Babylon 5 randomness

[sholio]

I rewatched Neroon's introduction episode last night (and then a few more across his arc). It's so fascinating going back to season one now!


I was actually just going to watch his introduction scene, but ended up watching his whole first episode and then the rest of his scenes throughout the series, because I hate joy. I wish we'd had just a couple more episodes with him, and I can't believe what a turnaround on him I did, after being completely indifferent to him at first! Honestly I feel sorry for him in that first episode, in which he's not only the recipient of Delenn's body-snatching bait and switch, but when she does get the upper hand, she then proceeds to grind the boot on his face as hard as possible. Anti-human racism aside, no wonder he was so willing to throw her to the wolves in season two.

He has an absolutely badass introductory scene, though - that slow march with the banners and honor guard.

That first episode - 1x18 "Legacies" - really brings home how much more messed up with PTSD and generally distrustful of the Minbari Sinclair is compared to Sheridan later. I know part of this is simply because Sheridan stepped into season two of Sinclair's character arc, so they didn't want to rehash the same territory with both characters. But they are very different, and it's fascinating to me that Sheridan, whose main wartime claim to fame is killing a lot of Minbari, is actually somewhat more easygoing about them in general than Sinclair is. Of course, they're different people, and it also makes psychological sense that Sinclair - who doesn't remember what he did in the war, and came out of it in a much more weird and ambiguous position - has more conflicted feelings than Sheridan, who had a fairly straightforward role and came out of it a war hero (and also dealt with the fighting in a less up close and personal way than Sinclair - commanding a battleship vs being a fighter pilot, basically). So I do feel all of that tracks, but it's still interesting to see how much wariness Sinclair has about them.

"Legacies" is also the episode with the teenage telepath, which has one of my least favorite bits in all of season one, that line about Na'Toth's mind being "cold, ugly, and alien." I had nearly forgotten what absolute dicks everyone was to the Narns in season one - Ivanova trying to argue her out of going to the Narn homeworld by pointing out that it's a barren wasteland and the money they're offering her isn't worth being surrounded by Narns all the time! That's going to be pretty different later on, too. I do wish Na'Toth had been able to stick around, and now I crave a fanfic in which the girl (Alisa) meets other Narns, maybe even Na'Toth again, when she's been on Minbar for a few years and isn't quite as put off by aliens as she was here ...

Anyway, then I also watched the Neroon scenes in season two (honestly pretty forgettable, he's a one-note asshole here, though as noted above, not entirely without cause) and season three (the episode where he does his heel face turn, not incidentally the point when I started liking him; Marcus making him laugh is such a great bit) and season four (❤️❤️❤️😭😭😭). I can't believe he's only in five episodes; he has such a solid character arc and seems like so much more a part of the show than he really is.

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

"Legacies" is also the episode with the teenage telepath, which has one of my least favorite bits in all of season one

Same! When I was rewatching, most season 1 episodes were less bad than I was bracing for, but that part not so much.

Very interesting points and Sheridan vs Sinclair, and I agree completely. It also makes me think of what you said in an earlier post (I think a script books one? I've lost track...) about Bruce Boxleitner not being seen as a dramatic actor, and so making Sheridan sort of goofy and happy-go-lucky as a result -- which is such an interesting angle for decorated war hero/war criminal (and galactic savior later on, although I'm definitely less sold on that part of his role).

[sovay]

I can't believe he's only in five episodes; he has such a solid character arc and seems like so much more a part of the show than he really is.

Yes! I was reminded of that during your first time through the show. I also always think there's so much more of him. I attribute some of it to the writing and a lot of it to John Vickery.

[selenak]

Neroon was a character whom I really only discovered for me when first rewatching the show, not just because by then I was paying more attention to the Minbari than during the original broadcast time when the Centauri and Narn had taken all my focus, but also because knowing how he developes really does create a very different resonance if you watch his earlier scenes. Ditto for Delenn, of course. Mind you, I do still wonder whether she really expected everyone on the Minbari side to swallow "it was a miracle!" as an explanation. But then, Delenn along with the entire religious caste expected the warrior caste to accept the surrender order without giving them any explanation whatsoever, so...

Badmouthing the Narn: to be fair, G'Kar does do some skeevy stuff in the first season (and in the original pilot!), and the Narn government is responsible for the unprovoked attack and takeover of the Centauri outpost at the start of the season (which is then mirrored by the Centauri Shadow backed attack of the Narn outpost at the end of the season). So you can understand why they don't have the best public image in s1, where they're very much the new and coming power acting often in a "we can do what we want now, so there!" way. (Though you'd think the fact they supplied Earth with weapons in the recent war would also have gained them some sympathy, never mind the colonization by the Centauri backstory.) This said, Alisa's line sounds genuinely xenophobic, especially since she doesn't say anything of the sort about the equally alien Delenn, and if you haven't watched the rest of the show, you could very well believe it is trying to contrast "nice" aliens (Minbari) with bad aliens (Narn). Then again, "nobody here is exactly who they seem" (G'kar to Catherine Sakai) is also an early s1 line, and so I'm inclined to go with "it's intentionally misleading, given what's in store with the Narn".

[lyr]

I came to adore Neroon (and also find him surprisingly hot, considering how very Not Hot the actor was playing his other B5 role.) I also wish we'd gotten more time with him.