Babylon 5 4-13: Rumors, Bargains and Lies

Episode:

79

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

Mike Vejar

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Air Date:

12-May-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Rumors, Bargains and Lies, the 79th episode of Babylon 5.

It was written by showrunner J. Michael Straczynski, who was about two thirds of the way through his unbroken streak of scripts by this point, and it was directed by Mike Vejar, finally making a reappearance after skipping the first half of the season. He hadn't directed an episode since War Without End, Part 2 back in season 3, so it's nice to have him back.

I'll be recapping the whole episode and sharing my thoughts as I go, so there'll be huge SPOILERS for this episode and earlier ones. But you'll be fine if you've been watching through the series for the first time.

Babylon 5 4-12: Conflicts of Interest

Episode:

79

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

David J. Eagle

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Air Date:

05-May-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the 79th episode of Babylon 5, titled Conflicts of Interest. For whatever reason they decided to render the station from the back instead of the front for this shot, so there's a close up of B5's ass behind the title. It's also episode 12 of season 4, which means I'm in the second half of the season now. I'm 7/10ths through the show!

Conflicts of Interest was directed by David J. Eagle, who was the only Babylon 5 director to ever have a bird-related surname. He directed episodes like Severed Dreams, And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place and Falling Toward Apotheosis, so he preferred to hang around at the top of people's episode rankings, but this could be the episode where it all started to go wrong for him. We're in season four, so probably not, though it's been a while so I can't actually remember if this one's any good or not.

Here's some more trivia for you: the episode came out on May the 5th, the day after Star Wars Day. I don't think Babylon 5 ever got its own day, but I suppose the 5th of the 5th isn't the worst date you could pick for it.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to go through this episode scene by scene spoiling the events with my recap and spoiling the story by nitpicking everything as I go. I'll even spoil episodes that came before it! But I won't spoil anything that comes after it, so this is safe for first time viewers.

Babylon 5 4-11: Lines of Communication

Episode:

77

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

John C. Flinn III

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Air Date:

28-Apr-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, another episode of Babylon 5.

Lines of Communication was written by showrunner J. Michael Straczynski and directed by director of photography John C. Flinn III, a pair of people who clearly must have had more hours in their days than the rest of us get. This was the last episode Flinn directed this season but he did a couple more for season 5. He didn't direct any of the spin-off series Crusade afterwards though weirdly, or anything else for that matter.

I feel compelled to warn you that there will be SPOILERS for this episode below this point, because I'm going to go through the whole thing basically scene by scene. I'll not be spoiling anything past this episode though, so if you're watching through the series for the first time you'll be fine.

Babylon 5 4-10: Racing Mars

Episode:

76

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

Jesús Salvador Treviño

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Air Date:

21-Apr-1997

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I'm pretty sure that's a spaceship in that screencap up there, but are those glowing panels supposed to be windows? Their polygon budget must have been really tight.

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about another episode of Babylon 5! This episode's called Racing Mars, which is a play on the phrase 'racing cars'. Actually I don't know what it means, it's mysterious. Sounds good though.

It's the fourth of five episodes directed by Jesús Treviño, and he's been doing alright so far with episodes like Sic Transit Vir and Interludes and Examinations. He also directed the movie Thirdspace and came back after the series to direct an episode of the spin-off, Crusade.

I'm going to go beyond your recommended daily allowance of SPOILERS here, as I'll be spoiling this episode scene by scene, and any stories that lead up to it. But if this is your first time watching the series you don't have to worry about me ruining anything that happens afterwards. I won't even spoil Thirdspace, even though the events probably take place before this story.

Babylon 5 4-09: Atonement

Episode:

75

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

Tony Dow

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Air Date:

24-Feb-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about more Babylon 5! The episode Atonement to be specific, which was the 9th story in season 4.

