A pilgrim comes to Babylon 5 searching for the Holy Grail. He is a man "of infinite promise and goodness," but guys like that rarely last more than about 43 minutes on this station.
(First aired on July 6, 1994)
Written by Christy Marx
Directed by Richard Compton
GUEST STARS
David Warner – Aldous Gajic
William Sanderson – Deuce
Tom Booker – Thomas "Jinxo" Jordan
Jim Norton – Ombudsman Wellinton
We'll see Jim Norton again as Dr. Lazarenn in "Confessions and Lamentations" and as a very important Narn in "Dust to Dust".
WATCH OUT FOR
* The perils of making up futuristic time terms. Deuce gives Jinxo "300 cycles" to pay off his debts. For dramatic purposes, that should be a short period of time, but in "
TKO" Walker Smith’s match was scheduled "3 cycles" -- about 3 days -- after he challenged the Sho-Rin.
* The return of B5 director and occasional actor John Flinn, last seen as a strikebreaker in "
By Any Means Necessary". This time he’s suing an alien race for abducting his ancestor.
ANALYSIS
Babylon 5 has made a strange peace with religion and faith.
It’s one thing to acknowledge the continuing existence of faith in a science fiction universe. It’s a step further out to portray humans and aliens following their faiths. But B5 goes still further by giving some of the faithful an apparently supernatural power.
Laugh at his quest if you like, but Aldous Gajic stares down the Na’ka’leen Feeder. He gives the creature an order, and it obeys.
Is it telepathy? Overwhelming charisma? A miracle?
Is there a difference?
That’s a typical question for Babylon 5, but it’s a question that nobody ever asks in "Grail". The series makes a habit of suggesting scientific alternatives in
matters of the soul – but not here.
Instead, Delenn calls Aldous a "true seeker," and likens him to Sinclair. Perhaps he is an example of "the power of one mind to change the universe."
There may or may not be gods in the Babylon 5 universe. Either way, Aldous Gajic seems to be a bona fide saint.
COMING UP NEXT
"Eyes"
Sinclair quizzed –
Is the past his downfall?
Valen only knows.
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