Babylon 5 - S2E01 - Points of Departure
Mar. 2nd, 2026 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustA new year, a new season - and new faces.
* So I've known for like thirty years that this was coming, so I've had a long time to get used to the idea. I was really curious what the new guy was going to be like, because Sinclair was just so warm and likeable and unafraid to stand up for what was right. Plus all the important backstory and connections that had been created for him. But the show kept going for four more seasons and got lots of love and acclaim, so it must have worked out okay.
Anyway. I'm pleased to find that Sheridan is also warm, and charismatic, and reasonably humble about his new position. (I appreciate his nerdiness in giving his interrupted "good luck" speech, even to an empty command centre. Though I'm surprised it's ever completely empty.) The show is doing a good job in getting Ivanova to sell us on him: she's worked with him before, and respects him as a person and an officer, and is really relieved to have someone else to share the hugely increased workload. (I guess that's one good reason to have Garibaldi still in a coma. He is not going to be happy about anything when he wakes up.)
And as a way to move Sinclair off the station, him being reassigned permanently as ambassador to the Minbari homeworld is fitting, for his status and significance. And it leaves things nicely open for future developments.
It was still a bit jarring to realise it's now Sheridan narrating the opening credits.
* Another new face, who even gets to be in the opening credits - Keffer, one of the fighter pilots. When the Babylon 5 fighters get deployed against the Minbari rogue fighters, I was like, "Didn't he just receive a letter from his sweetheart back home?" (Surprise! He survived.) It feels like he came out of nowhere, so I'm probably going to spend the whole season suspecting him of being a hidden traitor.
* I just want to say, when the Minbari rogue war cruiser gets lasered by the Minbari official war cruiser, and we're told, "Their engines are hit! They're unable to make jump!" It sure looks like the entire back third of the ship got sheared off. No kidding they can't make jump.
* Oh yeah, and the big reveal of why the Minbari surrendered at the Battle of the Line - that after capturing Sinclair and others, they discovered that Minbari souls were being reborn in human bodies. It's a pretty cool revelation! But I'm not convinced it's the truth, or at any rate the whole truth.
* My personal highlight - Lennier calmly facing down a gun, and refusing to stand aside, to protect his ambassador. He is the best. <3
* So I've known for like thirty years that this was coming, so I've had a long time to get used to the idea. I was really curious what the new guy was going to be like, because Sinclair was just so warm and likeable and unafraid to stand up for what was right. Plus all the important backstory and connections that had been created for him. But the show kept going for four more seasons and got lots of love and acclaim, so it must have worked out okay.
Anyway. I'm pleased to find that Sheridan is also warm, and charismatic, and reasonably humble about his new position. (I appreciate his nerdiness in giving his interrupted "good luck" speech, even to an empty command centre. Though I'm surprised it's ever completely empty.) The show is doing a good job in getting Ivanova to sell us on him: she's worked with him before, and respects him as a person and an officer, and is really relieved to have someone else to share the hugely increased workload. (I guess that's one good reason to have Garibaldi still in a coma. He is not going to be happy about anything when he wakes up.)
And as a way to move Sinclair off the station, him being reassigned permanently as ambassador to the Minbari homeworld is fitting, for his status and significance. And it leaves things nicely open for future developments.
It was still a bit jarring to realise it's now Sheridan narrating the opening credits.
* Another new face, who even gets to be in the opening credits - Keffer, one of the fighter pilots. When the Babylon 5 fighters get deployed against the Minbari rogue fighters, I was like, "Didn't he just receive a letter from his sweetheart back home?" (Surprise! He survived.) It feels like he came out of nowhere, so I'm probably going to spend the whole season suspecting him of being a hidden traitor.
* I just want to say, when the Minbari rogue war cruiser gets lasered by the Minbari official war cruiser, and we're told, "Their engines are hit! They're unable to make jump!" It sure looks like the entire back third of the ship got sheared off. No kidding they can't make jump.
* Oh yeah, and the big reveal of why the Minbari surrendered at the Battle of the Line - that after capturing Sinclair and others, they discovered that Minbari souls were being reborn in human bodies. It's a pretty cool revelation! But I'm not convinced it's the truth, or at any rate the whole truth.
* My personal highlight - Lennier calmly facing down a gun, and refusing to stand aside, to protect his ambassador. He is the best. <3
