Want to note here that I watched B5 with my mother, since I inherited much of my love of SF from her. Though she was the bigger fan of the original Star Trek cast, we both thoroughly enjoyed Walter Koenig's appearance. My mind was blown - Chekhov as a bad guy! And so damn good at it! "Ms. Winters..."
In interviews Koenig has always seemed to really relish the part, because it let him do stuff he'd never been given an opportunity to do before. It's a brilliant counterpoint to Chekhov.
Sinclair in the teaser notes a meeting with the docker/construction guilds, and cutting their budget. We'll get a full episode of the consequences of that meeting. "By Any Means Necessary."
Who knew Bester would become such an important character? Chekov, who? It's odd to say someone was "lucky" to have a heart attack, but, as Koenig was originally offered the "Knight 2" role in "And the Sky Full of Stars," well... Knight 2's brain gets fried, and it would be hard to bring him back. Bester ends up in 12 episodes, plus is a main character of the spin-off "Psi-Corp trilogy" novels. It all worked out.
"I'll see you again in a million years." Yup, in a million years humanity will be energy beings, similar to Vorlons (see ep 422). Foreshadowing! Whatever alterations Psi Corp made to Ironheart, he basically ended up quickly evolving into what humanity eventually becomes.
Oh, right. 1/1000 humans are telepaths. 1/10,000 telepaths are telekinetic. Half of those are insane. Thus, 1 in 20 million humans are stable telepaths. Human population in 2258? Let's just double our current population to 15 billion. That's 750ish stable TKs. That's enough to have your assassin corp. Let's assume the naturally occurring telekinetics either don't have the power, or fine control to do what Psi Corp wants. 750ish TKs aren't THAT many, but Psi Corp should be able to find something to do.
"Talia's TK 'gift'": The narrative needs a super telepath. Lyta was set up in the pilot with her direct contact with Kosh, and the later revelation the Vorlons directly altered her. Ironheart's "gift" was (in retrospect) JMS finding a different way to set up the super telepath we'll need in s3-s5. Of course Andrea Thomas will leave the show in s2, and Lyta will fold back into the story by getting rid of Talia. Talia's TK won't quite play out... But does Psi Corp learn anything by dissecting Talia?
Speaking of things which won't play out, the lesbian relationship between Talia and Ivanova is first foreshadowed here - as Ivanova gives Talia water after her mind probe, and there's a specific reaction shot of Talia taking it. As Simon said to me on a different platform, one can imagine JMS insisting on having the reaction shot in the edit while the editor is wondering why...
Garibaldi's Aide... Boy, it's a small thing, but having the same recurring security officer show up in four episodes of s1 - pays off nicely when he shoots Garibaldi in the back. Pay attention every time you see him. In retrospect, with his interaction with Bester, it's obvious they're on "the same side." In his other appearances, reading between the lines you'll see Garibaldi's aide is always helping a "bad guy," or giving Garibaldi misinformation. He's a hell of an effective mole, hiding in plain sight. It's also effective him being a recurring character, as, watching contemporaneous episodes of Star Trek, it's basically, "Oh, this crewperson we've never seen before is suddenly acting like they've been here the entire time. They're the "bad guy," or important to this story, but we'll never see them again." Yes, a little bit of recurring bit part goes a long way.
Sigma 957 - we'll see that entity again come season 4. "Zog," anyone?
I forgot to mention Garibaldi's aide! I did a double-take when he popped up unannounced. A brilliant idea to embed him as a background supporting role (much like some of the C&C staff).
I might not even have noticed him on first watch (as you note, back then in TV SF minor roles like that would just be one-off castings of the week), but when you rewatch and suddenly see his face this early, it's deeply unsettling.
Also fun to pay attention to Delenn's quarters as she slowly assembles the Chrysalis machine all season. If you don't know what is, you just wonder if it's a Minbari jigsaw puzzle, or Jenga game, or something. If you even notice the thing on her coffee table slowly getting bigger.
Macaulay Bruton - the actor playing Garibaldi's aide - deserved a better career than his IMDB page shows. He's really very good. Naturalistic, instant chemistry with Jerry Doyle, and interesting enough with his line readings and body language to leave an impression.
So much background on Psi Corp here. Also, Walter Koenig... Koenig was initially offered a different role for an episode we haven't caught up to, yet (the role which will be played by Christopher Neame), but was recovering from a heart attack at the time. JMS said he'd give Koenig a better role, and he did.
Lots of foreshadowing in this episode. This is the non-Spoiler comment, so, one thing which pays off this season, one for a future season, one which never quite pays off, but will be discussed in the SPOILER comment.
