Category: Babylon 5

This one feels like it should be a huge WHAM! episode, but it sort of slogs its way along, hitting mostly right notes but never coming together the way it should. There are some key bits that definitely raise the heart-rate, but for the most part it's simply a better-than-average episode that advances various character arcs but doesn't quite rise to WHAMworthiness.

A-Plot: Sheridan is off with a Starfury flight, investigating some strange ship disappearances, when he gets himself abducted by the Streib, a race that periodically goes out and captures aliens for nefarious purposes (named, drolly, for  Whitley Strieber, UFOlogist). After being tortured (http://goo.gl/A14n25), he's attacked by a captive mind-controlled Drazi and forced to kill him, but manages to only seriously injure a similarly controlled Narn (http://goo.gl/kH0XYQ) (why Sheridan hadn't gotten a mind-control headpiece is unanswered).

Delenn, when informed of the abduction assists B5, as the Minbari have previously had harsh words with the Streib. She guides an EA task force to the Streib homeworld, where their (apparently single) spaceship is just arriving. Space battle ensues (http://goo.gl/ouQvng http://goo.gl/urU98C), which seems kind of goofy when they think Sheridan is still aboard, but Sheridan and the Narn manage to escape (http://goo.gl/L3xHnq) before the Streib ship is blown to flinders (http://goo.gl/CG3SYw). Sheridan gets mawkish (http://goo.gl/Tp8UP6) that one of the Starfury pilots with him died of injuries later (ignoring a third pilot who died on the spot).

It's a hackneyed plotline in a half-dozen ways, and is handled clumsily to boot. In fact, it's noteworthy for only two things. First, that Narn (to be named Ta'Lon) will return in the future. Second, while snoozing on the Streib ship, Sheridan has a dream / vision that had the chat boards churning for months (http://goo.gl/5xvJjR):

– Sheridan is in his quarters, in uniform. The lights are out.
– Ivanova is in the quarters with him, in uniform, hair draped over her left shoulder. The door is open. She raises her fingers to her lips and says, "Shh." (http://goo.gl/6oswmB)
– Sheridan looks confused. (http://goo.gl/Rx3XuI)
– Ivanova, now with a raven perched on her right shoulder, says, "Do you know who I am?" (http://goo.gl/U2ZBJo)
– Sheridan looks to his right, and finds himself in a Babylon 5 corridor. He looks up. (http://goo.gl/nIxE7e)
– On a catwalk, in harsh lighting, gripping the railing, is another Sheridan. He looks to his right. (http://goo.gl/x3AzBf)
– Garibaldi, also apparently on the catwalk, is in uniform and has a dove on his left shoulder (http://goo.gl/5J5PR7). "The man in between is searching for you," he says. (http://goo.gl/nlbIx4)
– Ivanova, in a veil and black dress, is standing behind Sheridan, who is now wearing a turtleneck and a jacket. (http://goo.gl/YizObX)
– As he turns, we get a brief glimpse of a metal pin on the left breast of his jacket: a Psi-Corps badge. And in fact, his jacket appears to be the uniform of a Psi-Cop, with the leather strap down the right side in front. (http://goo.gl/rET5xE)
– Ivanova, still veiled, says, "You are the hand." (http://goo.gl/n2aopX)
– Kosh is standing behind Sheridan in the corridor; Sheridan is back in his normal uniform. Sheridan starts to turn toward him. (http://goo.gl/z6eEPP)
– In what seems like a simple switch of camera angles, Sheridan now appears to be sitting down in front of a backlit wall with an organic look not unlike that of the Streib ship's interior. "Why are you here?" he asks. (http://goo.gl/lfMUfW)
– "We were never away," Kosh answers from the corridor. "For the first time your mind is quiet enough to hear me." (http://goo.gl/jhxmh7)
– Sheridan is back in the corridor, standing. "Why am I here?" he asks, in a tone that makes the question sound unconnected to the previous one. (http://goo.gl/dsN6gh)
– "You have always been here," answers Kosh. (http://goo.gl/2vUPsl)

Which line Kosh repeats again once Sheridan is back on the station (http://goo.gl/8h4pNx).

Ravens! Doves! Psi Corps! Hidden identities! Kosh! Ooooh! Spoooky!

What does it all mean?  Well, stay tuned, kids!

Other than that, the A-Plot is pretty much lukewarm hash (see the video at the bottom).

A bit more significant, arc-wise, is the B-Plot, which has Delenn being summoned to the Grey Council, accompanied (by his own choosing, and despite being warned off) by Lennier, who's in full-on crush mode (Mumy does a great job with him http://goo.gl/97hCD2). When she arrives (http://goo.gl/SnYsCn http://goo.gl/dhsEGp), she learns she's been booted from the GC for doing the Chrysalis thing against their orders. Worse, she learns that her replacement is our old war-loving pal, Neroon, which means the GC is now out of balance, caste-wise (esp. since Neroon thinks the whole Minbari-Human-Shared-Souls Thang is a bunch of bullshit http://goo.gl/ze2SdB).  Delenn asks to be allowed to continue her mission at B5, and they agree (with a hearty "Good riddance!" from Neroon (http://goo.gl/jtYyVe)).

So, there are some biggies for Delenn — no longer leader, merely ambassador, and rejected by her people, with her great sacrifice looked down upon as rubbish. Ouch. No wonder she's rather pleased to help the Earthers take down the Streib ship (http://goo.gl/S250VK).

