Babylon 5: Season 5 - The Wheel of Fire Review

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'll be writing a bit about the fifth and final season of Babylon 5! And I suppose I should say something about the series overall as well. If I can remember enough of it.

I can't promise I'll say much here you haven't read a thousand times before on a thousand other websites, or heard on a thousand podcasts. Maybe you've even watched a thousand YouTube videos. But I do have one unique fact for you that no one anywhere has ever mentioned before: each season of Babylon 5 features slightly longer episode titles on average than the previous one, and by season five the titles are, on average, 42% longer than season one titles. I hope this extremely trivial trivia brings joy into your day.

But did longer episode titles mean better episodes? Was the miraculous fifth season renewal a good thing overall? Did Babylon 5 actually stick the landing? I'll tell you what I think and then you can tell me what you think in the comments afterwards.

There will be SPOILERS here for pretty much all of Babylon 5, aside from the spin-offs and Lost Tales. That's The Gathering all the way to Sleeping in Light.

Babylon 5 5-22: Sleeping in Light

Episode:

110

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

25-Nov-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I did it, we're here, it's the last episode of Babylon 5, episode 110 of 110. I have finally reached Sleeping in Light! Though here it looks more like Sleeping in Bed. I suppose they do have that lamp on.

It had originally been filmed as an extremely final season 4 finale when their network was collapsing and the future looked bleak. But when the miracle happened and TNT gave them a fifth season, it provided them an opportunity to film an alternative end to season 4 and hold onto this for a while. That means that the episode finally aired 394 days later than planned! The actors and crew knew the story, people from the media got hold of the script, but it seems like no one ever said anything in all that time.

It's the first and only episode of the series to be directed by showrunner J. Michael Straczynski. In fact it was his first time directing anything. Personally if I was going to try my hand at being a director I wouldn't start with the finale to my epic sci-fi series. Endings are incredibly important to a story, they're one of the things that people remember most and it colours their opinion of the whole saga, so screwing up here would be very bad.

Okay you're if you're reading my final B5 review you probably already know the drill by now, but I write about entire episodes scene by scene, with a recap under screencaps, so there'll be HUGE SPOILERS. I'll not spoil anything that happens in the spin-offs, Lost Tales, or any other series however. So if you're hoping for me to compare it to Deep Space Nine's finale, that's not going to happen. I could compare it to a certain other Trek finale though, with its 20 year time jump.

Babylon 5 5-21: Objects at Rest

Episode:

109

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

John Copeland

|

Air Date:

18-Nov-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the penultimate episode of Babylon 5: Objects at Rest. Episode 109 out of 110.

Babylon 5 was always meant to last five seasons, but for a while it seemed like it would be cancelled at the end of its fourth year. To avoid leaving the story unfinished, showrunner J. Michael Straczynski rushed to get the main storylines concluded at the end of season four and filmed a final episode to wrap everything up called Sleeping in Light. Then they got a fifth season after all, so the final episode was put away for a year until it was time. I'm bringing this up now because it means that Objects at Rest was the last ever Babylon 5 episode to be filmed.

It was also the third and final episode to be directed by producer John Copeland, who'd previously directed Endgame and The Ragged Edge. Those were both very effects-heavy episodes, but I'll be surprised if this episode goes in that direction. In fact I think I'm going to be surprised whatever happens. All the plot I can remember from my first watch already happened in The Wheel of Fire and Objects in Motion.

Alright, I'll be going through the whole episode giving my scene by scene recap and reactions with screencaps so there will be huge SPOILERS here, for this and earlier stories (except for The River of Souls which I'm saving). I'll not say anything to spoil what happens next though, not that there's a whole lot of 'next' left at this point.

Babylon 5 5-20: Objects in Motion

Episode:

108

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Jesús Salvador Treviño

|

Air Date:

11-Nov-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 20: Objects in Motion. Hey wasn't that the name of a Firefly episode? Oh sorry, I'm thinking of Objects in Space.

Objects in Space was the final episode of Firefly, this on the other hand is just the final Babylon 5 story to be directed by Jesús Treviño. He was one of the chosen few to have been asked to direct one of the movies (along with Mike Vejar and Janet Greek), but Thirdspace had been and gone by this point. He did return to the B5 universe one last time for an episode of Crusade however.

This is also one of the rare episodes to give Harlan Ellison a story credit (along with writer J. Michael Straczynski), which probably means he suggested something for one of the plots.

SPOILER WARNING: I'll be recapping, screencapping and commenting on the whole episode, scene by scene, so if you don't know what happens in it yet, you will do after reading this. I'll not be spoiling anything that happens afterwards however, not that there's much left to spoil.

