It was the Dawn of the Third Age of Mankind

[Mal]

While we're on the subject, I'll just point out that one of the Centauri Prime novels mentioned that Lou Welch was tapped for President Clark's security detail, and that's why he vanished in the middle of season 2..

Now see, that never really made sense to me. I mean Lou wasn't even in Earthforce proper, let alone a commissioned officer. He was a copper hired by B5. It'd be like a police sergeant in some sleepy village in the Outer Hebrides transferring into MI5. Bit of a leap.

Not as much of a leap as you might think. Remember, President Bush's initial pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security (sound like Nightwatch?), was Bernard Kerik. Now good old Bernie is currently in jail, but that's not really my point. The point is, when he was being considered for Secretary of DHS, his most senior law enforcement job had been in the New York Police Department.

The same applies to B5. After all, who did Emperor Vir chose to help him with security matters on Centuari Prime? That's right, Zack Allan.

So why not Lou?

 

[Reverend]

Well, Zack was a very old acquaintance of Emperor Cotto and in the intervening period Zack had become and Earthforce non-com. So it's not so much of a stretch, especially when you consider that Emperors can hire whomever the hells they want.

As for Kerik, a quick skim of that article shows he was, among other things, the Police Commissioner of the NYPD. That's a few pay-grades up from a beat cop. As for Lou he was the second to a security chief of a station of only 250,000 people (mostly non-residents in transit.) So to put it in American terms he's like the deputy sheriff of a large town. Can you see Cletus Hogg getting a job in the Secret Service?

I'm not saying it's totally implausible or physically impossible, but it was certainly a bit of a stretch.

 

[Mal]

By Any Means Necessary

...Three. Two. One. Wha'd I miss?
​

- Michael has the best line in the hour!

I'll say this upfront, nBSG's Dirty Hands is a far superior take on labor-relations. I get that all these high-paid Hollywood types (like JMS, Ron Moore, and the late great Ronald Reagan) are also evidently "union" men. But if you really do have to write a labor-relations episode (is it in your Union Contract?), then I prefer a good episode, like Dirty Hands, over a mediocre episode like 1x12 By Any Means Necessary

On the other hand, we see future-Citizen G'kar engaged in his pagan religious ceremonies (Londo: "I heard about the mishap involving your transport. Shocking. Truly shocking." and "They're a barbaric people. They're all pagans.").

The episode's A-plot revolves around the latest budget for Babylon 5. The show is timely once again! Just this week, the U.S. Defense Secretary asked the President to veto the defense budget unless it is cut. The more things change...

But far more engaging is the B'plot revolving around the G'quan-eth plant (Londo: "Difficult to grow, expensive to export, and very expensive to own, but so very important to you at this festive time.").

G'kar tries to buy it (after first breaking into Londo's quarters). Londo replies: "Ever since we left your bea-u-tiful planet, g'quan-eth plants are hard to find. Mine... I have been saving for a special occasion. When you drop the seeds into a proper mixture of alcohol [giddy laughter], bhoooooom, whole new universes open up."

At one point G'kar and Na'toth are sitting discussing faith. We learn that there are several belief systems on Narn (G'kar follows G'quan - who was a telepath during the last Shadow War), while Na'toth's father followed G'laan. G'kar insists that Na'toth must have some faith ("we all believe in something"). It is an interesting argument. I've always suspected that G'kar's religious speeches reflected JMS' personal belief system, and I'm sure JMS believes that "faith manages." This must be the first point in B5's run that we really get a sense of the deep current of faith riding underneath the story.

One quick question: is there a permanent ISN reporter on the station? Or did the same lady come out specifically to cover the strike?

