I liked this episode alot. I like Sheridan, Ivanova angry, yet somehow charming, disposition comes out in full, and now things are REALLY begininng to build up.

I wonder if there's a bit of a nit in this episode, caused by the telemovie "In the Beginning". In the movie, Franklin and Sheridan are sent on a mission together; yet in PoD there's no indication that they know each other. OK, we don't actually get to see the first time they meet on the station, but when Stephen talks about the new Captain he doesn't sound like he's met him before now.

One thing I just noticed - why is C&C empty when Sheridan gives his little speech? Shouldn't it be manned 24/7?

Didn't Garibaldi say in the very first episode (not the pilot) that C&C was down for an hour a day for maintanance?

Ruminations

- When the Trigodi blows itself up, you can see the Trigodi's fighters flying into the blast radius so that they'll also be destroyed. It'd be easy for the creators to overlook that aspect.

- The opening show sequence (the credits etc) show a picture (of a man) on the view screen in a public setting (looks like the entry space to new visitors to B5). That man looks like he's wearing the cadets uniform from Star Trek 2.

- Why does the Trigodi have a different color to it than the other Minbari ships? Generally they're blue but this one had green splotches in it.

I don't think the new opening title sequence is very good, and not just because I got used to Sinclair/O'Hare and the old sequence. The original sequence spoke of both B5's negatives and positives. It mentioned the "shining beacon" and "last hope" stuff, but also mentioned the dark and gritty "place of hustlers" stuff. Doing this accentuated the multi-faceted, conflicted, cosmopolitan nature of the station, and conflict, of course, is the essence of storytelling. The new sequence mentions just the shiny beacon stuff, and not the negative.

Also, why do they mention the "war" if it hasn't happened yet? Didn't that ruin the surprise?

The title sequence changes from season to season of B5 to better fit with the tone of the show that year.

I can't be sure, but I think this was always the intention.

Also, why do they mention the "war" if it hasn't happened yet? Didn't that ruin the surprise?

You mean as opposed to showing the station being blow into small fragments last season?

Trying not to give anything away, I'll just say that JMS has this ability to either show or imply what is going to happen at future points rather well. However this is often without a framework in which to place events in context - meaning that often what we think is going to be a major event turns out not to be, while other times minor points turn out to have rather large implications. Then we get the red-herrings....


Observation/advice; The first eight episodes of season two seem to be there to allow us to get to know the new commander. This means that you shouldn't expect much from the first eight episodes, out of 22 episodes in this season, at least seven are turkeys. Six of these turn up in the first eight episodes.

However things really start to kick off in episode nine, which is the point where you start to realise that B5 is something special. With one or two exceptions from that point on the tension, foreshadowing and pacing picks up until the penultimate episode of season 4.

I don't dispute the need for the sequence to fit the tone, but that's not what's addressed here. My point was that A. The new sequence didn't mention the dark and gritty side of the station, and B. ruined the surprise of the war. Regarding the first point, are you saying that the dark and gritty side of the station no longer exists this season? Nothing I've seen so far in the first seven episodes indicates that. Regarding the second point, I do not know what you mean by the comment about the station blowing up. As for your suggestion about JMS's tendencies, well, I'll take your word for that for now. Thanks for the heads-up.

Me, I got a good sense of the "special"-ness of B5 and its arc in the first season. The Season 1 finale, to name one example, was very good in that regard.

My point was that A. The new sequence didn't mention the dark and gritty side of the station

I'm trying to be careful not to give anything away here...which may make me sound like a Vorlon.

Season one was more about the set up to the station, giving us a look at what the universe (or at least that small part B5 exists in) is like in 2258. Which as it turns out is not all that different to how things are today.
In doing this 'larger' issues had to be, if not ignored them looked at in less detail. This was intentional.

While the pebbles have started to move in season one, we need to have some idea of what the landscape looks like to fully appreciate the magnitude of the avalanche that is about to fall....

I think I can safely say, without giving anything away, that the Grittier side of the station is still there, and will be shown again. While there is more I *could* say on this I'm not going to. Whatever I say, either way, might spoil things.

B. ruined the surprise of the war.

There have been indications since Babylon Squared (if not LONG before that) that there will be a war...but when or in what form is a different matter.
Like I said before, JMS was/is a master of giving you plenty of hints as to some of the events that will or may happen. Yet at the same time managing to do so in a way that either leads us in the wrong direction, or which we don't realise were hints until long after the fact.
I recall holding long conversation with people when the show was first aired, where we all tried to predict what was going to happen and in what form. No one I know ever managed to predict any of the plot-lines, even though looking back (and having watched all seasons at least 3 times and several episodes a lot more than this) most of the clues were there.

Or if you want that in Vorlon; He makes us look so hard at the candle we can no longer see the light.

Cyber's points about the opening somewhat mirror my own thoughts. While the shift to the larger canvas is, I think the biggest reason for the change, I think you also have to consider who is giving the speech. Sinclair was a wounded soul, who had more than a year of experience with the station, while Sheridan was, at least up to this point, a fairly happy guy who just arrived on the station, so hasn't really had a chance to dig too deeply into the underbelly of the station.

As to the war, as Cyber said, a war was fairly obviously coming, but the details are what makes it important. Just as Lady Ladira's prophecy about the destruction of the station (shown in 'Signs and Portents') and Londo's prophetic dream about dying while strangling G'Kar (first mentioned in 'Midnight on the Firing Line'), there is so much detail that is missing that the single piece of information is either misleading or simply prompts more questions. The context is important as well, not simply the events.

Sheridan was, at least up to this point, a fairly happy guy who just arrived on the station

Bruce Boxletter himself described Sheridan as a 'eager puppy' when he first appeared on the show.

He also noted that Sheridan showed this strange fetish about fresh-fruit for much of the start of the season - If he's not talking about fruit or fondling fruit he's eating it.
Probably something they they left out of the history books....