B5 Rewatch: A Voice In the Wilderness (Part II)

Hello! Welcome back to the Babylon 5 rewatch! Today we'll be picking up right where we left off last week with the nineteenth episode of the season, "A Voice In the Wilderness (Part II)."

Spoilers ahead, yo!

Let Me Sum Up

When last we left them, Sinclair and Ivanova were en route back to the station after finding someone plugged in to the mess of technology on the planet below. At his plea for help, they unhooked him and took him with them. The planet itself is still undergoing some serious seismic activity. Meanwhile, Garibaldi's looking after Control and has just been notified of a very large unscheduled ship coming through the jump gate.

The ship turns out to be an Earth Alliance Heavy Cruiser. The commander identifies himself as Captain Ellis Pierce, and the ship as the Hyperion. He tells Garibaldi that he has been sent to take over the situation. Sinclair returns to the station and gets his visitor settled then goes to meet Captain Pierce.

Pierce tells Sinclair he was ordered to the station to assume control upon Earth's learning of what Babylon 5 had found on the planet below. Because the station (and planet) are located in neutral territory, Earth is worried that all of the other races will want a piece of the discovery. They sent Pierce as a show of force, to prevent anyone else from thinking about trying to take what is "theirs." Sinclair, very displeased, pulls rank and tells Captain Pierce to stand down, claiming he is only gonna make the situation harder to deal with.

Because he was assured by President Santiago of jurisdiction over the station, Sinclair is able to stall turning over command to Pierce until he receives word directly from the President to step down. Luckily for him, Santiago is rather busy with the rebellion on Mars at the moment. Pierce is not satisfied to just twiddle his thumbs while he waits, however. He decides to send a squadron down to the planet and conduct his own investigation. As soon as he does, though, his ships come under attack from the planet's defenses.

They pull back and Sinclair fudges the truth, telling Pierce that they need a jamming signal to get down there safely, but that the one they used before is currently damaged and being repaired. Pierce agrees to wait to try to go down again until it is fixed. Unfortunately, his little foray seems to have set off a reaction of some sort within the planet. Ivanova reports to Sinclair and Garibaldi that the station's readings show that the planet is beginning to break up from within.

It does not seem to be a natural phenomenon, but rather a manufactured self-destruct. The planet's core holds quite a few very powerful reactors of some kind. They suspect that it was the presence of the alien they removed that was keeping the planet from going into self-destruct mode and hope that he will wake soon so they can ask him what the heck is going on. They also begin to make plans for evacuation if it becomes necessary.

The caretaker, still in Medlab, continues trying to reach out with his mind. He contacts Delenn's friend Draal, asking for help. Draal feels a pull and goes to investigate this strange voice he hears, Delenn in tow. He finds the caretaker and before Franklin can shoo him out the patient speaks up, asking Draal to help. He says that no one can approach or land on the planet. If they do, then without the heart, the planet will destroy them all.

Pierce doesn't believe the caretaker's warning, however. Realizing that there is no jamming device he decides to send another squadron down to the planet's surface. Sinclair tries to talk him out of it but he will not be swayed. Sinclair then orders Ivanova to call up a squad of fighters to create a blockade around the planet to keep Pierce's people out. Pierce thinks he's bluffing and won't really order his people to fire on Pierce's ships. Sinclair's squadron stands by to launch and gives Pierce one more chance, Pierce reluctantly cancels his own launch. Sinclair does the same but orders to have them kept at the ready, just in case.

Of course right at that moment a new ship comes through the jumpgate. It scans both the station and the Hyperion, then opens a channel to both. An alien of the same race as the caretaker identifies himself as Takarn and says that he and his people have been searching for this world for five hundred years. They are the last of their kind, and the planet is theirs. They mean to take it. They give everyone ten hours to clear out or they will attack. Pierce fires back that the planet falls under Earth jurisdiction and that Takarn has nine hours to leave or he will attack.

Sinclair goes to the caretaker, Varn, to ask him about Takarn. The caretaker says that Takarn and his people are violent outcasts of their culture. The "machine" was hidden on the world specifically to keep it from them. He lives in the machine, at the heart of it, one with it. Without his connection to it, the machine (and planet) will die. Unfortunately, Varn himself is dying. Franklin believes that is what started the seismic disturbances on the planet.

