TKO

I’ll get this out of the way right now, I compete in numerous combat sports and as a practitioner of those arts this episode is as offensive as an episode covering the subject of fighting can be. I’m still going to complain about this fact in the review proper, but a little forewarning for how mad this topic gets me. That being said I have absolutely not one funny, witty, or cool thing to say about TKO, and that is not a good sign methinks.

Written By: Lawrence G. Ditillio
Directed By: John C. Flinn III

Bare Essentials:

A Plot - An old friend of Garibaldi’s, Walker Smith is on station to compete in the alien fighting tournament, the Mutai. Although denied at first he finds a loophole that allows him to enter thanks to a man named Caliban. He fights to a draw with the Mutai champion and hopes this will help him get back his boxing career on Earth.

B Plot - A family friend of Ivanova’s, Rabbi Koslov, has arrived on B5 to try and convince Ivanova to sit Shiva. After some troubles he finally gets her to sit Shiva and they mourn the loss of her father.

More Arc, Less Arch:

Walker’s parting shot, and earlier mention, to Garibaldi about watching his back is a foreshadow of what awaits Garibaldi in Chrysalis.

Idiosyncratic Musings:

The entire angle of Rabbi Koslov pushing the idea of sitting Shiva on Ivanova and even going behind her back to try and make it happen is one of the main reasons I can’t stand organized religion. Ivanova can’t mourn in whatever way she chooses (whether her way is actually beneficial to her or not is inconsequential), oh no, she must mourn in the traditional method of the Jewish religion otherwise her mourning isn’t as good. That’s complete hogwash, there is no correct way to mourn nor at any point in time did God or any other religious figure, if they existed, ever say you must worship me this way and do things exactly in this manner or you are not being a good “insert religion here.” Usually Babylon 5 handles issues like this very well, but that is not the case with TKO. The tone the episode takes, the way in which it is shot, the music, the writing, all of it treats the actions of the Rabbi as if they are just while Ivanova’s actions are treated as in the wrong until she capitulates and decides to sit Shiva. While I don’t have any problem with Ivanova eventually deciding for herself to sit Shiva as that is her right I do have a major problem with the way this episode endorses the Rabbi shoving the idea of sitting Shiva down Ivanova’s throat and treats it almost like a win in a baseball game when he finally gets his way.

It has been pointed out to me that the Mutai storyline is supposed to represent racism on both sides. I can definitely see that, but it’s handled in such bush league fashion that it doesn’t come across good at all. It’s far too cheesy and over the top for the racism angle to ever take off and matter.

I See What You Did There:

While changing her mind about sitting Shiva Ivanova flashes back to her last conversation with her father in Born To The Purple.

The planets Orion 4 and Cestus get a mention.

The book Ivanova is reading when Rabbi Koslov first comes to see her is Working Without A Net by Harlan Ellison. Ellison is a creative consultant on the show.

Say It Again Mac:

Ivanova, “But my feelings are my own. And how I display them or not is my choice.”

Lost In Translation:

Garibaldi to Walker, “You’re the best I’ve ever seen.” Complete with cheesy music and corny thumbs up.

It’s Your Cultural Imperative:

Usually it is my guideline that in order for me to give a breakdown of a species they must have talked. However I will make an exception because Garibaldi clocking one certainly counts almost as much as talking in my book. Either way the alien dealing with the med slappers in the beginning of TKO is a Llort. The Llort are members of the League Of Non-Aligned Worlds although they are not considered one of the stronger members. They are a biped race with enlarged heads that are very reptilian looking with caved in cheeks and scales all over their foreheads and cheekbones that almost hide their eyes.

At this point in time boxing is governed by one sanctioning body, SportCorp. As someone that competes in boxing that is a ludicrous notion that would never come true in a million years.

The Mutai, trial of blood, is an alien martial arts tournament. Although I use the term martial arts lightly since from what we see on screen it mainly consists of wild flailing around, no ground fighting at all, and weak as hell tae kwon do and karate style kicks and punches. It is held under no rules, and humans are not allowed entry. I assume that the no rules aspect was added to make it seem more dangerous but in actuality it is far more dangerous to compete in a regulated and rule enforced sport like boxing than it is a sport with limited or no rules like no holds barred fighting. The Muta-Do is in charge of the Mutai, the competitors are referred to as Mutari, the corner men are called Ka-Tow and the champion is called the Sho-Rin.

Treel is a Centauri fish.

