"A Voice in the Wilderness" discussion [spoilers]

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episodes 1X18 and 1x19, "A Voice in the Wilderness", Part 1 and Part 2. Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:

Delenn has a visit from an old friend, Garibaldi is troubled by the news from Mars, and there is mysterious seismic activity on Epsilon 3.

Extra reading:

The article for "A Voice in the Wilderness". Part 1 and Part 2 at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

I finally got the chance to sit down and watch this last night. Londo's parts are wonderful here; I particularly liked the hokey-pokey sequence. Though I wonder if we all will still be singing it in 2258...

Little things that caught my eye/ear--
Delenn telling Sinclair 'Evolution is overrated.' The Shadows are proponents of evolution through conflict.
Some Minbari go walkabout at the end of their lives. JMS says that is what happened to Delenn; that she left to 'find Valen' at the end of her life and was never seen again.
As noted above, the fact that Varn didn't reach out to Delenn. She's not ready to face self-sacrifice yet.
The parallel between Delenn not telling Sinclair they were going down to E3 with Varn and her not telling Sheridan about Anna. She chooses for Sinclair, protecting him from making a decision that will interfere with his 'true destiny'. At this point she only knows he has part of Valen's soul--how does she know what his destiny is meant to be? Part of her arrogance in S1. Also her caution. She's there to watch, not act, although that's about to change.
And she always ends up watching people she cares for make the sacrifice; watching them walk away--Draal, Sinclair, and finally Sheridan (twice). Hard to always be the one left behind.

What was the time the Great Machine was waiting for; when it would be right for others to use it? I don't think it got involved in the Shadow War except as a back-up. Varn mentioning that he'd been watching them is echoed later by Draal when he meets Sheridan. I thought that Varn managed a lot of expression through what had to be a lot of latex, especially in the end scene. I wonder if PsiCorp has marked Garibaldi from this moment, as someone with investigatory capabilities that might come in useful later.

I could go on, but I have to leave for work! I still very much like the interior of E3; nicely done with the minimal CGI available at the time. The weapon is Shadow-like but I thought it seemed more Vorlonish with the crystals on the landing pad, and the colored lights. The purple webbing on the walls (circuitry) reminded me a bit of Shadow-tech (the implants on the telepaths) and of course the whole idea of a living being needed to be the 'heart' of the Machine is very Shadow-y. Also Vorlonish too though, considering their ships sing.
Someone asked about the Zathri; maybe they were in all the elevators, rushing up and down fixing things!

[beatrice_otter]

It's the Great Machine that handles the rift in spacetime that lets them go get Babylon 4 and go back to the last Shadow War, which altered the balance of power. If that had not happened, the Shadow War B5 faced would have been a lot nastier. And shorter, in the bad way.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

I guess I wasn't thinking about something that...detached? abstract? Sorry, the words are not coming out right this morning!

So do you think Draal knew that would be the Machine's role when he gave the warning at the end of this episode? Or was he just aware that there would be something coming up that the Machine would do?

I love all the 'who knew what when' components of this story. Throw in the time travel storylines and I'm a happy girl.

[beatrice_otter]

I have no idea when Draal would have known. He very well may have.