The Mars Rebellion

[Recoil]

This was something else I have always been a bit fuzzy on. I remember them making reference to the Mars Food Riots (Sheridan helped put and end to them, and I believe he had met Sinclair there, and Garibaldi had met Sinclair there as well), and I am well aware that it took place probably sometime before the Earth-Minbari War. However the "Mars Rebellion" wasn't referenced nearly as much, but I believe it took place during Season 1, specifically during the episode Voice in the Wilderness 1 and 2, is this correct?

When I watched that episode the first few times, it never struck me as a large enough event to be given a name like "The Mars Rebellion." It seemed like an isolated terrorist attack of sorts. But in "Spider in the Web" in Season 2, you see the file on Abel Horn who was killed DURING the Mars Rebellion, and it showed his year of death as 2258. So to me that means it happened during Season 1, and the incident in Voice in the Wilderness would have to be that.

Anyone agree or disagree?

 

[PillowRock]

It is possible, though I don't khow how likely, that references to the Mars Rebellion may not be that specific. It may be a nebulous ongoing thing, a bit like how the IRA's activities over the second half of the 20th century could conceivably be referred to as the Irish Rebellion. In this scenario, the attack that you referred to would be part of the rebellion, but not an entire popular uprising.

Just a possibility to consider.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I think the "Mars Rebellion" directly refers to what occurs in Voice in the Wilderness, but even though that it was put down, the anger and division did not. Thus, the Mars Colony was the first to break away from Earth, and the resistance groups on Mars that Franklin and Marcus contact are decended from remnants of the Free Mars movement.

Nothing is ever a completely clean break.

EDIT: My impression was that the Free Mars movement had undertaken a large scale effort to drive Earth from Mars. Because we witness it from Babylon 5 (along with our characters), we're somewhat removed from the situation, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a significant part of current events.

 

[sleepy_shadow]

I developed the impression that Mars had a revolution brewing for quite some time, since Earth government was clearly too keen on being *the* central authority of the human civilization (as represented by Earth Alliance) -- while the civilization itself was expanding beyond centralized administrative reach.

 

[KoshFan]

The Mars Rebellion was, as far as I understood, was indeed the violence that took place during "A Voice in the Wilderness." First, it didn't occur on just one day; that episode is spread out over several. Second, the violence was a huge upsurge of previously low-level tension and violence. Free Mars, among other groups, took things to an unanticipated level. Witness: Abel Horn, a Free Mars leader, had a Starfury. If Free Mars had that level of hardware, even two days of fighting would be incredibly disruptive.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

It may be a nebulous ongoing thing, a bit like how the IRA's activities over the second half of the 20th century could conceivably be referred to as the Irish Rebellion.

I think you nailed it. I don't think the "Mars Rebellion" was a single event. I agree that the term embraces all of the efforts to make Mars an independent state from the earliest protests against the Earth-appointed government until Sheridan's imposed solution at the end of the Earth Civil War and the recognition of Mars by the IA. (In fact, Earth continued playing power games after that. I suspect that some issues weren't finally settled until the IA intervened in the Telepath War and presumably helped destroy Psi Corps' powerbase on the Red Planet.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Zathras]

I remember them making reference to the Mars Food Riots (Sheridan helped put and end to them, and I believe he had met Sinclair there, and Garibaldi had met Sinclair there as well), and I am well aware that it took place probably sometime before the Earth-Minbari War.

I was under the impression that the Food Riots happened between the E/M War and B5 going operational. I don't think Sheridan would have been in any position to be recognized as one who "put down" the riots if he were just a junior officer on an EA cruiser (as he was before the war started). I would imagine that this happened after Sheridan had "war hero" status and was a more recognizable figure with more authority among the higher-ups of the EarthForce command structure - likely having his own command at that point (whether it was aboard the Agamemnon or a previous ship).

 

[B5_Obsessed]

Regarding Mars Food Riots

This from the B5 Chronology:

2251

January-April Food Riots on Mars ("Lines of Communication"). Earth Force brutally suppresses the riots, and imposes a provisional government directly accountable to EarthDome. During this period, Sinclair and Sheridan meet ("War Without End", pt.1). Sheridan shows some sort of brilliance of command ability ("A Distant Star"). Sinclair meets Laurel Takashima, head of Mars security.

Garibaldi is involved in a string of failed jobs as bounces his way across known space [estimate based on a variety of sources]. During this time he serves as a transport pilot on a number of Ice Mining operations, and spends time on Orion 3....

3 April Charles Ward, the "Black Rose Killer", is sentenced to be mind-wiped at Earth Colony 3 in the Orion system, after committing 9 murders ("Passing Through Gethsemane").

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

JMS has mentioned that there were several incidents where rioting broke out on Mars due to food shortages. The worst of these "Mars Food Riots", and the one that most people think of when they hear the phrase, was after the E/M war, when Sheridan was already a captain and was given overall command of the EA force that put them down. Sheridan met Sinclair during a food riot on Mars years earlier when both were much more junior. They renewed their acquaintance during a chance encounter at a transport hub on Earth during the war itself. And it may eventually be established that they met again, back on Mars, around the time Babylon 5 was about to go on-line. In any case JMS mentioned such a story as being one of the ideas discussed for a graphic novel which, as far as I know, he's still under contract to write. He later said he was toying with the idea of a B5/Rangers/Crusade cross-over story for that project.

Regards,

Joe