Babylon 5 5-19: The Wheel of Fire

Episode:

107

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Janet Greek

|

Air Date:

04-Nov-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5, episode 19: The Wheel of Fire! I'm getting really close to the end of the series now so I'm almost out of pictures of an episode title over a shot of the station. This is one of the better ones though I reckon, the lighting on it looks great.

Each of Babylon 5's seasons was named after one of the most important episodes that year, and this is the one that season 5 took its title from. That puts it in the company of Signs and Portents, The Coming of Shadows, Point of No Return and No Surrender, No Retreat, so if it doesn't immediately make it onto my top 10 list it's going to be a massive let down.

Here's some trivia for you: 60% of these monumental season title episodes were directed by the same director, Janet Greek, and she came back for this one. I've read that showrunner J. Michael Straczynski considered her and Mike Vejar to be his two favourite directors on the show and I can see why. This was her final episode, but she did return for the movie River of Souls and two episodes of the spin-off series Crusade.

I'm going to be recapping and reviewing the episode one scene at a time, so there will be massive SPOILERS here, for this and earlier stories. I'll not be spoiling anything that happens next however, so if you're watching the series for the first time this will all be safe to read.

Babylon 5 5-18: The Fall of Centauri Prime

Episode:

106

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Douglas E. Wise

|

Air Date:

28-Oct-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Babylon 5 episode 106, The Fall of Centauri Prime. I suppose lots of planets have an autumn.

Babylon 5 originally took a bit of a break after the last episode, Movements of Fire and Shadow, and even more of a break in the UK. In fact viewers had to wait over four months for this episode! That's way more than the month I've kept you waiting, so I'm not even feeling guilty. There were no more breaks after this though. They aired this final stretch of stories over five weeks, with the movie River of Souls thrown in as a bonus. In the UK, Channel 4 did one better by airing them over five days. Unfortunately it was scheduled a little earlier than usual... at 11:30 AM as part of The Bigger Breakfast block.

The episode was directed by Douglas E. Wise, nephew of Robert Wise (director of The Sound of Music, The Andromeda Strain and Star Trek: The Motion Picture). It was the only episode of the series he directed, but he'd been on the series for a while at this point working as a the first assistant director so I'm sure he knew the difference between a Centauri and a Minbari.

I'll be going through the entire episode writing my comments under screencaps, so there will be massive SPOILERS below. I'll also be spoiling the hell out of anything relevant that led up to it, though I'll not say a word about the episodes that come after.

Babylon 5 5-17: Movements of Fire and Shadow

Episode:

105

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

John C. Flinn III

|

Air Date:

17-Jun-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the Babylon 5 season 5 episode Movements of Fire and Shadow. Sounds like it should be the name of a Game of Thrones novel, but you know that things are getting real when the word 'Shadow' shows up in a B5 episode title.

It was the final episode to be directed by John C. Flinn III, but he carried on in his other job as the series' director of photography until the end. The main thing I remember about Flinn's episodes is that he's not great at shooting actors in monster suits, but if they can avoid that here this might be a good one.

We're getting really close to the end now, only 5 episodes left after this one, but they decided to be cruel during the show's first airing on TNT and make people wait 19 weeks for the next episode. That's four and a half months! We had it even worse in the UK, as we had to wait 2 weeks longer than that. Though they did at least air the B5 movie Thirdspace in the meantime... which confusingly slots in during the events of season 4.

I should probably mention that there will be SPOILERS beyond this point for this episode and earlier episodes too, but I've written this warning over a hundred times now and I'm getting pretty bored of doing it, so you're just going to have to live without it this time.

Babylon 5 5-16: And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder

Episode:

104

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Goran Gajić

|

Air Date:

10-Jun-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder. Now there's a proper Babylon 5 title for you. In fact it's so Babylon 5 that JMS basically used it once already for season three's Severed Dreams. This is just a more poetic and less pithy way of phrasing it.

It's really rare to see an episode begin with the word 'And' like this. In fact outside of Babylon 5, the only other episode I can think of that does is Star Trek's And the Children Shall Lead. Babylon 5 was written by one guy for the most part though, so he had plenty of opportunities to express his idiosyncrasies. Which means we got And the Sky Full of Stars in season 1, And Now For a Word in season 2, plus And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place in season 3. Season 4 missed out unfortunately.

The episode was directed by Goran Gajić, who was Delenn actress Mira Furlan's husband. It's the first and only episode he ever did for the series, which was apparently Warner Bros' fault more than anyone else, as creator J. Michael Straczynski had wanted to hire him for a while. The episode also had a different director of photography than usual, with Fred V. Murphy II taking over from John C. Flinn III for the 8th and final time. I'll be curious to see if it looks any different with all these new people behind the camera.