This means I'm finally going to have to face one of the biggest mysteries in the entire Babylon 5 saga: where the hell does the movie Thirdspace fit in? Some people say watch it before Atonement, some people suggest watching it right after it. Some even suggest starting the episode, getting up to a certain point, then switching over to watch Thirdspace instead for a bit. And some people, perhaps more sensible people, suggest just watching it in the order it aired in.

I'm just going to put the episode on and see if I can spot any point where you could interrupt the action with an entire film without it being weird.

Oh by the way, BABYLON 5 FINALLY GOT REMASTERED! Holy crap, I can't believe it. Okay it's not a full Star Trek-style HD remaster where they rescanned the original film and replaced the effects, I think they've just gone back to the original 4:3 broadcast masters, but it looks a lot better. Unfortunately I don't have any of these remastered episodes so all my screencaps are going to be from the widescreen DVDs.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to assume you've seen all of Babylon 5 up to and including this episode, but I won't spoil anything that comes after. I won't even spoil Thirdspace, even though it apparently chronologically takes place here.

Star Trek: Borg

Writer:

Hilary J. Bader

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Director:

James L. Conway

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Release Date:

1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm giving you a choice!

Star Trek: Borg is an interactive movie, but it's also a Star Trek story, so you can keep reading this article to get all the meandering, sci-fi trivia and nitpicks I put in a typical Sci-Fi Adventures review, or you can jump over to my other website, Super Adventures, and get a more focused, streamlined version which gets to the point. Stay here if you're a Star Trek fan who likes words, or go over there if you'd rather scroll past less text.

> CLICK HERE FOR THE SHORTER SUPER ADVENTURES STAR TREK: BORG REVIEW <

I really wouldn't recommend reading both articles. Well, unless you're into sitting through lots of the same content all over again, in which case I might have found the right story for you!

The game apparently came out in late 1996, just a few weeks before the movie Star Trek: First Contact. That film's all about the Borg so they had their synergy figured out there. That means that in grand scheme of Star Trek games, Borg comes after 25th Anniversary and A Final Unity, but before Starfleet Academy and Elite Force. It was released right at the start of the Trek game explosion that lasted until 2001, where every year would have three or more games, some of them not entirely terrible! In fact this wasn't even the only Trek game by Simon & Schuster that year, as they also released Star Trek: Klingon, which appears to be more of the same kind of thing.

The game will apparently run on modern systems if you download this ancient installer from the Internet Archive: Borgptch, but I don't really know how well it gets along with Windows 10 because I decided to run it in Windows 95 using the PCem PC emulator instead.

I usually only play for an hour or two, but this isn't the longest of games so I'm going to be playing all of it this time. So there's going to be HUGE SPOILERS for this game and maybe a few smaller spoilers for Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes like The Best of Both Worlds.

Babylon 5 4-08: The Illusion of Truth

Episode:

74

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

Stephen Furst

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Air Date:

17-Feb-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I am writing about Babylon 5 episode 74: The Illusion of Truth. Doesn't sound like a particularly interesting number, but the series has 110 regular episodes, so that means after this I'll be two-thirds of the way through!

The Illusion of Truth was the first episode to be directed by Vir actor Stephen Furst. Not just the first Babylon 5 episode, but the first episode of anything. Though he had already directed (and written, and starred in) a movie called Magic Kid II. Furst went on to direct a couple more episodes of B5, both of them breaking the show's usual format, and then he went and did a couple of episodes of the spin-off, Crusade, as well.

I sometimes point out similarities between Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine, but this is one case where things worked out differently. Four actors from DS9's main cast went on to direct episodes of their own show, same with Star Trek: The Next Generation and Voyager weirdly, but Stephen Furst was the only Babylon 5 actor to ever make the jump.

SPOILER WARNING: I'll be spoiling this episode scene by scene and if I think of any other episodes that need a good spoiling along the way, well I'll be spoiling them as well. Don't worry though if you're watching through the series for the first time, as I'll not spoil anything that happens next.