Two (Mostly) Detached Episodes Of Babylon 5 Make For A Disappointing Volume: “Survivors” & “By Any Means Necessary”

The Good: Moments of character, “Survivors,” Themes of “By Any Means Necessary.”
The Bad: Frequently stiff acting, “By Any Means Necessary” is clunky and filled with stereotypes, Very little character development, Medium issues
The Basics: The video of “Survivors” and “By Any Means Necessary” has two episodes that are awkward early episodes of the series, neither of which has truly lasting consequences.


As I go through Babylon 5 with my wife (her first pass through the epic series), there are a few episodes where I find myself cringing at some of the episodes. It is hard to make her sit through the episodes that are far less compelling or connected to the rest of the series. "Survivors" and "By Any Means Necessary" are two such early episodes that make me appalled for how they fail to connect to the rest of the otherwise highly-serialized television story.

"Survivors" is the first episode that focuses primarily on Security Chief Garibaldi and works to flesh out his alluded-to tragic backstory that led him to take the position on Babylon 5 that has been characterized as his last chance to make good. As a follow-up to the Presidential Election on Earth in “Midnight On The Firing Line” (reviewed here!), the newly re-elected President Luis Santiago is on a goodwill tour of the galaxy. In advance of his coming, EarthForce Security sends Major Lianna Kemmer and her security force to secure the station for his arrival. Kemmer is bitter over her “Uncle Mike” and his role as chief of station security of Babylon 5. When there is an explosion in one of the Cobra Bays, Garibaldi begins an investigation. Soon, though, it appears that Garibaldi was paid off . . . by the Centauri and Kemmer hunts Garibaldi into down below. As she follows him on a relentless pursuit of personal vengeance, Garibaldi tries to find who the real culprits were in sabotaging the station and planning to assassinate the President.

In "By Any Means Necessary," a Narn ship visits Babylon 5, where the dockworkers have been overwhelmed by the demands of the job and the cuts in the Babylon 5 budget. When the Narn ship makes a maneuver, against Ivanova’s orders, the damage leads to casualties and damage to the station. The union leader for the dockworkers quickly organizes the beleaguered workers, including the brother of the worker who died. They approach Sinclair to resolve the understaffing and overworking problems.

As EarthForce sends in Zento, their top negotiator, to prevent an illegal strike of the dockworkers on Babylon 5, G’Kar has his own fallout from the near-destruction of the Narn transport. The cargo ship was carrying an exceptionally rare flower, the black G’Quan Eth, a flower he needs for a religious ceremony he has to perform. When the Centauri virtually enslaved the Narn homeworld, they left the planet virtually unable to grow the rare flower. Londo, however, has a G’Quan Eth of his own, which he wants to use for its hallucinogenic effect in his drink. After trying to buy the flower and have Na’Toth steal it for him, G’Kar turns to Sinclair for intervention.

“Survivors,” in addition to having an incredibly awkward and obvious bluescreen shot that makes the monorail look super cheesy, is a rare Babylon 5 episode that lacks a b-plot of any significance. While Garibaldi struggles with his past and his battle with alcoholism, “Survivors” works hard to belabor that with the relationship with Kemmer. Garibaldi is given a decent reason for Kemmer to go after him; her father was a good friend of Garibaldi’s and his death left Lianna fatherless. Lianna grew up, after Garibaldi left in disgrace, to become an integral part of EarthForce.

Unfortunately, the character arc for Lianna is exceptionally predictable and formulaic. At least as important, it is never followed up upon, robbing it of even marginal importance in the overall Babylon 5 Saga. Given how the first season ends, it is disappointing that Kemmer’s fate after this episode is never addressed. Elaine Thomas, who played Kemmer, is stiff, though her role required some emotional distance to make the part work.

John Snyder in “By Any Means Necessary” is not given a compelling character hook for why his character of Zento seems inhumane. Snyder seems to be simply trying to trade on his good looks and he delivers a performance virtually identical to, and as passionless as, his one-shot on Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “The Masterpiece Society” (reviewed here!). Unfortunately, “By Any Means Necessary” is thematically heavy-handed. The dock worker is the only Latino character viewers see in the Babylon 5 Saga and the union leader is little more than a baiting brawl-organizer who acts as a loudmouth without really presenting an enlightened view or an articulate argument.

