Babylon 5: Infection

I am re-watching the entire Babylon 5 television series along with my teenage daughter. I have not seen a single episode since B5 completed its tumultuous run, and Calista was just a few days old when the final episode aired back in 1998. Does J. Michael Straczynski still have the touch? Come along with us and find out.

In Valen's Name: Dr. Vance Hendricks, a former professor of Dr. Stephen Franklin's, shows up on Babylon 5 for what is presumably a pleasant reunion with his formal pupil. Down in the station's docking bays, however, Hendricks' henchman Nelson Drake kills a station worker in order to smuggle an alien artifact through customs, which sets an ominous tone. Hendricks explains to Franklin he's returned from an archaeological expedition to the dead world of Ikarra VII, where he's discovered pristine artifacts buried deep underground. The artifacts, left by the advanced Ikarran civilization, are based on organic technology, and he needs Franklin's xenobiology expertise--not to mention advance Babylon 5 medlab--to analyze the find. Despite his misgivings--likening the corporate-sponsored rush to explore dead worlds to grave-robbing--Franklin agrees to help. Shortly thereafter, as Drake is unpacking the artifacts, one discharges, affecting Drake. Franklin returns to medlab and is shot by the transforming Drake with an energy blast, knocking him out. The next day, having regained consciousness, Franklin explains to Commander Sinclair and Garibaldi how it appears the alien artifacts are grafting themselves onto Drake and transforming him into some sort of alien warrior. Garibaldi casts doubt on the idea that the artifacts actually cleared customs like Hendricks claimed, to which Hendricks says, "Yo, that was my evil henchman's job. If he killed your dockworker to smuggle them in, I had nothing to do with it." Meanwhile, Drake/Warrior is getting more powerful, and his battle mode recharge time is decreasing. Franklin, studying the remaining artifacts, discovers what is going on: Ikarra had been invaded so many times that the civilization developed technology to create unstoppable warriors to defend their world. Unfortunately, zealots programmed them to destroy anything that wasn't "pure Ikarran," an ideological definition. Naturally, once the alien invasion was beaten back the warriors turned on the Ikarran population, finding none of them "pure." The only warrior not deployed was, in fact, the one Hendricks had discovered and smuggled onto Babylon 5. Realizing the warrior's mission is now to destroy everyone on Babylon 5, Sinclair arms himself and attacks the Ikarran, luring it into a docking bay where it can be vented into space. Once there, Sinclair begins arguing with the warrior, insisting it failed in its mission to defend Ikarra VII, and instead destroyed the world it was created to protect. The artifact accesses the memories of Drake, who'd seen the dead world, and in grief the artifact deactivates itself and separates from Drake. Hendricks explains to Franklin that the corporation funding his research is actually a front for a bioweapons developer, and that if he could confirm the artifacts' use as weapons technology, he could claim a much higher finder's fee. He offers to split the money with Franklin, but Franklin declines the bribe and two security guards take him away. Later, two agents from Earthforce Intelligence show up and confiscate the artifacts for "research."

What Calista Says: Nothing. Calista has declined to provide further written opinions regarding Babylon 5 episodes. "It's too much like homework." Such are the fickle natures of teenagers.

