Reality TV is alive and well in the 23rd century. ISN spends 36 hours on Babylon 5.

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Mario DiLeo

Space: The Final Estate

SHERIDAN: We're not just holding jobs and having dinner. We are in theprocess of building the future.

SHERIDAN: Any time you lose a war, you just . . . you just wait a few years and you'll hear from everyone who thought that we could have won if they'dhave done the fighting.    More Stories The Name of the Place: SPACE.com's Babylon 5 Nexus Babylon 5 - 'All Alone in the Night' Babylon 5 - 'GROPOS' Babylon 5 - 'Hunter, Prey'    Related Links SPACE.com's television coverage Babylon 5 The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 TORQUEMAN: Except of course, Captain, we didn't lose the war. The Minbari did surrender.

TORQUEMAN: Over a quarter million humans were killed in the war with your people. How do you think the families of those victims will feel about your . . . change? DELENN: I, I don't know. I would hope-- TORQUEMAN: I think they would feel hurt, betrayed; that by assuming a human face you are taking a part of us you are not entitled to.

Kim Zimmer - Cynthia Torqueman
Christopher Curry - Ronald Quantrell
Granville Ames - Psi Cop
John Christian Graas - Johnny
Leslie Wing - Mother

UNIVERSE TODAY
September 16, 2259

Let's give credit where credit is due: ISN's producers and editors know what makes good vid. They pared 36 hours of Babylon 5 footage down to 48 minutes packed with explosions, conspiracy and, in the words of Cynthia Torqueman, "lies, deception and the deaths of hundreds of people."

It's good vid all right. But is it good reporting?

Torqueman asks, "Given its cost in lives and money, is Babylon 5 serving any useful purpose?" While the question itself has merit, the facts she presents to justify the inquiry are selective at best. She fails to place the station's violent crime statistics in any reasonable context. How does the loss of life on Babylon 5 compare to other Earth communities or settlements with equivalent populations?

Demographics aside, the death toll on the station is minimal compared to the blood cost of the Minbari War. The Babylon Project came about in the wake of the last war to keep us from having to pay that bill again. It is a place to fight and resolve the small battles to keep the big battles from flaring out of control.

If Senator Quantrell's comments are any indication, such idealistic considerations have little place on President Clark's Earth. A high-minded commitment to engagement and peace doesn't reconcile well with our recent swing toward isolationist policies.

Even more telling is Quantrell's suggestion that Earth doesn't need to participate in the creation or preservation of the peace because we are more prepared than ever for war. Given this point of view among our leadership, is it any surprise that the general public has such a negative reaction to Babylon 5?

The conflict between the Narn and the Centauri demonstrates why Babylon 5 is so important. Ambassadors G'Kar and Mollari each tell a radically different story about the source of their mutual animosity, proving that there is at least one other side -- the neutral view -- to the story. Babylon 5 was established to champion this untold story.

Again, however, while such a consideration may make for good reporting, it is nowhere near as exciting as the explosions and heated tempers that the gods of Good Vid demand. Torqueman knows this, and spins her questions accordingly.

Nowhere is this cynical awareness more starkly demonstrated than in her interview with Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Torqueman asks the challenging -- even necessary -- questions, but crosses an ethical line by adopting a bizarrely antagonistic tone that betrays the ambassador's genuine -- if naïve -- tender of friendship at the beginning of the interview.

The ambassador obviously never considered how humans might react to her transformation. While Torqueman had every right to challenge Delenn's complacency, there was no need to exploit her apparently genuine sense of anguish over the recent war.

There's a difference between the tough question and the mean-spirited question. Cynthia Torqueman seemingly never learned the difference.

The truly tough question about Babylon 5 is what would happen if the station weren't there to act as a flashpoint. Much as we may wish the universe will simply pass us by if we stay out of the galactic limelight, we lost that luxury the first time we went to the stars.

It's a shame that ISN spent so much time on Babylon 5, but learned so little.

"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum"

Sheridan must choose:
Vengeance or the greater good?
Will Morden go free?