The War Prayer

Episode 8 “The War Prayer” (Season 1, Episode 7)

Synopsis: In which an “Earth First” terrorist movement spills over to the station, tensions rise between humans and aliens, and we learn that Ivanova has terrible taste in men.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517716/?ref_=tt_ep_nx

Stormfront was founded in 1995, after season 1 of B5, but organized “us first, screw you people who are different” groups are as old as humanity itself, sadly. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/stormfront

The racial issues underpinning Brexit are well documented. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/frenzy-hatred-brexit-racism-abuse-referendum-celebratory-lasting-damage

They took our jobs! http://southpark.cc.com/clips/104259/they-took-our-jobs

Irish immigration to the United States in the 1840s-1850s, and the following anti-Irish sentiment. http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/america.htm Can you imagine the kinds of invectives directed at various immigrant and refugee groups being aimed at the Irish today? It seems absurd. How will history judge us 150 years down the road?

The rise of the Know-Nothing party has definite echoes in our current political climate. This passage from Abraham Lincoln is interesting:

“Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid,” Lincoln continued. (I have retained his spelling and capitalization.) “As a nation, we begin by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.’ When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/02/18/immigration_and_the_rise__fall_of_the_know-nothing_party_125649.html

The dinner scene from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. The dialogue is quite forced to generate the conflict, but note that it is Walter Koenig’s Chekov who really puts his foot in it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2TDf9XU09k

The constantly referenced Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/007.html

A Journey to Babel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_Babel  For a B5 podcast, we sure do talk a lot about Star Trek...

Removal of the prohibition against main characters being in conflict with one another in Star Trek: Discovery (there we go again…) http://ew.com/tv/2017/06/23/star-trek-discovery-rules/

The Ruby Ridge standoff was in August 1992.

The World Trade Center bombing happened on February 26, 1993.

The siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco happened in February-April 1993.

The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was on April 19, 1995.

“The War Prayer” first aired on March 9, 1994, so definitely all of these events except the Murrah Building bombing were in the zeitgeist at the time of its writing and production. (Chris mistakenly said the Ruby Ridge standoff contributed to the Branch Davidian situation - he meant that it was a motivating factor behind the Oklahoma City bombing. The perils of googling while podcasting, one’s tongue is often faster than one’s brain).

Tristan Rogers, who plays the unfortunately named “Malcolm Biggs,” veteran of a thousand soap operas, also played a character named “Manly Biggs” on an early 1990s show called “Super Force.” It ran for 48 episodes. Maybe that’s where Jon knows him from? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098917/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_29

When Jon mentions an actor who has shown up in The Dark Knight, Gotham, Arrow, and Supergirl he may be referring to David Dastmalchian, who was not in Gotham or Arrow but was on The Flash (who can keep track these days?) and was also in Ant-Man and Twin Peaks: The Return. A modern genre film/tv “That Guy” for sure! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2810287/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t47

Mind War

Episode 7 “Mind War” (Season 1, Episode 6)

Synopsis: In which a powerful telepath is pursued by other powerful telepaths, and decides the station is a great place to hide.  We learn more than we bargained for about how telepaths operate in the B5 universe. And G’Kar demonstrates his skill at the long game.

Thanks to special guest Bill Lynch!

[Chris] Okay, time to get nerdy here (says the man with a Babylon 5 podcast) - I’ve been doing tabletop roleplaying games for about 37 years now. Bill and Jon are two of the best story tellers and world-builders I’ve ever known. They excel at long-term stories with a slow build and lots of deep character development. So of course Bill was a natural to invite in as a guest host at some point. But I had no idea he was also a huge B5 fan until we started this project! Great to have you on, Bill!

Jason Ironheart was played by William Allen Young, and while he may not be a character actor with credits stretching back to the 60s, he was on an episode of Renegade in the 90s and that’s just as good. He’s currently on the CBS show Code Black.

Watchmen was a 12 issue comic book series written by Alan Moore, released in 1986-1987. It was later made into an acceptable movie by Zach Snyder. In it one of the characters, Jon Osterman/Doctor Manhattan, is in an accident with an “Intrinsic Field Subtractor” which gives him godlike powers, including being able to manipulate matter at the atomic level, while distancing him from his humanity. At the end of the story he leaves Earth to explore the universe and perhaps create new life. Am I crazy here?

