Deathwalker

Immortality is cool, until you realize that your wife also took the immortality serum and will be asking you if she looks fat for all of eternity. One hope I do have is that if I take an immortality serum I can as a Cubs fan finally see them win the World Series about 200 years from now. Of course after all that time I still won’t know what the heck Kosh is saying half the time, but you win some you lose some.

Written By: Lawrence G. Ditillio
Directed By: Bruce Seth Green

Bare Essentials:

A Plot - The former Dilgar Warmaster, and war criminal, Jha’Dur arrives on station. She brings with her an immortality serum that both the Earth Alliance and Narn Regime are vying for. The League Of Non-Aligned Worlds gets involved and Sinclair enacts a compromise wherein Jha’Dur will be transported back to Earth but League scientists will be present during the whole process and Jha’Dur will face a trial when the serum is perfected. Turns out there is a catch to the serum, in order for one vial to be created another living being must be killed. All of this rouses the interests of the Vorlons who destroy Jha’Dur’s flyer before it can leave Babylon 5 space.

B Plot - Kosh has decided he wants to take a recording of Talia Winters personality, using a Vicker, for some reason or another and no one knows why.

More Arc, Less Arch:

The scene with Londo chasing down Sinclair to try and get information on Jha’Dur when combined with Londo’s lack of interest in Jha’Dur in the Council meetings continues the thread of the Centauri decline in inter-stellar importance that we all know is going to change real soon.

The Minbari clan the Wind Swords seem to know a lot about Sinclair, particularly that he has a hole in his mind, and they also fear him. This ties in with what we have seen from the Minbari in regards to Sinclair in The Gathering and in And The Sky Full Of Stars. Why they care about him so much will be revealed more fully in Chrysalis, Points Of Departure and In The Beginning and will be shown to be a false fear in War Without End, Part Two.

Talia’s memories being triggered by Kosh is the first clear sign we are given that the Vorlons may be high level telepaths. This will of course be further explored in In The Shadow Of Z’ha’dum and in Dust To Dust, Interludes And Examinations, Z’ha’dum and finally in Secrets Of The Soul.

The recording of Talia will turn up again in the mind of Garibaldi in Divided Loyalties.

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

Why is Na’Toth remanded to G’Kar’s quarters for house arrest and not to her own?

Did the Dilgar’s sun naturally go Nova, or were other factors involved?

Idiosyncratic Musings:

The main issue in Deathwalker is that of the morality of using the works of a known war criminal. A big play is made on the fact that everyone wants the serum despite the fact that Jha’Dur is a war criminal. Personally I don’t see this as a big deal. What matters is the end product, and in this case if Jha’Dur’s serum would have actually led to a world with no disease or death then it would have been worth it and it shouldn’t have mattered one iota what her past was. This doesn’t mean that Jha’Dur should become a lauded figure, but rather that her work should be used because it would be stupid and foolish not to use it.

G’Kar’s duality is on display again. On the one hand he is willing to forego Narn tradition and Na’Toth’s Shon’Kar in order to get the anti-agapic from Jha’Dur. But, on the other hand he is not willing to turn Na’Toth over to Jha’Dur in order to get said anti-agapic because of his loyalty to Na’Toth. These are tiny glimpses into G’Kar that lay the groundwork for what is to come with his character.

A central issue tackled in Deathwalker is the idea of morality versus policy or orders. A key scene in this issue takes place between Garibaldi and Sinclair when Sinclair is instructing Garibaldi what they are going to do about Jha’Dur based on Earth’s orders. Sinclair doesn’t like his orders and you can tell from the way in which he hands them out. Garibaldi can’t stand the orders and he puts up a big fight about them. However in the end they both go along with the orders because while they may not morally agree with what is being done it is an order that they have to follow. The fact that this was more of a past tense moral issue will set up the difference to come later on when Sheridan, Garibaldi, et al decide not to follow orders that they deem to morally corrupt in the present tense.

Ivanova waiting to smile until after Sinclair has left the Observation Dome following his compliment of her is a nice touch. It is a small thing, but it manages to capture the pride she takes in her job but also at the same time her commitment to her duty as she won’t let her commanding officer see her smile in regards to his compliment.

There seems to be a consensus among fans that the Vicker recording Talia was a plan by Kosh to somehow do something about her implanted personality. I never found that to be the case at all, mainly because I don’t believe Talia ever had a second personality until that was retconned in with Divided Loyalties. Kosh wasn’t recording her main personality, but rather he was taking a look at her current state of being. He couldn’t, or probably didn’t want to, just randomly abduct Talia to the Vorlon homeworld for testing so instead he was using the Vicker to gauge where she was at with her powers. Through this recording Kosh had a template to work off of for the eventual further modification of her powers that was to take place.

The actions of Kosh throughout the episode and the Vorlons as a whole at the end really helps push home the point about how powerful they really are. Kosh can do whatever he wants to Talia and put her through the ringer ten times over and there isn’t a thing she can do about it. The Vorlons can kill Jha’Dur at their slightest whim and they know that they don’t have to worry about any repercussions from the other races. They are truly the big dog in the yard and this is the first episode that really drives home that point.

