Babylon 5/Recap/Film/01 In the Beginning

"It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain. If we are wise, what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world, because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past."

- G'Kar

This movie contains examples of:

 * As the Good Book Says...: Londo's narration misquotes The Bible, saying that the humans have a saying, "Pride goeth before a fall," going on to state that the humans were very proud indeed.
 * Ass in Ambassador: G'Kar, the Narn Regime's representative to the Earth Alliance, who is more than willing to sell advanced weapons technology (stolen from the Centauri) to the humans to use against the Minbari, at vastly inflated prices, in hopes of falsely incriminating the Centauri Republic of supplying an enemy of the Minbari Federation.
 * That said, he also agrees to broker a meeting between representatives from Earth and an important Minbari official to try and figure out how to stop the war. Depending on how you interpret his character, this could be anything from Jerk with a Heart of Gold to Even Evil Has Standards (he may have a hate-on for the Centauri, but that doesn't mean he likes the idea of the humans being slaughtered wholesale by the Minbari.)
 * Balance of Power: The primary motivation behind the Narns being willing to sell stolen Centauri weaponry to the Humans to use against the Minbari. If the Minbari track the weapons back to their creators, it will lead them to the Narns' enemies, thus ridding the Narn of the Centauri.
 * Subverted in the Novelization, where the Minbari were perfectly aware of the Narn's plan, and simply didn't care one way or the other, their blood feud being only with the humans.
 * Be All My Sins Remembered: Londo's storytelling is interspersed with his regrets over all the hardship he was responsible for, including unintentionally prolonging the Earth Minbari War, and being personally responsible for the widespread destruction on Centauri Prime.
 * Berserk Button: Hurt someone she cares for, Delenn will hurt you. Kill her mentor/father-figure, she will start a war to end your race.
 * Call Forward: Many, given that this is a prequel that is substantially a Clip Show of flashbacks from the original show.
 * The Cameo: Claudia Christian playing a young Susan Ivanova in one scene midway through the movie, visiting her brother Ganya and giving him one of her earings for luck before he deploys during the war.
 * Which is a Call Forward to the fact that throughout the show, Ivanova always wore a single earing.
 * Micheal York has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo as the weapons officer aboard the EAS Prometheus, the clip being recycled from A Late Delivery From Avalon, the episode he guest-starred in as a Shell-Shocked Veteran.
 * Micheal O'Hare has a single scene towards the end of the film as Jeffrey Sinclair (originally The Captain on the show itself), leading a squadron of Starfuries at the Battle of the Line and being captured by the Minbari.
 * Clip Show: This film was produced, editing new footage in with footage used for flashbacks in the original series, in order to help familiarize new viewers with the show's universe when it jumped networks to TNT.
 * Continuity Nod:
 * One of the children Londo tells the story to is named Luc Jaddo.
 * Londo watches the conversation Sheridan had with Delenn while visiting from the past.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Almost every fight between the Minbari and the Humans. In one battle sequence, we see a sizable fleet of human ships wiped out in seconds.
 * Curb Stomp Cushion: The humans win a single battle against a Minbari cruiser, at the cost of most of the task force that ran into it. Otherwise, it is made clear that despite their horrific losses, the humans are making the Minbari pay in blood for every inch of territory they take.
 * Despair Event Horizon: As the end of the war approaches, Earth is nearing this. Delenn also is nearing it as her ship prepares for the Battle of the Line. She is out of ideas, and her plea to the Vorlons is answered only with a cryptic response.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: In return for the death of their religious and political leader, Dukhat, the Minbari set out to wipe out all of humanity.
 * Face Death with Dignity/Obi-Wan Moment: Londo's story to the children can be seen as both as he knows he will soon die and chooses to tell those who will come after him his one of his greatest failings so that they will not end up like him.
 * First Contact: A human recon expedition into Minbari space accidentally stumbles across a Minbari ship, and are spotted before they can withdraw. A series of misunderstandings leads directly to We Come in Peace, Shoot to Kill.