The C-Plot is even more arc-ish. General Hague (Robert Foxworth) makes an unannounced visit to B5 (http://goo.gl/UiWVKm).  It turns out that Sheridan was sent there with a covert mission to check out the loyalty of the command staff. Turns out further it's a double-blind mission — President Santiago thought he'd been an independent mind while still looking like enough of a xenophobe to satisfy that wing of Earth politics (including then-VP, now-President Clark) with the appointment. Hague is there to close the deal and recruit him into a quiet conspiracy back home — looking into Santiago's death and the possible powers behind that, in particular Psi Corps. (http://goo.gl/gZ95LY)

In the end, Sheridan agrees, and at the very end recruits Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin into the conspiracy of light. (http://goo.gl/0tBcx4)

This last bit bumps up the stakes for Our Team quite a bit. Now they're not reacting, but beginning to act themselves, which is a good thing (story-wise, at least). It's a scosh surprising that uber-paranoid Garibaldi is so quick to go along with it — but, then, maybe he feels he can watch and jump in the right direction later on as need be. Regardless, we now have B5 — its leadership at least — in covert but formal opposition to the shenanigans back on Earth.  That should be … interesting.

Overall, there's plenty to see here, dragged down mostly by the nonsensical Streib subplot. (Nobody but the Minbari have ever figured this mystery out? And the Minbari never thought to tell anyone else who was behind these periodic ship disappearances? Really?)  It's not a bad episode, but it's not a great one, despite the name and despite Kosh acting — both in-vision and in-person — all Koshlike and cryptic. Fun stuff awaits.

Most Dramatic Moment: Delenn before the Grey Council, being berated by Neroon — and realizing she doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. (http://goo.gl/skRH4s)
Most Amusing Moment: Not many. Maybe Ivanova being amused to see that everyone else at Sheridan's secret midnight meeting is also in their pajamas. (http://goo.gl/5DN92g)
Most Arc-ish Moment: THE DREAM! THE DREAM! (Part of what's amusing about it is that it was shot so dark and so close that it's not always a matter of understanding what the cryptic images are about, but recognizing what the images actually are.) 

Overall Rating:  3.6 / 5 

Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/033.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/All_Alone_in_the_Night
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517625/
AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/babylon-5-groposall-alone-in-the-night-96276
Kay Shapero: http://www.kayshapero.net/b5review/AllAlone.htm

Next ep is "Acts of Sacrifice," which brings the Narn/Centauri conflict back to the spotlight, while Ivanova stages her greatest (and most hilarious) diplomatic coup ever.

#babylon5 #b5

WHAM! It's only the ninth episode of the season and WHAM! here's Joe Straczynski with his baseball bat beating us on the back of the skull with plotty madness both inevitable and unexpected. WHAM!

* SPOILERS (duh) *

No As and Bs and Cs, really — there's just one big plot, all tied into What's Going On with the Centauri (http://goo.gl/H78sJR).  Their emperor is coming to B5 (http://goo.gl/13l1qO). Refa is coaching Londo to engage in PR to bring their faction to power after the failing emperor dies. G'Kar is planning on killing Emperor Turhan (http://goo.gl/sEZPON), whose father was the last murderous tyrant to oversee the Centauri occupation of the Narn homeworld.

And things go rapidly downhill (in a glorious, spectactular, gob-smacking way) from there. And by the time the dust settles (or the episode ends), Londo has sold another hefty chunk of his soul, G'Kar has gone from fury to determination to shame to giddiness to fury to despair (http://goo.gl/IYbK9c), the Shadows have made a big appearance (http://goo.gl/YtBKYe), Emperor Turhan is dead (http://goo.gl/RkpsfB), Kosh has said something ominous … and the Centauri and the Narn are once again at war (http://goo.gl/kNFCvp).

Oh, and the Rangers have been revealed, the spy network being run by Jeffrey Sinclair ("Hello, old friend") from Minbar … and by Delenn from B5 …

Whew! And, oh my God. And, whew!

Oh, and it won the 1996 Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation (against Apollo 13 and Twelve Monkeys as the main competitors). 

WHAM!

Knowing that this season of B5 was named after this episode had assembled fandom in a froth even before the ep aired. Not only did everyone walk away satisfied, but the goings-on had folks chattering and speculating for years … not the least of which was Londo's prophetic dream.

A word about that dream, with a description from the Lurker's Guide synopsis (http://goo.gl/E2cHrF):

Londo is asleep. As he is dreaming, he hears himself say, "Keep this up, G'Kar, and soon you won't have a planet to protect!" He sees a contigent of Narn fighters destroying the space station at Ragesh 3. Within seconds, that dissolves, and … 
… He sees a great, fiery star with a hand emerging from it, reaching toward something (http://goo.gl/kY3f2n) …
… He sees Centauri Prime from orbit …
… He finds himself standing on the dusty or sandy surface of a planet ( http://goo.gl/WfEIJV), shielding his eyes from the sun as a group of Shadow ships fly overhead (http://goo.gl/XYD4Hd http://goo.gl/MnKJSS) …
… He stands, dressed in ceremonial clothing, his head bowed, as a crown is placed upon his head (http://goo.gl/CccOmL) …
… He sits on a large throne, dressed in elaborate white clothes. He is aged, decrepit, and ill. (http://goo.gl/S5aZ5h http://goo.gl/ocbqi1 http://goo.gl/B2ZPBP) Surveying his surroundings, he sees a Narn, his face aged and wrinkled, wrapped in a dark cloth. It is G'Kar (http://goo.gl/2D4gqg) …
… Londo once again sees the great hand, stretching further and further from the star, grasping at something …
… He is back in the throne room, in a struggle with G'Kar. They are both trying to strangle each other. (http://goo.gl/C1c3kg http://goo.gl/ATBt7F) Londo begins losing the struggle, and he begins to fall back, as …
… he wakes up.