Psychic abilities in media: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PsychicPowers. What Jason has developed may be closer to the Reality Warper level (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealityWarper), which was in fact pretty prevalent before 1993. How did I forget Charlie X!

My “elbow sex” joke didn’t get nearly the laughs it deserved. https://m.popkey.co/6ea98a/pJbav.gif

The Psi Corps were definitely inspired by the novel The Demolished Man by (wait for it) Alfred Bester.

The Zhodani from Traveller: http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Zhodani

The episode Bill references where technology is used to mind probe Sinclair is “And the Sky Full of Stars,” two episodes from now. Stay tuned!

The aliens of SIgma-957, who are completely NOT Shadows. In related news, I am an idiot. http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Walkers_of_Sigma-957

The NSA’s PRISM project, intercepting and collecting internet data. Note the ominous eye logo (“Be seeing you!”) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)

Can’t go a week without referring to the Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/006.html This was where I read that JMS wanted Patrick MacGoohan for “And the Sky Full of Stars.”

The Parliament of Dreams

Episode 6 “The Parliament of Dreams” (Season 1, Episode 5)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517711/?ref_=tt_ep_nx

Synopsis: In which the station hosts a religious trade show of sorts, an assassin stalks Ambassador G’Kar, the Commander’s old flame returns, and we at last meet Na’toth and Lenir.

Roman gods of the hearth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lares May all the Classics professors that Jon and Chris have had over the years forgive us for linking to wikipedia here.

The Centauri gods on Londo’s table are:Ben-Zan, the god of food; Li, the goddess of passion; and Mo-Goth, god of the underworld and protector of front doors (who looks more than a little like a garden gargoyle purchased at Home Goods). Clearly we have seen the importance of passion to Londo, and based on his dimensions one would assume food is also important (note to self - how many scenes with Londo involve him eating? My gut, pun quite intended, says there are a LOT of them, like Brad Pitt in Ocean’s 11 level. Something to watch for). The underworld is a surprising one. We know about the Centauri death visions but not about their afterlife. Londo is a shrewd political player, and I suppose hedging your bets by claiming the god of the afterlife as one of your household patrons is never a bad idea. Not sure where the front doors bit fits.

I’ve been trying to find a clip of G’Kar’s song to insert here, but without success. Just go back to your tapes, dvds, or files and watch the episode again. It’s a good one.

Wikipedia (again. I know, I know) tells us there are approximately 4,200 religions on Earth today.  That would be one heck of a lineup.

Infection

Episode 5 “Infection” (Season 1, episode 4)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517658/?ref_=tt_ep_pr

Synopsis: In which an ethically challenged archaeologist accidentally unleashes a living weapon on the station, we get to know Dr Franklin, and a reporter hounds the reluctant Commander Sinclair for an interview.

A note on Richard Biggs: until researching for these show notes I hadn’t been aware that he was almost entirely deaf. We slag a bit on his tendency to over-act, but I now wonder how much of that may be overcompensation for the fact that he couldn’t really hear regular conversation. Worth keeping in mind.

The eternal David McCallum: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0564724/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t12

The lackey who becomes the monster in this episode is named “Drake Nelson.” Seriously?

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5217560/15-evil-corporations-in-science-fiction - Every character in science fiction who has to deal with megacorporations acts as if they’ve never seen or read anything about megacorporations in science fiction before. It’s maddening.

Jon Pertwee is the best Doctor Who. The matter is not open for discussion. Well, maybe William Hartnell. 

We’re not fancy scientists, but it seems (https://www.space.com/22382-spiral-galaxy.html) that the core of a galaxy would be where you would find the densest population of stars/systems. So when you’re talking about planets “on the outer rim” you’d be talking about stuff out in the arms, like where Earth is. We’re the backwater here, not the core.

Dune Messiah is the best Dune novel. The matter is not open for discussion. This is solely here to see if Jon reads these notes before posting them to the site. [Dune Messiah is most certainly NOT the best Dune novel. -J]

Born to the Purple

Episode 4 “Born to the Purple” (Season 1, Episode 3) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517634/?ref_=tt_ep_nx

Synopsis: In which we see a softer side of Ambassador Londo Mollari, learn that IT security in the 23rd century is TERRIBLE, and Commander Sinclair goes undercover in full action-hero guy mode.

