No Compromises | For the Second Time

[0:44] The year is 2026. The name of the podcast, Babylon 5, for the second time. Welcome to Babylon 5 for the second time. My name is Brent Allen. And my name is Jeff Akin . Brent and I used to be Star Trek podcasters, but then we watched Babylon 5 for the first time and that changed everything. So now we're watching this incredible series for the second time because Babylon 5 is a show that you get to watch for the first time twice. That's right. You know what we're doing for the first time twice, Jeff? What's that? Looking for messages that are contained within. It's kind of our thing here at the Bad Nerds. It's what we do. It is. I guess I should have been ready for that. I'm a little surprised to hear it, but I mean, it's what we do. I'm down. So it's gotten to a point where everything I do gets filtered through looking for hope that things can be better in the future, looking for, messages that hold up a mirror to society or messages that tell us how to be better human beings to one another. Those are the things I'm just trained. It's what I look for these days. I can't help it. Now, that being said, for everybody out there who is under the sound of my voice, please know this is not Jeff and mine's first time. This is our second time. That's why we call it Babylon 5 for the second time. And this is a whole different type of a watch.

[2:04] One of the things that that means is that we are free to talk about anything from any point in the timeline, whether it's in-universe, out-of-universe, canon, not canon, books, novels, conventions, whatever it is, we are free to talk about it. So if you have not been through this incredible series for the first time for yourself, trust us. Spoiler-free is the way to go. We have a whole podcast called Babylon 5 for the first time. That's where you're going to find all of that stuff. Go back, listen to that first. And then when you have gotten to a spot where you've worked your way through it, come back and join us here because it is a whole new thing. Why are you still here? Go! Go! Brent, this week we are kicking off the fifth season of Babylon 5 with the season premiere, No Compromises. When we watched this series for the first time we played a game where we would guess and predict what the next episode is going to be about based on the title alone for this one i predicted that we were going to get a new captain and a new first officer.

[3:04] And then very much like when sheridan joined us back in the second season we're going to get a trigati type incident to give them something, to you know establish themselves and i thought that something would be telepaths, and then uh And then we'd see Sheridan running around presidenting and, building his cabinet and doing all that good stuff. Once again, details killed you, man. Like, you were right there. Like, you were, what, like, 75%, 80% of the way there, man. And then I don't know that we had a first officer. And the telepath thing didn't really become a thing until later, if I remember right. Like, it was. They just show up in this one, I think. Right, right. I said that with Ivanova gone and Sheridan, now the president, that like you, I knew they were going to get a new captain, but I named the captain. You did. Because you see, I was paying attention. Because in Deconstruction with Fallen Stars, they mentioned Lockley. And you had an action figure that you'd been holding on to for a very long time wondering, hey, where does this person come in? Where does this person come in? And that was my guess that it was going to be this Lockley person. I forgot about the action figure. You're absolutely right about that. And I said this would be her introduction, and they basically would have to do something to start the story up because they really wrapped it up.

[4:18] They'd have to do something to start it up all over again. That's what we thought it was going to be about. What do you say we pause for a minute and actually go revisit what we actually said about it the first time around? Let's do it. Previously on Babylon 5 for the first time. No compromises.

[4:38] They killed a kid. What is wrong with JMS and killing kids? He's a kid. He was special.

[4:46] He was special. And they killed him. When Garibaldi went away, they promoted Zack. And when Garibaldi came back, they didn't demote him. Even though they let Garibaldi tell him how to do his job. Zack let him talk, but he's like, dude, back off. Zack stood up for himself. I appreciate that. Zack's great. Corrin's effectively running Babylon 5. He still doesn't get a uniform, though. He's still a maitre d' at some local restaurant. I have some theories on Lockley, and I feel like they started from go with painting her as, I'm better at my job than anybody else, and you need to acknowledge that. I didn't get that feeling from her at all but to my Stargate fans out there, a character named Woolsey comes in and I feel like that's Lockley she's by the book she's down the line and she does it that way because it works so what side do you think she was on in the in the war, she was on Earth's side as she was as I said earlier though Earth really means President Clark side and it's not even President Clark she was a loyalist.

[5:52] But I think she would have been, if you engage, I'm going to shoot back. I think she was in on the assassination attempt. Garibaldi and everybody, even Londo, is like, you got to cancel. And then Lockley says, I agree with Captain Sheridan. And I'm like, she agrees because she wants the assassination to continue. She served with Dude. She was a loyalist. I think you're 100% wrong on that. She wasn't even at the inauguration. You know why she wasn't there? because there was going to be some shooting and she didn't want to be around for it. Two dudes just waltzed in and took Star Furies. What's happening here? As soon as that Star Fury came up, you knew it was coming, but it didn't. I'm like, this is awesome. But that was also probably a point they wouldn't have wanted people to cheer. You know, oh, they're going to kill the president, but what a cool way to do it. Finally getting the official inauguration. Was it Spaceballs? And it's like, fine. Do you? Do you? Okay, great. You're married. Go on.

[6:49] I'm talking about his telepaths. I was going to say, we have to talk about telepaths and we're good. Like you just went into her mind without her permission. Like you're standing there being all creepy as all get out. And then he sits down and he says, the geometries that circumscribe your waking life. I just wanted to punch him in the face. Brent, one of your fears, I think, might have just come true. No. No? No. Not at all. Okay. Not at all. Cause I don't see how Woolsey is at all like Lockley. Why? How could you not see that Woolsey is not like Lockley? Because he showed up basically as an auditor. He was more a Sebastian than anything else. No, because he's not putting them through tests and stuff. No, listen, Lockley comes in and she is by the book. Here's the thing. Remember what you know about Woolsey, right? He comes in and he's like, I don't like what you're doing. I don't like this. But this is also not good. Woolsey is very by the book. Yeah. And that's what I said in the recap. He is this straight-laced. We're going to do it by the book. We're going to have all this. I think you've only seen Woolsey for like two episodes, right? Twice. You'll see him once or twice more. Okay, good. But he –.