It matters little, though; “By Any Means Necessary” is referenced once more and never again. “Survivors,” which should have been more integral to the overall arc of Babylon 5 is not afforded that courtesy, even though the Home Guard does pop back up multiple times. As a result, “Survivors” becomes a somewhat tedious character study that suffers from any number of “early episode” problems and is harder to truly care about.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Babylon 5 - The Complete First Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the debut season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

“Survivors” – 5/10
“By Any Means Necessary” – 2.5/10
VHS – 3.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Smart Premiere And An Inconsequential Second: Babylon 5’s “Midnight On The Firing Line” And “Soul Hunter!”

The Good: Good establishment of characters, Good plots, Most of the effects
The Bad: Frequently stiff acting, “Soul Hunter” has no lasting consequences, Medium issues
The Basics: Split between one surprisingly good pilot episode and a scary, but meaningless episode, the video of “Midnight On The Firing Line” and “Soul Hunter” is distinctly mixed


Every now and then, I am surprised by how, even for a serialized series, early episodes of a television show can be startlingly erratic. This is true even for Babylon 5, which developed into an astonishingly good show episode after episode. With "Midnight On The Firing Line" and "Soul Hunter," the erratic nature of early Babylon 5 is illustrated.

"Midnight On The Firing Line" picks up after the events of "The Gathering" and already has the station’s first officer replaced. When the Centauri outpost at Ragesh is attacked, the uneasy sense of peace in the galaxy is instantly upset. The new first officer, Ivanova, uses the chaos engulfing the galaxy outside as an excuse to avoid the new telepath sent by the Psi Corps. As Earth’s Presidential election nears, tensions on Babylon 5 rise when it is revealed that the Narn were responsible for the attack on the Ragesh agricultural colony.

When Londo receives a directive to not move for sanctions against the Narn, G’Kar tries to extort him with information about his family’s dark past and the Centauri Ambassador tries to let the other representatives do his dirty work for him. Commander Sinclair gets a directive not to move for sanctions either, but he decides to leave Babylon 5 to lead a mission against raiders in a nearby sector in order to avoid directly disobeying the Senator’s order. With the political threat causing a menace of all-out war, Londo prepares to assassinate G’Kar in his rage!

A "Soul Hunter" arrives on Babylon 5 on his severely damaged ship, which Sinclair rescues out in space. The new doctor, Franklin, nurses the alien back to health, though Delenn makes an attempt to kill the alien when she sees it in the medical bay. Delenn reveals that the alien is a Soul Hunter and his type arrives only at moments of great importance to take the souls of influential people. Dr. Franklin disbelieves her story until a civilian is stabbed in the down below and the Soul Hunter is able to sense it happening from the medical bay. The situation gets worse for Delenn, though, when the Soul Hunter abducts her and tries to add her Minbari soul to his collection!

Both of these Babylon 5 episodes have important character elements to them, though “Midnight On The Firing Line” has stiffer acting than one would hope, even for a pilot episode (which the episode essentially is). “Midnight On The Firing Line” provides essential information about the characters of Londo and Ivanova, with a great deal of history for the Babylon 5 Universe being thrown into the episode. “Soul Hunter” serves as a far less useful episode, though it is essential to understanding the eventual Babylon 5 film River Of Souls (reviewed here!), though it has a lot of characterization for Delenn.

Londo is characterized in “Midnight On The Firing Line” as a patriot and not just an unsuccessful politician. He has a deep love for both his family and the Centauri Republic. That affection for his people and their history (however destructive) owes a lot to the performance of Peter Jurasik. Jurasik infuses his lines when talking about the fall of Centauri with so much passion that it seems like he is talking about a real place. Even with G’Kar’s angry protestations about how his people were treated under the Centauri, it is impossible not to empathize with Londo due to Jurasik’s portrayal of the ambassador.

Unfortunately, Claudia Christian is incredibly stiff in the same episode. Christian’s Ivanova is presented not as efficient or particularly Russian, but as an actress who was thrown into something she did not understand, playing a character she was not ready to make nuanced. Watching “Midnight On The Firing Line,” especially after having seen how good Claudia Christian’s performances can be, it is hard not to cringe while Ivanova is on screen and speaking.