Yokdri is a Drazi delicacy, fried tree worm shaped like a doughnut.

A very peculiar Drazi appears in TKO. His skin is pale and fleshy looking in stark contrast to the usual greenish/gray scaly skin of a Drazi.

I Think This Might Be Based On Something:

Caliban is a character in the William Shakespeare play, The Tempest. There isn’t any correlation between the character in the play and the one in TKO, but the name is there.

Walker Smith is the real name of famed boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, and he would have been appalled to see someone displaying almost no technique as a boxer taking his namesake.

You Look Mighty Familiar:

Soon-Tek Oh, The Muta-Do, lent his voice to Fa Zhou in Mulan & Mulan II. He portrayed the character of Moughal in the episode Emancipation on Stargate SG-1. He also played Kiem Sun in the Highlander: The Series episode The Road Not Taken. Finally he was in The Greatest American Hero episode Thirty Seconds Over Little Tokyo as Ernie Shikinami.

Lenore Kasdorf, the ISN Reporter, was also in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Lorin in the episode Attached. I remembered her from her small role as Mrs. Rico in Starship Troopers.

James Jude Courtney, Gyor, played the role of Der Kindestod in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Killed By Death.

Theodore Bikel, Rabbi Koslov, is most remembered by sci-fi fans for his portrayal of Worf’s adoptive human father, CPO Sergey Rozhenko, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Family. He also played Eli in the Beauty and the Beast episode, Chamber Music.

Casting Ahead:

Robert Phalen returns, admittedly in flashback mode, as Andrei Ivanov.

Michael McKenzie returns once again. This time he is playing Migo, I believe that is the pale skinned Drazi.

That Wasn’t Supposed To Happen:

While it doesn’t affect this episode per say, a revelation by Ivanova about the time when her mother committed suicide and when her brother died will affect the continuity of the show later on.

The Ombuds Have Decided:

I really wish I could say something superlative about TKO, but I really can’t. Even the parts that weren’t bad were merely passable at best. This is not an episode that shows Babylon 5 at its finest.

The scenes with Ivanova sitting Shiva are fine unto themselves. They aren’t great mind you, but they are perfectly acceptable TV. They succeed in getting across her pain and mourning, but when intermixed with the horrendous Mutai scenes they lose any and all emotional resonance.

Garibaldi’s line to Walker about the word Mutai meaning trial of blood is extremely clumsy and obvious exposition. This was something that was abundant in TKO, there were more than a few instances of obvious exposition.

The whole idea of the Mutai tournament is laughable. The martial arts put on display are pathetic and in no way represent real fighting arts. Where’s the jiu-jitsu, the judo, the wrestling, the muay Thai , kickboxing, or boxing? Oh, that’s right, they’re not there because everyone in the future on a gazillion alien worlds will fight using weak as all heck tae kwon do slap kicks and karate point fighting techniques. That isn’t believable today, it wasn’t believable in the 1980’s, and it’s not believable in the future. You may say, “hey, Walker Smith was a boxer, boxing was represented!” Trust me, the character of Walker Smith was as far removed from looking like an actual boxer as you could get. He went out there and every time he was shown fighting he did so like a basic street brawler, no technique, no actual boxing skills that you would expect to see from someone that was supposedly #2 in the galaxy at some point. After all of that nonsense there is the hilarity of having every single alien race fight exactly the same. Every alien race the world over comes out winging wild haymakers and slap kicks, yes siree bob, that’s the way they fight on every planet the galaxy over. That idea is incredulously stupid. If our own cultural evolution has shown us anything it is that people on the same world will develop a myriad of different ways to fight that are completely different from one another. The same rule would apply to a myriad of alien worlds with different physiologies, terrains, climates, etc.. The entire execution of the Mutai was schlock and pure schlock.

The entire fight scene with Walker and Gyor is pathetic beyond words. I’m literally so appalled by how bad it was that I can’t think of the proper words to describe it. The fighting, the fan interactions, the disgruntled fan ready to attack Walker, Garibaldi’s thumbs up from Caliban, etc.. It’s all just so, ugh…

To end the pathetic Mutai angle we have the Mutari walking around everywhere in their gi’s. That is beyond stupid. I spend a couple of hours every day in a gi, but that’s in the gym. Outside of the gym I wear regular clothes like a regular person because that’s what normal people, or aliens, do.

Rating:

57/100

D+

Now that’s TKO is over with it’s on to Grail. I’ll see you then.

Cheers,
Bill

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