In doing these rewatches, I will do my best not to spoiler too far into the series. There are things I may point out as being of interest. Other nuggets may escape me entirely. I decided to set out on these rewatches because, despite all of the rewatches out there, I couldn’t find one of B5 [RECANT: I found this one on the AV Club, which seems to be really good actually, but having started down this road, I can’t back out now. Plus, it looks like Rowan got sidelined in September and has never made it back.]. I expect these will start out long-winded, scene by bloody scene recaps, until they hit a stride and start just summing up and pointing out the juicy bits.
You have been forewarned.
I will be working with the reboxed DVD collection as my source material. I believe these have been slightly re-edited, though hopefully it won’t be anything that hampers appreciation of the show. I will be posting one a week, so at 110 episodes this could be a few years in the making. But before we can begin with the main series, we’ll start with the pilot episode of Babylon 5, “The Gathering.” The titular gathering is, of course, the gathering of the diplomats to Babylon 5, the station where we will remain for most of the next five years.
When the pilot episode of Babylon 5 first aired on February 22, 1993, I missed it. It would be years before I had another opportunity to see it, and by then it had become a thing of legend. These were the early days of the internet, where a screenshot was gold and there was no such concept as streaming video or downloading episode. This was still the age of VHS, so knowledge of what had actually happened in the pilot episode, what tantalizing reveals waited to be mined from its depths, was largely a thing of gossip and hearsay only.
This was, after all, the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind.
Every episode began with the voice-over monologue, the setting of the stage. Though the monologue – and speaker – would change from season to season, it was usually the same character speaking for a span of episodes. It will be interesting to see going forward in season one how that’s handled, and what underlying observations we can take away with that.
In our pilot episode, it is Centauri ambassador Londo Mollari that heralds us into the year 2257 and the founding of the last of the Babylon stations, located deep in space. A port of call for refugees, diplomats, and travelers. Our last best hope for peace, a dream given form, for a galaxy without war.
And so our tone is set for the series. This is to be about the station – the series begins on the first day the station is opened, and will ultimately end on the day it is destroyed for good, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We still have multiple wars, tragedies, and triumphs to entertain us before then.
One of the interesting thing about this pilot aren’t just the actors and characters that we never see again, but the ones that will leave after this episode only to return again later, vital to the story. Our first episode begins with the first of a few arrivals, this one being that of Lyta Alexander, a representative of the Psi-Corps sent to fill a position on the station. Of course, no introduction is complete without also establishing some character, so as our first act for the captain of the station, and with Lyta as a witness, we watch Captain Sinclair deal with a “dust” (drug) dealer, unarmed and brazen.
And then, as though this were all too perfectly normal on our just completed station, we’re walking again, guiding Lyta to her quarters which, despite the size of the station, just happen to require that we walk through an alien section where rebreather masks are needed. We’ll be back this way again later, and it will seem natural to us, but this first time through it’s all just…pointless. While we walk there is some chit chat, including talk about the previous Babylon stations – 1-3 being the victims of sabotage, and 4 disappearing the day it went operational. So, nothing ominous or foolhardy about building a fifth station, right?
And now to begin our whirlwind tour of the aliens we haven’t met yet. We know Kosh, ambassador for the Vorlons, is on his way, and that no living human has ever seen a Vorlon. Then we shift gears to Delenn, who is a little distracting in this pilot because MY GOD SHE HAS KIRK DOUGLAS’ CHIN! Yes, IMHO the prosthetics department got a little confused in this pilot, making Delenn’s face and our neighborly Narn G’kar’s face look like variations on the same Chin-tastic design. G’kar would go on to wear it well, and by the first episode Delenn would have a softer chin that didn’t quite look so, well, huge, but in this opening pilot, I think she could take out a portion of the station with that. To make up for it, the bone crest on the back of her head is equally impressive. In later episodes it will be less magnificent, but here in the pilot it truly is an alien feature on an alien face.
But while I wax on about chins and bone crests, we also learn that according to Delenn, the Minbari have no more information on the Vorlons than what’s on this secret data crystal I’m going to share with you, captain of a station of people we were recently at war with. In the context of this episode, it’s all very mysterious (and it’s supposed to be). Later, we will of course learn more, oh so much more.
…and jump to the hull of the station, where something attaches itself to the station. What could that be? Who knows, because we’re going to pan away just as quickly! Why? Because that way we can learn that Kosh is two days early, oh and that Sinclair’s lady friend, Carolyn Sinclair, is in the area and stopping in to visit.
…and we jump around some more, ultimately to settle in on Londo, who is losing money in the casino but has a scheme to make it all back if he can just get enough investment capital. Of course, Garibaldi, as head of security, has been sent around to collect the wayward ambassador, or at least get word to him (the new station isn’t reliable enough to send comms?). At this point, a character we’ve caught meaningful glimpses of offers to help Londo. We know he’s meaningful because he keeps showing up, just like we know he’s a bad guy because despite the year, he’s wearing a bad suit and has so far had nothing but menacing camera angles.