Sinclair asks Draal what he and Delenn were doing in Medlab when Varn woke up. Draal explains that Varn appeared to him and realizes that Sinclair saw him too. Sinclair leaves, saying he hopes that Varn wakes up soon, time is running short before all hell breaks loose. Delenn looks at Draal sadly and says that Draal does know what kind of help Varn was asking for. Draal says yes, he does. Londo comes in and confronts them for holding out on him. The three go to speak in private and Londo and Draal discuss that Varn needs one of them to take his place in the planet. Both seem willing to do so, so they decide to go to the planet.

Pierce manages to convince Sinclair, as unhappy about it as he is, that they can't stand aside and let Takarn take the planet. He agrees to coordinate a preemptive attack with Pierce's forces.

The Medlab calls Control to tell them that somebody just nabbed Varn. Sinclair tells Ivanova to halt all outgoing traffic but she says it is too late. She just approved a ship to go and it should be getting to the gate shortly. But when she checks it is not on her sensors. Takarn hails them and accuses them of ignoring his warnings, sending a ship to the planet. Ivanova realizes that the shuttle she just cleared is indeed heading for the planet. Takarn says he is done playing nice and prepares to attack.

The station and Hyperion coordinate a defense to hold off Takarn's forces. Meanwhile, Garibaldi decides to go after the shuttle, following it down to the planet. Inside he finds Delenn, Londo, and Draal with Varn. He is surprised to say the least, but Delenn explains to him that the machine that controls the planet needs a mind to run it. Giving it one will prevent the destruction of the planet and station. Garibaldi thinks Varn is going back in but Draal steps up and says no, he will take Varn's place. Garibaldi balks, saying he can't allow that, but Draal makes an impassioned argument for doing so.

Just as things look dire for Babylon 5, a wave of energy emanates from the planet, knocking out power to the ships and station and stopping the battle. In Control, an image of Draal appears. He addresses all three parties and says that no one gets the planet, it is free-agent. The secrets contained within must be kept secret, else they would give any race that found them unfair advantage over all others. To keep the planet safe, he entrusts its safekeeping to the Babylon 5 Advisory Council, rather than any individual race. He adds a final caveat that the defensive operations on the planet are now fully operational. No further intrusion onto the planet will be suffered. The enemy ship decides to ignore Draal's message and heads for the planet. It is destroyed.

Delenn is hesitant to leave Draal, but Varn convinces her that the machine is a wonder. It will give him whole new worlds of knowledge to explore and extend his life so that he may have the chance to learn it all. She makes a sad farewell and Garibaldi and Londo accompany her off the planet.

Pierce takes his ship and heads back to Earth. He and Sinclair part more or less on good terms. Ivanova tells Sinclair she was able to get a signal to the Mars colony, but there is something he needs to know before he tells Garibaldi. He tells Garibaldi that she was wounded but is fine and assures Garibaldi that if he needs anyone to talk to later, he's there. He puts Garibaldi through to his friend. Garibaldi pours his heart out to her, saying he wants to try to work things out. He has some leave coming up and was thinking about taking it on Mars. She stops him and says she can't. She's married, and pregnant to boot. Garibaldi wishes her well.

Delenn finds him on the observation deck later and they discuss the events of the past few days. He asks her why she didn't come to them when they realized someone needed to replace Varn. She admits if she had, she knows that Sinclair would have been the one to do it. He is looking for a purpose, she says, but his destiny lies elsewhere. Garibaldi then asks how Londo got roped into it. She admits that she now owes him a great favor, but she thinks he enjoyed it nonetheless.

Commentary

Well. Hello Captain Pierce. Look, not that it's not nice to see Earth Alliance and all, but, what the heck? Something smells rotten here.

Sinclair is in no mood for the usual fun and games.

Um, Pierce, I don't think you understand what "neutral" ground means.

Also, wow, that was a really quick turnaround between what they found and Earth getting a cruiser there.

Oh wow, random guy in the bar, please stop. Garibaldi is having none of your crap today, I promise you. Oh Garibaldi, remember you are in uniform, you are a representative of this station--oh, sigh.

Huh. Earth is obsessed with finding new technology ever since the war with the Minbari. They could work with other races to develop it on their own, but that would be too easy, I suppose. Sigh.

Jamming device? Ooh, Sinclair, you are being tricksy.

