| Episode: | 24 | | | Writer: | J. Michael Straczynski | | | Air Date: | 09-Nov-1994 |
This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I thought I'd go crazy and watch an episode of Babylon 5 for a change.
Revelations is the second episode of the second season, it's written by creator J. Michael Straczynski, uh... Jim Johnston's the director, he's done some decent episodes. Hmm, not sure what else to write here. I hope it's good!
I'll be going through the whole episode in DVD screencaps and writing my commentary as I go, so this is going to have massive SPOILERS for both this story and earlier ones. Anything that happens afterwards is off-limits though, I won't even hint at where things are going from here.
The episode begins with a meeting of what's left of the B5 Advisory Council, but there's not much they can do while half the main ambassadors are missing. Ambassador Mollari's especially aggravated that Ambassador G'Kar's been off-station for the last fortnight and Delenn chose this month to become a butterfly and wants new representatives assigned... but there's no one around who wants to second his motion, so they just pack it up for the day.
Captain Sheridan's run as commander of B5 is off to a good start then.
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| Na'Toth #1 (Julie Caitlin Brown) | Na'Toth #2 (Mary Kay Adams) |
It's interesting that producer JMS decided to recast the role instead of replacing her like he did with Ko'Dath in season 1 (and Sinclair for that matter). In fact I can only think of one other time this happens in the whole series, though that might say more about my memory. He made this choice because he needed the character to have prior knowledge that a new assistant wouldn't and he figured that the prosthetics would make the change less obvious.
Though Na'Toth tells Londo that all she knows is that G'Kar left to investigate the attack on their base in Quadrant 37 (which happened back in Chrysalis).
It’s all very dramatic, but I’m distracted by the fact that we never get to see the cockpit of anyone’s ship but G’Kar’s. His wingmen have dialogue but we never see their faces and it makes the scene play out like a PlayStation cutscene. Which is a shame because they actually built a physical set for G'Kar's ship that they could've reused for the others.
One of G’Kar’s heroic wingmen gets blasted instantly, but the other manages to carry out a kamikaze run on an enemy fighter, actually destroying it and causing a shockwave big enough to throw the others off G’Kar’s tail for a moment. The ambassador makes it to the jump gate and survives the opening teaser. Destination: Babylon 5.
ACT ONE.
Dr. Franklin arrives to chat with Sheridan about their comatose security chief. He's tried every conventional treatment he knows, but Garibaldi's condition isn't improving and he feels that it's time to try something a little more... dangerous. Though the danger is only going to be to himself, as he intends to use the alien execution device from The Quality of Mercy to give his patient some of his own life energy. So now we can add that to the list of apparently stand-alone episodes that turned out to be more important than they seemed. It's going to be a bit awkward though if someone else dies of something treatable in a later episode and they don't mention the device at all.
Anyway Franklin came to him because can’t get in contact with any of the Chief’s next of kin, so Sheridan gives him permission instead. Seems like we might actually get some Garabaldi in this episode.
I wouldn't have thought that 1994-era TV budget CGI was up to the task, and it kind of wasn't, but the physicals sets look a bit unreal as well so they blend together pretty well. Though now I'm wondering about these mysterious designated smoking areas; I don't think I've ever seen anyone light up in this series.
Now that the customs area has been firmly established we learn that Sheridan's come here to meet his sister Lizzy, who's travelled light years just to visit him... and tell him that he's put on weight. I wonder if that was a subtle hint from JMS to his new star Bruce Boxleitner that he's not quite in space hero shape right now.
Morden’s eager to help him out if he has any other favours he wants to ask for, any other targets he wants his associates to hit, leading Londo to joke about him eliminating the entire Narn homeworld while he’s at it. “One thing at a time Ambassador, one thing at a time,” Morden replies, the shift in his demeanour a subtle hint that the utter annihilation of galactic civilizations might not be off the table for them.
But first Morden would like a favour from Londo this time. It's nothing huge, he just wants to be informed if he hears about anything strange happening out on "The Rim".
Sheridan's as cheerful as ever, talking about how awesome it is being the military governor of a space colony, but Liz knows what's really going on. It's been two years since the death of his wife Anna and he hasn't moved on, he's just thrown himself into his work to keep himself distracted. Suddenly Sheridan’s good mood’s gone and he goes into a whole speech about how he still has to remind himself that she's dead.
Last episode it seemed like Sheridan was going to be the opposite of Sinclair but now it turns out that we've exchanged one war hero haunted by a traumatic event in his past for another!
