I've finally hit the end of the middle season and it's nice to be 60% done with the series. Not because I'm not enjoying it, it's just a relief to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Only 44 episodes, a handful of movies and a couple of spin-offs left and then I can finally relax. Move on. Maybe even start a Babylon 5 podcast. (I won't be starting a B5 podcast).
Anyway, this is going to feature SPOILERS for the whole of season three, from Matters of Honor to Z'ha'dum, and I'll inevitably end up spoiling earlier seasons as well. I won't say a word about future seasons though, so if you're watching through the series for the first time and you've made it up to this point then this is all safe for you to read.
Every season of Babylon 5 is named after one of its episodes and for season three, creator J. Michael Straczynski went with Point of No Return (he was thinking of going with I Am Become Death, The Destroyer of Worlds but that's a bit much to fit on a DVD box).
Point of No Return is a fine episode to name a season after, but its title also suits the season overall, as this year the characters definitely commit to paths there's no going back from. The Babylon 5 crew breaks away from Earth, Delenn breaks the Grey Council, Sinclair takes a one-way trip to the distant past, Londo poisons and then murders Refa, Kosh sacrifices himself and Sheridan nukes the Shadows' homeworld, along with himself.
There's a definite theme of sacrifice this season as well, foreshadowed by Comes the Inquisitor back in season two, as we repeatedly see characters putting themselves into a situation where they're almost certain to die, with varying results:
This was the season where creator J. Michael Straczynski decided to write all 22 episodes by himself, even though no one else in television does that (because it's crazy). He felt he had to do it though, because the story had been planned out years in advance and the series was getting so serialised that only he could know how it all fit together. This was either going to lead to an increase in consistency or a steady descent into madness, and I think we mostly got consistency from it this time. Sure jms threw in a couple of bad episodes for old time's sake, but for the most part this was a stronger season, with a lot of the fat trimmed away. We got more 'wham' and less screwing around.
Though it's almost like two seasons really. The first half is split between Earth's fall into Orwellian dystopia and the coming of the Shadows, but then the Severed Dreams trilogy happens and the Earth plot just... stops. It's done with for this season. Afterwards there's a short interlude for some Vir comedy and so King Arthur can remind us about the Earth-Minbari War, and then for the second half it's all Shadows all the time. Well, except for when the War Without End bombshell gets dropped. They actually paid off Babylon Squared and it all made sense, even though the main actor had left the show!
Is splitting the season up like this a bad thing though? Judging by how some modern series handle their story arcs I'm thinking it's probably not actually. 22 episodes is a long time to drag out an ongoing plot, so I can appreciate them swapping one story to the back burner for a while to let people regain their interest.
But this season wasn't all good...
THE BAD
Point of No Return is a fine episode to name a season after, but its title also suits the season overall, as this year the characters definitely commit to paths there's no going back from. The Babylon 5 crew breaks away from Earth, Delenn breaks the Grey Council, Sinclair takes a one-way trip to the distant past, Londo poisons and then murders Refa, Kosh sacrifices himself and Sheridan nukes the Shadows' homeworld, along with himself.
There's a definite theme of sacrifice this season as well, foreshadowed by Comes the Inquisitor back in season two, as we repeatedly see characters putting themselves into a situation where they're almost certain to die, with varying results:
- Brother Edwards lets himself get crucified in Passing Through Gethsemane.
- Kosh makes himself a target of the Shadows' inevitable retribution in Interludes and Examinations.
- G'Kar and Londo strangle each other to death to save Centauri Prime in War Without End, Part 2.
- Marcus challenges Neroon to a fight to the death in Grey 17 is Missing.
- Ivanova calls in the fleet, even though it reveals her crippled White Star to the Shadows in Shadow Dancing.
- Sheridan drops two nukes on his own head in Z'ha'dum.