[8:06] He's just by the book. And Lockley is very, we're going to do it this way. We're going to do it this way. And the thing is, whether you like it or not, they're both right. Doing it by the book is right.

[8:20] It is. And it's annoying. Right. But it's right. And what I love about it too, and for those of you who are like, what in the, we have this other show called Stargate SG one for the first time and, uh, near the end of the eighth season, uh, seventh and eighth. Right. i think is when he shows up uh right either way this guy shows up wolsey and he he's a he's quite a character, but um well he's and he's particularly remembered memorable from us old star trek nerds because he is played by the one and only robert picardo.

[8:53] Yeah the doctor played very well but i think what i really appreciate about him spoilers for people who have also not seen stargate, he comes around not in like hey it's okay you're doing things wrong but i understand why you did things this way and i'm not going to push, you know like kinsey and everybody over here are going to push so and and lockley comes around too in her way the the difference between wolsey and like a kinsey, and even a mayborn because they all kind of approach it from the same hey you guys are doing this the wrong way you guys are wasting money this is not an okay thing wolsey's not coming at it with his own agenda he's just coming in with the book, and that's lockley lockley's not coming in here i think with an agenda trying to do anything, she's coming in here to captain yeah and to lead and she probably knows that babylon five might be on borrowed earth time because they're going to try to sell it they're going to try to you know this is she's shutting down Not a movie theater. Yeah, exactly. How do I stem the hemorrhaging while this thing is happening? I do love, though, that I was convinced that she wanted to kill Sheridan and she's a bad guy. Yeah. Especially knowing what we learn later, right? Like, of course she wants to kill him.

[10:09] You know, I have to say going into this watch, looking for any clue, any clue that she and Sheridan might have been married at one point. I do not think it exists. Nope. Any clue or any reason for it? It is. Is it fair to say that it's the single greatest narrative misstep that JMS has made with this series? That's a, that's a big swing. Maybe not narrative misstep, but like character misstep. Like it might be at least for a DVD cover character. And that includes Keffer. Keffer was a DVD cover. He was, but he made that work. Let's watch the episode. Let's do it. So we're going to bring the episode up. We're going to watch it. We're going to comment on it, react, do all that stuff. Talk about the messages in real time. If you're watching this on YouTube, you're going to see that edited up like a reaction video, the full and unedited version of it's going to be available on our patreon page at patreon.com slash bad nerds, and if you're listening to us on an audio podcasting app you're going to be able to hear the audio from that youtube video because we don't want you to miss any of those conversations they're all going to be in there and then after that we'll talk about everything on the back side so jeff let's watch, no compromises sounds like a plan accessing file.

[11:28] This show looks so good with TNT money right now. This is Earth Alliance Destroyer Acheron to Babylon 5. We've got your package. Even though he's not technically on staff anymore, Zach Allen is our new chief of security these days. He's up to his ears helping Zach get ready for Sheridan's inauguration. Hey, new people to Babylon 5, I'd like to say hello and welcome to this new series. This is Lieutenant David Corwin. And if you just pay attention for the next about 47 seconds, he's going to catch you up on everything you've missed over the last four seasons. So in that jms says they did pick up a lot of new viewers with the tnt ad blitz, and this is very much meant to bring them up to speed we're gonna bring lockley up to speed as you know it's that we're gonna tell the character something but really we're telling the audience, and that's 100 what this is i've got everyone standing by and seeing seat waiting to meet you as soon as you're settled who's running the station right now always takes a while when you have a corwin It might be Corwin, yeah. Transition to better. It's been my experience that as long as you run an efficient operation, don't go looking for trouble, you'll do just fine. You know, honestly, those are the words of a person who winds up working for Clark.

[12:46] Keep your head down, run an efficient ship, and everything's going to be okay. Just do the things. Just keep going. I do have to say, like, we know now that TNT pretty significantly reduced their budget per episode. Did it really? He did, yeah. And they even end up having to, like, compress. I think they actually cut an entire day of filming to help save costs. But this looks really good. Yeah, that's what I was saying. They got all this TNT money. I'm like, what are you talking about? Yep. Nope, they slashed it. Not slashed it, but a couple hundred thousand less. Any final words?

[13:23] We live for the one we die for the one we die for the one I still really hate that the one is a person or even a triumvirate of people or just whoever happens to be in lead, right now at that particular time, It's like sending a letter to Santa Claus, to Santa Claus, and it just somehow gets there.

[13:47] And so it begins. There is a hole. So as we go through this next bit, Jeff, you know, one of the hallmarks of Babylon 5 is there's a new opening every season. That's right. JMS says this is his favorite title sequence. I can understand that. He also says it's the one that was the hardest to make. It took a long time to make this one. It'd have to be a recap of what the show had done so far. Ultimately jms did say he's pleased since i designed it i better be it's fair a few a few things typically we wait and kind of catch these but but let's catch a couple of things about this episode right now all right, one uh the title of the episode no compromises really had nothing to do with the show with this episode it had to do with the show right it had to do with the show and basically it was him saying to all the people we're not going to give an inch on this show good We're not going to sacrifice any quality. We're still going no matter what. About Lockley, let's talk about her just for a second. He says this. It's easy to mistake the actor for the character in situations like this. It's a vastly different character from Ivanova, not meant to fit in the same place and do the same things or even be the same person. They're both strong characters, but they're different in their approach. Ivanova tended to be a shorter, I'm sorry, to be a shouter on the impatient side. Lockley is not. She's a thinker. More inclined to the blade than to the ball bat.

[15:12] But they are both equally lethal. Lockley, I think, also has the maturity of a character you need to rise to the rank of captain in the military, the voice of moral authority, which is something that Sheridan and Sinclair both had in comparable positions. Which to me says he doesn't think Ivanova had that yet. Although she did get promoted to captain. Yeah, but look what she did.

