"All Alone in the Night" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 2X11, "All Alone in the Night". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
Sheridan is abducted by a mysterious alien ship. Meanwhile, Delenn travels to Minbar to find out if the Grey Council will allow her to continue as an ambassador after her transformation.

Extra reading:
The article for "All Alone in the Night" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

I'd count Number One as being along the same lines as Sheridan himself - it's OK to be a politician if you've also been a soldier.

I do wonder where the Hague plot was going - Keeping Hague around has the same problems as a hypothetical opposition civilian leader; worse, since there's a clear chain of command. I assume he wasn't scheduled to last much longer past "Severed Dreams" even if the actor had been available.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Hm, you're right. I guess Hague would have died heroically, leaving Sheridan in charge...

I'd count Number One as being along the same lines as Sheridan himself - it's OK to be a politician if you've also been a soldier.

Meaning civilian-only politicians join reporters and historians as professions slandered by B5. Though in that light, it's interesting that with the Minbari we're clearly meant to sympathize with the religious caste (i.e. the politicians who AREN'T warriors - more than the military caste, with the working caste's existence only belatedly mattering at the end of the Minbari civil war but not throughout the show as a whole.

The Centauri are a case of their own because they're a monarchy, and questions of democratic legitimacy don't arise either way. Still, you could say Londo and Vir, both professional politicians without being part of the military in their world, are the most fleshed out portrayals of politicians we get...

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

I could be nit-picky and point out that Londo led Centauri forces in the raid on Vallus 12, according to "Voice in the Wilderness"... but, yeah, he's clearly not a 'war hero' in the same way Sheridan or No.1 are, even if he does have some minor combat experience in his background.

We really don't know anything about the Centauri military, do we?

It's funny - it didn't occur to me until just now that the Minbari castes are the idealised division of medieval society - Those Who Pray, Those Who Fight, and Those Who Work. B5, it seems, sides with the Papacy over the Holy Roman Emperor in regards to who has supremacy out of the first two...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

ZOMG! Delenn is Thomas Becket and Neroon is Henry II! Or Neroon is Friedrich II and Delenn is Pope Innocent IV...

*treasures image*

Centauri military: there is the "war minister" who is among Londo's and Vir's anti-Cartagia-conspiracy, and Londo's friend Urza is explicitly referred to as a war hero, but it all seems very Roman in nature, i.e. if you're from a noble house, you do some military time as part of the cursus honorum, but then you get into politics. I don't think we see non-noble soldiers except for the ever present guards in their Roman uniforms, and we don't have info whether they're enlisted or serve voluntarily. Still, if even the torturers have their own guild, one assumes becoming a soldier is something you as an ordinary Centauri citizen can decide, or not. (Following the Roman model again I imagine you do have to be a citizen to join, though.)