TV: Babylon 5, S1 Disc 1.

The first four episodes of the series are heavy on exposition, bringing new viewers up to speed on the complicated political landscape of B5 as well as the large cast.  They haven't aged especially well, but only Infection (the first episode filmed) is a true misfire.



Episode 1: Midnight on the Firing Line

Russian. So very Russian.

The A plot is pretty lightweight, but it's a good choice for reintroducing the series, as well as some new characters who have been added since The Gathering.  We meet new B5 second Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian),  a major upgrade from Tamlyn Tomita.   Ivanova is aided by her dry Russian stoicism, which is the heaviest (sometimes too heavy; she plays the R-card more than regularly in the first season) background trait that any human character will ever receive in this series.   Also new is Talia Winters (future CNN anchor Andrea Thompson), a licensed commercial Teep to whom Ivanova takes an instant dislike.

  All the alien ambassadors will eventually receive sidekicks in the first season; Londo's aide Vir Cotto (Stephen Furst) is front and center in this episode, he gets saddled with two scenes involving lines to which Londo prefaces his replies with "I know, Vir, ...," highlighting them as bad exposition.

Kosh receives his first dialogue as well.  Natural Vorlon speech sounds like windchimes, so Kosh is always run through a translator first.  He's established as being disinterested in the situation at hand, opining that both races involved are dying, and that "we" (presumably, the "living" races, counting the humans apparently) should "let them pass." For Kosh, this is both verbose and direct.

In the aftermath of the invasion, we get a look at B5's diplomacy,  As the station waits for news on the attack, the advisory council meets to discuss actions.  When the invaders turn out to be Narn, the council's united front condemning violence is split, and Londo in particular wishes blood.  When his government decides to let the Narns have the colony, he decides that G'kar's blood will be enough. Centauri have visions of the time and circumstances of their death; his involves mutual strangulation with G'kar.   Here, he tries to jump ahead a couple of decades, and it's nice to throw in some very long-range setup so early in the show.

A very typically SF-show thing to do is for the Commander of the ship to chide an alien for his immoral actions; here Sinclair to G'Kar.  G'Kar's belligerent attitude is better illustrated here, where he is angry specifically at the Centauri for their century of occupying and strip-mining his homeworld.  Sinclair, by contrast, is trying for quiet outrage but sounds more as if he's ready for his nap. 

The council meeting is pretty well handled for SF tv.  G'Kar is well prepared for the vote, and throws out  good reasons to dismiss any indictment of his government.   With the council against him, Londo hurriedly assembles a gun smuggled piecemeal into his quarters and stalks off to kill the Narn ambassador.  Naturally, he just happens to bump into Talia Winters, and bumping into a telepath while entertaining fevered wishes of murder is a good way for them to discover your plans.

The "B" plot simmers in the background until it's an excuse for Sinclair to go lead a fighter group against the raiders instead of voting the politically expedient course his superiors back on Earth have decided.  Then it becomes an exercise in convenience plotting: tracing the raiders back to their C&C ship, Sinclair finds a Narn aboard AND records of the Ragesh-3 attack that forces their withdrawal.

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Pros: Politically savvy, less cartoonish G'Kar, Ivanova's family history.

Cons: The super-convenient way Sinclair switches places with Garibaldi on the B plot, enabling both of them to be exactly where they need to be.

Then: B+
Now:  B+

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Episode 2:  Soul Hunter 

Smile by Stims

Dr. Stephen Franklin (Richard Biggs) has  replaced Dr. Kyle.  Kyle is returning to Earth to work for the president, and hasn't been seen since the pilot, anyway.

Establishes the "first contact" protocol; like all introductions of concepts in B5, it's fraught with clumsy exposition dialogue.    Convincing bit with Delenn, grabbing Garibaldi's pistol (shut up) and drawing down on the Soul Hunter.

W. Morgan Sheppard's Soul Hunter is the first truly creepy character we've met on B5, and he really chews up the scenery with his hoary, soul-eating monologues.   For the second week in a row, the humans pull out the moral high horse.  Franklin's dismissal of the possibility the Soul Hunter's technology works is a little absurd given some of the other alien technology already on display in the series. And his own marvel at the possibilities of the universe.

