It was the Dawn of the Third Age of Mankind

[Mal]

The ant on the glove analogy wouldn't even approach it.

well, there is a school of thought that individual ants, while alive, are not the interesting organism, rather the ant-colony is the macro-organism that grows, evolves, creates giant underground cities, and wage war.

could the same be true for humans? after all, *cough* humans build communities

 

[Forbin]

Delenn never pointed out that we're real good at blowing communities up too!

 

[Mal]

The Long Dark

Damn lurkers, we aught to space all of them.
Were you in the war?
No, I missed it.
He didn't.
How do you know?
I've had that same dream.
​

This is a great Garibaldi outing. Michael was a Ground Pounder during the Earth-Minbari war, a Gropo. Reginald Barclay guest stars as a damaged veteran with nightmares, and Michael develops a wonderful rapport with him. You really get a sense that Michael knows where this guy is coming from - he doesn't just sympathize, he can relate.

2x05 The Long Dark is often maligned, but Dwight Shultz puts in an excellent performance. His the-end-is-coming preaching is endearingly Barclay-esque, and the scene where he recounts his tour on the moon, with everyone of his comrades dying in the night, and he himself is reduced to 85 pounds, is... haunting.

The League of Non-Allied worlds seems to know that one of the Shadow's minions has come on board. Led by the Markeb, they demand Sheirdan take action... or they will... Londo has a great line:

If there is something on board the station, then find it. And kill it. The rest is nonsense.
​

G'kar knows all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.

Garibaldi decides to use Barclay to track the soldier of darkness. When Amis goes missing, Garibaldi enlists Franklin's new (and annoying ) girlfriend to help out. Finally, in a battle-sequence much like the murder of Ulkesh, they corner the beast and take him out!

Ivanova pokes around and discovers that the beast had set the Copernicus on a heading for Za'ha'dum, the exact place where G'kar told them The Ancient Enemy was returning.

Something's going on Commander.

 

[OmahaStar]

Interesting. No answer to my question, Mal?

 

[Mal]

This episode sees B5's first - but not last - West Side Story alumn.

Ok, now I'm curious. Who else was in both?

agh, must have gotten WWS and Grease mixed up in my head. what can i say, summer lovin' happens so fast when i meet a girl named maria

 

[JoeD80]

It seems that this is actually what JMS believes. He uses variations on this star-stuff theme too many times in the course of the show for it to be a coincidence. I get the feeling that Gray 17 is Missing exists almost solely for Jeremiah to espouse a very similar theory.

I wouldn't count on it. Just because he writes as if something is real to his characters doesn't mean he believe it himself. After all, he writes as if Narns and Minbari are real but he doesn't actually believe in them. 'Bout the only thing he cops to believing is in synchronicity.

Joe did mention that a little bit of his beliefs were put into the show when asked if he believes in supernatural, souls, afterlife etc.:

If by soul you mean consciousness, awarness, that is not necessarily specific to one person in its beginning and ending, that arises from around us like a cup of water pulled from a lake, and returns to that lake when there is no longer need for the cup, then we might have something on which to base a conversation.

I've quietly voiced some of my assumptions in the show -- with the soul as a non-localized phenomenon, for instance -- and there's a lot of it in the Foundation document that I wrote and which informed both the Minbari belief system and Dr. Franklin's Foundationist ideas

 

[Mal]

Joe did mention that a little bit of his beliefs were put into the show when asked if he believes in supernatural, souls, afterlife etc.:

If by soul you mean consciousness, awarness, that is not necessarily specific to one person in its beginning and ending, that arises from around us like a cup of water pulled from a lake, and returns to that lake when there is no longer need for the cup, then we might have something on which to base a conversation.

I've quietly voiced some of my assumptions in the show -- with the soul as a non-localized phenomenon, for instance -- and there's a lot of it in the Foundation document that I wrote and which informed both the Minbari belief system and Dr. Franklin's Foundationist ideas

I suspected as much, but I think it was The Lost Tales that really convinced me that these were JMS' actual beliefs.

