Maybe not, but that's what that line was.
Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
- Start date
Maybe not, but that's what that line was.
"Point of No Return"
Or, the point where Zack Allan finally does something really useful. What's the right thing when two voices each bid you to do so? Zack can only hope he made the right choice in selling out the Nightwatch and aligning with Sheridan, but I'm glad he did because it made for an exciting scene.
The Narn are back in the fold and intriguing revelations are made regarding future Emperors Londo and... Vir?
Now that Babylon 5 is in the crosshairs; I think I'll skip the usual wait and head straight onto the next episode.
Rating: ****
-Majel Barrett! Perfect casting as a prominent Centauri.
-"Private meeting happening here, take a hike!" Gee, sorry for walking into your "private meeting" held in a station corridor right in front of the elevator, Garibaldi!
-"Intelligence has nothing to do with politics!" Also loved Londo's explanation of the usage of dubious: "It doesn't mean anything - but it scares people every time!"
Or, the point where Zack Allan finally does something really useful. What's the right thing when two voices each bid you to do so? Zack can only hope he made the right choice in selling out the Nightwatch and aligning with Sheridan, but I'm glad he did because it made for an exciting scene.
The Narn are back in the fold and intriguing revelations are made regarding future Emperors Londo and... Vir?
Now that Babylon 5 is in the crosshairs; I think I'll skip the usual wait and head straight onto the next episode.
Rating: ****
-Majel Barrett! Perfect casting as a prominent Centauri.
-"Private meeting happening here, take a hike!" Gee, sorry for walking into your "private meeting" held in a station corridor right in front of the elevator, Garibaldi!
-"Intelligence has nothing to do with politics!" Also loved Londo's explanation of the usage of dubious: "It doesn't mean anything - but it scares people every time!"
Not just any prominent Centauri, but the wife of the recently passed Emperor. Between all the jabs at Trek, this one was definitely a sign of respect to Gene Roddenberry, too.
"Severed Dreams"
Did I just watch the best episode of Babylon 5?
Severed Dreams felt like a culmination of a very skillfully-drawn arc, and that's something B5 seems to do very well. It sets up multiple threads concurrently, weaves them in and out in turn, but doesn't draw them on too long. It then chooses just the right moment for them to come good, and this brought the simmering situation on Earth to an explosive head while tying in perfectly with G'Kar's big comeback and Delenn's ultimate discovery of strength.
That was one of the best space battles I've seen on TV; not bad at all for a nearly 30-year-old episode that undoubtedly had a fraction of the budget contemporary Star Trek shows had to play with. It wasn't just the spaceships, either. I keep thinking about how well-shot, choreographed, and scored the firefight between the boarding party and the B5 defenders was.
Excellent pacing, too, with character beats that actually worked. Sheridan's talk with his father was the rare "character calls previous unseen parent" scene that didn't feel corny and perfectly tied into their motivation for their resulting actions.
I started watching Babylon 5 sometime in 2019, and it still took nearly four years for me to hear the line that cements Delenn as the show's best character (aside from maybe Londo):
"He is behind me; you are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."
This is easily up there with Confessions and Lamentations and The Long, Twilight Struggle as my favourite episodes - only time will decide where it ranks in earnest.
Rating: *****
-On the off-chance that anyone was following my watch-through, it must've been pretty frustrating that I ended up taking a year-long break right before this block of episodes.
-Draal (whom I do remember) remains Sheridan's "ace in the hole" (or did he say wild card? I forget) - I wonder when Sheridan will choose to play that card.
Did I just watch the best episode of Babylon 5?
Severed Dreams felt like a culmination of a very skillfully-drawn arc, and that's something B5 seems to do very well. It sets up multiple threads concurrently, weaves them in and out in turn, but doesn't draw them on too long. It then chooses just the right moment for them to come good, and this brought the simmering situation on Earth to an explosive head while tying in perfectly with G'Kar's big comeback and Delenn's ultimate discovery of strength.
That was one of the best space battles I've seen on TV; not bad at all for a nearly 30-year-old episode that undoubtedly had a fraction of the budget contemporary Star Trek shows had to play with. It wasn't just the spaceships, either. I keep thinking about how well-shot, choreographed, and scored the firefight between the boarding party and the B5 defenders was.
Excellent pacing, too, with character beats that actually worked. Sheridan's talk with his father was the rare "character calls previous unseen parent" scene that didn't feel corny and perfectly tied into their motivation for their resulting actions.
I started watching Babylon 5 sometime in 2019, and it still took nearly four years for me to hear the line that cements Delenn as the show's best character (aside from maybe Londo):
"He is behind me; you are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."
This is easily up there with Confessions and Lamentations and The Long, Twilight Struggle as my favourite episodes - only time will decide where it ranks in earnest.
Rating: *****
-On the off-chance that anyone was following my watch-through, it must've been pretty frustrating that I ended up taking a year-long break right before this block of episodes.
-Draal (whom I do remember) remains Sheridan's "ace in the hole" (or did he say wild card? I forget) - I wonder when Sheridan will choose to play that card.
Severed Dreams may have been the first TV episode that actually made me leap up out of my recliner (awkward!) and cheer. When I saw that Hiroshi was turning to ram the other ship, I was so invested in the story I stood up and yelled "Ram it down their fucking throats!"
My wife just side-eyed me, wondering if marrying me had really been a good idea.
My wife just side-eyed me, wondering if marrying me had really been a good idea.
The outtake for that is hilarious. Foxworth was doing Deep Space Nine that week.
My problem with the Earth Civil War plotline though is the same issue I had with the overall plot of B5. The villains who oppose the leads couldn't be nuanced or 3D, they couldn't just be "wrong". They had to be evil and never explored.
