Niners Unite...around Babylon 5!

[BigFoot]

Voices of Authority

Wow, that was a good episode. So much fun stuff happens. We've got Susan visiting Draal and then looking for the first ones. The bit where she pissed them off and basically called them cowards and useless was so spiffy.

And then there's the plot with the chick from the ministry of peace. Man, what an annoying bitch. The big question I guess, would be which side is Zack gonna be on. The nightwatch and all that crap, or the B5 side.

Oh, and possibly my favourite parts of this ep are the bits with G'Kar. Especially at the end when he wakes up Michael. Good stuff, hehe.

A-



Btw, is it just me or have fewer people been posting in this thread lately?

 

[Lindley]

BigFoot said:

Btw, is it just me or have fewer people been posting in this thread lately?

Probably what I predicted way back in season 1. Everyone is proceeding faster than this thread. They've left it in the dust, and as a result are less interested in talking about the "current" episodes.

 

[OmahaStar]

Matters of Honor

We finally get to see the White Star, and Marcus finally shows up. It's such a different show when he's around, and for the better, I would add.

An Earth rep shows up to investigate who knows about the recently-leaked Shadow ship. As far as he can tell, nobody knows anything. And that's what he tells the Senator back on Earth. The Senator who is working with the Psi Corps ... and Mr. Morden.

(note - Senator here is played by Kitty Swink, the wife of the actor who plays Quark)

4/5

 

[OmahaStar]

Convictions

A mad bomber, working on staff of the station, is running loose. One of his victims, in a coma in MedLab, is Lennier, who protected Londo.

To help find the bomber, Susan enlists the help of Brother Theo and his fellow monks, who have recently arrived on the station.

(the actor playing Brother Theo was the original Draal. This role was created for him)

3/5 stars

 

[OmahaStar]

A Day in the Strife

*yawn*

Stephen Macht shows up. As usual, this means I'm not going to like the character. Now, I'm sure he's a fine man in person, but the characters he plays, well ... I just don't like em.

This is no different. Here, he plays a Narn who basically kisses the ass of every Centauri he sees. He's been selected by the Centauri as G'Kar's replacement. Yeah. Like that's really gonna happen.

*nobody* can replace G'Kar. Not as long as G'Kar wants to hang around. And that's proven here.

In the other plot, a probe has shown up. It offers to give advanced information on medicine, science, etc., if a list of questions can be answered in 24 hours.

Nobody even questions it until the last second, when (as you'd be thinking all along), it turns out to be a killing machine, sent to exterminate anyone who is advanced enough to actually answer the questions.

And finally, Vir leaves the station. While it works within the context of B5, the real reason is the actor Stephen Furst landed another job in a sitcom on another network. He would go from being a regular to recurring character, allowing him to come and go at will.

Don't worry. The sitcom failed pretty quickly, and Vir will be a regular again pretty soon.

3/5 ---- 2/5 for the basic episode, another point for all the Vir stuff. Ya gotta love him.

 

[OmahaStar]

Passing Through Gethsemane

LOVED it. This is an episode that simply could not have been told on Star Trek, StarGate, or any other series.

One of Brother Theo's monks, Brother Edward, isn't who he believes he is. He is the result of a wipe of personality. He was the Black Rose Killer. And now the families of his victims have come to seek revenge.

It's taken them years, but they've found him, and with the help of a Centauri telepath, they're breaking down the barriers, and letting his earlier personality escape.

Brother Edward is played by Brad Dourif, who has been pretty much everywhere, from Star Trek to Lord of the Rings, and even a killer doll or two.

4/5 stars

 

[Sci]

OmahaStar said:
Passing Through Gethsemane

LOVED it. This is an episode that simply could not have been told on Star Trek, StarGate, or any other series.

"Passing Through Gethsemane" is one of my favorite episodes, too; I'm not sure why it couldn't, as you claim, be done in Trek, though. That's not to say that it was unoriginal or anything -- I just don't see what elements of the episode preclude Trek from doing it.

 

[OmahaStar]

Sci said:

OmahaStar said:
Passing Through Gethsemane

LOVED it. This is an episode that simply could not have been told on Star Trek, StarGate, or any other series.

"Passing Through Gethsemane" is one of my favorite episodes, too; I'm not sure why it couldn't, as you claim, be done in Trek, though. That's not to say that it was unoriginal or anything -- I just don't see what elements of the episode preclude Trek from doing it.

In StarGate, there are no telepaths working in court systems.

In Star Trek, he would have been sent to prison. They don't do mindwipes in Trek, as a way of punishing the criminal.

Without the teeps and mindwipe, there is no story. See what I mean?

