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Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Eyes”

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<i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Eyes”

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Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Eyes”

The station gets a visit from EarthForce Internal Affairs...

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Published on July 22, 2024

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A scene from Babylon 5, "Eyes": Sinclair delivers a speech.

“Eyes”
Written by Lawrence G. DiTillio
Directed by Jim Johnston
Season 1, Episode 16
Production episode 122
Original air date: July 13, 1994

It was the dawn of the third age… Garibaldi is restoring an old Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 motorcycle from 1992. Lennier interrupts him with a security matter, but becomes intrigued by Garibaldi’s project, and asks if he can help. He has a lot of downtime with Delenn off-station, and he’s intrigued. Garibaldi shows him one of his stumbling blocks: the manual is in Japanese, which he does not read. Lennier takes the manual with the intent of studying it.

We then meet Colonel Ari Ben Zayn and a telepath named Harriman Grey, who are looking at various B5 personnel files, including those of Ivanova. They speak in vague terms that make it clear that they’re bad guys, though they (barely) stop short of cackling madly, and only don’t twirl their mustaches because they don’t have any.

Sinclair, Ivanova, and Garibaldi meet to discuss the recent terrorist attack on Phobos, which appears to have been by the Free Mars movement. Sinclair is worried that terrorists will take advantage of the rules allowing arms sales on B5 (which was insisted upon by several of the alien species) to do arms deals on the station.

Ben Zayn poses as “Aron Franks,” and starts asking Welch questions about Sinclair and the station. Welch is mostly peeved that “Franks” is interrupting his lunch. After Welch tells him to take a hike, he links Garibaldi.

Garibaldi quickly determines that “Franks,” and his associate Grey, have been on the station for three days, asking lots of questions about the station. Sinclair authorizes him to investigate further. Garibaldi goes to their shared cabin to talk to them, at which point “Franks” outs himself as Ben Zayn and Grey as a telepath. They’re from EarthForce Internal Affairs Division, colloquially referred to as “Eyes.” They’re conducting an investigation into B5’s command staff.

A scene from Babylon 5, "Eyes": Sinclair, Ivanova, and Garibaldi meet with Ben Zayn and Grey.
Credit: Warner Bros. Television

Sinclair isn’t pleased, but Ben Zayn’s orders come straight from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ivanova objects to Grey’s presence, as Psi Corps isn’t allowed to scan people without their consent. Ben Zayn announces that regulations have changed in that regard, and officers must submit to a psi-scan. In private, Ivanova makes it clear that she absolutely will not submit to any kind of telepathic scan under any circumstances. Meanwhile, Garibaldi looks into Ben Zayn and Grey on his own.

In CnC, Grey shows up, unannounced and unwanted, and despite Ivanova’s attempts to get him to leave (he’s unauthorized to be there, and besides, he’s annoying her). He explains that he dreamt of joining EarthForce ever since he was a little boy, but as a telepath he wasn’t allowed. He’s just trying to serve as best he can. Ivanova is uninterested and unimpressed. Then he mentions that she will have to submit to a scan, but it won’t be that bad, really, and Ivanova tears him a new one, reiterating that she will never submit to a scan.

Ben Zayn asks a lot of probing questions about specific decisions Sinclair made. Garibaldi warns the commander that Ben Zayn seems to be going after Sinclair specifically. Sinclair isn’t worried, as his decisions are on the record and already approved, but Garibaldi isn’t so sure, reminding him of what Ironheart told them about Psi Corps’ growing influence, and the fact that Sinclair pissed off a Psi Cop.

Lennier has been studying the history of the motorcycle (including a hilarious informative video), and also learning Japanese so he can read the manual. He offers to assist Garibaldi, but the security chief is incredibly distracted, and absently gives Lennier permission to work on the motorcycle without him. Later, Garibaldi returns to his quarters after working all night to discover that Lennier has also been up all night, working on the Ninja. Garibaldi grumpily kicks an abashed Lennier out of his quarters, though the former is impressed with what the latter has accomplished.

