The B-plot sees the Cortez lost in hyperspace after leaving B5, and a desperate effort to help her find her way home. This would be sort of standard space adventure stuff, except that it gets laced together with the repeated appearances of Shadow ships in hyperspace, too, which lends both tragedy and hmmmmm-factor to the proceedings. This is the high point of Starfury pilot Keffer’s work in the season, until his final appearance.
The C-plot is on Delenn, who’s dealing with changes of her own – including a delegate from the Minbari on the station who are unsure that she still qualifies as one of their race. Her story line parallels Sheridan’s doubts in the A-plot, except her hair is still a work in coiffure progress.
Finally, the D-plot is the comic relief item, where Dr Franklin decides that Garibaldi needs to go on a diet to help his recovery, Sheridan should probably go on a diet, too, to lose weight (too many oranges, John), and Ivanova needs to go on a bulking up diet as she recovers from her broken ankle. Mild hilarity ensues, enhanced by Garibaldi’s effort to smuggle the ingredients for his birthday dish, bagna cauda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagna_c%C3%A0uda) on board. I remembered the scenes as a lot funnier than they were on rewatch (Babylon 5 – Franklin’s diet for crew).
There’s some workmanlike character development for Sheridan and Delenn in this ep (as well as some of their first rapprochement). We get a bit of arc development with spooky stuff going on at the Rim and in hyperspace. Overall the acting and characterization are okay, if uninspired (and not helped by awkward direction in places). Ivanova gets some decent if non-memorable lines. Garibaldi gets to shine a fair amount, in that ingratiating / con artist way he has. Franklin comes off as officious and overly fussy; I can see Dr. McCoy doing the same thing to his charges, which is not the way we really want to have Franklin be. Unfortunately, the weakest actor/character is the guest star Russ Tamblyn, playing Sheridan’s old mentor and captain of the Cortez. His line delivery (or direction, or the editing) are always just the slightest bit off, and he comes across as no older than Sheridan does. At least he has a kick-ass exploration ship with its own theme music.
Overall, a decent episode but not a great one. Still, there are certainly worse ways to have spent an hour.
Most Dramatic Moment: Keffer figures out how to help the Cortez find its way home after his own ship is disabled and his fate sealed.
Most Amusing Moment: The three dieters swap their prescribed dishes, only to swap them back as Franklin wanders past. (http://youtu.be/U_K2MtvpK20?t=3m5s)
Most Arc-ish Moment: There’s something living in hyperspace, just like that Universe Today article back in an early Season 1 episode suggested (http://goo.gl/lNgWRB) …
Overall Rating: 3.0 / 5
Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/026.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/A_Distant_Star
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517616/
AV Club: hhttp://www.avclub.com/review/babylon-5-the-geometry-of-shadowsa-distant-star-93440 (includes the next episode)
Noise2Signal: http://noise2sig.nl/2011/10/02/babylon-5-a-distant-star/
