Niners Unite...around Babylon 5! - The Lost Threads

[Neroon]

The character's name was Ari Ben Zayn, a veteran of fihts in New Jerusalem, etc so I suspect he's Jewish. Hence the last name being "Ben Zayn", but that's a wild guess on my part.

I don't know.... I gelt it worked pretty well, because this guy was mad, driven that way because of war and getting passed over for promotion.

[Jan]

Hirogen Alpha wrote:

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"Eyes" doesn't work as well as it should, I think. It works, but not as well as it should. The guy who comes to take Sinclair's power (is Zayn his name?) has that huge scar and an over-the-top performance to go with. I know the scar was his own, but it's just a little much.

Larry DiTillio said in his commentary for "Eyes" that much time was spent trying to reign in the over-the-top performance of the actor who played Ben Zayn to no avail.

Jan

[Neroon]

I don't disagree with you guys that he was overdone, but I still tend to think the story itself was reasonably well executed.

[Phily B]

Neroon wrote:

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"Eyes" from season 1 is an episode that I think doesn't get quite enough love. The B story of Lennier building Garibaldi's motorcycle is a lot of fun. But the A-story of Ben Zayn attempting to usurp Sinclair's command is a plot element that I'd definitely expect.

That episode nearly made me quit, the concept behind it was good but the acting was pretty bad.

[Neroon]

Phily B wrote:

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That episode nearly made me quit, the concept behind it was good but the acting was pretty bad.

You really think so? Obviously I didn't but why did you think it was so bad? It's not as if it was Emmy material, but nothing really stood out to me as being cringeworthy

[Reverend]

In a nutshell the actor playing the Colonel bloke was hamming it up something rotten, almost to the point of parody. In fact, I felt he acted as if he was a character in Dr. Strangelove; any second I expected him to start obsessing about the security of the station's fluids...
Maybe it's because the guy was more of a stage actor, or felt the part called for an over the top, Patton-type fool (hardly unheard of with senior military types) I have no idea. Either way it didn't fit the tone and violently clashed with Combe's low key performance.

[Phily B]

Neroon wrote:

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You really think so? Obviously I didn't but why did you think it was so bad? It's not as if it was Emmy material, but nothing really stood out to me as being cringeworthy

He was just so over the top, even for Babylon 5. I think it may have been this thread, but I only watched it about a year ago and it was a struggle to get through season 1 first time due to some of the bad acting, but this took the biscuit.

[Harvey]

Reverend wrote:

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Either way it didn't fit the tone and violently clashed with Combe's low key performance.

Actually, it might be Combs' presence that really tips the Colonel's performance over the edge. It's a hammy performance, but it is made far worse because Combs is right there next to him delivering a performance that isn't hammy at all.

[Mal]

Isaiah 60:1 wrote:

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A question to pose:

My friends have been clamoring for a B5 marathon, as we havne' thad one in quite awhile. My idea is to show a couple of "hidden gems", epiodes that aren't usually named on people's "best episode lists" but are still well regarded. Got any suggestions?

I think 2x10 GROPOS gets a particularly bad rep because it comes right after the spectacular Coming of Shadows. But if you aren't watching an in-order B5 marathon, you don't have that problem - and you can enjoy Dodger - who really is just a ton of fun

[Reverend]

'GROPOS' is actually one of my favourites. Aside from the fun aspect of it giving a rare glimpse at ground warfare in a sci-fi setting it had some memorable, if a little clichéd guest characters (Large, Dodger, The General & the SgtMaj.) Most of all, it was a very important episode for Franklin; who some fans seam to have it in for, though I never understood why exactly. I remember hearing back during season three or four that JMS was planning on bringing Franklin senior back during the civil war and I was always curious as to why that was never followed up on.
Personally I wonder if he stayed loyal to Earthdome or defected to Sherian's side. Sure the guy may be hard headed, a bit of a gingoistic hawk but he wasn't stupid and after that ISN propoganda piece from 'Illusion Of Truth' you'd think he'd smell the BS. I mean while he may buy that Sheridan had lost it and "gone native" with the aliens, he knows his son well enough to know he's not about to start playing Dr Mengala with Lurkers.

[Neroon]

GROPOS is indeed one of those fan favorite episodes, I think because of that rare glimpse into other aspects of military life in that universe. Compare it to "The Siege of AR-558". The episodes are very different in many respects, but.... in each you get to see a side of the conflicts that normally is hidden or forgotten.

[Mal]

Reverend wrote:

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'GROPOS' is actually one of my favourites. Aside from the fun aspect of it giving a rare glimpse at ground warfare in a sci-fi setting it had some memorable, if a little clichéd guest characters (Large, Dodger, The General & the SgtMaj.) Most of all, it was a very important episode for Franklin; who some fans seam to have it in for, though I never understood why exactly. I remember hearing back during season three or four that JMS was planning on bringing Franklin senior back during the civil war and I was always curious as to why that was never followed up on.
Personally I wonder if he stayed loyal to Earthdome or defected to Sherian's side. Sure the guy may be hard headed, a bit of a gingoistic hawk but he wasn't stupid and after that ISN propoganda piece from 'Illusion Of Truth' you'd think he'd smell the BS. I mean while he may buy that Sheridan had lost it and "gone native" with the aliens, he knows his son well enough to know he's not about to start playing Dr Mengala with Lurkers.

I think General Franklin would have been a much better choice than General Lefcourt, who was the General that confronted Sheridan at Mars in 4x20 Endgame, as well as was David Sheridan's poker buddy in In the Beginning. There's nothing that Lefcourt brings to the role that Franklin Senior wouldn't have done better - and it would have given the whole thing much more of an emotion appeal (for the viewers).

Plus, it would have added significant weight to the choice to send Doctor Franklin with Sheridan on the mission (with G'kar) to meet the Minbari Ranger.

Maybe they weren't clear on how exactly to make Paul Winfield look young. Or maybe, they just wanted a another B5/DS9 crossover

[JoeD80]

Reverend wrote:

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Most of all, it was a very important episode for Franklin; who some fans seam to have it in for, though I never understood why exactly.

They do? Didn't know that. Franklin is one of my favorite characters.

Reverend wrote:

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I remember hearing back during season three or four that JMS was planning on bringing Franklin senior back during the civil war and I was always curious as to why that was never followed up on.
Personally I wonder if he stayed loyal to Earthdome or defected to Sherian's side.

jms' take:

jms wrote:

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I think he would tend to fall on the other side, and it'd be good to show that some people may think that yes, there's a problem, but you solve that problem from within, not by breaking away. Could make for some nice drama....

Sounds like a bit of this thread got passed to Lochley when that character was created.

Mal wrote:

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Maybe they weren't clear on how exactly to make Paul Winfield look young.

It was either in the script book or in an interview somewhere that Paul Winfield had some trouble with remembering large amounts of dialogue for his scenes; so perhaps they didn't bring him back in another episode because of that.

[Neroon]

I keep meaning to post this, and Jan did mention it in the SFF forum.

JMS has given approval to allow John Hudgens to post the music videos he's created over the years. I'm sure many folks have seen them, but in case you haven't ... go to Babylon5scripts.com/videos

The memorial to Andreas is actually a bit longer than the earlier version. It's still primarily done with the "Dragonheart" score, but now it's prefixed with G'Kar's epilogue from "Z'ha'dum".

[Phily B]

Got the entire universe boxset for Christmas which has every DVD. Good stuff. Looks awful on my HDTV mind.