I've noticed that we've gone from a CGI extended set, to a reused set with different furniture, to a bed with a curtain around it, so I'm expecting act two to have been filmed in an empty black void and act three to be stock footage with a voice over. Then they'll break out the sock puppets.
ACT TWO.
G’Kar explains that the prophet G’Quan spoke of a great war long ago, against an ancient enemy who dwelled in a system at the rim of known space. Ah, so when people say "The Rim" they mean the edge of known space, not the edge of the galaxy, got it.
He thinks that this ancient race was the one responsible for destroying their outpost at Quadrant 37 two weeks ago, so he's spent the last few days looking for them out on the Rim. And on ancient worlds where nothing has lived in a thousand years, he found something: their old enemy quietly gathering their forces, hoping to go unnoticed.
Garibaldi’s traitorous second in command is soon lurking around in the background with his hand hovering over his gun, wondering if he's going to be identified as the man who shot him in the back and put him here. I guess his plan is to kill everyone who learns the truth and hope that no one asks too many questions about the entire command staff being dead.
But fortunately for him it turns out that Garibaldi was shot in the back and therefore did not see who shot him.
I always knew that Garibaldi would be fine. I mean he’s in the opening credits of every episode, standing there in uniform next to Ivanova and Sheridan in C&C:
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| Season 1 opening titles |
Also they've got the C&C door on backwards. Wait, no they haven't, they've got everything backwards! How is it that I saw this shot 22 times last season and never once noticed that it'd been flipped? Hang on, I'm getting my VHS tapes out. I'm going to see if this is just a mistake on the DVDs.
Nope it's always been like this. So that's at least 44 times I've seen this opening and not noticed it's been mirrored.
Anyway, Garibaldi’s a little distressed when he finds out that the President has been assassinated and they’ve put a new guy in charge of the station while he was asleep. He definitely doesn’t have that instant respect for Sheridan that the others did last week. In fact this is pretty much the worst case scenario for him... though at least he wasn’t framed for the assassination this time.
By the way, you can see here that Lennier's been busy while Delenn's been sleeping, as her room's been redecorated and the glowing kitchen units have been replaced. We'll never see those things again with any luck and I'm very happy about that.
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| 1-17: Legacies |
ACT THREE.
He was too busy with work, so she signed up for a two week survey mission on a ship called the Icarus instead and never came back. In fact he was so rushed that he didn't even tell her that he loved her at the end of his last message.
Seems to me that he's so blinded with grief that he didn't notice that it was actually all Anna's fault for signing up to travel on a ship called the Icarus! I mean good on her for not being swayed by superstition, but in fiction nominative determinism is a killer.
He announces to the others that he's discovered signs that his race's ancient enemy is gathering forces again and that they'll all need to work together to defeat them. He doesn't expect them to just take this on faith though, and has sent an expedition out to their enemy's dead homeworld out on the Rim to get proof. It's a dark and terrible planet called... Z'ha'dum (not to be confused with the underground Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm in The Lord of the Rings).
It seems like this ancient enemy of his is likely to be the same folks that Delenn, Lennier and Kosh have been secretly working together to oppose, the 'darkness' mentioned in Minbari prophecy. But Delenn's not here right now and Kosh isn't saying a word. Whatever his feelings are on the subject, he's not showing them.
Londo’s feelings are pretty clear though. He immediately meets with Morden and tells him everything he knows about the Narn expedition to the Rim, including the time of arrival.
Garibaldi wants her to scan his memory for any clues that’ll help him find the man who shot him, even though he was attacked from behind and had no way to see who did it. So we get a replay of the scene from Chrysalis where he was shot, only it's in moody black and white now because he's such a hard-boiled detective that everything in his past becomes film noir.
I’m going to have to call bullshit on this, because we definitely didn’t see any shiny mirrored surfaces in that hallway back then, or ever. The sets rarely include mirrors because that’d make filming a pain in the ass.
Speaking of Officer Lou Welch, he has the line of the episode right here when he sees Unnamed Traitorous Security Officer thinking about drawing his pistol and says "Go ahead, make my fragging solar year." The worst line of the episode I mean. Lou also pretty much outright implies he’ll beat the crap out him if Sheridan’s willing to go walk around the block a few times, but the captain doesn’t believe that’s necessary. Though he does appreciate their enthusiasm.
You know, I think this is the first time we’ve seen the security office exist as a separate set of its own, instead of being a redressed corner of the briefing room. Garibaldi's not going to know what's going on when he goes back to work.
ACT FOUR.
Unfortunately they can’t follow up on it as President Clark wants the prisoner and all evidence sent to him. Poor Garibaldi, he was really looking forward to watching him get spaced as well. He's really into executions, especially for people who've personally made his life hell.