This was the season where creator J. Michael Straczynski decided to write all 22 episodes by himself, even though no one else in television does that (because it's crazy). He felt he had to do it though, because the story had been planned out years in advance and the series was getting so serialised that only he could know how it all fit together. This was either going to lead to an increase in consistency or a steady descent into madness, and I think we mostly got consistency from it this time. Sure jms threw in a couple of bad episodes for old time's sake, but for the most part this was a stronger season, with a lot of the fat trimmed away. We got more 'wham' and less screwing around.
Though it's almost like two seasons really. The first half is split between Earth's fall into Orwellian dystopia and the coming of the Shadows, but then the Severed Dreams trilogy happens and the Earth plot just... stops. It's done with for this season. Afterwards there's a short interlude for some Vir comedy and so King Arthur can remind us about the Earth-Minbari War, and then for the second half it's all Shadows all the time. Well, except for when the War Without End bombshell gets dropped. They actually paid off Babylon Squared and it all made sense, even though the main actor had left the show!
Is splitting the season up like this a bad thing though? Judging by how some modern series handle their story arcs I'm thinking it's probably not actually. 22 episodes is a long time to drag out an ongoing plot, so I can appreciate them swapping one story to the back burner for a while to let people regain their interest.
But this season wasn't all good...
THE BAD
For one thing it's still plenty low budget and cheesy, even for the 90s. If you put it next to Deep Space Nine it's obvious which of them had twice the money of the other. It's a real barrier to new viewers. Though to be fair the direction has gotten better, and the characters are actually getting off the station sets a bit these days.
Here's another problem I had with it: I'm still not entirely sure what Sheridan's position is (or was, before he fell down a pit and got nuked) in this Army of Light they've made. They make it clear that Ambassador Sinclair was the leader of the Rangers (somehow), then Delenn took over from him, but was Sheridan in charge of the alliance overall? If so, how did he end up with that power? Is it just because he nicked Earth's spot in the council chamber and is the best at talking the other races into teaming up? Is it because he's 'a nexus'? It's not a real issue, it just bothered me a little.
Something else that bothered me is the way the Conspiracy of Light arc went. I mean the crew ultimately failing to beat President Clark and having to declare independence was fantastic, I've got no complaints there. But that scene at the end of All Alone in the Night in season two with the four officers in Sheridan's quarters all deciding to take down Clark together promised a lot more than what we ultimately got over the next 21 episodes. They helped a fugitive doctor and they accidentally stumbled across a recording of Clark incriminating himself, and that's basically it. I know they couldn't do much of an investigation while on a distant space station, but the crew needed to play more of an active role somehow.
Franklin's arc was a bit of a disappointment as well. For the first half of the season he snapped at people all the time, for the second half he told them to go away. I get that watching someone suffering with addiction isn't supposed to be fun, but making Franklin unpleasant to be around had the side effect of making him unpleasant to be around. The payoff of him meeting another Franklin who was unpleasant to him was good, but this is a case where the destination was better than the journey.
Also, Lyta's one of the four faces on the DVD box but she's only in two episodes! Plus Garibaldi was miserable all year and I'm not surprised considering how often he was relegated to appearing in comedy B plots about evil cults or obnoxious computers or the post office.
Though there was also some good in this season...
THE GOOD
Here's another problem I had with it: I'm still not entirely sure what Sheridan's position is (or was, before he fell down a pit and got nuked) in this Army of Light they've made. They make it clear that Ambassador Sinclair was the leader of the Rangers (somehow), then Delenn took over from him, but was Sheridan in charge of the alliance overall? If so, how did he end up with that power? Is it just because he nicked Earth's spot in the council chamber and is the best at talking the other races into teaming up? Is it because he's 'a nexus'? It's not a real issue, it just bothered me a little.
Something else that bothered me is the way the Conspiracy of Light arc went. I mean the crew ultimately failing to beat President Clark and having to declare independence was fantastic, I've got no complaints there. But that scene at the end of All Alone in the Night in season two with the four officers in Sheridan's quarters all deciding to take down Clark together promised a lot more than what we ultimately got over the next 21 episodes. They helped a fugitive doctor and they accidentally stumbled across a recording of Clark incriminating himself, and that's basically it. I know they couldn't do much of an investigation while on a distant space station, but the crew needed to play more of an active role somehow.