The great Dr. Carlin Barton, speaking on honor and masculinity in Rome (from her book Roman Honor: Fire in the Bones) http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/06/28/art-of-manliness-podcast-74-ancient-roman-honor-with-dr-carlin-barton/

https://www.amazon.com/Roman-Honor-Bones-Carlin-Barton/dp/0520225252

The Centauri Republic: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Centauri_Republic

Meat Loaf I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That): http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x337wb_meat-loaf-i-d-do-anything-for-love_music

Clive Revill: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0720890/?ref_=tt_cl_t13

VR.5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VR.5

Profit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_(TV_series)

The location of Babylon 5, 10.5 light years from Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Eridani_in_fiction

http://teeherivar.com/product/what-do-you-want-you-moon-faced-assassin-of-joy

Soul Hunter

Episode 3 “Soul Hunter” (Season 1, Episode 2) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517692/?ref_=ttep_ep2

Synopsis: In which a mysterious alien, a hunter of souls if you will, comes aboard the station. We are introduced to Doctor Stephen Franklin, gain some insights into Mimbari religious doctrine and learn that Ambassador Delenn may not be what she seems.

Lurker’s Guide page on the episode: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/002.html

JMS on Delenn’s originally intended gender ambiguity:

“We'd originally planned to go for a more vague sexuality for Delenn; a male physically and primarily in the voice, on top of the natural female movements one gets from an actress. In post-production, however, we couldn't get the voice to sound as good and male as we'd wanted. In addition, a couple of convention showing of a rough cut saw people responding VERY strongly to her voice as it was, so we finally decided to let it stand and change the one reference to "he" to "she," and that was the end of it.” http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/000.html

Chris, discussing the theory of soul-vat recycling, referenced “Richard Bachman” but meant “Richard Bach.” Bachman is, of course, a pseudonym used by Stephen King to write such works as “Thinner” and “The Running Man.” It would have been much more interesting to see King’s take on the migration of souls, so perhaps this was just wishful thinking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One:_A_Novel

Claudia Christian and Walter Koenig were at GenCon in Milwaukee in 1999.  

The Shell Game scam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_game

The Babylon 5 station is listed as 5 miles long and 2.5 million tons. An Imperial Star Destroyer is approximately ⅛ the size. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/01/25/how-much-would-it-realistically-cost-to-build-an-imperial-i-class-star-destroyer/#1f3b3c44390d

Commander Sisko’s conversation with Quark:

Commander Benjamin Sisko: My officers, Bajoran engineers, all their families depend on the shops and services of this promenade. If people like you abandon it, this is going to become a ghost town. We need someone to step forward and say "I'm staying. I'm rebuilding". We need a community leader, and it's going to be - you, Quark!

Quark: [guffaws] Community leader!

William Morgan Sheppard: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0792003/?ref_=tt_cl_t12

Ave Atque Vale, Vir

Sometimes I have to wonder, and I know I’m not alone in this, if this show is cursed.

As everyone probably knows, we lost Stephen Furst last week. A very good actor, a huge presence in Babylon 5, and by all accounts I’ve seen a very good person.

Furst, as Vir Cotto, comes on seeming to be the bumbling comic relief sidekick to the comic relief main character. It would have been easy to leave him in that role, largely inconsequential to the bigger story. But Babylon 5 never went for easy.

Jon suggested I write something about Furst and Vir this week, but I’m having a problem with that. I’ve never seen Animal House for whatever reason. Never really watched St. Elsewhere. And while I watched Babylon 5 in its initial run my memory is terrible. I can remember general themes and vague impressions but not many details. I’m almost seeing the series for the first time after having dreamt it or had someone describe it to be in vague detail on a long train ride.

But I do remember one bit, the one everyone remembers. Vir was the one who actually stood up to Morden, when no one else would. From this awkward, nerdy fellow, this was a triumph.

Vir was the conscience of the show, the everyperson with a heart of gold and the best intentions, even if he didn’t always know how to achieve them. I may not remember many specific details about the show but I know that Vir was a good man in a very complicated and difficult situation. I look forward to getting to know him again.

Thumbnail image from: [https://www.pinterest.com/pin/519251032012521949/]

Midnight on the Firing Line

Episode 2 “Midnight on the Firing Line” (Season 1, Episode 1) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517669/?ref_=tt_ep_pr

Synopsis: In which a Narn sneak-attack on a Centauri outpost bring the powers to the brink of war. Earth elects a new President!  Also we meet the new station telepath Talia Winters, the new first officer Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova, let us never speak of Laurel Takashima again, and there’s some nonsense about space pirates.