Speaking of the strike, the resolution is really why I don't care for By Any Means Necessary. The whole thing is resolved on a technicality. Sinclair just throws money at the problem by finding a cute loophole in the Senate's order invoking the Rush Act. It all reminds me of a recent Op-Ed decrying the Technicality-Generation:

Too many in my generation did a deeply insidious thing. And they got away with it. Big time. Poorer people went to war. The men who didn’t were able to get their head start to power.
​

Now that flawed thinking has been carried forward. Many of these men who evaded service but claimed idealism lead our elite institutions. The concept of using legal technicalities to evade responsibility has been carried over to playing with derivatives, or to short-changing shareholders. Once my generation got in the habit of saying one thing and believing another, it couldn’t stop.
​

And the strike isn't the only technicality in the episode. No; Sinclair gets Londo to turn over the G'quan-eth plant on a technicality - it's a controlled substance. And it doesn't stop there! His last piece of logical jiujitsu for the hour consists of convincing G'kar that it really isn't too late for the ceremony, since B5 is quite far from Narn, so it will take the light some time to reach the station!

Argh, I can't stand it!

A beautiful ending:

The gift of time; the gift of life. The gift of wisdom; the gift of light. For these things we are thankful; for these things we pray.

I sense the roots of G'kar's 5th Season divinity...

 

[JoeD80]

I get that all these high-paid Hollywood types (like JMS, Ron Moore, and the late great Ronald Reagan) are also evidently "union" men. But if you really do have to write a labor-relations episode (is it in your Union Contract?), then I prefer a good episode, like Dirty Hands, over a mediocre episode like 1x12 By Any Means Necessary

Joe didn't write it.

 

[Jan]

JMS didn't write this episode. Though, since his wife at the time did, one might suspect that his feeling were reflected in it except for the fact that since it was his wife, he made her write it on spec and required that the network and other producers approve it before he bought it. I'm not entirely certain but I seem to recall that Larry DiTillio edited it rather than JMS, too.

No, there was no permanent ISN reporter on the station. Although JMS had wanted to add one as a recurring character, it never came to be.

Jan

 

[Mal]

JMS didn't write this episode. Though, since his wife at the time did

woah, i didn't know they got divorced
what happened

 

[Forbin]

JMS didn't write this episode. Though, since his wife at the time did

woah, i didn't know they got divorced
what happened

They got divorced.

 

[JoeD80]

Joe's comment on the divorce posted awhile back:

normally I wouldn't even mention (and haven't mentioned) this sort of thing online because I'm kind of big on the whole privacy thing, but there comes a point when not mentioning something becomes noticeable. Anyway...to those who have asked or feathered around the issue, yes, I am divorced. The process was long, but very, very amiable and all parties are actually happier and better friends now than before.

 

[Reverend]

woah, i didn't know they got divorced
what happened

Just that really, they got divorced. How and why is there business I think.

And the strike isn't the only technicality in the episode. No; Sinclair gets Londo to turn over the G'quan-eth plant on a technicality - it's a controlled substance. And it doesn't stop there! His last piece of logical jiujitsu for the hour consists of convincing G'kar that it really isn't too late for the ceremony, since B5 is quite far from Narn, so it will take the light some time to reach the station!

Terrible acting aside, this is actually one of my favourite non-arc episodes from season one. I do understand the criticism though and the bit at the end, while nicely poetic was a bit of a contrivance. I mean what if the Narn home system had just happened to
be just a few light months closer or further away?
I don't have a problem with the way the strike was resolved though. It wasn't just throwing money at the problem because money was the problem, as stated from the outset. Invoking the rush act just freed Sinclair to use the EF discretionary fund in a way he'd never normally get away with.

No, there was no permanent ISN reporter on the station. Although JMS had wanted to add one as a recurring character, it never came to be.

Mary Ann Cramer was on the station at least twice as I recall (this episode and 'Infection' if memory serves) so I suspect she was intended to appear more often but for whatever reason she never did. The big-giant-80s hair may have been a factor.

The closest the show got to an ISN mascot is Jane (whom full name I have decided is "Jane Elizabeth-Davidson") as she appeared in every season of B5, including he very first episode ('Midnight on the Firing Line'), the very last one filmed ('Objects at Rest') and even appeared in 'Crusade'.