Again, a script produced after filming on s1 began - which means characters are better defined... Did anyone note IVANOVA pours Talia water after her mind probe? A nice evolution, since the last time we really saw Talia and Ivanova interact, Ivanova was telling the story of her mother. Oh, Ivanova may not like Psi Corp, but she can find sympathy for an individual telepath in distress.
Psi Corp/CSICORP. It's a deliberate pun.
Tech notes: The Blu-ray has the initial version of the episode! In the teaser a star is mistakenly comped in front of a Black Omega Starfury, and in front of Ironheart's ship. This was fuxred for syndication, and the corrected shot is on the DVD. Interesting the Blu-ray used the glitched render. Frankly, it implies the international broadcast master was used for the Blu-ray remaster!
There's one shot of Talia in front of the force field Ironheart projects which has terrible blue screen fringing.
Otherwise... Honestly, this episode looks pretty good! Ironheart, after he ascends... Sure, some of the flares orbiting him are 2D cards and the "lens ghosts" don't animate correctly, but the roiling energy, shockwaves, and hints of humanoid form are lovely.
The entity around Sigma 957 looks cool too - anyone else think it's a bit of an homage to the final mothersship from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind?"
Good episode for G'Kar. Simon brought up the particulars, so I don't need to repeat them.
Possibly the strongest episode of the season to date, except for "Midnight on the Firing Line." Too bad "The War Prayer" is next up...
Yeah, definite Close Encounters vibes from the Sigma 957 sequence. Which is part of that 'sense of wonder', something that Close Encounters did so well.
As for Ivanova - I think this is a pivotal moment, when she stops seeing the Psi Corps are a single, monolithic entity/cult, and realises that it's a bit more nuanced than that. Hence she's now able to see Talia as an individual, rather than only seeing the badge.
Observation that didn't make the initial comment which has been tickling my brain.
Right over my head in the 1990's, but Ironheart really shouldn't sleep with his students... Just saying.
Although it's a six year age gap between the actors, so at least there isn't the "Age-inappropriate ick."
SPOILER:
Unlike "The War Prayer," where Tristan Rogers is 23 years older than Claudia Christian. His character was Ivanova's lover when she was at the academy. So that's a man in his 40's sleeping with a girl half his age. Ick.
Want to note here that I watched B5 with my mother, since I inherited much of my love of SF from her. Though she was the bigger fan of the original Star Trek cast, we both thoroughly enjoyed Walter Koenig's appearance. My mind was blown - Chekhov as a bad guy! And so damn good at it! "Ms. Winters..."
In interviews Koenig has always seemed to really relish the part, because it let him do stuff he'd never been given an opportunity to do before. It's a brilliant counterpoint to Chekhov.
Indeed!
Koenig has always said Bester was his favorite role...
SPOILERIFIC MUSINGS.
.
.
.
.
.
Sinclair in the teaser notes a meeting with the docker/construction guilds, and cutting their budget. We'll get a full episode of the consequences of that meeting. "By Any Means Necessary."
Who knew Bester would become such an important character? Chekov, who? It's odd to say someone was "lucky" to have a heart attack, but, as Koenig was originally offered the "Knight 2" role in "And the Sky Full of Stars," well... Knight 2's brain gets fried, and it would be hard to bring him back. Bester ends up in 12 episodes, plus is a main character of the spin-off "Psi-Corp trilogy" novels. It all worked out.
"I'll see you again in a million years." Yup, in a million years humanity will be energy beings, similar to Vorlons (see ep 422). Foreshadowing! Whatever alterations Psi Corp made to Ironheart, he basically ended up quickly evolving into what humanity eventually becomes.
Oh, right. 1/1000 humans are telepaths. 1/10,000 telepaths are telekinetic. Half of those are insane. Thus, 1 in 20 million humans are stable telepaths. Human population in 2258? Let's just double our current population to 15 billion. That's 750ish stable TKs. That's enough to have your assassin corp. Let's assume the naturally occurring telekinetics either don't have the power, or fine control to do what Psi Corp wants. 750ish TKs aren't THAT many, but Psi Corp should be able to find something to do.
"Talia's TK 'gift'": The narrative needs a super telepath. Lyta was set up in the pilot with her direct contact with Kosh, and the later revelation the Vorlons directly altered her. Ironheart's "gift" was (in retrospect) JMS finding a different way to set up the super telepath we'll need in s3-s5. Of course Andrea Thomas will leave the show in s2, and Lyta will fold back into the story by getting rid of Talia. Talia's TK won't quite play out... But does Psi Corp learn anything by dissecting Talia?