I See What You Did There:

Abbut claims to be a telepath with a rating of P23, but that’s doubtful.

Jha’Dur infected the entire population of Latiq 4 with the Stafford’s Plague, killing them all. She was also responsible for the destructions of the planets Tirolus, Comac 4 and Halax.

After the Dilgar War the Wind Swords sheltered Jha’Dur. They brought weapons that she designed before the Grey Council to use against humans in the Earth-Minbari War, but the Council refused to use them and that is when they realized that the Wind Swords were harboring her.

A Vicker is a being that can record anything, sights, sounds, biorhythms and thoughts. They have an exposed brain with an electronic interface around their cranium that can accommodate a data crystal port.

The Abbai Ambassador is now Kalika as opposed to Mila Shar from The War Prayer.

It’s Not Kosher If It’s Not Kosh:

There is quite a lot of Kosh greatness in this episode, “We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.”

“Understanding is a three-edged sword.”

“The willows must scuttle carefully.”

“We shall commence again tomorrow at the hour of longing.”

“Ah, you seek meaning?”

Talia responds, “Yes.”
Kosh counters, “Then listen to the music, not the song.”

“What is need compared to the path?”

“A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from the bristles.”

“Reflection… Surprise… Terror… For the Future.”

“You are not ready for immortality.”

Say It Again Mac:

Jha’Dur, “Delicious irony, don’t you think? That those who cursed us will have to thank us for the rest of time.”

Lennier, “And like all secrets long kept we can not bear the shame of admitting it now.”

Jha’Dur again, “It is the way of things, Sinclair. The superior controls the inferior.”

Jha’Dur yet again, and this one is stunning, “You will fall upon one another like wolves. It will make what we did pale by comparison. The billions who live forever will be a testimony to my work. And the billions murdered to buy that immortality will be the continuance of my work. Not like us? You will become us.”

Yes, I Am A Fleet Junkie:

A Drazi Sun-Hawk, also sometimes called a War Bird, Class Gun Ship makes its first appearance on the series. This small ship is not jump capable and only carries one Sky-Serpent Class Heavy Fighter on its back. The Sun-Hawk carries a crew of 12, and an armament consisting of 1 heavy plasma cannon, 4 pulse cannons, 3 particle beam cannons, and an array of fusion missiles. It bears a resemblance to a firefly in design and is a very tough and rugged ship that is the primary war vessel of the Drazi Freehold.

The Babylon 5 defense grid gets a mention in Deathwalker although it is not put to use. At this point in time the B5 defense grid was not all that powerful as its armament consisted of pulse cannons and plasma cannons only.

The cylindrical vessel with a green energy field in the center is a vessel of the Ipsha. Next to nothing is known about this vessel, other than that it has a designation of Battleglobe, although no class or vessel name is given.

The saucer looking ships that come through the jump gate are the Vree Xorr Class Attack Cruiser. These are different from the later seen Xill’s in that they have gun turrets on the top and bottom of the craft. The Xorr carries a crew of about 20, is jump capable, it is not known if it carries any fighter craft, and it has an armament that consists of 6 pulsed ion cannons. It is a rather light cruiser and is not the main war vessel of the Vree Conglomerate.

The Vorlons decide all previous entries of Yes, I Am A Fleet Junkie have been child’s play as they finally enter the arena. They show off their Star Class Dreadnought and it is a behemoth of a war ship. It’ is a living ship, yes, it is alive, with a bio-armored hull. Its crew is unknown, but it definitely has jump capabilities for both hyperspace and the not known about at this point in time quantum space. It carries an armament of several lightning guns and one Vorlon death ray and that is all it needs. But, in case that wasn’t enough it also houses 40 Lightning Class Heavy Fighters. There is not a single war ship from any other race in the galaxy that can stand up to a Star, and in most cases not even a flotilla can.

The Star immediately goes to work as it jumps into real space, fires one shot that misses and then vaporizes Jha’Dur’s flyer with the second shot that lands. Impressive indeed.

It’s Your Cultural Imperative:

A Shon’Kar is a Narn blood oath. It is an oath for revenge in the form of death that takes precedence over any laws or social mores and it is deeply ingrained in Narn society.

The Dilgar are a biped feline looking race with a pulled back nose and a raised bone structure on their foreheads. They were a race of significant power some thirty or so years ago that waged a bloody and brutal war against the League Of Non-Aligned Worlds. The Dilgar had no problems destroying whole planets or with using genetic or biological warfare. Eventually with the aid of the Earth Alliance the League managed to beat back the Dilgar and invaded the Dilgar homeworld. The remaining Dilgar were killed off when their sun went nova, except for one remaining Dilgar that was not present when the sun went nova.

The Russian Consortium on Earth has been researching the idea of immortality for years.

