My 13 year old daughter (who is a very prolific writer) and I are in the early goings of season 3. Being my favorite Sci-Fi TV series, it's like my umpteenth time watching, but the first time watching it with someone seeing it for the first time.
She is complete blown away by the quality of the writing, and the compelling characters. Her favorite scene so far was Vir's epic response to the classic Morden question: "I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike..." etc., and that amazing finger wave which is like a quote in and of itself. "Can you and your associates arrange that for me Mr. Morden?" One for the ages.
But here in season 3 she's really enjoying the addition of Marcus, and how things are coming to a head.
Sidenote: We are writing a book together for eventual serialization. We greatly appreciate all of the content that you provide! Thank you.
It was several months ago, early spring. She’s so deeply in love with good storytelling and compelling characters, that she’s never even mentioned the visuals. I think she truly believes that if the overall writing and characters are that good it carries the day
She’s our youngest, and will soon be the only one living with us, so I’ve made a conscious decision to spend more time watching good stuff with her. We watched a lot of classic samurai films. We watched Tombstone, and I explained the connection of westerns to the samurai genre. We watched Wrath of Kahn and I explained how a piece of classic literature can be beautifully woven into new stories. It’s been a great time.
Yeah, it’s funny, I’m a huge fan of the original Dune books, and she’s seen the two recent DV films, the highest of quality in terms of visual standards in filmmaking, and she’s seen most of Nolan’s films, and 2001. So you’d think she might say something about the visuals, but nothing. Also, she loves Vertigo and Rear Window, so she had already been exposed great storytelling with dated visuals.
And yes, we’re having fun writing together. It’s a tale of a young man and his animal companion and a mystical creature they find along the way, trying to do what they can to help restore a broken land filled with scavengers and warring barons. My soon-to-be son in law is doing the early groundwork to start a small publishing house. My main skill and his are as artists, so writing is a fun challenge!
I mentioned I never warmed to Marcus as much as the show wanted, but I warmed to him enough. His heroic (near) death is upsetting. He was my wife's favorite character. She was furious. "The only one on the damn show I liked, and they killed him off?!" Laura is not a B5 fan... But I married her anyway (not liking B5, classic Doctor Who, or audio drama/instrumental music, not to mention wanting to marry me? Lovely woman, no taste at all). Speaking of lovely women with no taste, yes, Ivanova totally should have boffed Marcus.
Tech note I forgot in non-spoilers. The audience would have figured out Minbari ships have artificial gravity. Sheridan got some exposition. Some of this is the world building about Minbari and Vorlon tech being superior to Earth's. Yeah, so is Centauri tech. Remember Earth sensors cannot lock onto Minbari ships when ECM is active. Centauri blockade mines can track and fire at the White Star. Centauri have better sensors. Unless, of course, the White Star's countermeasures were offline, because Sheridan never asked for them to be turned on, because Delenn was being annoyingly coy about the White Star's capabilities at a time when disclosure was required (not letting that go)... No, because Lennier and/or the other crew - the designers - would have activated countermeasures as soon as they approached Zagros 7, because the crew are not idiots, and know the relevant systems.
Ah, Londo, Londo... You got Adira killed this week. You really thought Morden would just go away? Nah. You just gave him impetus to manipulate you. Just a shame Stephen Furst wasn't in the budget for the episode. Wouldn't it have been nice for him to be in the room when Londo and Morden carve up the galaxy, and toss in Vir's version of "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out?" That's fine. Eventually Vir gets one of the most satisfying callbacks in the show - his little wave...
Shadows are vulnerable to telepaths, yet are working with Psi-Corp? Long ago the Narn had telepaths. Now they don't. Narn teeps died out a thousand years ago. The Markab died of a virus. The Drakh will unleash a Shadow virus on Earth 8 years down the B5 timeline. William Edgar's telepath virus is pretty obviously Shadow tech, and a contingency plan to remove Psi Corp once they were no longer useful, or tried to rebel against/double cross the Shadows.
Otherwise, we'll never quite know how much of EarthGov and Earthforce are compromised by Shadows. Enough to be a problem, not so much Earth couldn't - eventually - recover. If "Crusade" hadn't been cancelled, it would have gone more into that.
The two B5 questions are "Who are you?" and "What do you want?" Crusade's questions are "Who do you serve?" and "Who do you trust?" Suffice it to say the Shadows have had influence on Earth since at least 2250, and their agents - now working with the Drakh - will remain active through at least 2268. Examples - Mr. Drake, the on-the-nose named Co-designer of the Victory-class destroyer, and Mr. Wells of Knightwatch, who will pop up on an episode of Crusade. B5 will somewhat brush aside Shadow influence in EarthGov/Earthforce by wrapping up the Nightwatch problem in one episode, and never really discussing much in s5 who was a Clarke loyalist and who wasn't (and their reasons), but the taint runs deep. Could be worse. Could be Trump.
