Rising Star
I selected this episode for discussion mainly because of President Susanna Luchenko of the Russian Consortium. One cool customer, she holds her own against everyone else in the room. She's pragmatic but also has a wicked sense of humour and doesn't take any BS. If only her and Ivanova had had screen time together...
So much happens in this episode:
Delenn has set up the Alliance (with a lot of help from her friends) putting into place systems for political, diplomatic and defence stability.
Ivanova has vanished. She's now been promoted to Captain and has gone on a long-term mission on a new experimental Earth vessel.
And Sheridan. Talk about walking out of one job and straight into another!
Questions:
Why, after everything that's happened, has Ivanova chosen to stay within the Earth military? Wouldn't she have found more peace with the Minbari or the Rangers, or would both have been too painful a reminder of Marcus?
Do Garibaldi and Lise now get their happy ending?
Who's in charge of Babylon 5 at the moment? Has it reverted to Earth ownership?
Selected points from the Lurkers' Guide:
* Delenn's reply to Lennier's comment about unrequited love can be read either of two ways: that she is indeed oblivious to his feelings for her ("Ceremonies of Light and Dark") or, more likely, that she loves him too, albeit not in the same way she does Sheridan. The latter interpretation seems to have been lost on Lennier if true.
* Sheridan knew about the telepath virus ("The Face of the Enemy," among others.) How many more have been told? Will its existence become common knowledge, and if so, will the fact that it's known to be possible prompt enemies of the Corps to start trying to duplicate it?
* Bester goaded Sheridan about Garibaldi by telling him that only a scan performed by a member of Psi Corps would be admissible in Earth court if Garibaldi's memory were used as evidence. The implication was that since Bester controls the Corps to some degree, no Corps telepath would cooperate. But Lyta is now a Corps member, officially anyway ("The Exercise of Vital Powers") and is certainly no friend of Bester's. To refute her credentials in court, he'd have to reveal the deep-cover program he's using to give her the appearance of Corps membership.
*All the major ambassadors on Babylon 5 have been offered leadership roles of some sort, in fact. In addition to Sheridan and Londo, G'Kar was offered leadership of his people in "The Long Night." Delenn was elected leader of the Minbari in "Babylon Squared." And Sinclair became leader of the Minbari of 1000 years past in "War Without End part 2." Kosh is apparently an exception, though for all anyone knows, he already was the leader of the Vorlons.
And a list of fun things to look forward to in S5 as listed by JMS:
The start of the telepath war
The start of the Drakh war
Londo's fate on Centauri Prime
The first year trying to make the Interstellar Alliance work
Inter-faction fighting among the Alliance members
The development of Mars as an independent state
The legacy of William Edgars' black projects
Fallout from the civil war, and the feelings about it
How Lennier, Sheridan and Delenn will get along now
And *cough*Byron*cough*
And finally....Londo & G'Kar on rice, wedding ceremonies and being a peeping tom! (Apologies for the Japanese subtitles, it was the only clip I could find)
So much happens in this episode:
Delenn has set up the Alliance (with a lot of help from her friends) putting into place systems for political, diplomatic and defence stability.
Ivanova has vanished. She's now been promoted to Captain and has gone on a long-term mission on a new experimental Earth vessel.
And Sheridan. Talk about walking out of one job and straight into another!
Questions:
Why, after everything that's happened, has Ivanova chosen to stay within the Earth military? Wouldn't she have found more peace with the Minbari or the Rangers, or would both have been too painful a reminder of Marcus?
Do Garibaldi and Lise now get their happy ending?
Who's in charge of Babylon 5 at the moment? Has it reverted to Earth ownership?
Selected points from the Lurkers' Guide:
* Delenn's reply to Lennier's comment about unrequited love can be read either of two ways: that she is indeed oblivious to his feelings for her ("Ceremonies of Light and Dark") or, more likely, that she loves him too, albeit not in the same way she does Sheridan. The latter interpretation seems to have been lost on Lennier if true.
* Sheridan knew about the telepath virus ("The Face of the Enemy," among others.) How many more have been told? Will its existence become common knowledge, and if so, will the fact that it's known to be possible prompt enemies of the Corps to start trying to duplicate it?
* Bester goaded Sheridan about Garibaldi by telling him that only a scan performed by a member of Psi Corps would be admissible in Earth court if Garibaldi's memory were used as evidence. The implication was that since Bester controls the Corps to some degree, no Corps telepath would cooperate. But Lyta is now a Corps member, officially anyway ("The Exercise of Vital Powers") and is certainly no friend of Bester's. To refute her credentials in court, he'd have to reveal the deep-cover program he's using to give her the appearance of Corps membership.
*All the major ambassadors on Babylon 5 have been offered leadership roles of some sort, in fact. In addition to Sheridan and Londo, G'Kar was offered leadership of his people in "The Long Night." Delenn was elected leader of the Minbari in "Babylon Squared." And Sinclair became leader of the Minbari of 1000 years past in "War Without End part 2." Kosh is apparently an exception, though for all anyone knows, he already was the leader of the Vorlons.
And a list of fun things to look forward to in S5 as listed by JMS:
The start of the telepath war
The start of the Drakh war
Londo's fate on Centauri Prime
The first year trying to make the Interstellar Alliance work
Inter-faction fighting among the Alliance members
The development of Mars as an independent state
The legacy of William Edgars' black projects
Fallout from the civil war, and the feelings about it
How Lennier, Sheridan and Delenn will get along now
And *cough*Byron*cough*
And finally....Londo & G'Kar on rice, wedding ceremonies and being a peeping tom! (Apologies for the Japanese subtitles, it was the only clip I could find)
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