Given the blatant BS ISN spews in this episode one must wonder what Sheridan is smoking come Season 4's "Lines of Communication," where he willingly hands ISN interview material to cut a deceptive report. Babylon 5 usually does quite well (much better than 1990's Star Trek) at not having main characters unexpectedly turn into idiots to get to a plot point, but "Lines of Communication?" We'll talk about that when we get to it.
So, "Ship of Tears" kicks off the next phase of the main narrative with the Shadows openly attacking, reaches back to the pilot with more exposition on the death of the Narn telepaths, and also sets up multiple season 4 plots, as well as calling back to the death of the Markab, AND beginning the set up for the spin off series "Crusade."
Simon already brought up Bester's programming of Garibaldi, so I don't need to discuss that. Let's expound on the link between the Narn telepaths, the Markab, another season 4 plot, and setting up "Crusade," shall we? Babylon 5 has already slowly set up things in the universe so, when they become prominent elements, they aren't "magic tech from nowhere." A good example is the s1 episode "Infection," which introduces the concept of organic/living alien technology which can merge with humans. Of course now we have organic Shadow vessels which use alien (from the Shadow perspective) life as processing cores. So let's trace what we know so far from the past and move into our "it's a RE-watch" future.
Narn telepaths died a thousand years ago. There were a few survivors (G'Quan and some allies), but no children. The reading from the Book of G'Quan cannot be taken literally - we're hearing an English translation of a Narn original as written by someone from a pre-industrialized viewpoint, who was also writing in a heightened style. The comments about the "scream" reaching in and killing the telepaths doesn't mean the Shadows psychically killed Narn telepaths - for if the Shadows could do that, they wouldn't consider telepaths a threat to begin with. Something else killed the Narn telepaths.
Which links to to the Markab. The Markab died of a virus which - barring jumping to the Pak'ma'ra - only affected Markab, and NOT the rest of their biosphere.
Which takes us to "Crusade." The Drakh - Shadow servitors unhappy about the Shadows leaving them - will drop a bioengineered plague on Earth. It is stated the plague hasn't been properly "tuned" before deployment, but, within five years, will adapt itself well enough to kill every human. Note the premise for "Crusade" isn't worried about trees, birds, kitty cats, fish etc. We're not told everything on Earth will die, just humans. We know the Shadows had targeted viruses which could eliminate a single species.
Which is what killed the Markab - for the MARKAB had been talking openly about the Shadows in season 2. Delenn may even know about (or suspect) this virus given her warnings to G'Kar here in "Ship of Tears."
Ah... But this Shadow virus can be FURTHER tuned. Not only can it eliminate only one species, it can eliminate a SUBSET of a species.
Like Narn telepaths.
Yes, William Edgars' "Telepath Virus" in season 4 is Shadow tech. It's a variant of the same virus which killed off the Narn teeps, all the Markab, and will almost wipe out all of humanity.
That's plotting for you!
Incidentally, anyone else notice how the Delenn/G'Kar conversation scene in "Ship of Tears" doesn't bring up Kosh? One could wonder if Delenn knows about Kosh influencing G'Kar during his Dust trip... Is Delenn - once again - withholding information?
Well... Maybe she's worried about G'Kar stalking off to yell at the Vorlon? And the Vorlon injuring the Narn?
Moot point, because Kosh dies next week. Soon enough it becomes clear Kosh was the NICE Vorlon. Certainly compared to Ulkesh...
Boy, since Delenn has also dealt with Ulkesh for over a decade, it would be helpful for Delenn to mention at some point her elegantly phrased^ equivalent of, "Oh, Kosh was the nice one, this new Vorlon is a total dick."
Timeline note - the Minbari Ranger in "Severed Dreams" notes the Shadows were working with varied Non-aligned species. That's April, 2260. Interludes and Examinations will be August, 2260 (Josh dies August 5). There's no date given for "Ship of Tears," but, since "Interludes and Examinations" begins with an Ivanova voiceover which makes it clear days have passed since the Shadows started moving, we can place "Ship of Tears" in the last week of July, 2260. Not important. Just wondering how much longer the Shadows originally intended on working in secret, given they've been working with Earth for years, and Non-aligned Worlds for at least six months?
