Babylon Squared

Time travel is always choice, unless you are an idiot that can’t tell a good story. Luckily that is not the case with JMS, although I do fear what would have happened had D.C. Fontana been the one to work on this story. On a lighter note, why is it that dudes that use weird syntax in their speech are always the most amusing? In real life they’d be annoying as all get out, but on the big, or small, screen we love em, go fig?

Written By: J. Michael Straczynski
Directed By: Jim Johnston

Bare Essentials:

A Plot - Babylon 4 is unstuck in time and it is up to Sinclair and Garibaldi to lead a rescue mission to evacuate its inhabitants. The evacuation is successful, but along the way they come across a mysterious alien by the name of Zathras and a weird figure in a space suit. It turns out that the two are connected and that the figure in the space suit is Sinclair from the future who is also accompanied by an off screen Delenn. The present day Sinclair and Garibaldi never discover this but do manage to get off B4 before it is lost once again in the time distortion.

B Plot - Delenn has been elected leader of the Grey Council. She doesn’t want this position and turns it down in order to remain on B5 and attend to the upcoming prophecy with the humans. Because of this a new leader will be elected and more than likely she will be removed from the Council.

More Arc, Less Arch:

Sinclair flashes forward to B5’s last stand against some unknown enemy, probably the Shadows or at the very least their minions by my guessing. Garibaldi has rigged the fusion reactors to blow and he convinces Sinclair to leave the station and allow him to live out his destiny. It’s a cool little scene that doesn’t end up happening in the future, but it does play a big part in foreshadowing the coming of the Shadows and just how destructive they are going to be and could have been to the station. Sinclair’s flash also ties in with Lady Ladira’s vision of the destruction of B5 in Signs And Portents, and is a major point in War Without End, Part 1.

Delenn’s musing about the future of the human trace may be a foreshadowing to the ultimate fate of the human race as Vorlon like being in The Deconstruction Of Falling Stars.

Delenn’s entire conversation with the Grey Council about prophecy is a continuation of the “Minbari souls in human bodies arc” that was first mentioned, albeit very subtly, in Soul Hunter and was seen again in And The Sky Full Of Stars and will be seen further in Points Of Departure, Severed Dreams, Ceremonies Of Light And Dark, War Without End, Part 2 and In The Beginning.

Zathras tells Sinclair he has a destiny, this will be witnessed first hand by Zathras in War Without End, Part 2, and somewhat shown in the comic In Valen’s Name issues one through 3.

Delenn is given a triluminary as she is leaving the Sharlin of the Grey Council. We have seen a triluminary once in Legacies, but the triluminary will be very important for Delenn in Chrysalis and for Sinclair in War Without End, Part 2.

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

Why did Sinclair suffer some sort of feedback when he touched the individual in the space suit?

Idiosyncratic Musings:

The discussion between Delenn and the rest of the Grey Council in regards to prophecy is a good one. Does prophecy attend to itself or must certain people do certain things to make sure the prophecy occurs? There’s no right or wrong answer to that question, but it does lead to a myriad of possibilities. Is a prophecy really a prophecy if someone has to make sure it actually takes place? The entire nature of a prophecy is that it is an event that has been prophesied to happen, not that it is an event that has been predicted to be manipulated into occurring by certain people. But, it is also true that prophecies might never come to pass if not for the involvement of certain crucial people. With that being the case maybe the prophecy only refers to the end result and not the methods or people that bring about that end result. Like I said, there is no right or wrong answer to the issue, but it is a good topic with a lot of meat to it.

The thoughts of the Grey Council on humans is more evidence of the rampant xenophobia of the Minbari people. Because humans display characteristics not found in the Minbari themselves they are clearly an inferior, primitive people and certainly not integral to any prophecy. The racism constantly on display by the Minbari really is a disturbing trend for a people that are viewed as the most sophisticated and advanced of the normal races.

I See What You Did There:

Babylon 4 disappeared from known space, Sector 14 to be exact, four years ago.

Prolonged exposure to time distortion results in rapid aging.

Say It Again Mac:

Zathras, “Oooh, ooh, not the one. Not the one. Won’t talk. Can’t talk. Not the one. They told me, they did. Zathras listens, he does, yes. Zathras listens and does what he’s told.”

Zathras again, “We live for the one, we would die for the one.”

Yet more Zathras, “You take, Zathras die. You leave, Zathras die. Either way, it is bad for Zathras.”

Yes, I Am A Fleet Junkie:

Babylon 4 is huge, really huge, much bigger than Babylon 5. Babylon 4 is an O’Neill Class Deep Space Station. Unlike B5 it is not stationary and has the ability to navigate itself with an ion engine. The B4 station also possessed an impressive armament consisting of twin particle arrays, particle laser cannons, pulse cannons, fusion cannons, various missile launchers and MK II defense grid energy projectors. Most impressive of all was the fact that it housed over 108 Aurora Class Starfury Heavy Fighters. B4 also carries a crew of around 6,200 and can accommodate up to 25,000 troops. Unlike B5 that was originally a very weak and almost defenseless space station, B4 was a very formidable station indeed and would have been the pride of the EA.

It’s Your Cultural Imperative:

Following the Earth-Minbari War all Earth Alliance stations or command posts began to broadcast secure ID codes on a sub channel when communicating.