What Jayme Says: A run-of-the-mill episode. It's not bad and not great, but relies of many science fiction tropes that we've seen time and again. With a cosmetic rewrite, there's nothing to prevent this script from being used for Star Trek, Farscape, Stargate or Battlestar Galactica. It's that generic, and that's the problem. Thus far in the series, there hasn't been an episode that could only exist within the Babylon 5 universe. Everything is so self-contained within this episode--even the evil henchman Drake survives his transformation and gets to recover off-camera. While the stakes are high, there's no indication the show has any teeth. No partial victories or even serious losses or sacrifice from the protagonists to save the rest of the station. It is standard, episodic television. Also, while this is a Franklin-centric episode, the doctor plays no role in the resolution. Sinclair steps in to save the day. It's not quite deus ex machina, but for Franklin's in-episode character arc, it is awkward. Two small touches that are lost amongst the flash and bang of the episode are nice, however. First is the establishing of the theme that Earth is aggressively scouring the galaxy to acquire the technology of lost civilizations so they won't be at such a military disadvantage against the Minbari or any other alien race ever again. In this episode it seems merely incidental to the plot, but the series will return to it time and again in the future. The second is much more self-aware: Garibaldi takes Sinclair to task for risking his life to lure the Ikarran warrior into the docking bay, pointing out that as commander, Sinclair was needlessly putting his life in jeopardy when Garibaldi or any of the security officers could've accomplished the same thing. Garibaldi points out that many survivors of the Earth-Minbari War have a hero complex and put themselves in danger in an attempt to go out in a blaze of glory. Sinclair acknowledges this and promises to work on it. This neatly addresses the Captain Kirk issue, in which the captain of a starship constantly leads exploration teams into potentially hazardous situations away from the ship, whilst in any rational situation the captain would stay aboard the ship and other officers would lead said mission. The answer to this is, of course, that if the captain is the central focus of the television show, then that actor has to be actively engaged in the plot. Babylon 5 acknowledges the irrationality of the captain's actions here, and posits a reasonable explanation for Sinclair's behavior (and Sheridan's to come).

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Friday Night Videos

Happy 4th of July everyone! For the U.S., this is independence day, the one day of the year where we pretend we don't like the British, but in reality just use it as an excuse to eat too much barbecue, drink too much beer and shoot off fireworks illegally within city limits. Whoo hoo!

Beyond that, I'm not sure what Chris Rea's song "Texas" has to do with the holiday, other than the fact that a cliched, stereotyped vision of Texas has come to represent the U.S. in the eyes of much of the world. Unfortunately, the same can be said for the way the rest of the U.S. views Texas, and even many folks who actually live here. In any event, Rea's video has less to do with the song than pretty much any video I've ever seen to any song. What does a U.S. army post in Germany have to do with Texas? Granted, many of the soldiers stationed there likely spent time at Fort Hood, which is undeniably in Texas; and a great number of German immigrants--including Prince Carl Solms, who founded New Braunfels--came from what is now Germany, but somehow I don't think Rea was getting that obscure with his allusions. Maybe they'd already finished a video for some song called "German Family's Car Breaks Down and American Soldiers Give Them a Big-Ass Coke" when the record company decided that wouldn't be a good lead single and instead went with "Texas," forcing them to re-cut the video to fit a different song. Who knows?

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Henry Lee Summer.

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Friday Night Videos

Henry Lee Summer's "I Wish I Had A Girl" probably wouldn't go over so well in the #yeseverywoman era. A valid case could be made about the lyrics' objectification of women, and as for the video... sheesh. Has there ever been such an in-your-face depiction of stalking and/or harassment? Still, Summer's antics are small potatoes compared to current misogynistic crap like "Blurred Lines," and Summer's portrayal as a sad-sack Romeo is ostensibly the butt of the joke. Even so, I really, really like this song. Of course, I'm always a sucker for the bluesy, guitar-driven Southern rock like Dan Baird and the Georgia Satellites put out. I could even envision a cover by John Mellencamp, so there's at least a little substance in there, somewhere.

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Louise Robey.