Uh oh, planet's gonna explode. That's not good news for anyone.

So...the planet was designed to blow up? Or I guess more likely it was meant to be an energy source and now that its controller is gone...

"So. If we go down there it blows. If we don't it blows anyway, just a little bit later. It's a good thing I'm Russian. We're used to hopeless situations." (Ivanova)

Oh, and here comes Londo, wanting to know what's up. Okay, well, Earth isn't completely paranoid about the other races wanting a piece of the pie. Still. Londo's not wrong about the other races being entitled to a share.

Oh, the caretaker is calling to Draal. He can still do the projection thing away from the planet, huh?

It's nice that Sinclair can take time out of his busy schedule to check on Garibaldi. GoodGuy!Sinclair for the win! Poor Garibaldi, it really is piling on him right now, isn't it. He's got to be so frustrated.

*pleasedon'tdrinkpleasedon'tdrink*

"The planet we're parked next to is about to go up like a Roman candle. What am I supposed to do, huh? Arrest it?" (Garibaldi)

Seriously, can we just take a minute to talk about how completely awesome Sinclair is? With everything that is going on, he still makes the time to make sure that his friends are okay and to make plans to keep them safe in the event of the worst case scenario.

Right. If any ships land on the planet, it blows up. That...that's one hell of a defense mode.

Oh good lord Pierce. Really? Yeah, I don't believe the guy, Imma just go down there, even though last time it really did start shooting as soon as I got close and the planet itself got all grumbly. Just...what? How can he even think this is a good idea? New tech isn't worth anything to you or anyone else if a) you die trying to get it while ALSO b) causing it to self-destruct itself. Sigh.

You know, I think I feel most sorry for all of the fighter pilots. They can't be feeling good about possibly having to go up against their own people just because a bunch of bureaucrats don't understand the concept of sharing (or of caution, for that matter).

Oh, what's this new ship doing? Scanning them? Takarn, huh? He looks like the guy in the Medlab. Searching for this place? For five hundred years? Sounds like a prior claim to me. Oh dear. Oh, and here comes Pierce. He just had to get the last word in, didn't he?

 "Worst case of testosterone poisoning I've ever seen." (Ivanova)

Under Earth jurisdiction? Didn't we already establish that the planet was in neutral territory?

So...this guy's just been, what, watching the people on the station like a television show? That's creepy.

Londo, why are you creeping around? You do realize this is why no one wants to tell you anything, don't you? Huh. I completely forgot that Londo saw Varn too. Hmm. Is Londo really considering taking Varn's place? Dude.

Heh heh, mad man pilot. It's Londo. He's having a blast. Awesome-sauce.

Sigh. Oh Garibaldi. I know you're tired of being unable to help, but this might be a bit excessive.

"If I were a landing thruster, which one of these would I be?" (Londo)

Oh goodness, their HUD graphics. That is just...let's say quaint. Gah. Computer interfaces definitely did not develop as expected, did they?

Right, so, they've decided on Draal. Which only makes sense, really. He was already on his way out "to sea." I'm still just confused about Londo being there, honestly.

Heh. I like that Draal directs his address to the three parties struggling for control. He's a few steps ahead of everyone else in recognizing that Babylon 5 really is its own separate entity. Sinclair gets it though. You can tell he approves.

Oh of course. With the matter finally resolved, Santiago gets on the horn to say, yes, of course Sinclair has jurisdiction. *eyeroll*

Oh, poor Garibaldi. After all that, she's married. With a kid on the way. Gonna take him a while to get over this one. He opened up a lot of himself by admitting how much he cared for her and all he went through to make sure she was okay.

Ooh, Delenn's comment about Sinclair's destiny. We shall be finding out very very soon, now, won't we?

--

And there we have it for today. Only three episodes left for this season, wow! Join me again on Wednesday, won't you, when we look at the next episode, "Babylon Squared."

Also, on a sadder note, rest in peace to Michael O'Hare, the actor who portrayed Commander Sinclair. He passed away on Friday.

B5 Rewatch: A Voice In the Wilderness (Part I)

Howdy folks! Welcome to another installment of the Babylon 5 rewatch! Today we'll be talking about the eighteenth episode of season one, "A Voice In the Wilderness (Part I)."

Spoilers, of course.