A scene from Babylon 5, "Eyes": Lennier and Garibaldi discuss Garibaldi's motorcycle.
Credit: Warner Bros. Television

Ivanova hands in her resignation, but Sinclair refuses to accept it. He’s actually read the new regulation that Ben Zayn threw at them, and it’s very specific: a telepath can be used when charges have been made against an officer. No charges have been filed, so Grey can’t scan them. Grey agrees and leaves the room, annoying Ben Zayn, who then interrogates the shit out of Sinclair, questioning his decisions in virtually every episode prior to this one.

Grey goes to the Zocalo to try once again to suck up to Ivanova, admitting that he really doesn’t like Ben Zayn. When he mentions Psi Corps, her reaction is very powerful, so much so that he can’t help but detect what’s in her mind—and he’s surprised to see that she can tell she’s being scanned. (It turns out her mother scanning her as a girl made her sensitive to it.) Ivanova is called away to CnC, which is the only thing that saves Grey from having his head ripped off, and she leaves in a huff.

Ben Zayn’s questioning gets more severe to the point where Sinclair says he’s done with this. Ben Zayn, however, outranks him and orders him to remain, and then officially relieves him of duty on a charge of working against the best interests of Earth, which is vague enough to cover anything from sedition to treason. He also assumes command of the station. He orders Sinclair to be confined to quarters, escorted by Garibaldi, to await being scanned by Grey, which is now kosher with specific charges made. Sinclair appeals to General Miller, but to no avail.

Ben Zayn announces to CnC that he’s in charge now. He informs Ivanova that she, too, will be required to undergo a telepathic scan. She and Garibaldi confer after that, with Ivanova taking him up on his previous offer of a drink. He says he’ll meet her in the casino.

Before meeting her, he finishes his dive into Ben Zayn and Grey, and reports to Sinclair that Ben Zayn was in line to command B5, but was bigfooted by the Minbari insistence that it be Sinclair. Ben Zayn is also friends with Bester, who still is peeved at Sinclair for getting his aide killed and generally making him look bad during the Ironheart affair.

Garibaldi is then linked with a report that there’s a bar fight in the casino. He goes down to find that Ivanova is at the center of it, and is also the only one standing and not injured. Garibaldi manages to calm her down and get her out of there.

A scene from Babylon 5, "Eyes": Ivanova has a nightmare
Credit: Warner Bros. Television

Ben Zayn starts his interrogation, with Grey, Ivanova, and Garibaldi all present, and also with it being recorded. Sinclair accuses Ben Zayn of carrying out a vendetta against the person who beat him out for command of the station, and also of colluding with Bester to go after Sinclair. Ben Zayn gets furious, enough so that Grey can detect his thoughts, and since it’s now legal for him to scan Ben Zayn, he does so, and determines that Sinclair is absolutely right. Ben Zayn pulls a weapon, but Grey is able to telepathically zap him enough so that Sinclair can sock him in the jaw.

Garibaldi returns to his quarters to find that Lennier has finished the Ninja. Garibaldi is at first disappointed, as he was looking forward to doing it all himself, but then Lennier shows that he’s put in a Minbari power source, so he can actually use it, which he wasn’t expecting to be able to do, since the original is based on a power source (fossil fuels) that is no longer in use.

As Sinclair and Ivanova talk about how things are back to normal now, Garibaldi and Lennier go zooming down a corridor on the motorcycle.

Nothing’s the same anymore. Sinclair stands by all his decisions and is exonerated when he, um, punches a superior officer. Sure.

Ivanova is God. At one point, Ivanova has a brutal nightmare involving her mother, who is flanked by two figures in tragedy and comedy masks. Ivanova also sees herself in her mother’s place. One suspects this nightmare has happened before…

She also gets into a bar fight and wins.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi apparently has a thing for twentieth-century motorcycles to go with his thing for twentieth-century animation. (And twentieth-century comedy movies, based on his Abbott and Costello reference.)

