The Babylonian Thread

[Distracted]

These reviews make me want to get my DVD's out and watch them all over again. About 5 years ago, just before I started writing fanfic, I did a 3 month marathon of all of the seasons of B5 from beginning to end. When I wasn't working or sleeping I was watching B5. It's just amazing watching them that way, and almost impossible to stop. I can remember watching 8 or 9 episodes back to back on a Saturday. My husband hated himself for giving them to me for Christmas that year.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Heh! I know the feeling. If I hadn't been on vacation there's no way I'd have the time to finish the first season in five days...

[Distracted]

The whole first season in five days?

When did you sleep?

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Says the woman who watched 8-9 episodes in one sitting!

But that was only 4-5 episodes a day! Five hours. Plenty of time left to sleep. So there!

Now, onwards with season two...

*****

Season 2 - The Coming of Shadows

2-01 Points of Departure

Things continue to change in Points of Departure, set eight days after the previous season finale. The station has a new commanding officer in Captain John Sheridan. While I never really objected to Sinclair, I do like Sheridan better and it's now hard to picture B5 without him. It took some writing tweaks to make the story arc work, though, but Sinclair's new appointment meant he would come back and fulfil his part of the prophecy. Sheridan is a likeable fellow, despite his reputation as "the Starkiller" among the Minbari. But that actually fits better with his role in bringing Minbaris and humans together, symbolized in his eventual relationship with Delenn. But he does tend to smile a bit too much.

We get a further revelation about why the Minbari surrendered at the Line, but not all. They think Minbari souls are being reincarnated in humans. An odd reason for surrender to be sure, but it fits with what we know of the Minbari, even if many wouldn't buy it. That's probably true of the renegade crew of the Trigati. Sheridan proved here that he wasn't just someone who'd shoot first and ask questions later. He dealt smartly with the problem. His reputation is probably why the new President Clark thought it was safe to give him the command, but there's definitely more to him than meets the eye.

Notably absent are Delenn (still in her cocoon), Garibaldi (still severely injured) and G'Kar (off searching for clues). But that is as it should be.

Points of Departure is a great introduction to the second season and the new Captain. I give it a 9+ on my 10-graded scale.




2-02 Revelations

Revelations continue to, well, reveal things to us, both about the new Captain and about the mysteries of the show. In that, it's like the second part to the season opener. Sheridan gets a visit from his sister and old memories about his dead wife Anna surfaces again. She was lost on an expedition out in the Rim of known space, coincidentally (or not) where the returning Narn ambassador G'Kar narrowly escaped some Shadow vessels. Even though we never meet Anna, except for a recording, the episode does a good job in conveying Sheridan's grief.

G'Kar is to be commended for realizing that there are more sinister forces behind recent events than just the Centauri. Alas, it is his fate to be the Cassandra character no one believes, or if they do (like some Minbaris), will keep their knowledge for themselves for now. That is merely the beginning of his tragic journey. The name Z'ha'dum is already mentioned but a Narn investigation is blown up by the Shadows (thanks to information from Londo) right out of the jumpgate.

Delenn is now out of her chrysalis, and has developed into a Minbari/Human hybrid to facilitate relations between the two species. And she sure will do that in ways she probably never considered. But how will her new appearance be judged by the other Minbaris? Will they accept her as one of their own now, and as a proper Minbari envoy?

Garibaldi recovers thanks to that alien healing device, which is something of a cop-out (but not as much as a cop-out as how it will be used later). I didn't care for that even if I'm glad that Garibaldi is back. They could've avoided that by having him in less serious critical condition. And the traitor is revealed only to be diverted en route back to Earth at the insistence of President Clark. Now that was a mistake by the new regime, as it made Sheridan suspicious. Another mistake was the traitor giving Garibaldi Bester's "be seeing you" gesture, thus implication the Psi Corps, which had endorsed the then Vice-President Clark. Even though nothing can be proven, it was still ill-advised.

I'll give another grade of 9+ to Revelations. Keep this up and soon I'll have to invent grades higher than 10.

