Trollheart

1.14 "Nightmare"

Sam wakes from a horrible nightmare and tells Dean they have to go. He has had a dream about someone in Michigan who needs their help. As they drive there (Dean still a bit sleepy and thinking his brother is overreacting) Sam calls the police station and gives them the number plate of the car he says he saw in his dream. To Dean's unease it checks out and they get a home address, but by the time they arrive the guy is being taken away in a bodybag. They ask what happened, and are informed the man committed suicide. Sam doesn't believe it though: he tells Dean that in his dream, the guy was trying to escape and was being trapped in his car by something.

Posing the next day as priests (which Sam notes is a new low for them) they gain access to the house and talk to the man's family. They are told Jim, the victim, was a normal guy who nobody would have expected to have taken his own life. It transpires that it was his son, Max, who found him and Sam goes to talk to the kid. Dean tries to find out how long the family have been living here, and is told five years. He then floats the idea of strange noises, electrical outages that usually denote some sort of spiritual activity in a house (see "Home") but is told that no, there was nothing like that going on.

As they try to figure it out later, Sam is suddenly shaken by another nightmare, though this time he's awake and it causes him intense pain. He sees Roger, Jim's brother, being killed by having his head cut off when he leans out a window and it slams down on him. The boys race to try to prevent it but are too late. When they talk to Max though and he tells them everything was all right between his father and his uncle, the brothers detect something in his tone that speaks about their previous home, and they decide they should check it out. When they get there they are told a tale of child abuse by one of the old neighbours, that Max's father and indeed his brother used to beat the boy, and that the mother would stand by and do nothing. They also learn she is Max's stepmother, his real mother apparently having died in a car crash.

Just then Sam has another vision, and things become clearer. He sees Max attack his stepmother with a knife, but he's not holding it. He's controlling it, almost as if he were capable of telekinesis. Sam watches horrified as Max tells his stepmother she did nothing to stop the abuse, and wills the knife to drive through her eye and into her head. They race back to the house and stop Max but he uses his telekinesis to trap them. Asking for a moment to talk to him alone, Sam explains that what he's doing is wrong, that the people who beat him in the past are dead now ... and Max tells them that the abuse continued, right up to the time he killed his father. Sam says he understands, but then Max says that his father hated him, blamed him for his wife's death.

How could he do that, asks Sam, and Max tells him tearfully that she died in his nursery, bursting into flames. Sam is speechless for a moment, then tells Max that the very same thing happened to him and Dean, and that they must be connected somehow because the same demon is after them for some reason. Max finds it hard to take in though, and despite Sam's assurances that they can help, he traps him in the room and goes up to where his stepmother is hiding with Dean. He levitates Dean's gun out of his pocket and points it at his stepmother. Dean steps in front of her and he shoots, killing Dean.

But of course that was a vision Sam was having. However it will come true if he doesn't hurry. He slides the bookcase Max had blocked the door with away, legs it up to the room, banging on the door. As he gets in Max is about to shoot Dean (because he's protecting the stepmother) but Sam talks to him, pleads with him to stop, and Max nods, turns the gun around and ends his own life.

As they leave, Sam wonders why this demon is after them. He blames himself for Max's death, but Dean tells him it wasn't his fault. Sam says at least they had a good parent to look after them when their mother died, unlike Max. "A little more tequila", he postulates, "a little less demon-hunting, we could have ended up like Max." He then tells Dean that he was somehow able to move the bookcase just by thinking about it, and worries that he may be turning into something he can't control, perhaps like Max. Dean laughs it off, saying that as long as he's around nothing will happen to Sam.

MUSIC
The Bob Seger System: "Two plus two"

The Bob Seger System: "Lucifer"


QUESTIONS?
What does the demon want? It's clearly now not just Sam and Dean, as they now have evidence it was after at least one other child...

What are Sam's visions? Where are they coming from? And will they continue?

How did Sam move that bookcase? Is he going to manifest other powers too?

The "WTF??!" moment
When Max tells Sam about what happened to his mother, and we realise that what happened to Sam and Dean is not unique.

PCRs
Just the one. Again, it's a pseudonym related one. Dean introduces the two "priests" with "Good Afternoon. I'm Father Simmons, this is Father Frehley." Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley, members of heavy metal/glam metal band Kiss.

BROTHERS
As much as the last two episodes have basically focussed on Dean, this one centres on Sam, as we learn about his visions; that the one about Jessica is not the only one he had and that he has now progressed to having these nightmares in the day, when awake. We also find that he is manifesting new powers, witnessed in the removal of the bookcase through the power of his mind. Although he shrugs it off, Dean has to be concerned. Not only is his brother now showing signs of being even weirder than usual, but they have met someone else who has gone through the same trauma as they, and it seems what happened to them happened to others too.

So why did it happen? Their quest to hunt down the demon has just got a lot more complicated than a simple thirst for revenge. Now it's answers they need, and though it no doubt scares him what's happening to Sam, Dean is the elder brother and vows to keep him safe, no matter what.
He also must be somewhat relieved to see Sam's attitude towards their father softening, considering the events of "Scarecrow" that led to the parting of the ways, if only temporarily. Sam now seems to realise how hard it must have been for their dad, to have lost his wife and yet held the family together. Max's dysfunctional family are a clear indication this did not necessarily have to be the way things turned out, and he is grateful.

The ARC of the matter
Here I'd like to introduce a new section. Up to now, the episodes have been pretty much self-contained, and unlike Babylon 5 few if any of the ones that have gone before tie in to the main storyline (with the exception of the pilot of course) so there has been no discernible arc to follow. This is the first episode where the possibility of a deeper, more involved storyline makes itself apparent, and some clues to the larger plot can be gleaned.

There are still self-contained episodes, but as the series develops and moves into season two and beyond the arc will begin to come more to the fore, integrating itself into the stories and tying what may have seemed like random events together, until we finally see "the big picture". For any episodes that do this, I'll be talking about them here. If an episode doesn't impact on, or advance or present clues to the arc, I won't run this section, but in the ones that do, I'll be looking at the implications both on the previous episodes and those yet to come.

Here we get the first clues that Sam's nightmare about Jessica's impending death was not in fact a one-off, or even in his mind. He discovers that he can see into the future via dreams, he can see when people are in danger and having ignored this in the case of his fiancee, to his and her cost, he resolves not to let anyone else die if he can prevent it. This "power" obviously freaks Dean out, but he covers it well.

By the end of the episode we've also learned that Sam is not the only one developing abilities, and although Max dies, it can be surmised that there are more than just he and Sam in America, perhaps the world, who have these powers. We also learn, or are given a hint, that Sam has certain other powers, such as some form of telekinesis, which he uses, instinctively and almost involuntarily, to move the bookcase and escape from the room in order to rescue Dean --- or is to to try to save Max? Or both?

1.15 "The benders"

Sam and Dean have come to Hibbing, Minnesota, where there has been a strange report of a man, Alvin Jenkins, going missing, and a boy who says he saw him being dragged under his car by "a monster". Sam notes that their father marked the area in his journal as a significant spot for monsters; this county has the highest disappearance rate per capita of the whole state. While they consider what to do, Sam goes back to the car but does not return. Panicked, Dean searches for him to no avail, and has to ask for help from the local police. When he mentions Sam's name (giving his real name for once, as otherwise Sam could not be properly tracked down if he has been taken) the sheriff, Kathleen, remarks that his brother, Dean, is on record as dying in St. Louis as a suspect in a murder (see "Skin") --- Dean is clearly uncomfortable being reminded about the shapeshifter but tries not to show it. There are bigger problems for him to deal with. The security traffic camera footage turns up a suspicious looking black truck (no, not the same one from "Route 666"!) which has equally suspiciously new plates, indicating it must be stolen. It drives off with what can only be described as a whining growl, the sound the kid they interviewed said the thing that grabbed Jenkins made.

Meanwhile Sam has awoken to find himself in a cage, and surprisingly Jenkins is in one opposite, alive. He talks to him but before he can get any sense out of him some men in black walk in, open his cage, throw in some food, lock it again and leave. Sam is amazed to see that they appear to be dealing with humans, not monsters, for once. When Jenkins' cage is opened and he escapes, Sam warns him it may be a trap --- it was too easy --- but Jenkins does not listen and heads for the woods, where he is set upon by a band of men who appear to be hunting him. Sam hears his dying scream.

Dean's ruse of impersonating a police officer to get the deputy to help has been sussed, and she is ready to turn him in, but because her own friend also disappeared three years ago and was never found she feels a sort of affinity for Dean's loss of his brother (though she still doesn't know who Dean is, just that he's not who his fake ID says he is) but she handcuffs him to the police car when they arrive at the spot they believe Sam may have been taken to. She heads into the woods alone, despite Dean's desperate protestations. When she comes across a rundown house and talks to the little girl who answers the door, Kathleen sees that Missy is dirty and unwashed, and the girl tells her that her mother is dead. Just then her father comes up behind and knocks Kathleen down with a shovel.

She wakes up in a cage next to Sam, but Dean has got free and joins them, looking for some way to open the cages. He goes back to the house but is captured and tortured by the family, who are basically redneck inbreeds who hunt people for fun. Who woulda guessed, huh? The father sends his boys to kill both Sam and Kathleen but in a fight the father and his boys are killed and the brothers and Kathleen escape yadda yadda yadda...

Note: Before I get to the music and such, I'd just like to point out this is a truly awful episode. It's Supernatural's "TKO" (see my Babylon 5 features) or "Infection" even. The only thing that's slightly good about it is that we've been conditioned, up to now, to expect ghosts and creatures and demons and all manner of horrible, otherworldly things to be responsible for the disappearances/deaths the boys investigate, so from that point of view it throws you for a loop somewhat to find it's nothing more behind this than redneck hillbillies. Perhaps you could remark the worst monster is Man? But really, this is a third, no, fourth-rate ripoff of every girl-finds-backwoods-cabin-and-comes-across-mad-rednecks movie you've ever seen or heard of. It's trash, and returns for a brief, depressing moment to the monster-of-the-week format, though even then it's worse than anything that has come before. There's no story arc, no advancement of the relationship between the brothers, nothing. Just a story that should have been buried and never let sully this great series. Shame.

MUSIC
Joe Walsh: "Rocky Mountain way"


QUESTIONS?
Just the one: who wrote this crap, and allowed it to get within a billion parsecs of Supernatural??

The "WTF??!" moment
There isn't one, apart from see above.

PCRs
Just the one. Jenkins says he's waiting for "Ned Beatty time". Rather appropriately, this refers to the movie "Deliverance". Also appropriately, he's right, as it happens...