Diabolical (http://goo.gl/QFrt3x). Londo mentioned dreams in passing in the very first episode of the series, "Midnight on the Firing Line" (the Ragesh 3 episode that established the Narn/Centauri dynamic, and painted the Narn as the aggressive and sneaky bad guys, the Centauri as the sympathetic, not-really-bad guys — a very conscious reversal of this episode). Londo said he knew he was destined to die, locked in struggle with G'Kar, and that such death dreams by Centauri always come true.

Now we've seen the dream, or the bits he was referring to. We've seen Londo as emperor, aged and failing. We've seen a ghastly, one-eyed G'Kar in the shadows come forward and strangle him. Yup, we've seen the entire end-game of that major plot thread of the show …

And what that plot thread will do is demonstrate that, just as with a flash-forward or future framing sequence in a novel, knowing the future isn't nearly as important as knowing how you get there. Moreover, in the limited glimpses you get, seeing the future isn't nearly as important as knowing what's actually going on at that moment.

Peter Jurasik gives a top-notch Londo performance. Here's a man who's wanted glory for his people forced to do things he knows are wrong (http://goo.gl/O5OVKD) in order to net that glory. Here's a man who's wanted recognition from the court dreaming of being crowned — and confessing he really prefers the safety of being behind the throne, not on it. Here's a man whose high points in life have been the conviviality of a shared drink, suddenly filled with horror (http://goo.gl/MA5Lyl) as G'Kar buys him one and toasts his health in the few brief moments between hearing that the Emperor came to B5 to apologize to the Narn and hearing that the Centauri have destroyed Narn's largest colony.  Here's a man who's told by his dying emperor that he's damned, and who very much doesn't take it with a flippant jest the way his co-conspirator does (http://goo.gl/9VMBFI). Impressive.

He's aided in all this by Stephen Furst, coming into his own as Vir. Suddenly the cuddly, befuddled teddy bear of an assistant has become Jiminy Cricket, aware of how he and his people are stained by what Londo is doing, but unable to do anything but play Cassandra (http://goo.gl/USd7qL), with as much luck (http://goo.gl/6yOG5b).

Jurasik also aided by Andreas Katsulas, who turns in an amazing job as G'Kar. He hits the heights and the depths here — both grim determination (http://goo.gl/39w9ZK) and elation (http://goo.gl/9eaSqR), fury (http://goo.gl/rzskKA) and numb despair (http://goo.gl/jcuiAL). His abortive revenge-seeking on Londo, mere minutes after buying him drink, is a thing to see.

Bruce Boxleitner abruptly comes into his own as Sheridan. The jovial jarhead who gets jerked around by events on the station both gives G'Kar early on a major dressing down for missing an opportunity for peace (http://goo.gl/3C5oEL), shmoozes adeptly with Emperor Turhan, and reaches out to G'Kar afterward in determined compassion. He demonstrates his diplomatic chops as well, winning a minor victory in the council chambers over Londo, though even that is snatched away by the word that war has been declared.

Jerry Doyle's Garibaldi gets as close to a B-plot as there is, being tracked, turning on, then finding the secret of the guy who's been stalking him on B5 (http://goo.gl/SKxwYg). He's a Ranger, one of the Human/Minbari agents that Sinclair and some others have been running from Minbar, watching for signs of the Shadows' return. Sinclair has gotten the okay to bring Garibaldi into the conspiracy (http://goo.gl/xvykzU) and, through him (without spilling any secrets) Sheridan and Ivanova. It's not as well-handled of a narrative thread, even with a recording from Sinclair (hey, everyone, remember him?) to lend the Ranger's tale credence, but it's a small ray of hope and a not-insignificant widening of the scope of the battle to come. And, unlike so many threads we've seen of this sort, it will actually turn into something significant.

The only other member of the cast to get much face time (besides Delenn looking worried a lot) is Richard Biggs as Franklin. He not only gets to do his normal doctorly set piece thing, but the Emperor uses him to carry a message to G'Kar.  He does so, in the rather smugly superior fashion that marks every Franklin appearance (http://goo.gl/WUBiX0). Alas for the people living in that universe, it's a message big enough to get G'Kar's attention, and too late to make any difference except crank up the Poignant Irony Meter to 12.

Kosh plays supporting role as the Most Disturbing Thing to Wake Up To on Your Death Bed, Looking Down at You (http://goo.gl/iKMNIf). He's there to tell the Emperor how things will end (for the war? for the Centauri?), and his reply "In fire" is appropriately understated in its unusually plain-speaking way. 

Guest star-wise Turhan Bey rocks the hell out of the Emperor (who was retroactively named after him), speechifying beautifully on lost dreams and being pushed around by events, an old man at the end of his life and making one last attempt to make a difference (B5 – Emperor Turhan and Sheridan). He's perfect.  William Forward as Refa returns as the perfect sniggering bad guy that everyone wants to see come to a bad end (http://goo.gl/4IDsVI), and provides the necessary contrast to his ally/pawn Londo. Only Fredric Lehne as the Ranger seems drawn from B5's usual stock company of people who can say their lines and that's about it.