With scenes and casting like that, I always wonder how much context the script/director gives the actor. For us, we know it's all lies, and we react poorly to the new newsreader. I wonder what information the actor had to play off?
Bester has been eminently watchable to date. JMS has written a literal sneering villain, chock full of sarcastic one liners and great wit. Walter Koenig has been relishing the part and bringing him to life with a long string of interesting acting choices. Bester has felt like a human, not a set of story characteristics, the entire time, yet, finally, we get some true characterization. We've known that Bester was a patriot (in his racist way), but here we get a glimpse at something more. It won't be the last time B5 shows us more of Bester than his interactions with B5 crew. Koenig shades his performance beautifully, and steals every scene he's in.
Too bad everyone is using an old proverb which is misleading. Oh, the phrase may be "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," but that's just being pithy. "The enemy of my enemy is my temporary ally of convenience" is more accurate, but doesn't flow.
Bester is not now, nor will ever be a "friend" of Babylon 5. B5 just has his heart in cryostorage.
Before Simon (or I) re-watched this episode I had brought up to him how this episode had one of Sheridan's more inexplicable choices. After a re-watch, I see I have to back off that a bit...
Bester on the White Star. Simon and I agreed it was a poor choice to allow Bester direct access to the White Star, but, re-watching the episode... Ok, I get it.
The transport was guarded by Shadow fighters. If Sheridan had taken (say) an Earth shuttle/transport (and does B5 HAVE Earth transports to use?) and Starfury wing, the Starfuries would have been totally outclassed - meaning mission failure.
Could Delenn have asked for a Minbari War Cruiser? Yes - for exterior shots during the episode showed two immediately around B5 when the White Star left. But then control of the mission should devolve to the ship's Captain. It would be dishonorable for a Minbari ship Captain to stand aside and give control of their crew to a human Captain.
So that leaves the White Star - a ship specifically allocated to the Rangers, with Sheridan (and Delenn) being the Ranger commander for that area. Yeah, while it would be better to NOT have Bester on the White Star bridge, it's really the only choice.
Besides Earth (therefore Psi-Corp) already has readings on the White Star from the incident around Jupiter, and also would have had reports of the White Star at the head of a Minbari fleet during the battle for B5. What Bester has learned here... Isn't much. The battle in "Ship of Tears" doesn't use the White Star's primary battery, so Bester hasn't learned the ship's full firepower. Bester probably wasn't told the White Star incorporates Vorlon tech in its power system and hull, so Bester hasn't learned the White Star's full engine or defense capabilities. He learned it's got a "tractor beam." Well, we've seen those used before (Sinclair at the Battle of the Line), meaning there's decent odds Earthforce already knew about that.
So Bester didn't really learn much at all.
And we got to see Walter Koenig in the Captain's chair.
Speaking of the White Star, I don't know if Mike Vejar figured it out, if DP John Flynn figured it out, or if gaffer "The" John Smith figured it out - but, FINALLY, we have a scene on the White Star's bridge where the power cable to the Captain's chair ISN'T awkwardly sitting gaffe taped to the studio floor in-shot. It's something I noticed (and have written about) earlier this season during this re-watch, so, yes, I'm the type of guy who will now be subconsciously looking for the cable every time we're on the White Star bridge. I can't help it - it blows the entire "advanced tech super ship" aesthetic to see plex cable gaffe taped to the floor!
Anyways, we came out of the "Secession Trilogy" into three follow up episodes of varying quality. This episode sees a return to top tier storytelling, and begins a run of mostly excellent episodes stretching into season 4, with only "Gray 17 is Missing," being a bit of a clunker.
Next week? Oof. We're at "Interludes and Examinations?" Buckle up. Bumpy ride time.
The White Star bridge isn't as convincing as it need to be, generally. Turns out that making a set of a Minbari-Vorlon organic ship or massively advanced technology is quite difficult on B5's budget! There's a bit too much obvious 'set pieces sat on the warehouse floor' going on for my liking.
I remember when I watched Farscape years later, thinking how effective Moya's interiors were, and how a bit of that would have gone a long way for the White Star.
As you say, it's budget. B5 is our main setting, the White Star, a "guest set."
