the station (discovering along the lines this was being done intentionally, to allow the evacuation), and during this time Sinclair and Garibaldi meet Zathras, who seems to recognize Sinclair but refuses to say very much beyond "not the one". The duo also experiences flashes in time, with Sinclair seeing a hopeless battle that is being fought and lost and Garibaldi mentions that he has 'rigged the reactor' while pleading for Sinclair to leave. In addition to all of this, there is an unseen figure in a blue suit appearing throughout the station which Zathras seems to imply is "the one" and at the end of the episode after everyone has left, the figure removes his helmet and it is none other then Jeffery Sinclair, but older. He says out loud that he has "tried to warn them" but that it was "happening as it did before (or something along those lines)".
The season three two part episode "War Without End" (3x16/17) showed that what we, the viewer were seeing, was Babylon 5 itself under attack by the Shadows eight days from the time period the 'present' was in that episode (somewhere in 2260, I think). In this particular episode, the crew receives, and in Garibaldi's case views a clearer video of, desperately calling for help, saying the captain is dead and that they were "killing us!". Susan, in one of her final acts as she pleas for help focuses the remaining station's power to record the attackers (viewers should take note that she's wearing the uniform gifted by Delenn), which are revealed to be shadow vessels. A timestamp investigation revealed it to be eight days later from the episode's present (as I had mentioned earlier), and the crew is able to confirm the fall of Babylon 5.
Moving on, and quite to the point of this topic now (and I must apologize for the long winded intro), had the series continued on with Jeffery Sinclair as part of the cast of characters, the Shadows would have attacked, and destroyed an unprepared Babylon 5 (or it was as such by Garibaldi's tampering, that much isn't made specifically clear). This would have forced Sinclair to eventually steal Babylon 4 somehow moving through time (thus explaining his older look in "Babylon Squared" and his lines of 'I tried...I tried to warn them') to use as a base of operations similar to how it was seen at the end of "War Without End". The series moving in this direction, or intended for this direction is alluded to by Susan's line "We assumed it went into the future" when asked what happened to Babylon 4 (by Sheridan, I believe it was). I believe the reasoning behind this was, Babylon 4 was given heavier armaments and able to move around and use jump points, which would have kept it moving (thus allowing it to be protected from the Shadows) but that part is second hand information I had heard, but I trust the source. I hope that this gives an answer, or an idea that people were looking for, and if it didn't, I must apologize.
In a somewhat related, but different matter Talia Winters was to have a story arc that lead to a transformation into a Psi-Corps secret agent, and have been spying on the command staff and their actions and the events on Babylon 5. When the actress portraying her, had decided to leave, this revelation was used as one of the so called 'trap doors' in episode 2x20 "Divided Loyalties" to drop the character from the show. However, in episode 1x09 "Deathwalker", Talia Winters oversees very a very strange meeting between Ambassador Kosh and an individual named Abbut. It is revealed that Abbut had copied Talia Winter's personality (I think Kosh mentioned something about insurance, I can't remember), and the plan was after the revelation of the sleeper personality (which I believe was supposed to happen along similar events, only later on), Kosh would have used this 'copy' (or back up I think it was actually termed) to restore her to the proper personality. Obviously, with the character being dropped this became somewhat moot, but I found it interesting that it was set up in season one for a potential departure/sticking with the planned storyline with a plausible return in place for either scenario.
I must again apologize for it being so long winded, I didn't really intend for that to happen.