As for “Soul Hunter,” the implication about Delenn from “The Gathering” is made explicit when the Soul Hunter outs Delenn as a member of the Minbari’s ruling body, the Gray Council. The Soul Hunter knows that Delenn is both a woman of destiny and that she was present at the death of the great Minbari leader, Dukat. In her scenes, Mira Furlan sells the menace of the Soul Hunter and her terror is enough to convince the viewer that her character is in mortal peril. “Soul Hunter” may not have a lot of lasting consequences, but it allows Sinclair to rescue Delenn in a way that makes their burgeoning relationship seem plausible.

While “Soul Hunter” is, ultimately, a simple horror episode, “Midnight On The Firing Line” is smartly-written and illustrates just how difficult establishing peace can be. War has consequences and immediately in the saga of Babylon 5, writer J. Michael Straczynski works to develop themes built around the importance of negotiating peace and struggling with the ramifications of racism and war. These two episodes make for a great start and a fair continuation of Babylon 5.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Babylon 5 - The Complete First Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the debut season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

For other works with William Morgan Sheppard, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Star Trek
Transformers
The Prestige
"Bliss" - Star Trek: Voyager
Gargoyles - Season 1
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
“The Schizoid Man” - Star Trek: The Next Generation

“Midnight On The Firing Line” – 8/10
“Soul Hunter” – 4.5/10
VHS – 5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Two Good Ideas, Suffering From Early-Series Issues, On One Babylon 5 VHS!

The Good: Great character development, Interesting stories, Conceptual issues
The Bad: Stiff acting, Special effects issues
The Basics: When an old flame returns and a rogue telepath arrives on Babylon 5, Sinclair finds his hands full with two good episodes of the series!


Part of the true magic of the series Babylon 5 was that because so much of the series was written by the same person - writer/creator/executive producer J. Michael Straczynski - the series generally does not suffer from the problem of finding its "voice" as much as many other television shows do. As a result, early episodes at least tend to sound like later episodes. This, of course, does not mean that the series did not suffer the usual early-series issues, growing pains and difficulties with actors trying to find their voice. There is nowhere that that is more clear, perhaps, than with the episodes "The Parliament Of Dreams" and "Mind War," which share a VHS tape.

"The Parliament Of Dreams" finds Babylon 5 serving as a hub for religious freedom when the Earth Government encourages a week-long celebration of religions from all of the major races, with each government performing religious ceremonies from the dominant religion of the planet. While Jeffrey Sinclair works on presenting Earth's dominant religion, he finds himself distracted by the return of an old flame, one who he has a difficult time resisting. And while Sinclair and Catherine Sakai work through their relationship issues, G'Kar finds himself menaced by an assassin, one who may be his new aide.

"Mind War" places Babylon 5 at the center of a struggle among telepaths when Jason Ironheart sneaks onto the station. An old friend of Talia Winters, Ironheart is a telepath whose abilities have begun to increase exponentially - a condition not supposed to occur among telepaths. While Sinclair is forced to deal with the arrival of Psi cops, led by Bester, Catherine Sakai is forced to deal with the Narn ambassador G'Kar, who seems unwilling to share information with her about a sector of space she has been commissioned to investigate, an investigation which may prove fatal.

There are a number of good things about both "The Parliament Of Dreams" and "Mind War," but the acting is not one of them. In both episodes, the acting is stiff, awkward and is a clear challenge for the bulk of the performers. "The Parliament Of Dreams" marks the arrival of both Na'Toth (G'Kar's aide) and Lennier (Delenn's aide) and while Caitlin Brown (Na'Toth) seems instantly comfortable in her role, Bill Mumy (Lennier) seems even stiffer than his character. Similarly, Mira Furlan seems unusually stiff in a number of scenes as Delenn (most notably in the awkward scene with Londo expressing his affection for everyone while getting absolutely drunk.

