A Niner Watches Babylon 5 (NO spoilers, please)

[DWF]

Blondie McNiceboobs shows up on the station and makes the audience aware in no uncertain terms that Earth's leadership is up to no good. She also gets her tits out, which earned this episode half a star.

(No, not really.)

Not in this episode, but the actress has been in quite a few....seedier productions.

Shari Shattuck was also in Arena with Claudia Christian, Armin Shimmerman and Marc Alamo.

 

[TheGodBen]

Not in this episode, but the actress has been in quite a few....seedier productions.

Really? Well... Google, here I come!

GOOGLE: Your search for "Shari Shattuck" + "snoo-snoo" will be completed in 4 hours.

Balls!

Here's a little mystery for TGB - try to remember where have you seen the "flying discotheque" before?

Some of the tentacle things on it looked familiar to the ship Sinclair's girlfriend saw in that episode way back when, but I don't have the season 1 DVDs anymore to check.


Dust to Dust (***)

Recently, something has been bugging me about the show and I think that this episode is a good point to voice my concerns. I've seen a few people saying that one of the great things about this show is how subtle it is, and that's true in some cases, especially when it comes to Londo and G'Kar, but when it comes to President Clark and the Psi Corps I'm just not seeing it, at least not yet. For example, in this episode Bester seems to be mostly on the level and he's genuinely trying to sort out the dust smuggling operation on the station, but at the end we learn that they actually created dust in the first place in order to create more telepaths, here they're just covering their asses.

What have the Psi Corps ever done that was good? Why are they always scheming and sinister? Almost everything I have seen them do so far appears to be self-serving, where's the subtlety?

In contrast, DS9's secretive, black leather wearing organisation is far more interesting to me because I genuinely can't decide if they're good guys or bad guys. Sure, they kidnap people, orchestrate plots against foreign diplomats, and on rare occasions they attempt to commit genocide, but everything we saw them do was for a reason greater than themselves. Without Section 31 the Federation could have lost the war, isn't the death of a paranoid, malevolent race worth the freedoms of not just the Federation, but all the other Alpha Quadrant empires? Maybe not, but 10 years later I'm still not sure. I feel that one of the most disappointing things about DS9's final chapter was that they chose to end the Section 31 story by having Bashir judging them as evil rather than letting the audience make that determination.

Maybe the Psi Corps will gain extra depth in time, along with President Clark. It could be argued that the Psi Corps allied themselves with the Shadows because they feel they could not win a conflict against them, so by aligning Earth with the Shadows the Psi Corps are protecting Earth. Bester even seemed to be alluding to that at one point in this episode, but at the end there's yet another cheap shot at the Psi Corps that just makes them seem sinister. I guess I'll just have to see how it all turns out.

Anyway, some good Londo and G'Kar stuff and I'll be interested to see how G'Kar's new disposition will play out in the future. At first I was confused why G'Kar didn't reveal what he learned about Londo, then I realised that Kosh probably didn't want the information about the Shadows leaking out and somehow G'Kar was "brainwashed" into keeping quiet about it.

 

[Sykonee]

Well, like Section 31 of DS9, all these groups are doing things they feel are totally justified, even if their actions in doing so end up taking villainous routes to attain them (y'know, that whole "quick and easy path leads to the Dark Side" bit). The thing to discover is what their motivations are, but since the human perspective has mostly been from that of Our Heroes on the space station, we haven't been privy to the motivations of these shadowy organizations, just the results of their actions.

The reason Londo and G'Kar are more subtle at this point is because we get to see them all the time, and understand what makes them tick. For the most part, we haven't had that opportunity with Bester, much less Clark.

 

[stonester1]

The Psi Corps was a classic example of "fruit of the poisoned tree". It was a bad idea created for the wrong reasons, so it was destined to bite everyone in the ass at some point, both Teeps and norms.

As far as the Corps goes, this is all that poisoned fruit ripening, what we see.

Now, are they nothing but evil? No. Even Bester, as you are starting to see, has his good traits. But he truly believes in what he's doing, truly believes the ends justify the means, and truly is about protecting HIS telepaths and will do anything to do it.

I recently read the Psi Corps trilogy, btw. Wonderful story with a tragic ending. But loved it.

 

[Harvey]

The best story to use the Psi Corps isn't found in the series at all, I'd wager. If you ever have the time to read the trilogy (that stonester1 brings up) about them written by J. Gregory Keyes (from an outline by J. Michael Straczynski) it's worth your time.

 

[Can]

Ah I like "Dust to Dust" so much. G'Kar's "enlightment" , Bester's return , drug ( dust ) bust of Garibaldi and Bester ( though gangster characters were written badly. JMS just can't write criminal characters ) A decent episode.

 

[Hyperspace05]

"Dust to Dust" is one of my favorite episodes of Season 3... The first one where I felt the show genuinely got back to the higher quality of latter Season 2.

Why? G'Kars vision. Brilliant scene. So poignant, even though we realize Kosh was orchestrating it all. I think this episode is a turning point for several characters...