 

[Mal]

Mary Ann Cramer was on the station at least twice as I recall (this episode and 'Infection' if memory serves) so I suspect she was intended to appear more often but for whatever reason she never did. The big-giant-80s hair may have been a factor.

The closest the show got to an ISN mascot is Jane (whom full name I have decided is "Jane Elizabeth-Davidson") as she appeared in every season of B5, including he very first episode ('Midnight on the Firing Line'), the very last one filmed ('Objects at Rest') and even appeared in 'Crusade'.

I like that we never really got to know Jane. In a weird way it made the B5 'verse that much more realistic. I mean, how much do we really know about news-anchors in the real world?

 

[Sakrysta]

^I always got a kick out of her appearances, because to me, she was always "Nancy, an operator here at the Disney Channel."

She was always the actress who told you all the great programming you'd have access to if you subscribed to the Disney Channel - back when it was a premium station. In fact, it was seeing her on Babylon 5 as a teenager that made me realize that "Nancy" had been an actress, and not a real operator taking orders for Disney Channel subscriptions.

 

[Mal]

Signs and Portents

Kiro: Where did it all go wrong Mollari? Where did we lose it all?
Londo: [nervous laugh] I don't know. I don't know.
​

After this episode, I think it's safe to say that nothing's the same any more. In one swoop we get Sinclair asking Garibaldi to look into the hole in his mind (QUESTION: do you have any friends you could trust with that kind of a secret and who is someone you think would be competent enough to help you?); Lady Adira showing us Babylon 5 being destroyed (which doesn't actually happen until Sleeping in Light); and of course there's Mr.Morden. Truly 1x13 Signs and Portents is a landmark on the journey that is Babylon 5.

Londo's role is to procure The Eye, which was the property of the very first Emperor. The man who finds it for him says his job is to find things - objects, people. Isn't this the line of business Garibaldi takes up in Season 4 once he resigns his commission? Looking for Scott Adam's cat and dog... plotting to take over the universe

So, what do you want?

G'kar: What do I want? The Centauri stripped my world. I want justice.
Morden: But what do you want?
G'kar: To suck the marrow from their bones. And grind their skulls to powder.
Morden: What do you want?
G'kar: To tear down their cities; blacken their sky; sow their ground with salt. To completely, utterly, erase them.
Morden: And then what?
G'kar: Wa... huh... I don't know. As long as my homeworld's safety is guaranteed, I don't know that it matters.
Morden: I see.
​

Dark stuff!

But what does it say about the Shadows, that they didn't take the Narn up on their vision of genocide and destruction? Instead they chose Londo, and his vision of building up a mighty Empire.

Maybe the Shadows weren't purely destructive after all... Or maybe they subscribed to Creative Destruction...

Trivia: first sighting of Lt. Corwin.

Morden doesn't ask Kosh what he wants - for obvious reasons (although they do get in a little fight). And Delenn kicks Morden out when the silver triangle Shadow-detector in her forehead goes off.

It's at times like these that I wish Earth actually has an ambassador to Babylon 5 instead of the Station Commander acting as ambassador. It's not so bad now, and it's no big deal that Morden doesn't ask an Earth Ambassador what he/she wants (since we know Morden was working with Clarke, and we know what Clarke wanted), but the situation does become ridiculous in Season 5 when Sheridan is President of the entire Alliance, and somehow also representing Earth - even though he just went to war with Earth!

As a coda, we learn that Sinclair was not exactly at the top of the list of people to run B5. I wonder, how far up the list was Sheridan-Starkiller?

 

[Forbin]

There are some here who think B5 was actually the story of Jane, and everything that went on at the station was peripheral to her existance.

 

[Mal]

There are some here who think B5 was actually the story of Jane, and everything that went on at the station was peripheral to her existance.

Then why didn't she have a Big Damn Song?!?