Okay I'll be rewatching, recapping, reacting and dropping massive SPOILERS for this entire episode, and some earlier episodes as well. I'll not be spoiling anything that comes next however.

Babylon 5 5-15: Darkness Ascending

Episode:

103

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Janet Greek

|

Air Date:

03-Jun-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 15: Darkness Ascending. A bit of a miserable title for this one. Also most of the time the series puts its episode titles over an establishing shot of the station, but twice this season they've put it over one of the characters instead and both times it's been Garibaldi. So there's some immensely pointless trivia for you.

The episode was directed by Janet Greek, which is a name that showed up a lot in seasons one and two, especially at the start of the most important episodes, but then disappeared entirely for seasons three and four. This is her third episode this season though and she'll be back for two more stories before it's all over.

Warning: I'll be recapping, screencapping, reacting to and commenting on this entire episode, so there will be SPOILERS below. There may also be spoilers for earlier episodes too. There will not be spoilers for later ones.

Babylon 5 5-14: Meditations on the Abyss

Episode:

102

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Mike Vejar

|

Air Date:

27-Mar-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 14: Meditations on the Abyss. I'm not sure about that title as meditation isn't typically all that thrilling. Though abysses can be dramatic sometimes I suppose, especially when there's a risk of all your hopes and dreams falling in. James Cameron even made a film about one once.

The episode was written by showrunner J. Michael Straczynski, though that goes without saying really. There are just eight episodes left after this and they're all by him. This was the final episode to be directed by Mike Vejar however, which is a shame because he's a contender to be the greatest director B5 ever had. He did come back for the movies and the Crusade spin-off though.

SPOILER WARNING: this is episode 102, which means there are 101 other episodes that I could spoil at any time, and I'm definitely going to spoil this one. The particulars of subsequent episodes will remain undisclosed however.

Babylon 5 5-13: The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father

Episode:

101

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Stephen Furst

|

Air Date:

15-Apr-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally getting back to Babylon 5! It's been a whole month since I wrote about a B5 episode, but I guess that's kind of inevitable now that I'm alternating between Sci-Fi Adventures and Super Adventures every week. Plus this isn't the only science fiction series I'm writing about.

I've failed to find any evidence of this to back me up, but I remember once reading a magazine which called this episode The Crops is a Mother, the Crops is a Father and that's always stuck with me. Even though actual content of the story has faded from my brain.

Incidentally its actual name is the longest title in Babylon 5's whole run, with an astonishing 8 words and 32 letters (and a comma)! That's three times your average sci-fi title... probably (I haven't actually checked them all). I can tell you that it's beating Doctor Who's longest title, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, by one whole letter. But it's trailing behind Deep Space Nine's Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places (36 letters), Discovery's The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry (38 letters) and Star Trek's For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (40 letters).

I tried looking at some other series too but I got as far as Farscape's Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part 1: Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda (43 letters) before deciding that any longer titles should be recategorized as short stories and giving up.

This was directed by Vir actor Stephen Furst, who seemed to be showrunner jms's go-to for weird format-breaking episodes, as he also did The Illusion of Truth and The Deconstruction of Falling Stars. I suppose the series must get more normal after this as this was his final episode as director. Though he did direct two episodes of the spin-off series Crusade.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to spoil the entire episode scene by scene and I'll probably spoil something from earlier episodes as well. I'll not say a thing about what happens afterwards however.

Babylon 5 5-08: Day of the Dead

Episode:

96

|

Writer:

Neil Gaiman

|

Director:

Doug Lefler

|

Air Date:

11-Mar-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching the 57th episode of Babylon 5 in a row to be scripted by creator J. Michael Straczynski, whose tyranny over the series was absolute. No, hang on, this is actually a Neil Gaiman episode?

Gaiman had never written for Babylon 5 before, as he was busy writing Neverwhere and Sandman and stuff, but he did actually have a connection to the series as he has an alien race named after him (the Gaim). This was director Doug Lefler's only Babylon 5 episode as well. The guy had directed a few other episodes of other shows but these days he's mostly a storyboard artist, working on movies like Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Godzilla vs. Kong and Deadpool 2.

Day of the Dead was filmed between episodes 10 and 11, but the plan was to air it a couple of episodes later (after The Ragged Edge). Then the episodes got reordered in order to have a build-up of dramatic stories leading up to a break, so it was actually aired a couple of episodes earlier. The Lurker's Guide Master List I'm following places it back in its intended position and the list's been working out for me so far, so I'm going along with it.

