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LAST BEST HOPE: A Babylon 5 Podcast for Our Uncertain Age

LAST BEST HOPE: A Babylon 5 Podcast for Our Uncertain Age

By: B90 Productions
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Back in the halcyon 1990s, a syndicated sci-fi TV series warned us that it, indeed, *can* happen here. In this podcast we use BABYLON 5 to talk through our current political moment in an attempt to process, understand, and, perhaps, find hope.Copyright 2026 Art Political Science Politics & Government Science Fiction
Episodes
  • #15 – The Bitch of It Is You Probably Did the Right Thing (ENDGAME, RISING STAR)

    #15 – The Bitch of It Is You Probably Did the Right Thing (ENDGAME, RISING STAR)
    Jun 25 2026

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    The Earth Civil War is over, but the harder question is what comes next. Josh and John revisit season 4's "Endgame" and "Rising Star" to talk about how democracies recover from authoritarianism, why good people obey bad leaders, what makes Sheridan such an extraordinary leader, and why Babylon 5's vision of power, media, and moral courage feels uncomfortably relevant.

    This is a jam-packed episode folks. So put C\&C in standby, head down to Earhart's, and crack open a Zima.

    \============

    CHAPTERS:

    00:00 Introduction & revisiting Endgame and Rising Star

    01:00 First impressions of the Earth Civil War finale

    04:22 Sheridan's strategy for liberating Earth

    05:04 Clark, January 6th, and authoritarian collapse

    11:12 President Luchenko and the failures of institutional politics

    15:10 Sheridan gives people permission to resist

    20:34 Obedience, hierarchy & why people follow authoritarian leaders

    29:50 Why Sheridan is different

    33:20 JMS, Superman, and moral leadership

    38:52 Bester, mercy, and Sheridan's philosophy of power

    41:31 Lochley, trauma, and loyalty to institutions

    44:44 Endgame's emotional climax & Delenn's rescue

    46:01 ISN, media capture, and modern journalism

    50:32 Algorithms, social media, and today's information ecosystem

    58:39 Rising Star, Sheridan's resignation & the Interstellar Alliance

    1:03:18 Reconstruction, Lincoln & rebuilding after civil war

    1:08:35 Leadership, power & today's political moment

    1:12:50 Russia, Babylon 5's future history & the 1990s

    1:18:14 Power versus morality in government

    1:24:22 Marcus Cole and a different vision of the warrior

    1:32:57 The Rangers vs. authoritarian military culture

    1:34:23 Why Endgame hits differently than Severed Dreams

    1:36:47 The ending Babylon 5 almost had

    1:42:34 Why Babylon 5 still endures

    1:45:10 Looking ahead to Season Five

    \============

    REFERENCES:

    The Lurker's Guide Entry for S4E20 "Endgame" — http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/086.html

    __The Lurker's Guide Entry for S4E21 "Rising Star" — http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/087.html

    __God Forgives, Brothers Don't by Jasper Craven — https://bookshop.org/p/books/god-forgives-brothers-don-t-the-long-march-of-military-education-and-the-making-of-american-manhood-jasper-craven/

    The Know Your Enemy Podcast — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/military-education-and-american-manhood-w-jasper-craven/id1462703434

    Reddit discussion: Clark's military takeover of ISN — https://www.reddit.com/r/babylon5/comments/1tkikao/severed_dreams/

    \============

    <*>

    lastbesthopeb5@gmail.com
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    1 hr and 46 mins
  • #14 – Talking Heads (AND NOW FOR A WORD, THE ILLUSION OF TRUTH)

    #14 – Talking Heads (AND NOW FOR A WORD, THE ILLUSION OF TRUTH)
    May 11 2026
    Read transcriptIt's our long-discussed episode on the media in Babylon 5 in which we take on two of the show's most important episodes about journalism, propaganda, and the construction of political reality: “And Now for a Word” and “The Illusion of Truth.” The conversation looks at how deeply news media was baked into JMS’s original conception of Babylon 5, from ISN as a central narrative device to the show’s use of documentary language, commercial breaks, and authoritative TV-news aesthetics. Josh and John discuss why ISN’s existence makes sense in-universe, how media infrastructure naturally concentrates power, and how easily a trusted news source can become an arm of the state. 00:00 — Introduction: the long-awaited “media episodes” discussion 00:22 — Why “And Now for a Word” and “The Illusion of Truth” work as companion episodes 00:45 — JMS’s original notes reveal Babylon 5 was conceived as a historical documentary funded through a future news network 02:28 — Why ISN being a single dominant interstellar news source actually makes sense in-universe 04:10 — Media monopolization, capitalism, and parallels to modern corporate consolidation 05:21 — Why JMS used familiar 20th-century news formats instead of fragmented social-media-style media ecosystems 08:37 — “Objectivity” versus agenda-driven journalism in “The Illusion of Truth” 10:22 — “And Now for a Word” as a fake CNN broadcast — and why the commercial structure feels so unsettling 11:46 — The PsiCorps commercials: normalization through advertising and emotional manipulation 14:12 — Why the PsiCorps propaganda is so effective 14:53 — Economic precarity, capitalism, and authoritarian recruitment tactics 16:02 — Babylon 5’s future remains recognizably capitalist unlike Star Trek’s post-scarcity Federation 18:16 — The politics of “Why are we spending money on aliens?” 19:13 — Why Dr. Franklin’s observation that most humans have never left Earth is significant 20:04 — Fear of “the other” and anti-alien sentiment as political strategy 22:50 — Humanity’s short-term memory and why societies abandon long-term projects 24:12 — Delenn’s interview and the politics of identity, conformity, and “purity” 31:09 — Londo versus G’Kar: how television framing shapes who appears “reasonable” 32:25 — ISN’s supposedly “objective” framing already contains ideological assumptions 34:20 — Dan Randall, “reasonable” fascism, and media manipulation through editing 35:45 — Confession, propaganda, and McCarthy-era parallels in “The Illusion of Truth” 37:49 — The Nuremberg trials, postwar media, and the refusal to believe “it can happen here” 39:19 — Why JMS warned viewers that “The Illusion of Truth” would be difficult to rewatch 41:26 — Silent footage, decontextualized imagery, and modern propaganda techniques 43:15 — How conspiracy theories grow from one small true detail 44:59 — McCarthyism, blacklists, algorithms, and modern forms of information control 47:08 — JMS’s optimism: truth may be incomplete, but people can still learn 50:18 — Why definitive historical truth is often impossible 53:27 — Propaganda succeeds by offering simple, emotionally satisfying conclusions 54:29 — Modern political fractures, war narratives, and media credibility 58:07 — Hypernormalization and knowingly participating in false realities 59:30 — AI, tech billionaires, and hostility toward introspection and nuance 01:00:38 — William Shatner’s Blue Origin reaction versus Jeff Bezos’s indifference 01:03:08 — Why introspection may be incompatible with certain forms of power and “greatness” 01:06:22 — If humanity loses its humanity, what exactly are we trying to build? 01:07:26 — Final thoughts on ISN, journalism, and why these episodes feel more disturbing now than in the 1990s 01:09:32 — Closing remarks and outro <*> lastbesthopeb5@gmail.com
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • #13 – Some Deep Space Franchise (HOMEFRONT/PARADISE LOST)

    #13 – Some Deep Space Franchise (HOMEFRONT/PARADISE LOST)
    Apr 1 2026

    For April Fool's Day, we show you what we'd be like as a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine podcast...

    lastbesthopeb5@gmail.com

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    1 hr and 21 mins
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