B5 Watchthrough: Midnight on the Firing Line
Monday, August 17th, 2020 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ariela
Since The Gathering aired a full year before the first season of Babylon 5, and was terrible, Midnight on the Firing Line serves as the series' functional pilot, if not its official one, and thus is an essential episode. The first half of S1 is really rough, but fortunately Midnight on the Firing Line is one of the better episodes in that run.
For those wanting to go in-depth, both in analysis of the episode itself and in how it fits into the series--and the development of scifi television--overall, as usual I highly recommend Rowan Kaiser's analysis over at the AV Club:
Why should you watch Babylon 5?
There’s a partial answer in the first season première, “Midnight On The Firing Line.” The Centauri ambassador to the station, Londo Mollari, relates a prophetic dream where he dies alongside Ambassador G’Kar of the Narn, their hands around each others’ throats. These are two major characters. They’re both in the main credits. And they’re treated as deathly enemies, not just now, in this introductory episode, but in the future. That’s impressive for any TV show, let alone a pre-2000 series.
The prophetic nature of the dream also serves as a promise. It says “This will pay off. Keep watching.” Even though “Midnight On The Firing Line” isn’t the greatest episode—it’s fine, with some good and a few bad moments—that promise, that conflict, suggests that Babylon 5 is far more ambitious than it seems.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about it since you should watch the whole thing. Check out the Lurker's Guide entry if you want behind-the-scenes info and some analysis from (at the time) people who hadn't seen the rest of the series, so it's spoiler-free.
Heads-up: Sinclair
A lot of people really hate Michael O'Hare's Commander Sinclair. I didn't have an issue with him, but I can sort of see it: he's a bit stiff. The good news, if you don't like him, is that he's only in command of B5 for the first season. He makes a few reappearances after that, but only a few. So you don't have to put up with it for long, if he's a barrier to your enjoyment.
However, I would urge you--with hindsight and since we're moving through this season as quickly as possible and, like, I'm not arguing it's good or that his acting is good--to watch with compassion, because the back story to what was going on is both tragic and, I think, deeply moving in how it's a story about a lot of good people trying to do right by each other.
In short, O'Hare was suffering from some intense mental illness. J. Michael Straczynski (the showrunner, "JMS") wanted to shut down the series rather than force him to perform when he was struggling, but O'Hare didn't want his cast and crewmates to lose their jobs. JMS promised to do whatever was needed to get him through the first season until they could bring on a replacement, and to take the knowledge of what was really going on with O'Hare to his grave. O'Hare told him that after he was dead, he wanted his story told. In an industry not known for its compassion, I think the obvious love, admiration, and care that these people had for each other is really beautiful. Here's JMS talking about it:
