Racing Mars

"Racing Mars" is an episode from the fourth season of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5.

Synopsis

Dr Franklin and Marcus arrive on Mars to begin coordinating with the resistance.

Arc significance

• We see signs of friction between Garibaldi and Sheridan.
• The creature that controlled Captain Jack will later be identified as the Drakh keeper, which made its first appearance (chronologically) in Epiphanies

Production details

• The Identicards given to Marcus and Franklin are for Jim Fennerman and Daniel Lane, respectively. Their backstory is that they are a young married couple on holiday to Mars on their honeymoon. This is a rare look at human social issues in the Babylon 5 universe and insinuates that by the 23rd century, same-sex marriage is perfectly legal not only on Earth but throughout Earth-controlled space. Same-sex relationships and themes in television SF were not typical at this time. In a 2014 interview, show creator J. Michael Straczynski said that "We didn't make a big deal out of them being married. We played it exactly as if it was a male-female couple being married, or pretending to be married. I think it didn't have much of a fuss about it because it's science fiction, you're expected to be able to do those sorts of things more readily than you can in a mainstream show. But yeah, we were out there in the forefront of these things 20 years ago."^[1]

External links

• Racing Mars at The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5

References