Midnight On The Firing Line

What’s a Raider? Who in the heck is that dude with the big frilly hair and why does he want to kill the walking lizard man? Oh, it’s a science fiction show, I get it! Join me as I take a look at the very first episode of the seminal sci-fi TV series, Babylon 5.

Written By: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed By: Richard Compton

Bare Essentials:

A Plot - The Narn have attacked the Centauri colony on the world of Ragesh 3. Lots of political maneuvering between Narn Ambassador G’Kar and Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari ensues, some centered around Londo’s nephew Carn who is stationed on Ragesh 3, but in the end thanks to the aide of Babylon 5′s Commander Sinclair the Narn are forced to withdraw from Ragesh 3.

B Plot - The Raiders have stepped up their activity in B5 space and are hitting more and more civilian and commercial freighters. Commander Sinclair takes out a group of Starfuries, and manages to thwart a Raider attack. In the process of that he comes across a Narn command & control ship that is aiding & supplying the Raiders and uses this information in the Ragesh 3 situation.

C Plot - 1) Talia Winters is B5′s new commercial Telepath and she has been trying to register with B5′s second in command, Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova for some time with no luck. Talia finally succeeds but not before Ivanova informs her of the complete disregard she has for Talia’s governing body, Psi Corps. 2) The race is on for the Presidency of the Earth Alliance and incumbent President Luis Santiago emerges the victor over challenger, Marie Crane.

More Arc, Less Arch:

The Centauri have prophetic dreams about their deaths. To this end Londo has dreamed that he will die twenty years in the future as he and G’Kar choke each other to death. Two years later we will finally see this dream come to pass in War Without End, Part Two.

Almost a year and a half later Londo will hold true to his promise to Sinclair that there will be a war with the Narn.

When Sinclair first sees Kosh Naranek he is not in his encounter suit and all that is visible is a floating luminescence behind a transparent wall in Kosh’s quarters. When Sinclair turns his back for a second Kosh is in his encounter suit instantly and without any visual evidence as to how he managed the feat. This suggests right away that Kosh, and the Vorlons by extension, is some sort of pure energy being. It won’t be until the season 2 finale, The Fall Of Night and then the season 4 episode, Falling Towards Apotheosis that the mystery of Kosh and the Vorlons is fully explained.

The Centauri Republic decides to do nothing about the Narn attack on Ragesh 3. This is a clear sign of their fading power, or is it? See Idiosyncratic Musings for more.

Earth Alliance’s position on the Narn aggression is one of neutrality. This showcases a growing trend of the EA to not get involved in any alien affairs whatsoever.

Telepaths on Earth are given only three choices, 1) join the Corps, 2) take drugs that inhibit your abilities, or 3) go to jail. Ivanova’s mother was a telepath, at the age of 35 the Corps found her and she chose to take the drugs. This caused her mother to fall into a deep depression and year by year her condition worsened until finally after ten years on the drugs she took her own life. This has nurtured a deep rooted hatred of the Corps and telepaths that work for the Corps by Ivanova. This will be played out over the next couple of years in Ivanova’s relationship with Talia.

Incumbent Luis Santiago wins the EA Presidential race over Marie Crane. This will have implications that show there face big time at the end of the first season, the middle of the third season and most of all throughout almost all of the fourth season.

Who Are You? What Do Yo… Hey, I’m Asking The Questions Here!:

Garibaldi tells Londo that he can understand what he is going through in regards to his nephew Carn more than even Londo could ever know. What happened in Garibaldi’s past that makes him yearn for that type of revenge?

Idiosyncratic Musings:

There really isn’t much to muse about in this episode as this is more of a structural episode than anything else. It sets up all the pieces very nicely and by doing so it avoids creating any real philosophical leanings or thought provoking moments. However there is one idea put forth in this episode that is worth talking about.

The Centauri are presented as a dying people in this episode and most of the rest of the first season and into the second season. Most B5 fans accept that at face value, and I was one of them for quite a long time. However after thinking about it for a bit I don’t believe that to be the case at all. The Centauri aren’t dying, but rather they are attempting to leave behind their image and reputation as aggressors and war mongers for that of a more peaceful and welcoming society. Not all Centauri agree with this however and that is why ultimately they do end up becoming a dying race. The actions of the Emperor and those close to him are an attempt to change the Centauri for good and to avoid the fire that is coming. They choose not to intervene in the Ragesh 3 incident not because they are weak, but rather because they know that their intervention will bring about a war and they don’t want a war. Of course those opposed to the Emperor and his new view of the Centauri take the inaction as a great affront and begin to set forth the events that will eventually lead to war with the Narn, the ascension of the Centauri in the galaxy again and eventually their demise from the ranks of the truly major powers in season 5.