 

[David cgc]

But what does it say about the Shadows, that they didn't take the Narn up on their vision of genocide and destruction? Instead they chose Londo, and his vision of building up a mighty Empire.

The impression I always got was that the Shadows saw the Narn as a dead end. If the war was going to stop dead with the defeat of the Centauri, and the Narn wouldn't want to attack anyone else, that was useless for their purposes. They needed an agenda that could provide conflict indefinitely. And even though Londo ultimately went back on it, wanting to stop after the invasion of Narn, there were enough other Centauri who wanted to attack everyone in sight that it didn't matter. The avalanche had already started.

t's at times like these that I wish Earth actually has an ambassador to Babylon 5 instead of the Station Commander acting as ambassador. It's not so bad now, and it's no big deal that Morden doesn't ask an Earth Ambassador what he/she wants (since we know Morden was working with Clarke, and we know what Clarke wanted)

I understand that Mordan was actually on his way to see Sinclair when Kosh stopped him. He was talking about the humans when he told Mordan (and his Shadow entourage) "Leave this place. They are not for you. Go. Leave. Now."

And leave they did, to go find a human more receptive to their advances. Maybe that was poor choice. Sinclair probably would've turned them down on behalf of Earth, and that would've been that (more or less). On the other hand, they might've recognized him as Valen, and killed him on the spot. On second thought, that's probably what Kosh was protecting Sinclair from, and he lied about it being a turf thing.

As a coda, we learn that Sinclair was not exactly at the top of the list of people to run B5. I wonder, how far up the list was Sheridan-Starkiller?

In "Points of Departure," Sheridan mentions to Ivanova that Hague told him he was President Santiago's first choice. Now whether that was a contingency in case Sinclair (or whoever was in charge first) had to leave and the astropolticial situation started going in the shitter and they needed a war hero to wave Earth's big stick around, or if he meant Sheridan was always who Santiago wanted in charge is an open question.

 

[Warped9]

How do we know the Shadows weren't manipulating things (especially through the PsiCorps) for Clark to get into office?

 

[Reverend]

Well, we do know that they were absolutely manipulating things. For one they helped arrange Earthforce One's destruction and there's mention in the Psi Corps books of then Vice President Clark's aid being present at the incident on Syria Planum.
They weren't total puppets of the Shadows though, they were defiantly running their own agenda. But then the Shadows don't micro-manage the way the Vorlons did. They generally nudge things in the right direction and only get directly involved when someone goes against the grain.

As far as their influence on EarthGov goes, I think half the point was to encourage them to fold in upon themselves in order to contain the human telepaths that the Vorlons intended as their big guns this time round. So in a way it was a defensive move.

 

[OmahaStar]

There are some here who think B5 was actually the story of Jane, and everything that went on at the station was peripheral to her existance.

That's because it's true. Jane was the star. Everyone else was secondary.

Then why didn't she have a Big Damn Song?!?

Can't visit youtube from here, but she did. It's called "Maggie's Crusade" and it's available on her cd called Out of This World.

 

[lennier1]

There are some here who think B5 was actually the story of Jane, and everything that went on at the station was peripheral to her existance.

A bit like the truth behind "Lost": http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/9532/lostending.gif

 

[Mal]

I understand that Mordan was actually on his way to see Sinclair when Kosh stopped him. He was talking about the humans when he told Mordan (and his Shadow entourage) "Leave this place. They are not for you. Go. Leave. Now."

And leave they did, to go find a human more receptive to their advances.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't recall anything corroborating this impression. Where do you get it from.

I always thought Kosh meant "they" are not for you, meaning, all the races on B5 were out-of-bounds for the Shadows, and the Shadows needed to stick to the likes of the Stribe and the Drakh.

Well maybe all the races except the Centauri, since the Vorlons had manipulated the genes of all the other races, but not the Centauri, which is why Londo sees nothing in The Fall of Night.

And I would think the Shadows had been in league with Clarke well before this episode; perhaps before the election even.