We did all notice Lennier said "not all" Minbari are "comfortable" with the Rangers? This is Lennier possibly shading the truth a bit (to save other's honor). The Rangers go back a thousand years. Yes, some Minbari think the Rangers have outlasted their purpose, but the real reason many Minbari aren't "comfortable" with the Rangers is good old racism. Most Minbari don't know the Minbari souls in human bodies" thing. How DARE that human, Jeffery Sinclair, be made Entil'zha. How DARE he recruit other humans! How DARE Sinclair move Ranger training camps to other worlds (C'mon, you know that was his idea, and you know he told Delenn it was to "not put all [the] eggs in one basket)? This will be one of the underlying reasons for the Minbari civil war in s4, and will be dealt with in that s5 episode showing the first Drazi and Pakma'ra Rangers. Still, the Minbari will slowly learn to become more accepting.
Still, it's interesting to note that a major s1 plot point was about many humans being uncomfortable with alien influence on Earth while the Minbari are concerned about alien influence on Minbar. Yet Delenn - a particularly enlightened and progressive Minbari - notes to Cynthia Torqueman during an ISN interview that the strength of humans is in building communities from disparate groups. Ah, naiveté of an optimistic American in the 1990's - actually thinking people from different backgrounds should be able to find common cause, get along, and build a better life together! Too bad the Shadows infiltrated the US back around 1980 and their generation-long plans have come to fruition. Yup, two Trump snarks in one post - and you thought my nitpicking was bad?
Do we think there is Shadow influence on Minbar? Minbari were spacefaring a thousand years ago - we see their ships in War Without End pt 2. Minbari have had contact with Vorlons for over a thousand years - again, War Without End. Minbari have a prophecy which goes back about a thousand years (Sinclair/Valen's notes) about the return of the Shadows and reuniting with their missing souls. Given all this it's nearly impossible to believe there are NO VISUAL RECORDS of Shadow vessels. Even if such records were hidden and sealed away, DELENN WAS GRAY COUNCIL. She'd be cleared for everything! There may have been Shadow agents over the centuries. Not as active as Morden, but deleting a record here, stoking a sense of racial superiority there... Maybe there's a Shadow agent on the Gray Council itself - someone who could push the really terrible idea to imbalance the council after 1000 years by putting Neroon in Delenn's place? I've not really pondered the thought before this re-watch, but it seems likely.
Kosh's "I/you have ALWAYS been here" makes perfect sense when you remember Kosh was there when the Minbari met Valen. Kosh probably met Sinclair BEFORE Sinclair went into his Chrysalis. Yup, Kosh knows he and Sheridan have ALWAYS been on Babylon 5 because he knows there's a time loop in play and knows Valen's prophecies. Kosh's foreknowledge, of course, only goes as far as mid-2260 (when Sinclair travels back to become Valen), so he's still got vagueness ("If you go to Za'ha Dum, you will die") about things happening later. In fact, Kosh might even know of his own death in 2260. Hmmm. Another thought I've never had before! Knowing of his own death certainly would explain why Kosh becomes more active in 2259, reaching out to Sheridan, putting part of himself in Sheridan, training Sheridan, etc, etc etc..He knows he's running out of time!
One last nitpick omitted from Non Spoiler 2: Marcus "Batmanning" out of Medlab is pure cheese. At this point in the series JMS is pushing a little too hard as he transitions the show from political/conspiracy (much of s2) into action adventure. He'll get the balance down in a couple of episodes, but, in this one, he's pushed too far into cliché... As should be evidenced by the sheer amount of nitpicking I've done this week. This is not a bad episode (TKO, and a couple of others), but it's got enough noticeable slop to keep it from being as good as it should.
So, last week I noted ISN obviously wasn't aligned with a conspiracy faction. This is confirmed by noting EarthGov had the footage pulled. I speculated EarthGov deliberately leaked the footage to allow it to become a propaganda tool. Ok, that was wrong - but that Psi Cop recognizes good agitprop when it's dropped in his lap.
At least we know even at higher levels EarthGov isn't COMPLETELY undermined with Shadow agents and dupes.
Marcus is supposed to be a "Robin Hood type." I never quite warmed to him as much as JMS and Jason Carter would have hoped, but he was my wife's favorite character on the show. Importantly, he's a human front-credit character not assigned to Babylon 5 by a military or government organization. The show needs someone like him who can just come and go from B5 and travel where needed without criminal acts like falsified station logs.
Simon noted he was a bit put off by his Britishness. Fair enough. I, and many other Americans, can be put off by stereotypical American characters in UK shows.
Londo is being an optimist, thinking he can tell Morden to "go away," and he will. Even that name drop of Refa from Morden isn't quite enough for Londo to fully realize he's being played here. Also, will an expansionist Centauri Republic respect the border Morden draws? In theory only Londo and Refa know about Morden, so I don't think Londo is going to be able to send a message to the Centaurum stating, "Just trust me on this, don't send ships out here." Too little, too late, Londo.
