Also, it vaguely bugged me that they made a big deal of having him show off the gun, just so he could pull the bullets (not seen and only vaguely mentioned at the beginning of the episode) out of his pocket. And I’m not sure what the Dummy was about.
The episode was almost redeemed by Garibaldi being challenged to explain what happened to him… and he proceeds to prop his feet on the Captain’s desk and basically recapping his entire half of the episode in about 20 seconds (but all out of order, because he’s getting ahead of himself.)
Care to enlighten me, then? I mean, whether humans stay in our solar system or not, there won’t be humans in a few billion years. But so long as the Sun remains in the main sequence, our solar system will remain habitable - indeed, our planet will remain far more hospitable than anyplace else in the solar system. Why should we worry about the death of the Sun, when the last human will long since be dust by then?
In the B5 universe, of course, there has already been one star that went nova a lot sooner than it had any business doing (and that’s why there isn’t a Dilgar ambassador to the station). It’s not talked about much on the show, but JMS said that something like that wouldn’t happen naturally. I don’t recall that he ever stated who was responsible for it, but since the Dilgar were evidently right bastards, nobody seemed too broken up over it.
Why should I care about my extended family? I share very little genetic material with them.
Shit, a couple hundred years from now my daughter’s descendents will have such a tiny amount of my genetic material…why gives a fuck? Burn it all down!
Sinclair’s point was that you don’t know what’ll happen. It is a scientific fact that some day the Earth will be wiped. First fried, then dead cool. Absolute fact. No doubt.
Now, will humanity still be in existance when that rolls around? Probably not. However, if they are, or of the future versions of them are, and they haven’t worked out how to spread past this solar system, they will be exterminated. Absolute fact. No doubt.
And what if the only intelligent life the universe produced actually got wiped out that way…through just plain laziness. Which, looking around, seems pretty fucking fitting, really.
Not to mention one of the best take-down lines in all of fiction (and keeping in-character with his WB posters). I strongly recommend reading the Psi Corps triology, and the Centauri Trilogy.
Wait, weren’t the Dilgar the race we were at war with (and beat) before the Centauri war? Surely the humans don’t have that kind of technology-- Did the Dilgar manage to piss off someone way more powerful than us, too?
I realized I conflated the two – he does get Bester, but he shows up on Centauri Prime where the Drakh were running things (including Sheridon & Delenn’s son David). He pops out of a box and says, “What’s up, Drakh?”
Mind you, Deathwalker managed to go and get herself touched by the Vorlons in a very explosive fashion, so maybe they just got offed for upsetting the order of things too much?
I have just started my first adventure into the B5 universe.
Like many other posters, including the OP, I was really not encouraged by the pilot episode.
Even the first few episodes seem a bit scattered.
I just finished watching episodes 9, 10 & 11 of season 1. And Although I’m still waiting for a big wow moment, I’m encouraged to go on after reading the comments on this thread.
If I run into something I have questions about, I guess I can post it here?
Actually, there was one moment in episode 3 “Born to Purple” where I had a WTF moment. Not sure what to make of it.
The scene where Sinclair and Londo convinces Talia to help them.
Londo says “a woman’s life is at stake”. To which Talia turns to Sinclair and asks him if Londo is serious about that woman’s life.
It’s been established that the Telepaths are being used in business dealings to see if anyone is telling the truth. So why does she need to turn to Sinclair to confirm if Londo is telling the truth? Wouldn’t she as a telepath sense it if Londo was lying?
Maybe it’s no big deal. perhaps it was just an error. Still bothers me a bit though.
Only if it was prominent in Londo’s thoughts. A big deal is made of telepaths only picking up the upper layer of LOUD thoughts; actually poking around is considered very wrong, and Talia is basically a good person. Plus, Londo is a habitual liar, and thus good at it. He could probably even mask his thoughts to some extent, if Talia was not scanning.
Sinclair in contrast is a very honest and upright man.
I highly recommend you keep up with it. I now own four seasons in disc. I just finished rewatching the whole of Season 1, not just the recommended episodes. The show is that good later on. I love the subtle foreshadowing and hints used in the first season.
Enjoy! Your adventure will not really start rolling until the middle of Season 2, but I promise it is amazing when it does and you won’t want to stop.
P.S. I just re-read some of my posts in this thread. How naive I was! I am so glad you all made me stick with it. I don’t buy TV shows very often - right now I am up to three. X-Files, Doctor Who - and Babylon 5.
Good, I’ll grant you. But Sinclair was taught by Jesuits, which is typically a clue in fiction that a person has acquired a rather twisty mind. This shows up, for example, in the first season By Any Means Necessary episode. And Sinclair himself says “Everyone lies, Michael. The innocent lie because they don’t want to be blamed for something they didn’t do and the guilty lie because they don’t have any other choice.”
NiceGuyJack, did you watch the episode Believers? I want to say it’s episode 6, but I’m not sure. It’ not crucial to the arc, but it’s a very good example of just how good B5 could be, even during the first season. JMS always used to say that his aim was to provoke thought, discussion, and maybe a barfight or two.
I mean, whether humans stay in our solar system or not, there won’t be humans in a few billion years. But so long as the Sun remains in the main sequence, our solar system will remain habitable - indeed, our planet will remain far more hospitable than anyplace else in the solar system. Why should we worry about the death of the Sun, when the last human will long since be dust by then?