(holy crap - just clicked on my own link, and that sound track/intro is just out of this world!)

 

[Mal]

A Spider in the Web

There is a spider in the web, Mr. Garibaldi, and I intend to find it, and kill it.
​

There is an old B5 drinking game: one of the rules should be, a shot if an episode's title is mentioned in that episode, five shots if some other episode's title is mentioned. If you watch enough B5, you could turn into an alcoholic.

While I do own the B5 DVDs (a couple of sets actually, so I can lend them out to friends), and even though you can watch B5 for free online, nevertheless, an episode like 2x06 A Spider in the Web reminds my why I like to have a nice digital copy (via it-Bay orrent-Tay) as well.

My favorite media player, VLC allows for fast playback, so you can watch the show at 1.5x the speed, or even 1.67x the speed. Although Sheridan quickly begins to sound like a Binar, it sure makes this dreadful hour of Babylon 5 go by a little faster!

Summary: Section 31 takes the dead body of Free Mars terrorist Able Horn and reprograms him to kill Future Corp. CEO Taro Isogi, who has a plan to make money while also making Mars more self-sufficient. Sheridan, like Bashir, eats this spy-shit up like cat-nip; he and Garibaldi reprogram the computer (in the only entertaining part of the whole episode!) to track Able Horn down, realize what a fucking incompetent security chief Michael Garibaldi really is (liquor or women make him stupid), and in the end, well, frankly, I don't care. We never see Section 31 again, and that's ok with me.

inter einem arma silent leges.

 

[Reverend]

We never see Section 31 again, and that's ok with me.

Yes and no. Thirteen itself (and herself, for that matter) never show up or are mentioned again*, however the fingerprints of those behind the operation are all over events right the way through B5 and Crusade, if you know where to look. Reading the second Psi Corps book gives you a slightly better idea of what's going on.

* Actually her mug shot does crop up on screen in Season 5's 'No Compromises'. I happened to spot it as part of a cycle of faces on one of the security monitors the last time I watched the ep for screen grabs, but as it's just the graphics department recycling old material it hardly counts.

 

[Mal]

We never see Section 31 again, and that's ok with me.

Yes and no. Thirteen itself (and herself, for that matter) never show up or are mentioned again*, however the fingerprints of those behind the operation are all over events right the way through B5 and Crusade, if you know where to look. Reading the second Psi Corps book gives you a slightly better idea of what's going on.

remind me again, is 13 mentioned in the psy corps trilogy?

NB: the first book in the trilogy is an excellent stand-alone novel (that i would love to see made into a movie!)

 

[Reverend]

^ Not by name. Department Sigma is named as Psi Corps' "black box", the ones that developed dust, messed with Ironheart and his buddy, were at the Syria Planum dig etc. There's more to it than that as at some point Psi Corps, or rather the old guard of Cadre Primers lost control of Sigma to a group of mundanes with connections to IPX, Earthforce and then Vice President Clark.
To me the implication of this and comments made by JMS is that 13 was retconned to be an operation run by Sigma and or that bunch of nameless military/industrial backers.
For me, and from a purely plot driven POV it's one of the most interesting aspects of B5. Very little is ever mentioned or directly addressed but the more you look into it the more you can see the "movements" (for lack of a batter term) of this EA conspiracy.
It's allot more realistic and believable than DS9's Section 31 IMO as it has no name and no shape it's just orders and instructions passed along an ever shifting network of insiders and people of influence. There's no solid organisation or seemingly any fixed agenda to it and trying to catch them would be like chasing one's shadow.

As for Dark Genesis, sd I keep jabbering to anyone that'll listen; it'd make a great 3 part mini-series. All 'new' cast (99% of which are human characters, so very little prosthetics), terrestrial settings (no need for futuristic space sets) and only the kinds of effects work you'd see in any action adventure TV show. Plus of course it's a great story.

 

[Mal]

Soul Mates

Ladies. Ladies. Please. Continue.
​

It's the 30th anniversary of Londo's ascension, and the Emperor (Turhan) sent his personal congratulations. The emperor is a busy man, no time to shop, and so for Londo's birthday-ish, the emperor granted Londo any one wish that was in his power to grant. Londo wants a divorce.