The Minbari governing body is called the Grey Council, and it consists of nine members. One of the nine is chosen to be the leader of the Council, and by default all the Minbari, by the other eight members in an informal election process. The leader once elected appears to be the leader for life and there is a ten year period of mourning that must take place following his/her death before a new leader can be elected.

In the 1,000 year existence of the Grey Council no member has ever refused their appointment as leader, Delenn is the first.

No info is ever given about Zathras’ race, not where they come from, who they are, etc.. From what I can glean they are biped and breathe an oxygen atmosphere. They have an almost muskrat like look to them in their facial features, walk a bit like a hunchback and speak in an erratic syntax.

I Think This Might Be Based On Something:

Babylon 4 is compared to that of the Flying Dutchman. There are various stories about the Flying Dutchman, but the one common thread is that in every one of them the Flying Dutchman ends up destined to roam the seas forever with no hope of ever returning home. The Flying Dutchman was recently reintegrated into popular culture through it’s portrayal in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirate’s Of The Caribbean: At World’s End.

Garibaldi’s actions in Sinclair’s flash forward are a clear homage to Pvt. Hudson, as portrayed by Bill Paxton, in Aliens.

The blue space suit worn by future Sinclair was originally used in the film, 2010.

B5’s ID code is actually Elvis Presley’s birthday.

Casting Ahead:

Doug McCoy returns as yet another Starfury pilot, this time the ill fated Alpha Seven pilot.

Mark Hendrickson is back, he’s credited as Grey Council #2, but we’ll go ahead and say he’s the same as Grey Council #1 that he played in And The Sky Full Of Stars.

Denise Gentile is back as Lise Hampton.

That Wasn’t Supposed To Happen:

It’s such a minor gaffe, but it doesn’t make any sense that the suit that future Sinclair is wearing would make a comment about the atmosphere now being breathable for him when Zathras is running around breathing the same atmosphere all the time, and more to the point, past Sinclair and a bunch of other humans are breathing that same atmosphere.

The Ombuds Have Decided:

Babylon Squared is such a fast paced episode. It delivers intrigue and mystery in spades. It works so well because none of the mystery is explained but at the same time it’s not ludicrous or beyond your ability to comprehend. Babylon Squared is a mystery that we are merely along for the ride on, but that’s fine because it is a hell of a ride. The scenes with Delenn and the Grey Council help to add a bit of levity to contrast the manic and almost insane nature of the B4 scenes. The ep gives off an ominous feeling from start to finish and it never wavers or buckles in that feeling. If not for the one little gaffe with the atmosphere of future Sinclair’s suit Babylon Squared would be perfection.

Babylon Squared starts off with a bang in the opening meal switching scene. It’s a really funny scene but it also drives home the point of how close Ivanova, Garibaldi and Sinclair are without having to be heavy handed about it.

The little things in Babylon Squared like the music, cryptic messages and most of all Sinclair’s speech to the shuttle and Starfury pilots help to create an immense intrigue that builds and builds as the episode progresses, and it never lets up.

Garibaldi’s fasten/zip questioning is both hilarious and true. It’s very funny, Jerry Doyle and Michael O’
Hare play off of each other nicely and never miss a beat. At the same time it’s very realistic. As a fellow inquisitive person I can tell you that the merits of fastening and zipping is the type of inane and mundane stuff I think about all the time. Especially on long car trips where there is nothing else to do, or in my case whenever the moment strikes me.

I liked the effect that the time distortion had on the denizens of B4. They were all a bit unhinged and were coming even further undone. This could even be seen in Garibaldi and Sinclair who became more and more frazzled as the episode moved along. Some people have complained about the acting of Major Krantz, but I don’t have any problem with it because of how it played into this factor. His erratic behavior and over the top expressions and mannerisms helped to add to how out of control the situation was for the people on B4. This is further enforced later on in the scene where Garibaldi is herding people, from B4 onto shuttles in groups of five. That scene gives the episode even more of a feeling of intensity and adds the sense that anything could go wrong at any moment.

I love the juxtaposition of the Delenn storyline. It’s so grounded and realistic that it really helps bring the episode back to normal after the harried nature of the B4 scenes. It makes the pacing of the entire episode work, because without it the B4 storyline probably would have spiraled out of control.

Tim Choate’s performance as Zathras is amazing. He turns a character that could have been dumb and foolish into something very cool. All the little ticks, facial expressions and mannerisms make Zathras such an interesting character. The fact that we never actually learn anything concrete about him only adds to the mystery of the episode.

Garibaldi flashes back to when he made the decision to leave mars for Babylon 5. It’s a tragic scene for Garibaldi. You know how bad his personal life has turned out and you are now forced to watch him relive what he considers the biggest loss of his life in Lise Hampton. What makes it even worse for him, and for you watching him endure the scenario again, is that he can’t do a thing but live through it yet again. Garibaldi’s crying out of “Lise” over and over as he is dragged back into reality is particularly poignant.

Rating:

99/100

A

We’re nearing the end of season one now, and it’s been a heck of a ride. A bit bumpy in parts, but hopefully there won’t be many potholes, or plotholes as it were, in The Quality Of Mercy.

Cheers,
Bill

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