[Distracted]

One of my favorite scenes in the whole series is Sheridan's reaction to Delenn's appearance post chrysalis. I also adore her ongoing hair difficulties.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ That's in Soul Mates. It was pretty funny!

*****

2-03 The Geometry of Shadows

Things turn a bit more "normal" in The Geometry of Shadows. Well, as normal as things can be on B5. At least it's not an immediate huge crisis going on.

The techno-mages were an interesting concept and Michael Ansara was put to good use. They were both funny, like when they cursed Londo to have him suffer Narn opera and a major stake in a spoo farm, and terrifying, when they made the all too correct prediction that billions of Londo Mollari's victims would call out his name. One still has to wonder what they think their role is. They effectively ran away to avoid the coming darkness, so what's their use, besides being able to play elaborate tricks?

The Drazi conflict was funnier, but even that had a serious undertone as they actually started to kill each other. I suppose the "green" and "purple" were just showcasing how stupid and arbitrary many conflicts are. It's just a piece of cloth after all. But Ivanova is right when she says that flags and things like that actually stand for something (think the swastika, the hammer-and-sickle and the stars-and-stripes). So I'm not sure what that story tried to convey, except that the Drazi aren't the sharpest tools in the box.

The Geometry of Shadows gets a grade of 6- from me.




2-04 A Distant Star

A Distant Star is something of a stand-alone episode. It does not deal heavily with the arc, even though there is talk of mysterious things out there, and the sight of Shadow ships in hyperspace. It's mostly a story about Sheridan's doubts regarding his new position and the rescue attempt of his old friend Captain Maynard. But it is a good episode nonetheless.

Sheridan's hesitation is nicely conveyed, as is his envy over the mission that the Explorer ship, the Cortés, has while he thinks he's stuck behind a desk playing diplomat. It's quite realistic and while I wouldn't mind hanging out on Babylon 5 myself, dietary problems aside, I cannot help thinking about how awesome it would be out there with the Cortés, on the Rim of known space exploring strange new worlds.

The way the Cortés was rescued was rather clever and it gave a small insight to how jumpgates and hyperspace works in the B5 universe. Maynard was also a likeable fellow. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of him. What did the Cortés do during the civil war? And the Explorer ship itself looked magnificent.

I'm not sure about the new character of Lieutenant Keffer. I got the feeling he was merely tacked on, with no real purpose for the story JMS was telling. Maybe he was just an ordinary guy inserted to make it feel more real.

But the Franklin-imposed diet was rather funny, and I'm glad that Delenn's acceptance among the Minbaris (or lack thereof) was addressed.

I'll give A Distant Star the grade of 7- on my 10-scale.




2-05 The Long Dark

At first glance The Long Dark might seem like your ordinary monster-of-the-week episode. But since this is B5 it is naturally something more. Said monster is one of the Shadow's minions and it is looking to hitch a ride to their homeworld, after having devoured some of the station's inhabitants. There's even an image of it in that old book G'Kar is reading.

It is also an interesting story about a sleeper ship from a hundred years ago, before jumpgate technology allowed us to travel at effectively faster than light speeds. It's not always this is recognized in science fiction. The sole surviving passenger is a woman, if you don't count the "soldier of darkness". I must say that Dr. Franklin acted much too unprofessional here when he got involved with her. She's in no state to start something like a relationship. She's lost in time and has just lost her husband. But I guess nobody's perfect.

While a bit crazy, I thought the character of Amis interesting too, and it was good to see that Garibaldi sympathized with a fellow veteran. Amis experienced the terrible things the Shadows - or their soldiers - can do as early as the Earth/Minbari war. It means they are never really asleep, are they?

The Long Dark gets a grade of 6 on my 10-scale.

[Rigil Kent]

One still has to wonder what they think their role is. They effectively ran away to avoid the coming darkness, so what's their use, besides being able to play elaborate tricks?