Wait, we’re actually seeing a ship inside hyperspace for once? Man, it took them long enough! I don’t remember seeing a single shot of this crimson maelstrom during the entirety of the first season, despite the fact that ships were coming in and out of the jump gates all the time.
It's a bit rubbish looking though. Hyperspace I mean, not the ship.
Also don’t tell anyone, but I think the Narn crewman on the right might be the guy on the left console flipped over. Or maybe they’re just identical twins.
The Narn vessel creates a jump point and exits hyperspace right next to Z'ha'dum just as planned.
In the next council meeting G’Kar receives the bad news and realises that someone in the council may have leaked the information. Londo’s probably the prime suspect, but he doesn’t jump to conclusions just yet. And then they’re all distracted when Ambassador Delenn finally shows up!
She claims that she underwent this drastic metamorphosis to create a bridge between the humans and Minbari, with the blessings of her government, but we already know that's bullshit because the Grey Council didn't want her to go into the cocoon. Minbari aren't supposed to lie except to save another or helping someone else save face, they take that very seriously, so I wonder how she's justifying it to herself.
All Sheridan can do is sit there, his jaw on the floor, looking at her. Or at least that's what he tells his sister afterwards in his quarters. And then Liz brings their plot to an end by giving him a video message she got from his wife Anna shortly before her death.
Hang on I just need to take a break because my eyes are watering a little. I don’t know, maybe someone’s cutting onions outside my window or something.
ACT FIVE.
CONCLUSION
Revelations isn't the most dramatic of all Babylon 5 episodes, but with John Sheridan's introduction out of the way, it was able to pick up a few of the threads from Chrysalis and move them along to get the story arcs going again. Plus it even reveals a few things along the way.
The attack on Quadrant 37 is a big part of Chrysalis and it's sent Londo and G'Kar further down their separate roads, with G'Kar putting his petty hatred of the Centauri aside to focus on a greater threat, tragically unaware that Centauri ambassador is actually in bed with them. G'Kar's pretty much nothing but sympathetic (and poetic) here, with little hint of his season one belligerence. Plus G'Kar's faceless buddies actually managed to take down a (tiny) ancient enemy ship, proving that they're not the 'unkillable by conventional weapons' kind of mysterious unstoppable alien force! Though I guess ramming a ship into them isn't all that conventional.
The President Santiago assassination plotline has hit a bit of a snag, due to all the evidence being taken away, but the 'Garibaldi got shot' part has been resolved at least. Even though they had to retcon a mirror into Chrysalis to do it. Babylon 5 is all about the five year plan, but it doesn't seem like writer JMS knew exactly where he was going with that one. Plus the traitor never even got a name! Though to be fair this was all part of his back up plan, as the traitor was originally going to be... Lt. Cmdr. Laurel Takashima from the pilot movie! But then she left the series.
Commander Sinclair proposing marriage to Catherine Sakai is one thread from Chrysalis that isn't likely to ever be followed up on, due to the fact that he left the series too, but we do hear about Captain Sheridan's wife and their tragic backstory. Funny how Catherine and Anna both investigated planets for a living, though Anna was more interested the ruins of ancient civilisations than the planets themselves. Alien archaeology is the best archaeology because instead of broken vases and coins you can find cool loot like alien healing devices or murderous organic exoskeletons.
Delenn entering a chrysalis was also a part of Chrysalis and now we get to see that she's come out of it a human-Minbari hybrid. Though we still don't know why, unless she's being truthful about wanting to be a bridge between the humans and Minbari. Prophecy says that they need to join forces to fight the darkness so maybe she thinks this will help. That might be a little naive though as neither group has proven to be a big fan of things that are different from them and now she's different from everyone.
Speaking of the darkness, last episode Lennier was worried that unless they join forces with the humans no one would survive them and here G'Kar's worried that all their races are on the edge of extinction. So it's possibly not a coincidence that the book in the New Testament that predicts Armageddon is called the 'Book of Revelation'. JMS is an atheist but he does like his religious references. He also likes his poetry as G'Kar finishes his last scene by quoting some lines from Yeats' apocalyptic poem The Second Coming.
So this is definitely not a standalone episode, but it's a pretty decent one. It has explosions, a traitor being uncovered, a main character getting different alien makeup, and lots of scenes of Sheridan talking to his sister and being sad!
COMING SOON
Thanks for reading all of that, or some of that, either's good. Leave a comment if you feel like it!
Then they'll break out the sock puppets.
ReplyDeleteAh, finally we'll find out what happened to N'Grath.