The only key player missing here is Mr. Morden, who orchestrates the war-starting attack on Londo's behalf. His appearances are always great fun, his absence is appropriate — Morden has (apparently) become a tool in Londo's arsenal; the ambassador needs to be seen as responsible for that tool's use.

And that's the key to this whole episode (if not the series): the confluence of events and free choice into what later gets labeled as destiny.  The characters here are all being swept along by buffeting currents, but at a moment where their own decisions make the most impact, almost all of them (save, too late, the Emperor) turn away from taking responsibility, saing "It's not my choice. The decision was already made." And there's enough truth and enough self-delusion in those statements to lend an air of epic tragedy to the proceedings. G'Kar turns down the opportunity for peace in favor of the simple calmness of becoming an assassin and weapon of racial vengeance. Londo is plainly aware of the warning signs, red flags, and klaxons at each step he takes, but takes those steps regardless, desperately telling himself he had no choice  (http://goo.gl/QykK26). Now that the Narn and Centauri are at war, everyone else is going to have to make decisions, including whether to take sides — and those decisions in turn, driven by the current of events, will determine the much bigger game at stake here.

Overall, it's damn fine episode and justified the fans' faith that the show was worth the time investment.  The next episode, "GROPOS," wouldn't be nearly as good — nothing could be — but the events of the Shadow War are, at this point, well under way. 

Most Dramatic Moment: G'Kar races off to kill Londo, and is stopped by Sheridan. "They're doing it again."  (http://goo.gl/gmPE9M)
Most Amusing Moment: This episode is rather devoid of humor, but G'Kar menacingly approaching Londo (http://goo.gl/AwhkvR), only to turn around, buy him a drink, and toast to his and his emperor's health would be the closest to it … if it weren't so damned tragic.
Most Arc-ish Moment: Well it's all dripping with arc. if I had to narrow it down Londo's prophetic dream (of which I find only scattered images, not a full visual analysis, let alone a video — one of the disadvantages of reviewing something from 1995, where limited Internet coverage and subsequent bitrot have taken their toll on the historical record …)

Overall Rating:  4.9 / 5 — This is an episode that people talking about hooking their friends on B5 about; I'm not so certain it stands alone so well, but it's one of the best of the series nonetheless, marred only by a few passinly weak moments. Triffic stuff.

Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/031.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/The_Coming_of_Shadows
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517697/
AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/babylon-5-the-coming-of-shadows-95462
Noise2Signal: http://noise2sig.nl/2012/07/22/babylon-5-a-race-through-dark-places/

#babylon5  #b5

Peter David provides an entertaining stand-alone ep that includes nearly every one of the named stars in an overall jovial tale that doesn't advance the arc at all but is still entertaining as all that. 

A-Plot:  Londo's 30th anniversary of "ascension" means he can hit up the Emperor for a favor — which he takes advantage of to divorce two of this three wives. Ah, but which one? The shrew (http://goo.gl/skqtmf)? The beautiful femme fatale (http://goo.gl/aw79yb)? The society dame (http://goo.gl/59KdpK)?  What will he do — and what will they do to avoid being tossed out in the cold? (The A-plot is summarized at Babylon 5: The married life of Londo Mollari. Episode "Soul Mates", copied at the bottom of the post.)

It's a fun plot, but ultimately hollow, with the results telegraphed far too early on (Londo goes for what's unpleasant but honest, a challenge he fails to take so many times in the future). It does provide some insight into Centauri society (at least among the nobility), but nothing we would not have guessed earlier.  It might have been a foundation for some recurring characters later, but the series never involves any of them again (a sadly lost opportunity).

Londo's previous referred to his wives, in a jocular vein, as Pestilence, Famine, and Death. If he's the Fourth Horseman, that would make him War …

B-Plot: It being an episode for spouses, Talia is dismayed to find her annoying Psi Corp-arranged ex-husband (played by Keith Szarabajka http://goo.gl/zsdM2M) is on the station. Everyone takes an instant dislike to him, except the the ones who seem not-so-subtly swayed by him. Which is odd, because he was kicked out of the Psi Corp when it seemed an experimental treatment burnt out his telepathy …

Again, we learn more about the Psi Corp, including breeding programs and experimentation to make better telepaths. But aside from the fun of watching the ex be snarky to Sheridan and Garibaldi (http://goo.gl/7LWfKk), and learning that Talia really is jonesing to leave the Corp (mostly because of an episode order problem), there's not much there there.

C-Plot: Ivanova teaches Delenn about basic hair care (Delenn's hair). Seems the Minbari have never learned about shampoo and conditioner, not surprisingly. An inconsequential subplot — mostly. It does establish a friendship between Delenn and Ivanova (and, however humorously, a fissure between Delenn and Lennier).  And it does wrap up with one of the best laugh lines on in the episode (which itself actually does a bit of foreshadowing).

All told, lots of folks get to play — Sheridan, Garibaldi, Ivanova; Delenn, Lennier; Londo, Vir; even G'Kar.  They all do their jobs, but for all that it's entertaining, there's something just slightly off about the characterizations. Maybe because they're being written by someone competent and who's not Joe, and who brings his own sensibilities to the denizens of B5. The humor is in many ways less forced, which seems odd, but the humor also jars with the growing sense of terror this season (of which only Talia's discussion of how the Corp scares the hell out of her rings true).

