"Matter of Honor" (S3E1) question

[Granite]

\"Matter of Honor\" (S3E1) question

When captain Sheridan is fleeing the shadows in the season three premire, he heads to the Markab Jumpgate to destroy it and the shadow vessel. When he proposes the idea to the crew he says "I don't like grave robbers".

Didn't his wife work for IPX though, whose sole job is to rob graves of great tech?

The statement doesn't make sense to me.

 

[vacantlook]

Re: \"Matter of Honor\" (S3E1) question

I would guess that he just saw a difference between a grave robber and an archeologist. We've had both in the real word: grave robbers stealing artifacts from Egyptian tombs to sell elsewhere or melt down or whathaveyou for their own personal gain and archeologists who similarly go into the tomb but do so to try and learn about the culture.

The thing about IPX is that it seems to often times walk a mighty fine line between grave robber and archeologist. I'm sure Sheridan saw Anna as being firmly on the archeologist side of that line.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

Re: \"Matter of Honor\" (S3E1) question

I would imagine that Sheridan is also drawing a clear distinction between those who investigate (steal stuff from) cultures that have been dead and gone for hundreds or thousands of years (and this would include IPX of course), and those who are "investigating" the Markab world, when the Markab themselves have only been dead and gone for a few months tops.

 

[KoshFan]

Re: \"Matter of Honor\" (S3E1) question

[minor spoilers for The Shadow Within]

I'm pretty sure Anna was a freelancer that IPX occasionally hired on, not one of their regular employees.

 

[Recoil]

Re: \"Matter of Honor\" (S3E1) question

Also bear in mind that not all who worked for IPX believed in what the company was doing. Ive heard it in many episodes in B5 where they mention that if you are a private scientist it costs LOTS of money for an offworld expedition. IPX can get them there. So they join IPX, do what they want to do, and IPX gets their cut. It is sort of like making a deal with the devil I suppose, but if its the only way they see they can further science, I suppose that is why some do it.

But yes, grave robber does not equal archeologist.

 

[RW7427]

Re: \"Matter of Honor\" (S3E1) question

I wonder what IPX would think of Dr. Bryson in River of Souls. Would they think he was a graverobber or a true archeologist?