Switch view (a lot of that this episode) to Lyta, who is using her psi-ness (level 5 telepath, as it was explained) to broker a business negotiation (not let anyone swindle). When her work is done, G’kar casually propositions her to help the Narn people, who have no natural born telepaths. For a reasonable payment, if she’ll just sleep with him, bear his half Narn children, and give them up to the Narn regime so that they can have telepaths, that’d be just great.
And hey, here comes Kosh, no one’s there to greet him, Sinclar is trapped on a stuck transport, and bam, Kosh is down! Rushed to the medlab, our Dr Kyle – against the orders of the Vorlon government, who don’t want the suit breached – is going to try and operate on the really alien alien in the encounter suit without any idea of what he might find. The suit opens to the doctor, strange light pours out, eerie music fills the air, and we see the doctor’s eyes go wide as he stares into the abyss.
Either unconcerned or uncaring, we next run across G’kar and Delenn talking. Delenn tactlessly mentions that the Narn were once slaves to the Centauri, raising reptilian hackles. G’kar in turn tries to convince Delenn that with the Minbari technology and Narn cannon fodder, er, troops, they could be a great war machine. Then he makes the mistake of mentioning the already curious Minbari/Human war, and how the Minbari Grey Council were fools for giving in to the humans. We see another side of Delenn emerge as she pulls out a “gravity ring” (I cannot make this up), and threatens to crush G’kar’s ribs to jelly if he ever mentions the Grey Council in front of her again.
Back to Londo, who spends a lot of time in the pilot (and, really, series, come to think of it) partaking of alcohol, especially in the casino. Confronted by Garibaldi, he instead waxes on about the glories that used to be the Centauri Empire. Once they were sharks, but now they are just lampreys, attempting to cling to the new sharks in the galaxy, Humans.
I don’t mean to imply that everything in this pilot episode held great significance later in the series, but enough of it did that I’m including it for now. The sharks comment will make more sense in a few seasons, and you’ll thank me for hinting at it and then being mysterious about it.
Coffee! This I definitely remember coming back later in the series, so its good to see where it originated – a certain second in command (replaced in episode one), Takashima is the source of our secret coffee. Also, its Takashima and Dr. Kyle that come up with the idea of using Lyta to mind scan the Vorlon to find out what really happened. Oh, those silly kids. Lyta’s against it, of course, but then she relents. To strengthen the bond and break through the shielding of Kosh’s suit, she takes her gloves off and Lo! The suit opens to her naked palm, cue pouring light and music. In Kosh’s mind, she sees the killer poison Kosh with a patch on the hand – and the would be killer is Sinclair!
Quick, cue a maintenance bot being sent to see why we have an oxygen drop in one sector of the station, say, where we saw a mysterious thing attach to the station earlier.
With this information, or in spite of it, Sinclair is accused as being the only reasonable suspect, based mostly on inadmissible mindscan evidence, and the fact that he says he was delayed getting to Kosh due to a transport malfunction, but no one can corroborate that. Takashima is put in charge of the station while Sinclair is under dubious suspicion, we see a maintenance bot destroyed in a spray of fire investigating the air leak, and the strange man from the casino is identified by someone that recognizes him.
The viewer at this point would have to be asleep to not know Sinclair is innocent, but, justice will be served even if we don’t really have evidence, so G’kar orchestrates getting Sinclair sent to the Vorlons for reasons…well, they’re just unknown. I’m not even certain we can justify them later in the show. Because this is the way it must be, the poison that has brought the Vorlon down is identified as being unique to the star system that Sinclaire’s beau, Carolyn, just came from, she who arrived on station just hours ahead of Kosh. Ergo, Sinclair was on the grassy knoll!! So we will send him to the Vorlon homeworld for a real trial, because. Because.
We get a few more nuggets to mull on at this point in our viewing. We know that there is a cure for Kosh, but it will take about six hours to create. Carolyn visits Delenn to ask why the Minbari didn’t do more to help Sinclair, because despite the war Delenn and Sinclair have some kind of friendship. Given how recent the war was supposed to be, and that this station wasn’t operational yet, I’m a little flummoxed on how they could be so close, but maybe I missed something? Either way, Delenn’s response is to be the Zen Queen and state that she is there only to observer.
Outside the station, we’ll send a manned crew to find out why the maintenance bot stopped responding. Because, you know, that’s cheaper than sending another unmanned probe.
And back to the bar, so it must be some more Londo and Garibaldi time. Londo admits that the only reason he helped send Sinclair to the Vorlons was because G’kar had some incriminating information about Grandpa Molari from during the Centauri occupation of Narn.
Carolyn’s mad at Jeff (Sinclair) because he won’t fight back against the decision to deport him to the Vorlons, at which point she learns he was part of the Battle of the Line. We get a really short version of Sinclair’s time on the Line, peppered with background sound effects of ships exploding and strange phrases. Don’t worry, this is the short version – we’ll hear it again a couple more times, plus there was an entire movie about it. Carolyn listens to the war hero’s story, then points out that you can fight for yourself and still be diplomatic.