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Dave Lister


Life and Lister did not at all hit it off well, right from the beginning. Found under a pool table in a box, Lister was abandoned as a baby and brought up by relatives. He attended art college but decided the hectic work schedule was ridiculous: lectures first thing in the afternoon!? Lister took a job as a trolley attendant in a car park, a job which he held for ten years before giving it up because he didn't want to get tied down to a career. On his 24th birthday his mates get him completely drunk and he wakes up in a MacDonalds on Mimas, one of the moons of Saturn. Trying to get his fare together for the return trip to Earth, Lister takes a job as a hopper-driver, essentially a cabbie, and it is during this time that he is to meet the man who will completely change his life, essentially by losing his: Arnold J. Rimmer.

Lister meets Rimmer as he ferries him to a brothel, though the man, heavily disguised with a false moustache and calling himself Christopher Todd-Hunter, declares he thought the place was a restaurant. Lister has been thinking of joining the Space Corps, and with Rimmer's somewhat unwilling help he applies and is accepted for a tour of duty aboard the Jupiter Mining Corporation vessel, Red Dwarf. He goes in as a Third Technician, and remains at that level: the captain regards his promotion prospects as "none" (however, in the case of the aforementioned Rimmer, the comment is "comical"). Lister is assigned to Z Shift, which just so happens to be headed by the aforementioned Rimmer, who is less than pleased to have Lister on his team (in fact, he is less than pleased to have Lister on the ship!), but makes up for it by making snide remarks, and taking every single opportunity to put his subordinate on report whenever he can. Rimmer and Lister also bunk together, (not out of choice, you can be sure!), and while Rimmer pores over his astro-navigation revision Lister tells him of his five-year plan, to buy land on Fiji and settle down there with Flight Officer Christine Kochanski, there to raise sheep and cows. He says he will get the land very cheap because most of the island is three feet underwater.

When it is discovered that Lister has smuggled aboard a non-quarantined animal, a female cat called Frankenstein, who is in fact pregnant, he opts to be sealed in a stasis booth for eighteen months rather than turn the cat over to the ship's labs. When he emerges from stasis, Lister is told by Holly, the ship's tenth-generation AI computer, that everyone on board the ship is dead, due to a massive radiation leak, and he had in fact had to remain in the stasis booth for three million years, while the radioactivity in the ship's atmosphere fell to acceptable levels. Rather staggered by this news, Lister is even less pleased to find that the one person whom Holly has brought back to keep him company is Rimmer!

Every member of Red Dwarf had had, before the voyage, their personality imprinted on a computer slug, which could, in the event of their death, be used to reinitialise the personality and confer it on a hologramatic representation of that person: a hologram for short. That hologram would have the same memories, feelings, desires and drives of the person whose personality it contained, but being nothing more than a computer simulation made up entirely of light, they would be unable to touch anything, and no-one or nothing could touch them. In effect, they would be as substantial as a ghost. Red Dwarf is capable of sustaining only one hologram, and it would of course have been expected to be ship's procedure that the person most important to the ship that died would be brought back as a hologram; should someone less important be already occupying the single hologram disk, then the more important person would takeover their runtime. In this case, of course, there was no need for seniority or importance. When Holly, who is capable of piloting the massive ship through the immeasurable vastness of space, had been considering a companion for Lister when he had to let him out, he had picked, in his opinion, the one who would best help Lister survive going insane. That person had been Arnold J. Rimmer.

The two pick up their non-friendship where they had left off: everything Lister does irritates Rimmer, and Lister thinks Rimmer is a complete git (which he is). Despite the fact that they have a five-mile ship and all the berths on it to choose from, Lister and Rimmer bunk together again: they may hate each other, but the corridors of Red Dwarf still echo with the ghostly, half-heard voices of the people he and Lister had once shared the ship with: people they had seen, talked to, touched, pushed past, shouted angrily at, made passes at, saluted to and bumped into in these selfsame corridors. Now, they could walk from one end of the mighty vessel to the other and not encounter a single living soul.

However, what neither of them know is that Frankenstein, Lister's cat, had been safely sealed in the hold at the time of the accident, and her descendants have been happily breeding there for three million years. They have evolved beyond mere quadrupeds, and have attained the power of speech, the ability to walk on two legs, and supercool fashion sense! In short, they have become a humanoid species, and Lister and Rimmer encounter the only survivor of their race aboard Red Dwarf, whom Lister calls, with stunning originality, Cat.

Lister's twin goals in life are to get back to Earth, and to somehow have a relationship with Kochanski. The fact that a) they are three million miles from the first and b) the second is dead does not deter him. He learns from the Holy Books that the Cat brings to him that he is the god of the Cat people, who know him as Cloister the Stupid! When they rescue Kryten, the service mechanoid from the doomed Nova 5, it is Lister who pushes the droid to break his programming, thus sending him off on a voyage of discovery that is not to last very long, as some time later Lister finds the mangled remains of his spacebike, which he had let Kryten take, smashed on an asteroid, and he has to repair the damaged android. However the Kryten he brings back is somewhat different to the original.

Travelling to a parallel universe, Lister encounters his female opposite, and after having sex with her finds that he is pregant! He has two sons, but they grow up too fast and so in order that they do not die Lister returns to the parallel universe and leaves Jim and Bexley with their mother. He is later prevailed upon by Rimmer to swap bodies with him, the deal being that Rimmer will occupy Lister's body for two weeks and get it fit again, but this is not what happens and Lister's body barely survives death at the hands of the unhinged hologram. When Kryten discovers a way of allowing them to travel backwards in time to any place of which they have a photograph, Lister goes back to his own past and convinces his younger self, who is fronting his first band, Smeg and the Heads to invent the Tension Sheet, and so becomes a multi-millionaire, avoiding ever joining the Space Corps. His luxurious lifestyle is short-lived though when Rimmer tries to do the same with his younger self, and only succeeds in realigning the timelines, sending Lister back to Red Dwarf.

Lister is changed into a chicken, a hamster and a tiny robocop-type man by the Transmogrifier, and plays pool with planets when Holly sets up an elaborate plan to stop a time-dilation effect caused by a White Hole. He tells his friends that he used to be called Dave "Cinzano Bianco" Lister, because once he was on a table, you couldn't get him off it! After he successfully pots the planet as planned, Lister refers to himself as Pool God, King of the Cues, and Prince of the Planet Potters. Rimmer, however, has another name for him: jammy goit! Ace Rimmer, who comes from an alternate dimension, refers to him as "Skipper", after mistakenly taking him for "Spanners", the Lister in his dimension.

Along with Kryten, Lister is erased from Time itself by The Inquisitor, but manages to trick the android into destroying itself. The fact that Lister believes he can play the guitar when in fact he couldn't do so to save his life is the deciding factor when his body is duplicated by a psiren, which reading Lister's mind believes it can play guitar, and does, thus proving not to be the real Lister. In the finale to the series (so far) it is revealed that Lister has been involved in some horrific accident, which has left him as nothing more than a brain in a jar. Rimmer would no doubt remark, with a snide look on his hologrammatic face: "Well, it would have to be a very small jar, wouldn't it?"

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1.3 "One last dance"

Zoe has been assigned a bugging mission at the Turkish Consulate, pretty standard as MI5 want to keep an eye on what any foreign government is doing and thinking. Tom blows off a low-level informant who tries to tell him about some men he heard about who were looking to buy automatic weapons, and Danny goes in to clear out Helen's desk after her death in the last episode. While Zoe is at the consulate it is suddenly raided by a group claiming to be Kurdistan separatists, who take everyone hostage. She manages to get a message off to The Grid and they prepare a team. In addition to the Kurds though there appear to be some English raiders in the group, and they are communicating with another outside the consulate. They then leave the Kurds holding the prisoners and make their way out of the building.

As MI5 watch the last transmisson from Zoe's phone before it was, like everyone else's, smashed by the militants, they note that there are three masked figures (the ones with the English accents) and that these men appear to have some military training. Information comes in on the Kurds: two of them at least seem to be a breakaway faction from the KFF --- Kurdistan Freedom Fighters --- whose parents have both been imprisoned by the Turks and who have been involved in other terrorist actions. They're the Bhakuri siblings, Chaka and Leyla, brother and sister. Tessa worries that Zoe may be identifiable as a government agent, but there's nothing they can do about that now.

The terrorists wire up the Turkish Consul as a human bomb and leave him on the balcony. Tessa thinks she recognises one of the men in the car they have on CCTV arriving at the consulate and taking the building by storm. She believes it to be Johnny Marks, a former asset of hers who worked in Iran to recruit sources for MI5 but who was killed in 1987. Harry displays his contempt for the man when he tells Tessa that Marks worked for the highest bidder, selling information to anyone who would pay him. Tessa tells him that she thinks that, somehow, he may still be alive. Harry doesn't believe her; he personally identified Marks' remains, he says.

Marks is alive though, and he has a hostage of his own, a young woman whose father is high up in MI5 it would appear. Meanwhile Zoe's handbag has been discovered with the bugging tools, but the raiders don't know who owns it. They try to find out, as MI5 do their best to get cameras into the building but are coming up against sophisticated countermeasures. When the Kurds threaten to kill one of the hostages, Zoe has to admit to being the owner of the handbag. Her story falls apart though when her snivelling escort, who is supposed to be posing as her husband, says he doesn't know her. She then has to reveal who she really is.

Harry has been looking at maps of the consulate and has noticed something that worries him. He phones and asks his superior for permission to contact "RW", but when permission is granted and he calls this mysterious person they panic and hang up on him. The masked men, in the meantime, are on their way across rooftops to a bank which Harry has realised is the real target. When it's revealed that Tessa not only ran Marks but was in love with him, Harry berates her, saying that he used her to get the information from Harry as to where the secret bank was that MI5 use to pay agents. With a target like that he could write his own ticket, and Tessa led him directly to it. Not only that, but the female hostage Marks has is the daughter of the only man who has access to the bank, Roger Welks, the "RW" Harry spoke to. He's not, as we thought at the beginning, an operative of MI5 but is in many ways more of a target than any high-ranking Secret Service official due to his position and his unique knowledge. He has, obviously, given Marks the codes he needs to get into the vault. Not only that, but with those codes he can also identify and locate every foreign agent both MI5 and MI6 have: British security could be forever irreparably compromised, perhaps destroyed. Tom is detailed to get into the bank and stop Marks and his men.

However there's another problem. Now that they know there is an MI5 agent in the consulate, the Kurds demand to speak to the person responsible for sending her in. That's Tom. He negotiates with Leyla, but she is wise to his ideas of delaying or infiltrating the place. Tom asks Colin if he can mockup some video footage that would make it look like the Kurish hostages --- the Brakhuri's parents among them --- are being released. Colin is the resident computer geek, but even he is dubious as to whether this can be done. He is ordered to try anyway. With no way in and no way out of the bank, Harry believes they're at a standstill until Tessa shows him some underground tunnels, built by the Secret Service during World War Two which link every building in the area.

