Posted this 3 months ago when I’d thought things had gotten bad enough. Boy, was I wrong.
Seems there is no bottom.
“We think we’ve come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it’s all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again.”
I think about Earth Alliance President Clark a lot nowadays.
There’s some really poignant lines about following illegal orders. If you like DS9 and don’t like what’s happening under the current US government I implore you to watch Babylon 5.
Spoilers, and the clip hits so much harder when you’ve watched the build-up, but if you need convincing here’s a small sample about how topical this show still is.
If you really need convincing here’s one of the best speeches regarding invasion I’ve ever seen.
Trump definitely strikes me as the “goes scorched earth when he’s cornered” type. All the oligarchs do. There is no enlightenment at the end of their evil journey, only hatred and spite for having it ended.
I completely agree. His spectre will likely haunt us long after he’s gone. Hatred and spite will be his legacy as well, so we have to do what we can to eradicate those symptoms.
Thanks for the reminder to watch Bab5. It’s been on the backlog for ages. Might be time.
Watch it. It will drag slightly a few seasons in but is still worth it. Then you get to see how it isn’t the same show at all. Also you get more memes!
Babylon 5 is hands down the best sci-fi tv show.
It hits hard with poignant reminders and leaves you laughing like a maniac at the same time. (The Hokey Pokey scene is legendary.)
It was a good show though it irks me that one of the major premises for the setting is that an advanced (later portrayed as wise) elder race just assumed some uncontacted aliens must have the exact same social norms they do and then initiated a genocide over a single incident with no further attempts at contact.
I ended up liking the Centauri simply because they’re at least very relatable assholes who actually seem to appreciate alien cultures despite being an imperalistic society.
Watching now and the minbari do NOT come off as wise. They try really hard to look that way though. Reminds me of Japan tbh.
They’re basically like the elves in Tolkien’s world: they’re the elder race that is wise in a lot of ways, but also have a lot of flaws.
The Cemtauri are just white colonizers and it’s not even subtle. E.g. ICE eating at a Mexican restaurant before arresting the staff or Southern slave owners banging their slaves.
I’m a bit trek-curious (mostly because you nerds always pop up on my feed). Can I watch DS9 with little to no context?
Yes. There are a couple characters who show up that were introduced in Next Generation, but you don’t need to know them from that to appreciate them.
Absolutely!
Challenging politicians to a duel to the death is actually the official method of removing them under Klingon law. So clearly the lesson here is that the system works.
Warf had honor