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Friday Night Videos

I'm a big fan of Murray Head's no. 2 hit single from 1985, "One Night In Bangkok." So much so that back in the day I bought the 45 single and the original, pre-Broadway Chess soundtrack (which evolved radically by the time the show finally hit the stage). But one thing had nagged me for close to 30 years--sometime in 1984, well before Head's version got any kind of airplay--I saw a video for "One Night In Bangkok" air on Friday Night Videos, or WTBS' Night Tracks, that was performed by a woman. I wasn't really taken with it, but the video, arrangements and performance were distinctive enough that when Head's take took off, this other version stood out in my mind. And I only ever saw it aired the once. If, as all the stories insisted, "Bangkok" was specifically written for Head to perform in this new Broadway show, where'd this earlier version come from? The mystery persisted. But now I've learned that I wasn't hallucinating, that the singer Louise Robey did indeed cover it. How her "cover" managed to come out the year prior to the release of the more famous version has not been explained. Was she originally up for a role in the musical, only to get cut during one of the many rewrites? Did a licensing agent goof and make the song available before they should've? Did Head's version simply get pushed back because of production delays or somesuch? The world may never know, but here's the video that came first.

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Toto Coleo.

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Armadillocon 36 schedule

Armadillocon 36 is approaching July 25-27, and seeing as how pretty much every other guest has shared his or her schedule via the interwebz, I figured it was high time I do so myself. Fashionably late to the party and all that.

Most of my Friday will be consumed with being an instructor in the world-famous Armadillcon Writers Workshop. This writers workshop is a stunningly good deal for aspiring and neo-pro authors, as it puts them in close, intensive writerly-oriented contact with an array of insanely talented and accomplished authors and editors. I say this having actually taught in the workshop five or six times in addition to pretending to run it twice (you can verify with Patrice Sarath and Melissa Tyler on that last count). Deadline to register and submit manuscripts is June 15, so there's still time to get in. And if my presence isn't enough to win you over, check out the rest of the instructor lineup: Mario Acevedo, Ted Chiang, Nicky Drayden, Mark Finn, Derek Johnson, Claude Lalumiere, Stina Leicht, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Ian McDonald, Joe McKinney, Alex C. Renwick, Kat Richardson, Dr. Anne-Marie Thomas, Martin Wagner, Jacob Weisman, Martha Wells and Skyler White. Boom. Enough said.

Beyond that, here is the official ArmadilloCon 36 schedule for Jayme Lynn Blaschke (* denotes panel moderator):

Friday
9-10 p.m. Beyond the Plunder: Which genre books, movies, shows correctly portray historical pirates?
Blaschke*, Clarke, Hardy, Leicht, Rogers

Saturday
1-2 p.m Autographing
Blaschke, Wells

8-9 p.m. Interview with Ted Chiang

9-10 p.m. Fireside Chat: The quartet talk about anything and much mirth will be expected.
Denton*, Blaschke, de Orive, Lansdale

Sunday
10-11 a.m. Best Cons from Genre Books: Not many people are good at writing capers. Which books do it right?
Webb*, Blaschke, Maresca

2-3 p.m. Contagion: What diseases/syndromes/parasites could kill the entire population of the world if we didn't have current restrictions set. (Not including malaria.)
Blaschke*, Faust, Frater, Leicht, Moore

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Farscape: They've Got A Secret

I've really fallen behind with these, haven't I? I'm watching the episodes, but putting off writing my summaries. Must try to catch up in the coming weeks. My Farscape rewatch continues with "They've Got A Secret." And boy, do they. Pretty much everyone on Moya harbors deep secrets that will reverberate throughout the series, but this episode focuses on just two--D'Argo and Moya.