In the unbelievably excellent Technomage trilogy of books by Jeanne Cavelos, you find out a bit more about them based on some stuff JMS was going to reveal during "Crusade" thanks to Galen. Basically, their tech? It's Shadow Tech and like all things Shadow, it comes with a vicious price. An sentient life form must die so a mage may exist, so the Council (the leaders of the mages) are effectively dooming their society by running off and hiding. Galen's generation will be the very last generation of Technomages until someone figures out another way to replicate this stuff.

Only the Council knows this secret although, naturally, Galen finds out and then the rest of the society discovers it as well. According to my admittedly spotty memory of the books (it's been awhile since I was able to find the first one), the Shadows originally developed the mages as instruments of chaos so they're a little surprised & disappointed at how rigid the Mages have become, and the Vorlons? They have nothing but contempt for the Society.

Since the books were basically Galen's story, he's written as very much The Bad Ass. His "spell language" is unique and he figures out a spell that is ultra, uber destructive on accident, which goes against the Mage Code. There's also some silliness near the end of the final book, wherein Galen is on Zha'ha'dum (sp?) when Sheridan shows up. He discovers that the first (and most revered among the Order) technomage is still alive, but is basically entombed and being used as some sort of living (mostly) bio-computer that does the same sort of thing Draal does for the Great Machine, only this mage is a slave. Naturally, Galen frees the mage and briefly takes over the Shadow equivalent of the Machine, and he sends the kill order for the planetary defenses when Sheridan orders the White Star to crash. The insertion of Galen into that whole storyline was interesting and unobtrusive, but ultimately wasn't necessary I thought.

While on ZHD, Galen figures out this body shielding thing wherein a protective barrier would wrap around his entire body but it looked like the body of a Shadow. I remember reading one of the unproduced Crusade episodes written by JMS where the captain (whose name I can't recall) ended up seeing Galen with this body shielding and realized that Technomages used Shadow-tech, so it's definitely Canon.

I'm not sure about the new character of Lieutenant Keffer. I got the feeling he was merely tacked on, with no real purpose for the story JMS was telling. Maybe he was just an ordinary guy inserted to make it feel more real.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Keffer was forced on JMS by the network, but I can't find that now.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Ah, interesting bit of info on the Technomages. Thanks! I haven't read any of the books (or any B5 book for that matter). Can you recommend tracking any of them down?

And now that you mention it, that thing about Keffer being forced on JMS rings a bell. Maybe it's one of the things on the Lurker's Guide website.

[Rigil Kent]

Ah, interesting bit of info on the Technomages. Thanks! I haven't read any of the books (or any B5 book for that matter). Can you recommend tracking any of them down?

I've read a handful - anything by Cavelos is highly recommended. The three books in question are Casting Shadows, Summoning Light, and Invoking Darkness. She also wrote a pre-series book that shows Sheridan's wife get captured and turned into a Shadow Ship - that book is also really good and is called The Shadow Within.

Beyond that, I've only read the Peter David "Legions of Fire" series which is Londo and Vir's story from the end of season 5 to the final episode 20 years later or so. While the story was very solid, I wasn't as impressed with David's writing style in it, so I generally don't recommend them.

Haven't read any other B5 books.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Cool, thanks! I might have to check those out (as if I hadn't enough unread books to read...).

*****

And it feels like I'm talking to myself here, since we use similar avatars from the same Jolene photoshoot!

[Pitseleh]

Babylon 5! God, it has been ages. I loved that show! It's in my list of DVDs to buy someday (at least Seasons 2-4).

I have to agree that things start out pretty slow. I usually chose to start watching with Sheridan's arrival, 'cause I never liked Sinclair all that much. Ivanova always rocked, though. I think she was the first strong female character I rooted for, and she has some of the best darn scenes in the show. Does anyone remember which episode it was in which Delenn asked her advise on hair care? That was so funny...

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Like I said, it was in Soul Mates.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I've been a bit busy doing other things these past few days, which means I haven't seen as many B5 episodes. But here are a couple of more reviews.


