Babylon 5 Reviews I

Years ago I did what you might call “reviews” of Star Trek episodes. I mostly just briefly noted what progressive politics were involved and sometimes used that as an excuse to talk about similar situations in reality.

Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.


**Season 4 Episode 8 “The Illusion of Truth”** See this for a plot summary.

This episode is about the presidential propaganda TV station doing a story about Babylon 5, promising to be relatively objective and expose viewers to B5’s point of view. What is broadcast though is a dishonest attack on B5.

Some things worth noting as they stand out more than the general lies and propaganda of the story about B5:

1. A report that gov’t forces on Mars are making progress against  the resistance there.

2. In a newly reconstituted senate, there is a McCarthyist  “Committee on Anti-Earth Activities." Apparently some or many or most caught up in the witch-hunt are “hospitalized” so that they can “one day return to society [as] active and productive citizen[s].”

The story about B5 is so full of nonsense that I’m not going to cover all of the details or explain what was done by referring to the scenes being filmed in the first half of the episode. The main theme is that in general the B5 rebels are self-hating humans who believe they are inferior to aliens in every way and that is why they are (the show alleges) subservient to aliens.

A last few notes on economic justice on B5. Lennier is showing the journalists “Down Below” and they have a conversation about it, most of which is new information:

Lennier:“ Babylon 5 has always had an under-class. People who come here in search of a better life and find themselves stranded when they run out of money. They become a cheap workforce for some of the less reputable businessmen.

Journalist: So, they’re exploited.

Lennier:Sometimes, yes. The captain stops it when he hears of it. He’s instituted work programs so that they can earn money while helping to repair the station.

…..

Lennier: This is Doctor Stephen Franklin. He operates a free clinic for these people.


**Season 4 Episode 9 “Atonement”** See this for a plot summary.

This episode is overwhelmingly about the Minbari.

In an earlier review I defended Delenn against allegations she was something comparable to (you might say) a leader of Al-Qaeda and I said some nice things about the Minbari. Although my defense of Delenn stands (she DID transform herself into a hybrid of human and Minbari and she IS in a serious relationship with a human), apparently Minbar officially bans inter-species marriages. Her clan (part of the religious caste) didn’t approve of her transformation and seem inclined to oppose her taking a human as a mate. For that reason she must do a ritual called the “dreaming” where she is confronted with elements of her past.

The leader of the Minbari (in her memories that are explored), Dukhat, says that humans are reportedly primitive and dangerous. Considering that Earth is not comparable to the Federation of Star Trek, this is a fairly progressive statement. The Grey Council (the leadership of the Minbari) all argue that they should not make contact with Earth for different reasons:

1) The workers caste worried about competition with another source of food. The specific reference to food is a little weird but in general it's far from unheard of- a massive chunk of the American working-class, even large chunks of the labor movement, do see foreign workers as competition. In reality (and maybe in the world of Babylon 5) that’s a very unhelpful stance to take. I’m not saying it’s totally unreasonable for workers to feel that way, but it can often fuel racism which is even less helpful and there are better ways to create and protect jobs here.

2) The religious caste is “worried about the impact of strange, primitive ideas.” This erodes my opinion that they are not conservative, but also could be relatively harmless (relative to clear-cut xenophobia).

3) The warrior caste believe they should not associate with “inferior” cultures. Again, more or less xenophobic, but the warrior caste has never been illustrated as a positive part of Minbari society.

A big part of this episode revolves around the opening shots of the Earth-Minbar War. In addition to not speaking the other’s language, part of the explanation is that the humans didn’t recognize the traditional warrior caste approach with gun ports open (i.e. ready to fire). They mean it as a non-threatening “gesture of strength and respect”- the approach is “open-handed.” In general it might not be totally ridiculous for the warrior caste to see that as something unlikely to start a war. But when they describe it as “open-handed” it’s just not true. Open gun ports is like showing a fist.

Earlier in the episode Delenn supports a course of action in relation to humans that is fairly constructive and diplomatic. But after Dukhat is killed, she wants blood and casts the tie-breaking vote in favor of war. Later after that first battle was over she reverts back to her earlier stance and tried to pull a blood-thirsty nation and military back from the abyss of war. Another member of the planetary leadership, demanding blood minutes earlier, now seems to have followed Delann and says that they should have made contact with the humans BEFORE a war started.

At the end we learn that a historical political/religious/military leader of Minbar (who was not Minbari but human) fathered children with a Minbari woman. 1,000 years later his descendants can’t be counted they are so numerous. Delenn uses the fact that before her transformation she already had human DNA inside her (so it doesn’t matter if she has children with a human (they wouldn’t be completely Minbari anyway)) to defend her plans with Capt. Sheridan.


One other detail about the episode. Sheridan sends two of his men to Mars to establish contact with the resistance there. I remember the first time I watched this show I wasn’t very interested in that part of the Earth Civil War, but I have changed my mind.


**Season 4 Episode 10 “Racing Mars”** See this for a plot summary.

There are two small progressive political items.

1. First the two men meeting with the Mars resistance are given cover stories that involve them being married to each other. To be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers put that in there partly for some laughs, but considering the episode they did about HIV/AIDS I think it’s safe to also see it as a serious statement against homophobia.

2. At one point the Pope is referred to as a woman!


**Season 4, Episode 11 “Lines of Communication”** See this for a plot summary. 

There are three political aspects to this episode.

1. We learn that the caste system on Minbar is breaking down. At it’s extreme, the warrior caste in one city left the religious caste to die by expelling them from the city, thus forcing them to walk through the elements to the nearest city. The warrior caste are also creating their own leadership to replace the Grey Council.

2. Captain Sheridan’s emissary to the Mars resistance tells them that after the Earth Civil War is over, Mars will be independent.

He also criticizes them for bombing civilian targets. It’s unclear exactly what he means. That comment seems inspired by a bombing at a hotel that was aimed at members of the security forces but which was carried out in a way that unsurprisingly killed 10 civilians as well (it’s not known how many members of the security forces were killed). I go into more detail about whether or not IRA attacks were terrorism here, but briefly, even if the targets of a bomb are combatants in very close proximity to civilians, if no effort is made to avoid civilian death it sounds more or less sort of like terrorism to me.

Sheridan’s representative says that civilian casualties turn off people, including those who should be supporting a struggle for liberation. I think that’s very true. But it seems like many western progressive supporters of Hamas (the party in the Palestinian territories) don’t get that. Hamas’s military wing, in their offensive activities (their operations) largely targeted civilians (and seem to have allowed other factions in Gaza to target civilians). As far as I can tell, their rival, the PLO, seems to have failed miserably to achieve victory for their people in the Peace Process, and I get the impression a lot of progressives criticize them for that and some other stuff. To those who focus on that failure and who then turn to Hamas, I say that whatever mistakes the PLO have made that weakened the Palestinian struggle, at least they didn’t damage it as much as Hamas' military wing has because of attacks on civilians they carried out or permitted.