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Lennier learns Japanese and restores a three-hundred-year-old motorcycle in a day or two. Because he’s just that awesome.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Grey is actually an ethical and decent Psi Corps representative, which makes him something of a rarity.

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Grey notices that Ivanova is thinking about Winters. This may be important later. It also may not be.

Looking ahead. The unrest on Mars mentioned will be seen more in the future. So will Psi Corps’ growing influence, as well as Bester’s animus toward the B5 crew. Also the casting of Macaulay Bruton as the guy in the tragedy mask is a tiny bit of foreshadowing.

Grey (Jeffrey Coombs) in a scene from Babylon 5, "Eyes"
Credit: Warner Bros. Television

Welcome aboard. Gregory Martin shouts his way through playing Ben Zayn who, despite being given an Arabic name, is played by a white guy from Hertfordshire. Frank Farmer plays Miller. Marie Chambers plays the dream image of Ivanova’s Mom, while Macaulay Bruton (who mostly plays one of Garibaldi’s unnamed security people) and Drew Letchworth play the “tragedy” and “comedy” figures, respectively, in Ivanova’s dream. David L. Crowley makes his second appearance following “Survivors” as Welch, making him officially a recurring character. He’ll return in “The Quality of Mercy.”

And this week’s Robert Knepper moment is the great Jeffrey Combs as Grey. I’d totally forgotten that Combs—who has played several billion roles on four different Star Trek series—appeared on B5 four months before his first Trek appearance.

Trivial matters. Ben Zayn specifically questions Sinclair’s decisions in “Midnight on the Firing Line,” “Mind War,” “Deathwalker,” “Survivors,” and “By Any Means Necessary.”

Garibaldi offered to buy Ivanova a drink in “Born to the Purple.” It was established that the Minbari insisted on Sinclair commanding B5 in “Signs and Portents.”

Although she is not seen, Lennier mentions that Shaal Mayan, from “The War Prayer,” is returning to the station. Because she was assaulted on that last trip, Lennier requests a security detail be assigned to her while she’s on station.

The chant Lennier does over the fuel injector (“Zabagabee”) is also the name of the best-of album by Barnes & Barnes, of which actor Bill Mumy is a member (along with Robert Haimer). Among Barnes & Barnes’ many songs is the classic, “Fish Heads.”

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Do I have the colonel’s permission to speak freely?”

“Getting the truth is my job. I expect to hear it whenever you talk to me.”

“Well, in that case, I think this is the biggest pile of horse hockey I ever saw! Who the hell’s running EarthForce, Abbott and Costello?”

—Garibaldi speaking truth to power while referencing Abbott and Costello and Colonel Sherman Potter.

A scene from Babylon 5, "Eyes": Ben Zayn faces off against Sinclair.
Credit: Warner Bros. Television

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “I don’t like being irritated—it gives me gas.” Just last week, I was discussing how having a good guest star can make an episode sing, and this episode is a prime example of the reverse of that, as Gregory Martin is embarrassingly terrible as Ben Zayn. His bad acting is contagious, too, as this is also one of Michael O’Hare’s absolute worst performances. The shouting match between Martin and O’Hare at the episode’s climax is just awful, a master-class in ineffective overacting to no good end.

Not that the episode’s script helps matters. First we get a wholly pointless misdirect, as we’re not initially told who our mysterious antagonists are. Besides the fact that we already did this in “And the Sky Full of Stars,” the deception lasts all of half a second before we find out it’s an investigation by the “Eyes.” So why bother?

In the abstract, it’s nice to see that some of Sinclair’s unorthodox solutions to some of the station’s problems are coming home to roost—except they don’t actually roost, they just sit there for a bit and then unconvincingly go away.

So it’s bad enough that we’ve suffered through the terrible acting of Martin and O’Hare and a mediocre script, but then we get to the end, and it somehow all is settled, and I didn’t buy that for a second.