2-06 A Spider in the Web

A Spider in the Web is a little disappointing, but only in hindsight. For all the intrigue and mystery it doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things. While conspiracies abound in the B5 universe, this particular brand, Bureau 13, is never heard from again, despite the all the work Sheridan had in just getting the name. And he doesn't even know that it is this agency that is behind the cyber zombie. But we do learn that Sheridan is a conspiracy buff and that comes in handy. It's probably the reason why he confides in Garibaldi, even though they don't really know each other that well at this point. Garibaldi himself was a victim of a conspiracy.

Talia Winters insight to the devilishness of her own organization is also for naught, since she will be written out of the story. And considering what will happen to her, one has to wonder why that secret Psi Cop wanted her dead. Is this another case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing?

Talia had some nice moments with Garibaldi, who is very protective of her, and it makes me wonder if there was originally a plan to have those two get together (the actors did at any rate). But that was another red herring. So pretty much most of the stories involving Talia are wasted, which is a shame, really. And that's not a slam against Lyta Alexander who will pick up on some of it.

The Mars question is still alive and kicking, and it will play a greater role in later seasons, so at least that storyline is valid to help us remember it. I found it funny when it was revealed that the first colonizer of Mars, and the ancestor of the provisional government representative, was called John Carter. Edgar Rice Burroughs would have liked that.

Still, for the interesting intrigue I give A Spider in the Web a grade of 6+.




2-07 Soul Mates

In one of his last outings as a comic character, Londo Mollari is going to divorce two of his three wives, affectionately called "Famine", "Pestilence" and "Death". After Soul Mates it's pretty clear who "Death" is, namely the beautiful one who may or may not have conspired with G'Kar in killing Londo. In hindsight it is probably regrettable that she didn't succeed, although it could be argued that another Centauri, say Lord Refa, would've been even worse as a Shadow puppet.

But I think it speaks well of Londo (as well as can be spoken of him) that he picked Timov even if he didn't know that she had saved his life by given blood. He knows where he stands with her, even if she is "Famine". He could never know that with the others. Interestingly enough, all three represents different facets of Londo's personality. Daggair the ambition, Mariel the playboy and Timov the loyal. Too bad that we never see Timov again, and that she won't exert any positive influence on him. And it is only fitting that Londo himself is the fourth horseman - "War".

Another soul mate that wasn't is Talia Winters ex-husband, a real slimeball, and the result of a Psi Corps experiment. After Jason Ironheart you'd think they ought to know better. It was also obvious from the start that he still had his psi powers. But given what we will later know of Talia it's odd that the Corps would want to remove her from the station and go with her ex. The Psi Corps must have an awful lot of extremities that doesn't know what the other ones are doing, like in the previous episode A Spider in the Web.

I must admit to laughing about Delenn's hair troubles - and cramps, even if I suspect the female audience found it funnier.

I'll give Soul Mates a grade of 6 on my 10-graded scale.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Due to a visit from my parental units, I haven't had the time to watch much of B5 this past week, but I'm now back at it.


2-08 A Race Through Dark Places

A Race Through Dark Places is the third episode in a row that focuses on Talia. And while an interesting and revealing story about telepaths in the B5 universe, the episode is a bit disappointing in hindsight, like the other two, because Talia will be written out of the storyline. It's obvious that this is one of the set-ups leading to the development, including enhanced psi powers that will ultimately be transformed to Lyta Alexander. And after the sleeper personality comes forward, all will have been for naught and the new Talia will spill the beans on everything to her Psi Corps masters.

But I quite liked A Race Through Dark Places nonetheless, and it's always a treat to meet Bester. And it was satisfying to see him defeated at the hands of the rogue telepath collective, including Talia.

An interesting part is that we are lead to sympathize with the rogues, and despise what the Psi Corps is doing, but when you actually stop and think about it, wouldn't a bunch of free telepaths be rather disturbing to have around? Who'd stop them from doing just about anything to mundanes? Sure the Psi Corps are rather evil and manipulative too, but the original reason for organizing them to keep telepaths under control is a valid one. The problem with rogue telepaths will also be addressed in the last season. I like that there is no black and white in this area (as with most areas on B5).

