Blast From The Past … Genesis of a Calibrator … Part 6

BABYLON 5 #7: Survivors(11)/By Any Means Necessary(12):                                                Warner

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7.0

1.33

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Category: Science Fiction / Fantasy / TV

Our first look at Earth Force One and the “A” story on Mr. Garibaldi and his past.  Seems he has had quite the history on Mars.  This Mars angle aspect of Garibaldi would be explored further during this season as well as into the third season and beyond.  The Docking Guild is presented in the second episode.  Various characters from the Docking Guild would show up again in the second season on the “And Now For A Word” episode.  I have a sneaking suspicion that these people are actually part of the production crew or friends there of so that we don’t see their faces on any other programs.  Case in point, Lt. Corwin.  The Laserdiscs keep flopping back and forth with the pressing plants.  This batch of 12 episodes is pressed in the U.S.A. by Pioneer.

 

BABYLON 5 #8: Signs And Portents(13)/TKO(14):                                                      Warner

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Category: Science Fiction / Drama / TV

Number 13 is the second wham episode of the season foreshadowing events to come in the subsequent seasons.  A heavy CGI effects episode that introduces the Shadows and Mr. Morden (who as actor Ed Wasser shows up in C & C in the series pilot).  It also establishes the ladder of cultural advancement between the five main species on the station.  (Vorlons – They know, Minbari – They sort of know … though turns out they really do know, Narn – Documented in the writings of G’Quan, but generally don’t know, Centauri – Don’t know, Earth – Don’t know, but would later be proved somewhat incorrect.)  Kick boxing comes to Babylon 5 in one of the series’ low points.  The order of the question matters a lot according to JMS.  Mr. Morden asks people what they want, whereas Kosh asks people who they are first.  The true reason for the damage to Kosh’s suit is inferred many years later as being the handiwork of the Shadows who follow Morden around.

 

BABYLON 5 #9: Grail(15)/Eyes(16):

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Category: Science Fiction / Fantasy / TV

Although “Grail” is not a wham episode, we are given insight into the destruction of the first four Babylon Stations.  Foreshadowing events to come in “Babylon Squared” when the station is first moved forward in time and then all the way back 1,000 years.  (It turns out that the Shadows are the ones behind it after all and Jinxo wasn’t to blame.)  The feeder creature pays homage to the old animated Star Trek episode called the Survivor as it looks suspiciously similar to the Vendoran in that episode.  The Camelot motif would appear again in the series during the third season episode “A Late Delivery From Avalon.”  “Eyes” was characterized as being an episode shot on the cheap with four main characters in a room and it was the final episode filmed for season one.  We get further insight into how and why Commander Sinclair was chosen for duty on this station.  (It was probably Delenn who pushed the hardest to get him posted.)


BABYLON 5 #10: Legacies(17)/A Voice In The Wilderness Part One(18):

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Category: Science Fiction / Action / TV

Ivanova’s feeling about Psi Corp. are the focus of episode 17 as she and Talia wage a tug of war with a young budding telepath.  Who has stolen the Shy Allit’s body and what is chrysalis?  The latter would come by the end of the season.  Number 18 is not really a wham episode, but it does answer some questions about the planet that the station in situated near.  Near the end of Season Two and the importance of this alien civilization becomes more clear.  This is simply a set up episode that would be used later in the overall story.  Epsilon 3 is where Zathros can be found as we find out later on.  Actually, the episode is a wham effort after all.  The included image is a slight misrepresentation of the episode as the shot actually was derived from “Severed Dreams.”  It is unclear whether or not the Great Machine on Epsilon 3 will be used any further in the story line.

 

BABYLON 5 #11: A Voice In The Wilderness Part Two(19)/Babylon Squared(20):

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Category: Science Fiction / Drama / TV

Our first look at other Earth Alliance military technology in the form of the EA heavy cruiser “Hyperion.”  Although sleek looking and similar to a submarine, we may not see its like again in the series. (Not to worry, these type of ships show up again in the third season Severed Dreams episode where we see them in action.)  The ship represents technology prior to the Earth/Minbari War.  (Not too clear how internal gravity is produced, no apparent rotational section, but do note that the Captain is wearing seat restraints.)  As shown in “In The Beginning,” these ships do not have gravity.  Rotating sections only started showing up after the Minbari War.  “Babylon Squared” is another wham episode dealing with the disappearance of the previous station and foreshadowing the future.  Further hints about the impending destruction of the station as some form of invasion is underway.  Watch for the death of Garibaldi and the homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The large PPG that Garibaldi uses in the flash forward shows up again in the fifth season episode Darkness Ascending.  Zathros is mentioned again in season two as a resident of the living planet, Epsilon 3.  Speculation brewing that the show may be retitled Babylon 4 by the fourth season or the fifth.  (Though more likely the fifth season.)  Check the third season episode “War Without End” to learn the true fate of where and how Babylon 4 was taken.  The end of the Babylon 4 story is relayed in a three issue comic series.  The flip side of this episode occurs on that episode in the grand tradition of “Back To The Future Part II.”  I wonder what type of air Zathros breathes since the original Epsilon 3 atmosphere was not hospitable to humans.  And yet he seems right at home mingling with the humans.  Images portrayed in this episode are not at all what they seem.  The person in the space suit who fades in and out turns out not to be Sinclair … and it isn’t Sheridan either.  To everyone’s surprise, it is the one … Delenn.  The TNT presentation was much more filmlike and you could actually see the size of the station in the long shots.

 

BABYLON 5 #12: The Quality Of Mercy(21)/Chrysalis(22):

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Category: Science Fiction / Comedy / TV

The final two episodes from the first season of the series.  The first episode to introduce the concept of mind wipes as punishment for the crime of first degree murder.  This concept would surface again in the third season.  The alien healing device would also play a larger role in the next season as well as in the end of the fourth season.  It never seems like much until it comes back to smack you in the face.  The finale was actually filmed as #14 in order and shown only one week prior to the opening of the second.  It has not been repeated since that time.  Another wham episode immediately leading into the second season so no cliff hanger endings, although the whole episode can be seen as a cliff hanger.  The B5 story does not use the cliff hanger as a plot device.  The end of each season is indicative of the end of a chapter in a book.  There are two major CGI sequences in this finale, the Shadow attack on the Narn outpost at Quadrant 37 and the assassination of President Santiago.  “A view that is sure to impress voters.”  Too bad Garibaldi never got the “Watch your back, Michael!” message from Sinclair in Babylon Squared.  Now the first season has been completely released on Laserdisc.  Season five is 18 episodes completed.

Continued in Part 7.

 

Michael Chen

Michael Chen is the only THX Video Systems Instructor in Canada, and beyond these borders, is one of just two THX Video Instructors in the entire world.  He has actively consulted with Spectracal and ChromaPure and has created numerous education videos on the calibration process with still more to come.  His Video Calibration Training Series has quickly become the most comprehensive and simple to understand learning tool on the market today.  He has also taught classes for both the ISF and Spectracal as well and is now spearheading his all new TLVEXP calibration training program. Let Michael teach you Video Calibration and add that additional income stream to your installation and integration business

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