"A Distant Star" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episodes 2X04, "A Distant Star". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
A ship commanded by an old friend of Sheridan's becomes lost in hyperspace after a visit to Babylon 5. Meanwhile Delenn is being questioned by the Minbari about her transformation.

Extra reading:

The article for "A Distant Star" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Alas, one of the mostly boring ones. I love D.C. Fontana's Star Trek episodes, but on B5 her work feels somewhat generic. It doesn't help that this is an almost exclusively (safe for Delenn) human characters episode, and well, my most beloved characters on this show are all aliens.

There is some valid Sheridan character exploration, but again, what it goes for - Sheridan, having commanded a starship for years, feels frustrated by the change to station commander - is valid but isn't that illuminating about Sheridan specifically but could be written for any starship captain. (One reason why Sheridan didn't really click with me until In the shadow of Z'ha'dum was that this was the first episode which really made him feel three dimensional to me, not least because it deliberately showcased his darker side.) And his friend isn't an interesting guest character, either. I'm playing favorites here; I'm not against one spot guest characters suddenly declared as very important people to Our Heroes... if they are,say, the Centauri Urza Jaddo. But even leaving aside my prejudices, this character is so bland I couldn't even remember Russ Tamblyn HAD guest starred on B5.

Speaking of bland: and then we get Warren Keefer in the enforced Top Gun scenes which JMS confessed to hating with a passion later. It shows.

The most interesting scene to me was the one with Delenn and the Minbari, because while here the process of alienation, no bad pun intended, between Delenn and her fellow Minbari starts, it's not presented as a simple "they're xenophobic and so mean to her!" matter. She is incredibly arrogant with her "understanding isn't required, only obedience!" In many ways, it parallels Neroon becoming Delenn's nemesis this season due to her treatment of him in Legacies last season.

The conversation between Delenn and Sheridan is one for the shippers, to which I don't belong, so no comment here.

I remember finding the "Franklin forces everyone to go on a diet" subplot amusing the first time I watched; alas, it didn't age well for me. This time, I just wished it to be over...

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

Is this the episode where in the commentary JMS apologizes for Delenn's hair? Because he should. I adore Delenn and think that she (and Mira) are beautiful, but the awkwardness of her hair in early S2 makes me cringe like whoa. I know this is the most shallow comment ever, but it really takes away from the episodes to me to see her walking around with that bad hair.

[marphilly.livejournal.com]

I love this episode for the rescue of stranded ship, the exchange between Sheridan and Delenn, the creepiness of the Shadows, and bagna cauda. I have a recipe for it that I want to try one day.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

I like this episode because my inner geek likes the ship, LOL. The way the ship is rescued was a good way, I thought, to illustrate how easy it could be to get lost in hyperspace (and then attacked by Shadow ships, ugh).

I did like the speech between Delenn and Sheridan at the end... it may be corny to say so, but I've learnt more philosophy from this show than any other source.

Best line:

Ivanova (on being 'obliged' to eat more) "All my life, I've fought against imperialism. Suddenly, *I* am the expanding Russian frontier!1!"

[alexcat.livejournal.com]

Actually I quite enjoyed this episode. We got to know Sheridan better and to this point, I did not like him, But I did after this. It made him human finally. He is good in this ep as the mayor of B5-ville, more or less, and I liked his friend. He seemed rather like an old surfer though. Maybe he played a surfer in some movie or show.

And this ep had Delenn's nice Starstuff speech. I always enjoyed that one.

And Warren finally got his tiny shining moment in the sun! wheee!

[traviswells.livejournal.com]

I missed B5 when it was on TV, all but this episode. I saw it on the first run: I was ten.

I remember thinking it was really cool, I especially liked the space ships. I missed the name though, and none of my friends knew what show it was, so I didn't find B5 again for another decade. Sad.

Anyway, rewatch notes: Man, Sheridan is a dick to Garibaldi in this episode. Garibaldi is clearly just trying to keep Sheridan up to date about what's going on regarding security, and Sheridan is basically "Why the hell are you waiting my time with this? This is your job: do it and don't bother me again". You're supposed to be a diplomat, ACT LIKE IT.

Man, the Cortez is huge. It's longer than B5! I wonder how many people are on that thing? B5 doesn't have that much more habitable space and it's got 250,000 people on it. (Plus I always imagined it as half-empty)

The bit where Captain Maynard is explaining about seeing a Shadow vessel is great. Even though we've seen a few, it really helps increase their mystery. Plus the visual trick right before the fadeout is great: Right as it starts to fade out, shadows move across the walls behind Sheridan.

