For those of you who have not seen the show, the intro explains the concept well.
"The Babylon Project was a dream, given form. Its goal: to prevent another war, by creating a place where humans and aliens can work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call – home away from home – for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens, wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal . . . all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5."
Luis Santiago, President of the Earthforce Alliance and a sponsor of the Babylon project is killed when his spaceship explodes.
His Vice President Morgan Clark (seen below) miraculously escapes harm after leaving the ship earlier after claiming to be suffering from a viral infection.
Clark establishes an "Earth first" dictatorship over the next three years, deporting aliens, state sponsored media, blocking (or killing) refugees from entering Earth colonies, and eventually taking over all aspects of the government.
I was 11 or so when I first saw the show, so many references went over my head. On a 2020 review I was amazed at how well they built up this plot over three years - from the "fake news" that he was responsible for killing Santiago, to the "Nightwatch" fascists set up in the Ministry of Peace (pictured demoing their new loyalty armbands).
They used the Psi Corps - telepaths - to weed out dissenters, and established a propaganda machine to make our heroes on Babylon 5 to be terrorists.
How does it end? Well our heroes band together with the alliances they have formed over 3 years and go to Earth directly to arrest Clark.
Once they punch their way through the Earth military - a painful and costly act fighting friends and family - they reach Earth.
Clark turns the Earth planetary defense grid against them. While it decimates the alliance fleet, it's not enough to stop them.
Clark finally realizes he can't win. His last act? He turns the planetary defense grid on Earth itself and writes a suicide note "SCORCHED EARTH" before killing himself.
Several ships sacrifice themselves by ramming into the defense grid to save the Earth, before the rest of Clark's military has a "Are we the baddies?" moment and join in to destroy the rest.
Normality is restored over the next year, for the most part.
I mean I'm not the first to say this obviously. Even the creator has chimed in. The last couple of weeks have really hit home certain parallels.
Have you seen the show Era? What do you think?
If you haven't seen the show, I would recommend it. The CG is dated, but the core storyline is excellent.
"The Babylon Project was a dream, given form. Its goal: to prevent another war, by creating a place where humans and aliens can work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call – home away from home – for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens, wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal . . . all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5."
Luis Santiago, President of the Earthforce Alliance and a sponsor of the Babylon project is killed when his spaceship explodes.
His Vice President Morgan Clark (seen below) miraculously escapes harm after leaving the ship earlier after claiming to be suffering from a viral infection.
Clark establishes an "Earth first" dictatorship over the next three years, deporting aliens, state sponsored media, blocking (or killing) refugees from entering Earth colonies, and eventually taking over all aspects of the government.
I was 11 or so when I first saw the show, so many references went over my head. On a 2020 review I was amazed at how well they built up this plot over three years - from the "fake news" that he was responsible for killing Santiago, to the "Nightwatch" fascists set up in the Ministry of Peace (pictured demoing their new loyalty armbands).
They used the Psi Corps - telepaths - to weed out dissenters, and established a propaganda machine to make our heroes on Babylon 5 to be terrorists.
How does it end? Well our heroes band together with the alliances they have formed over 3 years and go to Earth directly to arrest Clark.
Once they punch their way through the Earth military - a painful and costly act fighting friends and family - they reach Earth.
Clark turns the Earth planetary defense grid against them. While it decimates the alliance fleet, it's not enough to stop them.
Clark finally realizes he can't win. His last act? He turns the planetary defense grid on Earth itself and writes a suicide note "SCORCHED EARTH" before killing himself.
Several ships sacrifice themselves by ramming into the defense grid to save the Earth, before the rest of Clark's military has a "Are we the baddies?" moment and join in to destroy the rest.
Normality is restored over the next year, for the most part.
I mean I'm not the first to say this obviously. Even the creator has chimed in. The last couple of weeks have really hit home certain parallels.
Have you seen the show Era? What do you think?
If you haven't seen the show, I would recommend it. The CG is dated, but the core storyline is excellent.
