What Sheridan saw was years in the future; what would you have him do differently at this point in time?
Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
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What Sheridan saw was years in the future; what would you have him do differently at this point in time?
Well, that would certainly be showing respect for other civilizations...
In Connecticut there was a teenager who had a very treatable cancer decide she'd prefer "alternative" and "natural" cancer remedies than suffer through chemo. The state effectively took her into medical custody and forced the chemo "down her throat."
My Libertarian mind is appalled that the state would actually kidnap a child to give her medicine she didn't want; while the Conservative in me is appalled that someone would be so stupid as to refuse an "easy" lifesaving treatment.
Yeah, i'm glad the kid survived, but the whole incident is kind of shocking for all kinds of reasons. Unfortunately, the cancer came back
I don't know what he could do differently, but it should be a strategic consideration. He knows that 14 years from now, Londo will be Emperor, and he will be under the control of something that wants him dead and is at odds with the group he will be in.
He should at least have an inkling that when he gets a hint the Centauri are involved in the attack, that this may have already begun. Not that he could do anything, but it'd be worth at least bringing up in the strategy meeting.
I have mixed feelings about Believers, I think that children his age do not have the capability of making rational decisions for themselves. And I think, in cases where parents withhold treatment from their children *that the children want* for religious reasons, the state is justified in medical custody.
When the child and parent are both on the same page of not wanting it, it's a little dicier. And when the treatment is potentially incredibly painful and not guaranteed to work, even more dicey.
And at some point it becomes an issue of lines. 6 month old infant, clearly not capable of deciding for himself. 18 year old adult, clearly capable. But they don't magically become capable when they become 18, and it seems wrong that legally that is exactly how it works. 13 is right on the cusp where they definitely can think for themselves but can't do it with complete maturity for a decision of that magnitude.
Not necessarily. He thought he might've been changing that future when he went to Z'ha'dum. We can assume that, at some point, he figured out that wasn't the case (at the very least, once he'd lived through it again), but he might not consider any of what he saw actionable, and his own memories might be muddled and confused. He might trust what he saw even less right after the Alliance attack on the Centauri. In the future he saw, the buildings were freshly smashed, still on fire. What are the odds that one city would blow up in a suspiciously similar fashion twice in fifteen years?
Ah, but whose state? The aliens weren't citizens of the Earth Alliance. They weren't even members of the League, IIRC.
Actors were guaranteed to be paid a certain number of episodes whether they appeared or not. This is common when the production wants the availability of that actor pinned down. In the case of Keffer's character, it was made clear in the script books that the actor really couldn't handle anything complex. That particular character was mandated by PTEN. Though JMS had intended to bring in a squadron leader, it was a very different character from what they wanted:
I don't know what technical rights apply to members of worlds without specific agreements on Babylon 5. But Sinclair seemed committed to respecting the rights of anyone who comes through as long as they don't cause trouble. There must have been some kind of charter spelling those kinds of situations out.
Gotham's credits are the same, in Season 2 Nicolas D'Agosto (Harvey Dent) was included in the main credits of 15 episodes, but only appeared in 3, and in Season 1 Andrew Stewart-Jones (Crispus Allen) was credited in 22 episodes but appeared in 6, and Victoria Cartagena (Renee Montoya) was credited in 22 episodes, but only appeared in 7.
And yet Tara never appeared in the credits in Buffy.
One of the biggest thing that annoys me about B5 is the way Lyta was treated in the later seasons. She wins both your wars for you and you make her pay for quarters? Pull some damn strings for her. G'Kar the only one who can just see her as a person?
All these people who are willing to fight the administrative powers that be for their friends and nobody will do it for Lyta. Who basically won two wars for them.
All these people who are willing to fight the administrative powers that be for their friends and nobody will do it for Lyta. Who basically won two wars for them.
I think that from Sheridan's perspective, when she decided to blow up Z'ha'dum completely on her own initiative, she included herself out of the team. I'm pretty sure Garibaldi or Ivanova also would've been fired if they destroyed a planet as a side-gig while on a mission. For that matter, I doubt anyone would've shed any tears if Garibaldi had been priced out of his room after he quit his job. It's a space station, not space friends.
That's how you can tell Lyta isn't a Millennial. That easy post-Minbari-War economy (or some kind of Psi-Corps stipend) gave her a false sense of security. There's no percentage to working as a contractor. Ooh, freedom, make your own hours, big deal. Inconsistent pay, no benefits, and no loyalty in either direction. Sure, Sheridan probably cut her a fat check for going to Coriana and Mars (with a hazard bonus), but the smart thing to do would've been to march into his office right at the end of "Falling Towards Apotheosis," say "Since we just murdered my boss, I need a new job, does Babylon 5 have an opening for Staff Telepath? Salaried or hourly, I'm not picky," and bing, bang, boom, she keeps her comp'd quarters.