 

[Fist McStrongpunch]

And even if one of those other shows had done the same basic story, there's simply no way they would have gone with the religious themes, even on DS9. It's just an episode that no other show could do.

 

[Sci]

OmahaStar said:

Sci said:

OmahaStar said:
Passing Through Gethsemane

LOVED it. This is an episode that simply could not have been told on Star Trek, StarGate, or any other series.

"Passing Through Gethsemane" is one of my favorite episodes, too; I'm not sure why it couldn't, as you claim, be done in Trek, though. That's not to say that it was unoriginal or anything -- I just don't see what elements of the episode preclude Trek from doing it.

In StarGate, there are no telepaths working in court systems.

In Star Trek, he would have been sent to prison. They don't do mindwipes in Trek, as a way of punishing the criminal.

Without the teeps and mindwipe, there is no story. See what I mean?

Eh, sort of. Actually, I don't think that the method of punishment for your run-of-the-mill murderer/serial killer has ever been given in Trek. But the same basic story could be told with minor variations -- the killer is given a new personality by the Prophets/telepathic aliens; the killer develops amnesia from an injury, etc. I don't think that the lack of a mindwipe would make it a fundamentally different story -- though it would make the ending far less ambiguous.

 

[aladinsane]

Sci said:

Eh, sort of. Actually, I don't think that the method of punishment for your run-of-the-mill murderer/serial killer has ever been given in Trek. But the same basic story could be told with minor variations -- the killer is given a new personality by the Prophets/telepathic aliens; the killer develops amnesia from an injury, etc. I don't think that the lack of a mindwipe would make it a fundamentally different story -- though it would make the ending far less ambiguous.

I think Trek has done one or two episodes with "mental" punishments before. For example, the DS9 episode when O'Brien spends 20 years in "mental prison", and also one from TNG (I think a member of the crew is accused of breaking a law and is to have a mind wipe--or at least a partial one). I haven't watched TNG in a couple of years so I might be off on that one. I will agree, however, that this B5 episode is fantastic and very original in its approach.

 

[Fist McStrongpunch]

^I believe you're referring to the VOY episode in which B'Elanna is accused of the crime of "violent thought" by a telepathic race and is sentenced to have her mind purged of violent thoughts and impulses.

 

[aladinsane]

Fist McStrongpunch said:
^I believe you're referring to the VOY episode in which B'Elanna is accused of the crime of "violent thought" by a telepathic race and is sentenced to have her mind purged of violent thoughts and impulses.

I think you are correct. I haven't seen VOY since its original run. That plot does seem to gel with the vague recollection I was referring to. Thanks for the help.

 

[Autobot]

Omahastar said: And finally, Vir leaves the station. While it works within the context of B5, the real reason is the actor Stephen Furst landed another job in a sitcom on another network. He would go from being a regular to recurring character, allowing him to come and go at will.

Don't worry. The sitcom failed pretty quickly, and Vir will be a regular again pretty soon.

Ahhhh, cool info.


And now time for this week's episode reviews! Voices of Authority, Dust to Dust, and Exogenesis.

VOICES OF AUTHORITY

A politician is assigned to Sheridan, and Draal assists the B5 crew in contacting the ancients.

A solid episode. Of course we hate that Sheridan has this politician, Julie Musante, to check with. Oh what a pain, politicians, sheesh. But hey, she sure knows what she wants and makes her intentions clear, doesn’t she! From imdb it looks Shari Shattuck has since quit tv/movie acting, her last role was in 2000.

Draal instructs Ivanova by saying, “But whatever you do, don’t stray from the path!” Isn’t that kind of like how the Stay Puft Marshmallow man appears? “it just… popped in there.” I liked this sequence, weird that the very piece of evidence that they’d need happens to fall in their lap. A little too convenient really. But it’s fantastic that this has now come out to the public!

Hey they installed a Captain’s chair on the bridge of the Minbar starship. And you know what – Joshua Cox is finally credited as “Corwin” in the ending credits! Goodbye “Tech #2”! You’re a somebody now, boy!

Great Lines:
G’Kar, arriving at Garibaldi’s quarters at a late hour: I told you I could help. The book of J’Quon (sp). Read it. We’ll talk afterward.

Trek connections:
-James Black portrayed a security guard in this episode, and apparently played a Klingon helmsman in DS9’s “Shattered Mirror”.

 

[Autobot]

DUST TO DUST

Bester returns to the station to track down a dealer in “dust”.

I really enjoyed the character development for G’Kar, whose anger for the Centauri has become pure hatred for Londo. But, through a hallucinatory experience with the ‘dust’, realizes he can do more for his people than act on hatred.

