The Paragon of Animals | For the Second Time

] The year is: 2026

[1:39] This is your one and only warning to get off. Leave. Be done. Do not continue. Red alert. Red alert. Because Jeff and I are able, willing, and will be talking about anything from any point in the timeline from anywhere in the franchise. So if you have not been through this incredible series for the first time for yourself, this is your time to exit. Go check out our first time. Uh, listen, Babylon five for the first time, that is completely spoiler free. And when you have gotten through that, come back and join us here. But for now, just understand that you have been sufficiently warned. My warning is sincere. Ignore it at your own peril. This week, Brent, we're watching the paragon of animals. And we watched this series for the first time. We played a game where we would predict what each episode is going to be about based on the title alone. My prediction for this one was it was going to be a Bester episode that would really kind of kick off the telepath war. And I figured that he was going to be trying to set up a shadow politician within EarthGov, so he was going to have to ally himself with a normal. Basically, he wanted to find the paragon of animals, the mundanes as animals, so that he could... Infiltrate EarthGov and start his takeover of the Alliance. What did you predict it was going to be about?

[3:05] Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for a cabinet meeting? I love cabinet meetings. That sounds so exciting. That's good television. Hey, listen, it's a hit song and a hit Broadway show, too. So, no, I said this was going to be Sheridan trying to find his cabinet. It's just a political episode, a palate cleanser type of thing. We're going to see a bunch of old friends come back. We're going to see the great egg folk, the draw Z, the Burkiri and, and all our old friends, uh, as Sheridan's trying to, to put together as cabinet, maybe even see some people vying for certain spots or, or something of that nature. Uh, yeah, that's, that's pretty much where I went. I, I did say this. I was like, I don't think it's going to be, and I don't think it's going to have either paragons or animals in it. So I have no idea what the title is having to do with anything here. So, uh, that was my thought. We never gave up hope on the great egg people showing up again. People wouldn't let it die. And we just, we kept on those coattails the whole way, man. Need to know more. I do. So that's what we predicted, right? The episode was going to be about want to revisit some of the things we said about it the first time around. Let's do it. Previously on Babylon five for the first time, the paragon of animals. This episode. Moved so slow.

[4:31] I didn't care for this one very much. It was boring. I like how Sheridan navigated this at the very end. I thought it was very reminiscent of season one Sinclair. But overall, I'm left with this episode feeling very, okay, what's next? We've got the big four up front. The rest are out in the gallery with the big four kind of dictating everything.

[4:54] I don't like Byron. But my fear is that Walter Koenig is out for whatever reason, and so they kind of, like, they have this Byron guy to be like, oh, we can make him seem, I don't know, charismatic or cult leader-ish. Charismatic is not the word I would use to describe Byron. He's one of the most prolific voice actors out there. He's in everything. Great voice actor. And given what I've seen of him in two episodes so far, great voice actor. The way Garibaldi brought up the stuff with the telepaths was really important, too, where when he brought up the idea of enlisting them, Sheridan's like, there's rules for a reason. And Garibaldi's like, yeah, for Psycorps, we're not Earth. You brought them in to be on your side during the war. You're doing the same thing. You're just not saying it. The way Byron described what a T-pass to do just to stop themselves from their, biological functions Reminded me of my life as an ADHD person. I think there's offering your services Professional services and then I think there's how they're treating Lita, which is just transactional. There's no connection There's no relationship. Talia at least got invited to meetings sometimes You know Talia or Lita gets a little thank you. You saved a bunch of lives. I.

[6:14] Money's on the nightstand. Scooch, go. I don't think Garibaldi's just like, oh yeah, that sucks that you feel all bad. So can we get back to my thing? No, that's really important. We are one. I ask you, what if the one is actually not any of them? What if the one is the alliance? We live for the one, we die for the one. Not for that person. For the unity. For everybody.

[6:43] Jeff. Yeah. I, I'm cannot tell you how mad I still am to this day and how disappointed I am to find out that the one is actually just the person, right? It's just whoever's in charge at this moment.

[7:00] And that makes me so mad. So last week when we ended our episode, we were like, Oh my gosh, I don't know about this one. And then, uh, we do a little on Patreon. We have a little like pre-talk thing that we do. We hang out a little bit and I was like, Hey, you know, maybe this has got some that recap, um i'm eager to start this episode and see if we see it differently this time, we should do that jeff yes and we're going to we're going to watch the episode with all of you right here uh talk about it break out the messages that we find within i'm going to edit this up and share it on youtube if that's where you're watching this you're going to see that like a reaction video sort of edited thing the full and unedited video is made available on our Patreon page a week before it hits all the other channels that it's on. So that's kind of cool. You can access that at patreon.com slash bad nerds. And if you're listening to us on an audio podcasting app, congratulations, new achievement. Your reward is to hear exactly what the YouTube people are going to hear, because we don't want you to miss out on any of those conversations that we are going to have. And we'll still have all the conversations on the backside where we rate, rank, all that sort of stuff. So Jeff, let's have our own new achievement and watch this episode for the second time. Well done.

[8:28] Please, please, everyone, listen to us. It takes no difference. Why can't you sign the declaration? You cannot legislate morality, Deland. No, but we can encourage others to act with charity toward one another. The alliance is about more than hardware. The Centauri Republic has already signed the declaration. And if the Centauri can sign it, anybody can sign it. He's like, they suck. The Drazi have always respected the rights of our neighboring worlds. They refuse to sign because we do not need to sign. Who stands with us?

[9:07] Wait, wait, wait. Listen. Everyone, please listen. I think it's fascinating, how unwilling the ISA leadership is to even have this conversation. Right. Sign it. Full stop. We're not going to sign it. Full stop. What did that lead to? A walkout.

[9:27] How about a, uh, Hey, Drazi. So you said you're already cool. Let's talk about that. I'm curious. This is where you, you canceled the meeting, the, the, the big group meeting, and you start having one-on-one conversations with the various ambassadors and not behind, like not secretly, but just conversation. They're meeting with them individually or, you know, in small groups to, to see what they can get, you know, and, and see what's going to be palatable to everybody, you know, before we, we bring it to the floor for a big vote. It's frankly how functional politics works. Parliamentary politics work. A lot of small conversations, get collaboration, objections, ideas, then bring it forward to the bigger whole, bring that all together together, do it publicly, talk about everything, and then decide to move forward or not. It's a very interactive process. When done correctly, it's been a long time, I think, since we've seen that, at least in the United States, probably globally. But yeah, it's no secret my thoughts on the ISA and Sheridan, and I just feel like this is from go. They're just dictating. And they're dictating morality. It's good morality, sure. But I mean, you tell me how to live, how to accept. Is that just from the novice nature of Sheridan and even Jakar at writing and forming a government? Or.

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