So... The Rangers are based on Minbar, but have arranged training camps on Non-Aligned Worlds with the aid of varied governments, but not Earth? Good for the narrative as, else, the Shadows could arrange mass strikes on multiple camps, but, dammit, it's another odd writing nitpick. One assumes other governments weren't actually told what the camps were for, since the Rangers are still a secret organization with a visually distinct uniform? In Valen's Name, we watch B5 for the One, we nitpick for the One.
The White Star - never sold on the ship design, and there's some disconnect between the physical sets and CG model (there is no room for the high ceilinged hallway right behind the bridge on the exterior model), a patrol-boat sized ship with the firepower of a destroyer and manueverability of a fighter is a nice-to-have. Again, a technical spoiler, but it's too bad the Vorlons never handed over any reactors for power systems (the B5 universe will, eventually, have other hybrid ships with Vorlon tech, and it will be noted those ships do not have enough reactor power for optimal use of their weapons arrays, therefore, the Vorlons never shared their power systems). And it gives the show scope to have our cast go somewhere to do something and have enough room to have dynamic action. Can't just be a four chair Earthforce shuttle set, or Starfury cockpit, can it?
Ok. So, despite some glitchy writing, this is an excellent episode for Sheridan. He's motivated and decisive, willing to press the Vorlon for answers, deciding to bring Ivanova and Franklin in (gotta love Ivanova handling the exposition, and ending with "So, did I miss anything?"), and willing to take on a Shadow ship, despite the well meaning Delenn telling him it's impossible. This is why the Vorlons need/want someone like him. He's pulling a plan out of his ass on a ship he doesn't know the capabilities of, being HAMPERED by Delenn both withholding information, and assuring him their task cannot be completed. His solution is elegant. Overload a jumpgate, and kill the Shadow, AND blow the gate to a dead world. The last time we saw a disrupted jump point used as a weapon it was the Shadows vs Narn at Gorash 7. So, while Sheridan doesn't know it, his tactic is also poetic.
That said, it's likely the virus which destroyed the Markab was Shadow engineered, and that the Shadows are using the Markab world as a staging base. Sheridan's blowing the gate, ironically, makes that location more secure for the Shadows. Still, after nitpicking this episode so hard, let's give it up to JMS for layering in a character note ("I don't like graverobbers"), elegance, poetry, and irony into one explosion. There's the good writing making this series hold up today!
Conversely, this episode shows a weakness in Delenn, and why SHE needs Sheridan. Delenn is, for better or worse, religious caste in a very ordered society (like, say, having a caste system in the first place), and was raised from youth with history and prophecy burned into her brain. It is a literal article of faith for her that Shadow ships are nearly indestructible. She needs Sheridan to show her the Shadows CAN be defeated so she can reclaim her power. She's always been strong, but, aside from the pilot (..."THREE gravities!") she's been quietly strong. Principled, dignified, ready to debate, willing to risk death, but largely passive, or reactive. Here we see her actively powerful - beating the shit out of someone with a stick. With Sheridan's destruction of a Shadow vessel, she's seen with her own eyes they can be defeated. The seeds of the truly beyond-badass Delenn are sprouting.
Finally, this is the episode where we learn Kosh does, in fact, have a sense of humor. ("I hate it when you do that!" "Good.")
This actually isn't among my favorite episodes. Yes, it handles a lot - we open up the scope of the show, introduce Marcus, have Londo try to extricate himself from Morden, explicitly see Morden is working with EarthGov and Psi-Corp, catch up with the Ambassadors, introduce the White Star, finally tell Franklin what the hell is going on, and waste Tucker Smallwood in a thankless part, but there's also a lot of sloppy in the script and execution that annoyed me on first watch, and annoyed me now. Some of this is petty, some of this is actually bad writing.
*When Marcus escapes Zagros 7 the Drazi specifically states he's going to drop Marcus outside the blockade. He obviously realized he wasn't gonna make it, because Marcus's shuttle is shown flying past the last few mines of the blockade, firing at him.
*Not writing or VFX, but a directing nitpick... The fight in downbelow is sloppy in staging. Marcus whips out his pike (the CG of the extension is very well done), and starts beating people. We cut to Lennier having his arms pinned by one foe, then cut back to Delenn, beating people with the pike. Nice to see Delenn kicking ass, and, yes, there's time for Marcus to pass it to her on the shot of Lennier, but it doesn't flow well. Additionally - this is a technical spoiler - in a later episode Lennier will lift a sizable adult human male with one hand. Meaning Lennier shouldn't have been pinned. In Director Kevin G Cremin's defense, as that IS a detail from a future episode, he probably didn't know just how strong Minbari are.
*Sheridan and Ivanova didn't both need to leave the station, but, hey, it's a TV show, and we want our leads involved. Also, whatever happened to Major Atumbe, who is never seen, but referenced a few times in s1 as the person in command of B5 when Sinclair and Ivanova were off shift?