The counter to this of course is the Narn. They appear to be not as strong as one would think because of their forced withdrawal from Ragesh 3. But, that is not the case at all. This shows their true strategic nature as they were able to attack and take over a Centauri colony and face no reprisals at all from the Centauri. They have successfully gauged the readiness of their enemy and have made the preparations for the coming war. While the Centauri may be trying to get ready for peace the Narn are very successfully getting ready for war.

I See What You Did There:

There are groups of space pirates, called Raiders, that operate along many interstellar travel routes.

Commander Sinclair turns off his link, his on station communication device, for only ten minutes a day. He does so when there is no incoming or outgoing traffic and he can stare out at the stars undisturbed on the Observation Dome.

The Sinclair’s have been fighter pilots dating all the way back to the Battle Of Britain in the second World War.

The Centauri were the first alien race to make contact with Earth. When they did so the Centauri claimed that humans were long lost relatives of the Centauri. Some fact checking by Earth scientists revealed that while they may look like the Centauri, they were in fact not related in any way.

Mr. Garibaldi begins his not so subtle trend of always waiting in a transport lift the moment Talia Winters goes to enter one in this episode.

The Narn Regime sold weapons to the Earth Alliance during the Earth-Minbari War, but as we are told and then shown in this episode the Narn will sell weapons to anyone that can pay for them.

At some point in time San Diego was nuked by terrorists, leaving behind only a nuclear wasteland, and the original Mars colony was destroyed.

Ragesh 3 was originally a Narn colony before the Centauri took it over when they first enslaved the Narn a hundred years ago.

The Babylon 5 Council Chambers consist of the B5 Advisory Council (The Vorlon Empire, Minbari Federation, Narn Regime, Centauri Republic, and Earth Alliance) as well as the League of Non-Aligned Worlds (a collection of smaller worlds, that I will name and describe as the show actually begins to do the same, or at the least allow them speaking roles as opposed to background dressing.)

Guns as we know them today are considered antiquated and out of date by the time of B5. Instead a PPG, Phased Plasma Gun is used. PPG’s fire a shot of superheated gas or “plasma” that is designed to dissolve in fast order so as not to damage ship hulls and other structures and to help reduce blood loss to a PPG wound. These guns are powered by a power pack that is most likely some sort of battery. There are also PPR’s, or Phased Plasma Rifles, that fire off multiple shots at once.

Londo has various PPG parts hidden throughout his quarters to avoid detection by security forces.

Garibaldi shows Delenn his second favorite thing in the universe. The 20th century cartoon, Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Half Century.

It’s Not Kosher If It’s Not Kosh:

“They are alone. They are a dying people, we should let them pass.”

Sinclair asks in response, “Who, the Narn or Centauri?” Kosh’s response will become his default response throughout the series for even the most complicated questions,

“Yes.”

Say It Again Mac:

Londo Mollari, ” A clerical error. We Thought your world was Beta 9, it was actually Beta 12. Okay, we made a mistake. I’m sorry. Here, open my wrists.”

Londo again, in response to Mr. Garibaldi pointing out that the Centauri don’t have any major arteries in their wrists, “Of course we don’t. What do you think I’m stupid.”

Susan Ivanova, “I do not like Santiago. I’ve always felt that a leader should have a strong chin. He has no chin and his Vice President has several. This, to me, is not a good combination.”

Ivanova again, “Mr. Garibaldi. You’re sitting at my station, using my equipment. Is there a reason for this? Or to save time should I just go ahead and snap your hands off at the wrists?”

G’Kar, “I will confess I look forward to the day when we have cleansed the universe of the Centauri and carved their bones into little flutes for Narn children. Tis a dream I have.”