 

[chrisspringob]

Recently, something has been bugging me about the show and I think that this episode is a good point to voice my concerns. I've seen a few people saying that one of the great things about this show is how subtle it is, and that's true in some cases, especially when it comes to Londo and G'Kar, but when it comes to President Clark and the Psi Corps I'm just not seeing it, at least not yet. For example, in this episode Bester seems to be mostly on the level and he's genuinely trying to sort out the dust smuggling operation on the station, but at the end we learn that they actually created dust in the first place in order to create more telepaths, here they're just covering their asses.

What have the Psi Corps ever done that was good? Why are they always scheming and sinister? Almost everything I have seen them do so far appears to be self-serving, where's the subtlety?

Here's the thing. One thing you've probably picked up on by now is that one of the main themes of the show is nationalism = bad. Most of the main bad guys on the show do bad things either because of nationalism or because of some misguided ideological reason.

(I'm defining nationalism rather broadly here.....basically I'm defining it to mean elevating the status of your own group over "the other".)

There are very few bad guys on the show (at least, bad guys who last more than one episode) who are doing bad things just for purely selfish reasons. Lord Refa may be one of the exceptions....he seems to care more about his own position than the good of the Centauri.

The message "nationalism=bad" is played in a very unsubtle way. The show makes it pretty clear that people who take actions purely for the benefit of their own group are in the wrong. It's pretty obvious that JMS considers Londo's actions against the Narns to be unquestionably wrong. However, Londo is still a really interesting character because of how the show plays the torment in his soul over what he's doing.

This is the sort of thing you get sometimes, but not always. Most members of the upper echelons of Psi Corps (including Bester, I'd say) for example, do what they do because they think they're acting in the best interests of telepaths. For many of them, normals are the "other", and the lives of normals aren't worth much relative to the lives of telepaths. The show sometimes delves into the inner conflict in people who think this way, but not always. Certainly, there are no other characters who are forced to confront the tragic consequences of their nationalism to the extent that Londo and G'Kar are.

 

[Neroon]

Side note: In G'Kar's vision we see him speaking with another Narn, presumably his father. This Narn is played by actor Jim Norton who appeared in S1 as one of the ombuds. The speech he gives G'Kar is one of my favorites in the series. Aportion of it:

Because you have let them distract you. Blind you with hate. You cannot see the battle for what it is. We are fighting to save one another, we must realize we are not alone. We rise and fall together. And some of us must be sacrificed if all are to be saved. Because, if we fail in this, then none of us will be saved. And the Narn will be only a memory."

 

[Can]

Recently, something has been bugging me about the show and I think that this episode is a good point to voice my concerns. I've seen a few people saying that one of the great things about this show is how subtle it is, and that's true in some cases, especially when it comes to Londo and G'Kar, but when it comes to President Clark and the Psi Corps I'm just not seeing it, at least not yet. For example, in this episode Bester seems to be mostly on the level and he's genuinely trying to sort out the dust smuggling operation on the station, but at the end we learn that they actually created dust in the first place in order to create more telepaths, here they're just covering their asses.

What have the Psi Corps ever done that was good? Why are they always scheming and sinister? Almost everything I have seen them do so far appears to be self-serving, where's the subtlety?

Here's the thing. One thing you've probably picked up on by now is that one of the main themes of the show is nationalism = bad. Most of the main bad guys on the show do bad things either because of nationalism or because of some misguided ideological reason.

(I'm defining nationalism rather broadly here.....basically I'm defining it to mean elevating the status of your own group over "the other".)

There are very few bad guys on the show (at least, bad guys who last more than one episode) who are doing bad things just for purely selfish reasons. Lord Refa may be one of the exceptions....he seems to care more about his own position than the good of the Centauri.

The message "nationalism=bad" is played in a very unsubtle way. The show makes it pretty clear that people who take actions purely for the benefit of their own group are in the wrong. It's pretty obvious that JMS considers Londo's actions against the Narns to be unquestionably wrong. However, Londo is still a really interesting character because of how the show plays the torment in his soul over what he's doing.

This is the sort of thing you get sometimes, but not always. Most members of the upper echelons of Psi Corps (including Bester, I'd say) for example, do what they do because they think they're acting in the best interests of telepaths. For many of them, normals are the "other", and the lives of normals aren't worth much relative to the lives of telepaths. The show sometimes delves into the inner conflict in people who think this way, but not always. Certainly, there are no other characters who are forced to confront the tragic consequences of their nationalism to the extent that Londo and G'Kar are.

Bester is a fascinating character in fact. You just see and understand his point of view as series progress

 

[Reverend]

Side note: In G'Kar's vision we see him speaking with another Narn, presumably his father. This Narn is played by actor Jim Norton who appeared in S1 as one of the ombuds. The speech he gives G'Kar is one of my favorites in the series. Aportion of it:

Because you have let them distract you. Blind you with hate. You cannot see the battle for what it is. We are fighting to save one another, we must realize we are not alone. We rise and fall together. And some of us must be sacrificed if all are to be saved. Because, if we fail in this, then none of us will be saved. And the Narn will be only a memory."

I like that one too as in hindsight, it reveals a lot about Kosh.

Spoiler: Season 4

Especially compared to Ulkesh's attitude.