Yes, this particular investigator was compromised, and perhaps should never have been given the assignment in the first place given his biases. But Sinclair’s conversation with Miller makes it clear that this goes a lot deeper than one colonel and one cranky-ass Psi Cop. It therefore makes no sense, none, that Grey’s scan and Sinclair’s belting Ben Zayn would be the end of it. Quite the opposite, as Ben Zayn pulling a weapon and Sinclair’s punch would both require an additional investigation.

The edges of the episode are fun. I love the fact that Ivanova wins a bar fight all by herself. While it’s more than a little cheesy that Garibaldi happens to be restoring a motorcycle from the era in which the show is filmed, that subplot is kind of adorable, mostly due to Bill Mumy’s earnest enthusiasm as Lennier. And Jeffrey Combs is always worth watching.

Still this episode is a disaster. It’s nice that it acknowledges what came before, but it doesn’t really address it in any meaningful manner. It would’ve been much more interesting to have an investigator who had a legitimate gripe against Sinclair, and who had a legitimate case against him. Instead, they went for the cheap conflict and the cheap solution.

Next week: “Legacies.” icon-paragraph-end

About the Author

Keith R.A. DeCandido

Author

Keith R.A. DeCandido has been writing about popular culture for this site since 2011, primarily but not exclusively writing about Star Trek and screen adaptations of superhero comics. He is also the author of more than 60 novels, more than 100 short stories, and more than 70 comic books, both in a variety of licensed universes from Alien to Zorro, as well as in worlds of his own creation, most notably the new Supernatural Crimes Unit series debuting in the fall of 2025. Read his blog, or follow him all over the Internet: Facebook, The Site Formerly Known As Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, YouTube, Patreon, and TikTok.
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DemetriosX
5 months ago

It’s not a good episode and it’s mostly Gregory Martin who drags it down. He’s way too over the top, and nothing about the way he plays the character suggests any qualifications for going up against someone who has demonstrated a clear talent for lawyering his way out of trouble. Poor choice on Bester’s part and you have to wonder how he rose as far as he did.

Jeffrey Combs is terrific and probably does a better job of humanizing the Psi Corps than Andrea Thompson has. If this moves the story forward at all, it’s in showing Ivanova that there are facets to the Corps she hasn’t considered.

As you say, the ending isn’t really credible. At best, I suppose it could be argued that the investigation is so compromised that Sinclair and his supporters can turn any further pursuit of it at this time into looking like a political witch hunt. Better to wait for him to pull another stunt and go after him for that. But really it feels like a hard reset found at the end of most episodic television up to the mid-90s.

If he were human, Lennier would pretty clearly be on the autism spectrum.

Also, Ari Ben Zayn isn’t an Arabic name. It’s Hebrew. He even specifically mentions Israel. Still being played by an English dude, though.

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5 months ago
Reply to  DemetriosX

The only hit I can find for the surname “ben Zayn” or “Ben Zayn” that isn’t this character is Abu Mohamed Mahrez ben Khalaf ben Zayn, a 10th century Tunisian scholar.

He does refer to fighting in Israel (and on New Jerusalem), which does suggest a Hebrew connection, but of course there are also Arabs in Israel. Maybe it’s intentionally non-specific. For what it’s worth, JMS seems to have thought it was a “Middle Eastern/Arabic name.”

Last edited 5 months ago by Keith Rose
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Nix
5 months ago
Reply to  DemetriosX

Of course there are quite a lot of English dudes who are also Israeli or near-as-dammit. They even tend to cluster in north London and Hertfordshire. (I went to a catchment school for — well, I’d say “such people” but I’m more than half one myself, people like me — and it’s hard to think of people I knew there who didn’t have Israeli relatives a hop or two away.)

So I found that part totally believable. A shame he was such an obvious hooting VILLAIN whose evil plans could be solved by having two of his underlings, uh, assault him. Because that always works.

ChristopherLBennett
5 months ago
Reply to  DemetriosX

Which is why I felt Garibaldi calling him “Ben Hitler” was in very poor taste.

