Quite Quotable

We are all slaves to our histories. If there is to be a .. bright future, we must learn to break those chains.

J. Michael Straczynski, GROPOS, Baybylon 5

Quite Quotable

"What counts is not what other people think of you, but what you are and what you do."

 Jeanne Cavelos, The Shadow Within

Quite Quotable

"There is always a choice.  We say there is no choice only to comfort ourselves with the decisions we have already made."

J. Michael Straczynski, "Point of No Return," Babylon 5.

Life, the Universe, and Babylon 5

At some point during the year, I get all nostalgic for Babylon 5.  I usually break out the dvds and watch my favorite episodes.  (Still waiting on the Blu-ray edition.)  Three times, I’ve gone from beginning to end.  It’s about time to do that again, I do believe.   When that mood strikes, I can’t help but think that so many things could have gone wrong with Babylon 5.  It could have been like any other science fiction show set in the far future: encounters with strange, ancient aliens, intergalactic wars, and at the center, a small band of heroes always willing and ready for action.  Luckily, it wasn’t.  In fact, it wasn’t like any other science fiction show that had ever been on television before.  Sure, the comparison between it and Star Trek, especially Deep Space Nine, were easy to make just looking at the surface: a mile and a half long station, space ships, plenty of actors with prosthetic pieces glued to their foreheads.  But that’s about as far as comparisons can go.  From conception to production, the show was truly visionary.   

Creator, producer, and writer, J. Michael Straczynski knows that characters drive stories with what they say, think, and do, and from the first episode to the last, it became obvious that Babylon 5 was not about the station or about the aliens or about the wars.  Babylon 5 was about the people.  It was about the choices they made and the consequences they were forced to face.  In short, Babylon 5 was about life.   

But, you say, it is merely a story.  True, but isn’t the stories we tell, how we understand ourselves?  We are entertained, we are moved, we are enlightened.  Truly good stories – no matter when or where they are set – are about life.  Therefore, to celebrate the vision that was, is, and continues to be Babylon 5, I’ve put together a list of quotations.  Yes, all these happen to be my personal favorites.  If you’ve watched, you’ll probably remember who said what and which episode or season they’re from.  If not, enjoy nonetheless (and then maybe go give it a try).  Either way, hopefully you will be entertained, moved, and more importantly, enlightened. 

1. The universe is driven by the complex interaction between three ingredients: matter, energy, and enlightened self-interest.
2. We are all slaves to our histories. If there is to be a bright future, we must learn to break those chains.
3. As the humans say, "up yours!"
4. We are the universe, trying to understand itself.
5. You can never go wrong with garters.
6. Understanding is a three edged sword.
7. Ivanova is always right.  I will listen to Ivanova.  I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations.
8. Narns, Humans, Centauri: we all do what we do for the same reason - because it seemed like a good idea at the time.
9. The third principle of sentient life is the capacity of self sacrifice.
10. A darkness carried in the heart cannot be cured by moving the body from one place to another.
11. The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us.
12. No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.
13. Evolution is vastly over-rated.
14. Every day, here and at home, we are warned about the enemy.  But who is the enemy?  Is it the alien?  Well, we are all alien to one another.  Is it the one who believes differently than we do?  No, not at all, my friends.  The enemy is fear.  The enemy is ignorance.  The enemy is the one who tells you that you must hate that which is different.  Because, in the end, that hate will turn on you.  And that same hate will destroy you.
15. Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet: you can travel further with both than you can with just one.
16. You take, Zathras die.  You leave, Zathras die.  Either way, it is bad for Zathras.
17. There is always choice. We say there is no choice only to comfort ourselves with the decision we have already made. If you understand that, there's hope.
18. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams.
19. The universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice.  The language is not Narn or Human or Centauri or Gaim or Minbari. It speaks in the language of hope.  It speaks in the language of trust.  It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion.  It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul.  But always it is the same voice.  It is the voice of our ancestors speaking through us and the voice of our inheritors waiting to be born.  The small, still voice that says: 'We are one. No matter the blood, no matter the skin, no matter the world, no matter the star . . . we are one.  No matter the pain, no matter the darkness, no matter the loss, no matter the fear . . . We are one.'  Here, gathered together in common cause, we begin to realize this singular truth and this singular rule – that we must be kind to one another.  Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us and each voice lost diminishes us.  We are the voice of the universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light our way to a better future.  We are one.
20. Where is it written that all our dreams must be small ones?