[15:34] Well, I think there's a difference in captaining a starship and captaining a small city.

[15:38] All right, let's keep going. Cool. let's just watch this intro since it's the the open and so it begins there is a hole in your what do you want no one here.

[15:48] Is exactly what he appears i think it's the same anymore commander.

[17:09] This thing right here. Oh, is a note for this? Cause we had thoughts on this the first time. What were some of those thoughts, Jeff? We thought it was stupid. Did we really? Yeah. We did not care for this at all. So JMS says the idea for this was well, his own. He got the idea because in real life, everywhere he went, people were graffitiing and tagging things. All right. So this is him graffitiing the back of the station, putting his name on it. All right. And now what we do, We put our names on the back of stuff. There you go. He just tagged it. That's all it was. I love it. I, I no longer think it's stupid. I just want to go on record. I think it's hilarious is what I think. If anyone's interested in our thoughts on the intro piece at our series wrap up for Babylon five for the first time, we did a deep dive into the opening sequences of all the seasons. So you can go back and check that out.

[18:08] It's got a commercial-grade coffee pot. Mm-hmm. And a big pile of oranges. That was a big pile of oranges. Allow me to be a bit pedantic for a moment. Okay. Takashima. Ivanova. Hey, I got this little patch of ground where I grow coffee beans because they're so hard to get here. And like i gotta and he's got a commercial grade coffee pot just overflowing with coffee all this like you don't know that that's coffee could be tea, that's that's a abuse of presidential powers right there could be hot chocolate it could be hot chocolate could have been a gift it's coffee what do you, what do you think he did when he was back on earth he was just loading up, have you never done that have you never gone on vacation somewhere and like you got a thing and brought it back with you a hundred percent yeah he's probably got a whole box of stuff that he just brought like crates of stuff he brought back just for his own personal for the longest time when i would go up to seattle just outside of university of washington there's this i don't know if it's still there but it's called the north lake tavern it's a pizza place and i swear to god the most incredible pizza ever they actually have a thing you can't ask for extra anything because there is no room for it they just stack it so i would go eat or whatever and then i'd get two or three pies to drive, you know to bring home with me and then live on it for the next day or two.

[19:35] Why are there wet socks hanging in the shower, i just watched them because there's a core part of my character that we've never mentioned before and i'm now going to make a part of me we'll chalk this one right up there next to uh.

[19:48] Conspiracy theorist so captain lockley's aboard sir we just got her settled in i'm londo malari i'm an ambassador from the centauri i'm jakar i'm an ambassador from the narn do i get um a little link thing.

[20:03] So why does the president of the interstellar alliance get one when they've They even said, we're just here until we move to Minbar. Like, we're just here for a while. He gets one because he's on the DVD cover, and he's had one, and we need it for plot reasons. Well, we learned last season with Garibaldi, we're not good. We don't have an off-boarding procedure for actually reclaiming any equipment. Yeah. Yeah, that's – well, okay. So think about it, though. Sheridan was captain of Babylon 5. He hops on the ships. They go to earth, fight the earth civil war. He has it out with president Lachinko. They do the fly over very inappropriate, declares himself the president. They get on a ship. They head back him and Dylan get married in a secret ceremony. A couple of days later, several days later, Lockley, the new captain, the new commander is coming on. At what point would John have turned in his link? At what point would John have done anything, even in an off-boarding situation now with Lockley there, she should order Zach to go like, that would be a perfect like bookend, like where he ordered Zach to go get Garibaldi's. And now Lockley is ordering Zach to go get his because he should not have a link anymore. You're a hundred percent right. Uh, good. Um, have her meet me in my office in 20 minutes. Lockley. Ivanova's replacement.

[21:29] John, John. Okay. Brent, you and I just got married. We are in the throes of our wedded bliss. We're not only in the honeymoon phase, but we're basically in our honeymoon. Yeah. My ex-wife just took my old job at the place that we live. And someone just. At your behest. Because you recommended her for the gig. Exactly. So this all happened. And I just got a phone call in front of you, my loving spouse. They said this person is here now as my new spouse. Would you want at some point me to be like, oh, hey, heads up.

[22:06] We were married. Hey, here's something you need to know. Just, you know, I mean, we're good, but you should be aware. Probably unless you go to said ex-wife and be like, hey, listen, I know we got drunk that weekend in Maui. We were together for like three weeks and everything got annulled. It doesn't even really count. There's no point in bringing it up. I just got married. Like, I'm just pretending that never happened. Can you please help me out? Can we just not, you know, I brought you here cause you're the right person for this job, but you know, and honestly, I would think that that would have been probably a conversation that him and Lockley would have had. How, before he got married to what's her face. Anna. Yeah. Yeah. That one. Yeah. You wouldn't, you know what I mean? Like this is they've had an agreement for years now that that just never really happened look at this face on delen and you're gonna not tell her john john my my guy, i am gonna be working late here though tonight.

[23:09] You know i hope this is going to work i'm gonna be working late my ex-wife is here and i need to go meet her there's no room here for my belongings i don't have room for yours Captain Okay here we go No Mr. President No It's good to see you again Give her a hug.

[23:26] I assume you've received my orders from Earth Dome. Okay. It is a little awkward. The station is under your direct command. Welcome aboard. Thank you. Okay. I will fully admit, I am picking up a very awkward vibe right now. Same. And I feel the sir, captain, it's very forced. Uh-huh. Okay. Okay. So far. You're good with diplomacy when possible, but you know how to fight when you have to. Next year is going to be on the hot seat. I feel like this is where the pretense should drop if they were married before. Anything else? Just one thing. Or here. But I can't be just a mouthpiece for your decisions. I'll run this station my way or not at all. I won't be interfered with or second guessed or micromanaged. Not like when we were living together.