Actually, this is one of Talia's best outings. She's far less the husky damsel in distress than usual. Garibaldi pulls out the intense "if you cross me I'll space you" shtick, his feelings toward Talia having somewhere crossed over from creepy-obsessive to murderous-obsessive.  Ivanova's crankiness is in full abatement, leaving her only with looking like she wants to laugh out loud or be horrified by Delenn's problems, neither of which plays all that well. Londo has the time of his life (and, almost, his death), but also shows more than a bit of ruthlessness and abusive manipulation that makes it clear that any problems in his marriages are not all one-way streets.  G'Kar is also in fine fettle, but is almost too comedic in his mannerisms and proclamations (http://goo.gl/Z7ngWW).

Bottom line, though, there's nothing that happens here that, had the episode never aired, would have been a huge gap in how things progressed into the future on the series. It still, though, remains an enjoyable romp, regardless of the (lack of) consequence.

(Peter David speaks at length about the writing of the script here — it's a hoot: Babylon 5 Soul Mates)

Most Dramatic Moment: Talia on being a telepath these days: "I'm tired of learning things about people I don't want to know. I'm tired of having them shrink away because of what I might find out. And I'm tired of being part of an organization that scares the hell out of me!"
Most Amusing Moment: All the wives, Timov in particular, have all sorts of delightfully biting lines. But I have to give it to Delenn, who, having resolved her hair problems, asks Ivanova about some other physiological changes … (http://goo.gl/MCmA5U)
Most Arc-ish Moment: As noted, there's not much arc-ishness to be had. Maybe that Most Amusing Moment qualifies.

Overall Rating:  3.9 / 5 

Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/029.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Soul_Mates
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517693/
AV Club: hhttp://www.avclub.com/tvclub/babylon-5-a-race-through-dark-placessoul-mates-93629 (includes next episode)
Noise2Signal: http://noise2sig.nl/2012/06/16/babylon-5-soul-mates/

#babylon5 #b5

On another arc-ish episode by someone-not-JMS, Larry DiTillio does a better job than his last outing ("Eyes") with this tale that pulls in Free Mars, the Psi Corps, and the groundwork for some plot twists down the road. It also increases the sense that Something Is Wrong Back on Earth (well, duh).

As well, it's a rare episode when more than one of the guest actors are recognizable stars — James Shigeta (http://goo.gl/hAa9ZR) and Adrienne Barbeau (http://goo.gl/vZATZn).

There's really only a single plot going on here. Future Corp (led by Shigeta's Taro Asogi) is trying to work with the Mars Provisional Government  (represented by Barbeau's Amanda Carter — think of them as Sinn Féin, I guess) to provide enough economic development on Mars to help them win their independence without an armed revolt. They're meeting on B5 to discuss the details, with Talia Winters as telepathic moderator (Talia, coincidentally, being an old friend of his (http://goo.gl/xuoOaI).  Forces back on Earth (including yet another too-slimy EarthGov Senator) put pressure on Sheridan to Do Something About This (even though it's perfectly legal) because of the political and economic inconveniences to some parties, all labeled as "Earth's security interests".

Things get interesting when Someone Mysterious under the nuclear-blasted ruins of San Diego (http://goo.gl/j9QGjw) sets someone in motion — a deadly assassin who kills Shigeta (http://goo.gl/zJoXWa), shouting out "Free Mars," and then threatens Talia. That he's also Abel Horn (http://goo.gl/etLwnt), a presumed-dead leader of Free Mars and an old flame of Carter (who has old Free Mars connections rattling around in her closet) is a coincidence-too-far, but it does ramp up the tension nicely.

In the end, the Horn turns out to be the tool / victim of an old EarthGov black ops science program (take people near death, stuck a control computer on them (http://goo.gl/kgNMQM), and get their minds hooked in an endlessly painful loop of their dying), the Someone Mysterious in San Diego is shown to be a PsiCop and apparently a member of the shadowy Bureau 13 (as exposited by Sheridan, who out of the blue turns out to be a conspiracy theorist and collector), and indications are that whoever was the Control for the assassin is still on B5, reporting back …

Yeah, it's complex, but in a fragile, don't-look-too-closely way, mostly setting up further situations for Our Heroes to face in future episodes.  Sheridan is earnest and honest and leaderly, and has a long side-digression-reminiscence about his first encounter with a one-off race — but aside from his too-conveniently-revealed hobby of collecting conspiracy theories, not very effective or interesting. Garibaldi continues to stalk Talia, though this time she starts to come around to his creepily winsome ways (http://goo.gl/VG9no6); aside from that, he doesn't seem to be very effective in security (putting a single guard on the threatened Talia (http://goo.gl/yZdRuj), then later not checking out Carter's quarters (http://goo.gl/qPXKre)). Ivanova, too, seems to have warmed up some to Talia over time, uncharacteristically calling her "interesting" (heh heh heh); she also demonstrates (in passing) that she's becomming more adept at dealing with diplomatic matters aboard the station.

Talia, meanwhile, gets a real spotlight in this ep. Unfortunately, this just continues to affirm that Andrea Thompson can't act besides being a hoarse-voiced tragic damsel in distress.  From a character standpoint, though, Talia plays a tightrope of being both helpful in revealing the conspiracy and conspiratorial herself in hiding from Sheridan her vision of a PsiCop involved in the assassin's creation (http://goo.gl/Qlr8GJ) — though she does look up the individual later, to find her officially listed as dead (http://goo.gl/wiXQyy). Her anecdote to Garibaldi about her upbringing reinforces how utterly submerged in the Corps young recruits become, adding to both understanding of psi individuals in the Corps and to the overall creepiness factor of that organization (as both ghetto and movement).