 * Five Second Foreshadowing: The Minbari realize their error in using the Warrior Caste's customary greeting towards strangers who might not react kindly to having guns pointed at them, immediately before the humans open fire on them in response.
 * Foregone Conclusion: Everyone who's watched the show knows how the war ends, but that doesn't make it seem any less tragic.
 * Hold the Line/You Shall Not Pass: The purpose of the Battle of the Line was to buy time for civilian transports to escape off of Earth.The President's final speech makes makes it clear those who fight will likely diebut with their deaths many civilians might be able to escape.
 * Hopeless War
 * Hyperspeed Ambush: The Minbari have actually made it a standard tactic. They lure Earth warships into a predetermined position then jump right into the middle of them. The vortex itself is devastating to any ship caught near it, and then the Minbari proceed to carve up whatever's left.
 * Another happens when the Centauri interrupt the attempted peace meeting. They emerge from the jumpgate and destroy the Narn cruiser before it can identify them, then fires on the planet, killing the Minbari representative and ruining the only chance to end the war.
 * Hyperspeed Escape: Attempted by Captain Jankowski's scout expedition after they are spotted by the Minbari, but fails due to the Minbari's scanners inadvertently disrupting their jump engines.
 * Once they have disabled the Grey Council's starship and stopped the scanners, the human fleet proceeds to make good their escape. The Minbari proceed to follow them to their base and Kill'Em All.
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: Chronologically, this show takes place before anything else in the series, but if you watch it first, it will spoil many important plot points throughout the first four seasons of the show proper.
 * Loophole Abuse: When they determine that Sinclair has a Minbari soul, Delenn uses that as an excuse to stop the war.
 * Meaningful Name: The ship that makes first contact with the Minbari, starting the war that nearly wipes out humanity, is named for Prometheus, the Titan from Greek Mythology who stole fire from the Gods to give to man, and was punished severely for it.
 * Delenn of the Family Mir, was given a Punny Name by J. Michael Straczynski, based on a Bilingual Bonus: "Mir" is Russian for "Peace".
 * Lennon's name was specifically chosen by JMS to reflect his role in the story: all he was saying was "give peace a chance", after all.
 * Mentor Occupational Hazard: Dukhat.
 * Military Maverick: Captain Jankowski, regarded by Commander Sheridan and other officers as being a "loose cannon". Inadvertently starts the Earth Minbari War.
 * My God, What Have I Done?:
 * Delenn carries this all the way to the end.
 * Londo describes going through this years later, when he learned that he was responsible for prolonging the war when he ordered an attack on an attempted truce brokerage between the Earthers and the Minbari (brokered by the Narn), mistaking it for a weapons deal between the Earth Alliance and the Narn Regime.
 * Noodle Incident: The Omega Incident. A number of officers feel that Captain Jankowski was responsible for whatever went down there, but he was officially cleared of responsibility by the authorities.
 * Nuclear Option: How Sheridan defeats the Black Star.
 * Rock Beats Laser: Human weapons and technology are far inferior to what the Minbari have. That said, nuclear weapons still prove to be quite effective once you manage to get the enemy close enough to the warhead to be caught in the blast. Sheridan does this by way of jury-rigged Space Mines in an Asteroid Thicket. Mind you, this is the only time in the war that any human commander wins a battle against the Minbari until the end of the war.
 * Space Mines: Sheridan mines the Asteroid Thicket around his crippled ship, using the ship's magazine of tactical nuclear warheads, before sending out a distress call. When the Black Star returns to finish off the surviving ship, Sheridan sets off the nukes.
 * Sufficiently Advanced Alien: The Vorlons.
 * Trust Password: After the attempt to end the war ends with a surprise attack, Lennon tells Sheridan something to say to his people. When they arrive they find Lennon's body and bring Sheridan, Franklin and G'Kar aboard. Sheridan tells them what is in Dukhat's sacred space (Insil'zha, the future), which prompts Delenn to let them go.
 * We Come in Peace, Shoot to Kill: Subverted: Neither side intended to start a fight, but nobody told the Warrior Caste that revealing your weapons is considered a threatening gesture by the humans, who panic and open fire.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: The entire movie is Londo telling a story to a couple of children.
 * You Are in Command Now: Commander Sheridan finds himself in command of the Lexington, after the death of Captain Sterns.
 * Also played with, as Londo makes Luc emperor for five minutes.