I think what J. Michael Straczynski is getting at by humans building communities is that our diversity is our strength. If you think about other episodes, the fact that humans have multiple religious faiths without a dominant one, while the other species have more dominant faiths, that's an example of human diversity in action. There are other examples of Delenn talking about human diversity being our strength.
Yep. It's what ultimately makes us the "glue" in the B5 universe. Unlike Star Trek where the human race via Starfleet/The Federation are basically the topd og, in Babylon 5 we're actually pretty low on the totem poll in terms of our civilization and technology.
The Psi-Corp message is one of those things that worked even better when it originally aired. It was just as you came back from a commercial break. My local timeslot was late at night so we had taped the night before and were watching on VHS and fast forwarding through the commercials. I remember my sister telling me I must not have fast forwarded far enough before we caught on that the "commercial" was part of the episode.
Another point to remember was this was at the start of the cable news era. CNN had been around for a while but this is pre-Fox News and the proliferation of the 24 hour cable news channels.
I saw this live with a group of my friends. The commercial was amazing, because it was shot like a commercial of the time, so I tuned it out in my head until everyone in the room started shouting. 😂
Do you remember how the show started? In the pilot and the beginning of the first season, G'Kar was portrayed as the bad guy and the Centauri were the victims of a Narn assault.
@@BackstageAtTheSmith May have been france, I know it was an EU country that they had to edit out, which is like a lot of things with tighter controls, especially food contents and labling requirements being *A LOT* more strict than the USA. Same here in Australia, there are products from the USA outright banned.
The first time I ever say this, I was soooo ripped at the reporter giving Delenn grief. Now it's just "yea.... people are still people everywhere. Some brighten your day just by existing, some annoy you just by existing, and most grubby and reaching out for whatever benefits them no matter what it does to others."
I don't know, but I feel like I should *trust* *the* Psi *Corps* Maybe I can ask a Psi Cop about this, they'll have answers. Since they are everywhere, for our convenience, it seems like a *no-brainer* to me.
The subliminal message is a simple one, and good eye for catching it, for people who watched it on network television when it originally aired, it was couched at the end of the commercial break and I remember going partway through it before i realized what i was watching. The message, for those who take the trouble to freeze the video, reads: "The Psy Corps are our friends."
BTW - for the next episode, you will want an adult beverage and be wearing Depends. Parts of that episode will cause you to drink heavily. Parts will make you sh*t your pants with surprise. Your discussion section after the episode will probably be an hour long! 🙂 It also won a Hugo award it is so good.
It is a controversial episode, and one I like quite a bit. Good to see you like it. There must be more to your story? "Yes!" I love Ivanova when she does that. Bee seeing you!
Been binging the reactions in very short time, still a lot to go but xmas days are quiet so plenty time to binge 7 seasons :). Shelley, your understanding and perception is a welcome surprise. Have you seen Firefly ? Maybe reacting to that ...
This was a bit of a experiment for JMS- in the original airing there had been a couple of months break between episodes- so he did a recap episode to "remind" the viewers without making a clip show In the intro- you mentioned feeling EarthGov was up to something. Bit surprised you didn't mention a bit of dialog that had a rather large breadcrumb... Notice how they showed the various Ambassadors. Londo was shown as mostly reasonable (almost charming), G Kar was shown to be mostly in a rage- even in his interview he talked about killing Centauri. Delenne clearly got hit with a hostile "ambush" interview. And Kosh.... He really didn't give a ...... I don't understand the negativity about PsiCorp. We can trust PsiCorp. PsiCorp is our friend... Matter of fact, think I'll run down and get myself tested......
Love this episode! It's not a normal episode but it is also not as "original" an idea as one might think. The first time I saw a newsreel-type episode was 20 yrs earlier, on a little show whose closing episode, after 11 yrs at the top, had better ratings than the Super=Bowl! The show was M*A*S*H (1972 - 1983), which stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. It was set during the Korean war. Yes, a sitcom set in a warzone... it wasn't even the first to do that, either! ;-] Damn, now I gotta go find a channel reacting to M*A*S*H! lol
Sheridan did everything right, but neither the Narn or the Centauri wants to behave atm. This also builds more on the media as a semi regular part of the universe. ISN and Universe Today exist as more than props.
Another podcast recently made the connection that this is the 36th episode of the show (not counting “The Gathering”). Between Londo and G’Kar, I’m more inclined to believe G’Kar. Londo is clearly pushing the propaganda and, while G’Kar may be doing the same, he comes across as more sincere.
