Babylon 5/Recap/Film/01 In the Beginning: Difference between revisions

** Micheal O'Hare has [[One-Scene Wonder|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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbBRrK9Q-rw The President's final speech makes makes it clear those who fight will likely die][[Heroic Sacrifice|but with their deaths many civilians might be able to escape.]]

* [[Hopeless War]]

** 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.

** 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: [[The Beatles|all he was saying was "give peace a chance"]], after all.

* [[Military Maverick]]: Captain Jankowski, regarded by Commander Sheridan and other officers as being a "loose cannon". Inadvertently starts the Earth Minbari War.

** 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.

* [[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 ''[[Curb Stomp Cushion|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.

* [[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 Ever Complained Before|nobody told the Warrior Caste]] that revealing your weapons is considered a ''threatening'' gesture by the humans, who panic and open fire.