*Ivanova is not fluent in Minbari. She learned that weapons console unrealistically fast. Right - action adventure show, proactive characters.
*The White Star is flying a combat mission to destroy a blockade - when Sheridan asks Delenn what the ship can do, and she says, "All in good time, Captain," the proper response is, "This is an active combat mission, and I cannot plan accurately without complete information, so, respectfully, Delenn, NOW is that 'good time.'" Right here is the worst bit of writing in the episode. TV shows are full of "You should see this" (instead of telling the person what they should see), and "I'll tell you later," but, again, during the active combat mission is not the right time for coy withholding of information. You don't want the exposition sequence there? Fine, have Delenn open her mouth and get interrupted by the Shadow vessel phasing in.
*The ship's designers are NOT its combat crew. That's dumb. The designers should be at whatever shipyard built the White Star working on a fleet of this class if ship. You'll need more than one.
*..."Unfamiliar configuration." NO! NO! NO! 1) Everyone saw the ISN footage, right? The Minbari have descriptions, and (another technical Spoiler) should have visual records from the last war as the Minbari were spacefaring then. There is no reason to not recognize that ship other than to set up a dramatic line and a bunch of close-up reaction shots of people shitting their pants. And that's JMS dropping three really bad bits of writing into one sequence.
*Ivanova reports destroying three more mines will clear the area. We cut to the exterior of the White Star dodging a Shadow blast then destroying three mines. Mission accomplished. Time to flee and lead the Shadow away. Nope. We have a bunch of dialog before Ivanova reports the last mine is destroyed. We'll blame the CG teams for that error.
*Endawi has an entire scene with Garibaldi about needing to have another meeting with Sheridan and Ivanova, but, when they return Endawi was "just leaving." So... He didn't need to see Sheridan and Ivanova, and the scene with Garibaldi was just to cover a time gap and give Garibaldi some funny lines, I guess?
The night this episode premiered was my turn to host for my friends I watched with. We typically gathered early, have some snacks, share our guesses/analyses based on prior episodes, and smoke a bowl or two, as one does when a university student in California.
My buddy Hugo has shown up with Deb - a women in our department who was not a B5 watcher.
On another channel, just before B5 was Beverley Hills 90210. It's a mid-season episode, as their season had begun weeks earlier. Fair enough, we'll put 90210 on for Deb.
The episode ends, the executive producer credit comes on, and I flip over to the B5 channel. Deb starts whining. "The episode isn't over yet!" "Yes it is, after commercial it's going right into ending credits." Fine, whatever, I flip back to 90210. It comes out of commercial into ending credits. I flip back to B5...
Just in time to see Kosh say "Good."
Ryan, Bryan, Chad, Hugo and I all let out simultaneous expressions of either, "Fuck!" or, "Goddammit, Deb!" and settle in for the rest of the episode.
On the first commercial break Deb tries to mock us about being pissed off we've missed the first scene of the season premiere. This is a mistake as I rip into her with a, "After you whined about flipping away from your mid-season episode which was over, so you could watch credits? We're here to watch B5, not 90210, and we missed the opening of the premiere. My house, my TV. Problem with that, I'll walk you out."
Oh, yes, and the VCR I was recording on was the TV we were using, so my tape missed the scene, too.
Fortunately, the US DID do repeats, so I re-taped the show Sunday at 3am.
Also of note on first viewing (after chewing out Deb), was the inevitable discussion of the opening titles. "It failed" was the gut punch. Ryan and I were the only ones who caught the Starfury firing on the other Starfury... Hmmm... What could that mean?
Of course the music has that discordant Gorash 7 music in the montage, and the somber "Requiem for the Battle of the Line" over that absolutely stunning flyaround of B5 itself. I have a very low-res clean copy (no actors/text) I got from B5 animator Mojo - at a mere 240p - and must ask him if he's got a 1080p version he'd send me. For the animators (or at least knowledgeable) in the audience, the flyaround is of course, a point moving straight up the core of the station while rotating. The camera is parented to this point, while the camera rotation and distance from the parent are animated.
S3 is my favorite title sequence, followed by S4, S5, S2, then S1. Bear in mind ALL of B5's openings are among the best ever made.
Oh, congrats Jeff Conway ti being promoted to front credits. Yes, Simon, it's not a spoiler to say we'll be seeing more of Marcus, as he's also smiling out of a jump vortex in the opening credits.
(Unimportant side note: When Next-Gen was in first run, after the cliffhanger of "Locutus of Borg," everyone was speculating on if they'd save Picard. Me, being no-fun, was the jerk who pointed out, "If he's 'Starring' in the credits they save him. If he's 'Guest Starring' they don't.")
My 13 year old daughter (who is a very prolific writer) and I are in the early goings of season 3. Being my favorite Sci-Fi TV series, it's like my umpteenth time watching, but the first time watching it with someone seeing it for the first time.