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5 months ago
Reply to  DemetriosX

To be fair, Hebrew and Arabic are both Semitic languages.

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Steven Hedge
5 months ago

The script could have been tighter if they really got into the corruption of several of Sinclair’s actions, instead of just Bester trying to get revenge. Have Ben Zayn also being sent there by the Senate because of Sinclair’s actions from any means nesscarry, have Bester send a psi corp agent who isn’t a decent guy, have Zayn try to actually try to corrupt Garibaldi, like telling him that Earthforce is trying to bring more authority and order and make him question Sinclair’s actions. There is so much that the could do here. I do like Grey trying to convince Ivanova that the psicorps isn’t so bad and that she’s having serious nightmares. That’s good foreshadowing. I also love that nightmare.

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5 months ago

Keith does too good a job on these reviews and has already said most of what I would have wanted to say about this episode – mainly that it just isn’t as good as it could, or should have been. It should be ramping up the political tension arising from EA’s drift into authoritarianism. But, as with By Any Means Necessary, the EA rep is a clown – and not the scary kind – so the whole thing falls flat.

A few other thoughts:

For a 300 year old bike, those parts sure look clean and shiny. And I guess Kawasaki printed its user manuals on archival paper.The B5 universe has machine translation for at least some alien races. But apparently written Japanese is impossible to decipher. And apparently during the 5 years that Garibaldi has spent collecting parts for his bike, the possibility of hiring somebody to translate the manual for him never occurred to him. Maybe trying to parse the Japanese instructions was part of the fun?Garibaldi covering up Ivanova’s bar fight is one thing, but referring to the victims as “trash” (as in “Clean up this trash”) was,,,, a choice.Honestly, the main take-away that I’m coming up with now is that the Command staff engages in a lot of self-preferential treatment, and gets away with it primarily by virtue of being the main characters. As Keith suggests, if their enemies in EarthGov were actually competent, it shouldn’t have been hard to actually nail them to the wall. Fortunately, they aren’t.Putting Bruton in the tragedy mask was definitely intended as foreshadowing – JMS said so at the time. But even knowing that it is him, I don’t really recognize him in the scene. Does foreshadowing count if you can’t tell it is there?

Last edited 5 months ago by Keith Rose
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5 months ago
Reply to  Keith Rose

Sorry for the formatting. There were supposed to be some bullet points in there.

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Ian
5 months ago
Reply to  Keith Rose

Garibaldi’s line about how he acquired the manual implies that it was very recent, so perhaps he simply had not had time yet to translate it. The better question is why the B5 chief of security was involved in a blackjack game with the type of people who might need to pay in merchandise rather than credits…

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EFMD
5 months ago
Reply to  Ian

Hey, a cop has to find his canaries SOMEWHERE.

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5 months ago
Reply to  Ian

And the Sky Full of Stars established that station personnel are allowed to gamble at the casino, up to specified limits. Whether this particular blackjack game took place in the casino is… not specified.

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Ian
5 months ago

Some useful world-building here. The demonstration that decisions from prior episodes would have lasting consequences should have been powerful. What a wasted opportunity.

The shots with Sinclair in front of his own images from multiple angles were well done, conveying an unsettling sense of scrutiny. But when the cinematography is more effective than the actors in organically establishing a key aspect of the A-plot, your episode has serious problems.

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5 months ago

“Who the hell’s running EarthForce, Abbott and Costello?”

I would say it’s more Three Stooges.

IIRC the script was a rush job to get the season to twenty-two episodes (notice it’s the last in production code order), and hoo boy does it show. For a story that’s suppose to be about the consequences of your actions coming to bite you in the hinder, the resolution is way too pat.

I’m not sure what to make of Grey. I get the impression that we’re suppose to regard him as sympathetic. But thanks to the casting of Jeffrey Combs, he comes across as a socially awkward creepy creep. Then again that may have been part of the point.

Of course Gregory Martin’s performance as Ben Zayn is the low point. I would say he surpasses Malcolm Biggs as a panto villain, at least partly due to his Otto Skorzeny scar.