Lyta comes to visit the doctor and check in on Kosh, flipping switches whenever the doctor isn’t looking. Wait, what? Yeah, this is scary, crazy, fighting Lyta, who attacks Dr. Kyle, pulls a weapon, and then attacks the next person to round the corner – Lyta. Wait, what? Scary Lyta, in pain, stumbles away, leaving Lyta behind with Sinclair and Kyle.
Things begin to almost make sense, rapidly. Almost. The little ship on the hull is recovered, and you guessed it, it’s a one person short range transport. Through connections almost too hazy to make, we discover that Varner (the man in the casino who kept showing up, remember him?) had a changeling net, ie super awesome camouflage that can make you look like anyone.
Cue warp gates, where the Vorlons have arrived to take Sinclair. And, to give you that wow factor, we’re not talking one Vorlon ship – we’re talking a LOT of Vorlon ships.
Sinclair, meanwhile, is off with Garibaldi, geared up to hunt down the assassin with a witness (floating camera, used later in the series when convenient) to record what they’re up to. Chase time! Including some awkward time spent in the alien sector without rebreathers – knew our seeing it at the beginning of the show would come in handy! Luckily (and bizarrely), Delenn shows up and gives a hand.
Cue Vorlon warships, electricity crackling as they power up their weapons. Cue CnC crew, telling Takashima that the Vorlons are threatening to destroy the station if they don’t hand over Sinclair. And can I just add, these scenes on the CnC, at least in this pilot, are extra confusing, because it seems like either there’s only one person to do every job half the time, and the rest of the time there are multiple people doing the same job. One person should be talking to the Vorlons, not two or three. Order!! Command structure!!
OK, back to the firefight between Sinclair and the assassin, which looks a lot like a game of laser-tag gone wild (and to be honest, 1993 was a great year for laser-tag, so there might be some truth there). We exchange some blows, electrocute the bad guy conveniently, and watch his changeling net finish melting to reveal – he’s a Minbari!!
Like all great villains that are really just stepping stones in the plot, our warrior turns to Sinclair and tells him, “There is a hole in your mind.”
I won’t tell you if that’s significant (it is), but it is. But we don’t have time to mull on it just yet, because that Minbari is a bomb! And what bomb scene would be complete without at least one running leap while a wall of flames descends behind you?
The Vorlons, having seen some action on the livecam, are satisfied and just scatter. The station, at risk of being torn apart by the explosion, has a really tense moment of firing some thrusters to fix their spin. Actually, it doesn’t really feel that tense, even though its supposed to be, and the physics behind it almost make sense, but we’re lead to believe by the look on everyone’s face, this is even more tense than a bunch of really ancient aliens in encounter suits with ball lightning weapons aimed at the station.
And now for the wind down scenes. First up, we have Carolyn, departing the station, trying lamely to convince Sinclair to leave with her. Then in a somewhat disjointed series of scenes, we see the crew gather together to observe that Kosh is all right. Delenn pulls Sinclair aside to give him information about the assassin, which is doubly interesting given that he was a Minbari warrior.
Takashima and the doctor have another sit down, and she asks him what he saw inside the encounter suit. The doctor, in one of his more believable scenes in the show, explains in somewhat metaphorical terms that once you have looked upon the face of a Vorlon, nothing is the same anymore.
G’kar stops for a drink with Sinclair before the big party and Sinclair reveals that he knows G’kar was involved in bringing both the assassin and the changeling net to the station. He tells G’kar he’s placed a nanotech tracker in G’kar’s drink. Of course, its a ruse, but imagine what they’ll do to that poor Narn to find it.
Then we have the obligatory gathering (HAH) of the crew and ambassadors to welcome Kosh and inaugurate the station. Towards the end of the party, Delenn pulls Sinclair aside to give him information about the assassin.
After the party, Sinclair and Delenn talk about the assassin some more, including the phrase, “There’s a hole in your mind.” Delenn dismisses it as an old expression, nothing important. Sinclair isn’t quite convinced – he admits there are things he can’t remember from the Battle of the Line. And then, in what other circumstances would make me think was a homage to Monty Python, Delenn asks why call it Babylon 5, why build another?
“Plain old human stubbornness,” Sinclair explains. If its destroyed again, we rebuild it again. And again. And again, until it stays.
And so we pan out now, first to CnC, then to the space around the station, as its announced:
Babylon5 is open for business.
Which, really, is an odd statement – if its just now opening, what was all of the business before this? Why all of the traffic already on the station, the implication of past interactions on the station between the different cast members, etc? I know, I’m reading too much into this – it’s open for business now because Kosh is there and it can finally serve its function as a place to air grievances, etc., but I think it was an odd choice of words.
But then, in watching this pilot, I have to marvel that a series was ever sold based on the material here. The acting was an unfortunate mix of cardboard delivery and seasoned naturals; the plot, while doing a fantastic job to foreshadow the next four plus years of storyline developments, must have seemed very chaotic and disjointed to the new viewer. The pilot served to answer no meaningful questions, beginning with – why was Kosh poisoned?
