Babylon Five: Convictions

[MyUserName]

"Babylon 5 must contend with the evil midnight bomber what bombs at midnight."

Kudos for the animated Tick reference. When do we get video reviews for that show?

Always liked this episode for so many reasons. Seeing G'kar literally being ready to die just to watch Londo die as well really drove home how much he hates Londo at this point and the Centauri.

Fun fact. That annoying guy bugging Lennir in the lobby is B5 producer Douglas Netter. "Netter's" syndrome was a joke Stracynski wrote into the script to troll him. Also another fun fact; Netter first worked with JMS on Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future.

[DanteC]

The Janeway opening plate was a bit of a shock. She does get everywhere; if she was in B5 she'd probably want a Shadow to have as a snack.
It's a shame they didn't do much more with the monks. B5 worked well with having religion from many different cultures (both human and alien), and Theo was good in this episode, as well as Passing Through Gethsemane.

[Darth Wedgius]

I'd forgotten about the bomber entirely, but the elevator scenes between Londo and G'Kar really stuck with me. I frequently love B5's dialog, and those scenes offer some of the better examples.

[Rocketboy1313]

Londo is my favorite character on the show.
I appreciate any episode in which he plays such a central role.

[FaxModem1]

When I first watched this episode, the bomber always felt really 1990s to me, in that he's just a lone nut, instead of someone with a religious or political cause and/or part of a bigger group. Course, that sort of thing is becoming bigger again with all the shooting sprees in recent years.

[TheGreenMan]

This is one of the better episodes of B5 for me. Especially buoyed up by the G'Kar/Londo scenes.

[CrypticMirror]

We see in this episode why Londo is such a tragic character, his behaviour in respect to the general Narn populace is horrific, but he can be more than just the imperialistic posturer; can you see Refa or one of the others in that group sitting with Lennier and telling him dad jokes while he is unconscious? Or having enough shame to understand why he should take another turbolift, and there is shame in there, or even suggesting that he and G'kar should work together? Because Refa would do none of that. Londo can understand shame, compassion, and pragmatism, he just took too long to work out how to put them altogether in a way that benefits more than just himself.

I like this episode in that it is what I want to occasionally watch as a change of pace, the reaction against the usual learning to pull together and put adversity aside, but on a regular basis I'd still want to see more of the latter. It is the world I want to live in. I do appreciate seeing more of Londo and G'Kar's character though as both are impressive and impressively performed.

[Nightbeat74]

ok, so from what i have read on tv tropes the turbolift parts were to be a lot less funny, and then mr.Katsulas stared laughing when he read the script on the set and when the director of the ep asked him why he was doing so, Mr.Katsulas pointed out why in was so funny and it was kept in.

[Taurian Patriot]

G'Kar's simple, casual "no" says so much about how little he cares. Katsulas underplaying that line as much as possible was absolutely the best way to do it.

Good to see Brother Theo and his hoods enter the action, too. Big respect to JMS for being an avowed atheist, but not falling into the routine of portraying religion as 100% evil or ignorance just because he's not a fan. Off the top of my head, I can't even recall a single major character mocking the institution even once, even after the implications that the Vorlons and Shadows have informed or manipulated faiths across the galaxy. A lot of sci-fi can't resist taking those cheap shots.

Yeah, I'm looking at you, early TNG.

[Marveryn]

G'Kar's simple, casual "no" says so much about how little he cares. Katsulas underplaying that line as much as possible was absolutely the best way to do it.

Good to see Brother Theo and his hoods enter the action, too. Big respect to JMS for being an avowed atheist, but not falling into the routine of portraying religion as 100% evil or ignorance just because he's not a fan. Off the top of my head, I can't even recall a single major character mocking the institution even once, even after the implications that the Vorlons and Shadows have informed or manipulated faiths across the galaxy. A lot of sci-fi can't resist taking those cheap shots.

Yeah, I'm looking at you, early TNG.

that one of the issue I always had with some of the writing. Religion isn't going to go away just cause we go into the future. It may morph into something that would be weird to us but it wont go away. I mean we have Jedi religion now and of course Frank Hubbard one.

People turn to religion to be part of a group and have faith that somewhere out there that our life have a meaning. As long as those factor remain a religion will be part of human need. That being said Babylon did a good job of with the subject overall. Minbari are a very religious sec. they are even a class. GKar is a spiritual leader and of course we have other minor references from varies character. They all share different religions and none of them were mock for it.

I think the only time that wasn't was the one episode where a child of a parent refuse surgery cause there religion doesn't allow cutting into a body and the Doctor doing the surgery anyway in spit of the parent wishes.