Tag: Psi Corps / Bester

After a narrow escape from an Earth Alliance fighter squadron, outcast Psi Corps member Jason Ironheart takes refuge aboard Babylon 5, hoping to make contact with Talia, his old student and former lover. Matters are made no easier when two Psi Cops – capable of immense telepathic power – arrive to grill Talia and Sinclair about Ironheart’s possible whereabouts. When it becomes apparent that Ironheart is not only aboard the station but is also somehow dangerous, Talia risks her standing with the Psi Corps to discover that Jason has become a new breed of telepath thanks to the Corps’ illicit experimentation. And Catherine Sakai, on a routine planetary survey mission, encounters a spacecraft of unfathomable size…

written by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Bruce Seth Green
music by Christopher Franke

Guest Cast: William Allen Young (Jason Ironheart), Felicity Waterman (Kelsey), Walter Koenig (Bester), Julia Nickson (Catherine Sakai), Don Dowe (Earth Fighter), Elisa Pensler Gabrielli (Guest Liaison), Michael McKenzie (Narn Captain), Kevin Page (Businessman), Mark S. Porro (Security Guard), Macaulay Bruton (Garibaldi’s Aide), Marianne Robertson (Dome Tech #1)

Notes: This episode marks the first appearance of the First Ones. Bester also makes his first appearance, though Walter Koenig was originally slated to guest star as one of the “Knight” characters in And the Sky Full of Stars which, although it aired later, was filmed before Mind War; Koenig’s heart attack in 1993 prevented his planned appearance. The gift given to Talia by Ironheart is explored further in A Race Through Dark Places.

An old friend of Talia’s, business executive Taro Isogi, arrives to open negotiations with Amanda Carter of the Mars provisional government, who herself is a former member of the radical Free Mars movement. After a successful meeting which seems to point to Isogi’s corporation helping to stabilize the uncertain future of the Mars Colony, Taro and Talia are en route to dinner when a man stops them, electrocutes Taro by hand, says “Free Mars” and flees the scene, leaving Talia alive. Talia briefly senses an image in the murderer’s mind, a first-person memory of being in a spacecraft destroyed by an Earth Alliance heavy cruiser. After an attempt to locate and kill Talia, the killer himself seems to suffer some kind of attack and seeks out Carter’s help. Garibaldi identifies him as Abel Horn – a former Mars rebel who is officially listed as dead. Conspiracy buff Sheridan is the first to realize that Horn is the victim/subject of cybernetic experimentation carried out by a mysterious secret agency on Earth known as Bureau 13.

written by Lawrence G. DiTillio
directed by Kevin G. Cremin
music by Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Lt. Commander Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters), Stephen Furst (Vir), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Robert Rusler (Warren Keffer), Mary Kay Adams (Na’Toth), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Londo), Michael Beck (Abel Horn), Adrienne Barbeau (Amanda Carter), James Shigeta (Taro Isoga), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan), Jessica Walter (Senator Elise Voudreau), Annie Grindlay (Thirteen/Psi Cop), Joshua Cox (Tech #1)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

At Psi-Corps’ headquarters on Mars, Bester interrogates a telepath for information on an underground railroad helping unregistered telepaths evade the Corps’ rigorous supervision. Bester goes to B5, which he believes these telepaths are using as a way station. The underground railroad does turn out to be running through B5, and the telepaths try to kill Bester, who manages to take cover, though Talia is kidnapped. The rogue telepaths are more organized than anyone has realized, and they have a friend on the station – Dr. Franklin. Bester closes in on the telepaths’ hiding place DownBelow, and the telepaths can only escape alive if they can convince Talia to rebel against the Psi Corps.

written by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Jim Johnston
music by Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Lt. Commander Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters), Stephen Furst (Vir), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Robert Rusler (Warren Keffer), Mary Kay Adams (Na’Toth), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Londo), Walter Koenig (Bester), Apesanahkwat (Telepath #1), Brian Cousins (Rick), Diane Dilascio (Telepath #2), Gianin Loffler (Lurker), Eddie Allen (Man), Kathryn Cressida (Bartender), Judy Levitt (Psi Cop), Christopher Michael (Shooter), William Allen Young (Jason Ironheart)

Note: There is a hint that the gift given to Talia by Jason Ironheart in Mind War consisted not only of telekinesis, but also an involuntary shield from telepathic scans, though this could also be attributed to a revelation made in Divided Loyalties. The lurker who is the head of the underground railroad is the same one who tipped Garibaldi off on the whereabouts of Devereaux in Chrysalis.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Bester asks to come aboard the station, trying to track down a source of the deadly, telepathy-inducing drug known as dust. Ivanova, afraid that Bester will eventually learn of their conspiracy against Clark, wants to simply kill the Psi Cop. When Bester hints that Talia Winters’ body has gone the way of her personality, Garibaldi isn’t so inclined to disagree. But with help from the Minbari, Sheridan manages to even the playing field and get Bester to agree to take telepathy-suppressing drugs. Once he does, he and Garibaldi discover that Bester is, maddeningly enough, correct – a major dust supplier is peddling his wares on Babylon 5. And unfortunately for Londo, that supplier has found an eager buyer in G’Kar. The Narn uses his brief burst of dust-induced telepathy to pry into the secrets surrounding the Centauri’s secret allies in the war against his homeworld. But at the end of G’Kar’s revenge lies a surprising epiphany.

written by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by David J. Eagle
music by Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Commander Susan Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Security Chief Michael Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Jason Carter (Marcus Cole), Stephen Furst (Vir), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan), Peter Jurasik (Londo Mollari), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Walter Koenig (Bester), Julian Neil (Lindstrom), Jim Norton (Narn Image), Ardwight Chamberlain (Kosh), Harry Hutchinson (Security Guard #1), John-Frederick Jones (Centauri Diplomat), S. Marc Jordan (Shop Owner), Judy Levitt (Psi Cop), Gwen McGee (Med Tech), Philip Moon (Ashi), Walter O’Neil (Crazed Man), David Shark (Man), Kim Strauss (Vizak), Dani Thompson (Ombuds)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

In the wake of the war, President Clark panics because his Shadow allies are no longer there to help him, and sets wheels into motion to bring down those responsible for the Shadows’ departure – Sheridan and the others aboard B5. Bester learns of a plan to tarnish B5’s public image by having a squadron of Psi Corps’ Black Omega fighters attack the blockade at the nearest Earth outpost to the station, claiming to be from Babylon 5, and travels to the station to warn Sheridan. But the price for this information is an ill-advised trip to Z’Ha’Dum so Bester can try to recover Shadow technology that could free his former lover from their influence, a trip which is cut short when an intruder detection system destroys Z’Ha’Dum completely. Other surprises include Garibaldi’s sudden resignation after receiving a mysterious call, Londo and G’Kar returning to the station, the arrival of a new alien race on Centauri Prime, and at least one Elvis sighting.

written by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by John C. Flinn III
music by Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Commander Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Jason Carter (Marcus Cole), Stephen Furst (Vir), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan), Patricia Tallman (Lyta Alexander), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Londo), Walter Koenig (Bester), Damian London (Minister), Victor Iundin (Psi Corps Official), Robert Patteri (EA Pilot), Lauren Sanchez (News Anchor)

LogBook entry by Earl Green