Speaking of things which won't play out, the lesbian relationship between Talia and Ivanova is first foreshadowed here - as Ivanova gives Talia water after her mind probe, and there's a specific reaction shot of Talia taking it. As Simon said to me on a different platform, one can imagine JMS insisting on having the reaction shot in the edit while the editor is wondering why...
Garibaldi's Aide... Boy, it's a small thing, but having the same recurring security officer show up in four episodes of s1 - pays off nicely when he shoots Garibaldi in the back. Pay attention every time you see him. In retrospect, with his interaction with Bester, it's obvious they're on "the same side." In his other appearances, reading between the lines you'll see Garibaldi's aide is always helping a "bad guy," or giving Garibaldi misinformation. He's a hell of an effective mole, hiding in plain sight. It's also effective him being a recurring character, as, watching contemporaneous episodes of Star Trek, it's basically, "Oh, this crewperson we've never seen before is suddenly acting like they've been here the entire time. They're the "bad guy," or important to this story, but we'll never see them again." Yes, a little bit of recurring bit part goes a long way.
Sigma 957 - we'll see that entity again come season 4. "Zog," anyone?
I forgot to mention Garibaldi's aide! I did a double-take when he popped up unannounced. A brilliant idea to embed him as a background supporting role (much like some of the C&C staff).
I might not even have noticed him on first watch (as you note, back then in TV SF minor roles like that would just be one-off castings of the week), but when you rewatch and suddenly see his face this early, it's deeply unsettling.
Yup... Very effective use of a recurring actor.
Also fun to pay attention to Delenn's quarters as she slowly assembles the Chrysalis machine all season. If you don't know what is, you just wonder if it's a Minbari jigsaw puzzle, or Jenga game, or something. If you even notice the thing on her coffee table slowly getting bigger.
Macaulay Bruton - the actor playing Garibaldi's aide - deserved a better career than his IMDB page shows. He's really very good. Naturalistic, instant chemistry with Jerry Doyle, and interesting enough with his line readings and body language to leave an impression.
NON SPOILER STUFF.
So much background on Psi Corp here. Also, Walter Koenig... Koenig was initially offered a different role for an episode we haven't caught up to, yet (the role which will be played by Christopher Neame), but was recovering from a heart attack at the time. JMS said he'd give Koenig a better role, and he did.
Lots of foreshadowing in this episode. This is the non-Spoiler comment, so, one thing which pays off this season, one for a future season, one which never quite pays off, but will be discussed in the SPOILER comment.
Again, a script produced after filming on s1 began - which means characters are better defined... Did anyone note IVANOVA pours Talia water after her mind probe? A nice evolution, since the last time we really saw Talia and Ivanova interact, Ivanova was telling the story of her mother. Oh, Ivanova may not like Psi Corp, but she can find sympathy for an individual telepath in distress.
Psi Corp/CSICORP. It's a deliberate pun.
Tech notes: The Blu-ray has the initial version of the episode! In the teaser a star is mistakenly comped in front of a Black Omega Starfury, and in front of Ironheart's ship. This was fuxred for syndication, and the corrected shot is on the DVD. Interesting the Blu-ray used the glitched render. Frankly, it implies the international broadcast master was used for the Blu-ray remaster!
There's one shot of Talia in front of the force field Ironheart projects which has terrible blue screen fringing.
Otherwise... Honestly, this episode looks pretty good! Ironheart, after he ascends... Sure, some of the flares orbiting him are 2D cards and the "lens ghosts" don't animate correctly, but the roiling energy, shockwaves, and hints of humanoid form are lovely.
The entity around Sigma 957 looks cool too - anyone else think it's a bit of an homage to the final mothersship from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind?"
Good episode for G'Kar. Simon brought up the particulars, so I don't need to repeat them.
Possibly the strongest episode of the season to date, except for "Midnight on the Firing Line." Too bad "The War Prayer" is next up...
Yeah, definite Close Encounters vibes from the Sigma 957 sequence. Which is part of that 'sense of wonder', something that Close Encounters did so well.
As for Ivanova - I think this is a pivotal moment, when she stops seeing the Psi Corps are a single, monolithic entity/cult, and realises that it's a bit more nuanced than that. Hence she's now able to see Talia as an individual, rather than only seeing the badge.
Agreed.
Observation that didn't make the initial comment which has been tickling my brain.
Right over my head in the 1990's, but Ironheart really shouldn't sleep with his students... Just saying.
Although it's a six year age gap between the actors, so at least there isn't the "Age-inappropriate ick."
SPOILER:
Unlike "The War Prayer," where Tristan Rogers is 23 years older than Claudia Christian. His character was Ivanova's lover when she was at the academy. So that's a man in his 40's sleeping with a girl half his age. Ick.