As the team make their way to the bank via the tunnels, Tom has to meet Chalak at the door of the consulate to deliver urgent medicine for the hostage who is tied to the chair on the balcony. He uses the opportunity to grab Zoe, who is supposed to be taking the medicine from him, and gets shot in the back, but luckily his vest takes most of the impact. Leyla has realised that Marks' men have long departed and that their backup is gone, and even though they are watching supposed video of their parents and the other prisoners being released, she realises that their position now is untenable, and it's unlikely they will get out alive. Moments later CO19 storm the building and she is arrested with the rest of the terrorists.

Tessa receives a visit from Marks on his way out of the country. She tells him that she was pregnant with his child back in 1987, but that she lost the baby at five months. She asks Marks not to keep the list of agents, and he turns it over to Harry, in exchange for being let walk.

New characters in this episode:

Malcolm Wynn-Jones, played by Hugh Simon
Malcolm is an older gentleman, very refined and somewhat aloof, kind of like the sort of uncle you visit who has great stories and gadgets to show you but doesn't really seem to connect that well on a personal level. He is the senior analyst in Section D, and a computer genius.

Colin Wells, played by Rory MacGregor
Another computer nerd, Colin works under Malcolm and is very bookish and geeky, though he relates far better to the others. Both these characters become semi-regular and a part of the team for several seasons.

In many ways, this episode is a little self-contained and doesn't lend itself to the usual notes I tend to write, but what fits in I have detailed below.

Harry's World
Although a hardcase veteran and not much of a sentimentalist on the surface, it's clear that the death of any of his people hits Harry hard, the moreso when they're young and the death is both violent and unexpected. Helen had been recruited into a situation which was viewed as being of minimal danger; she was never expected to encounter Osbourne or be directly involved in any violence. As Harry stares at her file on his computer, while the question "Delete file: yes/no" blinks at him on the screen, you can see how hard it is for him to let go. Pushing the delete key will remove Helen from the database and is a necessary precautionary measure, but it also means that in a very real way it's the last vestiges of her they'll ever see again, with Danny clearing out her desk, and Harry has a hard time pushing the delete key. His people are not just numbers, casualties or employees. They're like family, and he probably remembers he was more than a little condescending to Helen in the brief time he knew her, and wishes now he had been more perhaps friendly to her.

Harry talks of his contempt for traitors and mercenaries:
"Johnny Marks betrayed the entire British intelligence community as well as most of the arab states, and when he was done with them he moved on to the Irish. Big mistake. A car bomb put paid to his treachery."

Harry, in his last conversation with Marks:
"Know this. I never send my people to do my dirty work. I always do it myself. And if any of those agents' names are ever revealed, I won't make the mistake I made with your brother."

Rivalries
Tom muses on how the politicans will always insulate themselves and that MI5 will always be the scapegoat: "Great. Goverment will be working on the worst scenario so if this thing does go down they can shove all the blame on the poor old intelligence services and halve our budget."

The Mind of a Terrorist
Leyla Bakhuri: "We have already won a great victory!"
Zoe: "Why? Because you're holding guns to our heads?"
Leyla: "Would you be listening if we were not?"

Later, as she's being led away:
Leyla: "What we have done here today will never be forgotten. My brother's name will never be forgotten. (To Zoe) What will you be remembered for? You don't exist, do you?"

Johnny Marks to Harry:
"You created me. You trained me, manipulated me, the way the West manipulates entire countries and then acts so shocked when they turn around and rip off the hand that fed them."
Harry: "Who was in the car?"
Johnny: "My brother. Your people got the wrong man."
Harry: "I really don't know what you're talking about."
Johnny: "Three thousand agents' names and addresses. All of them out there, trying to effect the course of world events. Why? Because this country can't stop trying to punch above its own weight. You know the part I'm gonna miss most? The part where you have to explain away the loss of fifteen million pounds."
Harry: "You and I both know you're not going to walk out of here."
Johnny: "How much are 3000 agents' names worth? Are you prepared to sacifice all those people just for me? I walk, you get the names."
Harry: "How do I know I can trust you?"
Johnny: "Because I have never broken my word."

Baggage
Here I'd like to explore the relationships of the agents, both in and out of the service, though mostly the latter. As spies, each member has to keep their personal and business life separate, maintaining secret identities as I already mentioned. Sometimes the effort of maintaining that distance puts a strain on relationships, and sometimes it can bring the past back with a vengeance.

Tom/Ellie/Masie
As we've seen for two episodes now, the constant lies and evasions are beginning to tell on Tom's relationship with Ellie and her daughter. In the previous episode (although I didn't mention it at the time because it wasn't pertinent as such to the storyline) Masie noticed when Tom slipped off the wedding ring he had been wearing, while posing as Helen's husband. She has also heard him on the phone to Zoe, and started singing her name in the first episode. These are all little clues which, though the child will not be able to put them together, to an adult like Ellie are going to start adding up and making a picture. You wonder how many times Tom can be called in to fix an IT problem that often takes hours or even days to sort, and how much longer Ellie is going to put up with these obvious half-truths before she begins to wonder if Tom is playing away, or not who he seems?

What is interesting is that near the beginning of the episode, as he phones in to tell Ellie that he has to go back into work --- and on his birthday! --- he is actually right outside her house as he talks. So close and yet so far, the two worlds of his life within almost touching distance, and yet they may as well be separated by a gulf as wide as time. Also, when he returns home and is nursing his wound, Masie sits beside him and hugs him. He winces, but can't let on that he's been shot, and anyway he no doubt relishes the human contact. Ellie, possibly on the way down the stairs to confront him about his absence, thinks better of it when she sees how much he means to Masie, and no doubt wonders if she's getting in too deep here, and if her daughter will be caught in the crossfire.

Roger Wilkes
Not an agent, Wilkes runs the bank MI5 use to process the payments for their agents. So when Johnny Marks wants to get into the bank and needs the codes, he captures Wilkes' daughter and threatens him so that he gives up the codes. It seems even the most tenuous links with MI5 can sometimes be dangerous.

Tessa
Depicted as somewhat the "ice maiden" on the show, it's a bit of a relief to see that Tessa is after all human, but her affair with Johnny Marks returns to haunt her when he is shown to have used her to find out where the secret bank is located. The sidestory about her baby is kind of pointless really, as it will go nowhere: the child died before she came to term, so it's not as if she's going to appear in the series sometime down the line, looking for her mother.

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Most people have a problem when asked what is their favourite TV show ever. Understandable, given how many great shows have graced our screens in the last fifty years or so, and the continuing (in the main) high quality of programmes being developed today. So choosing your favourite, out of all the shows you've ever seen, has ot be hard, right? Not for me it's not. I have already noted in the introduction to this journal that Babylon 5 stands as my second-favourite show ever, but I have no hesitation or indeed concerns about naming my all-time favourite, and this is it.

This may seem strange, when you consider that back when the show originally aired I didn't watch it, but remember its haunting theme and the scene of a sailing ship tacking into the wind, an image which remained with me through my later youth, and together with the music became indelible icons of the show in my mind. It was only in later years, with the advent of digital television and its rerun on one of those new channels that I had a chance to actually watch the show, and find out if the sailing ship and the theme were all there was to the show, or if it actually had any merit as a series. Suffice to say, I was pulled in immediately and from then on never missed an episode. In a very real way, an almost lost element of my childhood had resurfaced in adult life, and unlike many things that come back to you in later life, this was not a disappointment, not a reminder that sometimes we see things with the eyes of a child that when we grow up do not measure up to our original impressions of them. This, on the contrary, vindicated my childhood wonder and supplemented it by showing me a drama that was every bit as good as I had hoped it would be, and then some.

The Onedin Line was one of the very classiest dramas produced by the BBC in the 1970s. Originally broadcast as a one-off Drama Playhouse, the show charted the lives of a shipping family in late nineteenth-century Liverpool, focussing in particular upon James Onedin, the ship captain with "ambition enough for an army of Napoleons". Securing the purchase of his first ship through the convenience of marrying the seller's daughter, James Onedin soon proves he is not above trickery and hard-heartedness to survive in the busy, cut-throat world of trade and shipping.

Faced on all sides by business rivals, mounting debts and though sometimes even the very elements themselves seem to conspire against him, James uses his practical business sense and knowledge of ships and the sea, as well as men's hearts and minds, to keep his fledgling empire afloat. In the best tradition of BBC pseudo-historical drama though, things do not always go his way, and the master of the Onedin Line has more than his fair share of disappointments, failed ventures and losses. He is supported in his endeavours by his wife Anne, who, despite knowing initially little of the ways of the sea, comes to learn, and proves herself in fact an astute businesswoman. In addition to this, she is more or less the "power behind the throne", as although James will seldom admit it, he does everything he does with his wife in mind, and would not hurt her for the world.

The show gained huge audiences and became one of the favourite shows of the day. Viewers remember the stirring, triumphant and romantic theme to the programme, Khachacturian's glorious adagio from Spartacus, as the camera travelled towards and then up along the ship, before the title credits appeared emblazoned on the screen.

The writing is superb, the acting first-rate and the stories both interesting, entertaining and informative. So well researched is the series that it is very easy to gain an almost firsthand knowledge of Liverpool in the 1860s and the sea trade in general, maritime practices and rules, and even the state of politics and the economy during the latter half of the 19th century. It's a true family saga, in the grand old tradition, in that people are married, sons and daughters are born, grow up and take their place in the unfolding storyline. However, the series centres around James Onedin, and he is never far from the storyline. Like a colossus bestriding the world of trade, he compels and demands our attention, and we cannot help but wonder where his next adventure will lead, how he will get out of this particular pickle, and in all honesty, who will end up paying the price for his survival? For as James is quick to point out to his wife soon after they are married: "In matters of business, I give nothing away!" He is not above sacrificing the happiness, wealth, futures or dreams of his close family and friends to further his ambitions. He is a tough man, uncompromising, but capable of occasional feats of compassion and kindness. Even his best friend, his First Mate Baines, he will not acknowledge as such, preferring to keep him at arm's length, as a trusted employee, but no more, although the truth of their relationship is later explored in depth.

The Onedin Line ran for a total of eight seasons, from 1971 to 1980, though when rebroadcast it was rare for anything further than the third to be screened, whereupon they would return to the pilot episode and start all over again. I was lucky enough to see the entire thing when it was first rerun, and was in fact amazed that there was so much of it, as at the time the only episodes available on VHS tape to buy were seasons one and two, and possibly three. For a long time I thought that was all there was. Imagine then my surprise and delight when, expecting the series had come to an end on UK Drama, the channel showing it, they carried on into season four, five, six, seven and finally eight! I was, as Kryten from Red Dwarf once put it, in hog's heaven!