Franklin's arc was a bit of a disappointment as well. For the first half of the season he snapped at people all the time, for the second half he told them to go away. I get that watching someone suffering with addiction isn't supposed to be fun, but making Franklin unpleasant to be around had the side effect of making him unpleasant to be around. The payoff of him meeting another Franklin who was unpleasant to him was good, but this is a case where the destination was better than the journey.
Also, Lyta's one of the four faces on the DVD box but she's only in two episodes! Plus Garibaldi was miserable all year and I'm not surprised considering how often he was relegated to appearing in comedy B plots about evil cults or obnoxious computers or the post office.
Though there was also some good in this season...
THE GOOD
The Babylon Project was the last, best hope for peace. It failed. Back in the day it never occurred to me that a series like B5 could break from its original premise like this. Since then I've seen other series mixing up their premise to try to spark a bit of life into the show and get people's attention, but in B5 it feels planned and natural, because it was.
A lot of TV writers will argue that you have to make things up as you go, not just because of unforeseeable circumstances like your main actor quitting after season one, but also because you'll come up with better ideas along the way, the story can evolve naturally, and you can react to feedback. I can see their point, but when jms had to throw huge chunks of his plan out of the window, he was able to come up with a better plan to replace it, and the series was able to evolve while also heading towards twists and resolutions set up long in advance.
This season is where the show really demonstrates it knows where it's going, and that's a good thing, as it continually gives out explanations and payoffs for long-running stories. We finally know what happened to Anna Sheridan! We know what the Shadow War is about! We know why the Vorlons act like dicks! We know why we saw Babylon 5 explode in the future! We know why Sinclair stole Babylon 4! We know why Valen's prophecies were accurate! We know why G'Kar and Londo strangle each other to death! In fact I'm struggling to think of much we don't know about now. All the cards are finally being put on the table.
A lot of TV writers will argue that you have to make things up as you go, not just because of unforeseeable circumstances like your main actor quitting after season one, but also because you'll come up with better ideas along the way, the story can evolve naturally, and you can react to feedback. I can see their point, but when jms had to throw huge chunks of his plan out of the window, he was able to come up with a better plan to replace it, and the series was able to evolve while also heading towards twists and resolutions set up long in advance.
This season is where the show really demonstrates it knows where it's going, and that's a good thing, as it continually gives out explanations and payoffs for long-running stories. We finally know what happened to Anna Sheridan! We know what the Shadow War is about! We know why the Vorlons act like dicks! We know why we saw Babylon 5 explode in the future! We know why Sinclair stole Babylon 4! We know why Valen's prophecies were accurate! We know why G'Kar and Londo strangle each other to death! In fact I'm struggling to think of much we don't know about now. All the cards are finally being put on the table.
We also got some pretty good space battles this season as well, with the station taking on Earthforce and basically everyone going up against the Shadows.
The visual effects team at Foundation Imaging had really figured out what they were doing by this point, making their primitive CGI look good with dynamic camera work. It helped that they'd gone from the Amigas of season one to faster PCs with a bit more RAM in them. Unfortunately this was Foundation's last work for the series as they were replaced by Netter Digital for the rest of the run. This was obviously not good for Foundation, but it worked out for Star Trek: Voyager, who brought them onboard to work their magic there instead. Netter Digital struggled after B5 though, despite working on Dan Dare and Max Steel, and in 2000 they went out of business. Fortunately for those two shows, Foundation was there to replace them... before they went bankrupt themselves the following year.
Speaking of CGI, season three also gave us this:
The visual effects team at Foundation Imaging had really figured out what they were doing by this point, making their primitive CGI look good with dynamic camera work. It helped that they'd gone from the Amigas of season one to faster PCs with a bit more RAM in them. Unfortunately this was Foundation's last work for the series as they were replaced by Netter Digital for the rest of the run. This was obviously not good for Foundation, but it worked out for Star Trek: Voyager, who brought them onboard to work their magic there instead. Netter Digital struggled after B5 though, despite working on Dan Dare and Max Steel, and in 2000 they went out of business. Fortunately for those two shows, Foundation was there to replace them... before they went bankrupt themselves the following year.