She is complete blown away by the quality of the writing, and the compelling characters. Her favorite scene so far was Vir's epic response to the classic Morden question: "I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike..." etc., and that amazing finger wave which is like a quote in and of itself. "Can you and your associates arrange that for me Mr. Morden?" One for the ages.
But here in season 3 she's really enjoying the addition of Marcus, and how things are coming to a head.
Sidenote: We are writing a book together for eventual serialization. We greatly appreciate all of the content that you provide! Thank you.
This is great! When did you start watching it with her? I’m keen to watch the show with my son, who is about to turn 12.
How did she respond to the more dated aspects of the show, specifically the visuals?
Also — must be exciting to be working on a serial together! Excellent.
It was several months ago, early spring. She’s so deeply in love with good storytelling and compelling characters, that she’s never even mentioned the visuals. I think she truly believes that if the overall writing and characters are that good it carries the day
She’s our youngest, and will soon be the only one living with us, so I’ve made a conscious decision to spend more time watching good stuff with her. We watched a lot of classic samurai films. We watched Tombstone, and I explained the connection of westerns to the samurai genre. We watched Wrath of Kahn and I explained how a piece of classic literature can be beautifully woven into new stories. It’s been a great time.
Yeah, it’s funny, I’m a huge fan of the original Dune books, and she’s seen the two recent DV films, the highest of quality in terms of visual standards in filmmaking, and she’s seen most of Nolan’s films, and 2001. So you’d think she might say something about the visuals, but nothing. Also, she loves Vertigo and Rear Window, so she had already been exposed great storytelling with dated visuals.
And yes, we’re having fun writing together. It’s a tale of a young man and his animal companion and a mystical creature they find along the way, trying to do what they can to help restore a broken land filled with scavengers and warring barons. My soon-to-be son in law is doing the early groundwork to start a small publishing house. My main skill and his are as artists, so writing is a fun challenge!
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I mentioned I never warmed to Marcus as much as the show wanted, but I warmed to him enough. His heroic (near) death is upsetting. He was my wife's favorite character. She was furious. "The only one on the damn show I liked, and they killed him off?!" Laura is not a B5 fan... But I married her anyway (not liking B5, classic Doctor Who, or audio drama/instrumental music, not to mention wanting to marry me? Lovely woman, no taste at all). Speaking of lovely women with no taste, yes, Ivanova totally should have boffed Marcus.
Tech note I forgot in non-spoilers. The audience would have figured out Minbari ships have artificial gravity. Sheridan got some exposition. Some of this is the world building about Minbari and Vorlon tech being superior to Earth's. Yeah, so is Centauri tech. Remember Earth sensors cannot lock onto Minbari ships when ECM is active. Centauri blockade mines can track and fire at the White Star. Centauri have better sensors. Unless, of course, the White Star's countermeasures were offline, because Sheridan never asked for them to be turned on, because Delenn was being annoyingly coy about the White Star's capabilities at a time when disclosure was required (not letting that go)... No, because Lennier and/or the other crew - the designers - would have activated countermeasures as soon as they approached Zagros 7, because the crew are not idiots, and know the relevant systems.
Ah, Londo, Londo... You got Adira killed this week. You really thought Morden would just go away? Nah. You just gave him impetus to manipulate you. Just a shame Stephen Furst wasn't in the budget for the episode. Wouldn't it have been nice for him to be in the room when Londo and Morden carve up the galaxy, and toss in Vir's version of "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out?" That's fine. Eventually Vir gets one of the most satisfying callbacks in the show - his little wave...
Shadows are vulnerable to telepaths, yet are working with Psi-Corp? Long ago the Narn had telepaths. Now they don't. Narn teeps died out a thousand years ago. The Markab died of a virus. The Drakh will unleash a Shadow virus on Earth 8 years down the B5 timeline. William Edgar's telepath virus is pretty obviously Shadow tech, and a contingency plan to remove Psi Corp once they were no longer useful, or tried to rebel against/double cross the Shadows.
Otherwise, we'll never quite know how much of EarthGov and Earthforce are compromised by Shadows. Enough to be a problem, not so much Earth couldn't - eventually - recover. If "Crusade" hadn't been cancelled, it would have gone more into that.
The two B5 questions are "Who are you?" and "What do you want?" Crusade's questions are "Who do you serve?" and "Who do you trust?" Suffice it to say the Shadows have had influence on Earth since at least 2250, and their agents - now working with the Drakh - will remain active through at least 2268. Examples - Mr. Drake, the on-the-nose named Co-designer of the Victory-class destroyer, and Mr. Wells of Knightwatch, who will pop up on an episode of Crusade. B5 will somewhat brush aside Shadow influence in EarthGov/Earthforce by wrapping up the Nightwatch problem in one episode, and never really discussing much in s5 who was a Clarke loyalist and who wasn't (and their reasons), but the taint runs deep. Could be worse. Could be Trump.
