Babylon 5: The Gathering/Midnight on the Firing Line

[clearspira]

Re-watching both Chuck's reviews of The Gathering and MOTFL, I really am convinced that the best thing B5 ever did was John Sheridan. I really am sorry for his behind the scenes problems, but the character of Jeffery Sinclair is far too wooden to have carried this show forward long term. When Chuck would later note that season 1 of B5 seems to be missing something, I think that's what it is. Sheridan just has a charisma about him that Sinclair is missing.

It is interesting to muse what that alternate B5 where Sinclair didn't leave would have looked like. Presumably Sinclair and Delenn would have gotten together. I think it was building to that. You would have had SInclair as half human/half minbari as well as Delenn half human/half minbari standing together to protect the Earth she once tried to destroy. We may have seen far more of Babylon 4 and the events surrounding it. It may have actually been a better story on paper.

I think that its a pity that they didn't keep the transgender aspect of Delenn - would it have been the first major transgender romance on network sci-fi? I don't know. Especially poignant considering that over on Star Trek at this time they were going out of their way to ignore the existence of gay people unless you happened to be a psycho bisexual from the Mirror Universe or a Trill being influenced by your previous heterosexual male host. Kind of funny that Star Trek's paradise almost got outdone by a show about totalitarianism and prejudice.

Although making it an aspect of the cocoon opens up some obvious questions such as ''would Sinclair also become a woman?'' Kind of funny if it did though. Imagine those network execs who got screamish over Talia and Ivanova suddenly having to deal with a transgender lesbian couple fronting their show lol.

And what happened to her cupboard full of power rings? The ability to change the gravity of a room seems like it could have been useful about 20-odd times in the next five seasons.

[Deledrius]

Re-watching both Chuck's reviews of The Gathering and MOTFL, I really am convinced that the best thing B5 ever did was John Sheridan. I really am sorry for his behind the scenes problems, but the character of Jeffery Sinclair is far too wooden to have carried this show forward long term.

Odd, the more I see of Sheridan the less I like him. Sinclair is someone I can trust, and Sheridan is not. I really appreciate O'Hare's style, while Boxleitner feels too confident as Sheridan.

There's a similar theme with Sisko growing into his role as Emissary and accepting it, and to me Sheridan accepts it too readily. I don't get the impression that Sinclair would have, if we could have seen him take on the mantle over the course of the show. It's really important for the likability of someone taking on that much authority. Not that I don't still enjoy Sheridan most of the time, but this is definitely something that I think O'Hare's performance contained and the sort of charisma he projected as Sinclair which was missing in Sheridan.

And what happened to her cupboard full of power rings? The ability to change the gravity of a room seems like it could have been useful about 20-odd times in the next five seasons.

I thought the same thing watching this review. This is exactly the kind of early-installment device that gets quietly forgotten because it was just a bit too powerful. Of course, with JMS, he may have actually intended to use it again in some major plotline but it was cut due to external factors. Still, it's just so useful it's hard to imagine it not being used unless you assume it just... never existed.

[McAvoy]

I personally perfered Sheriden over Sinclair. I agree the charscter of Sinclair was too wooden at times for my taste.

Sheriden was more lively. I do agree he may have taken his position as a leader against the Shadows too readily and maybe that could have been done on purpose later on to fuel Garibaldi's season 4 hatred of him. Though Chuck did make mention how that could have been done better too.

[CrypticMirror]

Sinclair's rules lawyer, know-the-rule-book, character trait would have worked better with the rebellion against Earth. Sheridan was the type of "hero" character that was always gonna take up arms against Clarke because it is the sort of thing that that type of character does. Sinclair, weighing the rules, takes up arms not because it is what the Rules Require he does. He's the by the book cop versus Sheridan's Western Sheriff, IYSWIM. When Sheridan does the whole rules of engagement and illegal orders speech to win over the other Earth ships it comes across as him exploiting the rules to justify the action he already wanted, with Sinclair it would sound more as him taking the actions because the rules demanded them. It is a small but crucial difference. I would have preferred that, but alas...