Speaking of CGI, season three also gave us this:
Some people don't like the White Star. Some people would even go as far as saying that it looks like a lavender coloured plucked chicken. Personally though I'm very fond of the way it looks, and the way it likes to flip around on its axis and shoot lasers at Shadow vessels.
Every space station series eventually needs a kick ass spaceship and the White Star performed that role admirably. Sure it only lasted a year before it blew up, but it routinely went up against ships thousands of years more advanced and triumphed, and when it finally went out it took the Shadows' capital city with it.
More importantly, it let the heroes do something, have some influence on the chaos outside their station, and that was a welcome change of pace after a season of them watching helplessly as the galaxy went to crap around them. Despite the desperation and hopelessness that comes across in the new opening credits, the crew are a lot more effective this season. It would've been a bit more satisfying if they hadn't just been given a prototype ship out of nowhere, and just stumbled across the evidence against Clark by accident, and just got a letter telling them to steal Babylon 4, but it's still good. And Londo's final revenge against Refa was plain magnificent.
And season three also introduced Marcus Cole, who's considerably more likeable than Warren Keffer and likes to hit people with a metal stick. Sure it's a bit weird how he became a formidable warrior monk fluent in Minbari in just one year abroad, and he's a bit 'TV show eccentric', but as long as he keeps annoying Franklin and hitting people with the stick I'm not going to complain.
CONCLUSION
After giving the matter some consideration, I've come to the conclusion that season three of Babylon 5 is good. Possibly even better than any season of Deep Space Nine, though I'm not sure my past self would've agreed with that back when they were both first airing. It's the Severed Dreams trilogy that gives it the edge I reckon; that, plus the fact that there are no Ferengi stories.
Here, have another set of episode rankings, from worst to best:
Every space station series eventually needs a kick ass spaceship and the White Star performed that role admirably. Sure it only lasted a year before it blew up, but it routinely went up against ships thousands of years more advanced and triumphed, and when it finally went out it took the Shadows' capital city with it.
More importantly, it let the heroes do something, have some influence on the chaos outside their station, and that was a welcome change of pace after a season of them watching helplessly as the galaxy went to crap around them. Despite the desperation and hopelessness that comes across in the new opening credits, the crew are a lot more effective this season. It would've been a bit more satisfying if they hadn't just been given a prototype ship out of nowhere, and just stumbled across the evidence against Clark by accident, and just got a letter telling them to steal Babylon 4, but it's still good. And Londo's final revenge against Refa was plain magnificent.
And season three also introduced Marcus Cole, who's considerably more likeable than Warren Keffer and likes to hit people with a metal stick. Sure it's a bit weird how he became a formidable warrior monk fluent in Minbari in just one year abroad, and he's a bit 'TV show eccentric', but as long as he keeps annoying Franklin and hitting people with the stick I'm not going to complain.
CONCLUSION
After giving the matter some consideration, I've come to the conclusion that season three of Babylon 5 is good. Possibly even better than any season of Deep Space Nine, though I'm not sure my past self would've agreed with that back when they were both first airing. It's the Severed Dreams trilogy that gives it the edge I reckon; that, plus the fact that there are no Ferengi stories.