That means to me this run of episodes looks like this:

11 - Phoenix Rising
12 - The Ragged Edge
08 - Day of the Dead
13 - The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father
14 - Meditations on the Abyss

I think this is actually the last time that episodes are going to get shuffled around like this. From now on I can just watch them in the order they aired in.

Alright, I'm going to jump right into giving you my recap commentary, going through the episode scene by scene and writing words underneath screencaps. These words may contain huge SPOILERS for earlier episodes as well, but this review is first time viewer friendly so I won't spoil anything that comes after. Except I'm watching this after episodes 9, 10, 11, and 12 so I guess they'll be getting a little bit spoiled.

Babylon 5 5-12: The Ragged Edge

Episode:

100

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

John Copeland

|

Air Date:

08-Apr-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the 100th episode of Babylon 5! It wasn't the 100th episode to be filmed though, that was Phoenix Rising. It wasn't originally supposed to be the 100th to air either, but Day of the Dead got pulled forward and aired first. Which is a shame really, as if this had aired a week earlier like it was meant to, it would've been its 24th anniversary today.

I'm following the Lurker's Guide Master List which skips Day of the Dead until it's chronologically appropriate, so The Ragged Edge is the 11th episode I'm writing about this season. That means I've finally reached the halfway point of season five! I'm 90% through the entire series now, or at least I will be once I've gotten this episode out of the way.

It was directed by producer John Copeland and there aren't many episodes I can say that about. He did the fantastic Endgame from season 4, he did the last ever B5 episode filmed (Objects at Rest), he did this, and that's it. I don't want to get my hopes up too much but it seems like the guy only directed when he felt that he had a reason to so maybe I should be at least a little bit hyped.

Alright I'll be screencapping and recapping the whole episode for the purposes of writing my reactions, observations, opinions... basically I'm going to be overthinking everything. There will be SPOILERS, but this will be first time viewer friendly so as long as you've watched this far you'll be fine.

Babylon 5 5-11: Phoenix Rising

Episode:

99

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

01-Apr-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 11: Phoenix Rising.

Phoenix Rising was actually the 100th episode to be shot but only the 99th to air (due to Sleeping in Light being shelved for a while), so The Ragged Edge ended up getting the party in its place. They got a big cake from TNT for it and everything. Funny thing is, if the season had been broadcast in the correct order then neither of them would've gotten the cake. I haven't written about Day of the Dead yet because it should come after both stories, making it the true episode 100.

Hang on, that means I've covered 98 episodes and two movies now - this is MY 100TH BABYLON 5 REVIEW! Man, I should've gotten myself a cake.

The episode aired on April 1st, but somehow I doubt it'll be a joke. In fact it's basically the second half of A Tragedy of Telepaths. Or maybe part five of Strange Relations, depending on how you look at it. The series has gotten very serialised again.

There'll be lots of SPOILERS below, as I'm pretty much writing this for people who've already seen all of Babylon 5 up to this point (or followed along with my articles at least). You're fine if you're first time viewer though, as I won't be spoiling anything that comes later. Even the things I can remember.

Babylon 5 5-10: A Tragedy of Telepaths

Episode:

98

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Tony Dow

|

Air Date:

25-Mar-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 10: A Tragedy of Telepaths.

The word 'tragedy' in this case is a collective noun, as it's the name for a group of telepaths. You know, like a murder of crows or a litter of puppies. Or a shrewdness of apes. An implausibility of gnus. A congregation of crocodiles. A handful of stegosauruses. An exaltation of larks. A business of ferrets. A tower of giraffes.

I'd mention some trivia here or talk about the director, but I'd rather just keep listing collective nouns. A wisdom of wombats. A dazzle of zebras. A murmuration of starlings. Where do these nouns even come from? Who even uses them? Okay everyone says things like 'a pack of cards' or 'a round of drinks', they're not all bizarre, but no one has ever had to refer to an 'obstinacy of buffalo' before.

Anyway, I hope you're into SPOILERS because there'll be a lot of them coming your way very soon if you keep reading. For this episode and for earlier ones too. But if you've watched the series up to this point you have nothing to worry about as I'll not be spoiling anything that happens after the episode.

Babylon 5 5-09: In the Kingdom of the Blind

Episode:

97

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

18-Mar-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 9 - In the Kingdom of the Blind. I watched episode 7 - Secrets of the Soul last time so I should probably explain where episode 8's gone.

I'm following the Lurker's Guide's Master List, which tries to put the episodes in the place which makes the most sense for continuity. It only moves a few stories around, in fact the last time I skipped an episode like this was back in season 3, and I think this might be the last episode I'm watching out of order.