As I review this series, I'll be doing it on an episode-by-episode basis, even though for a British series this flouts the tradition now normally followed of a season consisting of no more than ten episodes, usually much less; seasons one and two have fifteen episodes each. But there is so much to talk about in this series, and given it's landed the place of top show for me --- an unassailable position I believe, borne out by the fact that fantastic a show as it is Babylon 5 still occupies position number two --- that I really think I'll have to devote a full post -- or more! --- to each episode.

Cast
Like any of these big "family-dramas" of the seventies and early eighties, the cast list for The Onedin Line grows exponentially as new characters are added and indeed new family members born. Of course, as in any drama other characters die or are written out --- sometimes temporarily, sometimes not --- so I'll be concentrating on, apart from the core main cast members and characters, those who impact on each season, and as new ones are introduced I'll note them.

James Onedin, played by Peter Gilmore.

The focal point of the series and the man whose name it bears, James is a sea captain living in Liverpool but spending much of his time at sea. Dreaming of greater things for himself he decides to go into business on his own, and over the course of the series uses means both fair and foul to defeat or takeover his competitors. Something of a mix of Richard Branson and Gordon Gecko, though ostensibly the hero of the series he is not above using dirty tricks to get what he wants, and he essentially sees his family as means to that end. Unswervably ambitious and true to his convictions, he is a tough but mostly fair master to those who work for him, but has generally nothing but contempt for his rivals. Many of his more daring schemes will pay off, but many will land him in worse hot water than he was in when he began. The epitome of a self-made man, it is self that best defines Onedin, as he bows to no man.

Anne Onedin, played by Anne Stallybrass

If there's one thing James loves more than his ships it's his wife. Originally a marriage of convenience, a device by which Onedin procures his first ship, the relationship between James and Anne develops to a point far beyond which either of them ever expected it to. A pragmatic woman, Anne knows her place but is not afraid to speak up when she feels she needs to, and is probably the only one who can prevail upon her fiery husband and calm him down when he is ready to go off half-cocked, but even she knows when to remain silent.

Elizabeth Onedin, played by Jessica Benton

The pretty, socialite sister of James, Elizabeth is in love with Daniel Fogarty, but his position as a lowly sea captain impresses neither her nor her brother, and she takes up in a scandalous affair with the younger foppish Albert Frazer, an alliance much better liked by James, who sees that he can use Frazer's father's shipbuilding yards to his advantage.

Robert Onedin, played by Brian Rawlinson

Elder brother of James, Robert has none of the adventurous nature of his brother and is content to run his chandler's shop, an attitude which earns him contempt from James. Robert is more concerned with rising through society --- mostly at the behest of his social climber wife, Sarah --- and refuses to back James' wild schemes, leading to bad blood between the two brothers.

Mister Bains, played by Howard Lang

A bluff old seadog, Bains is James Onedin's right-hand-man, First Mate on most of his ships and occasionally captain, and though James treats his with gruff and grudging grace, the two are fast friends, even if neither will admit it. Onedin needs Bains, and vice versa, and they will see many an adventure through together.

Sarah Onedin, played by Mary Webster

Sarah is married to Robert, and thinks little of James and his machinations. She has no love for or regard for the sea, and thinks the chandler's life is beneath the status Robert should be striving for. She has a high opinion of herself, an attitude that brings her into conflict with James, who she barely masks her intense dislike for. She is sympathetic to Elizabeth, but more to spite James than that she actually likes her.

Albert Frazer, played by Philip Bond

The son of a powerful shipbuilder, he is smitten with Elizabeth and she with him. He woos her and she agrees to a relationship with him, but this is complicated by her promise to marry Daniel Fogarty, and the scandal the affair will produce (especially when it's revealed that she is pregnant with Daniel's child) places James in an uncomfortable position, where he has to choose between ordering her to marry Fogarty (this IS the nineteenth century, remember!) for the sake of her social standing --- and his --- or bless the relationship with Frazer, which benefits him commercially and financially.

Daniel Fogarty, played by Michael Billington

Fogarty is a First Mate, looking for his own captaincy and in love with Elizabeth. He does not know, being away at sea, that she is carrying his child. He does however know how lowly she sees his status, as she has tried to persuade him to give up a life at sea and take a "more respectable" desk job at the dock. But Fogarty's first love is the sea, and now it seems that he has a second rival for Elizabeth's affections in Albert Frazer.

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Trollheart

1.2 "Passport to freedom"

B'Stard is having one of his many, many flings in a Heathrow hotel room preparatory to leaving the country on a diplomatic visit, but he is less than happy when he discovers the girl has not been taking precautions. He's a lot less happy when he gets to the airport and discovers he hasn't got his passport, and so won't be let onboard the aircraft. The day doesn't get any better for him when he returns home to look for his passport and is told by Sarah that she has inherited a million pounds and plans to divorce him!

Seeking advice from Norman, he meets the fugitive accountant in his new offices, a broken down ambulance in Park Lane, where he is told that the company in which Sarah has inherited 100,000 shares, Ocelot motors, is booming and her shares could well be worth the million she believes them to be. B'Stard couldn't care less about Sarah but the messy publicity engendered by a divorce, not to mention the fact that her father will deselect him as MP for Haltemprice once he is no longer married to his daughter spurs him to action. Norman points out that Sarah's shares have not yet come to her, as her uncle, who she has inherited them from, died abroad and there is paperwork to be completed. He fashions a plan to wreck the company, making the shares worthless.

However when they research the records of Ocelot Motors it becomes clear this will be far from the easy job they might have considered it to be. Profits are up, exports booming, workforce tripled, and a healthy no-strike agreement is in force. When B'Stard learns though that the main factory is in Bramall, constituency of his arch-rival Bob Crippen, he begins to see a way. He inveigles Piers into helping him break into the Prime Minister's office by promising him one of the new Ocelot Supercat cars. Stealing some of her personal official stationery he writes a letter, purporting to be from Thatcher, in which she supports the decision of the board of Ocelot to cut the work force, cut wages and get rid of the union.

This leads to a call for an all-out strike at the plant, thereby sending Ocelot's shares into freefall, effectively destroying the company and accomplishing his aim of making Sarah's shares worthless. When Piers then reminds Alan of his promise, he laughs, but brings him to the downstairs carpark, where he presents him with his very own Ocelot Supercat. Mind you, he hasn't bought it, only hired it: and with Piers' credit card! What a b'stard!

QUOTES
Alan (after about three seconds of sex) : "How was it for you?"
Vicky: "How was what?" (Pause) "Oh, that. Well, it was ... different."
Alan: "Different how? Sexier? Chunkier? Bigger?"
Vicky: "Quicker."
Alan: "Well of course it was quick! I'm a busy man!"

German airline check-in girl: "I'm afraid there's rather a long queue, if you wouldn't mind just standing aside..."
Alan: "Yes, yes, as Hitler said to Chamberlain, just before he invaded Poland! I don't need a passport: we won the war!"
Girl: "And much good it did you!"
Alan: "That's it: I demand to see the airline manager, or airline feuhrer, or whatever you call him!"
Girl: "I'm afraid Mister Goering is unavailable. He's busy pillaging the art galleries of eastern Europe!"

Piers: "I wish I was a Yuppie. What is a Yuppie, Alan?"
Alan: "Yuppie, Piers, is short for useless pill, so you are one already, aren't you? Congratulations."

Alan: "Look it's perfectly safe. She (Thatcher) is in Washington for the state unveiling of Reagan's new nose!"

Alan: "Tell me officer, do you find the gun makes a great deal of difference to your work?"
Cop: "Oh revelation, Sir! Revelation! I mean, take last Saturday: a mate of mine on the Met was policing the Chelsea match. Some hooligan threw a bottle on the pitch, so he draws his piece, blows him all over the halftime scoreboard. Wasn't any more trouble after that!"

Alan (in response to Crippen's view that not even he could weasel the Tories' way out of this mess): "Au contraire, Mister Speaker! Which I translate as that's what you think, for the benefit of the member for Bramall, who probably never went to school!"

and continuing:
"It is not as if the average car worker has the taste to spend his outrageously high weekly pay packet on anything more worthwhile than ...pigeons. And whippets, and brown ale, and oven-ready chips!"

MACHINATIONS
This is one of the slightly bigger ones. In order to save his marriage --- or more importantly, his seat in the Commons --- B'Stard has no problem whatsoever orchestrating a strike at Ocelot Motors, bringing the previously shining company to its knees and putting god knows how many people out of work. The lives of "the ordinaries" mean nothing to him, and they are mere pawns to be used and sacrificed as he sees fit in the game of politics, mere chips to be gambled as he amasses more and more wealth and power. Even so, it has to be noted that the initial idea for this does not come from him, though he quickly endorses and sets it in motion.

SIDEKICK
Again we see Piers drafted, bullied, and cajoled into helping B'Stard in his plans. This time he is bought on the promise of his own Ocelot supercar, but Alan only takes this (for him, rather drastic and perhaps unnecessary step) because Piers fears Thatcher more than B'Stard, and so Alan has to grumpily switch from stick to carrot. He does of course however renege on his promise, but in a way that bizarrely maintains it. He seems to find the irony of such a resolution so much more satisfying than just refusing to keep his word.

The slightest most innocent comment from Piers can evoke a harsh reaction and the sharp tongue of B'Stard. Here, when Piers genuinely does not know what a Yuppie is (though he wishes he was one) Alan snaps that it stands for "useless pill", which is how he says he sees Piers, though in fact Piers is the one person without whom many of B'Stard's plans would either fail or be a lot harder to carry out. He is the perfect foil; the patsy, the cannon fodder and yet the indispensable, as B'Stard himself cuttingly describes him, servant.

It can be seen here too that it is Piers' almost boyish drooling over the Ocelot Supercat in a magazine that delivers to Alan information that proves crucial in formulating his plan, that the plant is located in Crippen's constituency. The information is probably available but if Norman knows it he doesn't deem it important and has not told Alan. It's only through the merest chance that Alan gets this tidbit of information, and it comes via his faithful friend. Not to mention that it's to Piers that the job of actually sending the letter to Crippen --- from Bramall, so as to appear to be one of his constituents, and with Piers in a hilarious cloak-and-dagger disguise --- is tasked. B'Stard would not take the risk of being discovered in the Labour stronghold, presuming he could even find it!

WHAT IS LOVE?
VICKY
No other name given, Vicky is the junior government official whom B'Stard has a one night stand with in the hotel at the opening of the episode. When she demurs that she has never slept with a married man before --- "Unless you count daddy!" --- and does not like one night stands, B'Stard convinces her this is nothing of the sort. It's not a one-nighter, he tells her, oozing sincerity and charm, it's a first-nighter. He tells her he loves her, but then once he has what he wants he pushes her away and watches TV. The next day she calls him, seemingly pregnant, as he tells her to "drink some gin and have a very hot bath", and he callously ends the call with "No of course I don't love you! Grow up, Victoria!"