There was a cute sub-plot with Sheridan and Delenn having dinner, the latter in a "jaw-dropping" dress, setting up for their future relationship. One has to wonder how deliberate Delenn was in pursuing things with Sheridan. She knew she'd gone through this transformation to bring Humans and Minbaris closer. Did she actively seek out a romantic relationship with Sheridan, or was this something that just happened? What does the 'shippers say?

I'll give A Race Through Dark Places a grade of 7 on my 10-scale.




2-09 The Coming of Shadows

Wow, just wow! The Coming of Shadows is B5 when it is its very best. It totally changes the game plan, and the events herein alter things even more profoundly than last season's finale. There is now no real turning back from the war, and not just the new Narn-Centauri war. Previous incidents were mere skirmishes, but now both the Shadows and the Centauri, through the war faction of Lord Refa and Mollari that has now gained power, have committed themselves.

It is very sad and moving that this happened on the brink of an official apology from the Centauri Emperor, who G'Kar had planned to kill, that never came because natural causes intervened. And that scene with a happy G'Kar drinking a toast with Mollari before he learns of the attack on the Narn colony was horrifying. Even Mollari looked ill at ease.

But then G'Kar finds out and goes into a murderous rage. This perfectly mirrors what Mollari wanted to do to G'Kar in Midnight on the Firing Line. How the wheels turn! I also liked Mollari's prophetic dream, with both he as an older Emperor being strangled by a one-eyed G'Kar, and the Shadow ship flying past over him.

Sheridan does a clever bit of manoeuvring to allow the Narn civilians to leave the now occupied colony. But he does so by implying to Londo that he knows something about the Shadows. He doesn't know the full story yet, of course, but what he does know could presumably have helped the Narn but even so he remains silent on the matter. What will the Narn's reactions be when they learn that others at the time knew more about this threat than they told them?

Another nice revelation is that we hear from Sinclair again. His position as Earth ambassador is more of a cover. He has secretly been building his army of Rangers on Minbar. This raises the question how much Earth really knows about what their ambassador is doing. Not much, probably, but why do they allow him to remain? The obvious answer is that they don't have any choice. Sinclair would in all likelihood not accept to be recalled anyway.

I'll give my first grade of 10- to The Coming of Shadows, which is also the title for the entire season. Truly great stuff!




2-10 GROPOS

GROPOS is an interesting, and seldom looked upon, view of the lives of space grunts, or "ground pounders" (GROPOS) as they're called here. It gives more realism to the B5 universe and we get to sympathize with these soldiers that do the fighting and dying. Sure it is a bit clichéd but that's just natural because this is mostly what it's like with fighting men and women around, down to the occasional bar brawls.

I liked Garibaldi's relationship with the grunt woman. Stupid guy was too hung up on Lise and Talia to see the attractive soldier in front of him. It was also a shock to see her dead, along with the other ground pounders we met in the episode. For guest characters just brought in for this one episode, you actually felt for them and their demise.

Dr. Franklin's strained relationship with his father the General was also something of a cliché, but it mostly worked. Too bad we never met General Franklin again. It would have been interesting to see what side he would be on in the civil war. It would probably be with President Clark but you never know.

And I thought the ground-pounding ships looked cool, especially the smaller ones used planetside. Reminded me of the dropship in Aliens, another film featuring space grunts.

GROPOS gets a grade of 7- from me.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

2-11 All Alone in the Night

The ostensibly main plot of All Alone in the Night - Sheridan's abduction - is really just a contrived way of introducing a lot of other facts. It shows Sheridan's prophetic "dream" about Ivanova's secret, that someone is looking for him and that Kosh can communicate telepathically with him over vast distances. It tells us that Sheridan, and his visiting superior General Hague, is involved in some "conspiracy of light" against what's going on back home and one of Sheridan's secret tasks was to evaluate the command crew of the station. But over this relatively short time period he's learned to trust them and brings them in on it in a rather touching scene at the end.

