"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

[traviswells.livejournal.com]

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

I'm not sure this is an intentional "EA is more sinister than the Federation" plot point, JMS seems to defend it pretty hard in his comments.

I think the problem with the solution in this episode is that as fans of B5 we don't expect technobabble, so we expect to understand any technological solution given. Just pretend JMS accidentally channeled Roddenberry for a moment, and Keffer escaped by remodulating the polarity of the neutron flow in the aft sensor array.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

What I want to know is whether the Earth Alliance has a Prime Directive. They're exploring space, setting up jumpgates, presumably laying claim to territory...anybody out there? Even pre-sentient species?

Presumably the relative 'spheres of influence' were laid out by all the treaties they're always talking about in Council meetings etc. I wonder if the Non-Aligned Worlds are restricted by the big boys, and whether they bitterly resent it, and that's why they're Shadow-prey. It's all very Great Gamish.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I've always assumed the government being backed by Earth in "Gropos" was pre-spaceflight... Can't seem to find anything to back that up though.

It occurs to me that the B5 setting is a post-colonial one, with the end of Centauri rule over other species still within living memory. I'd assume that blatant attempts to occupy or exploit primitive worlds is frowned on, but sending in ‘advisors’ or establishing ‘protectorates’ over low-tech systems is pretty common.