Babylon 5 - General Discussion

[Affogato]

22 hours ago, starri said:

Was he, really?  He kind of had to be shamed into taking direct action, first by Delenn and then by Sheridan.

Otherwise, he was pretty much just like the rest of the Vorlons.

He seemed to be less sadistic than Kosh 2 and to entertain the possibility that other races (not shadows, naturally) were worth support and empathy. the Vorlons in general seemed to be playing chess with other races.

[DoctorAtomic]

I think from the show you could see that Kosh 1 was held a favorable opinion of the younger races and was friendly with Sinclair and Sheridan. He had to kind of hedge with everyone because he couldn't just up and tell them they had to steal Babylon 4 and let "Valen' travel back in time to ring him up and get the whole ball rolling either. It's more explicit in the book, but it's not any new information. 

The books are legitimately good though. 

[Affogato]

Spoilers for the animated movie, below....

 

 

 

 

 

I was saving this for a few days, to get me through a time of forced inactivity. So, It had a real story, with a beginning;middle/end, something I've always appreciated in JMS's work. Sheridan learned there is no place like home, I think, which is good, the emotional meat of the show was his accepting his new job and role and place in the universe. He will read the fine print before opening shopping malls in the future, I bet.  It was set up as an introduction to the world, which made it less than it could have been, but that was not unexpected. I wasn't completely happy with some of the character designs, I thought they could have looked more like the actual characters, but I could figure out who everyone was.

I absolutely loved the Vorlons destroying earth. Well, maybe not 'loved', but so in character for them. When the shadows attacked B5, for a minute I wondered if the attackers would be the Vorlons.

Okay, "Don't say that (Lost in Space), the copyrights are bad enough as it is (or something similar).

I liked the running theme that the thing doesn't exist without the observer, a nod to the people that watch the show, but also an integral part of the story..

Ivanova apologising at the end for the long silence, 'but we're back'.

I hope so.

 

[starri]

Since they made it available to rent, I watched in during downtime when I was on call last night.

While it was Citizen Kane in comparison to "Legend of the Rangers" and "The Lost Tales," I didn't love it.  Individually, I liked a lot of the pieces, but we didn't stay in any of the particular timelines long enough to really form any kind of connection with them.  

As someone who dislikes a lot of the fifth season because of how thoroughly they fucked over Lyta, I did appreciate that they let her be a badass in two separate dimensions.  
 

I was also confused as to why Sheridan had his spiritual encounter on the Rim with a being that was impersonating G'Kar.  I mean, G'Kar is probably the character I connect with the most emotionally, so I get it from that perspective, but it loses something because, well, the replacement was fine, but not Andreas Katsulas.  But even beyond that, given everything, wouldn't it have made more sense for it to have been Lorien, especially since Wayne Alexander is still alive?

[DoctorAtomic]

Lorien and the First Ones left the galaxy though. So they wouldn't be around. 

[call me ishmael]

4 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Lorien and the First Ones left the galaxy though. So they wouldn't be around. 

Although Lorien  did come back to give Sheridan a ride the end.

[DoctorAtomic]

I'd say special circumstance because he was taking Sheridan with him. 

[starri]

But also, it seemed like the G'Kar entity was also from beyond the RIm.  

I dunno.  Wasn't a huge deal, but it seemed odd.

[DoctorAtomic]

I actually haven't watched the movie yet. I'm just talking based on the events from the show. Technically, they only said where G'Kar went, we never saw. It's splitting hairs. 

 

[starri]

The Blu-Ray set dropped today. It’s billed as the complete series, but doesn’t have any of the movies besides “The Gathering,” which is confusingly on the last disc, not the first. 
 

Odder still, the station doesn’t even appear on the slipcase. It’s what appears to be the Agamemnon, a few Star Furies, and some Shadow vessels. 
 

Weird. 

[Constant Viewer]

Is it true there are no commentaries? 

[starri]

It is exceedingly barebones.  Frankly, it's probably overpriced for what it is.  

It looks better (for the most part) than the DVD sets, although if you own those, this might not be worth the investment.  The slipcase, in addition to the bizarre art (which is also replicated at the completely static menu (at least for Season 1), is badly designed.

As much as I'm enjoying getting to revisit it, watching S1 again does really remind me how why I had such a hard time connecting to the show initially.  I just finished "The Mind War," and I feel bad saying this, but if it wasn't for Walter Koenig's charisma as Bester, the actor who plays Jason Ironheart is so bad the episode would be almost unwatchable.

[Affogato]

New years is a big holiday on Babylon 5. Have a good one!