By Any Means Necessary

Synopsis: In which a fatal accident in the space-docks leads to a labor dispute on the station. Earthgov sends in their best negotiator, who is actually a really terrible negotiator. And Londo is an ass to G’Kar because, well, Londo.

First off folks, there’s a weird echo in our recording this episode, and we deeply apologize. One of the mission statements of The Name of the Pod is to have decent audio quality. Nothing turns us off a podcast quicker than bad audio. We didn’t notice it at the time of recording and we tried to remove it later on but no luck. It’s not up to our own personal standards, and we hope you will soldier through. It’s still a good discussion.

After watching this episode we had the feeling that this was not an accurate representation of a labor dispute, but our good friend Bill has been involved with unions and organized labor as part of his work for many years so we felt he could provide insights into the workings of protests/strikes/negotiations/whathaveyous. Because we at The Name of the Pod strive for verisimilitude* in all things.

*a word used only by people who have never put in an honest day’s work in their lives.

Bill raises a very good point that there’s no real institutional reaction to a fatal accident on the station. No NTSB, no OSHA.  Very strange on a government funded station that has had its four predecessors tragically lost.

Orin Zento, the EarthGov “negotiator,” was played by John Snyder, who also played “Soul Hunter #2.” That should have been our first warning.

The question of where the line between military and civilian power falls on the station is an excellent one. So far in season 1 it has been murky at best - Sinclair certainly seems to display the authority to arrest people and to do pretty much whatever he wants wherever he wants. Are there limitations to the military staff’s powers, and if so by whom are they set and enforced? Are Garibaldi’s security folks - the ones in the grey-brown uniforms instead of the blue - civilian police or military? We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on future episodes with regards to these questions to see if they’re ever really addressed.

Containers is a great podcast about global trade and transportation. Check it out. https://medium.com/containers/episode-1-welcome-to-global-capitalism-f9f56c92f414

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/containers/id1209559177?mt=2

Guild leader “Neeoma Connally” (totally a space-name) was played by Katy Boyer who I think did a fine job. She’s had a long career including being Tim Robbins and John Cusack’s grouchy flatmate in the fantastic movie Tapeheads.  There’s your IMDB corner, since we couldn’t squeeze one into the episode.

Providence, RI is just over 20 square miles. Babylon 5 is 5 miles long but certainly not 4 miles wide (or even 2 miles high by 2 wide if we want to get all fancy and third dimensional).  The station is probably closer in size to Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Which I’m sure will mean a lot to people who aren’t us.

I’m not even going to try to sort out the whole geometry of Narn light years vs Earth light years and the light getting to the station just now. It’s just not worth it.