The Master List reordering leaves this run of episodes looks like this:

07 - Secrets of the Soul
09 - In the Kingdom of the Blind
10 - A Tragedy of Telepaths
11 - Phoenix Rising
12 - The Ragged Edge
08 - Day of the Dead

So episode 8's not coming around for a while.

Why is this relevant to you? Well it's going to affect what kind of SPOILERS you're going to read here. I only write about the episode I'm on and the ones that came before it, I don't spoil what comes next, so this reordering means that I won't say a thing about anything that happens in Day of the Dead here. On the other hand, my eventual Day of the Dead review could be full of spoilers for episodes 9-12... theoretically.

Babylon 5 5-07: Secrets of the Soul

Episode:

95

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Tony Dow

|

Air Date:

04-Mar-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 7, Secrets of the Soul. It's promising secrets, plural, so it'd better deliver or else I'm going to be slightly disappointed. Or more likely I'll forget what the title was five minutes in and not actually care.

SPOILER WARNING: I'll be going through the episode scene by scene and writing what happens underneath, so if you don't already know what happens that might be a problem. Especially as I'll be talking about earlier episodes as well. I'll not be talking about what happens next though.

Babylon 5 5-06: Strange Relations

Episode:

94

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

John C. Flinn III

|

Air Date:

25-Feb-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 6, Strange Relations. Huh, that's weird, I can usually vaguely remember the names of each episode but Strange Relations doesn't ring any bells with me at all. If I was given one of those quizzes where you have to go through titles and choose whether they're from Babylon 5 or, I dunno, Magnum P.I., I would've totally failed this one. (I would've nailed The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari though.)

You can tell this episode's been around a few years now as a bit of the letter 'g' has gotten scratched off. That's apparently a unique feature of the Region 2 DVDs, so you can tell where all my screencaps are coming from.

This episode was written by J. Michael Straczynski, no big surprise there, and it was directed by the Director of Photography John C. Flinn III. Flinn had previously directed TKO and Grey 17 is Missing, contenders to be the worst episodes of their respective seasons, so he doesn't have a perfect track record, but he's done some good episode too. I'm not considering it to be a warning sign.

Okay I'll be writing about the entire episode one scene at a time so there will be massive SPOILERS here for this story and the series so far. I'll not spoil anything that comes afterwards though.

Babylon 5 5-05: Learning Curve

Episode:

93

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

18-Feb-1998

---

Sci-Fi Adventures is finally back! This week I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 5. All the fives. It's a shame that Deep Space Nine didn't go to nine seasons, as it never got to complete the set. Also Odyssey 5 got cancelled in season 1 and Brooklyn Nine-Nine didn't even make it into double digits. I've still got hopes for Avenue 5 though.

I'm not going to be swayed into liking this episode, by the way. I remember it being a particularly bad episode from the mediocre half of a disappointing season, and I have no intention of allowing myself to inadvertently enjoy it. This isn't going to be a repeat of last time, when A View from the Gallery managed to win me over by the end. Sort of.

Though that being said, it was directed by David J. Eagle, who gave us episodes like Severed Dreams, And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place and The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari, so maybe it'll turn out to be one of the better season 5 stories. I'll let you know.

There will be massive SPOILERS below for this episode and the story so far, as I'll be going through it scene by scene writing comments under screencaps. I'll not spoil a thing about what comes after it though.

Babylon 5 5-04: A View from the Gallery

Episode:

92

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Janet Greek

|

Air Date:

11-Feb-1998

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 4, A View from the Gallery.

It's another Janet Greek episode, who's directed half the episodes so far this season after skipping the last few years entirely. She's got her name on some of the series' best stories so that's a good sign... though I remember not liking this one for whatever reason. This is also the first episode since Knives back in season 2 to have someone else's name in the writing credits: legendary author Harlan Ellison.

Ellison had been a credited as a conceptual consultant for Babylon 5's whole run, plus he also played the roles of a Psi Cop (in Face of the Enemy) and Sparky the Computer (in Ceremonies of Light and Dark). This makes him one of Garibaldi's greatest enemies. He was known for being a bit antagonistic in general, famously getting into a feud with Gene Roddenberry over the script for The City on the Edge of Tomorrow and suing James Cameron for The Terminator. But this trivia is all pretty much irrelevant as he apparently only gave writer jms the basic concept for the episode and didn't really do anything else on it. Though one of the main characters may have a bit of a resemblance...

SPOILER WARNING: I'll be screencapping, recapping and reviewing all of A View from the Gallery, and the episode builds on events from earlier stories, so a mountain of spoilers awaits you here. I won't spoil anything that comes after it though.