President Clark is the most wonderful man imaginable, Babylon 5 is a hot bed of terrorist activity, and ISN is so independent, it would never criticize a perfect administration’s imperialist, authoritarian activities. Welcome my friends. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2261. The place: Babylon 5.
Spoilers ahead.
1. Objectivity is Dead. Long Live Post-Truth
I did not expect to have an actual ISN-focused episode after the brief mention of it in “Epiphanies” but here we are. It’s really a testament to JMS’ long-term storytelling and worldbuilding that I actually remembered and cared about the trajectory of the network. It’s also a testament to his keen eye for commentary and satire that I was both suckered into Dan Randall’s “I’m one of the good ones” schtick, i.e. I was hopeful he wasn’t lying, and I also clocked exactly when and how this was going to blow up in the faces of everyone involved. “The Illusion of Truth,” from its title to the “gotcha” journalism style of its opening scene to the cameras capturing specific moments of the tour, is not exactly subtle about how it communicates to the audience how shady things have gotten at ISN and how non-existent their journalistic integrity is.
I’ll get more into it later but before that, I did want to touch on Dan Randall’s comment about “objectivity being a myth.” It is telling that he says this during the “I’m one of the good ones” segment because he is right that journalistic objectivity isn’t real. It’s an ideal, one which may ultimately be unattainable, and the pursuit of which may also end up being harmful. Being wedded to objectivity, to a “both-sides-ism” in every situation, no matter how distorted it makes the picture, can do real damage and misrepresent the truth.
When I say objectivity isn’t real, as I have in my Supergirl reviews, I also mean that every writer has a bias, every story has a point of view, and that this is not a bad thing. The same set of events can be written up in numerous ways depending on the lens applied and the frame used. This, in turn, leads to novel and sometimes illuminating looks into a problem that might not have otherwise appeared. While pure journalistic objectivity might be the platonic ideal, where all ideas and sides are presented with equal weight, such is not the real world, and it is important to acknowledge that AND to always question the ways we do choose to report on and represent our news. Only then can we approach something more than the illusion of truth.
2. Vir, Director to the Stars
One of the tragedies of modern Network TV is that, for many shows, we’ve done away with the opening credits and replaced it with an eye-catch and then the names, but not roles, of the season regulars & guest stars (as well as writer, director, producer, etc.) over the subsequent scene. I lament this here not only because Babylon 5 reminds me of how useful this practice can be, but also because it allowed me to notice that Stephen Furst directed “The Illusion of Truth” AND, because of 4 seasons of associating the character name with the actor name, I actually knew who was directing beyond “it’s one of the actors.”
I really like the way Furst directed the episode. It wasn’t fully within the camera of the ISN people, which was done to help contrast the first and second halves of the episode, but he made each feel distinct while also drilling in on the subtleties of the CNN special report of the 90s. I felt like I was watching a “real” newscast after having been behind the scenes of the making of. It also was a great contrast to the original ISN special report episode, showing how different these two crews were and what their ultimate goals were. I especially loved the last shot of the episode, where we just watch everyone in silence via the babcom screen, stunned by the way the game had shifted beneath their feet.
Continued below3. Michael Garibaldi and the Statue of Drazi
You know, I would have loved to see an arc where Garibaldi plays at being an antique hunter and goes out rescuing artifacts, even if what he’s actually doing is super shady. That’s a neat development for him and it could’ve been a great opportunity to bring back Catherine after we last saw her in season one. Now, that’s not what we get and I suspect after his real but goaded comments to Dan Randall, he’s not going to be so popular, but wouldn’t that have been fun! Really get to dig deep into the ethical ramifications of what he’s doing since he’s fully aware that he’s just in it for the money and is working with some rather shifty people.