Here, have another set of episode rankings, from worst to best:
| 22. | Walkabout |
| Grey 17 is Missing isn't last! The Franklin plot in this might be the only part of the season I couldn't stand. And not just because of all the singing. | |
| 21. | Grey 17 is Missing |
| Though the Garibaldi plot in this story was kind of bad as well. | |
| 20. | Exogenesis |
| Putting Marcus and Franklin together was a good idea, but it's not much of a story. | |
| 19. | A Late Delivery from Avalon |
| Another Marcus and Franklin story, this one dragged down by ridiculous dream sequences. Michael York did a good job with his role though. | |
| 18. | Passing Through Gethsemane |
| A lot of people were really moved by this thought-provoking tale of sacrifice, I just thought it was alright. | |
| 17. | Ceremonies of Light and Dark |
| Not terrible, but I really didn't need Sniper singing 'Dem Bones' or the Sparky the Computer non-plot. | |
| 16. | Sic Transit Vir |
| Yes I'm the kind of monster who'd put a Vir comedy story above Passing Though Gethsemane. Vir's awesome. | |
| 15. | Matters of Honor |
| It's the first White Star story and they hadn't quite got the bridge scenes figured out yet, but it's pretty decent. | |
| 14. | Voices of Authority |
| Clark's government sends a political officer to manage Sheridan... and it's played for comedy? And mostly works? | |
| 13. | Dust to Dust |
| 50% Garibaldi/Bester cop drama, 50% G'Kar drug trip, but 100% watchable. | |
| 12. | A Day in the Strife |
| The crew try to prove their worth to an alien bomb while G'Kar is pressured to turn himself in. The title made it seem like it was going to be a lot worse than it actually was. | |
| 11. | Convictions |
| Not the greatest of stories, but the cinematography and the scene of Londo and G'Kar trapped in the wrecked lift earns it bonus points. | |
| 10. | War Without End, Part One |
| Half of it is Delenn saying 'get on the White Star, I'll explain later', the other half is Delenn explaining later. Still somehow very watchable. | |
| 9. | War Without End, Part Two |
| Starts with G'Kar and Londo's final fate, ends with Sinclair resolving Babylon Squared and becoming Valen. It's like a series finale that comes halfway through the show! | |
| 8. | Ship of Tears |
| The season's surprise second Bester episode only really works as a chapter in a serialised story... so in season three it really works. | |
| 7. | Shadow Dancing |
| The fleet finally takes on the Shadows in a full scale fight! Franklin finishes his walkabout! Sheridan spends ages trying (and failing) to analyse his dreams! | |
| 6. | Interludes and Examinations |
| The title really doesn't give away that this is the one where Kosh and Adira are murdered by the Shadows, while the Vorlon fleet wrecks Shadow vessels. | |
| 5. | Z'ha'dum |
| A lot of exposition followed by two nukes going off, but never less than gripping due to great acting and the weight of everything that's led up to it. | |
| 4. | And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place |
| Would've been number one if I was ranking them by title. | |
| 3. | Point of No Return |
| Not a huge surprise that the middle trilogy is the high point for me. | |
| 2. | Messages from Earth |
| It's a bit weird maybe that this Mike Vejar directed episode didn't come first. | |
| 1. | Severed Dreams |
| But Severed Dreams is Severed Dreams. |
The middle of the season really moved like a rocket once I hit the Severed Dreams trilogy, with three of the best episodes in the whole series coming one after the the other. Not that the rest of the season was bad. The weakest episodes for me this year were Exogenesis, Grey 17 is Missing and Walkabout, and even those had Corwin's loyalty test, Marcus fighting Neroon and the White Star finally taking down a Shadow ship with its own guns. Overall it seems that putting the entire season on the back of one very tired and overworked writer was a great idea.
Right, now I have to go watch season four I suppose. It's a real burden, but one that I will shoulder without complaint, because I'm noble and stuff.
Right, now I have to go watch season four I suppose. It's a real burden, but one that I will shoulder without complaint, because I'm noble and stuff.
NEXT TIME
Before you leave, I've got a question for you: what did you think about Babylon 5's third season? A step up over season two? Archaic 90s schlock that looks absurd next to modern prestige television? Let me know in the comments.
I like the White Star. I also remember quite liking Marcus, although looking back via your recaps, I'm not sure why. Perhaps I had a thing for long-haired beardy men with sticks.
ReplyDeleteEveryone likes Marcus, he's likeable, and all of his stories are about him going down to the slums and hitting thugs with a metal rod. Plus the series usually pairs him up with Ivanova or Franklin, which gives them a chance to shine. Though on the other hand, he tends to make Garibaldi seem like even more of a miserable git.
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