Both are for sure telling "their side" of the story. Thing is, Londo probably never dealt with Narn until his appointment to B5. He didn't experience any of anything (or at least I see no canonical evidence of it). G'Kar lived it. You can parallel this with colonialism (G'Kar pretty much comes right out and calls the Centauri on that specifically in this episode), the slave trade of the 16th-19th centuries and the European exceptionalism that started things like the opium trades. Would Londo's mind have changed if he really knew? It's difficult to say. Certainly his character arc in the series as a whole would say he wpuld have, but based on a certain future episode (that I won't specify for spoilers, although the directly involved character is not Londo) I'm going to have to say probably not.
The whole " humans are unique in that they build communities" is a little corny, but it's also a trope/cliché that you'll find in a lot of sci-fi/fantasy where every race/species have a unique feature or talent. It can be a little silly, but at the same time nice as not everything has to be grimdark & depressing. It's not like humans are being portrayed as universally good given the mess that is EarthGov & Clarke. Glad you liked the episode.
I hear you about the show having maybe too much faith in humanity, giving us too much credit... but compare it to Star Trek:TNG or Star Trek:TOS, where it's all Truth Justice and the American Way, and everything is always wrapped up where the Good Guys Win inside of one episode, and all the regular cast are always motivated by pure altruism. B5 is vastly more realistic.
It was one of the weak points of the writing, this idea that humans are unique in making communities. It's obvious that all the species on B5 come from communities. But as is so similar to other stories set in space, B5 is intent on making humans special. It's a hold over from ancient religiosity, where any tribe of humans thinks they are special because their gods talk to them.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
9:29 the flashed message :
*_"The Psi Corps is your friend. Trust the Corps."_*
Ivanova's expression when Cynthia calls her 'perky.'
The subliminal message was: “The Psi Corps is your friend. Trust the Corps.”
"we're everywhere, for your convenience"
I think what J. Michael Straczynski is getting at by humans building communities is that our diversity is our strength. If you think about other episodes, the fact that humans have multiple religious faiths without a dominant one, while the other species have more dominant faiths, that's an example of human diversity in action. There are other examples of Delenn talking about human diversity being our strength.
Yep. It's what ultimately makes us the "glue" in the B5 universe.
Unlike Star Trek where the human race via Starfleet/The Federation are basically the topd og, in Babylon 5 we're actually pretty low on the totem poll in terms of our civilization and technology.
Psi Corps, your friendly neighbor watching over you.
Psi Corps - we know what you want, we know what you need...we know where you live!
The Psi-Corp message is one of those things that worked even better when it originally aired. It was just as you came back from a commercial break. My local timeslot was late at night so we had taped the night before and were watching on VHS and fast forwarding through the commercials. I remember my sister telling me I must not have fast forwarded far enough before we caught on that the "commercial" was part of the episode.
Another point to remember was this was at the start of the cable news era. CNN had been around for a while but this is pre-Fox News and the proliferation of the 24 hour cable news channels.
I saw this live with a group of my friends. The commercial was amazing, because it was shot like a commercial of the time, so I tuned it out in my head until everyone in the room started shouting. 😂
Fun fact...
The "pro military" Senator...is played by same actor that portrayed Johnny Rico's anti- military father in film Starship Troopers.
That's great!
Do you remember how the show started? In the pilot and the beginning of the first season, G'Kar was portrayed as the bad guy and the Centauri were the victims of a Narn assault.
Yes that was a subliminal message in the Psycorp advert.
JMS put in as many frames as was LEGAL in the USA, but in Germany it had to be cut entirely.
France as well from what I've heard
@@BackstageAtTheSmith May have been france, I know it was an EU country that they had to edit out, which is like a lot of things with tighter controls, especially food contents and labling requirements being *A LOT* more strict than the USA. Same here in Australia, there are products from the USA outright banned.
The first time I ever say this, I was soooo ripped at the reporter giving Delenn grief. Now it's just "yea.... people are still people everywhere. Some brighten your day just by existing, some annoy you just by existing, and most grubby and reaching out for whatever benefits them no matter what it does to others."
I don't know, but I feel like I should *trust* *the* Psi *Corps*
Maybe I can ask a Psi Cop about this, they'll have answers.
Since they are everywhere, for our convenience, it seems like a *no-brainer* to me.
The subliminal message is a simple one, and good eye for catching it, for people who watched it on network television when it originally aired, it was couched at the end of the commercial break and I remember going partway through it before i realized what i was watching. The message, for those who take the trouble to freeze the video, reads: "The Psy Corps are our friends."