The Minbari have a valid complaint with the Soul Hunters; they're the Minbari Boogeyman, but in addition, the 'Hunters attempted to "save" the soul of their last great leader, Dukhat; and that wound is still fresh.

Does the command of the station preside over funerals for everyone who dies on the station?  In today's case, it was a con-man in the downbelow.

Ah, N'grath, we barely knew ye.

Delenn's comparative theology clunks a little, but between Furlan and Sheppard, it almost pulls out, particularly when he casually blows Delenn's cover as one of the Gray Council.   Only the end, with a clear cut victory for Delenn's views, sours the attempt at complexity, even if her ecstatic release of the soul collection is at least as repulsive as his having it in the first place.

And let's hear it for the first appearance of N'grath, the insectoid fixer from downbelow whose clunky fx suit would make him not long for the series...

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Pros: Excellent character work by Sheppard.  Good crumbs on the long trail of Sinclair's Minbari ties.

Cons: Light banter between Garibaldi and Sinclair, supposedly old friends, always feels labored.


Then: C+
Now:  B

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Epsiode 3: Born to the Purple

We have two aliens-of-the-week: Fabiana Udenio,  playing Londo's new squeeze Adira, is no good at the hammy Centauri accent nor spouting tv-SF technobabble.  And her bonus is receiving horrible dialogue like "That's the most expensive restaurant on Babylon 5!"   On the enemy side, Mary Woronov arrives as G'Kar's feral, ill-fated assistant, Ko'dath.

How can Londo's love life be an A plot?  Well, Trakis, Adira's owner, has a fairly ridiculous notion that Londo's personal files contain enough blackmail material to stranglehold the Centauri Republic.  Then the girl goes missing to buy her freedom, which results in another ludicrous plot point, with Sinclair and Londo throwing cloaks over their normal clothes to go undercover.  More ludicrous, people don't recognize either of them.

Londo's frolics have left him little time to negotiate a treaty with G'Kar, and we're left with discussions between Ko'Dath, who can barely hiss complete sentences, and Vir, who's having real problems talking with his Centauri canines in. 

In C, Garibaldi makes a huge case over unauthorized use of station communications, even bringing out the hoary "ICE" programs, as a shout-out to Gibson.  He can't deduce which of the command crew or ambassadors are regularly contacting the Russian consortium...   Now, which of our crew reminds us once an episode that she is Russian? Ah, yes.   The pathos of eavesdropping on the death of Susan's father is of such high quality, recovering alcoholic Garibaldi offers to buy her a drink.

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Pros: Good development for Londo and G'Kar, wrapped in ridiculous packaging.

Cons: The worst episode of the series so far.  At least it won't hold that title for long.

Then: B+
Now:  C-


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Episode 4: Infection

Franklin's old professor arrives, carrying ancient biomechanics that turn out to be a station-threatening alien superweapon.  The result, a cheaply-designed but powerful creature sent to destroy anything "other," is lured by Sinclair into the Nomad paradox, destroying itself to fulfill its directives.  And Franklin gets to play another round of moral superiority with his professor for having the temerity to seek corporate sponsorship for very expensive archeology digs. In one last twist of the blade for Franklin's morality, Earthgov seizes the leftover technology for study back home. 

During this crisis, an Interstellar Network News anchor is hanging around the station to get an interview with Sinclair.  Her performance is just dreadful, but then she's also given atrocious material to work with.  Regarding the interview,  Garibaldi's reassuring Jeff to be the "effervescent commander we've come to know and love" (A B5 season one catchphrase) seems in hindsight like writer mockery.

The episode-ending interview is one question long: Should we even be in space?   It seems a strange question to ask after the investment in the various offworld colonies, let alone the enormous expense of five Babylon stations.   It's setup for Sinclair to be the writer's mouthpiece regarding the eventual extinction of Earth's sun, and "going to the stars" (um, aren't they already there?) is the only way to preserve the human race in the long term.



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Pros: The "c-beams" inspired monologue.

Cons: Stock SF plot, badly written and executed.  The cast exhibits zero chemistry. And already the qualifier "humans and aliens" to define B5's population is grating; is it too much to call every sentient a person?


Then: C
Now: D-