My Belated DragonCon Blog; or The Unexamined DragonCon is Not Worth Visiting

I had good intentions. 

I was at DragonCon.  I had my laptop.  I had wireless (after I paid the $10.00 for twenty-four hours at the Sheraton).  I had my schedule highlighted and color coded.  I was going to do lots and blog the heck out of it.

Of course, none of that happened.

Day 1 . . . well, I don’t really remember everything I did.  There was that Babylon 5 panel I had planned on going to, but it got booted because of the Shatner/Nimoy thing.  From there, things sort of just took on their own strange existence.  All the color coding blended into one  . . . blended color.  There was so much to do and so little time to do it.  Should I try to do it all in one big miserable, marathon of a time?  I could have, and in years past I would have.  But that was then.  So, that’s when the revelation arrived.  Echoed in my mind was that famous line you always hear somewhere during your educational experience: “the unexamined life is not worth living.”  DragonCon 2009 proved to be, for me, the kind of situation one needs to jog the flotsam and jetsam of the mind.

So, I did some reflecting.

This was my umpteenth time at DragonCon.  This year, however, I was carrying around forty plus years and a five year old.  Things were different.  Not worse.  Different.

During previous years, I did the dashes from panel to panel, wandered the walk of fame, fought through the dealers’ room, danced around the exhibiters’ hall, and strolled throughout the art room.  I used to do it all in those four days.  I was a fan of action.

Well, I’m still a fan.  I’m still active.  I’m just more careful with my time.  This year, I learned that the time I was willing to devote to my fannish activities was not the same as in days of yore.  I remember hitting the walk of fame with a fist-full-o-cash and stopping by the table of anyone I recognized from a TV show or film from my youth.  Not this year.  Sure, there were found memories as I walked around, but there was only one I stopped to get: Bruce Boxleitner.  Why?  Babylon 5 entertained me, it moved me, it made me think.  I was willing to invest the time and money because of everything Mr. Boxleitner had given me with his contribution to my favorite TV show of all time.  Oh, don’t fret, I know Peter, Claudia, Tracy, and Stephen were there – I got them several DC’s ago.  This was Boxleitner’s first visit.  Maybe his last.  I couldn’t pass it up.

The same went for Mr. Patrick Stewart.  I stood in line a good hour and a half.  Willingly.  Five or six years ago, I would have done the same thing for Shatner and Nimoy, even though I really don’t care for the original Trek.  They are icons, and their contribution to science fiction is immeasurable.  But now, I had something else to do.  I almost went into hypothermia jumping into the pool with my little girl.  I quickly climbed out, but sat and watched her have a good time.  At that moment in all of history, that was what was important to me.

When Mr. Stewart spoke, my cousin Steph waited two or three hours to get in the hall.  I passed.  I would have liked to have been there, but I new I could watch it on closed circuit TV.  Anyway, I wanted to get in line for Gene Wolfe.  His signing began just as Stewart was finishing.  Mr. Wolfe is one of the greats.  I expected a huge line and was willing to wait.  I got there an hour early and was probably the tenth one there.  Steph stopped by to check on me after Mr. Stewart’s panel, by the way.  When I looked at the line there was maybe forty people, so yeah, I could have gone.  No, I don’t have any regrets. 

I also struggled to stay awake to check out Abney Park Friday night (Saturday morning actually).  Fantastic!  They are such an awesome live band.  Better, I think, live than recorded – which to me, is the sign of a great band.  Anyway, the next morning, there was something I had colored in on the grid, but when I woke up snuggled up to the misses and the little one, well, it doesn’t get much better than that.  We had breakfast and back to the pool we went. 

So, what’s the point, you ask? 

Well, it came down to an either or for me: I could have either done it all (and blogged) or I could have just enjoyed the moment.  I enjoyed the moment. 

You know what?  I can’t wait to go back.  I’m sure it will be different still, but watching my daughter discover the wonders of fandom is worth lots more than any autograph or panel.  Besides, the whole idea of conventions was to bring the like-minded together.  You still get that at a lot of the little cons, and I’m sure it’s true to some extent at DragonCon, but anymore DC, to me, feels more like a commercial event.  I’m not saying I don’t like it.  I will go back, but when I go back, I will be enjoying it in my on way, on my own terms, and on my own time.