BTW - for the next episode, you will want an adult beverage and be wearing Depends. Parts of that episode will cause you to drink heavily. Parts will make you sh*t your pants with surprise. Your discussion section after the episode will probably be an hour long! 🙂 It also won a Hugo award it is so good.
She's already seen the Hugo winner from this season. That was 'The Coming of Shadows'. 'In the Shadow. of Z'ha'dum' didn't win the Hugo
@@Macilmoyle oops, my bad. Sorry!
It is a controversial episode, and one I like quite a bit. Good to see you like it.
There must be more to your story? "Yes!" I love Ivanova when she does that.
Bee seeing you!
Been binging the reactions in very short time, still a lot to go but xmas days are quiet so plenty time to binge 7 seasons :).
Shelley, your understanding and perception is a welcome surprise.
Have you seen Firefly ? Maybe reacting to that ...
This was a bit of a experiment for JMS- in the original airing there had been a couple of months break between episodes- so he did a recap episode to "remind" the viewers without making a clip show
In the intro- you mentioned feeling EarthGov was up to something. Bit surprised you didn't mention a bit of dialog that had a rather large breadcrumb...
Notice how they showed the various Ambassadors. Londo was shown as mostly reasonable (almost charming), G Kar was shown to be mostly in a rage- even in his interview he talked about killing Centauri. Delenne clearly got hit with a hostile "ambush" interview. And Kosh.... He really didn't give a ......
I don't understand the negativity about PsiCorp. We can trust PsiCorp. PsiCorp is our friend...
Matter of fact, think I'll run down and get myself tested......
Remember this episode. There will be others to compare and contrast.
Love this episode! It's not a normal episode but it is also not as "original" an idea as one might think. The first time I saw a newsreel-type episode was 20 yrs earlier, on a little show whose closing episode, after 11 yrs at the top, had better ratings than the Super=Bowl! The show was M*A*S*H (1972 - 1983), which stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. It was set during the Korean war. Yes, a sitcom set in a warzone... it wasn't even the first to do that, either! ;-]
Damn, now I gotta go find a channel reacting to M*A*S*H! lol
Oh you have some amazing episodes coming up after this one! 😍
Sheridan did everything right, but neither the Narn or the Centauri wants to behave atm. This also builds more on the media as a semi regular part of the universe. ISN and Universe Today exist as more than props.
Such a fun, unique episode.
Another podcast recently made the connection that this is the 36th episode of the show (not counting “The Gathering”).
Between Londo and G’Kar, I’m more inclined to believe G’Kar. Londo is clearly pushing the propaganda and, while G’Kar may be doing the same, he comes across as more sincere.
Both are for sure telling "their side" of the story. Thing is, Londo probably never dealt with Narn until his appointment to B5. He didn't experience any of anything (or at least I see no canonical evidence of it). G'Kar lived it. You can parallel this with colonialism (G'Kar pretty much comes right out and calls the Centauri on that specifically in this episode), the slave trade of the 16th-19th centuries and the European exceptionalism that started things like the opium trades. Would Londo's mind have changed if he really knew? It's difficult to say. Certainly his character arc in the series as a whole would say he wpuld have, but based on a certain future episode (that I won't specify for spoilers, although the directly involved character is not Londo) I'm going to have to say probably not.
Fantastic episode!
Buckle up - shit's about to get real. Oh, and.... faster! We want daily reacts from you, girlfriend! :) #tease
Prepare yourself, you have a WHAM episode coming up
The whole " humans are unique in that they build communities" is a little corny, but it's also a trope/cliché that you'll find in a lot of sci-fi/fantasy where every race/species have a unique feature or talent. It can be a little silly, but at the same time nice as not everything has to be grimdark & depressing.
It's not like humans are being portrayed as universally good given the mess that is EarthGov & Clarke. Glad you liked the episode.
I hear you about the show having maybe too much faith in humanity, giving us too much credit... but compare it to Star Trek:TNG or Star Trek:TOS, where it's all Truth Justice and the American Way, and everything is always wrapped up where the Good Guys Win inside of one episode, and all the regular cast are always motivated by pure altruism. B5 is vastly more realistic.
One of greatest things about B5...
Earth is NOT the good guys.
It was one of the weak points of the writing, this idea that humans are unique in making communities. It's obvious that all the species on B5 come from communities. But as is so similar to other stories set in space, B5 is intent on making humans special. It's a hold over from ancient religiosity, where any tribe of humans thinks they are special because their gods talk to them.