Additional trivia: Jim Norton also played Dr. Lazarenn the Markab doctor from 'Confessions and Lamentation'

 

[Truth_Seeker]

Some of the tentacle things on it looked familiar to the ship Sinclair's girlfriend saw in that episode way back when, but I don't have the season 1 DVDs anymore to check.

Exactly.

Catherine Sakai had an encounter with The Walkers Of Sigma 957 back in the good old "Mind War", which proves that this show's continuity is just awesome.

As for "Dust To Dust", it's one of my favourite episodes of the entire series.

 

[Lindley]

Well, to be fair, Ivanova's "I know this place! ....I've seen it on star charts..." line always struck me as somewhat lame. I suspect that at some point it was meant to be Sakai who went down to the planet there.

 

[Truth_Seeker]

Well, to be fair, Ivanova's "I know this place! ....I've seen it on star charts..." line always struck me as somewhat lame. I suspect that at some point it was meant to be Sakai who went down to the planet there.

It could have been worse. She could have used the biggest cliche line that every writer uses to explain how a character knows something he/she is not supposed to know:

"I know. I've read the reports."

 

[Reverend]

^ Yeah because characters standing around telling each other things the audience already knows is much better!

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Well, to be fair, Ivanova's "I know this place! ....I've seen it on star charts..." line always struck me as somewhat lame. I suspect that at some point it was meant to be Sakai who went down to the planet there.

I doubt that, as Sakai was originally supposed to be:

Spoiler: Babylon 5

in Anna Sheridan's role

 

[Jan]

Well, to be fair, Ivanova's "I know this place! ....I've seen it on star charts..." line always struck me as somewhat lame. I suspect that at some point it was meant to be Sakai who went down to the planet there.

I doubt that, as Sakai was originally supposed to be:

Spoiler: Babylon 5

in Anna Sheridan's role

No she wasn't, though that's a common error. As JMS has pointe out,

Spoiler: Sakai

Anna Sheridan's expedition was three years (iirc) before Sinclair ever got involved with Sakai. The timing doesn't work. That's one of the reasons why the Sheridan character was so necessary; to have had Sinclair with ties to both the Earth/Minbari war and the Shadows would've strained credibility to the point of ridiculousness.

As for the theory that Sakai was supposed to have gone down to Epsilon 3...what for? She was a surveyor and E3 was already off limits.

Jan

 

[DS9Continuing]

I doubt that, as Sakai was originally supposed to be:

Spoiler: Babylon 5

in Anna Sheridan's role

No she wasn't, though that's a common error. As JMS has pointe out,

Spoiler: Sakai

Anna Sheridan's expedition was three years (iirc) before Sinclair ever got involved with Sakai. The timing doesn't work. That's one of the reasons why the Sheridan character was so necessary; to have had Sinclair with ties to both the Earth/Minbari war and the Shadows would've strained credibility to the point of ridiculousness.

The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

Spoiler: about Sakai

It could have just been Morden on his own who awoke the Shadows three years previously - Sakai needn't have been involved in that. That doesn't stop her from re-discovering Z'Ha'Dum in the course of her duties as a planetary surveyor some time in the second season, getting captured and transformed, presumed dead but coming back in the third season just as Anna Sheridan did. Another thing JMS said was that there are two ways to make a character interesting - have something happen to them, or have something have happened to them. As regards wives, Sinclair was the first, and Sheridan was the second.

Also, minor quibble, but Sinclair and Sakai were "involved" on and off all the way back to the Academy (or whatever B5's equivalent is).

 

[Forbin]

Total aside, but this seems like a good thread for it:
I friended Pat Tallman on Facebook. Today, she's dreading driving six teens to an event (just like a real person!). One of the reply posts was from Bill Mumy, saying "Remember, 'understanding is not required, Just obedience.'"

It's so cool when an actor is also a fan who can quote his own lines 10 years later!

 

[JoeD80]

The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

Spoiler: about Sakai and Anna S

It could have just been Morden on his own who awoke the Shadows three years previously - Sakai needn't have been involved in that. That doesn't stop her from re-discovering Z'Ha'Dum in the course of her duties as a planetary surveyor some time in the second season, getting captured and transformed, presumed dead but coming back in the third season just as Anna Sheridan did. Another thing JMS said was that there are two ways to make a character interesting - have something happen to them, or have something have happened to them. As regards wives, Sinclair was the first, and Sheridan was the second.

Except that:

Spoiler: Season 3 Finale

Sinclair wasn't going to go to Z'ha'dum, so there'd be no point to that plot. Catherine was supposed to have her mind erased when she got too involved in the dark secrets of the Earth Corporations; and that would lead to Delenn getting closer to Sinclair.

Maybe the Psi Corps will gain extra depth in time, along with President Clark. It could be argued that the Psi Corps allied themselves with the Shadows because they feel they could not win a conflict against them, so by aligning Earth with the Shadows the Psi Corps are protecting Earth. Bester even seemed to be alluding to that at one point in this episode, but at the end there's yet another cheap shot at the Psi Corps that just makes them seem sinister. I guess I'll just have to see how it all turns out.

Yep, you'll get a full picture of exactly what's behind this alliance soon enough.