1.5 "The Parliament of Dreams" & 1.6 "Mind War"

First of all for those who have been wondering why they have not been able to spot Bill Mumy from "Lost in Space" as Lennier in these early episodes, the answer is because he does not show up until episode 5. So much for studying every alien face in the show trying to figure out why I could not tell which one was his. Fortunately when Walter Koenig from "Star Trek" shows up there is no such problem. The pattern of these first season videos continues with one episode focusing on the diplomats aboard "Babylon 5" and the other featuring troublesome visitors to the Earth space station. The difference is that both of these episodes are the best of those basic "Babylon 5" episodes to date:

Episode 5, "The Parliament of Dreams" (Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Aired February 23, 1994) has Babylon 5 serving as the host to a weeklong festival in which each species demonstrates the dominant religious beliefs of their planet. Of course, this has Commander Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) worrying about what he can do to represent Earth (he comes up with a rather simple and elegant solution). But that is a minor problem for the Commander given that his old flame Catherine Sakai (Julia Nickson) has shown up on Babylon 5. Apparently ever two or three years they cross paths, renew their torrid relationship, and then watch it implode. However, there does not appear to be much of anything they can do about breaking the pattern. Meanwhile, an old enemy sends G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas) a death bed death threat that an assassin is coming to kill him.

The religious beliefs of the various species on Babylon 5 actually end up being minor details in this episode, which I think is a result of the fact that we are early in the series and Straczynski has not yet worked out all the cultural details on the various species. Hopefully, more developed notions of these cultural beliefs will be provided down the road (as well as the sight of Londo in purple). Meanwhile, we have Sinclair and G'Kar trying to avoid their respective fates, with the expected mixed results. Anytime G'Kar is on the receiving end there is certainly fun to be had.

Episode 6, "Mind War" (Written by Straczynski, Aired March 2, 1994) makes a major leap forward in terms of the roles of telepaths in the Babylon 5 universe. Certainly to this point the station's resident telepath, Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson) was not being utilized to any great degree. More specifically, the powers of the telepaths seemed relatively minor. That all changes with this episode, when Talia's old Psi Corps instructor, Jason Ironheart (William Allen Young), shows up on the station as the target of a Psi-Cops manhunt. Inspector Jarvert in this case is Bester (Koenig), who exhibits much stronger powers than Talis has ever shown. However, that proves to be nothing compared to Ironheart, who has been the victim of secret experiments and has evolved into a super-telepath that may mean he is no longer be human. Now the thought police want the guinea pig dead. Meanwhile, Catharine intends to survey a promising planet for a mining operation only to be warned by G'Kar to stay away.

Clearly "Mind War" is a major "Babylon 5" episode because it radically expands our understanding of the telepaths circa 2258. Now we understand that there are different ratings in the tradition of Anne McCaffrey's Tower series. I am curious if Straczynski planned this all along or if this episode represents second thoughts on his part. Certainly this is the point at which some dystopian elements are introduced into the series with the allegations that Ironheart makes about what the Psi-Cops are up to. The key line in the episode is when G'Kar tells Catharine that when it comes to the people on Babylon 5, nobody knows anything. Clearly we need to be rethinking our assumptions about many of these characters.

Two of the Best Episodes from Season 1

"The Parliament of Dreams" is a wonderful introduction to the religious beliefs of the major alien powers. Ambassador Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik) is hilarious during a Centauri religious banquet. Lennier (Bill Mumy) arrives at Babylon 5, joining Ambassador Delenn (Mira Furlan) as her new aide. Much to his dismay, Ambassador G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas) learns that one of the pilgrims arriving at Babylon 5's religious festival is an assassin from the Narn homeworld. In "Mind War" Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson) is reunited with her Psi Corps instructor and lover Jason Ironheart, the ill-fated subject of an EarthForce experiment designed to increase telepathic powers in Psi Corps telepaths. In pursuit of Ironheart is Psi Cop Alfred Bester (Walter Koenig) who willing bends rules and regulations trying to capture Ironheart. Without question, both were among the finest episodes of Babylon 5's first season.