Babylon 5

[ProfCrash]

Kimball, I didn't thihnk the board moderator had enough to do so I figured I would make some work for her (evil grin)

Wizzard, I think Kosh was targeted for a couple of reasons. 1) He was on B5 and advising Sheridan. In killing Kosh, they remove part of Sheridan's support. 2) Kosh was on Babylon 5 making him an easier target then other Vorlons.

My impression was that the Vorlons brought out their planet killer and started wiping out planets that the Shadows had touched. That action lead the Shadows to brining out their planet killer.

[fanuilhgkar]

My impression was that Kosh was assassinated as revenge, since he was the one who convinced the Vorlon government to approve a move against the Shadows. It may have annoyed the Vorlons, also, that they were goaded into action by a mere Human, after which one of their own was murdered. As Lyta said, it had been a very long time since a Vorlon had died.

As a commander, Sheridan left a lot to be desired. I realize it's TV and I shouldn't get fussy over the disconnects, and JMS had a story to tell and he did what he had to do in order to make what he wanted to happen, happen.

But... Sheridan displays a remarkable lack of concern for a staff officer, and a friend, who is obviously in trouble. He runs off alone to fight a battle to avenge a crime committed against his wife. He wasn't sure it was going to make any difference in the larger picture. In a recent episode, Sheridan confronts Garibaldi about the incident involving Lise, he gripes that he's got three dead people on the deck, yadda yadda yadda, and I was wondering.... He's addressing a civilian, a private citizen. Garibaldi doesn't work for him anymore. Does Sheridan drag all the local contractors in for a butt-chewing every time they do something wrong? No wonder he doesn't have time to think.

And to have not disabled Garibaldi's identicard access to restricted areas was sloppy. As was not retrieving his service weapon(s). Any police officers out there? If you quit, aren't you required to turn your weapon in, if it was issued to you when you joined? This far in the future and we're just not paying attention, it seems.

Ah,well. For all the pontificating that goes on about being concerned for the greater good, Sheridan makes some remarkably selfish decisions. Any commander in the real military who displayed such disregard for the people in his command and the standards of the service he was in would find himself (or herself) fired in short order.

Rant over. Sorry. :-/

[iznardy]

nope, still don't see any evidence that sheridan's trip to z'hadum was motivated by revenge. he didn't tell ivanova or franklin about the nukes because he didn't tell him he was going. if he had said he was going to z'hadum, they would have tried to prevent it.

he had a simple choice. anna said the shadows would meet with him and tell him why they were at war if he came in person and by himself. if he rejected these conditions, then the shadows wouldn't meet with him. sheridan wanted to find out the truth. he was willing to risk his life to find out. he went prepared to retaliate against the shadows if they tried to trap him. how important was finding out the truth? was it worth risking capture or death? well, sheridan's call was that the alliance had no real chance unless he could learn what was motivating the shadows and what lay behind their tactics. he said as much to delenn. he had to know how they thought to defeat them.

in actual fact, it is the shadows and not sheridan who behave like chowderheads in this case.

(1) they allow sheridan to come to their homeworld in the flagship of his fleet instead of aboard the shadow transport provided by anna

(2) they allow him to penetrate all the planetary defenses and park the White Star in orbit, without commandeering the vessel, placing guards on board of it, or locking on plantetary and fleet weapons systems.

(3) they allow sheridan to remain in direct communication with the ship during his visit.

(4) when he escapes from him, they do nothing to destroy the ship.

now, what kind of military power allows an enemy to penetrate all its defenese and bring a juggernaut into position for a suicide mission?

in tactical terms, sheridan comes out the winner here, not the shadows.

[iznardy]

nope, still don't see any evidence that sheridan's trip to z'hadum was motivated by revenge. he didn't tell ivanova or franklin about the nukes because he didn't tell them he was going. if he had said he was going to z'hadum, they would have tried to prevent it, probably enlisting delenn.

he had a simple choice. anna said the shadows would meet with him and tell him why they were at war if he came in person and by himself. if he rejected the conditions, then the shadows wouldn't meet with him. sheridan wanted to find out the truth. he was willing to risk his life to find out what exactly the shadows were trying to accomplish. he went to z'hadum prepared to retaliate against the shadows if they tried to trap him. how important was finding out the truth? was it worth risking capture or death? well, sheridan's believed that the alliance had no real chance unless he could learn what lay behind the shadows and their tactics. he said as much to delenn. he had to know how they thought to defeat them.

it is the shadows and not sheridan who behave like chowderheads in this case.

(1) they allow sheridan to come to their homeworld in the flagship of his fleet instead of aboard the shadow transport provided for anna

(2) they allow him to penetrate all the planetary defenses and park the White Star in orbit, without commandeering the vessel, or placing guards on board of it, or locking on plantetary and fleet weapons systems.

(3) they allow sheridan to remain in direct communication with the ship during his visit.

(4) when he escapes, they do nothing to destroy the ship.

now, what kind of military power allows an enemy to penetrate all its defeneses and bring a juggernaut into position for a suicide mission?

in tactical terms, sheridan comes out the winner here, not the shadows.

[MerleZ]

Iz, those are plot holes, all of them. Likewise, I wondered how Londo managed to mine the island where the Shadows parked on Centauri Prime. Had to have been done right under their noses.

And of course, how did the Drazi then manage to mine Centauri Prime later on, right under their noses as well? Seems to me everybody's so trusting any alien race can just waltz right in with a bunch of doomsday weapons without so much as a "Whatcha doin' there, bub?" from the inhabitants.

[AsIs the Kitten]

Sinclair had a death wish. It was one of the things that held him from higher command. And it was explained motivation for the character. Sinclair also wasn't high up in the food chain, he had been parked on Babylon 5 in part because the Government were going thru the motions on B5 and everyone's government thought it was doomed to fail. Sinclair was there as a scapegoat.

[MerleZ]

Fan, I think the responsibility for cancelling Garibaldi's ideniticard and retrieving his weapon is rightly put on the new head of security. That's Zach's job, not Sheridan's. And if you want to blame Sheridan for it, then blame his exec, too. If Sheridan missed it, then Ivanova should've picked it up.

Crash, Sheridan told Franklin he wanted revenge. But he told other reasons to Delenn. Probably a combination of the two. His emotions often do cloud his judgment. That's what makes him human. Sinclair put himself in harm's way a number of times, as well, for reasons no better than Sheridan's.

[Nommy]

OK, yes, Sheridan went to Zahadum partly to get revenge regarding his wife, however, he did say to someone that he was also going there to find out their side. Just as Anna had said.

Of course he knew it was a trap so he set up the nukes.

Now, I believe that the Nukes killed a lot of shadows. It was a major underground city for them In fact, it was probably their main base of operations and that threw the whole Shadow fleet and command structure into a tizzy (jeez..did I say tizzy?). The Vorlons , now that the shadows were in dis-array, decided that it was now to their advantage to finally tip the scales and do things only their way. By wiping out the shadow influence wehrever it may be. This, I believe would have been the first time that they did this? Not sure.

[Rantarn]

Iz, well Justin was supposedly Sheridan's counterpart. So it only makes sense that he'd be a chowderhead too.