[24:18] I love her asking this. I might have even said this the first time around that we did this. I one time found myself in her position where I was asked to step into a role. And I knew from previous experience that what they really wanted was a mouthpiece. What they really wanted was somebody to just kind of have in that position, but they didn't want to give that position any power. And I said to him, I was like, if you're going to have me do this, I need the authority that comes with this position. I need to be able to make the decisions that go in and not just have to come check everything by you and run everything up the tree before we do anything. If you want me to come in here and do this job, if you want me to come in here and lead this, then I need the authority to actually do so. Otherwise, this isn't going to work. And they opted to not do it. And because I was entirely right. And I got to step away and I saved a whole lot of people a whole lot of headaches because of that. And then that organization burned two months later. I noticed you didn't ask me which side I was on during the big fight back home. I didn't need to. I was married to you. I know where you were. It's like, I know you very well.

[25:26] I do love, though, where he's just like, I don't care. That's in the past. Is it that he says, I don't care? Or was that a, I don't have to ask because I know? I want to say that he doesn't need to know. Everything he said before is. No, what do you mean he doesn't need to know, Jeff? He knows. He knows. I'm not arguing that. Of course he knows. He knows her. Biblically. But that's what I mean. But, but even more than that, but he, I mean, granted, they were only married for weeks, maybe months. Right.

[25:57] But still, they still had a relationship prior to that. Although it was, I memory serves, it was rather short. Like it was kind of a whirlwind thing. Right. But he's kept tabs on her. He knows her. He knows where she is in the middle of all of this. That one point during the war, he looked up her name to see where she was. I promise you he did. He doesn't have to ask. Cause he knows you're right. I didn't. And I'm not going to stir some stuff up because I know exactly where you were. You're not, I don't care. It's a, I'm just not stirring it up. I think it is both because I guess it's part of what JMS is saying in this. There's a point where the thing stops and then you have to move forward. Yeah, exactly. No, I 100% agree with you on that too. That is, you know, we pull messages out of this. Look, you can't hold past offenses. At some point, you've got to draw a line and be like, hey, we're all on the same page at the end of the day, right? We're all on the same team. That has been decided. That's done. Hey, there's a lesson we all could learn.

[27:02] Oh, God. Hey, real quick, just in case you were wondering. Yeah. Robin. Robin is his name. He played that one Mimbari in that one thing, you know. And JMS does confirm that it's specifically because of how he did in that particular role. He got the audition for this to come in and be Byron. Okay. So one did lead to the other for him. Good for him. So I don't want anything to go wrong. He had this around him when he was found.

[27:30] That handwriting looks a lot like Sinclair's from War Without End. I do love that the guy took the time to handwrite that note. Like grabbed a sharpie. Have a nice day. The geometries that circumscribe your waking life draw narrower and narrower until nothing fits inside them anymore. I'm sorry, what? I totally was thinking of something else. it's important that you meet me in brown korea in two hours come alone why should i do that hey my people are coming, yeah he was talking and i started thinking about taxes because it was more exciting, even now go ahead captain knockley i'm dr franklin 100 watching this guy, through episode 11 eyes on this dude i'm 100 and i'm like oh my god this guy's awful he's just so boring just know like literally his first lines were like look at what a dn i am oh my word.

[28:40] Just a moment. You and I are very different people, Jeff. Our brains work very differently. Part of what makes us a good team. Right. I have a question for you. Okay. Do you struggle with this? You're working. You're in a thought process. And somebody comes and knocks on your door. Telephone rings. Something happens. You stop, answer their question, whatever. Then you come back to work and you go, what was I doing? Where was I? And it takes you an inordinate amount of time to rewind and get your train of thought back to, so you can be in that spot again. Inevitably about that time, somebody else is going to come knocking on the door, or the phone's going to ring and you might make a little bit of progress and then you get taken out of it again. And it's like, you got to stop taking me out. Like, like if I can be in my train and in my process, I can, I can hammer this out and I'll be great. What's taking forever is you keep interrupting me and I can't complete my thought. And it takes so much for me to get back into it.

[29:46] Do you, Mr. Neurotypical dude over there, like, do you struggle with that at all? No, not even a little bit. No. God, I hate you so much. It's more just annoying where it's like, oh my God, I stop and go answer this thing. And then I sit back down. I'm like, okay, well, I'm just getting back to work. Yeah. Nia's over there teasing me. So Brent, how goes the editing? That's exactly what I'm talking about. Actually, yeah. And that's the other thing too. If I'm ignoring you, I'm doing it on purpose. Yeah, I made a choice. Because I have to get to this period before – like just wait. Just stop. Just let me – before you take me out of this, please. What a great scene this is. I remember this from the first time.

[30:38] So JMS confirms that Jakart is back to being Ambassador Jakart. Okay. Jaquan, Jalan, Nakhili, others, and from that we pick our true name. Well, perhaps the name we call you now is your true name, Mr. President. I would like you to write the oath and the Declaration of Principles.

[30:59] Our Dalan in the chat says she'd love it if we adopt the Narn Naming Convention, wait until they're old enough, and then let them choose their true name. I find this really fascinating because the tradition in the Narn culture is based on their religion, right? They choose their prophet or whatever, and then they name themselves based on that. That exists in orthodoxy and Catholicism as well. Sure. Very traditional that when you reach the age of confirmation or something like that, or you, if you're ordained or whatever, you choose a new name. The public sees this with the Pope, right? They're Antonio Bergoglio, and then they're Francis. Right. You choose your name. And uh but it's just interesting to me that like in a religious context this is, fairly standard you know or you know it's it's it's somewhat common and how it's just not a thing in the secular world like you have your name, full stop and then when you want to change your name because maybe you hate your parents or you hate the person they named you after or whatever you're a weirdo Well, it's a, it's a it's a it's a complicated legal process.

[32:07] My brother-in-law did that really changed his name now. And he did it simply for familial reasons, distancing himself from his family and boy, he chose a weird name. But he's actually been very cool about it because because his his birth name was David, David Williams. Google it. There's a million out there. You're not going to pinpoint my guy. His name was David Williams, and he chose a very, very unique name.

