B5 - Episode 1x01 - Midnight on the Firing Line

[nymeria_dw]

Or, to quote Kosh: "And so it begins..."

The Narn and the Centauri have been at odds for a long time, since the Centauri invaded Narn a hundred years before, enslaving its people and stripping the planet bare. Now that the Narns have regained independence they feel compelled to strike back, attacking their former conquerors.

This is the background of the first episode, with the political and strategic tensions helping to define the characters in a series of tight and informative dialogues. What's interesting here is the total absence of the dreaded "info-dump": the terse exchanges between the players help establish the basic facts of the Babylon5 universe. We learn of the Centauri/Narn ongoing conflict, we hear about the recent war between Humans and Minbari and we discover that politics – no matter the planet of origin – is a dirty and hypocritical business.

This is one of the themes I find so fascinating in B5: unlike Star Trek, where Roddenberry's utopian vision of the future was played to the hilt, Babylon5 takes into account the basic (and truer) facts of human nature. As creator J. Michael Straczynski (JMS for brevity) once said, when we'll go into space we will take with us not just our best, but also our worst. There is nothing wrong in hoping for a better future, but it's always better to remember that we are not perfect – humans and aliens alike.

The way the characters react to each other is quite informative and this first episode lays the first building blocks of their structures. Commander Sinclair comes across as a quiet, insightful person who is also capable of strength and shrewd calculation; Lt. Commander Ivanova hides considerable psychological damage under a though exterior; chief of Security Garibaldi also hints at personal trouble through a few witty remarks. I know they will grow and keep growing, but these first few glimpses are quite intriguing. They are all damaged, each in his or her own way, and discovering the extent and consequences of these damages will be part of the appeal of this story.

And then the aliens: G'Kar and Londo are, to me, the central characters in the whole narrative arc, and their introduction here suggests a long, ongoing struggle, particularly in the relaying of Londo's dream, the one he says prophesies his death – as it happens with all Centauri. In this dream, he and G'Kar are locked in mortal combat, hands around each other's throat, an image that will inform their relationship for a long time.

In this episode we see less of G'Kar (my absolute favorite character), but enough to understand he embodies the rage and desire of vengeance of an entire people, and that this might lead him to less than honorable choices. Knowing what his story arc will be in the future, only strengthens my appreciation for him.

Londo, on the other hand, comes to the fore in a great way: his almost-clownish manners and appearance are a smoke-screen for a very different person. Disillusioned and angry, he pines both for the past grandeur of his people and for lost personal opportunities. There is a very unguarded moment, during his conversation with Sinclair about his nephew, where we see a glimpse of the real Londo – of the tragedy lurking behind the mask. And for the first time I realized that here lies a powerful hint about his plans taking unexpected, and often tragic, directions.

JMS is a master of foreshadowing, and he amazes me time and again with the subtle clues he sows along the road.

A commentary on Babylon5 can't be complete without a few choice quotes – the only difficulty lies in restraining myself, because JMS's dialogues contain many such gems. I take this opportunity to thank the author of THIS SITE, my favored "shadow depository" for wonderful snippets and handy reminders.

LONDO: On the issue of galactic peace, I'm long past innocence and fast approaching apathy. It's all a game -- a paper fantasy of names and borders.

IVANOVA: Mr. Garibaldi, you are sitting in my station, using my equipment. Is there a reason for this, or to save time should I just go ahead and snap your hands off at the wrist?

Comments

[diarmi.livejournal.com]

I found the discs! So I'm ready and I already noticed advantages of not having this season memorized like the later ones - I can be surprised again by some great moments and quotes!

I love how only three minutes into episode we have first of so many hilarious Londo lines, in his talk with Garibaldi about Earth's first contact with Centauri (example of nice background info for history as well as insight in Centauri way of thinking):

"All I'm asking is that you trust me."
"Trust you? Londo, my brain will be five days dead before I ever trust a Centauri. The first time we met you people, the first time we met any other civilization, you told us you practically ran the entire galaxy."

And then:

"Okay, we made a mistake. I'm sorry. Here, open my wrist."
"Centauri don't have major arteries in their wrist."
"Of course we don't. What do you think, I'm stupid?"

There's so many threads in this episodes that we'll be seeing for years - of course Narn/Centauri storyline, Ivanova's history with telepaths, Ivanova and Talia, Santiago election (Ivanova already doesn't like him), Londo's vision...

About Star Trek's utopian vision - you know, I read someone's opinion that you can actually watch B5 as a birth of Star Trek's Federation because obviously it's not like all those alien races just decided to get along perfectly :) It could be a process as we see here... but that's for the future and spoilers ;)

[nymeria-55.livejournal.com]

Hell Yeah! on finding the disks! :-)

You're right: B5 (like Farscape) is so complex an multi-layered that each time you watch an episode you discover something new. A new angle,a fresh nuance. As it happened to me when considering how Londo's plans never develop as he hoped...

The beginning of the Londo/Garibaldi relationship - which I would call a cautious friendship - is a wonderful thing to behold, and these funny exchanges made me think about the later awkwardness - especially in Season 2, after Londo... well, makes some questionable choices - and Garibaldi is both angry and sorry for the loss of their easy rapport.

I might agree on seeing B5 as the birth of ST's Federation but with one difference: after a while the Federation became a perfect, seamless whole, where everybody worked in perfect harmony. Can we believe this? It's good to *hope* for it, but we know it's an impossibility, both for humans and aliens. I find it easier to witness the troubles of the Alliance, and know they can never be totally solved.

Thanks for stopping by! :-)