From this we can see, if we did not already know, that B'Stard, a rampant sex beast, will say anything and do anything in order to bed who he wants to, and expect no repercussions afterwards. Unfortunately, he is a very desirable man and women will continue to throw themselves at his feet, knowing him to be scum but wanting him anyway. As Marillion once wrote, "every girl on Earth has built-in bastard radar!"

SARAH
Quite aware of her husband's dalliances, Sarah could not care less. She does not love her husband and if it wasn't for his wealth she would divorce him. She in fact feels more sympathy for "whatever poor little typist" B'Stard was bedding the previous night, but her chance has finally come to detach herself from her philandering husband when she inherits shares in Ocelot Motors, and she makes arrangements to begin divorce proceedings. She intends it to be a "messy divorce, with lots of unwelcome publicity", hoping to embarrass and trash the reputation of her husband as much as possible. She also knows that her father will, at the drop of a hat, have him kicked out of the House of Commons.

At the time, she is having a lesbian affair with B'Stard's Publicity Agent, Beatrice Protheroe. One might expect the latter, in a rush of loyalty, to go tell the MP what his wife plans, but there is no evidence she tries. She probably hates B'Stard as much as Sarah does.

This will not be the first time Sarah tries to separate herself from Alan, nor indeed will the pendulum never swing in the opposite direction. In this episode the two kiss, but in later ones they will make a point of "missing" each other's lips in a gesture of revulsion with each other.

THE USER AND THE USED
NORMAN
Again, it's other people who generally sort out B'Stard's messes. Norman, on hearing the news of the impending divorce, moves to have all Alan's assets and accounts transferred to Vatican City, "the only place where even the accounts of known criminals are safe!" However when it becomes abundantly clear that Sarah does not want or need Alan's money, it is again Norman who floats the idea of destroying Ocelot Motors as a way of sorting out Alan's problem. It can be seen that B'Stard has done little to help Norman: though he is now sporting makeup he is still a man and when we first met him his offices were in a disused railway siding; now he has progressed to, um, a disused ambulance.

BOB CRIPPEN
With skillful mastery of politics and people, B'Stard manoeuvres his enemy into a position from which he profits. Knowing Crippen to be a staunch Labour man and advocate of the worker, it is to he that the letter, purportedly from Thatcher, is sent, for B'Stard knows that he will react as expected. And he does. When it looks like all he is going to demand though is a full public enquiry --- which could take years --- B'Stard insults the labour force generally and then Crippen personally, bringing about the outcome he had wanted: general strike. Poor Crippen doesn't even realise he's been played by a master.

PCRs
"Spy Catcher" --- When B'Stard opens Thatcher's desk, we see a copy of the book "Spy catcher", the memoirs of a former Assistant Director of MI5, which the British government tried to ban on publication.

"Chelsea" --- The cop Alan and Piers meet in the hallway of the Houses of Parliament, and who praises the former for getting them armed (see first episode) talks about the Chelsea match, though who plays against Chelsea FC in this fictitious match is unknown. Perhaps, given their history of violence and hooliganism, Millwall might have been a better candidate? Just sayin'...

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Unknown Soldier

I don't think I ever would have expected to see the Onedin Line mentioned on MB!!! I reckon we must be the only two on the whole forum to know it.

Getting frustrated over getting hold of season 2 of Babylon 5, as where I get dvds from seems to be having problems getting hold of it. When I do get it, I'll respond on this thread.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Season One: "Signs and portents" (Part seven)

1.15 "Eyes"

If this is your first time with Babylon 5 and you're either reading these synopses to find out about it or as a precursor to watching the series, or are indeed watching it now, and you think the last few episodes have been a little dull, you're right. But take heart: things are about to improve on a vast scale. Although not one of the really great episodes that takes season one towards its sensational conclusion, "Eyes" is a decent episode and far better than either of the two that have gone before. A colonel in Earthforce arrives on the station to quiz Sinclair about his loyalty, and indeed to investigate the entire station. He's from "Eyes", Internal Investigations, though he does not approach the command staff directly. He instead snoops around under an assumed name and role, trying to find out all he can about Sinclair and his people. When his cover is blown he reveals himself to be Colonel Ari Ben Zayn, and orders Sinclair to assemble his people.

There has been unrest in the colonies recently, particularly on Mars, and Earthforce fears that Babylon 5, with its open trading policy and its comings and goings of alien merchants, may be used as a staging point for arms transfers to the rebels. Ben Zayn says he is here to see who is still loyal to Earth, who can be trusted. Sinclair immediately vouches for all his people, but the colonel makes it obvious that he does not consider the commander's word any sort of guarantee, and that Sinclair himself is far from above suspicion. Ben Zayn has brought with him a specialist from Psi Corps, Harriman Grey, who will be scanning the crew's minds to determine the level --- or otherwise --- of their loyalty. When she hears this Ivanova flies into a panicked rage and tells Sinclair she will resign before allowing a telepath access to her mind.

Sinclair is suprised and appalled at the idea of using telepaths in investigations, as the law on Earth clearly prohibits this, but Ben Zayn smirks and tells him there are new laws in force back home, and he is perfectly within his rights to have Gray present. He attaches Garibaldi to his staff, over Sinclair's objections, and informs the security chief to assemble all files on the station's staff, including classified ones, and report back to him. While he waits for the computer to collate the files, Garibaldi runs his own little investigation on the colonel.

After questioning Sinclair about various episodes, including the destruction by the Vorlons of Warmaster Jha'dur's ship and the resultant loss of the anti-ageing drug (see my entry on "Deathwalker") Ben Zayn tells Sinclair he will formally question the commander the next day. Talking to Ivanova about why she so deeply opposes the idea of a mindscan, Susan tells him that her mother contacted her telepathically many times when she was young, and nothing must ever intrude on that memory, especially Psi Corps. She has a strange dream in which she sees her mother being injected by men in actor masks (obviously Psi Corps techs) and then the scene changes and it is she who is in the chair being injected. She bolts awake as her dream self, echoing the words of her mother, sighs "Only one way out".

When Sinclair turns up for his hearing the next morning he insists Gray leave, quoting the regulations, which he has of course studied: telepaths are only allowed to be used to determine the answers to specific questions, not as an overall "fishing expedition". Gray, to Ben Zayn's surprise and undisguised anger, agrees, and leaves. Meeting him in the lounge, Ivanova is intrigued to learn that Gray actually agreed with Sinclair, and the telepath tells her that he has to work with the colonel, but that Ben Zayn lacks compassion. She begins to slightly warm to Gray, but it does not last. Ivanova does not trust Psi Corps, never will.

The colonel, however, has decided he has enough "evidence" to bring in Mr. Gray as he intends to bring specific charges against Sinclair, and he relieves him of command, taking over in charge of Babylon 5. His first act is to go to C&C (Command & Control) and advise Ivanova she is ordered to report tomorrow for a telepathic scan. She swears to Garibaldi she will resign her commission before submitting. The next morning Sinclair reports for his hearing, but before he does he talks to Garibaldi, who tells him he has found out some interesting facts about the colonel. He was much higher in the pecking order as a candidate for command of the station, and he is aquainted with Bester, the psi cop who previously visited the station (see "Mind war") in search of the rogue telekinetic, Jason Ironheart. In fact, Garibaldi tells the ex-commander, it was Bester who assigned Gray to Ben Zayn, surely not a coincidence? The psi cop's way of getting revenge for Sinclair having let Ironheart escape and making him look foolish?

During the hearing Sinclair baits the colonel with the fact that he didn't get the command he was expecting, and asks why he has turned what should have been a routine investigation into a witch hunt? Ben Zayn loses control, pulls a gun on them but Gray, shocked, sends a message of pain into his mind and Sinclair is able to grab the gun and punch him to the floor. The colonel's true bias and intentions now revealed, the investigation is over. Sinclair, Garibaldi and Ivanova however know this was just the first shot from Bester, and he won't give up so easily. They'll hear from him again before too long.

There's a comic subplot that for once does not involve G'Kar or Londo: in fact, neither feature in this episode at all. Instead, it's Lennier, the quiet, humble attache to Ambassador Delenn who provides the comic relief, when he offers to help Garibaldi rebuild an old Earth motorcycle, and gets totally caught up in the history, the machismo and the symbolism of the motorbike on Earth. His efforts provide some of the funnier moments in a pretty dark and tense episode, and it's nice to see his lighter, more playful side for once.

Important Plot Arc Points
The Minbari
Arc Level: Red
Again we hear that Sinclair was given command of Babylon 5 at the direct behest of the Minbari government. Why? What is it about this human that would make them want to put him in such a position of power? Is it tied in to his kidnapping at the Battle of the Line? What happened then? And why? I would say all will be revealed, and it will, but not for some time yet.

Bester and the Psi Corps
Arc Level: Red
Again we run into the Psi Corps, and again we hear of Bester's involvement. For once though we are shown a sympathetic telepath, a man who sticks to the rules and is not inherently contemptuous of "mundanes", as the telepaths call those without their gifts. Harriman Gray seems to be a good man, and though he has no choice but to follow his orders, from the start he is critical of the colonel and seems ill-at-ease about the mission.

Bester is said to have assigned him to Ben Zayn, and we know he holds much power in the Psi Corps, so is able to influence some major decisions with Earthforce, including obviously the mission to Babylon 5. There's a clear sense among some that Sinclair is seen as not working in the best interests of Earth, that he is little more than a puppet of the Minbari, and this makes some people in power very nervous.

Finally, what is the true story behind Ivanova's refusal to be scanned? She seems both angry and terrified. What is she hiding? And what did her dream mean, or did it in fact mean anything? The answer to that I can tell you: yes it did and it does, but what exactly we won't find out for a long time.

Free Mars/Rebels
Arc Level: Orange
This is the first real time we hear about a separatist group called Free Mars, who are, not surprisingly, working towards independence for the Red Planet. The planet itself was mentioned briefly in the pilot: we know Sinclair was born there and Laurel Takashima was stationed there with him, and saw the terrible food riots that took place there. Free Mars will become more and more important as the series begins to develop, leading to a massive climax that will only resolve itself in season four.

Quotes
The first hints that Colonel Ben Zayn and Harriman Gray see things differently are evident even in the very first scene, when the conversation between them runs like this:
Ben Zayn: "What do you think?"
Gray: "Most of the personnel will be no trouble. This one, however..."
Ben Zayn: "Anything you can't handle?"
Gray: "I don't have to handle it. Her record's spotless. There's no reason to include her."
Ben Zayn: "That's not your decision. And she will be included. Records don't always tell the whole story. That's one of the reasons you're here, Mr. Gray. Remember?"