[32:35] But, you know, it's it has certainly been an exercise of trying to call him by his new name. Yeah, it's not just his chosen name. Like it is his, his actual legal social security card name is what, is what it is. And just trying to, uh, you know, honor him and, and, and respect him. Um, but it's also been a very interesting conversation piece for people who like to dead name trans folks. Bingo. Yep. You know, and to be like, well, wait a minute, if we can do that for, for David slash LA, why can't we do that for all of these folks over here? Exactly. Just because they chose to change more than a name to find their true self. Like, really? Yeah. Why does this have to be a thing at all? Yeah. You know, any particular person gets married and they change their last name. We don't think a thing about it. Nope. Very normal. We apply. In fact, it's very weird if you don't. Exactly. So why does this have to be weird? Yeah. It's so funny. You mentioned the name David. I have literally in my life today, three David Williams that are in my orbit. But one of them is a guy I worked with in pro wrestling. Now, in wrestling, we have your tax name, your legal name, and then you have your gimmick name. And you generally call people by their gimmick name.

[33:55] Michael Sean Higginbottom right yeah we call him Sean is what we call him, you know gangrel uh people if they know the wrestler gangrel I'm good friends with him his name's David um he's not one of the David Williams in my life but right like it's very I probably called him Dave eight times in the 15 some odd years I've known him he's gangrel you know it's just who he is or whatever but uh D-Lo well I know I know uh Undertaker yeah Taker Mark whatever Mark Calloway I think is his name, pretty much everyone either calls him taker or dead yeah and if you want to get punched in the face you call him mark right that's like i don't even think his wife calls him mark exactly yeah it's just you know all that though and actually there's a documentary on netflix about hulk hogan it's four episode thing it's really and he they actually dive into that where he's like, the line between hulk and terry got really you know all this yeah and it's a thing all of that to say i get a call one day for a reference check, hey do you know a david williams i'm like yeah no I have no idea who you're talking about. And then they hung up, and then like 10 minutes later, this guy, his wrestler name, we called him Cosmo. Cosmo calls me. He's like, dude, what the F? I'm like, what are you talking about? They called for a reference, and you said you didn't know. I'm like, oh, my God, I totally forgot that's your name. Yeah.

[35:13] Yeah, yeah. I had the FBI call me for a security clearance background check on somebody I did not know who this person was. Come to find out it was my neighbor's kid across the street who I've known since he was eight years old. You know what I mean? He goes by his middle name. I never knew that he went by his middle name. So when they called me asking for this other person, I was like, I don't know who that is. I actually had to call the FBI office back and go through their whole thing to be like, hey, you just called me and I know who this person is. Ask me your questions. Go ahead. It turns out. But it was a very learning experience, a very strong learning experience for me. I used to handle a lot of the state's background checks here in the state of Oregon. And the question came up. It came up in the context of trans people, but applied it more broadly. Do I have to list my dead name in the AKA, the also known as piece for a background check? And the answer is yes, because if my name, my dead name is David Williams and now I'm Jeff or whatever, and I killed somebody named David, I'm probably going to want that in your background check. Right, right. So, but it was just an interesting conversation where like there is this legal trail that exists for all of us. But to your point and just.

[36:34] Just, just let people be called what they want to be called. Right. What is it? I mean, who cares? The person with the name cares. What does it do for you, man? Just call them what they want to be called. And why does it have to be so... Okay, let's just get back to the episode. So somebody wanted him to be found here. The question is why. He had the sign. Unknown. But what I do know is that everything I've seen here points to a disciplined, careful, well-trained killer. We are unarmed. And I assure you, we mean you no harm. We refuse to have anything to do with violence or technology. Because an independent Babylon 5 may be the closest thing we will ever find to our home. Did he just wink at her? He did. I'm super curious. If I don't use technology, how am I traipsing around space? Byron, you're a liar from go. Say hello, Simon. Hello hello he's like the k-pop pretty pretty boy.

[37:34] I saw flowers then he likes you you know the thing about him jeff hmm is before long he's gonna go bye bye bye bye bye bye.

[37:49] And he can project those memories into someone else's mind share i mean look at he's just full boy band intimate way imaginable, i saw the flowers he gave you i see blue steel here he's quite fond of you, nia makes an incredible point in the in the chat why even bring this to sheridan lockley works for earth force why didn't she just call bester or psychor is what nia said i say call bester because, what we know we know what that'll lead to so someone asked isn't psychor still formerly a branch of earth cove if so then why wasn't captain lockley duty bound to report byron's people to the psych horse she found out that they were rogues yes to which jms's answer was, you'll find out soon enough i don't remember i don't remember i don't remember the answer to this question let's also play a different game, on the name byron why did you name the character byron somebody asked that question, i'm sorry i was like hey i'm being too pedantic and this person why did you why did you come up with the named Byron for this. Sorry. So JMS says it's a play on words that becomes a bit clearer later. Oh, boring. Byron. Byron. Boring. I was going to say, I'm sitting here going, I don't get it. I knowing what happens. I don't understand. I don't know why it's why it's a play on words, because when he comes by, you want to run, run by run text message. Number one.

[39:17] Katerina coming through with the Grand Slam home run comment of the entire episode. Sheridan, he's already a dead man. Bow! Done that, came back. Done. Got the t-shirt. And I'm here to make sure you pay the price for your actions. Time to pay the piper. And make sure you know why. Then he alone will bear the pain of it.