In fact, he’s so camp in his villainry, that he inspired three riffable moments.

[as he announces that he’s taking command of the station and what else he plans to do]
That’s right! I’m the god!!! I’M THE GOD!!!!!”

[as he tells Sinclair that he confined to quarters]
And no supper for you, young man.

“I got this leading people into battle, Sinclair.”
You got it playing with a Slip ‘N Slide.

Last edited 5 months ago by sitting_duck
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5 months ago

Can’t disagree, this is not a good episode for all the reasons you list. It’s also not memorable in any way. It is an episode that when I see the title I go Huh?.

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athersgeo
5 months ago
Reply to  percysowner

I disagree that it’s not memorable in any way: this is one of the few episodes I remember from my attempt at watching B5, but it’s not for the ‘A’ plot. It’s the Garibaldi/Lennier bike ‘B’ plot. The ending of that is probably my clearest recollection of my watching…which really does tell you how hard I bounced off B5! (I made i through s1, told the friend who’d loaned me the DVDs I hadn’t really enjoyed it, she said s2 was much better, I dutifully watched s2…and decided that was enough.)

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5 months ago

Well, I didn’t feel that the episode would be that tragically bad. Sure, the story wasn’t brilliant, but it felt similar to drumhead and other TNG episodes that were also weak.
But! I didn’t recognize that it’s Combs (i rarely see him without tons of makeup), but i noticed the scene in the CnC between him and Ivanova – first i thought “wow, that guy is almost as convincing evil guy as Combs….” and then…”Oh wait, is it him actually?” That scene was brilliant assuming that he is a totally evil guy, but turned out that what he said there was genuine and honest – well, i didn’t buy it for a second. I thought it was brilliant acting, but when it turned out that he’s actually a decent guy, i was like “wait, what? so why the deceptive scene in CnC???”, so i’m still confused by that. :D
Other than that the shouting scene was indeed embarrassing, but other than that the bad acting didn’t disturb me that much in this episode.

writermpoteet
5 months ago
Reply to  th1_

More than “The Drumhead,” the weak TNG episode “Eyes” reminded me most of was S1’s “Coming of Age,” where the B-plot (or is it the A-plot? both are abysmally boring) is about Cmdr. Remmick interrogating the 1701-D crew and Picard about various decisions made during early S1 episodes.

ChristopherLBennett
5 months ago
Reply to  writermpoteet

Hmm, that’s a good point. “Coming of Age” also works as an analogy, and it’s the weaker of the two TNG episodes. Although the one respect in which “Eyes” is closer in story terms to “The Drumhead” is that Quinn and Remmick weren’t actively looking for an excuse to drum up fake charges like Ben Zayn was, but were sincerely investigating a real conspiracy and trying to determine whom they could trust. Of course, Admiral Satie was sincere in her own way too, but she was blinded by paranoia and defaulted to assuming the worst.

Another, more metatextual similarity is that “The Drumhead” and “Eyes” were both written as money-saving bottle episodes, and “The Drumhead” was written to avoid doing another clip show, while “Eyes” was considered as a clip show but couldn’t afford to be.

ChristopherLBennett
5 months ago
Reply to  th1_

I’ve rarely seen “The Drumhead” described as weak.

I didn’t think the scene in C&C was meant to be deceptive; it was meant to show the clash between two characters’ opposing worldviews, Ivanova as a military officer who fiercely mistrusted Psi Corps and Gray as a Psi Corps member who deeply respected the military and wanted Ivanova to think well of him. It may have been ambiguous whether Ivanova and we should trust Gray or not, but ambiguity is different from deception.

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5 months ago

You are right, deceptive was not the best use of word.
Regarding Drumhead, what about here: https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-next-generation-the-drumhead/ ? it wasn’t a favourite of mine either :)

ChristopherLBennett
5 months ago
Reply to  th1_

Yes, I remember Keith had a low opinion of it, but I was surprised by that, since I’ve usually seen it praised as one of TNG’s best, and I agree with that assessment.