Gray tells Ivanova that he wanted to be a fighter pilot, but telepaths are forbidden from serving in the military. So when he got the chance to be attached to the colonel he jumped at the opportunity, telling Ivanova wistfully: "Granted it's not the same as your kind of soldiering but part of a dream is better than none."

Ivanova warns Gray about attempting to scan her: "If you enter my mind for any reason," she tells him "I will twist your head off and use it for a chamberpot!"

Garibaldi reminds Sinclair that they've had to bend the rules over time, and that Ben Zayn may try to use this against the commander: "I know you're a by-the-book kind of guy, but let's face it, we've rewritten the book a few times to make B5 work. Made a few enemies along the way."

Ivanova tells Sinclair how private a thing it is to have another person in your mind: "You can't imagine what it's like. To share your own mother's love for you. To feel it in your thoughts. No one's ever been that close to me, Commander. And no one must ever intrude upon that memory. Especially Psi Corps."

After witnessing Sinclair get his own way against Ben Zayn, Gray admits to Ivanova that "I will long savour the look on the Colonel's face. Not many people are willing to stand up to him. It was very refreshing."

Ben Zayn betrays his feelings about Sinclair: "I've seen plenty like you," he says. "Hotshots promoted through the ranks without any real leadership ability."

Ivanova tells Ben Zayn, when he tells her she must submit to a scan: "The hell I will! Psi Corps may be running the rest of the world but..." She has no idea how close to the truth she will turn out to be.

Sinclair says "I don't like it any more than you do. Enough people have played with my brain already this year!" Obviously referencing both the events which took place in "And the sky full of stars" and no doubt also his suspicions that the Minbari did something to him also.

Garibaldi snaps "Who the hell is running Earthforce? Abbot and Costello?"

Ben Zayn, watching a clip of the Vorlon ship destroying Deathwalker's craft, muses "These Vorlons have been trouble ever since they arrived." When things get a bit more involved, that seemingly offhand comment will take on a whole new impact.

Ben Zayn loses it against Sinclair: "I deserved this command, but thanks to those damn Minbari you got it! I know all about you and the Minbari, but you won't be doing their bidding much longer. I'm commander of Babylon 5 now, and all your lies won't change that!"

When Garibaldi sees that not only has Lennier completely rebuilt the motorbike, and installed a workable power source so that he can actually ride it, he breathes "Get out of here!" Lennier, thinking he has given offence and taking Garibaldi literally, goes to leave, before the security chief calls him back.

QUESTIONS?
Just how high up the echelons of command has Bester got his grip? If he could influence an attempt to remove Sinclair from command of Babylon 5, his reach must be long indeed...

Did Ivanova actually sense Gray scanning her in the lounge, or did she just reason it out from what he was saying? And if she did sense it, what inescapable conclusion does that lead us to?

Interesting point: Harriman Gray is played by Jeffrey Combs, who all Star Trek fans will know as both the Vorta Weyoun and the Ferengi Regulator Brunt, in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine".

Another interesting point; well, an observation really. An episode like this just screams "clip show!" and I was delighted that JMS did not go down that route. It would have been very easy, for example, to have had clips of "By any means necessary" when Ben Zayn is quizzing Sinclair about the dockers' strike, and to fill up the episode that way. And who would have blamed him? But no, not one single clip is seen in the whole episode, the incidents only referred to. And for that I lavish great praise upon the writer and creator of Babylon 5, for not taking the easy, and expected, way out.

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1.16 "Legacies"

New character: Alit Neroon, played by John Vickery. Although he does not feature in every or even most episodes, Neroon becomes Delenn's nemesis, leading the warrior caste essentially in opposition to her and the religious caste. His plots and plans will spell dark days for his people, and place in jeopardy the fragile truce that has existed between humans and Minbari since the end of the war.


The body of one of Minbar's greatest war leaders, and the one who led the attack at the Battle of the Line, is touring the sector following his death, and comes to Babylon 5 where all the usual honours are expected. However, the ship carrying the Shai Alit arrives with its gun ports open, a clear sign of aggression, and things almost get out of hand. It turns out though that approaching with open gun ports is seen by the Minbari as a gesture of respect, something we will learn more about later on. Delenn seems perturbed by the way Branmer's body is being displayed, saying she does not believe the leader would have wanted this, but his clan demanded it.

A vagrant on the station turns out to be a latent telepath, and Talia and Ivanova engage in a tug-of-war, the former wanting to advise Psi Corps and have the girl taken into their custody, to be properly trained, while Ivanova seeks for another path for the young girl. The leader of the Minbari delegation, Alit Neroon, is a haughty, almost openly hostile individual who seems to have nothing but contempt for the humans, and appear to be just looking for a reason for a fight. He baits Sinclair but the commander is able to keep his temper, with some diplomatic intervention from Delenn. However when the body of the Shai Alit goes missing, Neroon threatens to destroy the station if it is not returned.

Sinclair discusses the disappearance with Delenn, who points out that although the Minbari revere Branmer, other races do not: she reminds the commander of his reaction when he initially heard of the visit. She tells him that the warleader was a priest, a member of the religious caste, and would have abhorred such a display. She shows once again that she disapproves, at least in private, of the spectacle Neroon and the Star Riders are making of his death. Sinclair tells her that he has heard it was the religious caste who ordered the surrender at the Battle of the Line, and Delenn confirms this, saying that the warrior caste did not agree with it, but they obeyed. For many, it still festers like a wound, a badge of dishonour they have to carry.

Ivanova makes sure Alisa Beldon, the latent telepath, sees both sides; as Talia Winters tries to woo her with tales of the Psi Corps "looking after its own", she tells the story of her mother to the shocked young woman, who begins to wonder about her choices, and that they may not be as clear-cut as she had at first thought. Meanwhile a piece of Branmer's burial robe has been found in the Pak'Mara's quarters. The Pak'mara are carrion eaters, and Garibaldi orders that they have their stomachs pumped! Na'Toth in the meantime is trying to woo Alisa to her side; the Narn have no telepaths of their own, and she is trying to reinstate the offer G'Kar made to Lyta Alexander in the pilot episode. But looking into Na'Toth's mind Alisa sees what Narn, the world and the people, are like, and shrinks back.

The contents of the Pak'Maras' stomachs have been pumped but there is no sign of Minbari remains there. Neroon threatens to destroy the station, as the search is going nowhere. Ivanova brings Alisa to Delenn, who explains that unlike the Narn, who would pay her for her services, or the Psi Corps, who would look after her financially but control her totally, on her planet telepaths are revered and respected. While there though she inadvertently looks into Delenn's mind and sees a clue to the missing body in her mind. She tells Ivanova and she calls Garibaldi. He in turn sends Alisa to Sinclair, and it turns out that Delenn has stolen the body herself, in an attempt to make it seem like a transfiguration, a miraculous metamorphosis of Branmer's body into a higher form. She had the body cremated so it could not be found, in respect of her friend who had asked for a simple funeral, and did not want to be a monument to war. She could not stand the way his wishes were trampled over in the name of politics and war.

Delenn worries that the rift that has developed between the religious and warrior castes will explode if news of what she has done becomes public, and Sinclair agrees to keep her secret. However Neroon is told, but Delenn chides him for not honouring the Shai Alit's final wish, and threatens to expose him and his clan. She speaks with the authority of the Grey Council, telling him he will support her story of a "miraculous transfiguration", and he knows he has no choice but to obey. Perhaps pushing it a little, she also orders Neroon to apologise, in private, to Sinclair. Sinclair however manages to sweeten the pill, by offering to send a message of tribute to Branmer, which impresses the Minbari Alit as well as taking him somewhat by surprise.

Alisa Beldon decides to go to Minbar, where Delenn's people will train her and hope to utilise her as a bridge between humans and Minbari. Before she leaves though, she tells Sinclair that in addition to seeing the truth about Branmer's missing body in Delenn's mind, she also saw one word: chrysalis. She doesn't know what it means, she says, but the ambassador shut right down when she saw it, so it must be important, and something she doesn't want anyone to know about.


Important Plot Arc Points:
Minbari castes
Arc Level: Orange
This is not the first time we have heard of the social divisions between the Minbari, but it goes a little deeper into explaining the relationship between both. In fact, as we will learn much later, there are three castes: warrior, religious and worker, but for the first two seasons at least we concentrate on the first two. The warrior caste were of course the ones who led the attack on Earth, but it was the religious caste, who appear to be the ones in control and authority, who ordered the surrender. The warrior caste have never forgotten this, and the resentment will come to a head in season three. Here though we meet one of the warrior caste, one who will become a recurring character and feature prominently if only on the sidelines. Alit Neroon is a typical warrior: proud, self-confident, pushy and contemptuous of anyone else. He believes strength comes through conflict, and if he had his way he would have destroyed the humans at the Battle of the Line.

Delenn of course is religious caste, but being a member of the ruling Grey Council she has superiority over Neroon and his caste, and the Alit must obey her in all things. She however does overstep her bounds in cremating Branmer's body; truth to tell, it's never made clear if this is a personal decision or if it's sanctioned by the Council, but as she says later that she speaks for the Grey Council we must imagine she has had contact with them and received, if not their blessing, then at least their tacit approval for her act. She takes quite a risk though: had Neroon not bowed to her authority and decided to challenge her, the consequences could indeed have been grave.

We will see more of the widening rift between the castes, and what it means for the rest of the galaxy, as the series develops. We will of course also learn more of the inner workings of the shadowy conclave known as the Grey Council.

"Chrysalis"
Arc Level: Red
Though it will in fact be explained at the end of the season (the final episode is after all called "Chrysalis") the full impact of what Alisa saw in Delenn's mind, and what it means, will only really become clear as season two gets underway. It will lead to a radical and fundamental shift in the relationship between human and Minbari.


Quotes
Neroon to Sinclair: "Impetuous. Is this how you reacted on the Line, Commander?"
Sinclair: "This isn't the Line."
Neroon: "No. We were in control there."

Neroon: "Branmer's death was a great sorrow to us. To lose the vessel of his soul will bring his clan's fury upon you!"
Sinclair: "Are you threatening to make war over this?"
Neroon: "That is how the last one started, with the murder of Ducat!"
Garibaldi: "That was a tragic accident".
Neroon: "And if this is another such "accident"..."

Garibaldi quizzes Na'Toth as to her involvement in the disappearance. She smirks "The Narn Regime has accomplished many things in its glorious past, but bodysnatching is not one of them. Why don't you try the alien sector? I'm sure you can find someone there with an interest in dead bodies."
Garibaldi: "Oh no. Not the carrion eaters!"
Na'Toth: "Bon appetit!"