This train of thought is reminding me of something else that's stuck with me since I was little. In one of Louis Sachar's "Wayside School" books, there's a chapter where a kid plays hooky, and a Man in Black gives him a choice. He can be free, and do whatever he wants, or he can be safe, but he'll have to go to class and follow the rules and all that. Lyta choose "free." Sometimes that doesn't work out.
That's how you can tell Lyta isn't a Millennial. That easy post-Minbari-War economy (or some kind of Psi-Corps stipend) gave her a false sense of security. There's no percentage to working as a contractor. Ooh, freedom, make your own hours, big deal. Inconsistent pay, no benefits, and no loyalty in either direction. Sure, Sheridan probably cut her a fat check for going to Coriana and Mars (with a hazard bonus), but the smart thing to do would've been to march into his office right at the end of "Falling Towards Apotheosis," say "Since we just murdered my boss, I need a new job, does Babylon 5 have an opening for Staff Telepath? Salaried or hourly, I'm not picky," and bing, bang, boom, she keeps her comp'd quarters.
This train of thought is reminding me of something else that's stuck with me since I was little. In one of Louis Sachar's "Wayside School" books, there's a chapter where a kid plays hooky, and a Man in Black gives him a choice. He can be free, and do whatever he wants, or he can be safe, but he'll have to go to class and follow the rules and all that. Lyta choose "free." Sometimes that doesn't work out.
What do Millennials have to do with any of this, you're not going to pull those laziness/entitlement stereotypes are you? Half the millennials weren't even born when B5 came out, and those ridiculous stereotypes wouldn't go half as far as Lyta did.
A lot of people in this show got a lot more cred for doing a lot less than what Lyta did.
She made great personal sacrifices, for moral reasons, with implied reciprocity and got none, from the very people who placed morality over duty.
What's this about Lyta destroying Z'hadum, wasn't it the allies of the shadows who destroyed Z'hadum as they were fleeing it?
A lot of people in this show got a lot more cred for doing a lot less than what Lyta did.
She made great personal sacrifices, for moral reasons, with implied reciprocity and got none, from the very people who placed morality over duty.
What's this about Lyta destroying Z'hadum, wasn't it the allies of the shadows who destroyed Z'hadum as they were fleeing it?
No, I was referring to the gig economy. You know, the thing Lyta stuck with rather than opting for a career, that other thing that gave everyone else reliable rent money. Well, gigs and violent crime. Someone who'd be raised in what people optimistically call "late-stage capitalism" like today's adults would've angled for a permanent position immediately.
It's the simplest explanation. Why doesn't Lyta get free rent on the station? Because she doesn't work for the station. She's self-employed. She never asked for a job, and as for why she wasn't invited, well, there was that whole blowing-up-a-planet-so-she-could-keep-an-innocent-woman-trapped-in-a-living-death-to-give-an-asshole-the-sads thing. Does it still count for women-in-refrigerators if the woman was already frozen to start with?
The only other person I can think of in a comparable situation is G'Kar while Narn was occupied, and he was a ward of the station since he'd asked for asylum. And, considering he was a highly-placed government official who had his finger in any number of illegal and semi-legal activities (oh, so much arms-dealing), he probably had significant off-world bank accounts that could cover his living expenses even once Narn money became defunct, so he may well have paid his own way. He was trafficking a shitload of guns for the Narn resistance, he wasn't exactly cash-poor.
That's not what Lyta said.
Yeah, a real paragon, right there. It's a shame they didn't just give Lyta the run of the station, she could've just walked into Medlab and pulled the plug on Bester's girlfriend herself to get back at him.
I watched A Call To Arms tonight. This is still my favorite of the Babylon 5 movies. It's a shame Crusade wasn't allowed to follow through with it, because the set up felt more like a made for tv movie than the other movies save for maybe In The Beginning.
From a writer's standpoint, JMS had to bring Lyta from being a doormat to the point where she could lead a revolution against the Corps.
From a story standpoint, there are no perfect characters on B5 and Sheridan displayed a possibly unconscious distrust of telepaths in general that flared up majorly when Lyta blew up Z'ha'dum. If nothing else, Sheridan wouldn't really know how to relate to her since she was outside of the military machine. Remember how much trouble Ivanova had with relating to Marcus at first? Much the same thing.
Two days ago I received my Babylon 5 Encyclopedia...And its gorgeous!
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