Yes, I Am A Fleet Junkie:

The Narn Regime really bare their teeth in this episode. Their capital ship of choice this time around would be the T’Loth Class Assault Cruiser. The T’Loth is large enough to form it’s own jump point, but it doesn’t feature any onboard gravity. It carries an accompaniment of eight Frazi Class Heavy Fighters, and its armament consists of two plasma cannons, four medium pulse cannons, six light pulse cannons, and an array of fusion missiles. Unfortunately all the T’Loth’s do is spearhead the attack on Ragesh 3, they don’t actually attack or show any of their capabilities. This is the one and only time we get to see the T’Loth, and that’s not too surprising as it shares no design similarity at all with any other Narn ships we see throughout the show. It’s a rather bulky ship, and features a drab blue and gray color scheme in direct opposition to the red and black spot design that is present on all other Narn capital ships. The T’Loth resembles two G’Quan Class Heavy Cruisers, the Narn capital ship seen in every Narn battle from this episode onward, turned sideways and held together by some sort of connecting bridge.

The aforementioned Frazi Class Heavy Fighters are the workhorses of the Narn Regime and they show this off right away when they are the ships that seize Ragesh 3. A Frazi is a single person fighter craft that features a pressurized cabin but does not feature any gravity. The Frazi has an armament of four missiles and two 52mm pulse cannons. In the skirmish above Ragesh 3 the Frazi are quick to take out their targets, so at this point not much is known about their capability in combat.

The Narn aren’t shown to be attacking the planet of Ragesh 3 itself, but rather a Centauri Republic Space Station in orbit around the planet. Not much is know about the capabilities of the station because the Narn take care of the outlying mines and the station itself in very short order.

The pride of the Earth Alliance and truly the second best fighter craft in the galaxy, second only to the Minbari’s Nial Class Heavy Fighter, among the secondary races would be the Starfuries. There are two basic designs to the Starfuries, the Aurora Class Starfury Heavy fighter and the Badger Class Starfury Heavy Fighter. Both are so similar in design that there is no real way to know which one is being used in any given battle. The Aurora contains four 40mm pulse cannons, two 35mm pulse cannons and an array of missiles. The Badger consists of one 32mm gatling gun, six 40mm pulse cannons, four 40mm plasma bolt cannons, and an array of fusion missiles. The only visible difference between the two is that the Aurora is a one pilot vehicle, whereas the Badger is a two pilot vehicle (not to be confused with the later upgrade of the Starfury class to the Thunderbolt class). Starfuries are non-atmospheric but because of their design are the most agile and power packed fighter other than the Nial that you will find among the second class races.

The Raiders main fighter of choice is the Zephyr 109 Light Fighter, very similar in design to the Stealth Bomber currently in use by the United States of America. The Zephyr’s armament consists of two 42mm plasma bolt cannons and an array of standard missiles. The Zephyr is designed to maneuver in both atmosphere and space, and therefore it loses a great deal of maneuverability in space battles. These vessels are very cheap to build and maintain and because of that they are destroyed fairly easily in combat situations with superior forces.

When Sinclair takes off to confront the Raiders he brings one squadron, Delta, of B5′s Starfuries with him and each squadron consists of twelve fighter craft. The Raiders do not have standardized squadrons, so the forces he took on could range anywhere from five craft to fifteen craft. Because the Starfuries have both the firepower and numerical edge they arrive and dispatch of the Zephyr’s with ease, destroying most and running off the rest within a matter of seconds.

At this point in time not much has been revealed about the capabilities of Babylon 5 itself. It is an Earth Alliance O’ Neill Class Space Station. Later we will learn about and see its defense grid and armaments in action. But, as of this episode all we know is that they house squadrons of Starfuries, only the Aurora class however, and that each squadron consists of twelve fighter craft. At this point in time B5 only houses three squadrons, Alpha, Omega and Delta.

It’s Your Cultural Imperative:

The Centauri don’t have any major arteries in their wrists.

The Earth Alliance has an organization that oversees and manages all of its telepaths, the Psi Corps.

Telepaths have a rating system, from the very dredges of P1 to the most powerful, P12′s (although there are even those that rank above a P12, but they are few and far between). B5′s resident telepath Talia Winters is a P5.

Spoo gets a mention here. It is a food, the B5 equivalent to spam, and it can be found on numerous worlds and will be referenced in many episodes.

Kosh lives in the alien sector of B5, in a non-oxygen atmosphere.

The Narn homeworld only recently managed to restore a few forests thanks to the Centauri stripping it bare during their occupation over a hundred years ago.