Na'Toth is concerned about Alisa's sudden headaches, given that she hopes to persuade her to come to Narn with her.
Na'Toth: "I hope that isn't a sign of some frailty."
Ivanova: "Why don't you check her teeth while you're at it?"
Na'Toth: "Do you think that's a good idea?"
Ivanova: "I suggest you leave, Na'Toth, promptly. You've made your offer."
Na'Toth: "Tell her I'll expect her answer soon." (aside to Ivanova) "Good idea about the teeth!"

Franklin: "By the way, do you know what they (the Pak'Mara) say Narn tastes like?"
Sinclair: "Yeah. Chicken. Man, I really need a vacation!"

Sinclair: "If security has to take this place apart and put it back together again they will!"
Neroon: "If Mr. Garibaldi fails in his search I may find it necessary to have my ship assume the job of taking this place apart!"
Sinclair: "I don't take kindly to threats."
Neroon: "I do not make threats, Commander!"

Ivanova to Alisa: "They (the Narn) make slaves of their victims and they'll probably try to make one of you too. A little like the Psi Corps."

Neroon's ordered apology to Sinclair: "There was no cause for me to attack you Commander, even less cause for me to threaten this station. I am ashamed to admit that my feelings for the Shai Alit led me to act improperly."
Sinclair: "There is no shame in wanting to honour him, Alit Neroon. I fought on the Line against Branmer. I saw his valour and leadership firsthand. Because his body ... disappeared ... while here I feel some sort of responsibility towards the Minbari people. There is no higher testimony to a warrior's courage and skill than praise from his enemy. I would like to send that message to your homeworld, in a personal message, a testimony to the Shai Alit."
Neroon: "You would do this as an Earthforce officer?"
Sinclair: "And as commander of Babylon 5."
Neroon (bows): "That is a great kindness."
Sinclair: "We've fought long enough. Maybe it's time we started talking with one another. Branmer's life was more significant than his battles. Let the warrior caste praise him for his courage in the war, and let the rest praise him for what he truly was: a man of peace."
Neroon: "You talk like a Minbari, Commander. Perhaps there was some small wisdom in letting your species survive."

QUESTIONS?
Did Delenn actually speak for the Grey Council, or were her actions her own? Was her act sanctioned by them, and if not, would they have supported it? How much power exactly does she wield?

What is chrysalis, and what does it mean?

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Title: Dark Star
Year: 1974
Genre: Science-Fiction/Black Comedy
Starring: Dan O'Bannon as Sergeant Pinback
Brian Larelle as Lieutenant Doolittle
Cal Kuniholm as Boiler
Dre Pahich as Talby
Joe Saunders as Commander Powell
Adam Beckenbaugh as Bomb Number Twenty
Director: John Carpenter
Writer: Dan O'Bannon and John Carpenter

The directorial debut of the legendary John Carpenter, Dark Star also became the inspiration for the series Red Dwarf, and is one of the few science-fiction movies of any era that successfully blends sci-fi tropes with dark comedy. Filmed on a real shoestring budget of about sixty thousand dollars, it's gone down in history as a cult movie, and if you haven't seen it then you really need to. I'm reliably informed it's even better when you're stoned, but I wouldn't know about that. It's also one of the first movies to tackle the thorny issue of isolation in space and the boredom that could and surely will engender.

The basic plot of the movie concerns the scout ship "Dark Star", which is crewed by five, one of whom is dead. Wait, I will explain shortly. The mission of the ship is to seek out unstable planets which could cause a problem to following colony ships, and destroy them by dropping huge thermostellar bombs on them from space. These planets are few and far between, and the crew have been doing this now for twenty years. Cooped up together with no real privacy and no respite from the unremitting tedium of deep space, they have all in their own way turned peculiar, as each seeks out his own way to combat the mind-numbing boredom and the sameness of every day.

As the movie opens we see a communication coming in from Earth (eighteen parsecs away) in which a member of the brass (NASA or some military agency; we don't know) sympathises with the crew over the loss of their Commander due to a radiation leak. Unbelievably, the general or whatever he is tells them that their request for radiation shielding has been denied, even in the knowledge of the accident which has already claimed one of the crew. Cutbacks in Congress are blamed, and the prohibitive cost of sending a shuttle out to where they are cannot, he says, be justified.

Whether anyone was watching or has heard this transmission is unclear, as next we see the ship slip into orbit around a planet which may be a candidate for destruction. We see the guys, three of them, all working in a very cramped space getting details and data on the planet to ascertain its possibility of contributing to a risk factor: the fourth member of the crew, Talby, sit high above the ship in an observation dome, like the gun turret blisters on World War II bombers. The data confirms the planet is, or could become, unstable and so they drop a thermostellar bomb on it, which completely obliterates it, leaving the way clear for following colonisation ships. The bombs seem to be imbued with some rudimentary intelligence, and Sergeant Pinback talks to Bomb number 19 as he readies it for the drop. Once the bomb leaves the ship, "Dark Star" goes into hyperdrive to take the guys out of the blast zone.

The computer informs them that they have destroyed the last unstable planet in this solar system, and they look for their next target. Lieutenant Doolittle, acting commander of the vessel with the death of Powell, seems eager to find another planet they can destroy, and Boiler, another crewman tasked with finding targets, directs them to the Veil Nebula. Doolittle goes to see Talby, and tells him he's concerned that he's isolating himself too much from the rest of the crew, spending all his time in his observation dome. Talby says he doesn't like going down since the commander was killed. Talby tells Doolittle that he is looking forward to seeing a phenomenon called the Phoenix Asteroids, a body of asteroids that circle the universe every twelve trillion years.

Doolittle reveals that what he misses most is surfing. He used to be a great surfer. Boiler amuses himself by shooting things with the only onboard laser rifle, target practice. As Pinback tackles him about it, the computer informs him that it is time for him to feed "the alien", a task Pinback is not looking forward to. Seems some time back the sergeant took the alien onboard as a mascot, and now it is his responsibility to look after it. However when he goes to feed it the alien, resembling nothing more than a brightly-coloured beach ball on legs, is more in the mood for playing, and jumps on his back. He wrestles it off but it gets into the corridor, and when he goes back to get a broom to shoo it back in, it is gone.

After it leads him a merry chase, including a totally hilarious scene where he gets stuck in an elevator, Pinback shoots the alien with a tranquiliser gun, but it shoots across the room like a punctured balloon, and Doolittle later wonders how anything could live if it was only filled with gas? The others aren't interested, though Talby for once shows some leadership qualities and comes down into the main ship, trying to trace the source of the malfunction he detected. Pinback tells the guys that he really isn't the man whose suit he wears: he was refuelling the ship when a naked astronaut ran past him and jumped into a barrel of liquid rocket fuel. Donning the man's discarded suit he tried to save the guy but before he could, he was bundled aboard "Dark Star", and has been here ever since. The guys aren't impressed, as this is not the first time Pinback has told them this story.

Talby calls Doolittle to let him know he has traced the source of the malfunction but it is near the airlock, so he has to put on a spacesuit to investigate. Pinback reviews his personal log, running through entries in which he again recounts the story that he is not Sergeant Pinback at all. He says his real name is Phil Frugge, a maintenance tech. He also talks about Commander Powell's death, complains about Doolittle taking over command, and the others treating him shabbily. He then makes a new entry, again complaining about his treatment and remarking that last week was his birthday and nobody noticed.

All right, that'll do. Nothing to see here. Turn back unless you want the ending of the film ruined. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you...
But you proceed now at your own risk...
The ship arrives at the planet they've been heading towards in the Veil Nebula, and Pinback prepares and arms the bomb. But Talby is in the airlock and tries to tell them that the communication laser, which monitors the bomb drop mechanism, is damaged. Doolittle, concentrating on blowing up the planet, snaps off the com in irritation and the laser goes off, blinding Talby, and he stumbles into the path of the beam, breaking communications between the bomb and its mechanism. When the guys try to drop the already-armed bomb it does not separate from the ship. Suddenly a task which has become mundane, boring, automatic becomes anything but, as the crew scramble to fix the malfunction.

Doolittle orders the bomb to abort its countdown but it will not, and the computer advises them that it has activated dampers which will contain the blast to an area of one mile. With no other ideas, Doolittle revives the commander, who has been kept in a state of cryogenic stasis, to seek his advice. The commander tells Doolittle that he must speak to the bomb, teach it phenomenology. So he goes out in a spacesuit and has an existential conversation with the bomb, while Boiler hits upon the idea of using the laser rifle to shoot out the supporting pins on the bomb and save the ship. Pinback doesn't trust him and tries to stop him. As the two fight, word comes from the computer that the bomb has returned to the bay. Doolittle has been successful.

However, when he tries to re-enter via the rear airlock, Talby, who is still in there, gets blown out and into space. Doolittle goes after him, just as the bomb announces that it has figured out that it is God, and explodes. The two guys on the ship die instantly but Talby is sucked into the approaching Phoenix Asteroids: he will circle the universe as part of them, forever. That leaves Doolittle, who is falling towards the planet they were supposed to destroy. As he falls, he grabs a piece of debris from the ship and using it as a surfboard, rides the last wave of his life down into the planet's atmosphere.



QUOTES

Earth Official: "Sorry to hear about the radiation leak. And real sorry to hear about the death of Commander Powell. There was a week of mourning here on Earth. We're all behind you guys. About your request for radiation shielding: sorry to report this has been denied. I hate to send bad news when you guys are up there doing such a swell job, but I think you'll take it in the proper spirit. There's been some cutbacks in Congress and right now, considering the distance we just can't afford to send a cargo shuttle out there to you. But I know you guys will make do. Keep up the good work, men!"

Pinback: "Sergeant Pinback calling Bomb Number number 19, do you read me, Bomb?"
Bomb 19: "Bomb number 19 to Sergeant Pinback, I read you. Continue."
Pinback: "Well, Bomb, we have about sixty seconds to drop. Just wondering if everything's all right. You checked your platinum duridium energy shiedling?" (Note: the actual shielding name may be wrong; I'm guessing at the words here as Pinback's delivery is laconic and bored)
Bomb 19: "Energy shielding positive function."
Pinback: "Well, let's synchronise detonation time. Uh, you wouldn't happen to know when you're supposed to go off, would you?"
Bomb 19: "Six minutes, twenty seconds."
Pinback: "All right, that checks out here. Arm yourself, Bomb."
Bomb 19: "Armed."
Pinback: "Well then everything sounds fine. Dropping you off in about thirty five seconds. Good luck."
Bomb 19: "Thanks!"

