Midnight on the Firing Line

Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri

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Okay, one thing you gotta understand first of all is, I came at this episode from a weird angle. See, I had already been a Babylon 5 fan for a couple of months, watching the weekday reruns on TNT. But the reruns I had been seeing started off at the end of the second season. So I had never, ever seen any FIRST-season episodes. Ever. Oh, I had seen pictures, of Commander Sinclair instead of Captain Sheridan in charge of the station, of the telepath Talia Winters, and of Delenn as a FULL MINBARI! But that was not enough to prepare me fully for what a DIFFERENCE it is!
So, unlike a NORMAL review, written by someone who had seen this in the CORRECT order, this review is gonna have an entire section devoted to just the differences between Babylon Classic and the New Babylon, and THEN tackle the actual story.
1. First of all, I see they toned down the Centauri--their crests became smooth instead of spiked and their fangs got shorter (at least I'm pretty sure Vir's did--he looked like a chubby VAMPIRE in this episode!) Their hair is more...feathery...in this episode, so that sorta helps out my "birdlike" theory. (See my essay on the Centauri to see what I'm talking about.)
2. WOW--Delenn as full Minbari. Great Maker, does she ever look ALIEN. And I notice they changed the Minbari head-bone later on, too--here it is grey instead of beige, and has more stark ridges. It's almost kinda metallic-looking. The later look is more like a natural bone.
3. Londo calmed down--he was not so likely to fly off the handle later on and try to kill people himself. He was SNARLING, spitting, cursing, growling, hissing, screaming and baring his fangs in this episode. He's one of my very fave characters but he scared me half to death! I always knew he was dangerous, but in a SNEAKY way. Pulling the strings, plotting and scheming. It never occured to me that a middle-aged, chunky dude could be PHYSICALLY intimidating! Remind me not to get this guy mad at me. YIKES!
4. Vir calmed down, too--he was a spiky-haired little scaredy-cat in this episode. Although I did feel sorry for him when Londo elbowed him in the stomach to get him out of his way.
5. G'Kar was in his full "git-mode" here--I am so glad he calmed down later. And he's an Ambassador instead of just "Citizen" G'Kar. Hmmn. I will be interested in watching these two seasons I have never seen before to find out exactly how and when he lost his Ambassadorial status.
6. Ivanova--she was acting about like Ivanova, as far as I could tell. I thought she was a little ruder to Talia than she should have been, in the bar scene. And that was the ONLY time I have ever seen Ivanova wearing something loose and foofy. Interesting.
7. Garibaldi with HAIR! With BROWN hair! 'Nuff said.
8. In general, EVERYONE was acting a little stiffer, a little more exaggerated, and with their characters' emotions quite a bit closer to the surface than they should have been. I think EVERONE "subtled" down later on.

And now, for the "NEW" people, who are actually old:
Sinclair--I have gotten so attached to Sheridan, I didn't know what to think. I still am not really sure what I think of Sinclair. His attitude towards G'Kar in the scene in the hydroponics bay (what I call "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon...5, that is") and his orders to Ivanova to say, if anyone asked her, that they did not GET that transmission from Earth made me start thinking there might be hope for him. We'll see.
Talia--I don't know WHAT to think of her. I don't think she'll ever be my favourite character but I did kinda feel something for her after she made a gesture of peace to Ivanova and was turned down so coldly. Again, we'll have to wait and see.

And now, for the actual STORY: Hmmn. It was very very simple for a B5 story. It only had basically one plot going on, and _I_ figured out that it was the Narns giving weapons to the raiders WAAAYYYY before Sinclair did (I almost typed Sheridan there! Habit!). But then again, the reason that B5 DOES have at least 5 or 6 plots going on in each episode by the 4th season is because all those things were set UP in the earlier seasons. Still, a lot of this episode was disposable--that is to say, self-contained, not attached to the "arc", except for a few things:
Londo's death-dream--VERY important later on.
The re-election of Luis Santiago and the mention of his unpleasant Vice President (with several chins).
Last but not least, this episode established SEVERAL things about the Centauri, and a few things about the Narns. First, (of course) the Centauri: Their precognitive dreams, the fact that they have no major blood vessels in their wrists, the fact that when they encountered Humans for the first time, they told us that we were a long-lost colony, the fact that they were the FIRST alien race Humans ever encountered, and their government's attitude towards far-away colonies. About the Narns, we learned that they traditionally carve flutes from the bones of their enemies, and that during the Earth/Minbari war, they sold weapons to Earth, but they will also sell them to ANYONE who could meet their price. They are rather mercenary.
The scene with Garibaldi and Delenn eating popcorn (well, at least HE was) and his "second favourite thing in the universe" was cute.


On the whole, it was not a great episode, no, but it wasn't really a bad one, either.

Until tomorrow--be seeing you!

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