Julie:
The last season was rushed because it contained all of what was intended to be seasons 4 and 5 except the shadow war, which was transplanted to season 3 when the show was threatened with cancellation because it was to slow to remain interesting for the projected 5 years.
Fortunately the rampant anti sci fi bias hadn't quite kicked in yet so they weathered the storm unlike so many shows that followed.
JMS was almost never certain whether or not he was going to get another season after the current one ended. That's one reason why season 4 ended the way it did. THAT ending, with humankind's projected evolution over the next million years unfolding in a series of vignettes was actually what he intended for the end of the series as a whole. I never personally found the show slow, I was excited from the very first episode of season one, when the conflict between the Narn and Centauri was clearly established and I turned to my friend and said:
"This isn't Star Trek, that's for sure."
Not that I dislike Star Trek, but I WAS bored by the first few seasons of Next Generation. It just seemed like it took a while for them to really find their rhythm and direction. Once they did though, there were some memorable episodes.
I am glad as well that Babylon 5 did manage to get through some of the anti science fiction bias of the time. I think the main issue was people needed something different and most of the sci-fi available at the time was just not very engaging.
Aalamar:
Noting the Courts CAN order many things done including the destruction of personality with telepathy and covert ops tends to be more 'flexible' with special courts involved in some cases. And human companies would likely only use human telepaths for insurance reasons. Well with exceptions
Might I suggest because they are weak P1 and P2 telepaths be excluded from some things they unlikely will ever pose a security risk even Psi Corps were happy with them opting out and taking sleepers since for them the dosing was weak it didn't matter. And if they went on the down lo rarely bothered with hunting them down.
Oh definitely, there will ALWAYS be exceptions to the rules, whenever there is an advantage to be gained, and THAT is the true tragedy of the Telepaths; sooner or later, someone will always try to use them to gain an advantage :( I hope, someday, they DO get a planet of their own. A refuge from the machinations of mundanes.
I imagine the human courts can, and do, make liberal use of telepaths and their abilities, especially to ascertain the truth in particularly difficult cases. Also, as you mentioned, to mete out court ordered punishments like 'Death of Personality' and such. This application of psionics would be fully legal and sanctioned of course.
Covert ops would likely be given more latitude to use their abilities, AGAIN subject to a scan from the Psychic Monitor Commission at any time to ensure they are adhering to the new rules. Covert ops in the service of their country would absolutely have a mandate from their government to utilize their abilities whenever ordered to do so. Imagine what a single, well placed Telepath saboteur could accomplish.
Human companies, and even some non human ones, might hire a telepath for several reasons. Insurance, as you mentioned would be an important one, and fair negotiation of contracts would be another. They might even be used during the hiring process by companies with corporate secrets to protect, to ensure that no spies were infiltrating their workforce to steal tech secrets or the like. HOWEVER if telepaths were being used for such it would probably have to be stated before the interview began and agreed to by the applicant. NOTHING secret or without approval is the idea behind these New Rules, from what I can tell.
And I agree about the weaker telepaths, P1 and P2 for sure. I think, as with the PSI CORPS they would probably simply be offered an updated version of the Sleeper drugs. However I believe that the government would still keep an eye on them, at least keep their names on file. Even a minor telepath might be useful for some things, like Ivanova proved to be strong enough to be resistant to being scanned.
Julie:
I don't know if I could even make myself watch Crusade again, knowing it will just stop suddenly right before it really gets going.
I was heartbroken when Crusade was cancelled. You're right, it was really just starting to get into the good stuff, the real main arc would have surfaced within the next three episodes they had planned, including an episode where Bester returned! Galen was the reason I bought and read the three books of the Techno-mage trilogy.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:06, Sat 15 Feb 2020.