A quick rundown of what is know about the major races on the station at this point,

Vorlon Empire: They are mysterious and not much is know about them at all. They walk around in encounter suits and no one has ever seen what they actually look like. They are however known to be extremely powerful, easily the most powerful of all the major races.

Minbari Federation: They are a biped race that is very human in appearance, except for their lack of hair on their heads and the ridged bone structure that covers the back of their head (There are group differences in this bone structure that will be touched upon at a later time). They are considered the second most powerful force in the galaxy outside of the Vorlons, and much like the Vorlons they are very secretive about their inner workings at this point.

Narn Regime: Once a conquered and beaten people, this biped very marsupial looking race are once again a free people. They are the sworn enemy of the Centauri and have spent all their years since the Centauri occupation ended building up their military might so that they can one day conquer the Centauri. As this episode shows they have accomplished much in that regard and now boast a very powerful and formidable military.

Centauri Republic: Another biped race, but they are differentiated in outward appearance by their hair style. Centauri women are bald except for in some cases where they have a long pony tail hanging from the back of their head. Centauri men have large almost crown like hair that is combed upwards towards the sky, the higher and bigger your hair the higher your place in society. The Centauri were once a conquering race in the galaxy, controlling much land and enslaving many races. Now however they have lost much land and most of their power. They are eternally at odds with the Narn thanks to enslaving them for a time and as this episode shows they have lost the ability to fight back when their borders are encroached because of how small their power base currently is.

Earth Alliance: They are easily enough, us. Nothing has changed physically about us in any way except for the introduction of telepaths into our society and we have longer life spans. The EA reached out among the stars and clearly established itself as a major power among all the second class races that they came into contact with. This all changed when they met the Minbari in the year 2245 and the Earth-Minbari War began. The EA was no match for the Minbari and for three years they were beaten back until for reasons that will come later the Minbari surrendered and ended the war. To avoid any more conflicts created by simple misunderstandings the EA began work on the Babylon Project and after many problems Babylon 5 was created as a place for all races to congregate and learn about each other and mediate problems. The EA is a major power and they have a strong military but they are the weakest of all the major races.

I Think This Might Be Based On Something:

The title of this episode is taken from a lyric by songwriter Harry Chapin, “…and if our future lies on the firing line, are we brave enough to see the signals and the signs….”

You Look Mighty Familiar:

Claudia Christian’s, Susan Ivanova, voice should be recognizable from her role as Helga Katrina Sinclair in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Mira Furlan, Delenn, should be known to all sci-fi, and good TV, fans for he recurring role as Danielle Rousseau in Lost. She also had a small role on the excellent Spider-Man: The Animated Series as the voice of Silver Sable. She’s also been in many features in Europe, probably most known to B5 fans are a few of her early works where she does get with the naked.

Andrea Thompson, Talia Winters, has a series of appearances on 24 as Dr. Nicole Duncan and JAG as Commander Alison Krennick. Her most notable role would have been as a series regular for a few seasons on NYPD Blue as Det. Jill Kirkendall, or her recurring role on Falcon Crest as Genele Ericson.

Stephen Furst’s, Vir, most notable role would be that of Kent “Flounder” Dorfman in the excellent comedy Animal House. He’s also made numerous appearances in subsequent National Lampoon offerings as either that role or others and they were all pretty regrettable. On the TV screen he played Dr. Elliot Axelrod on the drama St. Elsewhere for many years. He lent his voice to the role of Booster in the movie Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins and the subsequent TV series of the same name. He would also go onto to direct some episodes of B5 and its spinoff series Crusade as well as some low budget Sci-Fi Channel movies.

Sci-fi fans should know Andreas Katsulas, G’Kar, from his appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Commander Tomalak for a number of episodes as well as his one off appearance on Enterprise as a Vissian Captain. However his biggest role would have been as Frederick Skykes, the one armed man, in the theatrical adaptation of The Fugitive.

Peter Jurasik, Londo Mollari, has stretched his sci-fi legs in the series Sliders as Dr. Oberon Geiger for a trio of episodes. Outside of sci-fi he has appeared on Hill Street Blues as Sid the Snitch and Bay City Blues as Mitch Klein.

