B5: 1.05 Parliament of Dreams

[snickfic]

Good Stuff
* N'Toth
* The plot to assassinate G'Kar
* a narn in glasses
*

G'KAR: That's your flight. I suggest you board quickly. With luck, they will never find you. But if they do, you will know pain.

N'TOTH: And you will know fear.

G'KAR: And then you will die. Have a pleasant flight.

Bad Stuff
* Everything to do with Sinclair and Catherine. OH MY GOODNESS Y'ALL. I can feel the soap operaness on me.
* Given the difficulty of demonstrating Earth's "dominant belief system," one would think the show might question whether other races might also not be religiously monolithic? But apparently not.

Comments

[ruuger]

Given the difficulty of demonstrating Earth's "dominant belief system," one would think the show might question whether other races might also not be religiously monolithic? But apparently not.

Ah, but they're not monolithic. "Parliament of Dreams" makes it look like they are (IIRC, JMS's explanation was that the ceremonies represented the ambassadors' religious backgrounds rather than their whole cultures'), but alternative religious systems do get mentioned later in the show. Though admittedly, most alien religions are never explored as extensively as the religious backgrounds of many human characters are.

[snickfic]

I assumed that surely the show wouldn't just leave the topic there, but it did seem a sort of peculiar contrast between the ambassadors' ceremonies and Sinclair's display of earth's variety.

[likeadeuce]

Given the difficulty of demonstrating Earth's "dominant belief system," one would think the show might question whether other races might also not be religiously monolithic? But apparently not.

I have the same issue with that episode. Ruuger is right that it is EVENTUALLY demonstrated but the narrative of the episode doesn't acknowledge that Sinclair is aware of the diversity, iirc.

(Also, the whole thing where despite all the talk of human diversity, the human characters on the show are all portrayed speaking English* and -- aside from the occasional mention by Ivanova of her Russianess -- seem fundamentally American.) *I mean, obviously, this is partly a function of being an English language show, but unless I'm misremembering something (and it has been years since I watched it) B5 actually gestures way less at Earth diversity than, to pick the obvious contrast, Star Trek. A lot of Trek's multiculturalism has historically been hamhanded, certainly, but B5 doesn't so much seem like it's trying, at least with the core cast, to make them seem other than American.

[snickfic]

Hmm, is there any indication that the B5 space station was largely an American project? Otherwise, that does seem a peculiar blind spot.

[likeadeuce]

It's been a LONG time, but if I recall Earth's government is treated as just 'Earth' -- and the president is named 'Santiago' so that may be meant to imply he's not American. But culturally most of the humans we meet come across as American (though some of them have sort of non-specific accents) -- basically, B5 develops Earth culture way less than the space station culture, and the result is that it comes across as a USian white default (w/ Franklin & Ivanova as the outliers).

Have you gotten any further with the show? I'm personally fond of season 1 but I do agree with the general notion that it picks up a lot in season 2 and takes another quantum leap mid season 3.

[snickfic]

I have not made any new progress yet. Today might be a good day for it, though. I shall be making a full report when I watch more!

[selenak]

Ha, I knew you'd love Na'Toth. (This is why I listed her as an s1 asset. Julie Caitlin Brown is just great in the part, too.) There's a lot I could say about what it establishes and foreshadows about G'Kar, too, but all of it would be spoilerly, so, no.


re: religion, what ruuger said.

Oh, before I forget: as this is also where Lennier first shows up, you've now met all the aides as well as the ambassadors. Keep that first encounter between him and Delenn in mind, is all I'm saying.

[snickfic]

Na'Toth was just great fun. I think she'll rein G'Kar in nicely - or at least commentate drily from the sidelines. Either would be acceptable. :)