Babylon 5: By Any Means Necessary

[cdrood]

They did a Sheridan episode where he comes up with a similar solution to a much smaller problem, probably to show his similarity to Sinclair. He and Ivanova were being charged rent for their quarters and he refused and even got locked out. He solved it by reallocating some money from their battle preparedness budget to pay the rent on the grounds that he wasn't prepared to go into battle without a good night's sleep in his own bed.

Obviously, the episode shows Sinclair's willingness to bend, not break, the rules in the name of the best interests of everyone. The simple fact is that if you don't have enough dock workers, arresting, beating, and possibly killing the ones you have isn't a great idea. Add in that any replacements would be the sort of people who had work in a place where their bosses could beat them up. Sinclair even uses the same method to get the flower from Londo and then to legitimize G'Kar's ceremony. I even like the idea that interstellar travel will have an effect on rules and traditions made centuries before. We see that again with Ivanova and the Drazi, to comedic effect.

B5 was occasionally good at pointing out how the game changes in deep space. I wonder what their solution to the death penalty would have been if telepaths and mind wipes weren't an option. Still would have the problems with resources on the station for life imprisonment and no one willing to pay to move the prisoner back to Earth.

I came into the show in Season 2 (had seen an S1 episode here and there, but wasn't a regular watcher), so I have always watched Season 1 episodes from that perspective and the Londo/G'Kar relationship flips so drastically between seasons, it's nice to see this small hint of what's to come. It's always helped by the fact that Jurasik and Katsulas had such great chemistry and clearly seemed to enjoy chewing scenes with their dialogue together. Here we have a rare season one moment where Londo has the power and G'Kar is behind the eight ball. We see Londo being an asshole (with good reason) and G'Kar showing the spiritual side that would become his hallmark. Here he's still "more warrior than priest", but it's there. At this point, I'm sure the original audience mostly sided with Londo, but it was a good job of drawing some sympathy from the guy who'd mainly been a villain.

[CrypticMirror]

Good luck with the tax problems Chuck. Not even the Joker was insane enough to take on the IRS.

This episode really makes me wish O'Hare had been able to continue in the role, this was a great episode for him. I think that it would have made the the B5 break from Earth later in the series all the more dramatic if it had. Sinclair choosing to break from Earth would have been far more a dramatic moment than Sheridan's break. Not that Boxleitner was a bad actor, just that Sheridan played things a little more fast and loose than Sinclair did, so it was an easier process for him to go through. For Sinclair to have to say that he'd done everything he could within the rules as his character was based in, and he had nothing, that breaking with Earth was the only way to go; that would have been a big thing. Ah, what could have been. You know, I bet Sinclair and Picard would have got on great in a B5/TNG xover; someone get IDW working on that one.

Anyway, I like this episode. I like the G'Kar-Londo stuff where it really gives the essence of both characters stuff to do even over small stakes rather than big ones, I like that it shows unions as the positive force that they are, I like that it shows imagination to have the lead characters work their way through the problem, treating it as a puzzle to solve. It is one of my favourite episodes.

Good episode, and good review.

[cdrood]

Since they were already a season in, Sheridan had to come in with certain traits already in place. His relationship with General Hague showed this. I'm always bugged how the first season pretty much contradicts Sheridan's temporary Night Watch solution. Sinclair got orders from a Senator all the time, something Sheridan specifically mentioned couldn't be done in his speech to the Watch members.

[Madner Kami]

I'm always perplexed how willing Earth Government seems to take violence as a solution for their problems.

[Mickey_Rat15]

I'm always perplexed how willing Earth Government seems to take violence as a solution for their problems.

Yes, considering this is still Santiago's administration, not Clark's. Guess Santiago was not that nice a guy.

Though the Senate appears to be making all the decisions. For that matter, why is a legislative body making executive branch decisions? Sinclair shoud be getting his orders from the equivalent of the State or Defense Secretaries

[Trinary]

I really liked this episode, though I was kind of hoping Chuck would compare/contrast (yes, I know comparing implies contrasting too, shush) this episode with Deep Space Nine's "Bar Association" an episode I don't think he particularly liked.

And I'm kinda dejected that this comes out just a few days before an expected Supreme Court case to gut the rights of unions.

[G-Man]

A few interesting points:

Oren Zento was played by the same guy who played Soul Hunter #2 in "Soul Hunter."

Na'Toth's father was a follower of G'Lan, who is the angelic being Kosh appears as in "The Fall of Night." (Similarly, in another episode it is mentioned that Delenn's mother joined the Sisters of Valeria, who was also one of Kosh's forms).

The reporter is the same one as in "Infection."

[Deledrius]

I'm always perplexed how willing Earth Government seems to take violence as a solution for their problems.

In retrospect, I'm wondering how much of this is a direct result of the Minbari war and its aftermath. Even assuming no direct Shadow influence, I could see the Earth Government being very touchy, quick to defensive strategies, and curtailing civil liberties. With the tone of the show and the topics it tackles, this wouldn't be unreasonable subtext either.

[Madner Kami]

I'm always perplexed how willing Earth Government seems to take violence as a solution for their problems.

In retrospect, I'm wondering how much of this is a direct result of the Minbari war and its aftermath. Even assuming no direct Shadow influence, I could see the Earth Government being very touchy, quick to defensive strategies, and curtailing civil liberties. With the tone of the show and the topics it tackles, this wouldn't be unreasonable subtext either.

True, but I'd hazard a guess and say that if Earth has a major problem by the time of Babylon 5's first season, it's a literal lack of manpower, given the War of Extermination fought by the Minbari against Earth. The last thing you would want to do in such a situation is, to mistreat your workers.

[Fipse]

True, but I'd hazard a guess and say that if Earth has a major problem by the time of Babylon 5's first season, it's a literal lack of manpower, given the War of Extermination fought by the Minbari against Earth. The last thing you would want to do in such a situation is, to mistreat your workers.

The issue is most likely well trained men. The best technicians and dock workers will most likely been drafted into the military during the war, leaving only second rated ones for the civilian economy.
It should actually create the exact opposite situation, better pay and working condition.