Blink and you might miss Edward James Olmos as the bartender in this episode. Currently he is known for portraying Admiral William Adama on the hit remake of Battlestar Galactica. His other big time roles were that of Lt. Martin Castillo for a few years on Miami Vice and that of Jess Gonzalez on American Family. He has had a number of one off appearances on US TV series and has even directed a few episodes of BSG.

Casting Ahead:

Mark Hendrickson makes an appearance in this episode as the Narn Captain, and he will go onto play many different Narns over the course of this series as well as a Drakh on Crusade.

Paul Hampton plays the Senator that corresponds with Sinclair in this episode, a part he also played in B5′s pilot, The Gathering.

This episode introduces almost all the regulars from the first season. Returning from the pilot are Delenn as the Minbari ambassador, although her appearance has changed dramatically. Originally Delenn had a very rough look about her and was supposed to be androgynous, but here she is very feminine and has much more of a classic beauty look. Also returning are Michael O’ Hare as Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, Jerry Doyle as Security Chief Michael Garibaldi, as well as the Narn Ambassador G’Kar and the Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari and in the case of all these characters nothing much changed about them at all.

Talia Winters is introduced as the station telepath, replacing Patricia Tallman’s Lyta Alexander from the pilot. The studio execs didn’t feel Tallman was hot enough for the role so Talia was created.

Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova makes her first appearance in this episode. She replaced Lt. Commander Laurel Takashima, played by Tamlyn Tomita. There were originally big plans for the character of Takashima, but none of those plans were moved over to Ivanova as she was given a completely different path to take.

Also new was the character of Vir, and this is the first time we see any sort of Ambassadorial aide in the show. And, although not new, it is important to note that Ardwight Chamberlain returns to provide the voice of Kosh. And while he may not be credited Jeffrey Willerth returns to be the body under the Kosh suit.

Marianne Robertson plays Tech #1, the female Tech with the short haircut, and while never a main or important character she will play that role for all of season one.

That Wasn’t Supposed To Happen:

In this episode Sinclair actually asks for entry to the alien sector itself to see Ambassador Kosh. This does not gel with what we see later in the series where the alien sector aside from the atmosphere difference functions exactly the same as the rest of the station in regards to access to quarters being granted at the door to the quarters themselves.

In the scene where Londo is watching a video of the Narn attack on Ragesh 3 he orders the computer to enlarge and enhance the image of a Narn fighter. Unfortunately the computer had already highlighted the Narn fighter before Londo ever uttered a word.

The Ombuds Have Decided:

This is a good episode, but it suffers from anything beyond being basic. It needs to set forth the world, the people, the station, all the things that are necessary for the viewer to have a basic grasp of what is going on. It does all this and in spades, but in doing so it lacks any real depth or excitability.

On the action/CGI standpoint the showdown between the Zephyrs and the Starfuries is easily one of the worst looking space battles that the show will ever come up with. However the station looks beautiful and the various background aliens all look great.

The dialogue shows hints of the greatness that is to come and it is rather clunk free for an episode type that lends itself to all kinds of clunk. The character interactions are still beginning to form, and while a little rough they still have an air of believability and history behind them. G’Kar and Londo immediately jump right into the heat of things and their relationship, or lack of one at this point, feels the most intense and real out of all the ones on the station.

There is also a bit of sly acting done by Michael O’ Hare. Most lead actors in sci-fi portray their character as the gung ho soldier, but that is not Sinclair at all. This episode is the first inkling we get of the thought that lay underneath the surface of Jeffrey Sinclair. These type of episodes where political debate or thoughtful issues are at the head are the episodes where Sinclair shines, as opposed to the tense action episodes where he always seems out of place.

Midnight On The Firing Line is a perfunctory episode, but it is an episode that gets the job done although that means that the plot being functional is hard to connect with on any sort of emotional level.

Rating:

72/100

C+

That’s it for this time, and for those of you that think this was too wordy, I’m sorry. Babylon 5 is a very complex series and I tend to be a big fact monger and try to list all the little tidbits I think are cool. Don’t worry, as the series progresses there will be far less introductory information to get to so the amount written will get a little smaller. For those who don’t care about my fascination with factoids in any way, just skip to the Idiosyncratic Musings, The Ombuds Have Decided, and Rating sections for the main review portion of the article. I’ll see you next review with Soul Hunter

Cheers,
Bill

Next – 1.02