With Farscape, Moya IS the main setting, so she got all the set budget.
Plus Farscape started at $2 million per episode, cut to $1.4 million later - of which the lower number is still more than twice the B5 budget.
But, yeah, the White Star bridge isn't terribly interesting. At least they finally hid that cable. Dude, first time I saw it, I had to back up and see if I really was staring at Jason Carter stepping over a cable with gaffe tape strips. Then I laughed for five minutes, peed, and went back to the episode.
Let's start with some director Mike Vejar appreciation. The use of the LCD projector to throw the Thunderbolt "cockpit displays" on Sheridan's face is an effective way to add visual interest to the cockpit. It's so cool I kinda wish they'd "visual continuity be dammed" the technique into the regular Starfury.
Vejar also pulls of some other sweet shots which are less immediately flashy. The first discussion with Sheridan and Delenn (the "we need to talk to G'Kar" scene) has a lovely truck forward framing Sheridan in a doorway while very carefully using the opaque doorframe (next to a textured glass wall) to conceal Delenn until the camera pushes close enough to the door to reveal her, just in time for her line.
The conversation with G'Kar and Delenn has some subtle moves, but, for most of it Vejar stays in extreme close up, and extremely shallow depth of focus, letting the actors and dialog carry the scene. (One must absolutely agree with Simon's awe at how well Andreas Katsulas manipulates G'Kar's prosthetics, but let's give props to Mira Furlan as well, who still has makeup glued to her entire forehead, stretching down to her cheeks, and covering part of her nose.)
The editing of Carolyn's awakening is lovely - from her hand grasping the medlab console, through the "doctors" the shadow vessel, and, as the sound of a scream builds, ending with a screen full of red as the camera dollies out from behind a moving light. Those lights have never been visible in hallways by medlab before. Sometimes you have to admire a director who will change the set for one sequence, just to set up an effective transition.
The entire sequence with Carolyn (as well as the prior shots of other teeps-in-tubes) is lit and shot as a quite effective bit of body horror. A woman in a harness who has been draped with wires and dryer hose becomes a techno-organic nightmare.
Props to Joan McMurtrey. Her performance is chilling, and utterly sells the terror and confusion of being connected to a machine which is malfunctioning - yes, malfunctioning. The implants are designed to interface with a techno-organic Shadow battlecrab. Instead they've grabbed onto a primitive, purely mechanical system. One would assume a pilot would be integrate with a battlecrab in seconds. Here it takes minutes for Carolyn to infiltrate B5 systems enough for C&C to notice.
At the time there was a fair amount of speculation on why the Shadows wanted telepaths, and why they chose humans. Silly speculation because we already have the answers - Telepaths to block telepaths, and the Earth Alliance both already has Shadow influence in its government AND is the only race to kindly segregate their telepaths away from everyone else. One could almost think Psi Corp existed solely to make Earth telepaths easy to appropriate if there wasn't a series of novels (off 150 pages of JMS outline) covering the history of the Psi Corp.
The b-plot of this episode (Delenn bringing G'Kar into the war council) impacts the a-plot beyond the two merging together at the end of the episode with G'Kar's realization about Narn telepaths. For the b-plot is about Delenn holding secrets... Well, back around "Messages From Earth" Delenn commented about the unseen IPX shmoe who entered the Shadow vessel on Europa (which activated in seconds, I note). Perhaps Delenn needed to have a blunt talk with Sheridan about how Shadow vessels work, because, honestly, Sheridan should have IMMEDIATELY realized the telepaths were intended to be used as Shadow vessel cores. Guess he forgot the single sentence Delenn spoke during a battle situation 7 months prior? That's forgivable, but that means it's Delenn's secretive nature which led to Carolyn awakening and trying to merge with B5 systems.
Not entirely Delenn's fault she's cryptic. She's worked with a Vorlon for over a decade, but this IS another situation where her being tight with information causes issues.
That this episode made me feel sorry for Bester of all people is a testament to Walter Koenig's acting and the writing both.
Also, reading this in 2025, nope, the New and Improved ISN has no eerie parallels to concepts we know now as "fake news". None whatsoever. Nope.