Let Me Sum Up

Ivanova informs Sinclair of some strange seismic readings the station has been picking up from the planet it orbits. There seems to be some kind of geographic turbulence coming from the surface. He gives her the go ahead to send a team out to do a survey and see if they can determine what's going on.

While approaching the planet, the survey team's ship is struck by a burst of energy from within the planet. Their controls are shorted out but they are able to establish an orbit and communicate to the station to be picked up. The doctor in charge of the team, Tasaki, wants to go over what information they did gather before the burst and from the burst itself and then return to the planet the next day. Sinclair okays it as long as they can safely find a way to do so. They are all worried that the planet might have become unstable or might be inhabited after all.

On the station itself, there is uneasiness among the human crew, particularly Sinclair and Garibaldi, at word of a revolt on Mars. It seems the colony is rising up against Earth and claiming independence. On top of that, Sinclair begins to see visions of an alien asking for help.

Meanwhile, an old friend and teacher of Delenn's, Draal, has arrived to visit her. He confesses that he feels a growing darkness among their people, something more than just the growing rift between the warrior and religious castes. It has left him feeling useless and outdated, so he has decided to "go to the sea" which seems to be Minbari for wandering off into the stars and never coming back. Delenn is distressed by this revelation but Draal says he does not need to leave immediately and wishes to spend as much time with her as possible before he goes.

Garibaldi reveals to Talia that an old flame of his lives on Mars and he needs to speak to her and make sure that she is alright. He enlists Talia's aid to try to secure a line of communication through a secret Psi Corps training facility on Mars. She is dubious about her ability to do this but agrees to try.

The survey team returns to the planet with an escort of starfuries. When Tasaki tries to dip down into the planet's atmosphere to take some readings (against Ivanova's orders), a round of missiles launches at the survey ship from the surface. With a distracting volley of fire from the starfuries, the survey ship manages to evade the missiles and return to Babylon 5.

Talia is unable to convince Psi Corps to let Garibaldi use them to contact his friend, but they do agree to look up any information about her. Unfortunately, the news is not great. They could only access the list of survivors and her name wasn't on it. A further search revealed no record of anyone by that name on the colony. So, either she left Mars, which Garibaldi doesn't believe likely, or something has happened to her. He decides that he will believe she's fine until he has confirmation otherwise and thanks Talia for her help.

The survey team's second foray to the planet did manage to determine that the missiles were fired from five miles beneath the planet's surface, through a fissure that Tasaki believes is artificial. He thinks maybe it was uncovered during the earthquakes and maybe the missiles are part of some long abandoned automatic defense system.

Garibaldi and Ivanova both agree that this presents a danger to the station until they know more. They also agree that it could potentially be a first-contact situation. The two of them decide to go to the planet and into the fissure to investigate, using a squadron of starfuries to provide cover fire and distract any more missiles. Inside, they discover a technological wonder of the likes mankind has never seen. They also discover a person, the alien Sinclair has been seeing in fact, plugged into a device at the heart of the facility. He asks for their help and they disengage him and take him back to the station.

As they head back to Babylon 5, Garibaldi is alerted that a jump point is forming, and a very large ship is arriving. He looks at the readout on the ship in shock and...

To be continued.

Commentary

Distinguished Minbari gentleman is distinguished. He looks like a jolly fellow.

They've been orbiting this planet for how long and they are just now doing a geological survey? Hmm. Going to assume it is just a new one in response to the current activity. Or hope, at least.

"Mr. Garibaldi is many things, but he is not omniscient!" (Sinclair)

...and there he is. Hah! Slightly stalkerish behavior though Garibaldi. Maybe just tell her you like her and ask her out instead, hmm?

Uh oh, random bolts of light from the surface of the planet are never a good thing, are they?

Oh good, they're okay. Though in need of help. I hope the energy burst doesn't hit the starfuries as well!

Meeting with Delenn and Londo. Interesting. Where's G'Kar? Okay, discussing trade routes. That makes sense I guess.

Oh, they did send previous surveys, good.

I do like that Tasaki not only seems resolved to go back and find out what's going on, but he also wants to make sure to do it with as much information and forethought as possible. Good.

An interesting recap of the conflict between the Centauri and Narn. Though...Londo, don't you think that maybe the Narn have a pretty good reason to hate your people? I mean, centuries of enslavement will kind of do that. Just, food for thought.

