While this is, of course, one of the big season one story arc episodes, it is also one of the first times that we see that the personnel of Babylon 5 aren't always squeaky clean. Benson is a %&$#-up, Sinclair knows it, Garibaldi knows it, the problems he has are not something that is unheard of in Earth Force.
From a science fiction perspective, it was very practical how Garibaldi sets up the search for Sinclair's body. While morbid, it makes perfect sense that this procedure might be used in this context in the same way that lakes were dredged.
While Knight Two is a bit of the standard mustache-twirling television heavy, it is nevertheless an interesting interrogation sequence. The irony of it all being that, if Sinclair could have been able to use the machine to uncover the events of those 24 hours without Knight Two's paranoia, he may have submitted to the procedure; it is an interesting moment when Sinclair himself gets caught up in the mystery of what has happened.
I love the idea that many on Earth who weren't on the Line really didn't understand just how incredibly hopeless mankind's last stand was. Indeed, it always seemed implied to me that the Minbari surrender was spun to make humans come out looking much better by the local government. I have to say that while effective, the special effects in this episode didn't necessarily have the scope necessary to convey the enormity of the battle, but knowing the whole story ahead of time allows one to take this sequence as being Sinclair's experience first and foremost.
This episode gets special mention from a musical perspective because in it Christopher Franke introduces his "Requiem for the Line" theme that will become a significant musical motif throughout the run of the series, and the third season main title. The cue where it is heard in full for the first time is part of the "Mind War" suite heard on Babylon 5 Volume 1 (http://www.sonicimages.com/action.lasso?-database=Products.fp5&-layout=CGI&-response=/2001/Sub/SIR/b5/index.html&-nothing) album (I excerpted this portion as "Sinclair Remembers" for my Babylon 5 (http://swashbuckler332.livejournal.com/667853.html) compilation). There is just something so helpless and desperate about that theme...
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-03-15 06:55 pm (UTC)From a science fiction perspective, it was very practical how Garibaldi sets up the search for Sinclair's body. While morbid, it makes perfect sense that this procedure might be used in this context in the same way that lakes were dredged.
While Knight Two is a bit of the standard mustache-twirling television heavy, it is nevertheless an interesting interrogation sequence. The irony of it all being that, if Sinclair could have been able to use the machine to uncover the events of those 24 hours without Knight Two's paranoia, he may have submitted to the procedure; it is an interesting moment when Sinclair himself gets caught up in the mystery of what has happened.
I love the idea that many on Earth who weren't on the Line really didn't understand just how incredibly hopeless mankind's last stand was. Indeed, it always seemed implied to me that the Minbari surrender was spun to make humans come out looking much better by the local government. I have to say that while effective, the special effects in this episode didn't necessarily have the scope necessary to convey the enormity of the battle, but knowing the whole story ahead of time allows one to take this sequence as being Sinclair's experience first and foremost.
This episode gets special mention from a musical perspective because in it Christopher Franke introduces his "Requiem for the Line" theme that will become a significant musical motif throughout the run of the series, and the third season main title. The cue where it is heard in full for the first time is part of the "Mind War" suite heard on Babylon 5 Volume 1 (http://www.sonicimages.com/action.lasso?-database=Products.fp5&-layout=CGI&-response=/2001/Sub/SIR/b5/index.html&-nothing) album (I excerpted this portion as "Sinclair Remembers" for my Babylon 5 (http://swashbuckler332.livejournal.com/667853.html) compilation). There is just something so helpless and desperate about that theme...