Babylonia!

James K

James is a government policy analyst, and lives in Wellington, New Zealand. His interests including wargaming, computer gaming (especially RPGs and strategy games), Dungeons & Dragons and scepticism. No part of any of his posts or comments should be construed as the position of any part of the New Zealand government, or indeed any agency he may be associated with.

Related Post Roulette

17 Responses

  1. daveNYC says:

    Lennier isn’t someone who could run a diplomatic office, but that’s fine because that’s what his boss is for. He’s a great choice for someone to patiently explain why the boss isn’t available, or this request will have to be forwarded back to the home office.Report

  2. Damon says:

    I have to disagree with bullet point 1. “Lennier takes the blame (this is apparently an honourable thing as Minbari see it)” This is a very important factor in a future episode.

    Additionally, I like how this episode fleshes out second tie characters (I consider Lannier second tier) and also provides general background of the station.

    It also provides plot hooks / connections for future stories. The actions of Ivanova and Franklin and some new cast members in particular.Report

  3. Reformed Republican says:

    (I don’t think we learned anything about Mollari that we didn’t already know).

    What do you mean? We learned that the Great Maker is the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and Mollari’s noodly appendage is proof the Centauri are made in its image.Report

  4. KatherineMW says:

    The replacement of capital punishment with “death of personality” is an interesting piece of world-building that raises all kinds of ethical issues. Is it really better? To my view, in some respects it’s worse: if you kill a person, at least they retain their capacity to make their own decisions up until the point of death, but death of personality constitutes stripping a person of their free will while leaving them walking around.

    In a universe where any kind of psychic powers exist, I place “right to free will” above even “right to life”.

    The healing device is an interesting introduction – I for one like mystical elements in my science fiction – but it’s easy to see the problems that would be created by basing a justice system around it. If your number of sick/injured/dying people increases, there’s going to be a temptation to expand the range of crimes where capital punishment is applicable. It’s something that could very easily be used without capital punishment, though, with lots of people giving a little bit of their energy – equivalent to giving blood.

    I liked Lennier’s character development; we hadn’t seen much of him before this episode.Report

    • James K in reply to KatherineMW says:

      The replacement of capital punishment with “death of personality” is an interesting piece of world-building that raises all kinds of ethical issues. Is it really better? To my view, in some respects it’s worse:

      I’m with you there.

      I liked Lennier’s character development; we hadn’t seen much of him before this episode.

      Yes, that was the one part of the B plot I thought was worthwhile.Report

  5. Jaybird says:

    The Lennier’s life story was laugh out loud funny when I watched it. “I was born, went to the Jesuits, then I came here.”

    And we found out that he minored in bar fights.Report

  6. Jaybird says:

    As for Rosen’s device, I liked the tease that, yes, homeopaths still enjoy patients even in a universe with tricorders. Or whatever they use there.

    If your bedside was a little bit better, doc, maybe people wouldn’t line up to see the mom from Lost In Space.

    Apart from the fact that her stuff actually works, I mean.

    As a bit of a “no politics!” aside, they rely on a trick I’ve seen used in a lot of “let’s discuss the morality of the death penalty” arguments on television shows where the thumb is, you’d think, on the scales on the side of “against”… at the end of the day, the bad guy dies, just never at the agency of the state. It’s usually a death that happens incidentally as part of a chase scene, or a policeperson shooting to stop when a hostage is taken, or a concerned citizen doing his or her part.

    Everybody gets to go home happy. We know the bad guy got what was coming to him but, hey, no death penalty.

    Which is irritating.Report

    • James K in reply to Jaybird says:

      And this isn’t the only ethical issue that TV shows dodge this way. Creating a dilemma and then offering a 3rd way just takes all the air out of it. That’s what I liked about The Believers, they offered no way out of the dilemma.Report

  7. Jaybird says:

    Bonehead move of the episode has to go to Franklin

    The Minbari contingent just wrote one heck of a complaint letter.Report

    • James K in reply to Jaybird says:

      Great, now I have to have one of those excruciating calls with the Minbari Anti-Defamation League. At least it’s not the Vorlons. It can take hours just to figure out what they’re actually complaining about.Report