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5 months ago

I have to say that I like how differently people see the same story/episode. :) The reviews are great, but I like the comment section more and more here. :)

krad
5 months ago

The love people have for “The Drumhead” remains utterly incomprehensible to me, as I explained in my rewatch, which I stand by.

Though it’s better than this episode, mostly because Jean Simmons >>> Gregory Martin.

—Keith R.A. DeCandido

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5 months ago
Reply to  krad

I wasn’t aware of Tor or the TNG rewatch at the time. But I liked “Drumhead” a fair bit when I first watched it on DVD.

Though part of that praise for me happened because I watched the episode around 2003 or so – in the midst of post-9/11 hysteria and anti-muslim sentiment. So the notion of Tarses being secretly part-Romulan due to heritage alongside the outrageous witch-hunt promoted by Adm. Satie and company throughout the episode always resonated with me. But in retrospect, an episode like “The Wounded” that same year touched on a lot of the same themes and worked far better.

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5 months ago

Well written, you said most of what I would.  

One good part of this episode: We see once again that Garabaldi doesn’t watch his back. He goes into the quarters of Zayn and Grey alone, despite having a whole staff. He doesn’t know Zayn is out, then when Zayn does come back, has his back to him. He’s lucky that these people weren’t physically dangerous, because if somebody wanted to shoot him in the back, they could. That will probably be important later.

What really struck me is that when Garabaldi finds a tipsy/possibly drunk Ivanova in the bar, his solution is to give her an *oxy* so she can pull it together. Pop a pill to counter your drinking is definitely some alcoholic logic. Speaking of, Zayn’s low-key taunting of Garabaldi on that topic is one of the few things that actually works rather than being cartoonishly goofy. (“Fix you a drink?”/”I don’t drink.”/”Really? Good. It’s a vile habit when abused.” is twisting the knife and they both damn well know it).  

Co-signing the bad acting; I also wasn’t really that crazy about Claudia Christian in this episode, about half the time she came off a bit flatter than I think was intended. Makes me wonder if this episode was rushed or the director just did a poor job getting good performances out of the actors.  

I also had to laugh when Zayn relieves Sinclair of command, orders him not to have contact with the rest of the command staff including Garabaldi, then leaves… with Sinclair and Garabaldi still in the room who of course immediately start talking to each other. What? Reminds me of the pilot where Sinclair is in theory no longer part of the investigation, then continues to lead the investigation.

It’s bizarre that Talia didn’t make an appearance. Surely they’d want to scan her to see if she knows anything or at least talk to her. I guess she was off station with Delenn.

krad
5 months ago
Reply to  cpmXpXCq

Oh, it’s better than that — Ben Zayn specifically asked Garibaldi to escort Sinclair to his quarters after telling Sinclair not to talk to the command staff. Uh huh.

—Keith R.A. DeCandido

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5 months ago
Reply to  krad

It is quite convenient that Ben Zayn has no back up, isn’t it?

ChristopherLBennett
5 months ago
Reply to  Keith Rose

He thought Gray was his backup. Turned out, not so much.

ChristopherLBennett
5 months ago

Hmm, I actually kind of liked this one despite Ben Zayn’s over-the-top mustache-twirling, because I felt the Ivanova/Gray and Garibaldi/Lennier parts were very effective. I may have teared up a little at Ivanova talking about feeling her mother’s love for her directly. But yeah, the show’s guest-casting problems persist, and the climax was way too melodramatic and pat.

It was a little disorienting seeing Jeffrey Combs playing a character who turned out to be a pretty nice guy. Even at the time, it was against type for him. But that kind of worked, because we were supposed to see him as antagonistic until he turned out not to be.

The motorcycle being from the 1990s and implausibly new-looking was contrived, but apparently necessary; JMS says that they didn’t pay Kawasaki for a product placement, but went looking around for anyone who could lend them a bike they could disassemble, and Kawasaki happened to advertise on PTEN shows so there was a relationship there.

