Text 10860, 172 rader
Skriven 2007-01-26 23:04:14 av jphalt@aol.com (14297.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Hidden Agendas, by J. Michael Straczynski: my review
============================================================
Susan Ivanova returns, in a short story that lays down some interesting
groundwork for
arcs that might have been, had "Crusade" not ended up being smothered
in its
infancy.


THE PLOT

The "Titans," the Warlock-class ship commanded by Susan Ivanova,
unexpectedly
arrives at Babylon 5. Sheridan is initially thrilled at Susan's
surprise visit... until Susan
drops just enough hints to get Sheridan on a shuttle over to her ship,
where he confirms
her worst suspicions. The Earth Alliance's Warlock class destroyers
are operated by
Shadow technology.

Meeting with Garibaldi, Stephen, and Lochley, Sheridan decides that
there is nothing
official the Interstellar Alliance can do about the Shadowtech. The
Earth Civil War is
still too recent, the Interstellar Alliance too new and fragile, to be
seen imposing its will
on Earth. There is nothing that can be done right now about the use of
Shadowtech in the
Warlock class ships.

However, Sheridan is not about to allow Shadow technology to infect
Susan's ship.
That much he can do something about... and he does, hatching a plan
involving Ulkesh's
abandoned Vorlon ship and Lyta's telepathic abilities in order to
subdue the Shadow
consciousness. But the Shadowtech in Susan's ship isn't about to
surrender its hold
without a fight.


THE GOOD

Though the transition between Seasons Four and Five was not a
particularly rough or
bumpy one, certainly not compared with the overhaul done to the series
between Seasons
One and Two, the divide between storylines was nevertheless very sharp
- a product of
the initial cancellation. Season Five has generally felt less like a
continuation of the story
in Seasons One through Four, and more like an extended epilogue.

Much of the narrative in "Hidden Agendas" works to smooth out that
feeling, to tie
the events of 2262 together a bit better with those of 2258 - 2261.
There are several
aspects of the story that help in this. A big one is the simple
inclusion of Susan. Her
removal from the series worked well enough, given the context of her
final episode. Still,
simply seeing her (even in a prose story) does much to bind the old
"Babylon 5"
with the fifth season incarnation. Unsurprisingly, in a story written
by JMS, the story
captures Susan's inner voice quite well; I had no problem at all
imagining Claudia
Christian delivering both the spoken and "thought" lines, and even
had a bit of fun
envisioning some of the facial expressions Christian would likely have
used as
accompaniment.

Other areas of the plot tie this to the past. The War for Earth, and
the "slightly pressured"
way in which Earth ended up joining the Interstellar Alliance, are made
major plot points.
The Vorlon ship is handily used in the climax (including a plausible
explanation for why
Ulkesh's ship did not self-destruct the way Kosh's had). The use of
Shadowtech as a
main plot element itself recalls the Dreadnoughts in Susan's final
battle, from
"Between the Darkness and the Light."

The Shadowtech also provides a link to future story developments. As is
fairly common
knowledge now, had "Crusade" been allowed to continue, the story would
have
taken a turn involving Earth use of Shadowtech. In this way, "Hidden
Agendas"
provides foreshadowing and lays some groundwork for future events
(future events that
didn't end up being portrayed on screen, but I suppose one can hope
for some use of the
concept in a "Lost Tales" at some point).

The story also provides some set-up for Season Five. We see Lyta,
studying Byron,
struggling between her cynical feeling that anyone that messianic will
inevitably meet a
bend, and her desire for a true family. Lyta's Season Five arc is
further foreshadowed by
her reflections about how she always gets the worst jobs. Byron's
later words to Lyta
about people rarely thanking her for her efforts are also hinted at.
Once the job is done,
Susan leaves immediately, not waiting for Lyta to regain consciousness
to thank her for
the risk she took, while Zack - despite his feelings for Lyta - seems
to be outright taking
her for granted in this story. As with many of the mid to late Season
Four developments,
I find it no surprise at all that Lyta became resentful. She has never
been terribly
well-treated by most of our heroes, and this story provides yet another
example of this.


THE BAD

Though the characters of Lyta, Susan, and Sheridan come across quite
strongly, other
characters don't work as well in this story. Lochley's character,
for example, comes
across as bland and featureless on the page. I also question whether
she would be in that
meeting so early in her tenure on Babylon 5. We know that Garibaldi
doesn't trust her; at
the very least, Garibaldi voicing a concern over her presence would
seem appropriate. It
certainly seems odd that, given her stated loyalty to Earth, Lochley
would be actively
colluding with Sheridan to hide the current situation from Earth.

Worse, Lochley contributes virtually nothing to the story. I've never
subscribed to the
"Lochley was forced down the viewers' throats" theory. I actually
quite liked Lochley on
first viewing of Season Five, and still quite liked her when I watched
"No
Compromises" a few weeks ago. In this story, however, she seems to be
included
simply so that JMS can have Susan observe her and approve of her. That
this approval is
pure "tell-don't-show," given that we don't see Lochley doing
anything particular to earn
it, enhances the feel of a writer telling the audience that they WILL
accept this
character, like it or not - a technique that, far from eroding
resistance to new characters,
actually tends to create more resistance than would exist otherwise.

The other nit-pick I have is that the story's climax seems to be far
too easily achieved.
Within the space of about three paragraphs, the entire conflict is
solved, which makes
Lyta's astonishment at her own survival, and her subsequent fainting
spell, feel a trifle
unearned. Of course, I do realize that as a short story published in a
magazine, there
wasn't a lot of extra space to develop the climax further.

Overall, a decent short story, that does help smooth the way between
seasons. But the
limitations of the short story format leave it feeling underdeveloped,
preventing me from
giving it a higher rating.


My Final Rating: 6/10.
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