B5: Point of No Return

[MadAmosMalone]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/babylon5/b5s3e09.php

Back into B5 now! I liked when Majel Barret (the Emperor's widow) guest starred on this show. It was always good to see Trek stars on B5. There's room in the universe for more than one space opera franchise.

[Aotrs Commander]

I must admit, I'm looking forward to the next one. Severed Dreams (aside from everything ELSE) has just about the most intense and edge-of-your seat starships battles I can think of (followed by a crowning moment of awesome) - in no small part because of all this leading up to it to set the stakes. Severed Dreams is one of the best episodes of the series, in my opinion.

(B5's music I think is especially well suited to its battles, more so even than Star Wars and Star Trek's are (and they are both top standard); but something about it jsut WORKS for me in particular.)

[AlucardNoir]

They kidnapped Lwaxana Troi? Are they mad? don't they know what Captain Picard does to people that just look in her general direction, let alone approach her?

[Eric]

I was very young when I first saw Babylon 5 and by that, I mean like single digits. This was one of the most memorable episodes. Before watching the show I think my philosophy was good guys beat the bad guys end of story. It's not an exaggeration to say that the show had a major impact on me. The Night Watch are bad guys so why send them back. Rewatching the show nowadays it's obvious that they just didn't have the ability to do that although I suppose they could have just opened an airlock on all of them. As a kid, I remember thinking about this episode. There are some very bad people out there, but most people even when they're doing something bad aren't necessarily themselves. Compassion for your enemy. It's funny how a TV show taught me that more so than anything else.

[Mickey_Rat15]

The Night Watch are bad guys so why send them back. Rewatching the show nowadays it's obvious that they just didn't have the ability to do that although I suppose they could have just opened an airlock on all of them. As a kid, I remember thinking about this episode. There are some very bad people out there, but most people even when they're doing something bad aren't necessarily themselves. Compassion for your enemy. It's funny how a TV show taught me that more so than anything else.

Yes, most of the Security people who went over to the Night Watch were not necessarily bad, they just did not have the conviction that Garibaldi had to say "no" to these orders. The problem is that also means that they can longer be trusted either (our protagonists cannot sort out the True Believers from the go along to get along types). That is one reason they cannot be airlocked, the other reason being that is kind of toeing the evil line itself.

"Spoo" is a really unfortunate name for a dish.

[RobbyB1982]

They kidnapped Lwaxana Troi? Are they mad? don't they know what Captain Picard does to people that just look in her general direction, let alone approach her?

Praise them with "thank yous" and ask them to keep her?

[Wargriffin]

Morella's prophecy only doesn't make sense if you consider the desired outcome to be Londo saving himself and not Londo saving his people and the Centauri's future.

since we're on a Star Trek mets B5 bent

Londo to me kinda has Worf's deal... Londo starts thinking he'll make the Centauri great again and he'll enjoy the wealth and glory but by the end Those things don't matter only his Race's future concern.

Similar to how Worf will do the Honorably thing for Honor and The Empire's sake like in Sins of the Father

[G-Man]

"Spoo" is a really unfortunate name for a dish.

That is probably intentional, as "Spoo" was intended to be a bit of a running gag.

[griffeytrek]

I must admit, I'm looking forward to the next one. Severed Dreams (aside from everything ELSE) has just about the most intense and edge-of-your seat starships battles I can think of (followed by a crowning moment of awesome) - in no small part because of all this leading up to it to set the stakes. Severed Dreams is one of the best episodes of the series, in my opinion.

(B5's music I think is especially well suited to its battles, more so even than Star Wars and Star Trek's are (and they are both top standard); but something about it jsut WORKS for me in particular.)

Oh yeah Severed Dreams is not just the high point of B5, but one of televised SciFi's all time greatest moments and must see shows. And this episode so perfectly lays the groundwork for it. So ratchets up the stakes. One subtle detail to note as you watch B5. Everything that a Centauri Seer predicts comes true. Everything answer that is given to Mr. Mordent's question "What do you want" comes true.

Babylon 5 was in many ways a Comic Book presented on Television. Not as a cheesy Superhero story, but rather it was the first time anyone took a TV show and used a comic books approach to long term visual storytelling and buried foreshadowing. Of what happens in issue 4 pays off in issue 24. It was the first show to really change the TV landscape in that regard. Episodes could be self contained yet still need to be viewed in a specific order to get the overarching story. Just the way comics worked. Remarkably that really had not been tried on TV much before. And instead it was deliberately avoided before this because they wanted the shows viewable in any order for syndication. The fact that B5 was a syndicated show out of the box somehow allowed them to break the mold.

[griffeytrek]

Morella's prophecy only doesn't make sense if you consider the desired outcome to be Londo saving himself and not Londo saving his people and the Centauri's future.

since we're on a Star Trek mets B5 bent

Londo to me kinda has Worf's deal... Londo starts thinking he'll make the Centauri great again and he'll enjoy the wealth and glory but by the end Those things don't matter only his Race's future concern.

Similar to how Worf will do the Honorably thing for Honor and The Empire's sake like in Sins of the Father

I think Worf by the end was more on par with G'kar's arc. Which makes sense. From the Pilot movie the Narn were telegraphed to be the shows Klingons in every way possible. Overbearing arrogant militaristic. From the first moments we were led to see G'kar as our standard SCi Fi Villain following the TOS Klingon trope. JMS tricked us using the common story language of SF of the day. Then it slowly got turned on its head. By the end none of the characters or races are black and white. We see the evil in the holy Mimbari. We see compassion even in Londo. We see the true nature of faith in G'kar.