Yay, another Garibaldi episode! 
Also an interesting glimpse into the workings of Babylon Five. Kudos to the B5 creators; we never got to hear about labour disputes in any of the Star Trek series, after all, and now I find myself thinking that if I were a “red shirt” in Classic Trek, I would have definitely lobbied for a different colour of uniform. I mean, talk about the worst colour to choose when venturing into hostile territory. You might as well be wearing a bulls-eye on your chest!
But I digress.
Neeoma’s an interesting character; I liked her, and hope we get to see more of her. I thought there was even a hint of a spark between Neeoma and Garibaldi near the end of the episode. I hope I imagined it, though, because I’m still rooting for Ivanova and Garibaldi to get together.
Sinclair: You should never hand someone a gun unless you are sure where they will point.
I loved the interactions between G’Kar and Londo in this episode. I still can’t quite figure out the chemistry between them. I would have said that both secretly liked each other except for Londo’s statement: “Consider this a small - a very tiny - portion of revenge for what you did to our colony on Ragesh 3, and to my nephew. Did you think that I had forgotten that?”
And I also found myself realizing that if anything bad happens to G’Kar, I’m going to pretty upset. I started warming to the character ever since his little singing scene as he was preparing dinner for himself in his quarters.
But I’d be even more upset if anything bad happens to Londo.
I’m sure I’ve seen that head dock worker before (the one who lost his brother), in another series or in movies. If you know, could you please enlighten me?
Zento seems like a wonderfully despicable, slimy character. It’s clear from Senator Hidoshi’s ominous quote near the end of the episode that we’ll be seeing more of Zento: “If I were you, commander, I would watch things very carefully. You are not the most popular person in government circles right now.”
And yay, next episode is Signs and Portents. According to TV.com’s episode list, it got an extraordinarily high rating from users so I’m very curious. Going to watch that later today…
[For those who comment below: As the title of my blog indicates, I'm watching B5 for the very first time so PLEASE refrain from posting plot/character spoilers about upcoming episodes, or including links to pages with spoilers (unless you warn readers that they contain spoilers). Thanks so much! - Debbie]
13 comments ↓
Ahh, this was one of my favorite episodes; I love the view into the lives of all the other people who keep the station working. And the ‘Never hand someone a gun unless you are sure where they will point’ part.
“and now I find myself thinking that if I were a “red shirt” in Classic Trek, I would have definitely lobbied for a different colour of uniform. ”
Here’s an amusing little historical question. Which Italian general led a force called the redshirts…?
As in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirts_%28military_history%29
No, I don’t think it’s a coincidence either!
I also liked Neeoma a lot; despite her delicate appearance she’s clearly not to be underestimated. She not intimidated the least bit by Sinclair, Garibaldi, or Zento. And she’s also got a good grip on her dockers.
That said, I’m watching with amusement how the number of characters on your list to whom “nothing bad should better happen” keeps increasing
… Let’s just say you’d better brace yourself since about about *every* major character has something bad waiting in line for them 
Londo and G’kar’s relationship is… complicated, and that’s all I’m going to say about it (for now). Rest assured that their story, and its ending, is the stuff legends are made of.
This is one of those episodes that helps give B5 the verisimilitude of being a real place run by real people rather than a plastic “future”.
For G’Kar and Londo, remember that the Narns and the Centauri are essentially blood enemies, and yet these two are the diplomats chosen to represent their races. They must simultaneously embody the essence of their races — and get past that to be able to deal with other races, including each other. It makes for complex characters, and an exceedingly complex relationship. (In some ways it’s like those professions which are based on competition — sports, and to some extent the military. The participants in those professions often look to demolish their competitors within the competition — and are best friends with them outside of it because, as they say, nobody else can understand them.)
Jose Rey, playing the lead dock worker, Eduardo Delviontos has had a lot of other credits, including Medina on General Hospital, a good amount of movie credits that end in 1999. Here is a link to imdb.
I also enjoyed seeing an economic issue being taken on on the station and us being given a glipse of it’s normal operations. Myself, I also would like to see more description of the economic structure of B5. I would think that the docking bays would work off of landing fees, but perhaps there is a heavy Earth subsidy, so that multi-planet/empire trading will start and help in the Babylon Project.
This time viewing this episode, I enjoyed Sinclairs solution for G’Kar and his religious ceremony.
Ah, Londo and G’Kar. Such textured and fascinating characters, both together and apart! I envy you the discovery, though I find watching the development again this time through just as intriguing.
And I really like, too, how the stories on B5 often go behind the scenes and show us the workers and people who make the station run beyond the main cast of characters.
The Londo-G’Kar relationship is indeed complicated. I am somewhat reminded of it when I watch the Tv show MEDIUM. You start with a little glimpse, and then get a little more info, and then a little more. Each new bit is generally “true” - but also “false”, because without the full context it can mislead you.
Without going back to check, there MAY have been something significant about this relationship mentioned in the pilot. IF my memory is correct, that would influence how you would react to some of these things.
I’ll take a look and see.
Rats. First posted this to the end of the ep. 13 stuff. Life at 4 AM, I guess. Delete it there if you like. Anyway:
Well, my memory wasn’t quite on target. Oh, there is some background stuff on most everyone, and even something between Londo and G’Kar - but not the particular bit I was thinking of. Oh, well.
A number of things you’ve seen in first season address things first brought out in The Gathering, with more yet to come. Some don’t come into play until much later.
In case you hadn’t noticed it - the B5 newspaper (Universe Today) often gives stories about what recently happened in the show. You can never read more than a headline (or sometimes two or even three), but quite often the headline(s) you see in episode X refers directly to the events of episode X-1 or X-2.
Again, this is the advantage of having a full story arc planned out. And since DVD freeze frames are generally a lot clearer than tape freeze frames, you should have a better chance to read them than we did on our first go-around (especially since some DVD players have magnification abilities).
Waaaah! I wanna play, too.
I wish I could follow with you. But my DVDs are packed away, stacked on a pallet, covered with tarp, awaiting moving day.
I don’t suppose you’d be willing to suspend your watching for, oh, 2 months?
No, didn’t think so.
Glad you’re finally here!! I love this episode. It is my favorite episode of the season (although I consider it a Sinclair ep, not a Garibaldi one).
I love the way this is handled. I love the out-of-the-box thinking and the way everyone butts heads and it shows so vividly how easy it is for a situation to spiral out of control and the work involved with bringing it back under control.