[39:46] I saw yes a couple weeks ago we saw Garibaldi lose his freaking mind because Bester scanned him, You know, everyone's just cool with these telepaths just plopping images into their head. Byron just showing up for people and telepathically, like, quieting everything. If more of our so-called leaders would walk the same streets as the people who voted them in, live in the same buildings, eat the same food instead of hiding behind glass and steel and bodyguards, maybe we'd get better leadership and a little more concern for the future. Preach. John, that's a commendable idea, but it's very dangerous. I've been giving a lot of thought about this in the workplace. There's like, there's two different realities that exist. And this isn't, this is, I'm going to talk about it in terms of work, but it's the same thing here. Politically, there's two different realities. There's the, everybody reality of people just doing the work, showing up, doing the things, trying to save up enough money to go to Disneyland or whatever. And just day to day. Then there's these people, this band of people, their leadership, you know? And the thing is like nothing they do is related. in any way to what everyday life is. It's completely separate, except for one key thing, and that is the decisions they make impact these people down here. The people here can do nothing to influence this band up here.

[41:05] It's this whole other thing. It's literally a one-way piece. My theory that I'm kind of forming, it lasts a little while specifically in a workplace, But what if we just got rid of that band and it just didn't exist? I'm going to, my theory is that from a work standpoint, everything would be fine. Business would continue. Commerce would still be a thing. The widgets that need to be made would still be made. They'd probably made faster and better. Everything would be, we just have this whole thing of like, we have to have these leaders and we have to protect them and we have to hold them on high when they literally do nothing.

[41:46] If anything, they just justify the reason for their job. Oh, there's this problem. So I have to have a job, but this problem doesn't, isn't even real and doesn't affect anybody shared in what he just said here. Like. If people would just be the people, man, what a different world it would live in. Well said. So you may as well live instead of being a prisoner. He's talking a political agenda. You're talking about protecting your friend, which is more important. They're the same thing, are they? I'm not saying this to bag on Delenn. I'm saying this in that I don't think that what just happened is consistent with her character. There was a level of naivete that is not appropriate for her you're talking that we're talking about a political situation you're talking about protecting your friend they're the same thing.

[42:35] No they are not remotely the same thing and delen knows that that was that was, that was poor writing for her character or delen, I mean, she's been at this for a couple of years now, but still relatively new to the whole human side of her emotions. Although we definitely know as a Minbari, she was full of emotions then, too. We've also seen her as a full-blown Minbari make very emotional decisions and having that override her more common sense. So I think one could argue it actually very much is in character with her. What you're not wrong about is that is not the response of a mature ambassador, and somebody who is thinking practically and –.

[43:24] I want to say politically, but I don't think that's the right word. Pragmatically. Pragmatically, right. That's a wife who is concerned for her husband trying anything she can to get him to not be killed. She's the chosen of Dukat, Brent. Poor form. Poor form. Yeah. Now, in a situation like this, we have to protect him against himself. Well, then perhaps you should re-enlist to ensure his protection, Mr. Garibaldi. Tell him. Otherwise, your opinion doesn't really count for much. Look, damn it. These two on screen are the new Londo and Jakar. The way they fight, you know what I mean? And they will continue this way for episodes to come. I want to respond to this in the chat. Ben says that if Sheridan dies now, it's pretty much the end of the ISA before it starts. If that's the case, then the ISA deserves to not launch because that is a cult of personality. If it is built on one person being able to fulfill a thing, it's not, it's not a thing. Have we often argued that putting yourself in danger is not good leadership? Yeah. Okay. But there is a balance. I, cause I don't disagree with both are right, right? Don't put yourself in danger. I have to be out there and do the things. Both are, are correct. Reasonable caution. Yeah.

[44:44] Oh, the telltale blood from a PPG shot. You know, it's where it cauterizes. It does suck that Kid got hurt, but also it's kind of neat that that little like shoot the ducks thing finally worked in a show. Sure, although air ducks are still not big enough for anybody to go through. He's very small. I have every confidence in you. Slight Simon. No! There!

[45:22] I'm sorry. I'll kill. this is the kind of stuff we see in Babylon 5 I want you to keep an eye on the security guy in the green jump and how he just jumps into place sets his stance and like takes this right like, this guy right, saddle up partner back off or I'll kill her, this whole assassination story thing is just ridiculous it is it really is and I kind of love it at the same time I really do too, I mean, especially this whole thing, this is just nuts. I mean, we go from PPG to Star- like that fast.

[46:17] Don't be near windows, man. Right? That's like President 101 stuff. Whoever speaks for the Alliance speaks with one voice for many. Consequently, this contains the first page of every holy book of every race that has joined the new Alliance to believe as their conscience requires in matters of faith.

[46:38] But also to respect the rights of others to believe differently, or not at all. It's pretty profound. do you john j sharon take the isa, i love it i love it so much everybody else can go, so someone asked you know jms loves his physics stuff right how does the assassin manage to position himself outside the window so precisely to which jms goes excuse me princess, actually he says folks, but still he says, but he was using a Babylon five star fury, which is programmed, like all star furies I'm inflecting the way I think JMS would, would inflect here to sync up with the station's rotation for the purposes of docking, ejecting, and holding position for repair purposes. All a pilot would have to do is tell the onboard computer to sync up the thrusters with the station's rotation and it'd be done. This is a no brainer, which is why I didn't specify it in dialogue. Also it would have killed the drama in the moment also he did answer the question just before this we saw his picture and it said qualified star fury pilot there you go so he knows how to go boop boop boop you have 10 seconds.

[47:52] Why doesn't sheridan just leave you can all leave but this guy has to stay you have 10 seconds okay my family and my world he's no different than the dude in convictions time to pay the piper what will this accomplish even if you kill me the alliance will go on, I can't hold him. It's so dumb. It's so dumb and I love it. It's so great. It's kind of cool though. Grab him, throw him out there and then shoot him? Yep. Like, yes. Put your hand on the book and say I do. I do. Fine, done. Let's eat.

[48:33] Do you take her? Yes. Do you take him? Yes. Fine, you're married. Now kiss her. See, our arrangement is that I handle any political decisions that affect the alliance in Babylon 5.

[48:44] I'm putting this decision in that category. You have my authority to start a colony here. We talked about this in detail the first time, but this is his first huge mistake. I hope you made the right decision. We both know a telepath war is coming one of these days.

