Messages From Earth

Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri

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WHOAH.
This was a good one. It was arc-heavy, complex, and even FUNNY. So sit back and relax, folks, this is going to take a while.
Mainly, it gets the whole Earthforce/President Clark thing moving forward REALLY fast. It starts with an ISN broadcast that first tells the truth about Clark's "illness" on that fateful, day, but then goes on to say that it might be a plot to destroy Earth from within. And showing the supposedly CONFISCATED video of the Shadow ships, they think Earth might soon be invaded.
Oh, dear...
The truth is MUCH more sinister. Cut to: Marcus beating about 12 people's brains out with his fighting pike to protect some blonde woman. Why? What's so important about her? It's what she knows. She meets with Sheridan, Delenn, Ivanova, Garibaldi, Franklin, Lennier, and Marcus to tell her chilling tale.
You see, she works for IPX--"We bring good things BACK to life", erm, no, I mean, "Exploring the past to create a better future". You know, the company that found that NASTY little thing in "Infection", WAAAAYYYY back in the early first season? Those guys. A while ago, they found something rather strange buried on Mars.
A Shadow vessel.
Yes, the SHADOWS are THAT CLOSE to EARTH ITSELF!!
Not good, not good at all...
It gets worse. Not only was there ONE Shadow vessel there, but as the lady, Dr. Mary Kirkish, watched, ANOTHER one showed up to dig the other one out. Then, with "a scream that goes right into your mind and just rips it apart", they both flew off into the sunset...
But don't stop shuddering yet. The REALLY creepy thing is that when they told Earth Central about it, they were ordered to leave it alone and tell NO-ONE of it. Now all of the group that found it is either DEAD or missing, except for Kirkish herself.
As if this wasn't bad enough, there is another one on Ganymede, and she believes that EarthGov is studying it--not to learn how to DESTROY it, but to learn how to DUPLICATE it!
To make US more like THEM.
It turns out that Garibaldi was also on Mars at the time and saw part of these happenings himself, too. He didn't get much proof from it except for one object:
A Psi Corps badge...
WHOAH boy.
Meanwhile, the whole Nightwatch thing is also cranking right along. Zack is starting to SERIOUSLY re-think his membership in the Watch as it gets even more paranoid--they are now authorised to watch just about EVERYONE, right down to the extremely personal levels. The reason is supposedly to find out who's been saying bad things about the government--but the REAL reason is to find out who knows about the Shadow vessels on Mars and Ganymede...And the mysterious "Code 7-R" makes another appearance...
Back to the main action, Sheridan says he has to go and think, alone, for a while after hearing this shocking announcement. He stands alone in the observation dome, looking out at the stars...
and takes off his Earthforce insignia...
Oooh...I felt the cold hands of foreshadowing running down my spine at THAT one, let me tell you. Also notice that at the meeting afterwards where Sheridan tells the others what he's going to do, he is NOT wearing a uniform even though everyone else in the room is. Sheridan has officially gone REBEL, boys, girls, and hermaphrodites!
Then Delenn comes in and asks him if he's made his decision, he says yes, and after leaving everything behind that would trace it back to him should he get caught, he leaves the station on the White Star to go against his own government. Open defiance. He is going to find the Shadow vessel on Ganymede--
--and DESTROY it, to keep it away from EarthGov.
The part on the White Star had some great character and cultural development. We discover some of how cool a guy Sheridan's father is; we learn that Minbari sleep at a 45-degree angle because "to sleep in the horizontal is tempting death". And the funny/touching bit in which Sheridan keeps sliding right off the slanted Minbari bed, and Delenn says, "Do not worry, I will be watching. I will catch you if you should fall."
Look out for those words to show up again in an early fourth-season episode...
They get to Ganymede only to find out they're too late--EarthGov is ALREADY putting a Human pilot into the ship. Once in the ship, the person will merge with it and become its CPU, essentially. THEN the ship activates. But you have to be properly PREPARED for it--and how would EarthGov know how to do that?--or else the melding will not work properly and the vessel will go INSANE. Which is exactly what happens. (Creepy point of interest--HOW does Delenn know SO MUCH about how to run a Shadow vessel? That disturbed me a bit, and I have a feeling it was intentional.)
Anyway, the ship goes ZERKOID, and starts DESTROYING THE WHOLE COLONY!!
Sheridan gets another one of his brilliant-but-insane ideas--get the Shadow ship mad enough to follow them, plunge the Whitestar as deep as possible into Jupiter's atmosphere, then pull out HOPEFULLY in time to save themselves--while luring the Shadow vessel so it is squooshed by the atmospheric pressure. This part was VERY well-done, with great special effects and suspense out the wazoo (whatever that is). I especially liked when Sheridan asks Lennier for more power to get them out, and Lennier snaps "If I was holding anything back I would tell you!" I got the feeling that for a moment there, the normally reserved, quiet, sweet little Lennier was slightly PISSED!
