The term Orwellian is often misused but it is very appropriate this week, the first ones finally become important, and Ivanova finds out what it’s like to have a bad trip. Welcome my friends. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2260. The name of the place is Babylon 5.
Spoilers ahead.
1. The Beacon
After two seasons of hushed whispers on the part of Delenn and Lennier, the crew of Babylon 5, and we, are given firm information about what in the hell the first ones are, why they’re needed for the upcoming fight, and why no one seems to be able to find them. Turns out, they fucked off to parts unknown long ago and really couldn’t give two licks about most of the universe, save for the Vorlons. Bits of pieces of this have been handed out to us thus far but this is the first time it’s all been collated and then followed up by, “Well, what are we gonna do about this?”
The answer: hook themselves up to a planetary computer, mind-meld with the universe, find a first-one contact point, haul ass out there, and then bluff their way into getting help in a move that can best be described as utterly reckless and certain to get them killed.
Yeah. Not their smartest plan but hey, it worked! Also, it put Ivanova into a more central role in the narrative for the week, giving us a wonderful bit of character development, and strengthened my love for both her and Marcus Cole. These two have great banter and I could watch them bicker all day.
Also, I know this came out over two decades before it launched but every time they say the first ones, all I can imagine is Adora. Also also, both of the original creators and writers of She-Ra worked on Babylon 5, Larry DiTillio and, you guessed it, J. Michael Straczynski, so that’s a fun bit of convergence.
2. An Ill Wind
I was wondering back during “Convictions” when the Nightwatch plot was going to kick into gear and hoo-boy did it kick off. A new political liaison is appointed to the station and she makes it very clear, very fast, that things on Earth have gotten a lot more fascistic a lot faster than we thought. From assertions that there is nothing wrong, to governmental criticism, even just grousing, being an arrestable offence, to the consolidation of power under a singular leader via the constriction of formerly independent branches, it’s all very worrying, if it wasn’t already.
I wanted to focus, however, on the conversation between Captain Sheridan and Julia Musante, the newly appointed political liaison. Of the many, the one they have over dinner is the most interesting. See, the term Orwellian is thrown around a lot, usually by libertarians and those on the right, as an expression of their distrust of government in all forms except the one that protects their specific idea of person. In most cases, the term is misused as a cudgel to silence those who would seek to criticize their views or point out when they’re being bags of shit. In the case of Julia Musante, the statements she makes are actually Orwellian.
The government, in order to plaster over the problems of the people, literally rewrites the dictionary and criminalizes legitimate criticisms of the administration and its executors. Whether or not she was using hyperbole is besides the point; Musante makes it clear that poverty, crime, homelessness, hunger, these are all fake news, to quote a modern doublespeaker. If you do not conform to the state’s preferred narrative, you will be removed from your post, arrested, and potentially killed. It may not have quite escalated that far in the show but it is close.
Moreover, this episode presents a good example of what the strawman I’ve constructed believes political correctness is. The difference, however, between changing one’s language to be more respectful, to be more accurate, and to be more open, and shifting the language to perpetuate a narrative, is that the former is what they’re railing against while citing the latter. That doesn’t mean the latter doesn’t happen, it does, but it is a false equivalence and a means to shut down an argument rather than grapple with it or to not confront why a cultural understanding of a word or phrase or idea has changed.
Continued below
Recently, Harper’s published a letter about cancel culture and, outside the letter, there is a narrative that says that cancel culture is Orwellian. Better writers than me have stated why this is stupid. Don’t bother to read the letter, there’s not much worth reading in it and, before I get comments, just because something can be read does not mean it needs to be read. Read this instead. It’s much better written and thought out.
Here’s my two cents. If you are not afraid that the state apparatus will ruin your life, potentially your family and friends lives, with the very real possibility of death, for not conforming to its chosen narrative, then it is not “Orwellian.” Expecting writers and artists, journalists and politicians, as public, influential figures, to hold themselves accountable for their actions and words is not unreasonable. You are not being censored or silenced if major publications continue to put out your work, amplify your opinions and only ask you to give others the bare minimum respect to remain. It is not censorship for people to stop wanting to read/watch/engage with you/your stuff for any reason; they owe you nothing. It’s not censorship to be refused a platform or publication because you’re being a shitty person. It is if it’s for nothing more than your religion, sex, gender, sexuality, skin color, ethnicity, etc. and then you are shut out from the levers of power, not when others criticize you for how you wield those levers or who you prevent from accessing them.
