I think this is a standalone, as far as B5 has them anyway. Even in S1, there is always arc-stuff going on in the background. This was the eopisode that first got me into b5, and it felt very much like a self-contained story then, it didn't matter that the Vorlon angle did not make sense to me at that point. It did prepare me for coming eridness though: This is the episod that made me come back - Voices of Authority then got me hooked.
I like the way B5 deals with human religion. While there are new movements (e.g the Foundationists), some of the religions we know today are still around and recognizable; some institutions have changed (cf. the Temple mentioned by Ivanova, I think in TKO), some are the same (Theo mentions the Holy See, although of course we are not told how this is run). The familiar rituals give a powerful sense of continuity and therefore timelessness. The universality of central theme of forgiveness is only strengthened by this. The final scene with Sheridan, Theo and Malcolm is awesome. There is some really courageous scripting in this.
BTW, Minbari not born of Minbari has often reminded me of the Christian Nicene Creed's "begotten not created". The fact that it turns up in this episode seems to prove this is not a coincidence literary turn of phrase.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-12-14 08:27 pm (UTC)I like the way B5 deals with human religion. While there are new movements (e.g the Foundationists), some of the religions we know today are still around and recognizable; some institutions have changed (cf. the Temple mentioned by Ivanova, I think in TKO), some are the same (Theo mentions the Holy See, although of course we are not told how this is run). The familiar rituals give a powerful sense of continuity and therefore timelessness. The universality of central theme of forgiveness is only strengthened by this.
The final scene with Sheridan, Theo and Malcolm is awesome.
There is some really courageous scripting in this.
BTW, Minbari not born of Minbari has often reminded me of the Christian Nicene Creed's "begotten not created". The fact that it turns up in this episode seems to prove this is not a coincidence literary turn of phrase.