In other characters, we get the first view of Zack Allen, originally meant to be a one-off security character, but eventually to play a much more significant role in the series.  

Michael Beck as the cyborg assassin Abel Horn (http://goo.gl/Rh4iDe), actually does a much better job than I remembered, playing him as alternately menacing, confused, robotic, agonized, crazy, and, ultimately, kind of sympathetic (http://goo.gl/IkKfpC). It's a nutso role, and he does with it as good a job as I can imagine.

Bureau 13 is never referred to again by name (after the episode aired, JMS was informed it was the name of a game), but its activities here actually seem tie in to future series events (esp. re Talia).  DiTillio wrote them as being the same group as had sent Knights One and Two in "The Sky Full of Stars", though not referred to by name. The conspiracies of different forces — political, economic, and social — back on Earth were not always coherently written in B5 (at least in the first two seasons), but that there's more than one, and that there's cross-over (or even competition) between then (is the Psi Corp actually involved in Bureau 13, or just one or more of its members?) is a nicely realistic idea.

Ultimately, there are too many moving parts here, clicking together in far too convenient a fashion. It's an episode better seen as a setup for things down the road than taken on its own. Within those bounds, it's a decent showing, with not quite as many overacted scenes as one might expect.

Most Dramatic Moment: Well-done drama is missing here, so I'll call it for Horn having a series of personality changes and convulsions in Carter's quarters (http://goo.gl/nHBHbn).
Most Amusing Moment: Not much humor here, either — Sheridan's satisfaction at seeing how well Ivanova is taking on diplomatic issues ("It's good to be the Captain") is probably about it, and certainly feels familiar to any manager with a good team.
Most Arc-ish Moment: Sheridan resolves to Garibaldi to do something about the conspiracies back home, putting him on a dozen different collision courses with the next three years.

Overall Rating:  3.0 / 5 

Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/028.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/A_Spider_in_the_Web
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517619/
AV Club: http://goo.gl/I0SqVV (article is mistitled)
Noise2Signal: http://noise2sig.nl/2012/04/15/babylon-5-spider-in-the-web/

#babylon5 #b5

After the second season of B5, Joe Straczynski took over the writing on nearly every episode thereafter. This particular ep is an example of why: a tale which should add to the growing sense of menace and doom overhanging the galaxy, and instead comes across as sophisticated as your average "Star Trek" TOS installment, a monster of the week tracked down with next to zilcho characterization.

In the A-Plot, a derelict human exploration ship from over a century ago (http://goo.gl/tvgMnV) intercepts B5 (traveling at sublight, it seems). When brought aboard, it turns out to be a sleeper ship with one woman alive and one man dead (that latter, mysteriously, consumed from within). What nobody seems to realize (except in ways that they really shouldn't) is that Something Was Aboard and Is Now on B5. Eek.

In the tightly related B-Plot, Lurker lunatic Amis (http://goo.gl/6qqGbN) is now suddenly preaching that some Horrible Evil is now aboard the station. After being locked up for disturbing the peace, he draws the attention of Garibaldi, who recognizes him as a fellow veteran from the Earth-Minbari War, but one who coped less well than Garibaldi the Screw-Up and Alcoholic. Giving Amis the benefit of the doubt, Garibaldi works with him to track down the Soldier of Darkness who's now on the ship, being occasionally menacing.

In the also tightly related C-Plot, Dr. Franklin has the hots for the woman who was aboard the ship (http://goo.gl/FIADlR), for reasons that seem simply plot-need-driven, not at all logical.

In fact, a ton of things in this episode make no sense except in a hand-waving fashion. A long-derelict ship (which spins at wildly different speeds in different shots), showing a sensor reading of a human onboard, is simply brought into B5 and entered by the human stars of the series with no concern about what's going on or what might be released (e.g., a disease if not a demon).  A single killing by the Ancient Menace is enough to get the League of Non-Aligned Worlds in a tizzy. Battle scene tactics and blocking, star travel distances, command strategies, and personal discussions between regular characters are all just a few points askew of plumb. And the music seems to be just one pipe organ short of being a Saturday Afternoon Serial in its menacing minor chords.

Meanwhile, Garibaldi is revealed to have PTSD (in what feels like a completely contrived way, though Jerry Doyle has a few good moments). Sheridan is bombasting various orders rather than working with his people to determine what's going on.  Ivanova is reduced to posting worrisome bulletins. Londo is mocking. G'Kar is concerned. Franklin is hitting on a woman who is not only a possible threat to the station, and who not only just (subjectively) lost her husband yesterday, but who is his patient.  

And Kosh is completely absent from a fray that should very much have attracted his attention.

It's all weird, short-circuited character mis-development that feels like it came from someone who didn't read the series bible and didn't have their script vetted for truly contrived and corny dialog.

There are also some very dubious SFX here, most particularly in the Soldier of Darkness (http://goo.gl/i1TMQm; http://youtu.be/hgG5IN0vUAI?t=11m42s) who seems a shaky mix between Chernabog and and the Krell "Creature from the Id" — even Joe Straczynski admits the concept outran their budget. In a strong episde, you could overlook it. In this tepid mess, it's a further disaster at the action climax of the episode.