There's also the story about Delenn getting thrown out of the Minbari Grey Council, and replaced by Neroon, thus getting the warrior caste an upper hand. She's now something of an outcast, paralleling what will eventually happen to Sheridan too, which might be another reason for them to grow closer together. But she's allowed to remain as ambassador on B5. How does the power shift on Minbar going to affect the preparation for the fight against the darkness? Like on Earth it seems it will be done outside the normal structures of government. Even though the Minbaris know, and have been preparing for a millennia, the coming of shadows, now they apparently don't want to heed Delenn's warnings.

In all this, the abduction by the Streibs (a nod to alien abduction writer Whitley Strieber), seems a bit silly. Why do they keep doing this when they have already pissed off the far superior Minbaris who not only knows where their home planet is located, but can obliterate them at any time? And for their stated reason - to learn the capabilities of other races - they don't seem to watch the captured Sheridan and Narn pretty well. Their escape as far too easy, even considering the Streibs were being attacked at the time.

Still, I'll give All Alone in the Night a grade of 6+ on my 10-graded scale.




2-12 Acts of Sacrifice

In many ways Acts of Sacrifice is a sad episode, and a good testament to our unfortunate tendency not to stand up to violence and evil until it might be too late, or at least cost us dearly once we eventually have to confront it. Here it is the governments of Earth and Minbar that won't come to the aid of the Narn in its war against the Centauri (and the Shadows). In our own recent history we only have to think of Czechoslovakia, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Narn-Centauri war was bound to flare up on the station as well. G'Kar does the right thing in stopping his understandably angry fellow Narns, but the really sad part is that he thought this would get his world help from Earth and Minbar, but all it did was some humanitarian (or should that be "sentientarian") aid, and in secret.

While on the sliding path to the dark side, Mollari decides not to push the issue of a murdered Centauri. He's probably too caught up in self-pity because, while he has gotten his wish from Mr. Morden, he now feels even more lonely and resents being asked for favours from people he's never heard of before.

There is a b-plot about Ivanova taking care of some alien diplomat with a superiority complex that is mostly played for laughs. But there is a darker undertone to the Lumatis Darwinian approach to life. Still, she fools them for the sex part, which goes to show that people who think too highly of themselves can be outwitted. While her "sex dance" was way over the top to be as funny as it could have been, I found it amusing that the Lumati dwarf apparently saw through the charade, whereas his superior didn't.

Acts of Sacrifice gets a grade of 6+ on my 10-graded scale.




2-13 Hunter, Prey

The events in Hunter, Prey doesn't have that much significance. The rescuing of President Clark's former physician never amounts to much. Even if he can tell the world that Clark wasn't sick when he left Earthforce One before it exploded and killed President Santiago, it isn't enough to indict Clark's regime. General Hague's representative even says as much, so all it does it tell us that the conspiracy of the good guys are still operating.

The intelligence operative sent to retrieve the doctor was also from the old staple of visiting and obnoxious authority figures, and he felt rather wooden. But together with Sheridan I still enjoyed him getting chewed out at the end. Having the intel guys work with station security and then forcing Garibaldi et al. to work against their own men foreshadows coming difficulties with the Nightwatch.

The revelations of the Vorlons are more interesting. Their ships are "living" and built on organic technology. And finally Sheridan confronts Kosh and apparently succeeds in reaching the Vorlon. He sure got a reaction when he accidentally asked the ambassador the Shadow question "what do you want?" Kosh tells Sheridan that he will have to fight legends - ironically that can and will also mean the Vorlons themselves. Still, it was odd that Kosh allowed them to hide the fugitive doctor on his ship. The Vorlons have hardly interfered directly on such a relatively inconsequential matter. Perhaps Kosh just wanted to earn some trust with Sheridan.

I'll give Hunter, Prey a grade of 6 on my 10-scale.