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ITS TIME FOR MY BOY CHECKOV IN BABYLON 5. As much as I love him in Star Trek, Walter Koenig as Bester in Babylon 5 is easily his best role, and I'm excited we finally get to see him. Vera and I talk about him and more in the latest episode of the Jumpgate podcast as we talk about Mind War!

Files

Jumpgate #7 - Mind War

Vera Wylde and Jessie Gender take up residence on Babylon 5, taking in one episode at a time. Season 1, Episode 6, Mind War - A person from Talia's past returns with the worst kind of cops in pursuit: the Psy-cops.

Comments

Anonymous

One aspect of Talia's relationship with Jason that wasn't mentioned but really rubbed me the wrong way is the aspect of race, specifically how Talia and Jason have their one awkward head touch instead of kissing and the reveal of their romantic connection is only through Talia's conversation with Sinclair. Especially since we just had the introduction of a very sexual relationship on screen between Sinclair, a white man, and Sakai, an Asian woman.

Keith Morse

I'm curious about the Michelle Paver (sp?) books that Jessie mentioned. Which ones did you read? I'm definitely interested in getting into the Eldritch Horror subgenre.

Becky Sparks

This was definitely Walter Koenig's best role, and Bester is one of my favorite antagonists of all time. He's fun and menacing, but SO complex and human under that.

North

Poor Vera...this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the supremely fucked up power dynamics in the Psi Corp. 😬

Anonymous

Thank you for calling out the unacceptable sexism in the show. Garibaldi is SO skeevy and the scene where Talia talks about being "lovers" with her former instructor, that was all bad, plus I found it weird that she was made (by the writers I mean) to describe in great detail to her BOSS what sex is like for telepaths. Just ughs all around. I loved Vera's "visual" gag at the beginning and hey, some of us got it in one and thought it was very clever! :D Really appreciate the spoiler minute, I need you to do this for Discovery because I am truly struggling with season 2!

Anonymous

Another great listen but who is Kristina? 😉

Keith D. Jones

Please forgive me if this is known info, but fun fact: Jerry Doyle and Andrea Thompson were married. They thought it was funny that his character perved on her and her character didn't like him. Another fun fact: Doyle's post-show career was to become a Limbaugh-style conservative radio talk show host. He had also loved winding people up over politics on set. So Garibaldi's more abrasive characteristics may not have been a stretch for the actor.

Keith D. Jones

I've got only two things to say about this week's spoiler minute, and I can hopefully type this with a minimum of spoilerage(sp?). "Zogg!" and "I'll get a bucket." This is understandable. It's hard to keep everything in order when trying to convey a whole heaping pile of information in less than a minute while somebody who hasn't seen the show is watching.

North

IIRC, JMS said he worked some actor traits into the characters as he got to know the actors better. So it's likely that a lot of Garibaldi's bs took inspiration from Doyle's.

Keith D. Jones

Ah yes, the things I learned by lurking on the Babylon-5 usenet group back when the show was airing. I also got some of the script books because I actually like reading plays and scripts, but there was no way I was going to get all 15 books so I would get the extra book with all the special stuff like the original pitch document sent to studios including Paramount. I've learned some things about the secret history of Babylon-5 over the years through targeted google searches, including the fact the original pitch was for two shows--Babylon-5 and [redacted]--spanning ten years. Some of what was planned for [redacted] was pulled into Babylon-5 and some of [redacted] was repurposed into Crusade.

Anonymous

Your podcast made me watching it again. I watched B5 when it came out, later on VHS and now on DVD ;) I loved it so much back then and I think it is really interesting to see/hear how Vera is watching it for the first time :D (And I feel for you, it must be so hard to keep silent.)

Anonymous

Since hearing G'Kars ant speech almost 30 years ago, I've never looked at an ant without his words echoing faintly in my head. Jumpgate is such a treat, and you and Vera are hilarious and insightful.