Spoilers
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Given the blatant BS ISN spews in this episode one must wonder what Sheridan is smoking come Season 4's "Lines of Communication," where he willingly hands ISN interview material to cut a deceptive report. Babylon 5 usually does quite well (much better than 1990's Star Trek) at not having main characters unexpectedly turn into idiots to get to a plot point, but "Lines of Communication?" We'll talk about that when we get to it.
So, "Ship of Tears" kicks off the next phase of the main narrative with the Shadows openly attacking, reaches back to the pilot with more exposition on the death of the Narn telepaths, and also sets up multiple season 4 plots, as well as calling back to the death of the Markab, AND beginning the set up for the spin off series "Crusade."
Simon already brought up Bester's programming of Garibaldi, so I don't need to discuss that. Let's expound on the link between the Narn telepaths, the Markab, another season 4 plot, and setting up "Crusade," shall we? Babylon 5 has already slowly set up things in the universe so, when they become prominent elements, they aren't "magic tech from nowhere." A good example is the s1 episode "Infection," which introduces the concept of organic/living alien technology which can merge with humans. Of course now we have organic Shadow vessels which use alien (from the Shadow perspective) life as processing cores. So let's trace what we know so far from the past and move into our "it's a RE-watch" future.
Narn telepaths died a thousand years ago. There were a few survivors (G'Quan and some allies), but no children. The reading from the Book of G'Quan cannot be taken literally - we're hearing an English translation of a Narn original as written by someone from a pre-industrialized viewpoint, who was also writing in a heightened style. The comments about the "scream" reaching in and killing the telepaths doesn't mean the Shadows psychically killed Narn telepaths - for if the Shadows could do that, they wouldn't consider telepaths a threat to begin with. Something else killed the Narn telepaths.
Which links to to the Markab. The Markab died of a virus which - barring jumping to the Pak'ma'ra - only affected Markab, and NOT the rest of their biosphere.
Which takes us to "Crusade." The Drakh - Shadow servitors unhappy about the Shadows leaving them - will drop a bioengineered plague on Earth. It is stated the plague hasn't been properly "tuned" before deployment, but, within five years, will adapt itself well enough to kill every human. Note the premise for "Crusade" isn't worried about trees, birds, kitty cats, fish etc. We're not told everything on Earth will die, just humans. We know the Shadows had targeted viruses which could eliminate a single species.
Which is what killed the Markab - for the MARKAB had been talking openly about the Shadows in season 2. Delenn may even know about (or suspect) this virus given her warnings to G'Kar here in "Ship of Tears."
Ah... But this Shadow virus can be FURTHER tuned. Not only can it eliminate only one species, it can eliminate a SUBSET of a species.
Like Narn telepaths.
Yes, William Edgars' "Telepath Virus" in season 4 is Shadow tech. It's a variant of the same virus which killed off the Narn teeps, all the Markab, and will almost wipe out all of humanity.
That's plotting for you!
Incidentally, anyone else notice how the Delenn/G'Kar conversation scene in "Ship of Tears" doesn't bring up Kosh? One could wonder if Delenn knows about Kosh influencing G'Kar during his Dust trip... Is Delenn - once again - withholding information?
Well... Maybe she's worried about G'Kar stalking off to yell at the Vorlon? And the Vorlon injuring the Narn?
Moot point, because Kosh dies next week. Soon enough it becomes clear Kosh was the NICE Vorlon. Certainly compared to Ulkesh...
Boy, since Delenn has also dealt with Ulkesh for over a decade, it would be helpful for Delenn to mention at some point her elegantly phrased^ equivalent of, "Oh, Kosh was the nice one, this new Vorlon is a total dick."
Timeline note - the Minbari Ranger in "Severed Dreams" notes the Shadows were working with varied Non-aligned species. That's April, 2260. Interludes and Examinations will be August, 2260 (Josh dies August 5). There's no date given for "Ship of Tears," but, since "Interludes and Examinations" begins with an Ivanova voiceover which makes it clear days have passed since the Shadows started moving, we can place "Ship of Tears" in the last week of July, 2260. Not important. Just wondering how much longer the Shadows originally intended on working in secret, given they've been working with Earth for years, and Non-aligned Worlds for at least six months?