But the acting difficulties are best encapsulated by Michael O'Hare (Sinclair) and Julia Nickson (Sakai), who are portraying characters with a long history. The two have an awkward chemistry that is not evident in this first episode they are together and instead, they clumsily feel their way through the dialogue for scenes that ought to have some genuine familiarity for them. They are stiff and their performances seem more like two people just meeting one another for the first time. And the evidence that this is an acting difficulty is that in "Mind War," their scenes together - and, indeed, Nickson's performances opposite Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar) - are much more refined, fluid and natural.

In "Mind War," though, there are acting problems from other performers, most notably Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters and the actor playing Ironheart. Thompson has the ability to jump into a role and make it seem natural from her first day out; when she began playing Jill Kirkendall in the fourth season of NYPD Blue, she leapt in with a natural quality that worked perfectly. "Mind War" is the first episode that genuinely focuses on Talia and she seems uncomfortable performing in it. Indeed, Walter Koenig - best known to genre fans as Chekov from Star Trek - overshadows her in virtually every scene they share as the villainous Psi Cop Bester. Bester becomes one of the more interesting roles Koenig performs in and he makes for a convincing villain.

The only other genuine problem with either of these two episodes is the special effects. In "The Parliament Of Dreams," G'Kar ends up in paingivers, a device that has the special effects flair of articles from the original Star Trek. It's a pretty campy special effect. And while the CGI effects in "Mind War" are not quite as bad, they look very much like computer generated effects, as opposed to any genuine recreation of reality. Moreover, the make-up effects in both episodes are still a bit rough compared with how wonderful they become as the series progresses.

That said, the episodes do showcase some of what is best about the Babylon 5 series. The first is that the stories are interesting and ambitious. "The Parliament of Dreams" has both a typical plot - the assassination attempt - and a wonderfully unconventional one - the story of religious expression. Outside Babylon 5, there is not another science fiction series that works so hard to integrate religious beliefs constantly into its characters and its alien cultures. For sure, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (series reviewed here!) comes close, but so many of the characters and cultures there live in denial of their stated faiths, where Babylon 5 is populated by characters and cultures motivated by it. Regardless of my personal views on organized religion, this "reads" as very true and real and makes the universe of Babylon 5 seem that much more realistic.

With "Mind War," the viewer is treated to the beginning of one of the subplots for the entire series. Tensions exist between the telepaths and the mundanes and "Mind War" sets up that beautifully with establishing the tenants of who and what the telepaths are and exploring the issues with them. Similarly, the plot involving Sakai and the Narn and the force out in the strange sector of space works perfectly to set up future plotlines about the First Ones. G'kar's closing monologue in the episode is one of the best of the series.

And that's a pretty positive reflection on the characters, which are another key selling point for viewers of Babylon 5. Despite the acting problems that might limit the presentation of these episodes some, the characters are interesting. The only real problem with "The Parliament Of Dreams" on a character front comes in the form of Catherine Sakai. I like Sakai and I think she's a great choice for an old flame for Sinclair. The problem is, she's not the same old flame (who has essentially the same characterization) from the pilot episode "The Gathering." As a result, it makes Sinclair seem like something of a womanizer keeping a bunch of rogue surveyors on deck for year; something his character seems far too bland for.

But to Sinclair's credit, in "The Parliament Of Dreams," the bond between Sinclair and Garibaldi is wonderfully reflected. While awkward relationships are being begun with Lennier and Delenn, G'Kar and Na'Toth and rekindled between Sinclair and Sakai, the viewer is treated to the evidence that these characters do not exist in a vacuum with Garibaldi's very compassionate looking out for Sinclair.

And it is that and the whole concept of religious expression that makes "The Parliament Of Dreams" a remarkably accessible episode for fans of general drama and not just Babylon 5. It is a strong character-driven story that combines many of the best dramatic elements, even if one truly does not believe that G'Kar will be successfully assassinated. "Mind War" is a bit tougher to sell to a general audience, but it is a solid sell and an enthusiastic recommendation for fans of science fiction. Anyone who likes science fiction - and even those who might not like Babylon 5 are bound to find "Mind War" enjoyable.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Babylon 5 - The Complete First Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the debut season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

“The Parliament Of Dreams” – 6/10
“Mind War” – 6.5/10
VHS – 6/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page by clicking here!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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