[Scififan]

I liked in Midnight on the Firing Line where Sinclair calls out G'Kar for the sneak attack on the Centauri. That it is the last act of a coward.

[Madner Kami]

Sheriden was more lively. I do agree he may have taken his position as a leader against the Shadows too readily and maybe that could have been done on purpose later on to fuel Garibaldi's season 4 hatred of him. Though Chuck did make mention how that could have been done better too.

In most cases, people readily and willingly taking power, more often than not turn out to end up as tyrants, if they don't remove themselves or get removed from power in time. It's a shame this angle wasn't used to fuel into Garibaldi's arc, because as is, Sheridan is the whitest knight and Garibaldi should get suspicious of his suspicions just because of this. It's a great missed chance and reluctant leaders tend to be the best leaders.

[Riedquat]

I liked in Midnight on the Firing Line where Sinclair calls out G'Kar for the sneak attack on the Centauri. That it is the last act of a coward.

Odd choice of words. G'Kar demonstrated more than once that he's not a coward. He didn't always behave decently, but I don't recall anything much I could call cowardly.

[McAvoy]

I liked in Midnight on the Firing Line where Sinclair calls out G'Kar for the sneak attack on the Centauri. That it is the last act of a coward.

Odd choice of words. G'Kar demonstrated more than once that he's not a coward. He didn't always behave decently, but I don't recall anything much I could call cowardly.

We tend to treat sneak attacks as cowardly. As opposed to marching to your target blasting Final Countdown so loud they can hear you 20 miles away.

In seriousness, G'Kar isn't a coward to be sure. It's just that they are supposed to be inferior to the Centauri and possibly even Earth. So trying get some form of revenge on the Centauri would mean no direct conflicts. Sneak attacks would seem to be one of the better tactics.

[Deledrius]

Sinclair's rules lawyer, know-the-rule-book, character trait would have worked better with the rebellion against Earth. Sheridan was the type of "hero" character that was always gonna take up arms against Clarke because it is the sort of thing that that type of character does. Sinclair, weighing the rules, takes up arms not because it is what the Rules Require he does. He's the by the book cop versus Sheridan's Western Sheriff, IYSWIM. When Sheridan does the whole rules of engagement and illegal orders speech to win over the other Earth ships it comes across as him exploiting the rules to justify the action he already wanted, with Sinclair it would sound more as him taking the actions because the rules demanded them. It is a small but crucial difference. I would have preferred that, but alas...

Well said. That's a very good comparison.

[clearspira]

I liked in Midnight on the Firing Line where Sinclair calls out G'Kar for the sneak attack on the Centauri. That it is the last act of a coward.

Odd choice of words. G'Kar demonstrated more than once that he's not a coward. He didn't always behave decently, but I don't recall anything much I could call cowardly.

We tend to treat sneak attacks as cowardly. As opposed to marching to your target blasting Final Countdown so loud they can hear you 20 miles away.

In seriousness, G'Kar isn't a coward to be sure. It's just that they are supposed to be inferior to the Centauri and possibly even Earth. So trying get some form of revenge on the Centauri would mean no direct conflicts. Sneak attacks would seem to be one of the better tactics.

Sinclair: "In order to be free you had to learn to fight. No one questions that. But you've overcompensated. You are like abused children who have grown big enough to do the same thing to someone else as if it would somehow balance the scales. It won't. If you let the anger cloud your judgment, it will destroy you."

The Narn aren't cowards. They are abuse victims. I don't think that they ''knew'' they were inferior to begin with. I think that they saw the Centauri Republic as Classic Greece in its twilight years. An old granddad who still carried a strap but whose best days were behind him. The problem for them is, Classic Greece gave way to the rise of Macedon and Alexander the Great. After all, the Centauri didn't get those mass drivers from the Shadows. They did a lot of the work all by themselves.

As to why they attacked in such a fashion, the thing is, going for the Centauri agricultural heartland actually makes a lot of sense. Wars are normally won via taking out the enemy infrastructure and logistics, not by killing the enemy on the battlefield. And no country on Earth is innocent when it comes to the killing of civilians for a military gain. Not one.