Aeryn is leading a concerted effort to remove every last remaining vestige of Peacekeeper technology from Moya, lest more booby-traps or homing beacons endanger the crew. D'Argo, crawling through an obscure shaft deep within Moya, comes across an odd installation obviously of Peacekeeper origin. Losing his temper, D'Argo kicks it, which releases a burst of fluid. D'Argo then falls down the shaft and is vented into space. Aeryn rescues him "half an arn" later, and although Luxans can survive in open space for brief periods, D'Argo's exceeded this limit. The crew manages to resuscitate D'Argo, but the big Luxan hallucinates, viewing the crew as people and family from his past. Meanwhile, Moya is suffering violent tremors, Pilot falls unconscious, the DRDs turn hostile and the life support systems shut down. The crew fears D'Argo unleashed a Peacekeeper virus designed to infect Leviathans, since analysis of the fluid shows it composed of identical particles. D'Argo, delirious, sees Rygel as his son, Jothee, Zhaan as his wife, Lo'Laan, and Crichton as his brother-in-law, Macton. In a moment of lucidity, D'Argo tells Crichton where the shaft with the Peacekeeper device is. D'Argo relapses, attacking Crichton as Macton before breaking down to mourn the death of his wife. Crichton escapes and attempts to reach the shaft, but DRDs block his attempts. Crichton confronts D'Argo, assuming the role of Macton to provoke his memory to return. In their back-and-forth, D'Argo reveals he and Lo'Laan fled their world with their son, Jothee, and destroyed their ship so they couldn't be traced. But Macton found them anyway and killed his sister for marrying D'Argo, a type of intergalactic "honor killing." Macton then arrested D'Argo when D'Argo found his wife's corpse... revealing that Macton was Peacekeeper, making Lo'Laan a Sebacian. D'Argo's was an interracial marriage, explaining why he sent his son, Jothee, away to protect him from those who would consider him an abomination. With his repressed hurt finally exposed, D'Argo recovers his memory. Unfortunately, the air on Moya is running thin, and by this point the crew has realized Moya is responsible for the DRD attacks and loss of life support. Desperate, Aeryn manages to deactivate all of the DRDs. The crew then decides that Aeryn will sever Moya's higher brain functions as a drastic, if desperate, attempt to regain control of the ship. Simultaneously, Crichton and D'Argo return to the shaft, now unguarded but sealed. They break through, and Crichton climbs down and finds a large side chamber filled with inactive DRDs and... something else. Crichton realized Moya is pregnant, that D'Argo and inadvertently release some sort of space sperm on his previous visit. Crichton stops Aeryn from performing her lobotomy on Moya just in time. Aeryn reactivates the DRDs, which move to attack Crichton but he's able to talk Moya down and a truce is established. Moya restores Pilot and life support, and the crew promises to help protect Moya's baby.

Commentary: Boy, a whole lot of backstory gets filled in this episode! D'Argo's "crime" was a setup, his punishment for violating the fascist Peacekeepers' obsession with racial purity. If it wasn't obvious before, the Nazi parallels are brought front and center. To be fair, the Peacekeepers aren't strictly a Nazi analog, but rather one of any totalitarian, militaristic society, seeing as how the Peacekeeper symbol is almost a direct copy of the bolshevik "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge" symbol from the Russian civil war. With all this revelation, D'Argo moves significantly beyond the "violent Klingon analog" he first came across as in the early episodes of the series, and now is a character that is much more vulnerable and nuanced than originally perceived. Moya, too, has significant blanks filled in: Namely, what type of "experiments" those nasty Peacekeepers were performing on her back when she was still restrained by a control collar. The full extent and implications won't become apparent for a while yet, but it has a profound and lasting impact on the series from here on out. This is an intense episode, emotionally speaking, but is most significant in that it signals a shift from Farscape being primarily an episodic series to one with complex, interwoven story arcs. Rather than a bickering collection of escaped prisoners, the individuals on Moya (and Moya herself) are beginning to rely on, and trust one another (albeit unwillingly in some cases), thus showing signs of becoming not just a crew, but an actual team.

Crichton Quote of the Episode:: "Is there some kind of What to Expect When You're Expecting a Baby Leviathan book? Doctor Spock... Mister Spock..."

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Friday Night Videos

You know, as many gob-smackingly bizarre 80s videos as I've come across, there's always another out there that just pushes things to another level of questionable taste. Case in point: "I Eat Cannibals" by Toto Coelo. It's like the 80s chugged syrup of ipecac and vomited itself up on the screen. These people had to know how insane this video was when making it, right? They're struggling to keep straight faces, right? I know I am.

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Johnny Cash and Martin Delray.

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