[48:58] It won't hurt to have some of our own on hand with things. Someone asks a question, Jeff, how does Sheridan know about the telepath war? Did he watch deconstruction or something? Jeff, it is at this point that you and I have an apology to make. The both of us. Really? To all of you. Well, not all of you, just the jerkwads who commented and made us feel really stupid for missing the smallest, minutest little details on our first watch. Right. Because I realize they're just getting it from the great maker himself. JMS's response. This is hardly a new plot element. It's been brewing for four years now with the growth of the underground telepath world. And as for the latter part of the comment, did you already forget that in Rising Star, there was a conversation between Sheridan and Bester about the coming telepath war? Not my fault if you weren't paying attention. Yeah, I was just going to answer two weeks ago. Two weeks ago. Buster said, this is coming. Sheridan said, I know. And Garibaldi's going to beat you up. Not my fault if you weren't paying attention. Duh, we said it back in that episode. You know what, though? I think in this case, the telepath war, that is addition.

[50:17] There are no parentheses. There's no order of operations. This is very simple math to get to a telepath war. It's still rude. It's got ugly. Besides, one of these people saved my life. Yeah, if he can just override the captain like that without even having a conversation with her. Huge problem. Because I'm going to put this in my category now. Katarina, it's an incredible thing. So he owes Byron and those people, but Lita has to move into smaller quarters? And Sheridan. Anyway, he agreed we should set up a covert intelligence division. Military intelligence is kind of an oxymoron. You see that? She's like... The new head of covert intelligence for the Alliance is pleased to meet you. So, anyway, Captain, I guess I'll be seeing you at the next meeting. Guess so which I were you on during the big fight back home. I was on the side of earth. Mr. Garibaldi That is the correct answer.

[51:15] The correct answer. Although I think Suzanne in the chat might have a better answer. Nunya. What sides are in? Nunya. Nunya business. Yeah. It is interesting. And this happens a lot in this show. Sheridan on this side. Garibaldi on this side. Hey, it doesn't matter what side you were on. What side were you on? And then the paths they both take this season. Like, it's just a piece that I think is kind of interesting. I noticed that, too. I noticed that, too. I was like, hmm, that's interesting juxtaposition considering Sheridan's comments on it earlier. You know but there's a reason that garibaldi has his job there's a reason sheridan has his job did you have anything else from jms you know jeff but oh from jms no no no well so garibaldi had a little um uh, comment saying it's a little crooked about the ea logo okay, i didn't catch it at all i didn't catch that either i must have missed it maybe it was in one of the 50 million times that we paused the video tonight i'm not really sure um but it did ask the question in case you ever are re-watching it and you come across it, if the that comment was meant to some foreshadowing to which jms goes no, but it was definitely a double entendre given his recent experiences okay, anyway also nia says it was in that last scene i was listening for it i really was listening for it and i just missed it i just missed it can't you tell can't you see foreshadowing when it's right in front of you.

[52:40] It was literally five minutes ago it's not my fault if you weren't paying attention it's great joe dude dude it's all your fault, which he's like yes it is my fault i did it we talked about during the episode but like, this brent wasn't a full like this was like a half bait they're like we have to get a new captain on board yeah we got to establish sheridan as the president and we have to take like 42 minutes to do that uh, what do you got you know Well, I said last time, this is my favorite season opening. You did. I'm not sure why. I didn't. Jumping quite ahead here uh i didn't care for this episode i did not enjoy it was it was um, i mean there's a lot of good stuff to it but let me go down the line in my head okay it's midnight on the fire and lying in a better episode than this one yeah i think it is like by a long shot i think right was uh hour of the wolf a better episode yeah it was was what's what's season three's episode, if i think long enough i remember it okay i will say i think this one handled the introduction of a new character better than the season two did with sheridan, and i liked that one but i i so while i wouldn't say this is the worst man this one falls from one to like four for me.

[53:55] Matters of honor thank you thank you andrew the this is this is convictions, this is the exact same we've already seen this episode yeah yeah yeah i enjoyed this assassin better this was better than convictions and i gotta tell you i am, far more intrigued with lockley and garibaldi agreed and that whole storyline i couldn't give two blips right now about sheridan and the isa and the assassin or any of that sort of stuff but this this new lockley person, on a second watch dude i'm in on her 100 again we're watching her we've seen crusade that's peak lockley i can see that in her now but like you said it during the watch her and garibaldi like, it's not a will they won't it's a will they won't they but it's not like are they going to kiss it's are they going to punch each other in the face yeah and it's great it's great i mean it's it's that same londo jacar's verbal sparring going toe to toe that we haven't seen since last season between jacar's and londo yeah, When Sheridan went and jumped in the pit, Lockley should have come on as the new captain then.

[55:06] Lockley should have come in early season four as the new captain. And then Sheridan comes back to life and he's doing that sort of thing. And allow them to have those conversations then. And God, can you imagine Garibaldi and Lockley in season four? Yeah, when he's going through all that stuff. When he's going through all that stuff.

[55:28] Oh my gosh. sorry i'm not trying to season four was great it was absolutely great i'm just mad that we didn't get lockley earlier right now because i wanted more of her, also byron oh my god is he boring from, like the very first thing out of his mouth is just look how flowery and expositiony i am trying to be in a way that makes no sense whatsoever, but but i use herbal essences and And that's what I remember about blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's what I remember about Byron the first time around is it's not that his character was, was really bad or anything like that. He was boring, like boring milk toast. That one. I've been saying, I'm really excited to get here to see if this is how he's meant to be played or, and it's how he's written. or if it's just the way it comes off. And right now, Jeff, to me, It's how he comes off. Yeah, I agree. Andrew calling me out in the council chambers chatting is not wrong. I'm just jealous of his hair. And I am. It is beautiful hair. You wouldn't want that. Do you know how much work that takes? I used to have very long hair. It takes a lot of work. I used herbal essences, actually. It wasn't that much work. How long did you tour with Trans-Siberian Orchestra? Not nearly as long as dude who wasn't well conditioned. His hair was a mess. He needed a little leave-in conditioner. I've made my thoughts on this episode pretty darn clear.