Non Spoilers 3:
Ah, the return of ISN. The newscaster was well cast - I certainly wanna smack her smug, lying face.
Sadly, as we've learned over the last decade, enough people WILL fall for the blatantly obvious lies and manipulation for it to make a difference.
Goddammit.
With scenes and casting like that, I always wonder how much context the script/director gives the actor. For us, we know it's all lies, and we react poorly to the new newsreader. I wonder what information the actor had to play off?
Non Spoilers 2:
Bester has been eminently watchable to date. JMS has written a literal sneering villain, chock full of sarcastic one liners and great wit. Walter Koenig has been relishing the part and bringing him to life with a long string of interesting acting choices. Bester has felt like a human, not a set of story characteristics, the entire time, yet, finally, we get some true characterization. We've known that Bester was a patriot (in his racist way), but here we get a glimpse at something more. It won't be the last time B5 shows us more of Bester than his interactions with B5 crew. Koenig shades his performance beautifully, and steals every scene he's in.
Too bad everyone is using an old proverb which is misleading. Oh, the phrase may be "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," but that's just being pithy. "The enemy of my enemy is my temporary ally of convenience" is more accurate, but doesn't flow.
Bester is not now, nor will ever be a "friend" of Babylon 5. B5 just has his heart in cryostorage.
Before Simon (or I) re-watched this episode I had brought up to him how this episode had one of Sheridan's more inexplicable choices. After a re-watch, I see I have to back off that a bit...
Bester on the White Star. Simon and I agreed it was a poor choice to allow Bester direct access to the White Star, but, re-watching the episode... Ok, I get it.
The transport was guarded by Shadow fighters. If Sheridan had taken (say) an Earth shuttle/transport (and does B5 HAVE Earth transports to use?) and Starfury wing, the Starfuries would have been totally outclassed - meaning mission failure.
Could Delenn have asked for a Minbari War Cruiser? Yes - for exterior shots during the episode showed two immediately around B5 when the White Star left. But then control of the mission should devolve to the ship's Captain. It would be dishonorable for a Minbari ship Captain to stand aside and give control of their crew to a human Captain.
So that leaves the White Star - a ship specifically allocated to the Rangers, with Sheridan (and Delenn) being the Ranger commander for that area. Yeah, while it would be better to NOT have Bester on the White Star bridge, it's really the only choice.
Besides Earth (therefore Psi-Corp) already has readings on the White Star from the incident around Jupiter, and also would have had reports of the White Star at the head of a Minbari fleet during the battle for B5. What Bester has learned here... Isn't much. The battle in "Ship of Tears" doesn't use the White Star's primary battery, so Bester hasn't learned the ship's full firepower. Bester probably wasn't told the White Star incorporates Vorlon tech in its power system and hull, so Bester hasn't learned the White Star's full engine or defense capabilities. He learned it's got a "tractor beam." Well, we've seen those used before (Sinclair at the Battle of the Line), meaning there's decent odds Earthforce already knew about that.
So Bester didn't really learn much at all.
And we got to see Walter Koenig in the Captain's chair.
Speaking of the White Star, I don't know if Mike Vejar figured it out, if DP John Flynn figured it out, or if gaffer "The" John Smith figured it out - but, FINALLY, we have a scene on the White Star's bridge where the power cable to the Captain's chair ISN'T awkwardly sitting gaffe taped to the studio floor in-shot. It's something I noticed (and have written about) earlier this season during this re-watch, so, yes, I'm the type of guy who will now be subconsciously looking for the cable every time we're on the White Star bridge. I can't help it - it blows the entire "advanced tech super ship" aesthetic to see plex cable gaffe taped to the floor!
Anyways, we came out of the "Secession Trilogy" into three follow up episodes of varying quality. This episode sees a return to top tier storytelling, and begins a run of mostly excellent episodes stretching into season 4, with only "Gray 17 is Missing," being a bit of a clunker.
Next week? Oof. We're at "Interludes and Examinations?" Buckle up. Bumpy ride time.
The White Star bridge isn't as convincing as it need to be, generally. Turns out that making a set of a Minbari-Vorlon organic ship or massively advanced technology is quite difficult on B5's budget! There's a bit too much obvious 'set pieces sat on the warehouse floor' going on for my liking.
