The dead planet comes to life, scientists will be scientists and there are way too many good lines to choose from. Welcome my friends. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.
Spoilers ahead.
1. What Once Was Lost, Now Is Found
What is down there? What is hiding inside the planet B5 orbits? What almost destroys a science vessel with it’s space laser?! It’s a great premise for an episode and a solid cold opening, bringing with it mystery, action, and the best part of science-fiction, scientists who only care about gathering data and explaining the unexplained risking their lives to accomplish those goals. I feared for these character’s lives. I didn’t expect to feel that coming in but after their first brush with death, I was certain they were projected for death. I didn’t want that!
I barely know these characters too, aside from a brief introduction and the small but no less important scene where after being saved they try to pass the time by playing cards, the high of the situation still settling in. It goes to show what a strong writer, strong world building, and strong character actors can do. Moreover, opening with a mystery so close to the station is a solid choice, especially for this, the first Babylon 5 two-parter! GET PUMPED Y’ALL!
2. Mars Attacks!
Reminiscent of the “Troubles” of Ireland, the Mars colony revolt is a plotline that’s been stewing in the background of the show for a good while. This, however, isn’t the culmination of that story, of all the small moments that teased this, but is instead the beginning; everything else was prologue.
It’s something I return to again and again in these thoughts but the world of Babylon 5 truly feels like a world instead of a series of convenient problems and disasters. Lives intersect and then disperse. Events occur outside of our sphere of knowledge and they continue to progress even when we’re not watching. Instead of the universe of the show revolving around our main cast, they are simply our eyes into it. We experience what they experience, making the orbit of the show more akin to our daily lives. The world does not turn around us but our perception of it certainly does.
3. The Five Minutes I First Believed
Episodes like this put the rest of season one into sharp relief. It’s easy to forget, after weeks of watching, what the show feels like when it’s firing on all cylinders. There are plenty of episodes that make for good TV, that are worth watching, but in contrast to the best of the season, or even future seasons, they aren’t fantastic. The opening few minutes to “A Voice in the Wilderness Part 1” are, if you’ll pardon the physical expression rendered in symbols, *chef hand kiss motion.* They’re well written, filled with a million great lines, both funny and serious, and gives ample screen time to most of the main cast as well as some new minor characters. This continues throughout the episode, although it’s not as concentrated as the start.
Ivanova gets the biggest laughs while Garibaldi has the meatiest plot to chew on. Sure, Sinclair and Ivanova are intimately involved in the strange planetary disturbances but that’s an event driven story vs Garibaldi’s more internal, personal story. It also allows me to say frak the Psi Corps again and that’s always a plus.
4. Going to the Sea
A lot of smaller moments happen around Delenn in “A Voice in the Wilderness Part 1.” Little things, like them drinking water that’s capped by a crystal or finding out the homeworld of the Minbari is, shock of all shocks, Minbar. I really should have picked up on that earlier considering the Centauri are from Centauri and the Earthers are from Earth. These are small matters but they’re fun to point out. I have a mess of notes like this for the episode. One of them is a carry over from “Legacies” – the death of the leader Dukat, which launched the Earth-Minbari war. It’s a minor point in both episodes but speaks volumes to the tensions, ongoing and otherwise. His death still has meaning, even a decade later, and is another mystery to unspool.
Continued belowIt’s hard to put together five thoughts this week because of all these small moments. Which do I choose? Do I talk about the big plot stuff or the fun little things I noticed that don’t quite fit together? In an episode as stuffed as this one, and one where a majority of the cool stuff happens next episode, it’s a struggle.
5. Help Me Obi Juan, You’re My Only Ho
Sinclair, Londo, and Draal all share something in common this week – the appearance of a hologram asking them to help this strange alien. Luke Skywalker they are not, however. The reason he appears before them isn’t made clear until Part 2 but for now, suffice it to say that it’s an interesting reason to unpack. In Part 1, we learn who and where this alien was broadcasting from and it is simultaneously awe inspiring and unintentionally reminiscent (I presume) of H.R. Geiger’s work.
I cannot imagine what this scene was like back in the day, when the CGI of the show was new and impressive if not realistic. The shaft is otherworldly, glowing blue and purple, and as deep as the Marianas Trench. The practical effects of the organic computer that uses a BRAIN to function are gorgeous though with the right mix of creepy, dilapidated and impressive to convey just how foreign and advanced this design is. Furthermore, this is the system that has something to do with death star style laser and homing missiles. That’s some wild shit right there. We don’t learn much else now but, don’t worry, we will once we figure out who just jumped through the gate.
That about does it for now. Join me again next week for the identity of the ship revealed, part two of Adventures at -26400 Feet, and Londo Molari being Londo Molari on the station that wraps humans and aliens in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal . . . all alone in the night. This is Elias. Signing out.
Best Line(s) of the Night:
Picking my favorite line of the episode is a nigh impossible task, there’re just too many of them. Instead, here are a bunch of them. Enjoy and let me know in the comments your favorite lines!
1) Ivanova: What are you going to do?
Dr. Tasaki: Process the data collected from the power burst then call my wife.She loves mysteries.
Ivanova: This doesn’t worry you?
Dr. Tasaki: It scares the hell out of me. But, what better way to go out than in the cause of scientific knowledge?
Ivanova: Is this a multiple-choice question? Because I have some ideas.
2) Delenn: There is a difference between being unreasonable and being angry. Ambassador G’Kar is angry, but even the greatest anger fades with time.
Londo: My dear Ambassador Delenn, I am sure that for you this is true. But for G’Kar and his people, they will do anything to destroy us until the universe itself decays and collapses. If the Narns stood in one place, and hated, all at the same time that hatred could fly across light years and reduce Centauri Prime to ash. That’s how much they hate us.
Delenn: You don’t have to respond in kind.
Londo: Of course we do. It’s a natural law. Physics tells us for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. They hate us, we hate them, they hate us back and so here we are, victims of mathematics.
3) Londo: If it is valuable, will you tell me?
Ivanova: No.
4) Londo: Water, fascinating. Never touch the stuff myself.