We did all notice Lennier said "not all" Minbari are "comfortable" with the Rangers? This is Lennier possibly shading the truth a bit (to save other's honor). The Rangers go back a thousand years. Yes, some Minbari think the Rangers have outlasted their purpose, but the real reason many Minbari aren't "comfortable" with the Rangers is good old racism. Most Minbari don't know the Minbari souls in human bodies" thing. How DARE that human, Jeffery Sinclair, be made Entil'zha. How DARE he recruit other humans! How DARE Sinclair move Ranger training camps to other worlds (C'mon, you know that was his idea, and you know he told Delenn it was to "not put all [the] eggs in one basket)? This will be one of the underlying reasons for the Minbari civil war in s4, and will be dealt with in that s5 episode showing the first Drazi and Pakma'ra Rangers. Still, the Minbari will slowly learn to become more accepting.
Still, it's interesting to note that a major s1 plot point was about many humans being uncomfortable with alien influence on Earth while the Minbari are concerned about alien influence on Minbar. Yet Delenn - a particularly enlightened and progressive Minbari - notes to Cynthia Torqueman during an ISN interview that the strength of humans is in building communities from disparate groups. Ah, naiveté of an optimistic American in the 1990's - actually thinking people from different backgrounds should be able to find common cause, get along, and build a better life together! Too bad the Shadows infiltrated the US back around 1980 and their generation-long plans have come to fruition. Yup, two Trump snarks in one post - and you thought my nitpicking was bad?
Do we think there is Shadow influence on Minbar? Minbari were spacefaring a thousand years ago - we see their ships in War Without End pt 2. Minbari have had contact with Vorlons for over a thousand years - again, War Without End. Minbari have a prophecy which goes back about a thousand years (Sinclair/Valen's notes) about the return of the Shadows and reuniting with their missing souls. Given all this it's nearly impossible to believe there are NO VISUAL RECORDS of Shadow vessels. Even if such records were hidden and sealed away, DELENN WAS GRAY COUNCIL. She'd be cleared for everything! There may have been Shadow agents over the centuries. Not as active as Morden, but deleting a record here, stoking a sense of racial superiority there... Maybe there's a Shadow agent on the Gray Council itself - someone who could push the really terrible idea to imbalance the council after 1000 years by putting Neroon in Delenn's place? I've not really pondered the thought before this re-watch, but it seems likely.
Kosh's "I/you have ALWAYS been here" makes perfect sense when you remember Kosh was there when the Minbari met Valen. Kosh probably met Sinclair BEFORE Sinclair went into his Chrysalis. Yup, Kosh knows he and Sheridan have ALWAYS been on Babylon 5 because he knows there's a time loop in play and knows Valen's prophecies. Kosh's foreknowledge, of course, only goes as far as mid-2260 (when Sinclair travels back to become Valen), so he's still got vagueness ("If you go to Za'ha Dum, you will die") about things happening later. In fact, Kosh might even know of his own death in 2260. Hmmm. Another thought I've never had before! Knowing of his own death certainly would explain why Kosh becomes more active in 2259, reaching out to Sheridan, putting part of himself in Sheridan, training Sheridan, etc, etc etc..He knows he's running out of time!
Non Spoiler 3.
One last nitpick omitted from Non Spoiler 2: Marcus "Batmanning" out of Medlab is pure cheese. At this point in the series JMS is pushing a little too hard as he transitions the show from political/conspiracy (much of s2) into action adventure. He'll get the balance down in a couple of episodes, but, in this one, he's pushed too far into cliché... As should be evidenced by the sheer amount of nitpicking I've done this week. This is not a bad episode (TKO, and a couple of others), but it's got enough noticeable slop to keep it from being as good as it should.
So, last week I noted ISN obviously wasn't aligned with a conspiracy faction. This is confirmed by noting EarthGov had the footage pulled. I speculated EarthGov deliberately leaked the footage to allow it to become a propaganda tool. Ok, that was wrong - but that Psi Cop recognizes good agitprop when it's dropped in his lap.
At least we know even at higher levels EarthGov isn't COMPLETELY undermined with Shadow agents and dupes.
Marcus is supposed to be a "Robin Hood type." I never quite warmed to him as much as JMS and Jason Carter would have hoped, but he was my wife's favorite character on the show. Importantly, he's a human front-credit character not assigned to Babylon 5 by a military or government organization. The show needs someone like him who can just come and go from B5 and travel where needed without criminal acts like falsified station logs.
Simon noted he was a bit put off by his Britishness. Fair enough. I, and many other Americans, can be put off by stereotypical American characters in UK shows.
Londo is being an optimist, thinking he can tell Morden to "go away," and he will. Even that name drop of Refa from Morden isn't quite enough for Londo to fully realize he's being played here. Also, will an expansionist Centauri Republic respect the border Morden draws? In theory only Londo and Refa know about Morden, so I don't think Londo is going to be able to send a message to the Centaurum stating, "Just trust me on this, don't send ships out here." Too little, too late, Londo.
