Babylon 5 's Best Joke Can't Save One Of Its Worst Episodes

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 37 seconds ago

Babylon 5 isn’t a sci-fi comedy; it’s a sci-fi epic, but the carefully crafted story is filled with small moments of comedy that cut the tension, usually thanks to Londo.  Tucked away in the Season 1 episode, “Grail,” is an amazing joke that directly pokes fun at alien abductions.

It has no impact on the rest of the episode and serves only to introduce the station’s judge, but a man suing the Vree, modeled after the famous “Grey Aliens,” for abducting his great-grandfather, is the kind of offbeat humor that sci-fi fans love.

Suing Over Alien Abductions

As soon as “Grail” returns from the title sequence, viewers are dropped into the courtroom of Ombuds Wellington (Jim Norton), listening to Flinn (John Flinn, the episode’s director of photography and he directed multiple episodes, including “Grey 17 is Missing”) argue that his great-grandfather was abducted by the Vree for two days, and then, no one believed him, he couldn’t get a job and a he lost everything. That’s why Flinn is suing for damages. The Vree’s response is to draw a picture. Obviously frustrated, Wellington wonders why he always gets these cases. 

The Vree are one of the most annoying races in the world of Babylon 5, thanks to their religious devotion to a Trickster God, justifying their prankster behavior. Turns out, that’s why they would abduct humans; they found it funny. We never find out if Flinn won his case against the Vree or not, but the thought that in the future, when humans are living alongside aliens, someone would sue over alien abduction is the type of absurdity no one expected from the war-torn political series. 

The Search For The Holy Grail

Flinn’s court case is the early high point of “Grail” which spends most of its runtime on Jinxo (Tom Booker), a station mechanic in debt to the gangster Deuce. Desperate to get out of debt, he picks the pocket of Aldous Gajic (David Warner), a strange man who came to the station as part of his quest for the Holy Grail. The two find themselves bonding after Gajic takes the downtrodden worker under his wing in lieu of banishment for thievery, with Gajic explaining that a dying man restored his will to live by passing on the quest for the Holy Grail to him. 

In case you’re wondering, Sinclair (Michael O’Hare) doesn’t take the quest for the Holy Grail seriously, but Delenn (Mira Furlan), part of the Minbari religious caste, respects Gajic for being a truth-seeker. It’s an interesting character moment for both of them in an episode that’s otherwise completely devoid of the main cast. The way humans and Minbari view religion is very different, and it’s hard for any human to understand why it’s so important to Delenn, though, as viewers know, Sinclair would go on to understand the Minbari better than they knew themselves. 

Great Shows Are Allowed To Have Bad Episodes

“Grail” sidelines the main cast to focus on Gajic, Jinxo, and Deuce, culminating in a firefight within the sub-basements between the gangsters and a security squad after a monster disguised as Ambassador Kosh is revealed as the source of the mindwipe murders. It wouldn’t be the last time that Babylon 5 would focus on side characters, but Season 5’s “A View From The Gallery” is one of the best of the series, while “Grail” is a dull slog. 

Babylon 5 is still one of the best sci-fi shows ever made, even if it has some uneven episodes. The saga of Gajic and Jinxo was a one-and-done story, and now, the episode is still best remembered for the brief, 60-second joke about suing little grey aliens. It’s short, it’s hilarious, it fits within the world, and it’s the type of gag Star Wars would never make.