The diet subplot is still lame. It's kinda pointless and it feels too much like Franklin decided to be a dick to everyone this week.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

Well, that was kinda ‘meh’. Two main problems. Number one, the actor playing Captain Maynard seems to be playing up the “Sheridan’s old buddy” aspect of the character at the expense of the “experienced starship captain” part of things. He’s just a little too casual in all his scenes. That’s alright when he’s having a private drink with Sheridan, not so good when he’s just as laid-back when his ship’s bridge bursts into flames and his first officer reports that they’re lost in hyperspace and all going to die… The guy’s got no gravitas whatsoever.

The other problem is that nobody’s particularly likable in this episode. We’ve got Maynard himself, who in the scene in Sheridan’s quarters seems unable to quietly drop the issue of B5 not being Sheridan’s first choice of command. There’s the subplots, which revolve around Franklin being unnecessarily obnoxious and Delenn apparently pre-emptively channelling Ulkesh. And then there’s Sheridan, who spends most of the episode sulking about how he’s stuck on boring old Babylon 5 instead of commanding the Enterprise an explorer ship, a position which really isn’t one the show can afford to have us sympathise with, and probably isn’t the best way to help establish the still-new character as someone the audience wants to see stick around. And am I the only one a little concerned about his out-of-nowhere rant about politicians and bureaucrats, the political subtext of which seems to be “The only acceptable element of government is the military”? Somewhat understandable in context, but considering Sheridan would go on to overthrow the Earth Alliance government, and then seemingly accumulate more and more power with little to no actual accountability, it ends up a little disturbing.

The actual plot’s alright, but I’m still a little confused as to how Keffer navigated back – if he was still oriented enough to fire in the direction of the jumpoint for the Cortez, why couldn’t he just head in that direction once he got navigation back? And if hyperspace is that disorienting and distorted that even just being there for a little while would render that information useless, how could using the Shadow ship as a second reference point be exact enough to get him back? I’m cool with hyperspace being inherently confusing and difficult to explain, and I actually do appreciate the lack of info-dumps in the episode, but I was left a little lost as to what, exactly, the problem was and how the solution solved it.

Minor notes:

- More hints that the Earth Alliance isn’t a shiny happy Federation utopia – they name their exploration ships after conquistadors.

- Ah, Warren Keffer. I know, I know, the character was forced on the show, JMS didn’t want him – but surely there were better ways to work him in than just having him show up randomly and act as if he’d been a major cast member all along?

- For such a forgettable episode, this one does have some very nice music.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

The week is wending away and I haven't commented. Such is the way of life.

First, Jack Maynard is one of my favorite background characters and I deeply regret not seeing him again. I liked the friendship between him and Sheridan. I was still becoming reconciled to Sheridan at this point, and I consider this episode part of the Meet the Captain series, always a bit expository, but that's what they are for.

I caught a whiff of Finnegan about Jack (altho he is much nicer) in his needling John about settling for the desk job. To me, this is v. much an episode about well meaning friends interfering in your life, and people who 'knew you when' not understanding changes in you. Both John and Delenn pull rank on underlings as they work through how they feel about their choices. It plays into the 'right people at the right place at the right time' theme developed throughout this season. I especially like Susan's part in John's thought process; 'make up your mind cause I've got a job to do here, and I need to know both where you stand, and if you're up to doing your part.' She's a good XO, and a good friend.

Second, the diet subplot shows Stephen at his self-righteous best, and I really like the scene with him and Garibaldi bonding over bagna cauda. It's a preview of their friendship, and their various battles with their addictions. Stephen knows what's best, for everyone but himself. Did anyone else feel that Stephen buckled over Garibaldi's father story because of his own issues with his dad? Father issues abound in this series.

Third, the Flying Dutchman story which occurs over and over again, a variant of the 'you can't go home again' storyline. The idea of being lost, drifting, helpless and alone, is a powerful and scary one, to me at least. JMS goes to it first with Babylon 4, then here with the Cortez, and later in WWE and The Fall of Centauri Prime. Even at the very end, with John's being unable to stay in the military, losing his home on Earth. I do wish they had thrown in a line about the lifeboat scenario having been tried before and not worked, or that they were trying some new variant on it. Because it's really an obvious solution. It would have shown in Sheridan either an ability to think outside the box, or his determination to preservere in a 'no-win' situation.

As for Keffer's return, whatever. It's a silly thing, and only necessary to put in motion his White Whale fixation, and to preview what will happen to him anyway. I like to think that somewhere there's a copy of this script, with this part scribbled out, and an addendum by JMS-- "And Warren Keffer was never seen again. The. End."