Bester was fleshed out more too, so that he doesn’t become “the bad guy dressed in black”. I liked how Bester told Garibaldi that Psi Corps stop many activities that are never learned of by him or the general public.

Great lines: “Can we wound him? Just a little?”

Goof: when G’Kar is in the all-black hallucination with Londo, right when he is saying “show me your secrets”, you can actually see beyond the black curtain on the left, revealing the supports and a wall. I guess that wasn’t meant to be shown, but now that we get the widescreen image… oops!

When the second person is brought into Medlab, the other doctor reveals that this person had broken her leg in a fall on Mars. I must have missed something, as I am confused how this fit in with anything, other than someone under the effects of the dust require the involvement of a second person.

I didn’t understand the vision of Kosh as the angel, and Kosh being in the room with G’Kar and Londo. Not sure if we’re supposed to figure it out or just think “hmm that’s trange” and leave it at that.

Trek connections:
-Walter Koenig has played a small role in Trek previously, I can’t remember the character he played, though.
-Harry Hutchinson played a security guard in this episode, and apparently also played ‘Trooper’ in DS9’s “Shakaar”.
-Walter Koenig’s wife, Judy Levitt, shows up again as a Psi Cop (“A Race Through Dark Places”). She was in ST: Generations as an El Aurian survivor, STVI:TUC as a Military Aide, and in STIV:TVH as ‘Doctor #2’.
-Jim Norton played the role of Narn Image here, and played Albert Einstein in two episodes of TNG.

 

[Autobot]

EXOGENESIS

A sort of parasite is fusing into people’s spinal cords, while Lt. David Corwin gets a promotion.

I quite enjoyed this episode! Many great character moments, like Dr. Franklin and Marcus in the cell, and Marcus overall with his interaction with other people on the station. I loved Marcus’s sheepish look when Dr. Franklin learns that Garibaldi does not in fact know that they are trapped in Brown sector

You think it’s a regular alien infestation of the week that must be stopped, but not quite—it twists around and it’s not a nefarious plot or an insurgence at all! Nice.

I was really surprised when Marcus sees Duncan off; I thought that he had died! Giving himself up to prove to Marcus that their choices were honourable and true. I wonder if this scene was perhaps tacked on afterwards.

Good to see Lt. Corwin getting a promotion. Harry Kim went seven years toiling in the lowest of the lowest positions without one on VOY!

Trek connections:
- Eric Steinberg played Samuel in this episode, and also played a Lt. Porter in Star Trek: FC, according to imdb.

 

[Lindley]

Autobot said:
When the second person is brought into Medlab, the other doctor reveals that this person had broken her leg in a fall on Mars. I must have missed something, as I am confused how this fit in with anything, other than someone under the effects of the dust require the involvement of a second person.

Dust temporarily gives the user telepathic abilities. The second person had been assaulted by the Dust-user; Franklin figured out to look for Dust because the backstory of the assaulted person matched the rantings of the user.

I didn’t understand the vision of Kosh as the angel, and Kosh being in the room with G’Kar and Londo. Not sure if we’re supposed to figure it out or just think “hmm that’s trange” and leave it at that.

Kosh was "appearing" as G'kar's father in the hallucination. This isn't the last time he'll take on the role of a father figure, either.

 

[aladinsane]

"Voices of Authority"
--Sheridan must deal with an Earth rep. sent to advise him on various things impacting his image (Nightwatch)
--Ivanova goes to meet Draal to make contact with some first ones. She nearly ends up in trouble as she makes contact with the shadows (reminds me of Lord of the Rings--Palentir (?)). She ends up seeing President Clark implicate himself as the killer of Pres. Santiago. She gets Draal to make a copy of what she has seen.
--Once Ivanova's info is leaked Ms. Musante returns to Earth.

Very fun episode. And very important in the big picture. 4.5/5

 

[Sci]

Autobot said:
From imdb it looks Shari Shattuck has since quit tv/movie acting, her last role was in 2000.

That's no indication that she's quit tv/movie acting, only that she hasn't been cast since 2000.

 

[aladinsane]

"Dust to Dust"
--Bester returns, this time under the pretense of help
--A drug called "dust" is being used on the station, and Bester is offering to help stop the problem
--G'Kar get ahold of some and uses it to get into Londo's mind. Kosh intervenes before G'Kar kills or seriously injures Londo
--Turns out dust was created by the PsiCorps

G'Kar was out of control, only partly due to the drugs, but this is a critical point in his growth. Great acting as usual from Katsulas. He really turned G'Kar into such a real and dynamic character. 4/5