Overall there's a ton of arc stuff here, just none of it very useful or well-presented. Apparently every race except the Humans (and maybe the Centauri) have a memory of a great war a thousand years ago, and a fear of the Dark Soldiers who were fought against — one of whom is, of course, the Awful Demon Aboard. And, of course, the Soldier of Darkness had changed the course of the sleeper ship to head toward (bum-bum-BUUUUMMMM) everyone's favorite something's-stirring planet out on the Rim, Z'ha'dum, which coincidentally brought it (apparently powerless now) past B5 at a rate that would arrive in Z'ha'dum in about, oh, another thousand years.

Ugh.

There's a solitary bright element to this episode, and it's the delightful, scenery-chewing job that Dwight Schultz does as the mad Lurker, Amis (http://goo.gl/x4D9OR) — a "Howling Mad Murdoch" who's truly been driven mad by the horrors he's seen, and that he now again has to face. The video below is an extract of all his footage from this ep; they're the best parts of of the whole thing.

In short, it's not an awful episode, but the script (by Scott Frost) is so dreadfully mediocre, rushed, and character-free, it's little surprise that JMS eventually took over the writing responsibilities full-time. Not that Joe always hit a home run, but this one barely limps to first base. For all that it waves the arc around, nothing really significantly new is advanced about it (shadows bad, great war long ago, Z'ha'dum), while in the meantime all the characters on board are turned into finger puppets to fill in the plot line in the most hackneyed fashion imaginable.

If this episode vanished entirely from the universe, the series would be undiminished. That's never a good recommendation.

Most Dramatic Moment: Amis tells the tale of his listening post's massacre to Garibaldi (http://youtu.be/hgG5IN0vUAI?t=7m45s).
Most Amusing Moment: There's really not a lot of humor going on here. Maybe Londo mocking G'Kar for having attracted Amos, who in turn is attracted by Londo before Garibaldi peels him away (http://youtu.be/hgG5IN0vUAI?t=1m26s).
Most Arc-ish Moment: G'Kar finds a certain picture (http://goo.gl/j9rqf4) in his Book of G'Quon that presumably is meant to resemble the demon that they just defeated (but, sadly, doesn't). 

Overall Rating:  2.2 / 5 (and at least 0.5 of that is due to Shultz's Amis) 

Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/027.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/The_Long_Dark
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517707/
AV Club: http://goo.gl/I0SqVV (article is mistitled; also includes the next ep)
Noise2Signal: http://noise2sig.nl/2011/11/13/babylon-5-the-long-dark/

#babylon5 #b5

The first non-JMS episode of the season, it’s not quite as WHAMful as what’s come before, but D.C. Fontana creates a middling-decent character-builder and plot-advancer.The A and B plots are both centered on the arrival at B5 of the Cortez, an Earth exploration ship that basically goes on long-range mapping expeditions of the Rim and builds star gates there for survey ships to follow along behind (http://goo.gl/iFcGST). The Cortez is commanded by Sheridan’s old mentor (http://goo.gl/AbEn3Y), who has the poor manners to keep clucking sadly over Sheridan now being trapped in desk job — which makes for an A-plot existential angst in Sheridan as to what he’s doing with his life (and a rather sappy Saganesque monologue about “star stuff” from Delenn – http://youtu.be/zkhx3dGKz3k). Sheridan doesn’t see himself as a diplomat or bureaucrat or politician — which makes his future story arc particularly interesting.  That internal conflict gets resolved (too quickly) over the course of the episode, but it’s nice to at least see a little self-doubt in Our Hero.

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/

#babylon5 #b5

Technomages! Prophecies! Vir! Michael Ansara! Drazi! Ivanova! Green vs. Purple!

Glory, how I love this episode.

The A-Plot: The technomages (folks who use "sufficiently advanced technology" (http://wist.info/clarke-arthur-c/546/)) are rendezvousing on B5. EarthGov wants to know more. Londo wants to be seen as having their blessing, for his own political advantage. After an unsuccessful (but hilarious) envoy by Vir, Londo manages to get on the bad side of Elric, the main technomage, with amusing results.

And, yeah, it's all hilarity until Elric tells Londo: "You are touched by darkness, Ambassador. I see it as a blemish that will grow with time. I could warn you, of course, but you would not listen. I could kill you, but someone would take your place. So I do the only thing I can do. I go."

Yeah, couple that with Michael Ansara as the lead technomage, and that's worth the price of admission. It still gives me chills.

The B-Plot: Ivanova is promoted to Commander, and, as her first assignment, Sheridan fobs off the problem of dueling Drazi factions (Green! Purple! http://goo.gl/YmzdKu !) onto her ("Green. Purple." – Susan Ivanova and Drazi).  It's a fun Ivanova assignment (complete with a real-life broken foot that had Claudia Christian on a crutches), and a nice bit of SF commentary on factions and flag worship. Plus, of course, now we'll always appreciate the Drazi as an actually interesting foreground B5 race. Albeit one that's willing to murder thousands as part of a cultural "capture the flag" game every five years.

The B-Plot was not quite as Ivanovantertaining as I remembered, but it's still quite chuckleworthy.

The C-Plot: Garibaldi is moping about, deciding if he's worthy to take back his job as security chief. Ho-hum, he gets involved in the B-Plot, and decides to carry on and not shoot himself. Though he does get a nice speech, early on, wondering if Sheridan is on the up and up (given how many people wanted Sinclair put out of the way).

Overall, it's a fun episode, somewhat self-contained. Elric the Technomage does a marvelous job as the soothsayer of Londo's future. Ivanova continues being the harried, stern, proper comic relief. Garibaldi gets to be down and out, contemplating suicide, and eventually finding a certain paranoid value in living. Sheridan is big, boisterous, manipulative, and quite the senior manager.

