The Moment Babylon 5 Pulled A Clever Dune Trick

In many ways, the 1990s space opera Babylon 5 was a kind of Rosetta Stone of various science fiction that had come before. Showrunner and creator J. Michael Straczynski baked various genre references into the series, including old-school sci-fi novels like The Demolished Man, to various nominative shout-outs to The Lord of the Rings. But with the introduction of one space drug called “Dust,” Babylon 5 seemed to reference Dune, at least in a roundabout way.

During the week of Febuary 5, 1996, Babylon 5 Season 3 dropped a pivotal episode called “Dust to Dust,” in which we learn that the titular narcotic substance can enhance telepathic and other mental abilities in folks that otherwise wouldn’t possess those powers. And although Spice in Dune doesn’t truly make folks telepathic, the Water of Life in that franchise does grant access to various memories from one's ancestors, something that happens in a very specific moment in this B5 episode.

Mild spoilers ahead.

Like much of Babylon 5 Season 3, “Dust to Dust” carries a tone of ominous dread. The Season 3 opening narration from Ivanova (Claudia Christian) told the audience every week that the mission of Babylon 5, as the last best hope for peace, failed in the year 2260, meaning that nearly everything that happens in every episode of Season 3 helps to give us the shape of that failure and to help us understand what leads to the impending Shadow War. In “Dust to Dust,” those hints are both subtle and unsubtle simultaneously. Captain Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) clashes with station security over the question of shopkeepers being able to post political opinions. This seems like a small plot detail, but really, it is setting up for a major shift several episodes later, in which Sheridan and the entire space station secedes from the Earth Alliance. Keep in mind, this kind of long-form serialization was uncommon at the time, both for sci-fi and mainstream TV shows alike.

In the tradition of many great Babylon 5 episodes, the outcome of the story isn’t what you think it will be at first. The command crew is spooked when Psi Cop Bester (Walter Koenig) arrives to suss out a possible threat to the station, specifically the import of the illegal drug Dust, which can enhance telepathic abilities. But the result of this plot point is unexpected. Turns out G’Kar (Andreas Katsulas) is trying to secure Dust for the Narns, since they are the one major species that doesn’t seem to have any telepaths, latent or otherwise.

After getting high on Dust, G’Kar goes nuts and seeks out his nemesis, Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik) of the Centauri. And after G’Kar attacks and bloodies Londo, things start to get interesting. Throughout Season 2, the Centauri, with the secret help of the Shadows, decimated the Narn regime, which is the basic source of G’Kar’s fury. But thanks to the enhanced Psi abilities provided by the Dust, G’Kar not only sees visions of himself and Londo’s shared future, but also is able to speak to a version of his own father from the past.

Whether JSM intended this as a Dune homage or not is clear, but these moments are Dune 101. Although Londo’s vision of the far future was teased in Season 1 of Babylon 5 (notably in the episode “Signs and Portents”), the idea that G’Kar now shares in this vision is interesting; like Paul seeing his own fate as the messiah of the Fremen in Dune, Londo and G’Kar’s shared vision of their fate — in which they are locked in a deadly struggle in old age — creates a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, which locks them into that destiny.

But the other Dune-ish twist here is that G’Kar can communicate with his ancestral memory. This moment, in which he speaks to an image of his father, was later described by actor Andreas Katsulas like this: “It’s sort of like a realization of what was [previously] just imaginary... Nobody knew what effect this drug would have on a Narn. Thankfully, it had this effect on G’Kar, to sweeten his experience.”

Essentially, G’Kar becomes a very different character after this moment, and moves closer to becoming a revolutionary messiah for his own people, a fact that has major implications for the rest of Season 3, and pretty much, the entire series, right up until the end in Season 5. Thanks to a look inside Londo’s mind, and a chat with the ghosts of his past, G’Kar becomes a new kind of a revoluationary, but, unlike Paul Atreides, having just taken the Water of Life, G’Kar is fixated on long-term peace.

The episode also suggests that the Vorlon Kosh could have been responsible for manipulating G’Kar’s visions, pushing him in a certain direction. And on that point, Babylon 5 wasn’t exactly homaging anything, intentional or not. Because when it comes to the machinations of the mysterious Vorlons, that’s one sci-fi creation that feels very unique and original to the enduring B5 mythos.

Babylon 5, Season 3, Episode 6, “Dust to Dust,” streams on Tubi.