A task force of ground troops led by Dr. Franklin's father General Richard Franklin is assembled at Babylon 5, leading to some friction.A task force of ground troops led by Dr. Franklin's father General Richard Franklin is assembled at Babylon 5, leading to some friction.A task force of ground troops led by Dr. Franklin's father General Richard Franklin is assembled at Babylon 5, leading to some friction.
Andrea Thompson
- Talia Winters
- (credit only)
Stephen Furst
- Vir Cotto
- (credit only)
Mary Kay Adams
- Na'Toth
- (credit only)
Andreas Katsulas
- G'Kar
- (credit only)
Peter Jurasik
- Londo Mollari
- (credit only)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaGROPOS is military slang for "Ground Pounders", i.e. Infantry.
- GoofsThere is no way that even a large city would be expected to accommodate 25000 surprise guests. When armies show up they bring their own accommodations. Even though Babylon 5 is quite large, it is also quite full. There is no way such a space station even one that big, could be expected to handle that many more people. Even if they could find rooms for everyone, the life support system would be over stressed.
- Quotes
General Richard Franklin: A man who won't stand up for his own principles is not really a man at all.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Babylon 5: Knives (1995)
Featured review
Emotional Ride
Is anything in a spoiler in a show over 30 years old? If you have not seen this episode then don't read any further.
Why can't we get this kind of writing anymore? JMS and D'Tillo did an outstanding job getting you emotionally invested in the GROPOS PFC Large, Yang and specially Dodger. In less than 20 minutes you had true pathos for those characters and were devistated when you found out they were dead. These days writers seem to have a hard time get you that invested in a protagonist over 10 episodes. Think modern writers could take a lesson from B5.
I have read all the other reviews and largely agree with them, but I feel I must point out a few things. One, this is 2259 and we do not know what changes were made to the military to criticize how they do things now. At the time this was written women were not even allowed in combat yet JMS had the vision to not only include them but show they kicked butt as well as the men. Two; this episode is about war and death so the battle, and tactics are not important. It was about showing another side of Earth Alliance and military service in the 23rd century. We didn't get to see the attack so we do not know what they did leading up to the few shots they had. Knowing all we know now, I am certain they did all they could to bomb the defense from orbit and use air support, but this was not some mundane 3rd world dictator using 20 year old weapons, this was a modern enemy who were equal to the EA. So we cannot make any assumptions on how the battle was conducted from the 30 seconds of clip we saw. Also keep in mind B5 was on a very limited budget and anything they did was going to be CGI and very expensive. Lastly, as far as the dress codes and hair styles and all, as I said above we do not know how loose they play it in the future. I now even today things are different than they were 50 years ago.
I also want to address what someone posted as a goof about there only being a General and a Sgt. Major present. While they were the only ones with 'speaking roles' I clearly saw other officers there with the General, specially in the briefing with Sheridan.
Anyway a 10 might be a little high for this episode, but I always start with a 7 then add or subtract as I see fit, and I do not see any of the concerns others have as a negative, the interactiong with Franklin and his Father explains so much about his personality and why he is the way he is. The General and Sheridan elude to changes in the universe and even Earth Dome under, and the emotional ending is huge, even if it was anticipated. I have seen this episode multiple times and I still get emotional at the end which is a testimate to how great this show really is.
Why can't we get this kind of writing anymore? JMS and D'Tillo did an outstanding job getting you emotionally invested in the GROPOS PFC Large, Yang and specially Dodger. In less than 20 minutes you had true pathos for those characters and were devistated when you found out they were dead. These days writers seem to have a hard time get you that invested in a protagonist over 10 episodes. Think modern writers could take a lesson from B5.
I have read all the other reviews and largely agree with them, but I feel I must point out a few things. One, this is 2259 and we do not know what changes were made to the military to criticize how they do things now. At the time this was written women were not even allowed in combat yet JMS had the vision to not only include them but show they kicked butt as well as the men. Two; this episode is about war and death so the battle, and tactics are not important. It was about showing another side of Earth Alliance and military service in the 23rd century. We didn't get to see the attack so we do not know what they did leading up to the few shots they had. Knowing all we know now, I am certain they did all they could to bomb the defense from orbit and use air support, but this was not some mundane 3rd world dictator using 20 year old weapons, this was a modern enemy who were equal to the EA. So we cannot make any assumptions on how the battle was conducted from the 30 seconds of clip we saw. Also keep in mind B5 was on a very limited budget and anything they did was going to be CGI and very expensive. Lastly, as far as the dress codes and hair styles and all, as I said above we do not know how loose they play it in the future. I now even today things are different than they were 50 years ago.
I also want to address what someone posted as a goof about there only being a General and a Sgt. Major present. While they were the only ones with 'speaking roles' I clearly saw other officers there with the General, specially in the briefing with Sheridan.
Anyway a 10 might be a little high for this episode, but I always start with a 7 then add or subtract as I see fit, and I do not see any of the concerns others have as a negative, the interactiong with Franklin and his Father explains so much about his personality and why he is the way he is. The General and Sheridan elude to changes in the universe and even Earth Dome under, and the emotional ending is huge, even if it was anticipated. I have seen this episode multiple times and I still get emotional at the end which is a testimate to how great this show really is.
helpful•10
- robertdlar
- Apr 4, 2023
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