The second great moment of this part was when the Shadow ship SHRIVELED up like a dead BUG under a magnifying glass (not that I ever DID that, mind you) and squooshed into a pile of black goo in the Jovian atmosphere. (and don't ya just LOVE that word, "squooshed"?)
YAYY!!!!
But it ain't over yet. An EarthForce vessel shows up to investigate the disturbance and, finding a mysterious vessel that they can't see too clearly due to the interference of Jupiter's atmosphere (which the Whitestar is still in, just not real deep anymore), they ASSUME that it must be the one that ATTACKED THE COLONY!!
Sigh. They just can't win.
And as if THAT wasn't bad enough--it's SHERIDAN'S old ship, the Agamemmnon!
Another great piece of foreshadowing--the first time that Sheridan must decide whether or not to FIRE on one of his OWN PEOPLE'S SHIPS.
He chooses not to...THIS time...
But since he can't fight them and surrender is not an option either, he's out of ideas. This is where Delenn comes in. Her idea is to stay in the atmosphere where the Agamemmnon can't see them clearly and OPEN A JUMP-POINT.
"Not to criticise your...creative tactical solutions", says Lennier, "but aren't you just a little OFF YOUR NUT?!"
No, he doesn't actually SAY that last part, but it's clear he's THINKING it. Now both Sheridan AND Delenn have made wacky combat decisions in the space of about 5 minutes. They're both EQUALLY mad!
Awww...how sweet, they're meant for each other...
Anyway, they make a rather scary-looking jumpgate and do indeed escape, and come back to B5 to some interesting news reports. They say that the "mysterious vessel" seen at Jupiter, which probably destroyed the colony at Ganymede--in other words, them--was never identified but WAS destroyed. "You look awfully good for a dead man." says Ivanova to Sheridan. Major foreshadowing disguised as a simple little joke, yet again...
"But the important thing is, we did it, and we got away with it."
DID they...?
JUST as you're thinking it's okay to breathe a sigh of relief, Zack is ordered by Nightwatch to investigate Mr. Garibaldi himself--and in a late-breaking news bulletin, President Clark DECLARES MARTIAL LAW on Earth!
Now, what I've told you here is by itself enough to fill TWO episodes of almost any other show, but in addition to all this heavy arc stuff, it ALSO contained a lot of humour. "SHUT UP AND EAT IT!", Sheridan and Garibaldi WATCHING poor Ivanova intently as she eats the bacon and eggs (!) that Marcus (!) sent her, the scene with Garibaldi and G'Kar in G'Kar's cell (G'Kar: "Sometimes I even SING!" Garibaldi: "Yeah, there's a petition going around." G'Kar: "Really? For or against?" Garibaldi: "According to the sound, most of them think we're TORTURING you in here!"), and of course Marcus himself is always good for a laugh or six. When trying to get Ivanova's attenion during his report: "Of course, there's always the danger of a giant space dragon, the kind that eats the sun every 30 days, but what kind of behaviour can you expect from a reptile? Did I mention that my nose is on fire, that I have fifteen wild badgers living in my trousers? Or would you prefer ferrets?" and the scene in which he explains how he fits into the Babylon 5 Grand Scheme of Things by making up a chart that uses the OTTOMAN EMPIRE as a model...he's always funny.
And then there were a couple of small bits of...UNINTENTIONAL humour. At least I thought they were. I could have sworn I saw two little bloopers in this episode. The first is when G'Kar is writing in his cell. First, he takes the pen in his RIGHT hand and starts to write. The up-close shot shows a LEFT hand writing on the page! (It also shows us what the Narn language looks like, but, hey, I'm having more fun noticing bloopers). The second one came when Sheridan makes the speech to the bridge of the White Star after successfully making a jump from an atmosphere, and he starts it off with "Ladies and gentle..."(chuckle)"...Minbari." Now, first of all, exactly WHO all is he making this speech to? Out of the ENTIRE room, only Delenn, Lennier and himself can speak English! And secondly--here's the blooper--right after he says "...Minbari", the female Minbari pilot on the left, at the front of the screen, smiles. But how could she know he was making a joke IF SHE DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH? My guess is the actress forgot and just smiled naturally 'cos it's a funny line, without thinking, and they never noticed and left it in.
Bloooooo-perrrr....
Hey, cool, we should start collecting notes for a "Nitpickers' Guide to Babylon 5!"
But seriously, barring a couple of tiny mistakes that only a true needs-a-life fan like myself would notice, (and which do NOT matter to the quality of the show at all anyway), this was a GREAT episode. Definitely watch it.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a drink. Valtoo!

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