I’m not convinced that Lennier actually learned Japanese, given that the way he pronounced Doumo arigatou sounded like he learned it from “Mr. Roboto” rather than any actual Japanese lessons. Japanese doesn’t really have stressed syllables, but insofar as there is an emphasis, it would be on the ri rather than the ga. Also, it’s only semi-formal; I think with Lennier’s usual level of courtesy and deference, he would’ve used the more formal Arigatou gozaimasu, or the extremely formal Doumo arigatou gozaimasu. Lennier may have had the manual machine-translated and picked up a few words along the way.

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5 months ago

Maybe he just likes Styx.

Last edited 5 months ago by Keith Rose
ChristopherLBennett
5 months ago
Reply to  Keith Rose

Gee, I wonder where he picked up Styx.

krad
5 months ago

GUARDS! SEIZE HIM!

—Keith R.A. DeCandido

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EFMD
5 months ago
Reply to  krad

“The Tower or the block, m’lud?”

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5 months ago

According to Stracynski (on the Lurker’s Guide to B5), this was always designed to be a cliff notes episode. That is why we have a plot where Ben Zayn brings up all kinds of events we’ve already seen before, as he tries to take Sinclair down. Not that this plot is any good. In fact, it’s lazy. But at least we didn’t get a clip show instead. Imagine if B5 had gone the direction of TNG’s “Shades of Gray”. Clearly a bottle episode.

Needless to say, Zayn is a tiresome walking, talking cliché. One wonders how he was able to convince Earthforce higher-ups to lead the investigation into Sinclair. Bester’s influence must be quite extensive, because it’s the only thing keeping the story’s logic from collapsing under its weight. I like to think no self-respecting officer would take a loud, snarling, has-been like him seriously.

But take Zayn out and refocus the plot, and we almost get an excellent episode. Harriman is the best ‘normal’ Psi Corps character the show has (until we get to Crusade‘s Daniel Dae Kim character). He seems genuine and respectful, and yet there’s this unsettling vibe where it seems he might be reading everything you’re thinking and you have no idea. Almost as if he’s backstabbing you without you realizing it. Jeffrey Combs is that good in making him seem like a truly good guy with something truly dark hiding beneath that innocent face. And for what it’s worth, DiTillio tries to make him sympathetic. It makes for some riveting Ivanova material, which is always welcome.

The bike subplot is adorable. Bill Mumy always makes the best out of these, with Lennier trying things that are way out of his depth and succedding brilliantly. And Doyle’s facial reactions do the rest.

Last edited 5 months ago by Eduardo S H Jencarelli
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5 months ago

Ben Zayn twice claims that Sinclair has no leadership ability. But his theory is that Sinclair has suborned the entire B5 Command staff, to get them to betray Earth (somehow). My dude, that implies some leadership skills.

This is not Larry DiTillio’s finest character work.

That said, I agree with you on Harriman Grey. I hadn’t really though about that line between sympathetic and creepy, but you are quite right that it does a great job of infusing some depth into the Psi Corps.

Last edited 5 months ago by Keith Rose
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5 months ago
Reply to  Keith Rose

Politicians of both parties will alternately present their opponents as being either devious blackguards who would go to any lengths to subvert all that is good or bumbling incompetents who couldn’t find their hinders with both hands and a native guide (depending on which works better with the narrative they’re trying to push), often without recognizing the inconsistency.

Last edited 5 months ago by sitting_duck
ChristopherLBennett
5 months ago

Is this the first time we’ve seen a subplot focusing on one of the ambassadors’ aides without the ambassador being in the episode?

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5 months ago

I think so. The next one would also be Lennier’s, I believe. His poker game with Londo on “The Quality of Mercy”.

EDIT: there is also Na’Toth’s solo appearance on “Legacies”, which I believe lacks G’Kar’s presence. But in that one, she’s really servicing the Alisa Beldon B plot.

Last edited 5 months ago by Eduardo S H Jencarelli
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