[56:57] I think I'm going to go on record without like examining it and say, this is my least favorite season opener of all five. More, more than season twos. Okay. There were more redeeming qualities. Cause this is, this is what I'm going to pose to you is you take on the task of kicking off the objectively correct ranking of the fifth season. I summarily am going to say no, go ahead. Take Jakar out of this episode. Yeah. Is it, is it even worth watching? Yes. Is it any good at all? Yes. I don't think it is because honestly I didn't think Jakar was great in this episode I thought he was fine.

[57:35] He was great as Andreas Katsoulis is always great, But he was fine. He was not a factor for me in this episode that much. He was the shining beacon of light in this one. Lockley was interesting. I'm not going to take that away. Lockley was great. Very interesting. Lockley was great. Garibaldi, I still kind of want to punch in the face, to be honest with you. I kind of don't like him right now. I'm with you there. And I don't know, is it because of what we've just come through with him and he hasn't quote unquote redeemed himself? Is it because I already know where he's going and I'm kind of turned off by that? I'm not loving garibaldi sheridan's fine delin is wallflower and i think she's wallflower for the rest of the show if i'm not mistaken for the most part which is really unfortunate because mira is so fantastic and the character is so good, and it's it's just unfortunate that she gets jumped into the side i mean, i think ivanova gets more screen time than delin does in season five.

[58:31] You know or pub or at least meaningful screen time right corwin i really want to see more of Corwin, but Tracy Scoggins, she is the one who is, uh, really making this episode work for me. I do like this episode. I do enjoy this episode. This, well, I'm going to put this on the line. Okay. Jeff, let's, this is number one in our ranking right now because there's no other choice for season five. Okay. But let's put this in our laundry ranking. Okay. Let's, let's give this the laundry scale. For those of you guys who don't know, we have something that we call the laundry scale, which is you're sitting down, you're folding laundry, you flipping through the channels and you stop when this episode is on, what do you do? Do you keep changing the channel? Do you stop?

[59:14] And watch while you keep folding laundry and then get up and go put it away. You're not really going to stop. Or do you stop doing everything and you just watch the episode? This is an episode that I think I've, I'm flipping through the channels, Jeff, and I see it and I go, Oh, it's this episode. I put the remote down and I keep folding laundry while, while this episode's on, I'm not changing the channel. I might maybe during a commercial check out and see what else is on, but I will, and I will come back to this episode like as the as the the episode goes on you know but also if i have to get up and go put the socks away, i'm gonna go and go put the socks away i'm not gonna miss i'm not gonna not miss a spot like it's fine that's that's kind of where i am on the laundry scale how about you i'm looking for something else to watch, you're just gonna keep changing the show i might land on it and be like well it's what's the thing that's on and it'll be on in the background but yeah i'm not.

[1:00:08] I'm not interested in watching this episode katarina is like or you flip it once Byron starts. Yeah. Flip it. He can flip his hair. Right. That would look great. Right. Also, Andrew says that we watch TV weird. Maybe. I mean, we do. We watch it here on a little computer screen while we're talking about it. I was going to say, the screen is literally that big in my vision. It's so small.

[1:00:33] Oh, man. All right. Well, it's number one for now, and that's going to wrap it up for no compromises. Brent, next week, we're watching The Very Long Night of Londo Malari. I don't know if you would or not, but do you have any memories of this episode whatsoever? This is the best second episode of the entire series. This episode if i'm not mistaken because you know jeff the bible the bible is currently left off of all bestsellers lists because it's just not fair it's been around a little while it's sold a couple of copies right we just don't even count it anymore sleeping in light is that when it comes to babel on five it's not fair you cannot count it up against everything else so that being said this is the best episode of season five from our first watch i if i remember correctly i think it was number one. And rightly so. This is an episode that I personally have been waiting around since season one for season two anyway. And it's fantastic all the way around. That's what I remember about this episode. How about you? It's the best episode of Babylon five, along with the other best episodes of Babylon five, but literally like this. Yeah, I, we, this was, it's incredible. Everything about this is awesome. And honestly, I'm so excited to watch it this time because I know there is some foreshadowing of things to come in some of Londo's visions. The outfits Sheridan wears, like he comes out at one point wearing the Ranger.

[1:01:58] You know, Jedi robe and whatever. And things at the time we had no context for, we will now. So I am super excited for this next one. I hope you all are as well. Make sure you're subscribed to us wherever you are watching or listening so you don't miss this episode. You want to catch it as soon as you can. If you're on a platform, YouTube or Good Pod, Spotify that allows you to leave a comment, please do so. Join the conversation. Be a part of our community. That'd be fantastic. And to grow our community, which is amazing. I mean, if you are a member of the community of the Bad Nerds, you're awesome. You're amazing and you're surrounded by incredible people. We have a community of people here at the Bad Nerds. We do. And they're awesome. We've got like a whole community over here who have joined us, who add so much to our shows. They really do. And have become great friends. People that we meet in real life, which is really, really awesome. It's so awesome. It's like, it is really awesome. One of the best things possible. It's just really cool. It keeps, yeah, it's fantastic. Except for that one person over there. Well, there was that one time. Yes. We're not going to talk about that one time. If you want to help grow this incredible community though, share this show, share it with somebody and let's make this a community for everyone and enjoy this incredible piece of television. So until next time, my name is Jeff Aitken? Hey, Jeff. Yeah, what's going on?

[1:03:22] I'm gonna say it i please do not please do not oh i'm totally gonna say it look i i really honestly think this is one of the stupidest things we ever did and i don't please please don't god damn it don't, i mean we're not some some deep space franchise this station is about something.