To that end, Londo summons his three wives, Timov, Daggair and Mariel (he long ago divorced his first wife). Daggair is a politically savvy air-head, Mariel is hot like Adira, and Timov is just plain annoying. For his anniversary, Mariel buys an ancient Centauri artifact from a dealer in the Zocolo. The dealer got the artifact from Matt Stoner. And thus we arrive at the other half of 2x07 Soul Mates.

Can I just say, Keith Szarabajka annoyed the fuck out of me in this episode. I liked him well enough in Angel, but I really do want to shove him into a bulk-head here.

Anyway, underground railroad, some telepath mumbo-jumbo, eugenics, empaths, bull-shit, soul mates speech by Delenn, etc.

Speaking of Delenn, she has a bad hair day. Ivanova helps her out and also teaches her what it means to have a Period. Which is guess is useful to know since she and Sheridan will eventually want to make the sexy-time.

Speaking of sex, Londo wants a foursome (!) with his wives for old times sakes. Timov declines and slaps him. Mariel's gift almost kills him. Timov saves his life by giving of her blood. Matt Stoner goes too far pushing Talia to run away with him. And in the end, well, other than the fact that G'kar is able to cuckold Londo one last time, there ain't much here.

But for all of you who think this episode has no place in the grand B5 'verse, Timov is pretty damn important in the Centauri Trilogy, which though I feel is the weakest of the three Babylon 5 trilogies, is still worth your time to read.

It's not as if anyone expects you to oh, vanish overnight under mysterious circumstances to a strange Minbari post...

 

[David cgc]

I love how in this episode, Daggair is pretty much an afterthought, and she's completely brushed aside in the books.

 

[Mal]

I love how in this episode, Daggair is pretty much an afterthought, and she's completely brushed aside in the books.

which oddly means londo should have been most scared to divorce her, since she probably came from a very political family.

 

[Mal]

A Race Through Dark Places

No taxation without representation! Give me liberty of give me death!

Abso-fraggin-lutely!

You're doomed you know.
​

I can't tell which plot is more absurd, Earth-central is demanding rent from John and Ivanova (30 credits a week), or a bunch of exposition telling us in essence that the Psy Corp is eviiiil. On the plus side we get to see Delenn's rack:

and Talia and Ivanova start their romance:

This may verge on blasphemy, but I'm not really a fan on Bester. Anyone else?

At finally, we see this guy again:

not much of a review? not much of an episode.

 

[Reverend]

This may verge on blasphemy, but I'm not really a fan on Bester. Anyone else?

Well I certainly don't like him and I defiantly wouldn't like to be in a room with the guy (or even in his line of sight for that matter) but he's defiantly one of the best if not the best recurring character on the show. For one thing, he showed us that Walter could actually act and not just put on a silly accent.

As for the rent thing...it might have helped a little if we could have even a vague notion of how much 30 credits is actually worth. Only a little though. I do note though that this is the second time B5's CO has fiddled with the military budget to solve a problem.

 

[David cgc]

I think JMS once said a credit was about equal to a british pound in terms of buying power, so about two bucks, USD.

 

[Mal]

I think JMS once said a credit was about equal to a british pound in terms of buying power, so about two bucks, USD.

Jan, can we have the quote please

 

[Jan]

I think JMS once said a credit was about equal to a british pound in terms of buying power, so about two bucks, USD.

Jan, can we have the quote please

Best I can do is this post.

Money works as in any large city. You come in with the money of your
place of origin (assuming you haven't made adjustments prior to arriving),
and exchange it for prevalent Earth value credits, as determined by the
current exchange rate. You are issued a credit chit that has your name,
ID, other information, including genetic information to prevent forgery,
and that has your available credits as stored in the B5 computer. As you
pay, as with any credit card, you whittle away at that amount until it's
gone, at which point you either cash in more of your money...or go broke.

jms

Jan

 

[Mal]

^ trust in the Jan; the Jan is good