So... The Rangers are based on Minbar, but have arranged training camps on Non-Aligned Worlds with the aid of varied governments, but not Earth? Good for the narrative as, else, the Shadows could arrange mass strikes on multiple camps, but, dammit, it's another odd writing nitpick. One assumes other governments weren't actually told what the camps were for, since the Rangers are still a secret organization with a visually distinct uniform? In Valen's Name, we watch B5 for the One, we nitpick for the One.
The White Star - never sold on the ship design, and there's some disconnect between the physical sets and CG model (there is no room for the high ceilinged hallway right behind the bridge on the exterior model), a patrol-boat sized ship with the firepower of a destroyer and manueverability of a fighter is a nice-to-have. Again, a technical spoiler, but it's too bad the Vorlons never handed over any reactors for power systems (the B5 universe will, eventually, have other hybrid ships with Vorlon tech, and it will be noted those ships do not have enough reactor power for optimal use of their weapons arrays, therefore, the Vorlons never shared their power systems). And it gives the show scope to have our cast go somewhere to do something and have enough room to have dynamic action. Can't just be a four chair Earthforce shuttle set, or Starfury cockpit, can it?
Ok. So, despite some glitchy writing, this is an excellent episode for Sheridan. He's motivated and decisive, willing to press the Vorlon for answers, deciding to bring Ivanova and Franklin in (gotta love Ivanova handling the exposition, and ending with "So, did I miss anything?"), and willing to take on a Shadow ship, despite the well meaning Delenn telling him it's impossible. This is why the Vorlons need/want someone like him. He's pulling a plan out of his ass on a ship he doesn't know the capabilities of, being HAMPERED by Delenn both withholding information, and assuring him their task cannot be completed. His solution is elegant. Overload a jumpgate, and kill the Shadow, AND blow the gate to a dead world. The last time we saw a disrupted jump point used as a weapon it was the Shadows vs Narn at Gorash 7. So, while Sheridan doesn't know it, his tactic is also poetic.
That said, it's likely the virus which destroyed the Markab was Shadow engineered, and that the Shadows are using the Markab world as a staging base. Sheridan's blowing the gate, ironically, makes that location more secure for the Shadows. Still, after nitpicking this episode so hard, let's give it up to JMS for layering in a character note ("I don't like graverobbers"), elegance, poetry, and irony into one explosion. There's the good writing making this series hold up today!
Conversely, this episode shows a weakness in Delenn, and why SHE needs Sheridan. Delenn is, for better or worse, religious caste in a very ordered society (like, say, having a caste system in the first place), and was raised from youth with history and prophecy burned into her brain. It is a literal article of faith for her that Shadow ships are nearly indestructible. She needs Sheridan to show her the Shadows CAN be defeated so she can reclaim her power. She's always been strong, but, aside from the pilot (..."THREE gravities!") she's been quietly strong. Principled, dignified, ready to debate, willing to risk death, but largely passive, or reactive. Here we see her actively powerful - beating the shit out of someone with a stick. With Sheridan's destruction of a Shadow vessel, she's seen with her own eyes they can be defeated. The seeds of the truly beyond-badass Delenn are sprouting.
Finally, this is the episode where we learn Kosh does, in fact, have a sense of humor. ("I hate it when you do that!" "Good.")
Non Spoiler 2
This actually isn't among my favorite episodes. Yes, it handles a lot - we open up the scope of the show, introduce Marcus, have Londo try to extricate himself from Morden, explicitly see Morden is working with EarthGov and Psi-Corp, catch up with the Ambassadors, introduce the White Star, finally tell Franklin what the hell is going on, and waste Tucker Smallwood in a thankless part, but there's also a lot of sloppy in the script and execution that annoyed me on first watch, and annoyed me now. Some of this is petty, some of this is actually bad writing.
*When Marcus escapes Zagros 7 the Drazi specifically states he's going to drop Marcus outside the blockade. He obviously realized he wasn't gonna make it, because Marcus's shuttle is shown flying past the last few mines of the blockade, firing at him.
*Not writing or VFX, but a directing nitpick... The fight in downbelow is sloppy in staging. Marcus whips out his pike (the CG of the extension is very well done), and starts beating people. We cut to Lennier having his arms pinned by one foe, then cut back to Delenn, beating people with the pike. Nice to see Delenn kicking ass, and, yes, there's time for Marcus to pass it to her on the shot of Lennier, but it doesn't flow well. Additionally - this is a technical spoiler - in a later episode Lennier will lift a sizable adult human male with one hand. Meaning Lennier shouldn't have been pinned. In Director Kevin G Cremin's defense, as that IS a detail from a future episode, he probably didn't know just how strong Minbari are.