Season 1 Opening Narration:

Jeffrey Sinclair: It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth/Minbari war. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.

Lurker’s Guide page on the episode: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/001.html

Claudia Christian: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0160004/?ref_=nv_sr_6

Our Thesis - Why We Think Babylon 5 Matters, Even in 2017

Why are you making a podcast about a show that's more than 20 years old? Particularly one that hasn't even been given a glossy (or gritty) remake yet? Chris and I asked ourselves that very question before we got to work and we came to the conclusion that without Babylon 5, you simply don't have the fundamental reinvention of science fiction television that came after it. You don't have Lost. You don't have the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica in all its glory. You don't have Firefly. You don't have the serialized science fiction, as evidenced by programs like Orphan Black, 3%, Sense8 or Stranger Things. Babylon 5 helped turn us into different kinds of science fiction television viewers by virtue of its long-running narrative arcs that required a commitment to follow. In short, what is it about this program that made this practice possible, how did it work, what did its creator do to sustain it and what were the themes that made the show effective?

Our objective is not to give a blow-by-blow recounting of each episode's events. Rather, through our conversation, we hope to better understand what made B5 one of the seminal programs in science fiction television history. It was great and dreadful, sometimes in equal measure, sometimes in the same episode. Usually programs this uneven don't get made. We hope over the course of this series to better understand B5 as a phenomenon, as a cultural relic of its time and despite its problems, worthy of its place in the canon of science fiction television. We're going to riff a lot as we take the show episode by episode. There will be regular features, like the most Straczynskiest line of the episode, and we'll certainly be making fun of some of the more over the top aspects of the show. But each episode will, we hope, take us with ever greater confidence into understanding the show, its influence and its context...now, join us in the year 2257, at the dawn of the third age of mankind, as we begin to decipher the legacy of this often great, sometimes dreadful but always intriguing television touchstone.

Cover image from: [http://io9.gizmodo.com/5985727/the-strange-secret-evolution-of-babylon-5]

The Gathering

Episode 1 - “The Gathering” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106336/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Synopsis: In which we meet the crew of the space station, for better or worse. Representatives from each of the alien powers gather, and someone tries to kill the enigmatic Vorlon ambassador. The plot thickens when the station commander, Jeffrey Sinclair, is the prime suspect!

Opening narration

Londo Mollari: I was there at the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind. It began in the Earth year 2257, with the founding of the last of the Babylon stations, located deep in neutral space. It was a port of call for refugees, smugglers, businessmen, diplomats and travelers from a hundred worlds. It could be a dangerous place, but we accepted the risk because Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for peace. Babylon 5 was a dream given form, a dream of a galaxy without war where species from different worlds could live side by side in mutual respect. Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. This is its story.

On the comparisons between Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9: http://www.tor.com/2013/02/26/is-this-the-smoking-gun-proving-deep-space-nine-ripped-off-babylon-5/

The changes made to the show between The Gathering and the start of season 1: http://io9.gizmodo.com/5985727/the-strange-secret-evolution-of-babylon-5

In the discussion of the Earth Alliance, we note that the Earth Alliance appears to be a”humans only club” and that the various other “miscellaneous” aliens we see around the station don’t seem to have representation among the command staff or in the tribunal. We will see in “Midnight on the Firing Line” that these other aliens are part of the “League of Non-Aligned Worlds” and not part of the Earth Alliance.

Opening sequence from the original version of The Gathering, as it aired in 1993, including the original theme music by Stewart Copeland:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc9KM9YQ-WQ

In sharing this extraordinary music with this audience, we make no copyright claims to it and use it only to ensure that those many fans who have never encountered it might learn of it.

Tamlyn Tomita’s credits. And Jon calls himself a Glee fan... http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000674/?ref_=nv_sr_1

The Instance, a World of Warcraft podcast so you don’t have to:

http://frogpants.com/instance

The indispensable Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5, entry on The Gathering. See the “Analysis’ section for discussion of  Lt. Commander Takashima’s role in the conspiracy:

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/000.html

Michael Garibaldi’s second favorite thing in the universe: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ym9b7_daffy-duck-ep-70-duck-dodgers-in-the-24%C2%BDth-century_fun