I really need to yell for a hot minute about a specific scene from the Babylon 5 episode Messages From Earth because it is a masterclass in storytelling via themes and subtext.
Sheridan is confiding in Delenn how when he was younger he couldn't sleep before his big exam, because he needed the sound of rain. Delenn's first question is, "and did it begin to rain?"
This is exactly what the Minbari religious caste ethos is based around. A few episodes earlier in Confessions and Lamentations Delenn is comforting a Markab child with one of her own childhood stories. She explains after being separated from her parents in the city that her response was to sit in an old temple and wait, because she believed they will find her. And they do. Because for the Minbari, as they say, faith manages. Their love and trust for one another and the goodness in the universe is what drives them.
But as Sheridan explains, for him it didn't rain. There was no divine intervention. Instead, his father goes out to the garden and sprays water onto the roof to simulate rain. His love and dedication to change fate itself for his son is the human ethos. Overcoming the odds for love, to take control of your own destiny.
In this one scene reflecting on a childhood memory, and with Sheridan once again in a stressful situation that brought it out of him, we see both his vulnerability and a reflection of the Minbari vs human ethos towards meaning and value. We learn so much about who they are as people and their different cultures, through stories and actions.
Sheridan confides, and Delenn makes the computer simulate rain noises. He reaches out for help from a loved one, and she shows him a kindness in his own language.
And none of this is said explicitly.
93 notes
·
View notes
concept: earthforce unisex miniskirt uniform :-P
70 notes
·
View notes
The juxtaposition of Refa being killed by the Narns as Sheridan, Lennier and Delenn sing a gospel song will always send chills down my spine. What an amazing moment of television.
100 notes
·
View notes
If I had a nickel for every time I got into a show that featured a blond, Mid-American farm boy commanding a monumental spacecraft with the help of his half-Human, half-alien spouse for whom he is a Total Himbo, I'd have two nickels.
Which isn't a lot, it's just weird that it happened twice.
110 notes
·
View notes