President Clark is an example. We never learn WHY he wanted to do what he did or why he was a Xenophobe or why he believed his Tyranny was good. We never learn anything about him and even at the end there's just that one thing that implies he may have been under the control of a Drakh Keeper but nothing more.
For all of B5's reputation for "Moral Ambiguity", aside from G'Kar and Londo there really isn't much.
I have yet to meet a fascist who was all that psychologically complicated.
That doesn't mean the show couldn't have bothered trying to explore Clark as a character.
Heck, Morden? For all that we see him, he ultimately turned out to be nothing but a puppet for the Shadows whose human personality had died long ago. Why? Because JMS couldn't be bothered to explain what could drive a normal person to work for the Shadows as their Agent, so he just had him be a human automaton.
Sheridan himself is never portrayed in a morally ambiguous light, he's made out to be some Messiah. Anytime he potentially could be portrayed that way the story always glosses over it.
The only morally ambiguous characters in the main cast are Londo and G'Kar.
That bit in the S4 finale where the future historians are debating the actions of the Main Cast, we have Delenn show up and say "Shame on you for thinking Sheridan was anything but perfect!" and JMS himself says in the commentary that he thinks people like that who try to analyze the past beyond Legendary figures are losers who don't want to accept that sometimes it all came down to the actions of specific individuals.
The only morally ambiguous characters in the main cast are Londo and G'Kar.
That bit in the S4 finale where the future historians are debating the actions of the Main Cast, we have Delenn show up and say "Shame on you for thinking Sheridan was anything but perfect!" and JMS himself says in the commentary that he thinks people like that who try to analyze the past beyond Legendary figures are losers who don't want to accept that sometimes it all came down to the actions of specific individuals.
Like what?
His Wife? Oh, it turned out that her personality was erased so it wasn't really his wife anymore so there was nothing wrong with nuking her and the Shadow City.
The Telepaths on the Eartforce fleet? Oh, it turns out that they couldn't be saved anyways and would've died anyways so him using them to stop the Earthforce ships from battling his Rebel forces is a "Wow, this guy is hardcore" moment rather than amoral.
The one time he got mad at Lyta? Never brought up again
How about Sheridan basically starting a civil war among the Earth Alliance military?
While Sheridan did the right thing to bring down Clark, he did it in a way that forced the entire Earth military to choose a side. He turned brothers and sisters against brothers and sisters. That's not exactly sainthood behavior. The last straw that got Sheridan to go on the offensive was when Clark ordered thousands of civilians killed just for trying to flee his tyranny. (Which by the way, if you are ordering the deaths of defenseless women and children like that, there's no need to look for a motivation... you're a murderer and a villain.) Considering Sheridan could have just gone right to Earth with the White Star fleet and gotten rid of Clark directly but instead went to each colony one by one and liberated them from Clark's forces, it very easily can be seen as a decision that was not in the best interests of Earth. (Despite the good point about wanting to keep it between humans without interference from other races. Getting more and more of Earth Aliance ships on his side was likely the best solution of the available options at the time.) Even President Luchenko called Sheridan out on his actions having bad repercussions.
Or what about having the telepath colony on B5?
Even though the telepaths should have just gotten their own world to begin with, he should have just found some empty world around to let them have instead of just that section of Downbelow. I think his own distrust of telepaths were a factor in his decision. (And to be honest, it's difficult to trust telepaths anyway, especially with everything we've seen the Psi Corps do to people.)
And regarding Delenn approaching the future historians...
Her point was simply Sheridan was a good man who tried his best. Everyone else around her was just spewing negative instead of trying to be balanced and say, "Some of his actions may have been questionable, but he did a lot of good. Let's look at some of the good, as well."
It was portrayed as the only option available. The Earthforce Rebellion had already begun before he did anything, all he did was help the pre-existing Rebels.
Uh huh, so why did DS9 spend so much time characterizing Gul Dukat?
She and the show both failed to provide alternatives that would've worked equally as good, though. On Purpose, because the show wanted us to see Sheridan as wholly right.
So, again, justified.
She was very much "He was perfect and did everything right. I won't hear you say ONE BAD THING about him."
And JMS' own comments speak volumes too.
As someone whose overall opinion of B5 can generously be described as "lukewarm at best," I do think Severed Dreams is a true masterpiece (not a word I use lightly) and probably better than any Trek episode since TOS.
My guess is that when Mr. Morden acting as an agent for the Shadows, went to the President and V.P. for the Earth Alliance and asked them each the question "What do you want?" that Clark gave the answer the Shadows wanted to hear, and Santiago didn't. That is why the Shadows made Clark president after they assassinated Santiago. In Voices of Authority, Clark tells Mr. Morden (who is off camera) "I have wanted Santiago dead for so long, I wasn't sure we could really pull it off. You're sure it's done." We hear Mr. Morden telling Clark "Earthforce One will never return from Io. The power's now yours Clark. Mr. President."
The Shadows didn't "make Clark president" after killing Santiago; he was already VP and naturally assumed the position upon Santiago's (arranged) death. Otherwise I tend to agree that Morden probably asked Santiago and Clark the standard question and the latter gave the better answer.
But that still doesn't explain why Clark wanted more power, assuming he had any rational reasons for it. On that note both Clark and Cartagia essentially just seemed to be nutjobs given power they never should have had, but who also held populist positions that would appeal to a distressingly large number of people.
But that still doesn't explain why Clark wanted more power, assuming he had any rational reasons for it. On that note both Clark and Cartagia essentially just seemed to be nutjobs given power they never should have had, but who also held populist positions that would appeal to a distressingly large number of people.
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