Londo, most importantly, throws himself headfirst into conspiracy against the current order, egged on by the recurring Lord Refa (http://goo.gl/8HHBsB). Yeah, that'll haunt him. Vir demonstrates he's a personal force to be reckoned with — funny, but difficult to cow when he is determined to deliver ("I work for Ambassador Mollari. After a while, nothing bothers you.") (http://goo.gl/QkI9Q3).

Mostly non-arc, it's a great early episode for the second season.

Most Dramatic Moment: Putting aside the arcish bits — Garibaldi plugs the PPG cartridge in … then pulls it out … then pushes it in …  (http://goo.gl/TCBK76)
Most Amusing Moment: Vir desperately stands up to the conjured monsters of the technomages to deliver Londo's message. Or Ivanova desperately tries to comprehend the basis for the random factional division between the Drazi.
Most Arc-ish Moment: Elric's final words to Londo:

ELRIC: As I look at you, Ambassador Mollari, I see a great hand, reaching out of the stars. The hand is your hand. And I hear sounds, the sound of billions of people calling your name.
LONDO: My followers?
ELRIC: Your victims.

Overall Rating:  4.5 / 5

Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/025.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/The_Geometry_of_Shadows
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517704/
AV Club: hhttp://www.avclub.com/review/babylon-5-the-geometry-of-shadowsa-distant-star-93440 (includes the next episode)
Noise2Signal: http://noise2sig.nl/2011/07/30/babylon-5-the-geometry-of-shadows/

#babylon5 #b5

The third episode of the season transition, wrapping up the last of the (surface) mysteries raised in "Chrysalis"

There are four main plots in this one.  The most overtly arc-ish A-plot is G'kar, who's gone hallooing off to find out who destroyed the big Narn outpost, and comes back convinced it's an Ancient Enemy who was defeated a thousand years ago, but is now back, bigger and badder than ever.

(Um … a thousand years is pretty recent stuff for humans, let alone interstellar races. Why do G'kar's revelations fall on such incredulous ears?)

Unfortunately, every time he tries to collect evidence, the Shadows (let's call them) manage to steal it away — with the help of Londo, who returns one of Morden's favors by spilling the beans about a Narn warship going to Z'ha'dum.  Oops (http://goo.gl/ezKPzC).  Londo at least has the good grace to look a bit uncomfortable when G'kar starts wondering how the Shadows found out about the expedition. It's another step into darkness for everyone's favorite drink-cadger.

Sinclair gets the B-plot, with a visit from his sister stirring up memories of his dead wife, who was killed on a science expedition investigating the ruins of an ancient civilization out on the Rim (warning klaxons going off in the heads of those who have noticed a sudden uptick of cosmic shenanigans involving the Rim).  The scenes really give Bruce Boxleitner a chance to emote over the whole thing, which he does quite nicely, played off well by Beverly Leech as his sister.  Those who know the series will realize how this will all come back to haunt Sheridan in a season or two. The dialog here gets in places a bit trite, but it's a truly personal moment in a way that the big epic or monsters of the week often push out.

On the C-Plot we have Garibaldi, who gets brought back from the brink with a shot from "Quality of Mercy"'s alien healing machine.  Yeah, we'll see that again, too. That lets him get mindprobed (willingly) and put the finger on his assistant as the backshooter (thanks to an improbable mirrored surface). That then churns up a whole bunch of paranoid plotting, especially when the new president personally orders Sheridan to ship the attempted murderer back to Earth, and he vanishes en route — though not before flashing a "Be seeing you" farewell to Garibaldi. Lots of fodder for the future there, if heavy-handedly applied, including the beginnings of Garibaldi's not-unjustified descent into paranoia. ("I don't know you," are his first, narrow-eyed words to Sheridan; he'll continue that motif in years to come.)

The equally important but somewhat less time-intensive D-plot is Delenn's hatching from a cocoon — which gets two false reveals in both her initial state and the ruse used to draw Garibaldi's traitorous aide from his office, before she shows up in the council chamber sporting human ears and a nice head of hair around the remaining bone.  Needless to say the implications of this change will be all over the rest of the series, not least of which will be her lying about how she did it with the blessings of the Minbari government.

Overall, it's a remarkable balancing act, fitting four pretty large stories into a single episode, and it's generally handled pretty well. All of the cast get some solid moments (except Vir, who's absent; Keffer, who nobody cares about; and Na'toth, who's on screen but now played by the far less acerbic Mary Kay Adams). There's some clunky acting and line-smithing in places, but it's a strong second episode for the season.

Most Dramatic Moment: Sheridan talks about how he still misses his late wife, Anna.
Most Amusing Moment: Londo criticizing the absence of Delenn and G'kar from the council.  "The one deserts his post without any explanation, the other takes the most breathtakingly inconvenient moment possible to explore new career options — like becoming a butterfly!" 
Most Arc-ish Moment:* The whole episode is riddled with them, but I'll go with Londo's laughingly offhand comment, when Morden suggests his associates would be willing to take out a Narn outpost or colony, "Why don't you eliminate the entire Narn homeworld while you're at it?" (Morden replies, deadpan, "One thing at a time, Ambassador. One thing at a time.")
Overall Rating:  4.7 / 5

Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/024.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Revelations
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517682/
AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/review/babylon-5-points-of-departurerevelations-93241 
Noise2Signal: http://noise2sig.nl/2011/06/19/babylon-5-revelations/

#babylon5 #b5