God, I bet sometimes Delenn and Sinclair feel like the parents of two particularly difficult children with the worst case of sibling rivalry ever.

"Without the hope that things will get better, that our inheritors will know a world that is fuller and richer than our own, life is pointless and evolution is vastly overrated." (Delenn)

Hmm. Something's up with Mars? It can't be anything good.

Oh, Delenn's friend found her. Seems like this Draal was one of her teachers, perhaps. Oh, he does seem jolly, yay!

Oh, contact with Mars cut off? Open revolt against Earth, huh? Like I said, not anything good.

Okay, random holographic dude appearing in Sinclair's quarters asking for help. That's creepy.

Well, at least Delenn is having a good day. That is a cool teapot! Hmm, seems like Draal is hiding something. Sounds like things aren't all peachy on the Minbari homeworld either.

Gonna guess going to the sea doesn't mean going on vacation. The call of the stars? That's poetic. It also seems in keeping with the Minbari mystic tendencies.

Oh, Garibaldi really isn't taking the news about Mars well. Poor guy.

Talia, wow, ice queen. Can't you tell the difference between when Garibaldi's being a goof and being serious? Aw, his lost love is still on Mars. No wonder he's so upset. Oh. Oh, he wants to piggy back on a signal from a classified Psi Corps post he's not even supposed to know about. Wow. Though, points to Talia for agreeing to at least try to help. She seems to like and deal with Garibaldi better when he's not actively trying to flirt with or hit on her.

Uh oh. Missiles. Well, I guess now we know there was definitely someone on the planet at some point in time, huh?

"Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And. If this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out!" (Ivanova)

Heh heh, Babylon 5 mantra. I love it. The best bits are when everyone else in control scurries when she notices them watching and then her little whispered apology to God. Dude. She is so awesome.

So, probably an automatic defense system uncovered by recent earthquakes. Oh, how cute. Both Sinclair and Ivanova are excited to go down and check it out.

Wow, Londo giving Garibaldi advice. Awesome.

"You looked as if you needed a friend." (Londo)
"I did. Thanks." (Garibaldi)
"You're welcome. Now. I go to spread happiness to the rest of the station. It's a terrible responsibility. But I have learned to live with it." (Londo)

Oh, but then he tricked Garibaldi into paying for his drink. Even better. This rewatch is giving me all kinds of Londo feels.

Oh, it's the holograph dude again, this time appearing to Londo. Interesting. Odds it has something to do with the planet? High.

Alright, diversion engaged? Yup? Okay, Sinclair and Ivanova off to explore. A very very dark pit. Ooh, pretty crystals. No life signs detected though.

No joy for getting Garibaldi a link to Mars. But at least the Psi Corps rep is willing to check on his friend's status. That's good. Though I agree with Talia on the completely paranoid bit, I am kind of amused that she was surprised by it.

Ooh, booby trap. Will cut down on tourism. Yes, Ivanova, it will. Snort. Dude, yay for science! I love these two together. Can we have a spinoff that's just The Adventures of Sinclair and Ivanova? Maybe with the occasional guest appearance by Garibaldi. Well, they've found something. Oh, is the planet a giant computer? Is that what the deal is? I am trying to remember. I mean, I kind of know what's going on with the holograph dude, but I am forgetting the why of it.

Oh my goodness. Wow. So I guess the Hokey Pokey has persisted all this time. That's...disturbing. Hehe, I like Draal. Oh man, it amuses me so much how confusing the other species all find humanity. Seriously. Because we are messed up, okay.

Oh, that is not the news that Garibaldi wanted. At least it's nothing concrete. He's gonna hold on to hope as long as he can.

Sinclair is geeking out. Uh oh, another earthquake. I sense they are not unrelated to holograph dude.

...and there he is in the flesh. Well. Nothing inspires kindness from others like a threat against them and theirs. A little clarification, please?

"It's a Russian thing. When we're about to do something stupid we like to catalog the full extent of our stupidity for future reference." (Ivanova)

Hmm. Is it wise to remove someone from a planet entirely when they were just plugged in to it? Well, I guess we'll find out.

Oh, and look, a new problem! Just in time for the "to be continued." Awesome.

--

That's it for this week! Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you again on Monday for the second part of this story, "A Voice In the Wilderness (Part II)."