The alien next to Ambassador Kalika in the council meeting and later in her meeting with Sinclair is a Markab. They are a biped humanoid race with a flat nose and a scaled head. Within the Markab there are two different races, they are distinguished by a massive overbite on either the lower or upper jaw. They are members of the League Of Non-Aligned Worlds and are a rather young race and as such are not among the more powerful members of the League.

The race of the Ipsha Federation get a mention, and all that is known about them is that they are a member of the League Of Non-Aligned Worlds.

The Vree Conglomerate, referred to as the Ventuki Conglomerate as well, get a mention. They have not been seen yet, but when you do see them you will know them. They are a humanoid like race with large black eyes, enlarged heads and a smooth pale skin. They resemble the classic alien invaders of 1950’s Earth, and they should as they are those same aliens that were surveying Earth around that time. They are an oligarchy based society and are one of the more powerful members of the League Of Non-Aligned Worlds.

With the death of Jha’Dur as far as we are aware the Dilgar as an alien race are entirely deceased.

I Think This Might Be Based On Something:

The character of Jha’Dur is obviously modeled after various sycophants and murderers that did lots of bad things in the name of science. Dr. Josef Mangele from the Nazi regime immediately comes to mind.

You Look Mighty Familiar:

Aki Aleong, Sen. Hidoshi, played General Tran in the SeaQuest DSV episode Better Than Martians. He also played Mr. Chiang for a series of episodes in V: The Series.

Robin Curtis, Ambassador Kalika, played marine Andrea Wilkins in the Space: Above And Beyond episode Eyes. She also played the character Tallera for the two part Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Gambit and Lieutenant Saavik in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Sarah Douglas, Jha’Dur, took on the role of Ursa in Superman: The Movie and Superman II. She played Pamela in V: The Final Battle as well as Queen Taramis in Conan the Destroyer. She was Dr. Lana Zurrell in The Return Of Swamp Thing along with many other genre roles.

Casting Ahead:

Mark Hendrickson returns, this time he plays the Drazi Captain, Markas Ashok.

Sev Farrow played Tech #1 in Infection, and now he is back to play Tech #2.

Robert Ditillio, brother of the writer, played Norg in the episode Born To The Purple and now he is back to play the Markab Ambassador.

That Wasn’t Supposed To Happen:

Lennier refers to the Wind Swords as the most militant of all “our warrior castes.” There is only one warrior caste, so he should have said, “our warrior clans.”

There is an error in the scene where Jha’Dur’s flyer is on its approach to the jump gate. The monitor that everyone is watching shows her approaching the jump gate as it is forming a vortex for her. However when the camera cuts outside we see that her flyer is approaching the jump gate and the vortex has yet to open.

How did Jha’Dur live so long with a Minbari warrior clan and yet by the time of In The Beginning the Minbari claim to have no idea who the humans are? Surely if they knew who Jha’Dur was and were willing to shelter her then that means that they, and most other Minbari, had knowledge of what was happening in the rest of the universe and thus had knowledge of the humans. This doesn’t jive at all with the supposed first contact between the Minbari and humans in In The Beginning.

The Ombuds Have Decided:

A prime example of what great science fiction can and should be. It takes a simple moral conundrum and puts it and you through the ringer for the full 45 minutes. The simple fact is that there is no easy answer to the issues presented in Deathwalker. The characters realize this as the show progresses and you the viewer realize it as well.

On my first run through B5 I remember not being all that impressed with Larry Ditillio, but this episode is the exception to the rule. The writing in Deathwalker is crisp and efficient throughout with only one real hiccup. The dialogue is witty and snappy but also deep, profound and meaningful when it needs to be. The issues draw you in, but the writing keeps you in your seat.

There were powerful performances across the board in this episode. Sarah Douglas especially was terrific as the mortifying war monger. What made her performance so great was that it was still close to home. You can easily see in her performance that any and all of the races on B5 have someone like her and none of them want to realize that fact.

The B plot of Talia and Kosh is light and more intrigue than anything else, but that is a good thing. It helps to balance out the tremendous amount of philosophy and deep morality that is put across in the A plot. A story like that of Jha’Dur and her serum can get too heavy at times and the story of Kosh messing with Talia helped to offset that heaviness. But, in this case just when you thought it was nothing but Vorlon silliness you are smacked in the face by the vivid imagery in Talia’s mind.

The final exchange between Jha’Dur and Sinclair is powerful on both ends. Jha’Dur’s speech is epic, completely imparting the full gravity of what is going on. Sinclair’s reaction helps top off the scene by conveying his disgust not at what she is doing but at the fact that she is 100% correct.

Outside of the few small mistakes there was only one story point that really didn’t fit. The exchange between Sinclair and Garibaldi right before the Council meeting began about Minbari honor was clunky and wasn’t needed. Sinclair’s reaction during the meeting along with his conversation with Lennier after the meeting got the point about Minbari honor across just fine without the unnecessary exposition beforehand.

Rating:

93/100

A

Whew, that was a good one and the type of sci-fi that I love to review. Next time I will chime in with more of the same in Believers.

Cheers,
Bill

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