If I said garbage things on Twitter or to someone’s face, I would expect to be taken to task. If I punch someone in the face, I expect to face the consequences. Why should it be any different for someone who has a much farther reach than I?
3. The Portal
Whew. OK. Got my weekly soap box speech out of the way. Let’s keep these next few thoughts short and light, shall we? Alrighty.
Draal’s back! You remember Draal? He’s a lot of fun, got a bit of a mean sense of humor, has been strapped to a planetary computer and communicates through hologram? His actor changed after the first appearance because of health reasons? And that actor returned to the show as Brother Theo, which I only just found out and explains why he seemed so familiar? That Draal.
He’s a bucket of fun and every time he appears, I am happy. Even if it’s for a short amount of time, he’s the right amount of grandpa from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In “Voices of Authority,” he gets some of the best lines while also helping Ivanova during her trip through the TARDIS time-streams IN SPAAACCCEEEE. Ivanova the Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, now that’s a reboot I’d watch.
4. Boys’ Night Out
G’Kar doesn’t get a lot to do in “Voices of Authority” but the scenes he has steal the show. The first one is him asking Delenn about her secret meetings that he knows she’s having but doesn’t know anything more about. I feel for G’Kar and I think it’s only a matter of time until he’s folded in. I know why he’s kept out, partially because of his tendency to be very vocal and single-minded in his hatred of the Centauri, and partly because he’s proven to not be exactly too trustworthy in the past, but I keep wanting them to just bring him in already.
However, I love how G’Kar is actually hitting on two different secrets and that his implications have implications he probably isn’t even aware of. I mean, when he says that he hears she’s been going in and out of the Captain’s quarters at odd hours, he’s basically implying they fucking and I really wanted to see Delenn play off the Rangers stuff by reframing his suspicions. It doesn’t happen but oh well.
The second scene (well, second funny scene) is when G’Kar shows up at Garibaldi’s door in the middle of the night to hand him the book of G’Quan because it may contain helpful information and that they should talk afterwards. Except the book is in Narn and Garibaldi cannot speak it. I really love how this dynamic is developing, shifting from the warmer relationship between Londo and Garibaldi to G’Kar and Garibaldi. There’s still friction but there’s less now.
Continued belowPerhaps he’ll actually learn Narn.
5. Save the Zack
I know I said no more heavy points but the strengths of Babylon 5 are in balancing crushingly sad, painful and poignant scenes with the gut-busters. For every G’Kar at 2am with a book, there’s a G’Kar confronting Garibaldi in the hallway and bearing his soul. For every Ivanova telling off a first one, there’s a Zack fighting with Garibaldi over being shut out, the trust between the two of them eroding to the point that Zack lets slip about the code 7R to, literally, the least trustworthy person on Babylon 5.
Zack knows the nightwatch stuff is wrong but he’s stuck. He cannot leave, or he will be branded a traitor and seditionist and sent away or worse. He can’t continue to give information only according to his conscience, for that is not enough for the vultures at the top. Yet he cannot keep the secrets of Garibaldi and others if they won’t trust him with them. The best, best part of Zack being pushed towards letting the 7R information slip is that it is a character related plot development. Garibaldi’s distrust was sown back at the start of season 2, when he was betrayed by his second in command and that distrust has borne a bitter fruit.
Let’s hope the rest of the crop hasn’t gone yet.
That about does it for now. Join me again in a week for Psi-cops, more G’Kar and the deepening distrust between once amicable enemies on the station that, in the year of the Shadow War, became something greater.
This is Elias. Signing out.
Best Line of the Night:
Draal: “It will be. . .fun. Assuming you’re not vaporized, dissected, or otherwise killed in an assortment of supremely horrible and painful ways. Exciting, isn’t it?”