*Sheridan and Ivanova didn't both need to leave the station, but, hey, it's a TV show, and we want our leads involved. Also, whatever happened to Major Atumbe, who is never seen, but referenced a few times in s1 as the person in command of B5 when Sinclair and Ivanova were off shift?
*Ivanova is not fluent in Minbari. She learned that weapons console unrealistically fast. Right - action adventure show, proactive characters.
*The White Star is flying a combat mission to destroy a blockade - when Sheridan asks Delenn what the ship can do, and she says, "All in good time, Captain," the proper response is, "This is an active combat mission, and I cannot plan accurately without complete information, so, respectfully, Delenn, NOW is that 'good time.'" Right here is the worst bit of writing in the episode. TV shows are full of "You should see this" (instead of telling the person what they should see), and "I'll tell you later," but, again, during the active combat mission is not the right time for coy withholding of information. You don't want the exposition sequence there? Fine, have Delenn open her mouth and get interrupted by the Shadow vessel phasing in.
*The ship's designers are NOT its combat crew. That's dumb. The designers should be at whatever shipyard built the White Star working on a fleet of this class if ship. You'll need more than one.
*..."Unfamiliar configuration." NO! NO! NO! 1) Everyone saw the ISN footage, right? The Minbari have descriptions, and (another technical Spoiler) should have visual records from the last war as the Minbari were spacefaring then. There is no reason to not recognize that ship other than to set up a dramatic line and a bunch of close-up reaction shots of people shitting their pants. And that's JMS dropping three really bad bits of writing into one sequence.
*Ivanova reports destroying three more mines will clear the area. We cut to the exterior of the White Star dodging a Shadow blast then destroying three mines. Mission accomplished. Time to flee and lead the Shadow away. Nope. We have a bunch of dialog before Ivanova reports the last mine is destroyed. We'll blame the CG teams for that error.
*Endawi has an entire scene with Garibaldi about needing to have another meeting with Sheridan and Ivanova, but, when they return Endawi was "just leaving." So... He didn't need to see Sheridan and Ivanova, and the scene with Garibaldi was just to cover a time gap and give Garibaldi some funny lines, I guess?
End of nitpicks. On to analysis.
Non Spoiler 1:
The night this episode premiered was my turn to host for my friends I watched with. We typically gathered early, have some snacks, share our guesses/analyses based on prior episodes, and smoke a bowl or two, as one does when a university student in California.
My buddy Hugo has shown up with Deb - a women in our department who was not a B5 watcher.
On another channel, just before B5 was Beverley Hills 90210. It's a mid-season episode, as their season had begun weeks earlier. Fair enough, we'll put 90210 on for Deb.
The episode ends, the executive producer credit comes on, and I flip over to the B5 channel. Deb starts whining. "The episode isn't over yet!" "Yes it is, after commercial it's going right into ending credits." Fine, whatever, I flip back to 90210. It comes out of commercial into ending credits. I flip back to B5...
Just in time to see Kosh say "Good."
Ryan, Bryan, Chad, Hugo and I all let out simultaneous expressions of either, "Fuck!" or, "Goddammit, Deb!" and settle in for the rest of the episode.
On the first commercial break Deb tries to mock us about being pissed off we've missed the first scene of the season premiere. This is a mistake as I rip into her with a, "After you whined about flipping away from your mid-season episode which was over, so you could watch credits? We're here to watch B5, not 90210, and we missed the opening of the premiere. My house, my TV. Problem with that, I'll walk you out."
Oh, yes, and the VCR I was recording on was the TV we were using, so my tape missed the scene, too.
Fortunately, the US DID do repeats, so I re-taped the show Sunday at 3am.
Also of note on first viewing (after chewing out Deb), was the inevitable discussion of the opening titles. "It failed" was the gut punch. Ryan and I were the only ones who caught the Starfury firing on the other Starfury... Hmmm... What could that mean?
Of course the music has that discordant Gorash 7 music in the montage, and the somber "Requiem for the Battle of the Line" over that absolutely stunning flyaround of B5 itself. I have a very low-res clean copy (no actors/text) I got from B5 animator Mojo - at a mere 240p - and must ask him if he's got a 1080p version he'd send me. For the animators (or at least knowledgeable) in the audience, the flyaround is of course, a point moving straight up the core of the station while rotating. The camera is parented to this point, while the camera rotation and distance from the parent are animated.
S3 is my favorite title sequence, followed by S4, S5, S2, then S1. Bear in mind ALL of B5's openings are among the best ever made.
Oh, congrats Jeff Conway ti being promoted to front credits. Yes, Simon, it's not a spoiler to say we'll be seeing more of Marcus, as he's also smiling out of a jump vortex in the opening credits.
(Unimportant side note: When Next-Gen was in first run, after the cliffhanger of "Locutus of Borg," everyone was speculating on if they'd save Picard. Me, being no-fun, was the jerk who pointed out, "If he's 'Starring' in the credits they save him. If he's 'Guest Starring' they don't.")
Ok, that's the story