It’s also interesting to see how his relationship with Sheridan has completely soured. I’m genuinely curious what this storyline would have looked like had Sinclair still been captain. Would it have played out with as much animosity as it does here? Would Garibaldi feel more hurt? Would he be even more suspicious of him? There was already a level of distrust between Sheridan and Garibaldi but the enigmatic presence of Lorien, Sheridan’s commander tendencies, and a healthy dose of Psi Corps brainwashing exacerbated it to the point where they can’t even talk to each other. It’s tragic and can only end in more tragedy.
4. Project Veritas…IN SPAAAACCCCEEEEE
It’s really fascinating that this episode, while retaining the aesthetic and tone of 90s TV news, channels the modern-day tactics of Project Veritas and their “undercover investigations.” For those who don’t know, this is the group whose idea of “journalism” is little more than hit-pieces using hidden-camera videos to capture out of context or leading statements which are then framed in as uncharitable a light as possible OR straight up mis-framed in order to smear their subjects. They’re pretty garbage and throughout the first half, and especially the second half newscast, the parallels became really apparent.
From Dan’s crew clearly manufacturing a scene to “catch” Zach & co. treating their equipment as contraband to misrepresenting footage of Londo yelling at Sheridan over the AC in his quarters being too high to (poorly) editing an interview to rearrange the footage and insert new questions, it’s kinda horrifying to watch. The episode had a slow, creeping dread to it and I honestly found myself with my mouth wide open during the entire “special report” at how revolting it all was. The whole situation is scummy in a way that I don’t think Straczynski realized would become real, though I’m sure he was working with a tried and true toolkit for how TV propaganda works. And speaking of propaganda…
5. Hi. I’m with Fox News. And I’m Here to Help.
I mentioned earlier how I was suckered into believing that Dan Randall was telling the truth about wanting to make an honest, in so far as he could be, piece about Babylon 5 and its current situation. Obviously, I was wrong but what got me was just how wrong I was. The report he made was as far as possible from the truth as one could get and while I just compared the whole thing to Project Veritas, it is chilling to see how this newscast is simply modern Fox News in a 90s CNN skin. The xenophobia, the jingoism, the blatant and willful misrepresentation of reality, the omission of all exculpatory details in order to manufacture a false and made-up narrative? It’s like watching a calm edition of the Tucker Carlson show.
Hell, they even had an “expert” come in to talk about a made up syndrome, Minbari War Syndrome, which mimics “disorders” of the past that had only basis in bigoted pseudoscience in order to stoke the flames of hatred. Despite the air of the broadcast being “neutral” and “objective,” we know it is anything but because we were privy to the reality behind the footage. It was scary to watch because it shows how normal this extreme has become.
The original ISN documentary episode rightly criticized sensationalism and bias in the changing landscape and normal operations of news media (TV in particular.) It pointed out how good faith institutions are not immune to flaws despite their civic importance but also how they can work right. Here, we got to see a bad faith organization manufacture a story from nothing but lies, out of context footage, and misrepresented opinions. They never went in with the intention of making a piece that was true, either hard-hitting or flattering. Instead, they went in to find something they could create a story around, providing their lies with the veneer of reality. Dan Randall said that he believes objectivity is a myth but subjectivity is not what animated this. Subjectivity animates an article such as this. What he made was neither subjective nor objective news journalism. It was a lie given the illusion of truth.
Continued belowThat about does it for now. Join me again in a week for some Martian resistance, a spooky council meeting, and reticence to Sheridan & Delenn’s personal choices on the station where everything changed in the year of destruction and rebirth.
This is Elias. Signing out.
Best Line of the Night:
Sheridan: Commander. Did you threaten to grab ahold of this man by the collar…and throw him out an airlock?
Ivanova (hanging head): Yes, I did.
Sheridan: I’m shocked. Shocked and dismayed. I’d remind you that we are short on supplies here. We can’t afford to take good clothing and throw it out into space. Always take the jacket off first. I’ve told you that before.
Sorry, she meant to say, “Stripped naked and thrown out an airlock.” I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