I remember when I watched Farscape years later, thinking how effective Moya's interiors were, and how a bit of that would have gone a long way for the White Star.
As you say, it's budget. B5 is our main setting, the White Star, a "guest set."
With Farscape, Moya IS the main setting, so she got all the set budget.
Plus Farscape started at $2 million per episode, cut to $1.4 million later - of which the lower number is still more than twice the B5 budget.
But, yeah, the White Star bridge isn't terribly interesting. At least they finally hid that cable. Dude, first time I saw it, I had to back up and see if I really was staring at Jason Carter stepping over a cable with gaffe tape strips. Then I laughed for five minutes, peed, and went back to the episode.
Non Spoilers 1:
Let's start with some director Mike Vejar appreciation. The use of the LCD projector to throw the Thunderbolt "cockpit displays" on Sheridan's face is an effective way to add visual interest to the cockpit. It's so cool I kinda wish they'd "visual continuity be dammed" the technique into the regular Starfury.
Vejar also pulls of some other sweet shots which are less immediately flashy. The first discussion with Sheridan and Delenn (the "we need to talk to G'Kar" scene) has a lovely truck forward framing Sheridan in a doorway while very carefully using the opaque doorframe (next to a textured glass wall) to conceal Delenn until the camera pushes close enough to the door to reveal her, just in time for her line.
The conversation with G'Kar and Delenn has some subtle moves, but, for most of it Vejar stays in extreme close up, and extremely shallow depth of focus, letting the actors and dialog carry the scene. (One must absolutely agree with Simon's awe at how well Andreas Katsulas manipulates G'Kar's prosthetics, but let's give props to Mira Furlan as well, who still has makeup glued to her entire forehead, stretching down to her cheeks, and covering part of her nose.)
The editing of Carolyn's awakening is lovely - from her hand grasping the medlab console, through the "doctors" the shadow vessel, and, as the sound of a scream builds, ending with a screen full of red as the camera dollies out from behind a moving light. Those lights have never been visible in hallways by medlab before. Sometimes you have to admire a director who will change the set for one sequence, just to set up an effective transition.
The entire sequence with Carolyn (as well as the prior shots of other teeps-in-tubes) is lit and shot as a quite effective bit of body horror. A woman in a harness who has been draped with wires and dryer hose becomes a techno-organic nightmare.
Props to Joan McMurtrey. Her performance is chilling, and utterly sells the terror and confusion of being connected to a machine which is malfunctioning - yes, malfunctioning. The implants are designed to interface with a techno-organic Shadow battlecrab. Instead they've grabbed onto a primitive, purely mechanical system. One would assume a pilot would be integrate with a battlecrab in seconds. Here it takes minutes for Carolyn to infiltrate B5 systems enough for C&C to notice.
At the time there was a fair amount of speculation on why the Shadows wanted telepaths, and why they chose humans. Silly speculation because we already have the answers - Telepaths to block telepaths, and the Earth Alliance both already has Shadow influence in its government AND is the only race to kindly segregate their telepaths away from everyone else. One could almost think Psi Corp existed solely to make Earth telepaths easy to appropriate if there wasn't a series of novels (off 150 pages of JMS outline) covering the history of the Psi Corp.
The b-plot of this episode (Delenn bringing G'Kar into the war council) impacts the a-plot beyond the two merging together at the end of the episode with G'Kar's realization about Narn telepaths. For the b-plot is about Delenn holding secrets... Well, back around "Messages From Earth" Delenn commented about the unseen IPX shmoe who entered the Shadow vessel on Europa (which activated in seconds, I note). Perhaps Delenn needed to have a blunt talk with Sheridan about how Shadow vessels work, because, honestly, Sheridan should have IMMEDIATELY realized the telepaths were intended to be used as Shadow vessel cores. Guess he forgot the single sentence Delenn spoke during a battle situation 7 months prior? That's forgivable, but that means it's Delenn's secretive nature which led to Carolyn awakening and trying to merge with B5 systems.
Not entirely Delenn's fault she's cryptic. She's worked with a Vorlon for over a decade, but this IS another situation where her being tight with information causes issues.