Doolittle: "What now? What do you have for us Boiler?"
Boiler: "Uh, not much. Nothing at all in this sector."
Doolittle: "Well find me something. I don't care where it is."
Boiler: "Well I show a 95% possibility of intelligent life in the Horsehead Nebula sector."
Doolittle: "Don't give me that kind of bull!"
Boiler: "I know it's a long shot but..."
Doolittle: "Damn wild goose chase, is what it is! Remember when Commander Powell found that 99 plus probabilty of intelligent life in the Magellanic Cloud? Remember what we found? A damn mindless vegetable: looked like a limp balloon. Fourteen light years for a vegetable! Don't give me any of that intelligent life stuff! Find me something I can blow up!"

Doolittle (recording the ship's video log): "Storage Area 9 self-destructed last week, and destroyed the ship's entire supply of toilet paper."

Talby: "Doolittle, I do have a malfunction on this readout but I can't pinpoint it exactly."
Doolittle: "Don't worry about it. We'll find out what it is when it goes bang."

Boiler: "What's Talby's first name?"
Doolittle: "What's my first name?"

Logscreen: "For official purposes this recording instrument automatically deletes all offensive language and/or gestures".

Doolittle: "Commander Powell, this is Doolittle. Something serious has come up. I need to ask you a question."
Powell: "I'm glad you've come to talk with me, Doolittle. It's been so long since anyone came to talk with me."
Doolittle: "Commander, Sir, we have a big problem. The Veil Nebula bomb, number 20: it's stuck. It won't drop out of the bomb bay. It refuses to listen and it plans on detonating in (checks watch) less than eleven minutes!"
Powell: "Doolittle, you must tell me one thing."
Doolittle: "What's that, Sir?"
Powell: "Tell me, Doolittle, how are the Dodgers doing?"
Doolittle: "Uh, the Dodgers? They, uh, they broke up. They disbanded, over fifteen years ago."
Powell: "Ah. Pity. Pity."
Doolittle: "But you don't understand, Sir! We can't get the bomb to drop!"
Powell: "Ah. So many problems. Why don't you have anything nice to tell me when you activate me? Did you try the Asimov approach?"
Doolittle: "Yes Sir. Negative effect."
Powell: "What was that, Doolittle?"
Doolittle: "Negative effect, Sir."
Powell: "It didn't work?"
Doolittle: "That's correct, Sir."
Powell: "Sorry Doolittle. I've forgotten so much since I've been in here. So much..."
Doolittle: "What should we do Sir? Time is running out!"
Powell: "Well, you might try ---"
A sudden power surge cuts communications for a few moments and Powell's voice is lost. Doolittle desperately tries to restore contact.
Doolittle: "Commander? Commander Powell? Sorry Sir, you faded out there for a little bit. What was that you were saying about the bomb?"
Powell: "Sorry Doolittle. I've gone blank. Hold it.. I'll have it again in just a few minutes. It seems to me ... sorry ... I forget so many things in here ... So many things ..."
Doolittle: "Commander Sir? You stil there?"
Powell: "Oh yes Doolittle. Sorry. I'm thinking..."
Doolittle: "We're running out of time Sir!"
Powell: "Oh yes. Sorry. Well, Doolittle, if you can't get it to drop, you'll have to talk to it. "
Doolittle: "What?"
Powell: "Talk to the bomb."
Doolittle: "But I have been talking to it, Sir. Pinback's talking to it right now."
Powell: "No, no. You talk to it. Teach it phenomenology, Doolittle."
Doolittle: "Sir?"
Powell: "Phenomenology."

Doolittle: "Hello? Bomb? Are you with me?"
Bomb 20: "Of course."
Doolittle: "Are you willing to entertain a few concepts?"
Bomb 20: "I am always receptive to suggestions."
Doolittle: "Think about this then: how do you know you exist?"
Bomb 20: "Well of course I exist."
Doolittle: "But how do you know?"
Bomb 20: "It is intuitively obvious."
Doolittle: "Intuition is no proof. What concrete evidence do you have that you exist?"
Bomb 20: Well... I think, therefore I am."
Doolittle: "That's good. That's very good. But how do you know that everything else exists?"
Bomb 20: "My sensory apparatus reveals it to me."
Doolittle: "Right."
Bomb 20: "This is fun!"
Doolittle: "Okay now listen: this is the big question. How do you know that the evidence your sensory apparatus reveals to you is correct? What I'm getting at is this: the only experience that is directly available to you is the evidence your sensory data, and this sensory data is merely a stream of electrical impulses that stimulates your computing centre."
Bomb 20: "In other words, all that I really know about the outside world is relayed to me through my electrical connections."
Doolittle: "Exactly."
Bomb 20: "Why, that would mean that I don't really know what the outside universe is like at all for certain."
Doolittle: "That's it!"
Bomb 20: "Intriguing. I wish I had more time to discuss this matter."
Doolittle: "Why don't you have more time?"
Bomb 20: "Because I must detonate in seventy-five seconds."
Doolittle: "Now, bomb, consider this next question very carefully: what is your one purpose in life?"
Bomb 20: "To explode, of course."
Doolittle: "And you can only do it once, right?"
Bomb 20: "That is correct."
Doolittle: "And you wouldn't want to explode on the basis of false data, would you?"
Bomb 20: "Of course not."
Doolittle: "Well then: you've already admitted that you have no real proof of the existence of the outside universe?"
Bomb 20: "Yes... Well..."
Doolittle: "So you have no absolute proof that Sergeant Pinback ordered you to detonate."
Bomb 20: "I recall distinctly the detonation order. My memory is very good on matters such as these."
Doolittle: "Of course you remember it. But all you remember is a series of electonic impulses which you now realise has no definite connection with outside reality."
Bomb 20: "True. But since this is so, I have no proof that you are really telling me all of this."
Doolittle: "That's all beside the point. I mean, the concept is valid no matter where it originates."
Bomb 20: "Hmm."
Doolittle: "So if you detonate in ---"
Bomb 20: "Nine seconds".
Doolittle: "You could be doing so on the basis of false data."
Bomb 20: "I have no proof it was false data."
Doolittle: "You have no proof it was correct data!"
Bomb 20: "I must think on this further."

Bomb 20: "In the beginning there was darkness, and the darkness was without form, and void. And in addition to the darkness there was also me. And I moved on the face of the darkness, and I saw that I was alone. Let there be light."

Doolittle; "Talby? Looks like I'm headed for the planet. I'm going towards it."
Talby: "When you hit the atmosphere you'll begin to burn. What a beautiful way to die, as a falling star!"

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Why do I love this film?

When this came out, 1974, there was at the time no real concept of humour in sci-fi, at least in films. Science-fiction movies, before the advent of "Star Wars", were almost always dark, often scary affairs with marauding aliens and usually bad endings. Many portrayed the futility of believing Man was the dominant force in the galaxy, and showed us just how small and unimportant we are. Then you had the old classics, like "This island Earth," "The day the Earth stood still", "Forbidden planet", all that sort of thing. Sci-fi, we were taught, was serious, and not something to be taken lightly.

Then this movie came around, and for the first time ever I personally began to see that space, though hard and unforgiving a mistress certainly, was not devoid of the odd cosmic joke. The fact that this movie both takes its subject matter seriously and laughs at it too is quite a feat. Mostly it's the characters the script lampoons: the men who try to fill up their boring humdrum lives with irrelevancies in order to get through another day. No doubt when they signed up for this mission they envisaged great romance and adventure among the stars, but quickly found it to be nothing of the sort. It's lonely, it's cold, there's nothing to do and there is no way back.

This movie is also the first directorial effort of the eminent John Carpenter, who would of course go on to direct so many great horror movies, such as "It" and "The Thing", and its story both formed the basis for the sci-fi comedy cult series "Red Dwarf" and for the later, far from funny space horror "Alien". It's pretty much a two-man show, with Carpenter co-writing, directing, composing and playing the music and producing, while Dan O'Bannon co-writes, stars in and creates most of the special effects.

This movie would also have a huge impact on future sci-fi movies, from the aforementioned "Alien" to "Star Wars", which would use the spinning hyperspace effect a few years later. Even the dark, doomy amd spacey music, made mostly by Carpenter on synthesisers, would find its way into "Red Dwarf"'s first and second season.

I love the characters, flawed as they are. The portrayal of the four main characters as inherently just ordinary guys working away at their job was also quite fresh. Up to this, sci-fi protagonists had generally --- with a few exceptions --- been square-jawed heroes challenging the cosmos. These guys are essentially four hippies, none of whom are particularly interested in their job after twenty years doing the same thing --- but where are they going to go? --- and one of them maintains he's someone else entirely. A quick profile of each follows:

Lieutenant Doolittle: A man who would much rather be surfing off Malibu than exploring deep space, Doolittle has acclimated to his job by developing a single-minded fascination with, and desire to blow up planets. He doesn't particularly care where they are, he just wants to destroy them. Still, when the chips are down he proves he can still hold a philosophical argument --- even with an intelligent bomb. Well, in fairness his life and the lives of everyone else depend on it. It's good to see though that he earns a kind of redemption, although the commander's plan backfires.

Sergeant Pinback: Says his real name is Bill Frugge, and tells a story of how he was mistaken for the astronaut and now finds himself in space with people he does not know, whom he doesn't like and who don't like him. He seems to be the butt of jokes, certainly the odd man out and yet when he has to he performs his duty admirably. He it is who insisted on bringing the alien creature onboard, and who inadventently kills it. He makes video diaries and complains about his treatment at the hands of the other crewmembers.

Talby (Rank, if any, unknown): Talby is a loner, spends all his time in the observation dome watching the stars. He is nevertheless the most diligent of the crew, the only one to recognise and then investigate the malfunction that leads to the bomb getting stuck in the ship's bay, and leads eventually to the destruction of the "Dark Star". He is also blinded by the laser as he tries to fix it and then blown out of the airlock, where the passing Phoenix Asteroids take him with them.

Boiler: (Rank, if any, unknown): Seeming to be the lowest in rank on the ship, Boiler is like a refugee from a heavy metal concert, and spends his spare time using the ship's only weapon to shoot targets. He tries to save the ship by shooting out the bomb's holding pins but Pinback, with little faith in his marksmanship, stops him.

In the end I love this movie because it's so different, or it was for the time. It bucked the accepted trend at the time for sci-fi movies, injected dark humour for the first time into one of these types of movies, set a template for much of what was to follow and it showed us that Man is capable of ****ing up even twenty parsecs from his home planet. There's a strong argument, to my mind, for the damage to the communications laser having been caused by Boiler. He has already shown he likes to shoot at things, and it doesn't matter whether he's supposed to or not. The faceplate of the door to the laser shows evidednce of some sort of burn: a shot from a laser rifle?

As a first movie for John Carpenter this hardly set the world alight or put his name up in lights, but I certainly believe it's an important and indispensable part of science-fiction canon. A cult classic that again, like "Dust Devil", previously reviewed, deserves to be better known than it is.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018